John Berardi - Cheater's Diet (Text Version)

Cheater's Diet / Escalating Density Training: Lose Fat and Gain Muscle
By Joel Marion
First published at www.johnberardi.com, Aug 4 2003.

As many readers of my work know, I’m a big fan of heavy lifting during a diet phase, preferring a good high intensity, low volume workout to the classic low intensity, high volume workouts most bodybuilders use when dieting. Why, you ask? Well, I think heavy lifting is critical to preserving lean body mass as well as increasing muscle hardness, a key component of looking good when you’re all ripped and stuff. Of course, there’s more to it than that so if you’re curious, after reading this article, hop on over to T-mag and check out my Ripped, Rugged and Dense article to hear my comprehensive thoughts on this matter. But before doing so, right now, I’d like to introduce you to a different type of plan.

The Cheat Sheet to the Cheater’s Diet

This plan employs a pretty revolutionary (if I do say so myself) nutritional strategy (my Cheater’s Diet) and a higher volume strength-training program to produce dramatic results. The tenants of my Cheater’s Diet are pretty simple. You diet very hard for 2.5 days, then you lift weights, then you eat up for 1.5 days. After this, you rinse and repeat. Here’s how you lay the diet component out:

Day 1 – Strict Day*

Day 2 – Strict Day

Day 3 – Mixed Day**

Day 4 – Overfeed Day***

Day 5 – Repeat

*Strict Days (All other days): consume 8 times LBM in calories; a minimum of 1/2 of these calories should be derived from protein.

**Mixed Days (Weight training days): consume 1/2 of a strict day's calories prior to your workout; consume 1/2 of an overfeed day's calories after your workout.

***Overfeed Days (Days immediately following a weight training day): consume 2g P/lb of LBM, 3g C/lb of LBM, and 0.4g F/lb of LBM.

Considering the low calorie approach used on the strict days, I normally recommend something like Mag-10, Biotest’s effective androgenic pro-hormone product. This androgenic power will help preserve lean body mass on the strict days while stimulating anabolism during the overfeed days. The net result in this case is simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain! But before running out to by a case of Mag-10, a couple of caveats are in order here. First, to use Mag-10, you need to be a man. Loading a woman up on androgens isn’t such a good idea unless she’s into a hairy upper lip and some genital alterations. Secondly, be prepared for some temporary endocrine changes when you come off. You’re bound to get some suppression of natural T when increasing your blood testosterone a couple fold. If not, at least you'll feel like you're recovery is a bit less robust.

At this point, due to my caution, if Mag-10 isn’t your bag, then you might choose its milder cousin, 4AD. While it doesn’t have quite the anabolic punch of Mag-10, it is definitely a little less endocrine-altering while still providing a good deal of lean mass preservation. Every little bit helps. Since 4AD isn’t quite as powerful as Mag-10, I recommend the following dietary change if you choose to use it over Mag-10.

*Strict Days (All other days): consume 10 times LBM in calories; a minimum of 1/2 of these calories should be derived from protein.

**Mixed Days (Weight training days): consume 1/2 of a strict day's calories prior to your workout; consume 1/2 of an overfeed day's calories after your workout.

***Overfeed Days (Days immediately following a weight training day): consume 1.5g P/lb of LBM, 2.5g C/lb of LBM, and 0.3g F/lb of LBM.

Of course, 4AD is still and androgen and if you’re interested in avoiding androgens altogether, an alternative – non-hormonal - supplement to include would be a healthy dose of methoxyisoflavone. If choosing methoxy, here’s your diet.

*Strict Days (All other days): consume 12 times LBM in calories; a minimum of 1/2 of these calories should be derived from protein.

**Mixed Days (Weight training days): consume 1/2 of a strict day's calories prior to your workout; consume 1/2 of an overfeed day's calories after your workout.

***Overfeed Days (Days immediately following a weight training session): consume 1.33gP/lb of LBM, 2g C/lb of LBM, and .267g F/lb of LBM.

At this point, you now have a skeleton of the diet. Let me now share with you some important dietary notes. First, it’s a good idea to consume a serving of Classic GROW! four hours after hitting the sheets on the nights following your weight training sessions (outlined below). Mix a serving before you go to bed and set the alarm for the appropriate time.

Also, you probably noticed that I didn't give a specific macronutrient breakdown for the strict days, just that around 1/2 of your calories come from protein. The reason is that it is up to you as to how you want to fill in the additional calories. Some people do better with higher fat/lower carb diets while others obtain greater results by keeping carbs higher and fat relatively low. The only mandatory P + C meal on strict days is the meal following your HIIT cardio sessions (detailed below); the rest should be based on your past dieting experience.

Lastly, for the overfeeding portion of the program, you want to concentrate on consuming high GI carbs as they are the best at provoking a substantial leptin response [4]. (While JB doesn’t necessarily agree with this idea, my clients have seen success with this approach. So give it a try – what have you got to lose?) Foods such as fat free fig newtons, angel hair pasta, bagels, breads, grape juice, SURGE (pre/post workout), maltodextrin, potatoes, baked potato chips, baked tortilla chips and salsa, animal crackers, low fat pop tarts, low fat graham crackers, low fat cookies, rice, and pretzels should all be staple foods during your overfeeding days. Try to limit your consumption of high-fructose corn syrup as it only is able to refill liver glycogen and is very lipogenic (fat producing) in nature.

The Escalating Density Workout Plan

With the help of super-coach, Charles Staley, the Escalating Density Workout was adapted to my Cheater’s Diet in a specific way to enhance results. Here’s the workout.

Day 1: morning and evening cardio – strict diet

Day 2: morning and evening cardio – strict diet

Day 3: morning cardio, diet until workout session A, workout, overfeed

Day 4: no workout - overfeed

Day 5: repeat cycle using (on day 7 workout session A is replaced with session B)

The cycle then repeats itself over and over again, alternating workout sessions A and B, until either 1) you wish to cycle off the androgen you are using or 2) you have reached your target body fat percentage. Never end the cycle after an overfeed day, though. Rather, end it after the 2 strict days (day 1 and 2 or 5 and 6) to take advantage of the fat burning potential of those two days.

So there’s the skeleton of the workout plan. At this point, Id like to offer some notes. I'm a big fan of the high intensity interval training (HIIT) form of cardio and it should be used often during this program. A sample workout would be to perform 10-15, 15-second sprints with a work to rest ratio of 1:1 (15 second sprint: 15 second rest). On strict diet days, I would like you to perform 2 cardio sessions (morning HIIT and an afternoon/evening moderate session of 30-45 minutes in duration). This will allow you to get the most from the leptin boost you may receive on overfeeding days; the potential to burn fat is extremely elevated during the following two strict days and this is a great way to take advantage of this potential.

Putting Flesh On The EDT Bones

Below are the hypertrophy-oriented workouts designed specifically for this program by both Coach Charles Staley and myself; they are in EDT format and are based on three timed sessions (20, 15, and 10 mins respectively). The degree of exercise difficulty and duration of each session lessens as the workout goes on (the more difficult and demanding exercises are performed first and for a longer duration while the less challenging exercises are performed last and for a shorter duration). Distal body parts are worked together in the same workout for total body glycogen depletion; in a glycogen depleted state, the overfeed is less likely to spill over to appreciable fat gain [1,2,3].

Workout Session A: Pushing Muscles and Hip Dominant Legs

A1) Dips
A2) Stiff-leg Deadlifts
*Go back and forth between exercises for 20 total minutes.

B1) Standing DB Military Press
B2) Glute-ham Pullthroughs with Triceps Rope
*Go back and forth between exercises for 15 total minutes.

C1) Hammer Strength Incline Press
C2) Lying Leg Curls
*Go back and forth between exercises for 10 total minutes.

Workout Session B: Pulling muscles and Quad Dominant legs

A1) Supine Grip Chins
A2) Narrow Stance Back Squats
*Go back and forth between exercises for 20 total minutes.

B1) Lat Pulldown Machine Rows with Triangle Attachment
B2) Leg Press
*Go back and forth between exercises for 15 total minutes.

C1) Upright Rows
C2) Leg Extensions
*Go back and forth between exercises for 10 total minutes.

EDT Procedure (Provided by Coach Charles Staley)

Each workout consists of three timed sessions (20, 15, and 10 mins respectively) separated by a short (5-10 minute) rest period. In each time frame, you'll perform two exercises, for a total of 6 exercises per workout.
In each time frame, the two exercises are performed in alternating fashion, back and forth, until the time frame has elapsed.
Select a load that approximates a 10-12 RM for each exercise. Ideally, the weight used for each exercise should be equally difficult.
Generally, most people will find it most effective to do higher repetition (but not maximal effort) sets and shorter rests at the beginning, and then gradually progress to fewer reps per set and longer rests as fatigue accumulates. As an example, you might begin by performing sets of 6 with very short (i.e. 15 second) rests. As you begin to fatigue, you'll increase your rest intervals as you drop down to sets of 4, then 2, and as the 20-minute time limit approaches, you might crank out a few singles in an effort of accomplish as many repetitions as possible in 20 minutes.
Do not perform early sets to failure, or even near failure. My recommended starting point is to do 1/2 of what is possible (e.g., 5 reps with a 10-RM weight) at the beginning of the time frame. As the time limit approaches however, you'll find yourself working at or near failure as you attempt to break your rep record.
Each time you repeat the workout, your objective is to simply perform more total repetitions in the same time frame. Apply the 20/5 rule: as soon as you can increase the total number of reps by 20% or more, start the next workout with 5% more weight and start over. (The 20/5 rule will generally only apply to individuals performing this program for a period longer than 3 weeks).

Off-week Recommendations

Since this program is very demanding, you may feel the need for an off week every month or two. If you still have fat to lose, you may continue dieting during your "off weeks." Just choose a more moderate diet that you have had success with in the past or simply a steady hypocaloric regimen. If you’ve used androgens during your cycle, it’s a good idea to supplement with a testosterone booster like Clomid or Tribex to get your boys back on track. As far as training is concerned, a strength-based program such as my Ripped, Rugged, and Dense program would be optimal after coming off a higher volume, hypertrophy oriented program.

Gain slabs of mass with relatively NO fat gain!

It is also possible to tweak this program if your goal is to gain mass while maintaining (or even slightly reducing) your current level of body fat. The only alteration that needs to be made is to insert an extra workout and overfeed day into the rotating split. Here is what it looks like:

Day 1: morning and evening cardio – strict diet

Day 2: morning and evening cardio – strict diet

Day 3: morning cardio, diet until workout session A, overfeed

Day 4: workout session B & overfeed

Day 5: no workout - overfeed

Day 6: repeat

This approach can be used with any of the compounds mentioned previously.

Conclusion

By this time, you should have more than enough to chew on (pun intended). If you have any questions regarding the program, feel free to email me directly; I'm always willing to help. Lastly, if you do give some of my recommendations a try, please let me know how they work out for you.

References

1. Acheson, KJ. Glycogen storage capacity and de novo lipogenesis during massive carbohydrate overfeeding in man. Am J Clin Nutr 1988 Aug;48(2):240-7.

2. Acheson, KJ. Nutritional influences on lipogenesis and thermogenesis after a carbohydrate meal. Am J Physiol 1984 Jan;246(1 Pt 1):E62-70.

3. Acheson, KJ. Glycogen synthesis versus lipogenesis after a 500 gram carbohydrate meal in man. Metabolism 1982 Dec;31(12):1234-40.

4. Herrmann, TS. High glycemic index carbohydrate diet alters the diurnal rhythm of leptin but not insulin concentrations. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2001 Dec;226(11):1037-44.

Joel Marion, Body-for-Life 2001 Grand Champion and NSCA Certified Personal Trainer, is a fitness enthusiast double majoring in Exercise Science and Physical Education at The College of New Jersey. His main desire is to aid others in the building of their best bodies through sound advice in the areas of training and nutrition. He can be contacted at MaximizeYourEfforts@hotmail.com.