first bodybuilding contest

during a diet phase, actually anytime, i personally eat hi protein, hi fat and low, low low carbs during the work week. on sat and sunday i carb up very hi and keep fats and protein low. this approach has really helped me increase my lean muscle mass. using this approach virtually forces ur body to utilize fat reserves as energy. as for pre and pwo, im personally sold on hydro 520 and pepto with very little carbs added for both pre and post. i dont think carbs help all that much with protein synthesis, if any, and the fast acting proteins will flush ur system with aminos. ive adopted this approach recently and have been extremely happy with the results

thanks for your response what percentage of protein and fat do you take in during the week and how many grams of carbs on the weekends?

my 5 day work week averages out to 55% fat, 40% protein and 5% carbs. im 6'4 and around 260 and my carb up weekends average around 500 g of carbs per day

Seems like a really smart approach. Hydrolized proteins raise insulin greatly, even in the absence of carbs, which is why if you're using them around your workout and your watching carbs, you can still drive the nutrients into the muscles without carbs. Carb up days every four or five days help to reset all your metabolic hormones so your metabolism keeps humming along and doesn't slow down as a result of the low carbs during the week. I think I'm gonna try something similar as I strive to get down to 15% bf. Thanks for sharing, djones!