What the heck is Fat + Carb loading and how Ben Siong uses it to get insanely ripped and vascular for body building competitions
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| My hand gets crushed with Ben's insane grip strength. I cry inside. |
During FitConMNL 2017, I was able to attend one of Ben Siong’s
workshops where he unveiled a protocol he uses to transform himself and his
clients to give them a vascular and insanely ripped physique to get that winning edge in body building competitions.
Ben Siong is a renowned body composition specialist and
founder of Australian Strength Performance. During the workshop, he provided an
in depth discussion of physique transformation which includes the science of
fat loss, muscle gain as well as other physiological factors to consider for
optimal physique transformation.
Caveat: If there’s one thing you can take away from this post, it’s
not the specific protocol but a peek inside the mindsets of
elite athletes in their field and what it takes to achieve their level of
success.
The protocol he discussed in the workshop is not for someone
who is just looking to lose weight for their wedding day or take off a few
flabs of fat in the belly.
It is not your run of the mill nutrition and fat loss advice of
don’t eat rice, switch to whole grain breads and eat more tofu and milk for
protein which is good if you want to increase your estrogen level and get in touch
with your man boobs and feminine side… but that’s another story. It’s designed for
elite level body builders looking to gain an extra edge or for the fitness
model who needs to get insanely ripped for a photo shoot.
FAT + CARB LOADING and H2O manipulation
During his presentation, he went into the specifics of
program design, training protocols, nutrition and supplementation timing,
appropriate application of tools, mindsets and physique maintenance for the
competitive body builder, elite athletes and fitness models to take their
physique to the next level.
I’m already familiar with warrior diets, paleo protocols and
all the other variations of carb cycling, cyclical ketosis, intermittent
fasting. What’s interesting was his protocol on FAT+ CARB loading and H20
manipulation a few weeks before competition. In a nutshell, he switches from
high protein, moderate fat and low carb eating to a high fat + high carb, low
protein and h20 manipulation (a protocol similar to what MMA fighters and
boxers use to make weight 1-2 weeks leading up to competition). He also doesn’t
bother counting the exact grams of each macros but instead just go by feel.
The problem with other diets especially low carb and low fat
is that it can lower your testosterone and mess up your hormones if you are an
active individual that trains a lot for your sport and do a lot of high
intensity workouts. Hence, you need to
cycle from low carb to high fat and high carb. Carbs and Fat will make you
anabolic. However, if your thinking fat+carb loading is eating donuts, pizza,
and meals cooked fried in canola oil, be
prepared for heart disease, inflammation, cancer causing oxidized free
radicals running through your body and a host of nasty stuff. Ideally fat+carb
loading should be composed of healthy fats (avocado, nuts, butter NOT
MARGARINE!!! ) and low glycemic non-allergenic carbs like starchy
vegetables, sweet potatoes and white potatoes. Now these differ from person to
person because one person can have a very high glucose spike in a banana or
rice and other people won’t even see their glucose rise to 100 after eating a
cup of rice.
H2O manipulation consist of loading up on water (8 litters a day
8-9 days before competition and slowly cutting it back until competition day
where you are reduced to just a few sips of water here and there). This results
in a massive pump, vascularity and ripped look physique athletes have during
competition.
For the average fitness junkie, you probably don’t need this
and admittedly I would probably never do something this extreme but the big
take away for me is the realization and appreciation of the mindsets, hard work,
knowledge and the level of crazy that elite level physique athletes have and do
to achieve mastery in their field. This is true if you want to get good in other fields. If you want a 10 km run of under 35 mins or
qualify for the Milo Marathon, then you need 100 km minimum week average mileage
or train 25 hours on average per week. Competitive runners do a lot more.
This
is not a surprise to most runners but to people who are not into running, it’s crazy.
Is there a way around it? Probably… but most
of the runners I’ve gotten the chance to speak with who achieved this kind of
feat trains this way. This is applicable to any field or passion you’re into,
weather you’re a runner, crossfitter, a writer, a doctor, coach or whatever
your passion is… if you want to get crazy good, then you need to get crazy
levels of hard work, knowledge, application and practice of your craft.
