Anabolic Burst Cycling of Diet and Exercise

C

ChrisHouston

New Member
It comes down to: Alternating two-week bulk and cut cycles are optimal for lean muscle gain.

http://www.musclemedia.com/training/abcde/v58_abc1.asp

Seems an interesting theory. Anyone have any further opinions? The article has a sort of PR-spin tone to it, but all I can see they could be selling is the guy's book - which he hasn't finished writing.

I'm keen to try incorporating it into an HST cycle somehow. It would have to be modified, but I haven't figured out how would be best yet.

Chris.
 
Apparently this has been around here before.

I think you'd be better off checking on UD2 by Lylle MacDonald.

Tot?

Your valued opinion?
 
I'm not sure alternating between cut and bulk is a good idea. Coming off a cutting cycle, even just two weeks long, your metabolism will be down, so going straight into a bulk could cause rebound weight gain. If you kept the calorie surplus relatively low, like only 250 over maintenance, maybe you wouldn't have to worry about it though.

Like Fausto said, you may want to check out UD2.0. You could alternate UD2.0 style cut and bulk without much problem, since the glycogen depletions should negate any rebound effect you might get. I was planning to try that out myself, going two weeks of cutting UD2.0 alternating with four weeks of bulking UD2.0 and cycling like that over and over... but I recently stopped caring about remaining lean, so I'm about to head into a one to two year long slow bulk.

There are forums on the UD2.0 site, perhaps you could get some better advice on alternating diets over there?
 
Thanks for your input. I was more interested in the anabolic hormonal effect that supposedly existed in the first two weeks of eating significantly over maintenance. I did some research and found an older post with a link to a more recent article that said:

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">A few years back, a magazine I used to work for published something called the ABCDE, or Anabolic Burst Cycling of Diet and Exercise, program. [...] It had one big drawback, though. It didn't really work. People picked up additional muscle mass, but they also got fatter - way fatter.</div>
I also found a graph of the expected muscle and fat increase over a 12 week period of following this diet. After 3 cycles of 2-week-binge and 2-week-fast, it predicted average gains of of 8lb muscle and 1 to 2lb fat. Frankly, I was unimpressed. I've generally found an 8-week HST vanilla programme results in a 10lb muscle increase and up to 3 pound fat loss. Granted, I'm still in that &quot;beginner's gains&quot; zone, but HST with a moderately over-maintenance diet seems far more effective.

I'll keep UD2.0 in mind for when I next start feeling uncomfortable in the belly area, but hopefully that won't be for quite a while yet.

Chris.
 
I tried this a few years back, and didn't really get much out of it. I gained and lost the same 25 lbs each cycle. Believe it or not, after eating ~ 6000 cal a day for two weeks, I was ready for the 2 weeks of cutting!!!
 
I tried this a few years back, and didn't really get much out of it. I gained and lost the same 25 lbs each cycle. Believe it or not, after eating ~ 6000 cal a day for two weeks, I was ready for the 2 weeks of cutting!!!
 
I tried this a few years back, and didn't really get much out of it. I gained and lost the same 25 lbs each cycle. Believe it or not, after eating ~ 6000 cal a day for two weeks, I was ready for the 2 weeks of cutting!!!
 
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