Layne Norton's Peak Week Official Q&A Thread

[martymcfly]

Layne: quick Q's

Bikini girls - water load? beyond outdated or?
thoughts on fat loading?
Carbing up? absolutely not?
Keep water consistent last week?

thanks so much

[RaneyR]

First of all, thank you for putting the time into making the Peak Week series! It answered just about all the questions I had about sodium, carbs, etc.

I do have a quick question for you: When bulking or maintaining, I would always eat 40-50g of dextrose right after my workout. Even though I haven't done that through my prep, should I add that back in the week that I carb load?

[MarioCaesar]

hey buddy, the videos were awesome should be a lot of help when i start competing next year. Was just wondering though, what kind of exercises do you do in your full body circuits on the thursday and friday before the comp? also how many sets would you do? and any breaks at all between sets?

[DAINGNE]

Layne in Life of a Natural Pro Bodybuilder you mention that your diet consisted of a 4-6 week bulk followed by a 2-4 week cut.
Can somebody make & obtain muscle doing this? Im judt new to bodybuilding & im gaining a lot of fat, would that sort of diet work for me?

[MarioCaesar]

Layne in Life of a Natural Pro Bodybuilder you mention that your nutriction consisted of a 4-6 week bulk followed by a 2-4 week cut.
Can somebody make & obtain muscle doing this? Im judt new to bodybuilding & im gaining a lot of fat, would that sort of nutrition work for me?

I realise your question was for Layne, but just wanted to say I have been on a similar routine to that all year and have put on over 5kgs of lean muscle mass and maintained a pretty consistent bf%.

[DAINGNE]

I realise your question was for Layne, but just wanted to say I have been on a similar routine to that all year and have put on over 5kgs of lean muscle mass and maintained a pretty consistent bf%.

Appreciate any reply to be honest thanks. Do you drop your calories below your maintaince or keep it at your maintance & introduce cardio for the cut phase?

I'm looking to pack on as much mass as possible before Jan/Feb so Im unsure to just bulk until then or do various phases of bulking & cutting.

[MarioCaesar]

Appreciate any reply to be honest thanks. Do you drop your calories below your maintaince or keep it at your maintance & introduce cardio for the cut phase?

I'm looking to pack on as much mass as possible before Jan/Feb so Im unsure to just bulk until then or do various phases of bulking & cutting.

Personally i don't like cardio to lose weight i just drop calories, i find that easier to track and maintain + means you don't have to make your workouts longer to include cardio. I found if i wanna maintain leaness i can do about 3 weeks of bulking for 1 week of cutting and if i wanna get leaner while slowly packing on mass i do 2 weeks of bulking followed by 1 week of cutting (obviously this depends on your macros, but can use it as a guide).

[lilboy17]

lookin good! i hope i get big and ripped like that some day

[str8flexed]

hey buddy, the videos were awesome should be a lot of help when i start competing next year. Was just wondering though, what kind of exercises do you do in your full body circuits on the thursday and friday before the comp? also how many sets would you do? and any breaks at all between sets?

mostly machine and dumbbell stuff, basically whatever is available. I pick an exercise for each bodypart and keep rotating through for 30-40 minutes

[MarioCaesar]

mostly machine and dumbbell stuff, basically whatever is available. I pick an exercise for each bodypart and keep rotating through for 30-40 minutes

Cheers buddy

[Pullup17]

Hi Layne, I'll be competing in 7.5 weeks time and I have been following and applying your principles on training and nutrition and the prep has been going tremendous thus far, I'm not doing stuff like no carb, crazy amounts of cardio etc like what my friends who are competing in the same competition are doing and I have seen my fat % going down while keeping my muscle and more crucially not feeling like crap like how they are feeling currently. For this, I have to say thank you very much for your willingness to share, many others like me have benefited from it!

I just have a small question for peak week. I've read and heard from people that most of them do not train legs, not even with light to moderate weights a few days before contest as it would cause inflammation and water retention issues. From what I gather though, it seems alright to train with moderate weight to maintain the muscle and even push some much needed glucose in there to facilitate glycogen loading without sacrificing the lines.

What is your take on this Layne ?

[str8flexed]

no reason you can't train legs, just don't train to the point where you'd be sore

[Pullup17]

Alright Layne, thanks for the advice!

[FLEXXd]

Hi Layne,

Do you think that cardio on an empty stomach is best? I know there are some conflicting views about this an I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

[brendatyle]

Looks awesome

[str8flexed]

Hi Layne,

Do you think that cardio on an empty stomach is best? I know there are some conflicting views about this an I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

No, if you google my name plus fasted cardio you will find a ton of info, I've discussed it ad nausiem =)

[FLEXXd]

No, if you google my name plus fasted cardio you will find a ton of info, I've discussed it ad nausiem =)

Cheers Layne. I don't like to whine about reps but but I have just been put into negative figures for asking noob questions.

Is there any chance any of u guys could rep me? After all is this site not for asking questions.

Cheers guys.

[barnhill]

Layne,

Awesome info. I've been picking your articles apart for a while now. I love the science bits you back it up with. Truly among the best info on this site. Thank you!

My question is, what do you think about eating dry instant oats as far as subcutaneous water is concerned? I mash them into a sweet potato normally. Also, on the diuretic comment you made in your article about it getting rid of intracellular and extracellular. Would it still be a benifit to take it if it did get rid of some of both that is if you did everything else correct? What is your reccomendation?

Thanks!

-Jake

[str8flexed]

Layne,

Awesome info. I've been picking your articles apart for a while now. I love the science bits you back it up with. Truly among the best info on this site. Thank you!

My question is, what do you think about eating dry instant oats as far as subcutaneous water is concerned? I mash them into a sweet potato normally. Also, on the diuretic comment you made in your article about it getting rid of intracellular and extracellular. Would it still be a benifit to take it if it did get rid of some of both that is if you did everything else correct? What is your reccomendation?

Thanks!

-Jake

as I said it's not a benefit and water is not your enemy, so stop worrying about dry oats

[barnhill]

Roger! Thanks for putting in plainly. I hated eating that stuff anyway. Stickin to sweet potatos, straight up!

[squeak419]

Layne, not sure if you have covered this off before. But what is your opinion on recomps... I.e calorie deficit on off days and calorie surplus on lifting days.

Also,

I watched your blog on Metabolic damaging and your methods on how it can be fixed by slowly increasing calories over a 1.5-2 year period. By far one of the most informative videos on bodybuilding I have seen, for that I thank you. my question, can the same approach be applied when no metabolic damage has taken place to simply increase ones metabolic capacity.

My maintenance is around 3000 calories, would it be possible to add say 50-100 calories every few months over the next 2 years to increase my maintenance calories to 4000, in other words, applying the same method used to fix a metabolism but instead to further increase it. I would love a larger metabolic capacity to work with when cutting.

If this is possible, is there a limit to how far it can be taken? Or is the limit simply as much food as you can stomach?!

Thanks Layne.

[CREALMADRID]

How long does it take to an elevate insulin level after a carb meal to fall down?
If I eat a carb meal at 8am and then eat another meal of rice at 10am,does the insulin level fall down to a normaln level in 2 hours?

when i eat 1 meal in 9am and then if i want to eat another one in 9:30 my body will probably recognize it as a 1 meal!
how much time i have to wait between meals so my body can recognize it as 2 meals??

[govjamie]

I love Layne been helping me so much for my first show

[bb4funVA]

Layne,

Thank you for the videos and info as I will be using that info for my prep into my next contest. I do have a question regarding sodium/potassium ratios. I usually ingest 1800 mg of sodium and 3500 mg of potassium just due to the foods I eat. I have looked around the web and found some information, some saying I should be eating more sodium than potassium and some saying less sodium then potassium but basically I wanted to know if my sodium/potassium intake is fine for contest prep or should I change it up some to make sure I have to best electrolyte balance.

Also, anyone else is welcome to answer the question and provide insight to this novice BB. Thank you.

[bb4funVA]

I did finally find the answer within the BB.com forums, was an old thread but one in that Layne explained the sodium/potassium issue. Thanks.

[Traderearl]

Hello Layne,

I hope all is well with you. I am sure you are super busy and get a ton of questions but I hope you can help me. I did a cutting cycle from March of last year with my protein at 1.5x's bodyweight, fat 0.5, and carbs 0.5 for most of that period with one refeed day per week. I hired a trainer two months ago who has calculated my bodyfat at 3.5-3.9% using calipers. I know I was about 8-9% when I started meeting her and at 164 pounds. She kept telling me I was at the bodyfat I needed for contest but I can tell I still had a few pounds to lose. The problem is she told me to stop all cardio and carb cycle 150-200-200-250 and then increased it to 200-250-250-300 (this put me around 3000 calories on the upper days) and I got up to 170lbs and now look much more smooth. I started doing cardio again last week and have dropped back to 168 but still look smooth. I eat about 2500mg - 3000mg of sodium per day and try to keep my potassium at that or more (not through supplementation). The cardio I am doing now is 3 sessions in between my muscle groups I work out each day that are HIIT for a total of 30-35 mins day. I am feeling like I should go back to a lower carb plan to try and at least get back to what I was at. My warm-up show is April 13th and the main show is April 27th. What should I do?

Thanks for any help you can give.

[mainsqueeze530]

Not sure if this is too complicated or what but:

I have a genetic disorder - my body doesn't produce cortisol, and instead, it produces excessive androgens. I'm on hydrocortisone therapy. Was just curious - how much hydrocortisone (cortisol) does our bodies use daily? I know it varies, but an average estimate would be great. What dosage would be best in regards to muscle gain and/or fat loss?

Would a potassium/sodium imbalance effect muscle gain or fat loss?

Thanks.

[Fullmecha]

hey layne im currently 10 days out from photoshoot, but ive never done a peak week before so im not sure how my body will react. I started at 185lbs 12 weeks out, now down to 161-162 lbs 5% bf. I would consider myself an ectomorph with a very fast metabolism, i would say im sensitive to gluten as i do bloat a little so i was thinking about carb loading with gluten free carbs. I started 40% protein/40% carbs/20% fat - about 270/270/50, slowly tapering my carbs down 30g each week. Currently doing 360g protein/60g carbs/80g fat. (60%/10%/30% roughly) I just started to increase my water intake and sodium intake, should I front load carbs ? photoshoot is on sunday, 10 days from now, was thinking of depleting carbs mon, tues, wed, and 3 day carb load with showday on sunday. Really need help fixing this up thank you!

[Hoganbrecount]

Hey Layne!
Thanks so much for these articles! I am currently in peak week and I was wondering if you include legs in the circuit training on Thursday and Friday? Thanks so much!

[squeak419]

Layne, not sure if you have covered this off before. But what is your opinion on recomps... I.e calorie deficit on off days and calorie surplus on lifting days.

Also,

I watched your blog on Metabolic damaging and your methods on how it can be fixed by slowly increasing calories over a 1.5-2 year period. By far one of the most informative videos on bodybuilding I have seen, for that I thank you. my question, can the same approach be applied when no metabolic damage has taken place to simply increase ones metabolic capacity.

My maintenance is around 3000 calories, would it be possible to add say 50-100 calories every few months over the next 2 years to increase my maintenance calories to 4000, in other words, applying the same method used to fix a metabolism but instead to further increase it. I would love a larger metabolic capacity to work with when cutting.

If this is possible, is there a limit to how far it can be taken? Or is the limit simply as much food as you can stomach?!

Thanks Layne.

Just watched Metabolic Capacity V2.0.

I think that pretty much covered off my question.

I am currently 5'8. 160lbs and maintaining weight off 2800-3000 calories per day. I'd say my metabolic capacity is looking pretty schmick! I am currently gradually adding 100 calories over the course of every 2-3 months. So far so good! Pushing for 3500 cal maintenance. in 1-1.5 years time.

As always Layne, great advice! I don't think you can quite comprehend how much you have helped people.