Scientific Proof : Lower your BF% before Cycling

FOUND A GOOD ARTICLE FOR YOU ALL....

You hear it over and over again in the cycle logs ”you should lower your body fat before starting this cycle.” Usually the reasoning behind this is because it will help to minimize potential sides such as gyno and high blood pressure, which is true. But let me give you another maybe even more convincing reason why you should lower your body fat as low as possible before cycling. Because you will gain more muscle. That is why we are putting these compounds into our body in the first place isn’t it? So why would you shortchange the amount of quality muscle you could gain by starting your cycle when you are too fat. Don’t be lazy and drop that body fat before you start your cycle so you can gain more mass when you are finished with it.


I am not talking broscience here. It is an actual scientific fact that has been proven that the leaner you are when you start your cycle the more muscle mass you will be able to gain. It all boils down to what is termed nutrient partitioning.

Nutrient Partitioning

Nutrient partitioning is the body’s ability to shuttle nutrients into either building lean muscle mass or storing those nutrients as fat. The beauty of this is that you can directly influence this nutrient partitioning to be geared more towards lean muscle building or fat storage based upon your current amount of body fat. This has been scientifically proven by Forbe’s Theory.

Forbe’s Theory

Forbe’s was able to prove in his research that there is a logarithmic relationship between fat gain and lean body mass gain. This showed that the extent of lean body mass gain (or loss) was dependent on the starting body fat % in humans and even in other species.

So what does this mean in layman’s terms? It means the lower your body fat is when you start your cycle, the better your muscle gains are going to be. If this isn’t reason enough to lower your body fat to an acceptable level before you cycle, then I don’t know what else I can do to convince you.

Acceptable body fat % before starting cycle

I know you are dying to know what an acceptable body fat % is. Obviously the lower the better but the anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that anything in the range of 10-15% is an acceptable level for partitioning nutrients into muscle growth preferentially over fat storage. Above 15% the opposite holds true, there will be more fat gain versus muscle growth.

Ponder this for a second. Have you ever noticed how bodybuilders and physique competitors just seem to get leaner and more muscular each year while your average gym rat pretty much seems to stay the same for the most part? Here is the reason. Every time these guys get stage ready their body fat is uber-low so that now their body is super-efficient at nutrient partitioning. Their bodies are now much more effective in using the food they eat to be directed towards muscle growth instead of being stored as fat.

Negative Partitioning Agents

Let me throw something else at you here, and that is negative partitioning agents. So let’s say your body is primed and ready to go for optimum nutrient partitioning because you have finally lowered your BF% to an acceptable level. Don’t short circuit the process by consuming negative partitioning agents. What these negative partitioning agents are is junk food. The quality of the food you eat also affects nutrient partitioning. When you are eating good clean foods like chicken, tuna, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, etc. your body is able to use these nutrients for lean mass growth. When you fill up on junk food that is processed and refined you are going to disrupt the normal metabolic processes of your body and your body will be conditioned to store more fat than creating muscle. So all food is not created equal. Eating 1000 calories of Twinkies, donuts and pizza is not the same as eating 1000 calories of chicken, tuna and oatmeal. The negative partitioning agents (junk food) will signal your body to store those nutrients into fat cells whereas the latter foods will have your body shuttling those nutrients into lean body mass.

Compounds that Improve Nutrient Partitioning

We talked about negative partitioning agents, so how about some compounds that can improve nutrient partitioning. These compounds will help increase the percentage of the nutrients and calories that go into muscle building instead of fat storage. Obviously one of the ways that AAS impart their effects is through improved nutrient partitioning but here is a list of other compounds that have been reported to improve nutrient partitioning as well (just don't expect them to be on the same level as AAS):

1. Fish oil - be sure to be taking your Omegas
   
2. Ephedrine
   
3. BCAA's (L-leucine in particular)
   
4. DHEA
   
5. Lecithin
   
6. Tyramine
   
7. Creatine
   
8. ALCAR (acetyl-l-carnitine)
   
9. Green tea extract
   
10. CLA (Conjugated linolaic acid)
    

Final Thoughts

Your starting body fat % is going to have a profound effect on the overall quality mass that you will be able to gain on your cycle. Having excess body fat will decrease your overall muscle gains. This is scientific fact and not broscience. If you truly are serious about running a cycle, you now have proof on why you need to be under 15% BF before you start and to truly maximize gains you should be even lower.


Ref:

• Body fat and fat-free mass inter-relationships: Forbes's theory revisited. Br J Nutr. 2007 Jun;97(6):1059-63. Epub 2007 Mar 19
  
• Body fat content influences the body composition response to nutrition and exercise. Forbes GB. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2000 May; 904:359-65.
  
• Body composition: what's new? Kyle UG, Genton L, Pichard C. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2002 Jul; 5(4):427-33.
  

YES. very strong science behind this, great article. See also http://www.ergo-log.com/roiddiet.html , researchers showed that test e is FAR more effective when bodyfat is low vs high. no need to be a fat powerlifter who has to take 4+ grams a week when if the same guy was lean he would get better results of 2+ grams!

great article, all should know this before using!

Good read. I personally think 15% is too high. Still lots of adipose tissue for aromatase activity. I'd say 12% max but preferably 10% and under is ideal. That's just suggestion. The thing about nutrient Paritioning when lean is dead on. Lots of people report taking WEEKS off of dieting when in single digits and never go above 10% unless eating complete garbage. Then you have Mr gym rat who lives off of light beer, bar food, and terrible sleep who looks terrible. Actually had one of these fat fuckers criticizing me for doing cardio the other day to cut...

Good read,but what about the common powerlifter?
Don't they get a lot of muscles on their blasts,despite the fact that most of them are
more or less fat?

Comerford wrote:Good read,but what about the common powerlifter?
Don't they get a lot of muscles on their blasts,despite the fact that most of them are
more or less fat?

Stan is one of the top powerlifters in the world... seems pretty ripped to me.



Don't get confused with muscles and strength. Look at Candito... small muscles and one of the best powerlifters in his division...




Many powerlifters don't actually have huge muscles.

Okay,you showed some lean examples,but you can't deny that most powerlifters are not jacked.
Jim Wendler,Brandon Lilly,Mike Miller,Ryan Kennelly,Scot Mendelson,etc..
The list is endless.
Or the olympic lifters in the super heavy weight class,would you
say they don't get much out of juice?

Comerford wrote:Okay,you showed some lean examples,but you can't deny that most powerlifters are not jacked.
Jim Wendler,Brandon Lilly,Mike Miller,Ryan Kennelly,Scot Mendelson,etc..
The list is endless.
Or the olympic lifters in the super heavy weight class,would you
say they don't get much out of juice?

So you've answered it already. The point is that you do better when lean. Most fat power lifters are just fat and strong. You can't even tell much because they are just fat. So... Being a fat arse and taking juice is inefficient

Okay,I get that point and I totally agree.
But,taking gear over a longer time and regarding your food intake will make you leaner anyway.
So,starting at 15% is okay,but if all would not take something before beeing down to 10%,
there would only be a handfull elected in any gym.
And no female would ever be right for gear.

It's not that it's never ok to blast until below 10% it's that it's slightly better when you get below.

Personally I went on at about 14-15% because I didn't want to lose muscle losing the fat. Wouldn't change it as I got bigger and leaner because of gear lol but I got worse BP sides on just 450 test whereas now I'm leaner I can run high test high tren and not get high BP like I did back then

It's just healthier and I would believe all the other benefits are true too.

Very, very good find!

the best powerlifters are all lean. efferding, konstantinovs, jamie lewis, dan green, that potato looking bloke who just squatted 1015 raw. same in oly weightlifting, with the exception of the superheavies - but oly lifters don't need a huge amount of muscle. look at hyusen pulaku - snatches 160kg at 85kg BW and he doesn't look like he lifts, just insane speed and technique.

Wouldn't you call Scot Mendelson one of the best bencher ever?
Or Derek Poundstone,would you call him weak?
What about Paul Anderson,not one of the best lifters ever?
Not much muscles under a big layer of fat?

grotereber wrote:the best powerlifters are all lean. efferding, konstantinovs, jamie lewis, dan green, that potato looking bloke who just squatted 1015 raw. same in oly weightlifting, with the exception of the superheavies - but oly lifters don't need a huge amount of muscle. look at hyusen pulaku - snatches 160kg at 85kg BW and he doesn't look like he lifts, just insane speed and technique.

They are deceptively huge, ever seen one in person? The first thing you notice is how swole they are

Comerford wrote:Wouldn't you call Scot Mendelson one of the best bencher ever?
Or Derek Poundstone,would you call him weak?
What about Paul Anderson,not one of the best lifters ever?
Not much muscles under a big layer of fat?

I'll grant those exceptions, but most of the records these days are held by lean guys. poundstone isn't that fat either. of course they would all be insanely jacked if they got lean.

You see,for me beeing almost 55,it is not easy to go under or around 10%.
Last year I made a good cut and that was the leanest I could become without
living the life of a monk to the extrem.

August 2014 92Kg,not pumped.



Guess this was at 10%.
But I was already juiced.To get there without gear,I would probably weigh under 80 Kg
and look like I never ever worked out,at least in cloth.
Maybe hGH would be a game changer at my age,but I never tried.
Don't start gear before not beeing under 10% bf,is for most average gym rats an unrealistic advice,IMHO.

you're missing the point here man, he's not say you can't or that you absolutely shouldn't. he's saying to get the most out of your cycle, ie lean muscle growth, minimal sides, minimizing health risks, is best done under 15%. you can start whenever you want, but the cost to benefit ratio is worse the fatter you are.

There is no way that's 10%. Chest separation, full abs, and thin skin holding minimal water.

Wow... 55 and looking like that. But that's not 10%... much lower!

Thank you Mr.B.for that wow.
From your experience,would hGH and some slin make a huge difference in my look,especially
the fullness or volume of the muscles?
Pictures are made using TrenA and Eq.
I guess at my age hGH or iGf is close to zero and I hope that even a low dose of hGH will
give me a notable push.

Comerford wrote:Thank you Mr.B.for that wow.
From your experience,would hGH and some slin make a huge difference in my look,especially
the fullness or volume of the muscles?
Pictures are made using TrenA and Eq.
I guess at my age hGH or iGf is close to zero and I hope that even a low dose of hGH will
give me a notable push.

Good pharmgrade HGH and of course Lantus, Humalog, and Humalin-R combination will make a massive difference in fullness. I mean it's going to be obvious. High Tren-A will make you flat and less full. But I don't want to talk about Insulin usage on an open forum because it's quite dangerous. I suggest some google searching is in order here. Low dose of fda approved hgh will make a difference @ 2-4iu yes!