McCarver’s Mission – Rebound Phase 1
The post contest time period, often referred to as a rebound phase can be an extremely beneficial time to aid new lean tissue and grow. In my opinion the bodies environment following a contest prep is the best environment to grow more so than any other phase of the offseason. Nutrient partitioning is at an all time high in a positive manner i.e.: shuttling nutrients into the muscle cell due to low body fat levels and months of dieting in an environment where daily blood glucose levels were lower due to a diet lower in carbohydrates and the overall deficit created by the dieting phase. (This goes hand in hand with having positive insulin sensitivity, which you want to keep intact throughout your off season in order to continue to make consistent and steady progress.)
The body at this point is like a sponge so you need to keep that in mind, because just like it has the ability to shuttle nutrients in a positive manner, if you abuse it and eat a lot of junk food day in and day out you are going to quickly blunt the positive nutrient partitioning ability I touched on early and shift nutrient absorption to be stored in fat cells, thus adding body fat quickly. Not to mention other negative health risks associated with this approach like water balance issues, which can lead to high blood pressure and other compounding negative health risks. You have to remember your body has run like a machine for months and months on end getting into peak condition so you want to keep as many variables as consistent as possible to allow your body to respond positively without throwing homeostasis out of balance creating negative health issues.
Having a successful rebound comes down to more than just your diet, cardio vascular health and making sure that recovery is a priority is a huge factor in order to insure that you are continuing to make progress. Proper recovery includes several factors such as sleep quality, mobility, and joint integrity just to name a few.
Sleep quality goes far beyond just duration. We are doing several things to insure that Dallas is getting the best night sleep he can. Here are a few things I can recommend to you that we are putting into practice:
- Shut off your phones at night and remove the temptation to get on it throughout the night if you happen to wake up.
- Shut the TV Off!
- Since becoming a part of the Redcon1 Team we both have been using Fade Out which is an excellent sleep aid. I would recommend you take this about 30-45 min prior to your bedtime meal assuming that you eat and then go to sleep shortly there after.
I also mentioned mobility and joint integrity / preventing joint issues. These are two that cannot be neglected. The weights in the gym are going to be quickly going up and if you are not carful your muscular structure can outgrow the joints that support it. Take the time to get regular massage work, stretch following cardio and training and do the little things daily to keep you progressing, Fortunately for Dallas he has two of the best kept secrets right there in Boca with Luke Lewis helping him whenever he needs with his stretching and mobility, and Deanna who is one of the most brutal (in a good way) and effective massage therapists we have come across.
Due to the many positive effects that can take place as well as Dallas and I wanting to avoid the negatives that are often associated with a rebound we got to work on his program right away. We actually trained legs within the first 15 hours after we landed from our 19 hour trip back home from Spain. Below is Phase 1 of Dallas’ Rebound Diet and his training split. We are not really programming his training yet in terms of exact movements each day. Right out the gates it is a great time to just slowly work back into heavy weights and focus more on blood voluminization as again we want to keep joints healthy and mobility intact as he is growing.
Diet
upon waking
Greens shake
Probiotic
Pre cardio
22g – Breach
15g – BCAA
Meal 1 (pre workout meal)
2 whole eggs
6oz lean red meat
150 cream of rice
100g blueberries
150g strawberries
Pre workout / Intra – Aim to get half of this down prior to training
50g Cluster Bomb
35g – Breach
18g – Big Noise
5g – Creatine
10g – Glutamine
Post workout Consumed at Gym
75g Cluster Bomb
35g – Breach
5g – Creatine
Meal 2 (post workout meal )
150g – cream of rice (dry measure)
60g – Isotope
100g of any fruit
Meal 3
224g – chicken
350g – jasmine rice
50g – avocado
Meal 4
224g – lean red meat
350g -Russset potato
1 bagel
14g – grass fed butter
Meal 5
2 whole egg
300g – egg whites
2 Thomas bagels
Meal 6
60g – Isotope
80g – oats
100g – berries
1 banana
32g – almond butter
Cardio
30 min – 4x weekly AM upon waking
Training Split
*Off Days as needed
Legs
Back
Chest
Arms
Shoulders
Repeat
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