Going on the premis that when increasing Lean Body Mass there is a period of seperation between strength gains and mass gains where strength gains come first and mass gains a short time after. This is more than likely due to the need for increased strength gains to be maintained to stimulate mass gains rather than just a one off spike.
So potentially could you Macro Cycle in accordance and if so, how?
An idea is to extend the Protein Cycling concept and extend to all 3 Macros to include Carbs and Fats and from there either use one of two approaches:
- Calorie Maintainance
- Calorie Excess
Let's start with the Macro Cycling Concept itself though. The idea being that with Protein Cycling we have 3 phases lasting a duration of 7 days where we increase, maintain and decrease our daily allowance of Protein from base levels by a set amount, which in this case is 25g. But as we're including Carbs and Fats then it's easier to convert this into a calorie allowance as Fats are more calorie dense so instead we'll go with 100Kcals.
Our basic Protein Cycle looks like this:
- Days 1-7 - Increase daily allowance of Protein each day by 100Kcals (25g) until you reach 700Kcals (175g) above base levels by Day 7.
- Days 8-14 - Maintain daily allowance of Protein at 700Kcals (175g) above base levels.
- Days 15-21 - Decrease daily allowance of Protein each day by 100Kcals (25g) until you return back to base levels by Day 21.
For Carbs:
- Days 1-7 - Increase daily allowance of Carbs each day by 100Kcals (25g) until you reach 700Kcals (175g) above base levels by Day 7.
- Days 8-14 - Maintain daily allowance of Carbs at 700Kcals (175g) above base levels.
- Days 15-21 - Decrease daily allowance of Carbs each day by 100Kcals (25g) until you return back to base levels by Day 21.
And finally, Fats:
- Days 1-7 - Increase daily allowance of Protein each day by 100Kcals (11g) until you reach 700Kcals (77g) above base levels by Day 7.
- Days 8-14 - Maintain daily allowance of Protein at 700Kcals (77g) above base levels.
- Days 15-21 - Decrease daily allowance of Protein each day by 100Kcals (11g) until you return back to base levels by Day 21.
So now we know how each cycle works and amounts we need to consume we need to fit them in together in sync in order to try and make the most of how our bodies increase Lean Body Mass. I would see this working as Carb Cycling during the initial Strength Gain phase, Protein Cycling during the Lean Body Mass gain phase and Fat Cycling to help maintain Lean Body Mass gains and prime ourselves for the next Strength Gain and Carb Cycling phase. There is a little more depth as to why I've chosen this order and is dependant one whether you choose to Cycle on Calorie Maintainance or Calorie Excess but this will become clear later on.
We have our seperate Cycles, we know the order in which we want to run them, so now all that is left is to fit them seemlessly together so that while one Macro Cycle is decreasing the following Macro Cycle is increasing by the same amount so that total calorie levels remain constant through the cycle even though the calories of each Macro will vary:
- Days 1-7 - Increase Carbs by 100Kcals Daily.
- Days 8-1 - Maintain increased Carbs level.
- Days 15-21 - Decrease Carbs by 100kcals Daily and increase Protein by 100Kcals Daily.
- Days 22-28 - Maintain increased Protein level.
- Days 29-35 - Decrease Protein by 100kcals Daily and increase Fats by 100Kcals Daily.
- Days 36-42 - Maintain increased Fats level.
- Days 43-49 - Decrease Fats by 100kcals Daily and either finish Cycle or start over and increase Carbs by 100Kcals Daily.
Finally we can choose whether to say in Calorie Maintainance or Calorie Excess. Staying in Calorie Excess is straight forward aswe can treat this as simply a Bulk Cycle over a 49 days period where we're simply manipulating each Macro while sitting 700Kcals daily above maintainance.
For Calorie Maintainance we need to do a little bit of manipulation of each Macro as they change through each Cycle to keep daily calorie intake constant:
- As Carbs increase I would proportionaly decrease Protein and Fat by equal amounts and vice versa.
- As Protein increases I would proportionaly decrease Carbs and Fat by equal amounts and vice versa.
- As Fats increase I would proportionaly decrease Carbs by equal an amount and vice versa.
The reason for changing Carbs only on Fats Cycling is to promote a bit of Fat burning to maximise Lean Body Mass gains and to help prime for the next Carb Cycle.
