On Thursday, I went over Super Method #1 – MEGA Carb Loading, and today I’d like to share a different, yet enormously effective method called Anabolic Burst Cycling through Diet and Exercise (ABCDE).
To be honest, the whole ABCDE approach is rather old news. I first read about it back in Muscle Media 2000 (man, I miss that magazine) some ten years ago when Bill Phillips interviewed some crazy under-the-radar dude named Torbjorn Akerfeldt.
Good ol’ Tori went on to unveil some interesting scientific theory over the course of a 4-part article series (and this was in a PRINT magazine, so it left you hanging for an entire MONTH before you got to see part 2, 3, 4, etc…and you thought waiting for my next blog post was bad!) along with the basic guidelines of his approach for cycling periods of overfeeding and underfeeding in short bursts (2 weeks at a time).
To give you a simple explanation of the ABCDE approach, you eat a bunch of calories along with intense, high volume muscle building workouts (minimal cardio) for 2 weeks, then transition into a rather strict, intensive diet with a ton of cardio.
The principles are based on research that Akerfeldt shared showing that when overfeeding, anabolic hormones reach their peak after two weeks, while continuing to “bulk” after that point leads to more fat gain and less muscle gain (diminishing returns).
The same thing was observed with regards to fat loss and fat burning enzymes – 2 weeks and then things tend to slow.
So why not take advantage of those “magic” 2 weeks and then when things tend to slow down, then switch gears and take advantage of another magic 2 but while concentrating on the opposite goal.
This is the theory anyway, and for the most part, it works quite well.
There are several problems with the original outlined plan of attack, however, mainly being that recent gains in lean mass are easily reversed when you jump right into a severe calorie restricted diet thereafter (especially with a ton of added cardio).
In reality, you’d need a little assistance (i.e. drugs – not recommended) to make this type of extremely cycling really work.
Fortunately, going with a more moderate approach solves this problem.
Here are the guidelines that I recommend when using the ABCDE approach:
1. Two weeks of higher calories along with serious muscle-building workouts (minimal cardio) followed by two weeks of lower calories and intense fat burning workouts (with much less cardio than originally recommended)
2. On higher calorie weeks, use a macro breakdown of 30/45/25 (Protein/Carbs/Fat) and a total calorie intake equal to 18 x Lean Body Mass (total weight – fat weight)
3. On lower calorie weeks, follow a strategic fat loss diet, such as my Cheat Your Way Thin Diet (core phase)
Essentially, it’s very easy. Simply alternate back and forth between mini muscle building and mini fat loss phases of 2-week duration. The variety alone (both training and diet) is one of the major draws of doing something like this.
Over the course of 12-16 weeks, expect to be significantly leaner with more lean muscle – guaranteed.
Keep rockin!
Joel
P.S. Want to know ANOTHER brand new technique for simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain right now?
Check out the below video from my buddy Kyle explaining one of the NEWEST methods we’re using:
sucks looks like we’re not going to see method 3. but ive been reading more about this method and seems very interesting. Joel say i have 158 lbs of LBM *18= 2850 cals. thats for high calorie weeks. now for low calorie weeks something like 1800-2000 cals/day gonna seem like a good idea? Thanks man
Great stuff! Bring on #3!
Just found your blog and reading through past posts as well. Good stuff you have here although for most people I prefer more balanced ways to lose fat and keep muscle over these cycled approaches. It seems more healthy for the average person to practice.
@Lose Fat Gain Muscle – Part 4 | Body Transformation Insider – would it be possible to simplify with a ball park increase in calories so we could say add 100 calorries more per meal on the 2 weeks of increased calorie weeks so we dont have to do math….. I dont get the math thing very well . is this possible ?
rose
Joel, Love your posts. This system seems totally awesome and I am going to give it a try. I am doing method #1 since you posted it the beggining of the week and it really seems to help. It seems that I am not as carb hungry throughout the day if I just load them after I weight train.
My question for ABCDE is doing the 2 week muscle building phase do you do any cardio at all or is it just straight muscle work? I ask because along with muscle building I am also doing triathlons (I’m actually doing my first sprint triathlon tomorrow morning) and I want to make sure I keep my training up for those. Also, when you do the fat loss, cardio phase should you do any weights at all or just do cardio? I would appreciate this clarification.
Again, thanks a ton Joel. I am sure glad I got involved in your site. I have loved the posts and really look forward to Method #3.
Dallin
Two questions,
During the low calorie, high cardio phase are we supposed to be doing all low carb days or the traditional cheat your way thin approach of low carb, low gi, high gi, cheat, etc?
Also, what’s a realistic expectation for following this kind of a plan? Should we expect to gain 1 pound of LBM and lose 1 pound of bodyfat every 4 week cycle or would it be more like gain 5 pounds of LBM and lose 5 pounds of fat? Anyway, any kind of realistic expectation would greatly help to put us in the right mindset for following a plan like this without feeling frustrated by an apparent lack of progress.
Has anyone read ‘Bodyopus’ by the late (steroid guru) Dan Duchaine?
the term ‘steroid guru’ may put you off but this guy was an absolute genius when it came to changing physiques and carb cycling. He just happened to write about steroids when the rest of the bodybuilding world were denying using them!
when i tried the system my measurements went crazy! like 1″ gains from week to week, id look heavy on mondays and ripped on fridays. it was basically 5 days dieting low carb and 2 days of supercompensation and the workouts suggested made perfect sense. look it up, its the same concept as Joel is writing about here, only 20 years ago!
@Nick Nilsson –
@Nathan –
Interesting posts guys. I’ve not used this style of training so am unable to add more.
I have this notion that the cycle timings could depend on personal physiology. I’d be interested to hear your views on this as you have worked with this type of training.
I would not be surprised if this differs for women also, as it relies on hormones and the situation is well different for girls.
@hope –
See above. Maybe we can unearth something here then. :) I suspect that developing sensitivity to your body makes all this easy but it is wise to look and test things against things that others are doing also.
It sounds like it would work well.
Originally Posted By DWSonds good, makes sense,and it just might work! Is this something you can do on and on, or is here a point of deminishing return on this plan? I think I
might try it this summer and see how I look and feel in the fall.
Yeah, what this guy said. Is this a good way to workout all year long? I suppose at some point, you would be happy with how your body looks and how much strength you have so then you could tone things down to basic keep-yourself-in-shape workouts.
Also, is there a way this could go horribly wrong?
from what ive been digging up on this, the changed you made joel, to the amount of calories is needed. People were just pigging out and while gaining a good amount of mass, a lot was fat. Keeping it to moderation is key it seems
Muscle Media Magazine ROCKED! I was so disappointed when it stopped publishing. Anyway, the approach you describe is great.
Kinda like ISSA’s ‘Zig-Zag’ approach (3 days-1 day with the workouts being exactly like you said). It seems, after reading all the posts, that each body type is different, and finding what works for you is the best advice. And then keep changing it up.
The body thrives on change.
Ok, I am just posting to get the posts up to 100 before Monday. Just finished my first triathlon. Went really well. Did the best I have ever done and totally loved it. If anyone is looking for a fun competitive hobby/sport I suggest training for triathlons. Tons of fun. Anyways, starting tomorrow with my muscle building following Joel’s last two methods. Thanks Joel for your suggestions. I love your methods and I look forward to seeing what else you have to say. Everyone, keep the posts coming so we can make the 100. Until next time.
Interesting!
Hi Joel,
Thanks for this method which is new to me. I’ll try this and update you of its effects on my fat loss efforts.
Vikki
This sounds awesome, I’m definitely going to give it a try this winter.
I don’t have anything important to ask about it but we need to get to 100 comments!!
Yo Joel! Thanks for bending the rules. It would seems a shame to pad out the forum with ‘soft’ posts just to meet the quota.
Given that it is summer then maybe a lot of the audience are out making good use of the weather. Info here is good (and just occasionally contentious :) ).
Like what you are doing.
So it seems we didn’t make the quota for Method #3. I don’t know about everyone else, but I am quite disappointed. I was really looking forward to another Method to help me build muscle and loose fat. Oh, well. I guess that is life – always full of disappointment.
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...read more