[Zach Persson]

I would more so look at the protein intake according to your bodyweight. A 100kg man need more protein than a 70kg man.. So I would just take my bodyweight and multiply that with 3 and that is the protein intake during the day. So if you weigh 80kg, protein intake would be 240 gram. Take this number and divide it by amount of meals that you are eating and that is what you eat every meal.

Example 5 meals: 240/5 = 48g protein per meal, does not have to be exact the same each meal but would shoot for at least 40g per meal. Example on more heavy carb meals you can reduce to 40g protein and 50g protein on low carb meals.

Recent study done by Jorntrommelen showed that 30g of casein pre bed was not enough amount of protein even with leucine added to optimize overnight muscle protein synthesis so shoot for at least 40g pre bed. Study showed that when consuming at least 40g of casein protein before bed muscle protein synthesis was ”optimized” and recovery was improved more so when consuming 30g casein protein.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30204517
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27916799
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28536184

Actually enhanced athletes are more nitrogen efficient, therefor on PAPER and in THEORY require less protein per bodyweight than a natural athlete do.

[Zach Persson]

I would suggest you generally make one/very few changes at a time, to make sure you know what is working and what is not. Especially this being your first offseason. Then I would go about small changes at a time, get the most out of the least so that you can prolong the offseason and be in a good place for growth for a longer period of time ”Actions over time”.

Being hungry on rest days is acceptable, It would also depend on your training split and what time of the day you train. Also depends on your job are you sedentary or do you work labor, manual job? In that case I would have more carbohydrates during rest days than for those who are sedentary.

But assuming you don’t have a physical demanding job I would start with a lower carb approach on rest days assess and then adjust and increase them as needed. But could start with roughly 1g per kilo bodyweight / 0.5g per pound of body weight.

If training earlier in day I would have my carbs on rest days the night before. If training in the evening I would have my carbs on rest days at breakfast. Start there and gradually increase amount of carbs on rest days if needed. So Rest days lower carbs, higher fats and vice versa on training days.

[Zach Persson]

Yes I would keep food and PEDs the same and reduce training volume in half. So keep it to 1 working set per exercise. Example if doing 8 sets for back, go down to 4 sets for back.. And I would personally do no intensifiers/intensity techniques for big muscle groups (drop sets, rest pasue etc)

[Zach Persson]

I am doing similar split, training Lower, upper, REST, Lower, REST, Upper, Rest, Repeat.. And I have made very good progression, strength has been increasing a lot and so has the increases in mass. Did Push, Pull, Legs before this split, but atm I do prefer Upper/lower split over the PPL.

[Zach Persson]

Egg whites and ground beef works good for me. Protein shakes does it job as well, only problem for me with shakes is satiety and hunger lol

[Zach Persson]

any brand you will recommend

Agree with Philipp, buy Bulk Powders – Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin. Good price and always discounts, so when buying in bulk you can save a lot of money.

[Zach Persson]

The tendons are slightly achy, mood Is generally lower than usual. Probably from the tired feeling. But your right, it was only one off session so far, but factoring all these other things makes me think im wiped out possibly. It has been a chore going to the gym recently but once I’m
In I feel better and generally motivated.[/quote]

Ok, from what you are saying I personally would do a deload. Feeling that going to the gym is a chore is never good, you are not setting yourself up for a perfect session. The mental aspect is so huge when it comes to progression.

When this happens to me I always deload, make sure I manage stress as good as I can and then go back to normal volume again in about 1-2 weeks. So if I was in your spot I would deload, I do not think that increasing calories will be the better alternative here

[Zach Persson]

Personally If this started yesterday and only felt it last training session, I would allow for another session first before adjusting. We all have some bad session, can be because of several factors. Feeling tired when bulking is not uncommon, (growing is a tiresome process just look at babies), specially if you gained a lot of weight in a short time. Imagine adding a 20 pound belt to your body, of course you would be tired.

You say appetite is still there which is good, because loss of appetite can also be a sign of overtraining/overreaching.

So I would suggest you go about another session first and if strength is decreasing, lack of motivation/energy, sleep disturbances etc is still present then adjust.

If you recently increased calories I would do a deload first, reducing volume in half but keeping intensity the same. This is assuming you have kept the volume the same during the time you have made progress, and you are in a caloric surplus. Because if you were in a caloric deficit it could just be the fact that you are doing too much volume. But assuming that you have not changed the volume during the period of progression I would go about a deload first.

I would also look at how is the pop during training? delayed onset muscle and tendon soreness, do they persist longer than usual? How is the motivation inside and outside of the gym, does it feel like a chore going to the gym? How is mood and libido? Tendons?

But this is just my opinion ????

[Zach Persson]

Ohh, Did not recall the part where you were asked that question. My apologize!
Thank you for answering 🙂

[Zach Persson]

Hi Jordan!
Would you ever consider going back to an upper/lower split again? Or do you feel like you would not be able to recover or make good enough progress from a upper/lower split at this point? Heard you talking about the progress you were able to make when running upper/lower on your instagram story with Rich 🙂

[Zach Persson]

Thanks Dean! ????

[Zach Persson]

Dean, if you dont mind me asking. How has your strength and sessions been since starting DNP? ????

[Zach Persson]

Wow @drdeanstmart that was very informative thanks!

[Zach Persson]

Another great addition to the site! 🙂

[Zach Persson]

Been waiting for this! Will definitely follow along ????