>Todd Moody wrote:
>The basic idea is to overfeed for about two weeks, then restrict
>calories for two weeks, thus doing a rapid cycle "yo-yo" diet.
>The theory is that during the anabolic phase you gain muscle and
>fat, and during the catabolic phase you lose muscle and fat.  But
>by limiting each phase to two weeks the net result is gaining a
>bit more muscle than you lose and losing a bit more fat than you
>gain.  The cumulative result after a series of cycles is an
>increase in one's muscle:fat ratio.

It's one of those ideas that just doesn't work.  It sounds great on
paper,
but it rarely works in real life.  The idea to use shorter 2 week
cycles of
massing alternated with 2 week cutting cycles has been around for a
long
time.  Bill Phillips made it famous by creating his own personal
variation
in his b.s. supplement review guide.  The people who love this sort of
diet
are the supplement manufacturers.  It allows them to suggest a 2 week
massing phase where the trainee would be requirred to take whey
protein,
creatine, meal replacement shakes, glutamine, androstendione,
creatine, etc.
  In the cutting phase, they would suggest thryoid products,
thermogenic
formulas, among others.

John Parillo also has written about weight cycling.  For natural
trainees,
this is a horrible idea.  Lyle McDonald found that out when he porked
up
heavily and then cut back down - in his website, he refers to it as
"how to
waste a year."

The only people who weight cycle and can add and drop weight easily
are
those using performance enhancing drugs.  Q: Why did Lyle lose so much
muscle when he had to diet for a long period of time to cut-up? A: B/c
he
trained naturally.  Why does Ronnie Coleman (the current Mr. Olympia)
not
lose muscle when dieting?  A: B/c he increases his doses of steroids
and hGH
by about 30% when dieting.  The added anabolism cancels out the
catabolism
produced by reduced calories and excessive cardio.  This just isn't an
option for the average natural trainee though.

>That's the theory anyway.  I don't know if it works, and I
>haven't tried it myself.

It doesn't work, and it would spell disaster for natural trainees.  If
anyone says they got results from such an unorthodox, unscientific
program,
then they were either doing something seriously wrong before or
they're a
liar.  Usually it's the latter - performance enhancing supplement
manufactures are compulsive liars.  Don't get me wrong, some of the
supplements are good: multis, flax oil, cod liver oil, creatine, but
99% of
them are a waste of money.


>Anyway, tweaking this into a paleo format, it seems to me that
>one might do high-carb paleo during the anabolic phase, along
>with high-intensity strength training; then do strict ketosis
>during the catabolic phase, along with low-intensity aerobic
>exercise.  I think the evidence suggests that the 2-week rule is
>a ceiling value, but one could make the cycles shorter.  That is,
>supposedly after two weeks of overfeeding one is gaining mostly
>fat and little muscle; after two weeks of underfeeding one is
>losing more muscle than fat.

It sounds good, but it just won't work.  I've seen countless
bodybulders
(both chemical users and naturals - and I mean the ~real~ naturals)
and
countless dieting strategies.  If we're talking about dieting
naturally,
then this just isn't going to work.  Plus it's going to be difficult
to grow
accustomed to eating so much food, and then have to eat so little for
2
weeks.  Going back and forth from eating large amounts to small
amounts of
food is very hard to do.  That's why most naturals just eat
maintenance
calories and they add muscle w/o adding fat.  Some of the expert
bodybuilding writers explain that muscle can't be added w/o above
maintenace
calories, and that simply isn't true for natural trainees.

On a side note, I recently visited Lyle McDonald's website.  Has
anyone else
noticed how his views have changed?!  For the first time in his life,
he
looks pretty damn good.  For a natural guy with average genetics he's
built
a respectable body.  Q: How did he do it? A: He threw out the book on
the
"expert" approach and found what works for him to get cut.

Justin Hasselman