Kolumne 17 | Pendeln für die Masse - Demo-Frey-Nutrition

Column 17 | Commuting for the masses

THE PENDULUM DIET HAS DECISIVE ADVANTAGES OVER THE ANABOLIC DIET.

Column 17 - Commuting for the masses
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I have been training regularly for three years now. To increase my muscle mass, I use the anabolic diet. I am 1.83 meters tall, weigh 92 kilos and have a body fat percentage of around 16 percent. My training plan is based on the laws of one-set training. For example, on Mondays I train my chest, back, biceps and triceps and on Tuesdays I train my legs, lower back, stomach and shoulders. I do three different exercises for each body part.

I consume almost 20,000 calories a week, which consist of protein and animal fat. At the weekend, I have my usual "glutton days". I only decided to adopt this diet a few weeks ago because it sounded very plausible to me. But unfortunately, I haven't noticed any positive effects. I'm not developing the muscles I would like. My goal is to get to 107 to 110 kilos and still lose fat. I'm starting to doubt that it will work that way. Perhaps you have the answer to the riddle and a better suggestion for diet and training.

ANSWER

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Andreas Frey answers
Personally, I'm not a big fan of the anabolic diet. In bodybuilding and in competitive sports in general, people are constantly looking for new nutritional strategies and unusual methods to improve physical performance and physical appearance.

The anabolic diet is a very specific nutritional strategy. Its disadvantage is its monotony. This quickly takes away the motivation of most athletes to continue to follow the diet correctly.

Due to its monotony and imbalance, the anabolic diet is difficult to maintain in the long term.
Insulin is the body’s most anabolic hormone
The anabolic diet is not only monotonous, but also unbalanced in terms of the basic nutrients made available to the body. Carbohydrates are not allowed to be consumed, so even vegetables would be too much of a good thing. But it is neglected that carbohydrates also have crucial advantages for the athlete, above all by increasing insulin levels.

In a build-up phase, it is primarily about maintaining the insulin level at a moderate to slightly elevated level in order to ensure regulated glycogen storage and the flow of amino acids into the muscle cells. Insulin is the body's most anabolic hormone and can be controlled by a well-founded diet (such as the one I advocate COMMUTER DIET can be manipulated in such a way that one can consistently gain solid muscle mass while at the same time keeping the fat content within reasonable limits.

The pendulum diet for effective muscle building
The anabolic diet loses all the benefits of insulin and its anabolic properties. In addition, the brain needs about 50 to 80 grams of carbohydrates (much more for heavy athletes) to be able to maintain its functions. Too often, the anabolic diet is used and the athlete loses a lot of weight in the first few days, which naturally makes his appearance look more defined. It is tempting to attribute this improvement to the anabolic diet, but this is wrong, since the weight loss is only due to the loss of fluids caused by the complete withdrawal of carbohydrates. No wonder that many athletes are not satisfied with the results: flat muscles, less strength and no pumping feeling during training are the consequences.

I personally tried the anabolic diet, but had to stop because I lost so much water that training with heavy weights was hardly possible anymore. Due to the severe loss of fluids, I had a lot of pain during training because the muscles could not be used to their full extent.

A pendulum diet, on the other hand, is much easier to follow, healthier (as it contains much less fat) and more varied. Experience has shown that most athletes cope better with the pendulum diet and can achieve greater success - especially when it comes to solid and long-term muscle building.

The pendulum diet is easier to follow, healthier and more varied than the anabolic diet. Experience shows that most athletes cope better with it.
However, there are times when the anabolic diet makes sense. One such time is, for example, seven to ten days before a competition, when the so-called unloading takes place. In this phase, as few carbohydrates as possible are consumed, which corresponds to the anabolic diet. After the unloading phase, the loading phase follows, in which the muscle cells are supplied with a lot of carbohydrates with the aim of filling the glycogen stores to the maximum.

Due to the withdrawal of carbohydrates before the loading phase, the organism switches to "carbohydrate economy mode" after about four days, since nothing more is supplied to the body. After this phase, the needs and storage capacity of the muscle cells are very high: carbohydrates are supplied, and the body stores more than is needed, which gives the muscles a hard and plump appearance - assuming a low body fat content.

The anabolic diet can be useful for a short period of time
As far as your nutritional strategy with the goal of building muscle is concerned, I can only advise you against the anabolic diet. Instead, stick to the pendulum diet with a protein consumption of around 3.3 grams per kilo of body weight and a diet rich in carbohydrates, especially in the morning for breakfast and directly after training in the form of post-workout nutrition. This increases insulin levels. Fat intake should be around 0.8 to one gram per kilo of body weight.

Your calorie intake is insufficient in relation to your body weight. Increase to about 25,000 calories per week, that is, an average of 3,500 calories per day. That is the value that you need to work around. And as far as your training is concerned, I believe that the one-set theory only promises success for advanced and professional athletes. Here you should stick to the basic rules that you can find in the article about THE TRAINING BASICS You can read about it - it should be six to ten sets per muscle group!

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