I am by far no expert when it comes to exercise. I just started working out about 2 months ago and researching the different types of exercise and fitness info. My dad used to be very much into bodybuilding and I would like to train also. I am a 24 yr old female. Weight 185, BF- 28%. I read that without adequate glucose in your bloodstream during strenuous weight training your body will first turn to muscle then to fat for energy therefore making your workout catabolic (Nutrient Timing - John Ivy PhD, Robert Portman PhD). I am cutting carbs to become more healthy and lose fat but I do not want to sacrifice muscle. How many carbs are necessary while weight training to reduce catabolism?
Monday - Upper body
Tuesday - lower body
Wednesday - Abs
Thursday - Upper body
Friday - lower body
Saturday - Abs

I used to throw in 30 minutes of cardio on top of those workouts... Now I cut back my cardio to twice a week for 20-25 minutes. I would like to stay LC and still weight train, is this feasible or are higher carb percentages neccessary for serious weight training? Any suggestions, links to info or just plain ole opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!!


~ Cori ~

Hi there Cori

There's LOTS of ways to do this.

You could try TKD if you like - it's not a bad way to start fiddling with increasing carbs before lifting. I did it successfully for a long time, and still return to it from time to time.

The amounts and timing vary - some like their carbs before, some after.

I'm a woman, and I get fat from post WO carbs, so I like mine before: about half an hour before you lift, eat some fast carb (something sweet without too much protein and very little fat - fruit, angel food cake, or even white rice if you do it more like about an hour pre-lifting). Don't do any cardio, of course, before you lift. Do your lifting, and if you are afraid of the extra blood sugar spilling over into fat stores, do a little cardio after you lift - JUST enough to put you back into ketosis. If you really focus on your lifting, you should burn most of it off.

How much?

You'll have to see. I found about 40-60g worked well for me - I lift HEAVY. To start, you may want to try it with 20-30g to start and check your ketones, and how you feel of course.

PWO, get in a whey shake to help rebuild your tissues. Low carb!

Did I get it right Trainerdan?

Thanks for the advice!!! Nearly all of the bodybuilding books I've read talk about higher carb ratio to proteins and fats. I know that LC burns fat, I've lost 35lbs of it since January. But up until now I wasn't lifting. Now how do you know what you're doing is working? If you're gaining inches and gaining weight from muscle mass how are you sure that what you're doing is burning fat and gaining muscle instead of adding on fat? I'm just all paranoid about doing the wrong thing. There is just so much info on bodybuilding! Do this, don't eat this, lift this way. It's pretty overwhelming for a newbie. Thanks again for the help! It's good to know there are other LC lifters out there!!!

~ Cori ~

MUSCLES burns fat. Low carb just helps them do it.

It is a LOT easier to burn fat than build muscle. You can't build muscle as fast as you can burn fat. If your weight goes up more than a couple of pounds, it's fat.

I started this little adventure at 170 pounds. I'm hovering in the high 130s now. I figure in two and a half years of lifting, eating TONS of protein, really watching my diet, and lifting as heavy as I can and training like a fiend, I MIGHT have put on about 12 lbs of muscle. So That means I've actually probably dropped about 40-45 pounds of fat.

This actually blows my mind.

I'm 5'8", and most people who don't lift figure I weigh at least 15 pounds less than I do. Muscle is heavy. But it REALLY takes a long time to put on.

There is something BBs know about with neophites - it's called the "newbie phenominon" - newbie women training and eating right can expect to gain 8-10 pounds of muscle their first year. They can also expect to drop fat at the same time.

This will never happen again. Once you get past this initial, remarkable phase, you have to pick whether you are going to bulk, or cut. You can't do both well.

The scale will go down as you become more muscular, because the muscle will burn off the fat.

You will also either freak out or be overjoyed at the "huge" muscles you think you are putting on in that first year.

As I enter my third year doing this, I am hoping that I MIGHT put on another - wait for it - two or three pounds of muscle THIS YEAR. And this might be optimistic, but hey, ya gotta have goals

Don't be afraid of your muscle growth. Just let it happen. I kinda have this conjecture that we are meant to be whatever size we end up - and the women you see who are very large and bulked up - they take steroids to achieve this look, because they really want it and because they work hard to achieve it. It's not for me, but it's a choice. It does NOT happen by accident. So just lift. Experiment with the carbs. And I do recommend TKD pre workout carbs for the lifting, but only once you are lifting heavy enough that you are stalled and can't lift anything heavier. You will find this will get you to the next dumbbell size, and trust me, you find yourself REALLY looking forward to your lifting days lol!

What are TKD carbs? I am not interested in competing so I'm not too picky on whether my arms are huge or not. As long as I look good and feel good, that's what the goal is. Everyone that I"ve talked to about weight training and bodybuilding. They say "why would you do that? You'll get huge!?!!" As in, as soon as I make the decision to bodybuild my body will balloon to enormous proportions. Not some gradual process that I alone control. I think bodybuilding has been pretty misunderstood and not valued for the healthy benefits it can give an individual.


~ Cori ~

Targeted Ketogenic Diet - variation on the Cyclic Ketogenic Diet. I posted what to do up the thread a bit. There may be some info in some of the other forums here. Just the pre-lifting carbs thing.

Your arms won't get huge. I'm actually TRYING, and MINE aren't huge either - but they have some nice size, and I'm very happy with them (that's me in my gallery shot - about two months ago). And I don't compete either.

Ahhhh the "Oh my G*d - you don't want to look like ARNOLD, do you?" argument. Probably the same people who will tell you that low-fat is the way to slimness...but I'm not bitter....

Muscles make you leaner!

And besides, without a whole lot of carbs, TRUST me, you can't bulk. I have to go on a bulking cycle of carb consumption for a few months at a time to get any kind of size. Then I have to trim off the extra fat that comes with the bulk. No carbs = no bulking. But do you ever get nice and hard!

So true! Woman don't get a body-builder fysique from strength training. They will start look like the models in the commercials though !

Check out the CKD forum
http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=52
CKD and Tkd are great ways to maintain and gain muscle when losing fat.
Jag

YES! There's actually a category in bodybuilding competitions called "figure". These women don't look like what most people think of when they think "bodybuilder", and yet, they are.

Built is giving some good info. I've lifted for years (with some serious gaps inbetween like the last 2 years!!) and have never gotten huge and I do heavy free weights and have worked with trainers. You get very firm and defined depending on diet. So don't worry or listen to the naysayers- my mom's the worst. Have fun and lift your heart out. It's a great stress release. You wont believe how it will sculpt your body.

Also, good supplementation is important. PR shakes, vitamins, and I try to always have a good protein shake after a workout a & add creatine to it. Creatine really helps get your muscles firm. Glutamine, omega-3 fatty acids, etc. There all important.

I have learned that I need carbs befor a workout or I get "heavy legs" and am very tired. Phat

Oh, yeah - leg day...

Me too!

Built- I was glad to read your post about having some fast acting carbs before a work out. That's been one of my questions. I read Trainer Dan's carb loadingplan on the weekends. Have you tried that?
Being a sugar addict, I think just something simple before a WO would be better for me. -Phat

I tried both, and I honestly preferred the pre-lifting TKD approach. But the CKD may be more effective. I personally think TKD is a better way to start, because it doen't freak you out as much, and you find yourself REALLY looking forward to lifting days.

(Good Rat! Here's your sugar. Now go lift!)

What type of lifting routine do you use? Right now I simply do 12 reps of a failry high weight (for my newbie muscles it's a strain!) and try to squeak out 3-4 sets. I've read that you should do something like 75-85-95% weight for each set? Should you lift for your total body every other day or alternate muscle groups each day? I was doing a whole body circuit M-W-F. Now I alternate
M- Upper body
T- Lower Body
W- Abs
Th - Upper body
F - Lower body
S - Abs

Then I throw in a day or two of cardio, usually on my ab days. I used to do 30-40 minutes of cardio 6 days/week. Now that I'm focusing more on weight training I cut down on the cardio. I will post a list of exercises that I currently do. I need some feedback as to how to improve. Thanks for all the great conversation!!

~ Cori ~

Keep doing what you are doing - it sounds like a good plan. Incorporate squats (NOT Smith machine - use dumbells, working in weight until you can squat an unloaded free bar, which is 45 pounds) and leg press, and dumbell deadlifts if you aren't already. I'll try to post up my routine sometime soon. You are doing a really good plan by the look of it.

You might consider doing volume work on your biggest parts (keep the weight the same as now, work up to 5 sets of 15 - I do this for legs) and higher-intensity work for your smaller parts (I do this for upper) - lift heavier, but do 3 sets of 6-8, or even 5 sets of 5.

Volume doesn't mean "light" - it just means "light, given you are going to do about twice and many reps in total".

Otherwise, you look like you're bang on.

Good job!

- Built