The "every other" diet and the "clean" vs "dirty" food debate

Back when I was conversing on a regular basis with Kirk Karwoski we talked extensively about his training and eating during his competitive years.

When I asked him how he ate in order to get into the lean condition he did for his AAU raw meet back in 94 he told me something very interesting.

"I did the "every other" diet." he said.

"The every other diet?" I asked, befuddled.

"Yeah, so I would eat something clean one meal, then something you know, not so clean the next meal.  Then something clean, etc."

"And that's got you that lean?" I said.  Kirk competed that year in the 242 class looking the best he ever had.

"Yeah" he said.  "Well, you have to remember at the time, I was working a very physically active job.  When I ate clean every meal I lost too much weight.  When I ate clean and then threw in some extra calories to cover my physical needs, it seemed to work out just right."

Kirk knows a thing or two about training and eating

I've been meaning to write about this "diet" for some time because I thought it was so interesting.

Kirk, regardless of how crazy he is (and he's crazy as fuck, trust me), was and is really smart about these kinds of things.  You know, diet, training, managing all the facets involved in what made him great (besides being born a mutant).

Kirk's "plan" was nothing more than energy in vs energy out.  Nevermind that people will tell you that not all calories are the same and blah blah blah.  Kirk lost too much weight when he ate clean.  So he added more calories back in via "dirtier" foods and presto magic, he leaned out at just the right pace, yet still had enough energy to train and get stronger.

When I went to write it, however, the words that Kirk used kept ringing in my ears.

"Clean one meal, dirty the next".

Clean vs Dirty - Shitting on diet gurus until the cows come home 

Before I could write this out, I had to address this whole "clean" and "dirty" foods business because well, I've seen several well known diet "gurus" say "there is no such thing as clean or dirty foods".

O Rly?  That's where we are at now?

That we're either too fucking stupid or too paralyzed by information to draw some very simple lines as to what clean and dirty foods are?

We don't know what "junk food" is anymore?

Can tell you what junk food is, while diet guru cannot

I mean, the common god damn house wife with a couple of ankle biters can tell you what junk food is, but Mr. Diet Guru can't?  Well what good are you then?

If you can't even discern between what is a healthy (clean) food, and what is junk (dirty) food, how smart are you really?  You're really not.  You're just a mental masturbation specialist that fancies himself smarter than he really is.  And that's it.

There are eleventy billion diet guru's out there debating on what the fuck "clean" and "dirty" foods are.  Last week I even read from one certified assclown about how you shouldn't eat fruit (really?  we're at a point where fruit is up for god damn debate?) or drink milk, or how wheat poisons you.

POISON I TELL YOU!

I know every time I am served a fucking bowl of Oatmeal at a place, I sneer at the waitress and wonder why the fuck she would bring me a bowl of hot death.  My guess is, it wasn't bubonic plague that wiped out most of Europe in the middle ages.....it was mother fuckin porridge!

The real "black death"

If you are a dietary mental masturbator when it comes to diet shit and have no idea what is true or not, please do yourself a favor and look up my guy Michael Israetel at Renaissance Periodization (that's a link to click BTW).

Dr. Michael Israetel has a PhD in Sport Physiology, and has taught graduate sports nutrition and been the head sport nutrition consultant to the ETSU Olympic Training Site.

Dr. Israetel would define DIRTY foods as.......

"Dirty" foods are those which contain: 1.) very high quantities of unhealthy fats (many animal products such as bacon, sausage, etc...), which are both seemingly bad for health and bad for adiposity (fat stores).

2.) Very high amounts of highly glycemic, processed carbs, which spike insulin and also lead to poor health and body composition outcomes. Eating these in the workout window promotes muscle growth. Eating them outside of it likely promotes fat deposition. Examples: poptarts, full-sugar sodas, fruit juices, white breads...

3.) Foods which COMBINE high levels of unhealthy (vs. healty) saturated fats and glycemic carbs. Examples: almost ALL known "cheat foods" (cheesecake, pizza, cheeseburgers, shakes, fries...)

4.) Foods that contain trans-fats (fast foods and some store-bought baked goods), which cause muscle loss and fat growth, and are very bad for health.

Eating lots of these foods has been shown, repeatedly, to be slightly worse for health and body comp than eating the same calories in mostly clean foods (low GI carbs like whole grains, healthy fats like nut butters, lean proteins...). The difference (once calories are equated) is not MASSIVE, but it's meaningful, ESPECIALLY for competitive athletes. Your mom can have a piece of cheesecake and be ok, but if you want to look your best onstage, you should probably abstain.

So to all of you who say "who is to say what's clean and what is dirty?" that is a big fuck you, to you.  At least in regards as how to define what "dirty" can be.

Where the confusion comes in, it appears, is when someone tries to define what "clean" means.  Someone will say anything processed at all isn't "clean".  Or that anything with oats or wheat isn't "clean" (I'm still having trouble getting my head around that).

So again, I'll defer back to Mr. PhD so he can shed some light on what he believes "clean" foods are........

I would say that clean foods are ones that contain low glycemic carbs, more fiber, and low (or zero) levels of saturated fats and trans fats. So... the OPPOSITE of dirty foods. 

And just to reiterate, this is a MINOR point... whether or not you eat dirty or clean is not a huge deal, as long as you calories, macros, and timing are in order. BUT if you're looking for that last 5% of difference, it pays to watch your food composition as well... so I have no problem with regular people eating junk on occasion, but I really wonder when people do "flexible dieting" for a BBing contest.  

So what you're saying Mike is, IIFYM is fine for people who want to look good naked, but if you're really looking to get to that next level of lean then you're going to have to do more eat an IIFYM diet?

Correct. Now, IIFYM also misses nutrient timing, which is even more important than "clean" vs. "dirty."

Tell me more my friend..........

Cause IIFYM doesn't really make allowances for timing. BUT this will be debated by some people who follow IIFYM because they themselves DO incorporate timing, but other IIFYM people don't.

So what you're saying is, if you follow the IIFYM protocol then it really behooves you to also include nutrient timing into the macros as well?

Yes.

So would you say it's fair to say that a diet consisting mainly of what you described as "clean" foods would not only have a better effect on overall body composition, but just overall health as well?

Absolutely. The evidence on that is quite clear.

Then why is it that what foods are "clean" is so heavily debated by the diet community and so many dietary gurus?  I mean I've read a million times that oatmeal and wheat and such are terrible fucking foods. Please explain this to me.

Wheat is usually a gluten issue which only a couple percent of the population has an issue with, so that opinion is mostly dogshit. IF your calories are low enough, and your protein needs are being met, THEN you are already doing the two biggest things possible to get lean. where they go wrong is saying that there is NO benefit to timing and glycemic index, etc as opposed to just a smaller benefit than some bodybuilders think.

For example I had a student ask me what's wrong with her bbing diet and why she's not losing weight fast enough. Turns out she was eating ALL clean foods but like 2x what she needed to lose fat!!! So she thought eating clean was some magical thing, but she forgot that calories are even more important much more.

So what you're saying is, the IIFYM crowd has really shed light on some of the most important parts of a sound dieting strategy, but like most diet ideas they got a bit silly with it and lost sight of some very important factors in rounding it all out?

Yes, especially for serious, competitive athletes.

So in closing........IIFYM is good, but needs to built more around clean foods and nutrient timing to make it great, and lastly, the people that argue there are no such things as clean and dirty foods are being fairly disingenuous.  Right?  

I think IIFYM (in the sense that you must count calories and macros) cannot be ignored. If you're trying to get big OR lean, calories and macros matter the MOST.  So ALL diets should start with IIFYM. If you're a competitor or want to take your diet to the next level, the details matter, so timing and food composition (clean vs. dirty) should become a concern as well.  For those that want the edge, IIFYM is not quite enough. 

As for people who write that there is no such thing as clean eating (such as that article on impruvism), they are either disingenuous or just haven't gone into the data deeply enough. I suspect the latter as I have no idea why anyone would do it for the former reason.

Thanks, Mike. 

Training - Squats and Tugs

Bodyweight -268

Squats - high bar, no belt, 60 seconds rest

315 x 8 sets of 5

This weight feels about right for where my quad is at post injury.  I still have a LOT of pain in it coming out of the bottom.  Especially on pause squats, which I did a few of here and there during the 8 sets.

Deficit Pulls -

225x2
315x2
405x2
500x2

585x3,3

First set was ok, but the second set was VERY fast.  I feel good about this.  I will probably just add more volume and work on speed at this weight for a while.

Base Building: Progression and goal setting

Base Building templates are built around three factors, for the most part.

• EDM (everyday max)
• Volume
• Bar Speed

Because these are the three key components, the obvious question becomes "where is progression built in?"

That's an easy question to answer.

Progression is determined by the lifter, and his understanding of those three factors.

If bar speed increases on a considerable basis over time, then it's up to that lifter to discern how much he should raise his EDM by.  Let's not lose sight of the fact that the whole point of BB is to increase your EDM, so that your BASE LEVEL, your sustainable level of strength, has increased.  This is how your offseason should be spent, unless you're trying to increase your base level of muscle mass.  Mind you, these are two entirely different training protocols, though there will be overlap with both.  BB will increase muscle mass (trust me, it happened with me), and mass building will up your base level of strength.  However each one does a specific job better than the other.

So back to progression, and how to plan for it.

Once you've established your EDM and understand what weights you will be working with for your phase, it's not entirely a bad idea to set a goal for what you would LIKE to be working with eventually.  I write "eventually" because the BB methodology is built around "slow and stead wins the race".

For example, right now I'm using BB Bench model I.  That means I'm basing my EDM bench at around 425, something I know I can do any day of the week.  So my work sets are at 315 x 5 sets of 8, all reps paused.

Now there are days (like last night) when 315 x 5 x 8 is hard, and other days where I feel like I can throw it through the roof.  My own personal focus is that even on the days where I feel like total shit, I can still hit 5 x 8 @ 315 with good speed across all 5 sets of 8.  Last night, that wasn't the case.

My goal in terms of progression is to EVENTUALLY be able to do 365 x 5 sets of 8 (all reps paused) on a GOOD DAY.  This is not a short term goal.  Just something I see up there as a place I would like to be.  My EDM at that point would obviously be significantly higher (duh, right? around 485).

Now this runs counter point to most of my points about setting small goals, and inching forward.  The reason here is because I know I will probably go into BB model II for a while, where I would be using 365 for 3 x 5, then 315 x 3 x 5, then a set with AMAP, and then BB model III before finally coming back to BB phase I

If you notice, I don't raise my EDM throughout all three of those phases.  It stays the same.  What I will do is the following........

Run phase I until I never have a day where 315 x 5 x 8 isn't easy as shit
Go into phase II, and set goals with both bar speed AND goals on the AMAP set
Go into phase III and set goals with both bar speed AND goals on the AMAP set
Go back to Phase I when I feel as though 365 x 5 sets of 8 all paused, are clearly possible

I do not have a timetable on this.  It might take a year, or two years, or three years.  The point is, that whole time I will be still be inching forward, making progress.  Rather than being greedy and trying to force things to happen, I will inch forward slowly so that I'm not sitting here saying I haven't gotten any stronger in three years.

Most guys are not going to be patient enough to understand how to make this process work for them, and that's too bad.  They spend too much time reading information about going balls out every single session with no understanding that training that way has a time and place, but will eventually find one at a point of diminishing returns.  In that regard so will EVERY form of training.  This is why in the Base Building manual, I make a point to emphasize that training must have PHASES THAT BUILD ON EACH OTHER.  One style or method of training will not help you reach all of your goals.

Get Base Building HERE 

Some early Base Building FAQs

1.  "Paul, I made it through phase "X" of the Base Building squat, in the minimum time, and it was easy.  What should I do?

A.  The first thing I have to stress is, or rather ask, is...was your speed on every set as fast as possible?  Generally people think yes, however after having worked with many dozen guys using this protocol I can tell you that I often still see slow downs from the 3rd set to the 5th-8th set.  It still feels "light" however the drop in power is evident on video.

If it is not, then I bump the EDM (every day max).  This is good.  This means progress, of course.  I recommend that you video your first, third, and last set of your work phases and watch your speed.  If there is any slow down in the transition point, then stick with that weight.  If the bar is still flying off of your back, then bump the EDM.  But always milk out a phase for as long as possible.

Lastly, this isn't about getting in X amount of work in X amount of time.  It's about doing it, and having every set look as explosive as possible.  Two factors without the third factor (power in each set) means the other two don't matter.

Work + Time + Explosiveness

That's the key.

2.  "Paul, I'm entering a fat loss stage.  Should I still run base building or something else?"

A.  Base Building works great for guys who are in the process of trying to go from lard ass to not so lard ass.  Mainly because the EDM can be adjusted as strength levels wane a bit during the acclimation process during fat loss.  Where a peaking program is based around ramping up, BB is built around sub-max intensities with speed, and a static max.  The static max can be adjusted as needed based on how your speed is doing.  You can also use the Fatigue Singles protocol to judge where your EDM is.

3.  "I have a powerlifting meet in 9 weeks.  How should I work Base Building with that?"

That's easy.  You should run the short cycle for 6 weeks (this includes the deload), so run Base Building for three weeks before that as the primer.

4.  "How do I decide what phase to use?"

My recommendation is to always start at Phase I, and milk it for all it is worth.  Once boredom or "gains" stall, you can move into Phase II or III.  But again, I emphasize that you need to understand all of the factors that go into what you are trying to accomplish here.  Becoming explosive with heavier and heavier weights.  Even though they are sub-max, you want to be able to move them with more speed over time, and then push the volume with the other phases.  So you need to ask yourself WHY you are changing phases.

Training - Lower body work

Bodyweight - 260

Front Squats -

barx20,10
135x5,5,5
225x,5

315x5,5,5,5,5

Deadlifts (light) -
225x3,3
315x3
405x3
500x3,3

Leg Press -
3 plates per side x 20
4 plates per side x 20
5 plates per side x 20

Notes - Had the shits all weekend so I lost so weight but my stomach still looks and feels like I swallowed a fucking beach ball.

The 500 pulls will be my light speed check pulls.  These felt good tonight after fronts.

Base Building is on Kindle

Pick it up HERE. 

Picking meet attempts

One of the most simple things about powerlifting, in my opinion, is picking proper attempts on meet day.

I mean, it can't be that hard.  You just spent X amount of weeks preparing for said meet, with a cycle based around hitting doable third attempts.  So you should already know the goals for the meet, and your training cycle should have reflected that.

Right?

RIGHT?

So often the answer to that is "uhhhhhhhhhhh........"


Training - The first place it all goes wrong

First off, you have to train within your means.  That is, your training cycle should represent nothing but success across the board, for whatever length of time it is.

Most of the time it all goes awry because a guy totals 1,850 then sets up his training cycle to go 1,950 only a few months later.  Rather than 1,875 or something more manageable.  So now the entire training cycle is based around numbers that on meet day, probably aren't really doable.

Now, the lifter has to reach not only on training day, but on meet day as well.  Missed lifts ensue, and then confidence wanes come meet day because the training cycle was never set up for success.

If you missed lifts on a fairly often basis, then how solid could your programming have been?  If you winged it, well, I guess you'll wing it on meet day too.  I don't see any other athletes "winging it" in training then showing up expecting to win.  Yet powerlifters do it all the time.

So the first short circuit by a guy in not understanding how to pick attempts properly on meet day, started in the gym.  Going too heavy too soon, missing reps, getting burnt out, and then walking into the meet feeling very unsure.  So now, the athlete isn't positive what to pick because he bases his attempts around maxes he hit in the gym.

In other words "Well I hit 500 in the gym, so I'll open at 480 and go from there."

Nevermind that 500 was a grinder and had only been hit one other time in this lifters life.  So he proceeds to open at 480, it grinds, and he goes to 510 for his second.  Which he misses of course.  Then misses it on his third as well.

This is common.  I see it at every meet.  Some guy opening with a grinder, then gets his ass kicked on his second, or then makes it but it zaps him so much he doesn't account for the fact that it will take some off of his other lifts, and then proceeds to miss most of them as well.

I've detailed how I pick attempts and how I get guys to pick attempts in Strength, Life, Legacy but I'm going to go a little more in depth in that here.

Just to get this bit of chest puffing out of the way, I have a fairly solid track record of training and picking attempts for powerlifters ranging from fairly new to elite level guys.  Most of the guys I have helped in this regard generally go at minimum 7 for 9 with several PR's.  8 for 9 and 9 for 9 are very, very common.  Not to mention that Ernie Lilliebridge Jr. tells me all the time "I don't know how you do that." in terms of picking attempts or nailing every call in terms of when someone will make a lift or miss it.  I very rarely miss.

Success fuels success - 

As an athlete I always thought that you prepared to be successful.  It wasn't until I got into powerlifting that I found out that I had been fooled all these years.

That's heavy sarcasm in case you didn't catch it.

The whole purpose of training for weeks on end, traveling, spending money, and putting forth all the effort you did in preparation for a meet should be to go 9 for 9, with 4 PR's.

Period.

That's a squat PR, a bench PR, a deadlift PR, and a total PR.  Yet I've read all sorts of fucking nonsense like "if you didn't have a miss you didn't go heavy enough."

What?

"If you got three whites on your squat you went too low."

Huh?

God damn, I've never been involved in a sport where success was so heavily frowned upon by so many.  If your training and competing is spot on, it should reflect that on the platform.

And that starts with your opener.  A great opener builds to a solid second, which sets the lifter up for a lot of confidence come that third.

This is what should be the goal on meet day.  So where do I feel most guys go wrong?

Let's start with the opener.....

The opener and clarifying - 

The opener is both the least, and most important attempt you will pick.

Your opener is least important in the way that, it should be an after thought.  It should be so easy, that it literally requires almost no psyche.  No second thoughts.  You respect the weight, but it's insignificant IN TERMS OF WEIGHT ON THE BAR.

On the flip side, it's the most important because if you do not pick your opener correctly it can really set you up for a shitty day, or of course, you can bomb out.

Your opener should be EASY.  I don't know what part of that word most people do not get.

EASY!  EASY!!!!!!!!!

Your opener should be your last warm up.  That's it.  Your LAST WARM UP.  What does a warm up feel like?  Fucking easy.

If you wanted me to be a little more specific I usually call it between 85-88% of the planned third attempt. Some guys look at me incredulously and say "really?!?!"

Yes.  That light.  Who are you trying to impress with an opener?  Seriously.  I swear to Christ that's what half, or more than half, of these asshats I see at meets are doing.  Trying to impress people with openers.

One myth I want to debunk is that "your opener should be something you can do for a triple."

What?  You want to open with something that is roughly a max triple?  That is a great piece of advice if you plan on leaving the meet that day with a shit ton of misses, or bombing out.

Most peoples three rep max will fall somewhere between 90% and 93% of their TRUE max.  And you're going to open with 90+%?

I even had a friend tell me, upon my suggestion as to what his opener should be "that's a waste of an opener".

The only wasted opener is the one you miss.

Second and third attempts - 

From a percentage standpoint your second attempt should generally fall around something in the 93% area of  your goal.

Again, if you're not being completely stupid, your second attempt should be very doable.  It should definitely require you to get "prepared" for it, however confidence should be high that you can make this lift.

Your second attempt is also the attempt that gives you an idea if the goal for the third attempt is there or not. If it grinds more than you'd like, back off a bit.  If it has good speed through the transition point, then you should be good to go for hitting that goal.

At the UPA meet a few weeks ago I picked attempts for Pete Rubish, who went 8 for 9 for his biggest total ever.  Pete fought me a little bit each time but eventually relented and told me after the meet "man, it's amazing how when you go smoke your opener, and then have a solid second, how much better than third attempt moves and feels."

Yeah man.  That's the point.

Managing fatigue - 

The other factor that people generally don't think about in regards to their second and third attempts is the accumulative fatigue that it has on the body.  A low bar squat will tax the shoulders more than you think.  If you arch hard in the bench, then the low back contracts very hard and will be more taxed than usual in the deadlift.

The meet day in general is long and boring, and fairly draining.  So you need to take into account that there will be a certain amount of fatigue involved that time in the gym doesn't really account for.  Adrenaline dumping after squats tends to take quite the toll as well.

So make sure you understand for example, that if you deadlift on a day you don't squat, then your deadlift is going to be a bit lower on meet day than it is in training.  You won't be phresh come deadlift time on meet day.

The methods I don't like - 

There are quite a few methods I see that I don't care for.  I do know that some good and even great lifters use them, however that doesn't mean they are optimal, in my opinion.

Method 1 - Picking attempts too close

I see this one a lot.  The guy will basically make the smallest jumps possible to his third.  For example....

455 - 470 - 490

This guy opened with what should have been his second, then took a second that really served no purpose (97% of your goal????  Why???)

His attempts should have looked more like.......

415/430 - 455 - 490

 Method 2 - Go for broke

I think this is my most despised method, because well, I think it's completely retarded.

"Open with something you could triple, get a small PR on the second, go for broke on your third."

This method makes my head hurt so bad I'm not sure where to start.

It's the anti-successful method.  First off, this sets you up for misses.  If you're going for broke on all of your thirds, one thing that is going to happen is you're going to grind the living shit out of them and then your next lift is going to be quite less than you anticipated (as we have covered).

Not only that, but on a down day, you're likely to miss a lot of those seconds.  Small PR's are never a given. It's why you save them for your thirds, based on how your second attempts feels.  You don't grind out an opener, then go for a PR on your second.  Even if you make that small PR, it's probably not going to be an easy lift, and now the subsequent lifts will take a bit of a dive.

Closing - 

Powerlifting is a sport where most of us spend quite a few bucks to go compete, and put in a lot of hard work and time in order to show up and be our best.  Therefore it's also important that you make solid decisions about your attempts on competition day.  You're not there to miss.  Remember that.