UNIVERSITY Offseason Holding Phase Planning and Decision Making Lesson Overview • • • • • • • • • What is the Holding Phase Initial Nutrition Set Up Initial Cardio and Training Set Up Initial PED Set Up Decision Making How much to adjust calories by When to adjust protein, carbohydrates, and fats Sample Holding phase monitoring and adjustments When and how to end the Holding Phase The Holding Phase Holding Phase: Transition Point between Push or Fat Loss Phases Goal: solidify muscle gain and limit bad fat accrual, health restoration • Nutrition is brought close to maintenance/slight surplus level • Training is brought down to a recoverable volume • Cardio/NEAT may slightly increase from a Push Phase or decrease from a Fat Loss Phase • If Enhanced, PED usage is at minimum levels • Post push phase a holding phase may last 6-12 weeks • Post fat loss phase a holding phase may last 1-12 weeks Tools to Track: Weekly Pictures Waist Circumference largest caliper sites Body weight Fasting Blood Glucose Weekly Blood Pressure Daily Step Count Gym Performance Biofeedback Lets look at each variable set up… The Holding Phase Physique expectations and assessment • Holding new muscle or slight muscle gain • Limit body fat gain • PED users might see fullness decrease, weight drop initial from water • PED users might see slight softer look at same body weight • More advanced Bbers and PED users are more likely to maintain at best • Plan will be adjusted based on subjective and objective data Nutrition Holding Phase Set Up Coming off a push phase • Lower PEDs = lower recovery = lower training ability=slowed muscle gain and increase fat gain • Decrease calories to minimize fat gain and hold new tissue and support connective tissue repair • Taper calories down over first weeks into Hold Phase • Changes made should be reactive not proactive • If PEDs in place to not adjust based on a water weight drop • Stay in surplus if positive change is still happening Coming off a fat loss phase • Coming from high training volume, low food state • Increase calories to support recovery and fuel training • Increase based on last week of fat loss 1lb loss in a week = 500kcal per day = add in 500kcal per day or 20% kcal increase Nutrition Recommendations Holding Energy Protein Fat 5% above maintenance or at maintenance kcal 1.0-1.5 g/lb/day 0.30.7g/lb /day Carbohydrate 1.0-3.0+ g/lb/day Training and Cardio/NEAT Holding Phase Set Up Resistance Training: • Move down to a training volume within your recovery capacity • Only straight sets, remove (drop sets, rest pause sets, beyond failure sets) • Another rest day can be added as a simple way to adjust weekly volume EX: Pull Push Legs, Off go to: Pull Push Off Legs Off • Continue normal load rep progressions like any other phase • Remove any lift causing joint/tissue issues, recovery is focus Cardio/NEAT: Slight increase in cardio is acceptable, but large increases can impede holding new tissue Increasing step count is preferred to account for decrease in metabolic effects of PEDs in order to keep food high From a fat loss phase taper down to baseline offseason cardio PEDs Holding Phase Set Up AAS: Move down to TRT dosage or Cruise dosage that will hold muscle this will depend on muscle tissue level and gear needed to achiever that level GH: Move down to 2-3IU as a baseline dosage and improve glucose control Insulin: Adjust as needed to tapering off insulin SERMS/Aromatase Inhibitors Removed during this phase Health Support Compounds: Metformin ARB/Telmisartan Caveat: If coming from a fat loss phase and doing a 1-week deload this holding phase would not need a decrease in PEDS Hold Phase Decision Tree How does the cl ient look visually? Vi s ually Holding Conditioning Vi s ually l ook softer a nd ca l iper sites increasing? Vi s ually Improving, harder a nd/or fuller Tra i ning Performance i ncreasing? Tra i ning Performance i ncreasing? Tra i ning Performance i ncreasing? YES No change to diet or NO Consider training volume reduction Increase calories to allow for