Glycogen Depletion

[Neill Smith]

I've been playing with variations of Lyle McDonald's Ultimate Diet 2.0 lately with good results.

The program includes two "glycogen depletion" workouts. Lyle writes more for a bodybuilding crowd than a GPP crowd, so these end up being somewhat long and tedious. Here's a sample:

2 rounds:
Leg press: 3X15
Leg curl: 3X15
Chest press: 3X15
Row: 3X15
Lateral raise: 2-3X15
Calf raise: 3X15
Biceps curl: 2X15
Triceps pushdown: 2X15

I'm trying to get a better understanding of what drives glycogen depletion so that I can adapt this to a more functional, varied, GPP workout. Does anybody have any ideas?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Steven Low]

High intensity = glycogen depletion.

Any metcon/HIIT/tabata will definitely do it. Choose your favorite girl (preferably one with two movements one weightlifting and one gymnastics/bodyweight such as Fran).

[Neill Smith]

Thanks Steven. Should I also shoot for a certain volume? My instinct is that high intensity = glycogen depletion and enough high intensity = enough glycogen depletion. Am I wrong? How much is enough?

[Arien Malec]

Originally Posted by Neill Occhiogrosso

Thanks Steven. Should I also shoot for a certain volume? My instinct is that high intensity = glycogen depletion and enough high intensity = enough glycogen depletion. Am I wrong? How much is enough?

Don't over analyze it. Lifting + a metcon finisher would be enough, as would a longer metcon or the high rep depletion workout described in the book.

An effective approach is lifting + moderate intensity cardio + a metcon finisher or metcon + moderate intensity + metcon.

[Brandon Oto]

You do need a decent chunk of volume to wear through your glycogen.

Um, I suppose I'd shoot for attacking all or near-all your muscles as well in order to suck up the muscle-bound glycogen.

[Mike ODonnell]

read Body Opus....it is what Lyle based that program off.

[Arien Malec]

Originally Posted by Mike ODonnell

read Body Opus....it is what Lyle based that program off.

Sure -- and he gives liberal credit to Duchaine. But I'm curious as to why you think Body Opus is a better approach?

UD2.0 is just Body Opus without full ketosis and a slightly rearranged workout schedule, and without all the pharmacological info. Since Lyle says exactly what tweaks he made to Body Opus and why, you can run the approach either way.

[Mike ODonnell]

Originally Posted by Arien Malec

Sure -- and he gives liberal credit to Duchaine. But I'm curious as to why you think Body Opus is a better approach?

UD2.0 is just Body Opus without full ketosis and a slightly rearranged workout schedule, and without all the pharmacological info. Since Lyle says exactly what tweaks he made to Body Opus and why, you can run the approach either way.

Didn't say it was better...just saying to maybe understand the glycogen depletion to re-read that. I'm sure Lyle's approach works....it was more for the original question...as I hated doing it when I tried it, it worked...but man was it miserable.

[Arien Malec]

Originally Posted by Mike ODonnell

Didn't say it was better...just saying to maybe understand the glycogen depletion to re-read that. I'm sure Lyle's approach works....it was more for the original question...as I hated doing it when I tried it, it worked...but man was it miserable.

Yep -- I did the high rep stuff and hated every minute of it too.

The basic theory is that high rep work across multiple muscle groups depletes glycogen which forces the body to go to fat stores first.

The big difference between the UD2.0 approach and the Body Opus approach is that the high rep glycogen depletion come early in the low carb cycle to force the body to raid fat stores in UD2.0, and late in cycle to set to body up for carb refeeds in Body Opus.

Perhaps the best advice to the original question is to suck it up and do it. I did barbell work, rather than machine work, doing squats, rdls, front squats and calf raises (no joke!) for the lower body and weighted pushups, pullups, rows, presses and ab wheel work for the upper body.

Again, if you do some medium intensity cardio afterwards, you'll accelerate the fat loss by burning off the FFAs that are released in the high rep work, but the combination of mecon + cardio + metcon will work as well for both purposes.