Protein cycling - anyone do it?

Interesting articles below, and quite a radical approach:

*Start at 1g protein per lb per day
*each week thereafter reduce protein by 50% until you reach 20-40g per day, replacing the lost protein kcals with carbs.
*for 4 weeks just have 40g protein per day.
*jump straight back to 1g per lb per day and experience the benefits of all the metabolic adaptations to protein efficiency.
*four weeks later begin to reduce again as before.

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Anyone brave enough to try?

not a chance although in a slightly less crazy way i wil be bringing everything down prior to my next cycle to "PRIME" for growth...ie...the weeks before thecourse ill be dieting quite hard and take my protein down a good bit aswell with that, depleting etc and bringing it all back in as i ramp up into some new growth i hope

Old, old hat this one and a method I used to tout years ago.

However I would do the odd day or 2 rather than a prolonged 4 week reduction.

The better method, IMO, is to increase up by 25g every few days for a week, sit at this new level for a week and finally drop down by the same amount (25g per day) for a week. Mini spike to beat plateau's rather than deprive yourself of protein to the point where even simple maintainance like skin repair and immune system would struggle at such a low level for 4 weeks while training.

All I can see happening from the bounce back is that you'd maybe get back to the level you were before starting the cycle.

If I were to undertake such a thing then I would make sure that my protein would come from mainly egg whites and a plant protein source such as hemp to keep any undigested wasted protein to a minimum.

I have more protein on training days, not scientific but I feel it makes sense

I tend to have rest days on food over the weekend with protein to give the digestive system a bit of a break.

Alex wrote:I tend to have rest days on food over the weekend with protein to give the digestive system a bit of a break.

I do something like that mate but eat less solid meats et and have an extra shake or so on a saturday.....ok..usually a fry up too

I stay off the shakes myself but my liquid nutrition is alot lower than it used to be.

Alex wrote:Old, old hat this one and a method I used to tout years ago.

However I would do the odd day or 2 rather than a prolonged 4 week reduction.

The better method, IMO, is to increase up by 25g every few days for a week, sit at this new level for a week and finally drop down by the same amount (25g per day) for a week. Mini spike to beat plateau's rather than deprive yourself of protein to the point where even simple maintainance like skin repair and immune system would struggle at such a low level for 4 weeks while training.

All I can see happening from the bounce back is that you'd maybe get back to the level you were before starting the cycle.

If I were to undertake such a thing then I would make sure that my protein would come from mainly egg whites and a plant protein source such as hemp to keep any undigested wasted protein to a minimum.

Now this I'd be willing to try... seems more sensible to me.

I'm like Big Si, and have a little extra protein on training days (only about 30g) and so far this is as close as I've come to cycling protein. Quite fancy experimenting a bit with the above though (Alex's way of doing it)...

omfg tnation recycling 13 yr old principles
i used to have weekly correspondance with the guy who had the original thought mm2k as part of my thesis for improved lipolysis

as bodybuilders you are brainwashed into thinking protein is be all and end all, even to the end degree people are shit scared to do post-absorptive cardio through fear of catabolism (yeah-the true extent of marketeering!)

if someone was smart enough - and cast aside the whole acidic amino acid shit and consume 40g of protein by means of hmb, eaa and bcaa....is easily done without fear of muscle loss (as long as net calorie requirements are met via other macros)

if it works for carb cycling, why not for protein and fats?

julesm wrote:as bodybuilders you are brainwashed into thinking protein is be all and end all, even to the end degree people are shit scared to do post-absorptive cardio through fear of catabolism (yeah-the true extent of marketeering!)

spot on.

Think I spoke about this the other day, but high protein intake only seems to be useful for drug-assisted users. For others it's a waste imo. I think that 2g per kg is an absolute max for natural people.

i'm not a bb'er jules - just interested in how such a diet would affect the body. carb cycling and replacing with fats nothing at all for me other than supress my appetitie, so just curious about what happens when you cycle protein.

agree that protein needs are often very overhyped in bb'ing folklore, but health4nis caveat is important, that an assisted individual can get a lot more out of a higher intake.