Shelby Starnes has organized his own take on carb cycling that I highly advocate. Shelby’s plan is so beneficial because while it lets you continue on your muscle building efforts, it is highly efficient at burning fat and letting you drop weight. Though most diet plans today are merely fads, carb cycling is a highly effective plan that is rather easy to be consistent with in the long-term.
The fitness industry today is absolutely massive, but I’ve been involved in it for almost 20 years training (myself and others), studying strength building, and more. Because of my time in the game, I see through most of the false claims and other crazy promotion fairly easily. When I first saw Shelby’s carb cycling information, I was so excited because I knew I was seeing genuine quality information. Shelby is a nationally ranked powerlifter and bodybuilder, as well as a nutritionist. Having written for magazines like “Men’s Health” and “Flex” (as well as popular websites like T-nation and EliteFTS), Shelby has long been known as the guy pros go to when they need to lose fat fast.
Needless to say that when Shelby comes out with diet stuff, I know he’s “the man” – so I take notice.
Before we can know why carb cycling is so effective and how to do it, we have to know the difference between the different macro-nutrients in the first place – namely protein, carbohydrates (carbs), and fats. You may have heard protein called the “building blocks” of muscle – that’s essentially because protein is made up of different amino acids, and aminos are a majority of what comprise muscle. Protein also triggers the release of glucagon – a hormone known for burning fat. Carbs are broken down by the body into glucose, and used by the body for energy. When they are, insulin levels rise, which can help you build some muscle, but more often than not, it goes overboard, and ends up leading to your body just adding on fat. Fats get a bad reputation, but the right amount (i.e. – not too many) healthy fats can be used for energy, as well as helping the body improve and streamline the immune system, hormone production, and more.
So why is carb cycling so important – esp when it comes to losing weight and bodyfat? Well, there are a few reasons. First of all, most people simply just eat entirely too many calories, and as well all know, if you take in more calories than you burn up, then you’re never gonna lose any weight. Cycling your carb intake is a great way to simply lower your overall caloric intake without driving yourself crazy due to hunger or starvation. Next, remember the bit I said above about how insulin can lead to you retaining bodyfat? Well, this happens when you trigger your body to secrete too much insulin by eating carbs. Carb cycling helps you manage insulin levels in your body so this doesn’t happen. Continuing down that path, you want to rotate through different levels of carb intake on different days, as you will have a high-carb day to raise your insulin levels and rev up your metabolism. You then follow it with specific days of low or medium carb intake to allow your body to burned stored bodyfat for energy, all while keeping your body from breaking down muscle (which is a major no-no).
Well, now you have a decent introduction to macro-nutrients, in addition to why carb cycling is so important in the first place. It’s said a lot in the fitness world, but this is the kind of thing that anyone can do and be successful with. In fact, a prime example is “Big” Chris McCombs. Chris is a fitness professional consultant. In other words, if you own a gym, are a personal trainer, have a fitness website, etc – he’s the guy who can show you how to make big bucks. “Big” Chris had a nasty hernia a while back that sidelined him from training for good deal of time, and ended up putting on some weight. When he was cleared by the doctors to hit the gym again, the first thing Chris did was get Shelby to teach him his version of carb cycling. How did “Big” Chris do? Awesome – in just 5 months, he lost an amazing 75 pounds.
Learn more about Shelby Starnes’carb cycling method. Click Hereto read more about “Big” Chris’ personal carbohdrate cycling story, and how you can apply those principles in your own diet.