It’s coming up to my second week following the Carb Backloading (CBL) protocol and I thought I’d share my findings so far.
Firstly let me state that it is far to early days to make any great claims about results and as -in accordance with the plan- I have depleted my glycogen levels and as such the water carried in my muscles it would be grossly misleading to do so.
This being said I can report that things are going very well. I didn’t do a full 10 days carb depletion as 1. My body is already fat adapted and my body fat is below 15% and more importantly 2. Xmas day got in the way and I couldn’t face not eating all those lovely spuds. With this in mind I did 5 days and made sure I threw in a couple of Tabata HiiT sessions in to accelerate the depletion (again this is laid out in the book).
A typical day
A typical day for me starts with my am accelerator shake followed by my day at work where I will stick to my previous habits of not breaking my fast until around 12:30 lunch time, except for another 2 cups of coffee or green tea. My lunch will typically be with a bolognaise, chilli or maybe a salad but with no side orders of rice or pasta to keep the carbs super low, we are aiming to be below 30g for the whole morning and afternoon.This is generally accompanied by another protein shake. Another 2 cups of coffee or green tea is the afternoon sorted until around 4-4:30pm when I have my pre-workout shake, I now make this myself using the ‘recipe’ laid out by Kiefer in the CBL book.
Workout time – Earning those Carbs
30mins after my pre-workout shake and the caffeine is doing it job so I head to the gym and get my lift on.
Once my workout is complete its time to get my post workout (hypertrophic Potentiator) shake followed by the race home for my well earned reward.
One thing I’ve noticed already is that -for me- the nutrition drives the training, in this I mean that I have to ‘earn’ those carbs and starchy veggies so this drives me to ensure I get my workout in. I think this is generally the other way around for people but it works for me, also I’m aware that this may be a dangerous path to follow in terms of the halo effect where by people can think a workout has ‘earned’ them a treat but for me at least that treat comes in the form of potato most nights and they do EXACTLY what is required in carb Backloading in that they spike insulin fast and replenish the glycogen via the glut-4 pathways, but also conform with my real food values.
Variations
Some days I’m forced to workout in the morning and have to make some adjustments, but again this is all covered in book and as I have noticed that Kiefer doesn’t reveal this outside of here then neither will I. Just know that it is very simple and whilst not optimal for CBL it is still preferable to working out at midday.
In summary things are going well and I am finding CBL to fit well within my beliefs and values and as such am enjoying the journey so far. This and I am already making good strength gain which is the whole aim of this year.
Ciao for now
Carl
Busy Bee Fitness 
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