# Adding 4 - 5lbs of muscle... in 10 days?



## Bulk1 (Apr 12, 2007)

*I saw this and I want to ask your opinion in this? Is this a genuine way to pack on muscle or will i end up like a fat bloater? Thanks, ps.. sorry its a bit long to read but i found it intreguing..*

*How to Gain Muscle By Eating NO Protein*

Learn how to manipulate your protein intake to literally FORCE your body to add muscle mass. You can gain 4 to 5 pounds of fresh new muscle in only 10 days!



Protein intake is absolutely crucial for building muscle mass. It is what muscle tissue is made of. So how can you possibly gain muscle by eating NO protein?

To help answer this question, we need to first look at a training technique known as carbohydrate or carb-loading. Carb-loading is used primarily by endurance athletes to increase glycogen stores in the muscles beyond what the body will normally store. This increased fuel storage equals greater endurance. This phenomenon is known as "supercompensation" and it is very well documented.

The basic technique for carb-loading involves first eliminating carbs from the diet for several days while continuing to train hard. Training is then reduced and the athlete eats large amounts of carbs, in effect "loading" the muscles with glycogen (stored carbohydrates). Since the body has been deprived of carbs, it reacts to the extra carbs by greedily holding onto every last one it can. This technique can result in glycogen stores up to 1 1/2 times greater than normal.

But what does carb-loading have to do with eating no protein and gaining muscle? Everything.

In the context of supercompensation, imagine the result if you were to remove protein from your diet for a day. Just like with carb-loading, your body will react by greedily holding onto every last bit of protein it can. But here's the major difference: when accompanied by appropriate training, unlike with carb-loading where the extra carbs are burnt for fuel, you can convince your body to hang onto that extra protein permanently. How does this happen? By using it to build muscle, which is the primary storehouse of protein in your body.
​


*How To Do It:*

Note: before I tell you exactly how to do it, please keep in mind that I am not a medical doctor or nutritionist. This information is for educational purposes only and you should always consult your physician before making any major changes to your diet.
​


The technique consists of 3 phases: lead-up, protein deprivation, and supercompensation. These phases work synergistically to produce the conditions for very quick muscle gain.

In a nutshell, the lead-up phase consists of your training and diet for the several days before the protein deprivation day. The protein deprivation day is simply a day without protein. The supercompensation phase is the nutrition and training techniques you will use to maximize the rebound off the protein deprivation day.

I first encountered this technique a number of years ago in the writings of Leo Costa Jr. of Optimum Training Systems. He originated this theory after noting that farmers in Bulgaria would rotate protein in and out of the diets of their livestock to improve the amount and quality of the meat in the animals. He applied this technique to humans and weight training with amazing results!
​


*Phase 1 - The Lead Up*

There are several ways you can go about leading up to your protein deprivation day.

The first way is to continue with your regular diet and training right up until the day you do the protein deprivation technique. Take it relatively easy on your training - work hard but don't push yourself. Take a full day (or two) off training the day before you do the protein starvation day to make sure you're fully rested.

The second method involves temporarily restricting your carb intake before the protein deprivation day. (It is important to check with your doctor before restricting carbs in your diet, especially if you've never done it before.)

Basically, during the 3 days leading up to your protein deprivation day, you will keep your carb intake to around 30 to 50 grams per day (don't change anything else in your diet, just reduce your carb intake).

Restricting your carbs will deplete your body's glycogen stores, forcing it to rely more on fat and protein for energy. Remember the example I used in the beginning of the article about carb- loading? In the supercompensation phase, you will see how restricting then reloading your carbs, when properly combined with protein deprivation, can really shock your body into new muscle growth.
​


*Phase 2 - The Protein Deprivation Day*

This is the day that will set up the supercompensation, muscle-building phase. Essentially, you will be eating only fruit today - nothing else. You will be completely eliminating protein (and fat, incidentally) from your diet. What are the results of this? Your body uses up its protein stores and, just like in carb-loading, this creates an urgent need in your body to store the missing nutrient when it gets it again.

Eat as much fruit as you want on this day - apples, oranges, strawberries, bananas, whatever. You don't need to limit your intake at all. As long as you keep eating fruit, your body will use up its protein stores (known as the free amino acid pool) and set up the supercompensation phase. Also, eating only fruit for a day is very cleansing to your body. You may even find this day helps your digestive system function better.

As far as training goes, you have several options:

1. You can take a day off training. Depending on how your body reacts to protein deprivation, you may not feel like training at all. This is fine. You'll still get the effect of the protein deprivation, just not as strongly as if you were training.

2. Do a normal workout. Train the way you regularly train, treating the day as just another day in your exercise routine. Working out will help to increase the effect of the protein deprivation day by creating an even more urgent need in your body to hold onto protein.

3. Break it down hard. To maximize the supercompensation effect of the protein deprivation day, train for maximum muscle breakdown. Use heavy, basic exercises and really push yourself, e.g. use exercises such as squats or deadlifts, bench press, bent-over rows, shoulder presses, barbell curls and dips. Training like this on a protein deprivation day will send your body into a panic. It will really be ready to suck up that protein!
​


Be very careful when training on the all-fruit day for the first time. You may not have as much strength as you normally would. Be sure to eat a lot of fruit or drink fruit juice immediately after you've completed your workout. It is also important to drink a lot of water on this day as your body will be flushing out a lot of toxic byproducts from the system.
​


*Phase 3 - Supercompensation*

This is the phase you've been waiting for. You've just finished depriving your body of protein for an entire day and it's ready to start sucking it up.

The first day is the most important day. Start your day with a protein shake (if you have that available) immediately upon waking. Every meal you eat today should be very high protein. To maximize the effect of the protein deprivation day, you should try to eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight MINIMUM (i.e. if you weigh 200 pounds, eat 200 grams of protein). If you can eat more, do it.

Continue eating very high protein meals for the next 3 to 5 days. Your body is in the process of reloading with protein and you want to make sure you give it as much as you possibly can (just like with carb-loading). Your body will be supercompensating for the protein deprivation day by grabbing and holding onto a lot more of this protein than it normally would.

Now you must train to consolidate into muscle the extra protein your body is holding on to. For best results, you will need to train hard and heavy. Utilize basic exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, etc. for sets of 6 to 8 reps. Because of the protein deprivation and supercompensation effect, your body will be looking to hold onto a lot more protein, i.e. muscle mass, than usual.

Now, remember in Phase 1 where I described a restricted carb version of the lead-in phase? Here's where it really shows its power. Not only are you doing a protein-load in the third phase, you will also be doing a carb-load! What does that mean for you? It means even greater muscle growth.

When you eat carbs, your body secretes the hormone insulin. Insulin is the body's major storage hormone. It helps the body store carbs. It helps the body store fat. But, most importantly for us, it also helps the body store protein. By restricting carbs for a few days, you sensitize your body to carbs and insulin.

Here's why this is important: you've just eliminated protein from your diet for a day and your body is ready to suck up every last bit of protein it can. Now you can also flood it with carbs (and insulin) which your body is now more sensitive to because of your previous carb restriction. The result: your muscles take up even more protein, which means you can gain even more muscle very quickly!
​


*Conclusion:*

It's truly amazing what an incredible effect purposefully restricting or removing a major nutrient such as protein (or carbs) can do for muscle growth. Your body is greedy. It doesn't like to be deprived. By taking something away, you can fool your body into holding onto a whole lot more of it when you bring it back.

With the techniques described, you can add pounds of new muscle to your body in a very short period of time.
​


----------



## ARNIE (Dec 19, 2006)

ive heard about this before and wouldnt mind giving it a try when im off cycle.its a good read and seems to make sense.


----------



## Bulk1 (Apr 12, 2007)

ARNIE said:


> ive heard about this before and wouldnt mind giving it a try when im off cycle.its a good read and seems to make sense.


Cheers Arnie, I am tempted! :lift: but last thing i need is all the fruit to turn to sugar and then the fat storage of protein if its unused.. and stays around my belly.. I worry about packing on more flab than muscle. It does sound very ethical tho.

Someone here must have tried it? Or just anymore opinions would be good.


----------



## ah24 (Jun 25, 2006)

I havent read it because im tired, but from the first few lines i read i call bullsh1t.

Ill have a proper look tomorrow though, just look at it this way, look at the 'information' muscletech put into their adverts - are they any different to normal products (except price!!), NO they arent. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is


----------



## nick500 (Dec 12, 2005)

5lbs muscle = 5 x 454gms muscle = ~2250gms even at 100% efficiency to conversion to muscle (when its probably more realistically about 4 - 5%) would be 10 days of '1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight MINIMUM (i.e. if you weigh 200 pounds, eat 200 grams of protein)' on that diet.

its mathematically, physically, chemically, and scientifically impossible.

bull.

but nice idea.


----------



## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

As above but I think you will gain weight through the carb supercompensation, it won't be muscle though only water.

I like the fact he mentions the amino acid pool, I have been banging on about that for ages as a reason NOT to need shakes before bed.

I also like the 24hr fruit 'cleanse'. Detoxes like that can only be good for you, he doesn't however, appear to recognise that fruit too has protein in it, so technically, if you ate enough....

It's an interesting idea, we know it works with carbs, could it really work with protein? and more frighteningly, does it work with fat??? anyone on a low fat diet could be in for a shock!

End of the day, it certainly wouldn't hurt to do this, I plan to do this anyway after PCT, but for 'cleansing' purposes, so if anyone else tries it, post up your results!

SD


----------



## Five-O (May 21, 2006)

yeah, no way 5lbs of absolute grade A beef is possible in that time, imagine a 5lb chicken breast, that would be the equivalent in muscle gain, however 5lbs of water and glycogen retention would be possible.


----------



## ARNIE (Dec 19, 2006)

people who crash diet and then go back to normal eating always put the weight back on and more,as the human body does have ways to protect itself against famine which people had to suffer generations ago when crops failed or there was shortage of food stuff's etc then the people who could put weight on as muscle and fat by storing it in high amounts would have the better chance of survival at the next shortage of food ,this is why we have so many fattys in the 1st world now because bodys evolved so well at storing food as energy in the form of muscle and fat,so i think there might be a good scientific possibility of this having some truth in it.


----------



## ah24 (Jun 25, 2006)

As said, you would probably gain weight...but not the weight your wanting


----------



## Stanco (Jan 7, 2007)

Could probably come in handy if you have like a high school reunion coming up soon


----------



## ah24 (Jun 25, 2006)

Stanco said:


> Could probably come in handy if you have like a high school reunion coming up soon


Whats that? A nice bloated look


----------



## Tinytom (Sep 16, 2005)

No way thats possible

The body just doesnt build muscle that fast.

Muscle building is in response to a stimulus from training or muscular overload

Carb supercompensation is to do with depleted energy levels. Because carbs and fat are primary energy sources the body has storage mechanisms for them i.e. liver and msucel glycogen and fat stores

I odnt recall reading anywhere about a protein storage mechanism except in the amino acids in muscles i.e. muscle fibres.

The body doesnt need to store protein as itdoesnt get any of its energy from this source unless you are instarvation and fat and carb stores are depleted.


----------



## Delhi (Dec 8, 2005)

I also call bull, but then in Belgium they used a similar technique to create the worlds largest leanest cows (Cant remember the breed name). This happened through necessity not choice though as it was all dependant on food rations avaliable at the time.

If I can be bothered i will look up some info on it............


----------



## Delhi (Dec 8, 2005)

Link

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/belgianblue/index.htm


----------



## Five-O (May 21, 2006)

ah24 said:


> Whats that? A nice bloated look


pmsl.....


----------



## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

ARNIE said:


> people who crash diet and then go back to normal eating always put the weight back on and more,as the human body does have ways to protect itself against famine which people had to suffer generations ago when crops failed or there was shortage of food stuff's etc then the people who could put weight on as muscle and fat by storing it in high amounts would have the better chance of survival at the next shortage of food ,this is why we have so many fattys in the 1st world now because bodys evolved so well at storing food as energy in the form of muscle and fat,so i think there might be a good scientific possibility of this having some truth in it.


I get your point Arnie but you are talking about calorie depletion, the article is talking about macronutrient manipulation, the calories stay the same its the ratios that differ so there should be no 'starvation response' which you quite rightly pointed out is the cause of many a weight gain through yo yo dieting.

SD


----------



## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

Delhi said:


> I also call bull, but then in Belgium they used a similar technique to create the worlds largest leanest cows (Cant remember the breed name). This happened through necessity not choice though as it was all dependant on food rations avaliable at the time.
> 
> If I can be bothered i will look up some info on it............


They did that through genetic manipulation mate, using the myostatin gene.

SD


----------



## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

Tinytom said:


> No way thats possible
> 
> The body just doesnt build muscle that fast.
> 
> ...


You have a storing capacity for amino acids in your blood, I read 'somewhere' that there is at least 150g of aminos circulating in your blood at any one time, which makes sense. I don't think depleting this store would lead to supercompensation at all though.

SD


----------



## Tinytom (Sep 16, 2005)

SportDr said:


> You have a storing capacity for amino acids in your blood, I read 'somewhere' that there is at least 150g of aminos circulating in your blood at any one time, which makes sense. I don't think depleting this store would lead to supercompensation at all though.
> 
> SD


Yeah I think I've seen that somewhere as well

But it really pales next to the ability of storage of carbs as glycogen. I've also read some interesting titbits on anabolic response from depleting amino acids which is why I never have a midnight protein snack or take a protein shake before bed.

I always get a better response from the morning protein shake after a 8-10 hour protein fast.

Same as how I never take a protein shake right before training as I want to fully deplete my aminos from training and then take maximum benefit from the PWO shake and anabolic window etc.


----------



## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

Tinytom said:


> Yeah I think I've seen that somewhere as well
> 
> But it really pales next to the ability of storage of carbs as glycogen. I've also read some interesting titbits on anabolic response from depleting amino acids which is why I never have a midnight protein snack or take a protein shake before bed.
> 
> ...


At last someone agrees with me on the nightime shake thing!!

I have done it of course, but never noticed any difference apart from very dark wee in the morning which I have tested using a urinalysis dipstick and it was packed with protein (ie I just p1ssed it all out). Without the shake I appreciate my breakfast a lot more too.

Did you know though, that the nightime 'fast' is considered to be natures way of detoxing the body? 8 hours without food is perfect for allowing your organs to cleans and heal themselves, why overload them with unecessary protein? Sure we heal overnight and our GH and test levels rise naturally, so we are growing too, but with a large amino pool to call on why add more, like a glass that is full, adding more water just spills it over the top.

Protein metabolism produces toxic waste products, nitrogen, urea, ammonia, your organs want to sleep and heal too, how can they with that lot floating around the bloodstream....

The only aminos you need overnight are Arginine and Ornithine in a dosage of a few grams, to raise GH levels further, which they have been scientifically proven to do. Glutamine however has been proven to do didly squat in most but not all studies I have read, the theory was nice tho!

SD


----------



## Bulk1 (Apr 12, 2007)

SportDr said:


> At last someone agrees with me on the nightime shake thing!!
> 
> I have done it of course, but never noticed any difference apart from very dark wee in the morning which I have tested using a urinalysis dipstick and it was packed with protein (ie I just p1ssed it all out). Without the shake I appreciate my breakfast a lot more too.
> 
> ...


 I have learnt something valuable here.. cheers SD, good info. Thats a lot of bedtime servings saved from wasted protein over a month!


----------



## paulo (Feb 17, 2007)

sport doc have you read susan kleiner power eating book- i found it really helpfull, also maybe worth a recommended reading section/book review type of page?


----------



## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

paulo said:


> sport doc have you read susan kleiner power eating book- i found it really helpfull, also maybe worth a recommended reading section/book review type of page?


Not read that no, will check it out on Amazon, thanks.

SD


----------



## leanman (May 29, 2003)

SportDr said:


> Not read that no, will check it out on Amazon, thanks.
> 
> SD


No need mate, ive got a copy you can borrow

While it may not apply 100% to bodybuilding it is worth a read all the same.I remember getting it years back and thinking sh!t have i really got to eat all that to grow:crazy:


----------



## Scottswald (Mar 16, 2007)

anything that sounds too good to be true......is!!! Simple as that!!!


----------



## Chil (May 20, 2007)

That was alot of great posts. Good stuff everyone.

Sport Dr. whats your last meal of the day and what time.


----------



## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

Chil said:


> That was alot of great posts. Good stuff everyone.
> 
> Sport Dr. whats your last meal of the day and what time.


Full on meal is between 7&8 on work nights, often lots of veg, some chicken usually and alow GI starch such as sweet potato.

Cheers

SD


----------



## bkotey (Mar 29, 2007)

Thats the end of yellow wee then! Thanks for the info.


----------

