ABCDE diet

I found following information from newsgroups regarding Torbjörn Äkerfeldt ABCDE diet. The ABCDE diet was previously published in http://www.musclemedia.com/training/abcde/v58_abc1.asp allthough Bill Phillips changed it from original without asking Torbjörn permission. Anyway they made following 9 week research where there was 12 day overating phases and 12 day Cutting phases.

Seems too good to be true?

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The researchers: Torbjörn Åkerfeldt, Dan Henrohn and Johan Månsflod at Uppsala University (Institution of Nutrition)

Nine young men with an average of seven years of training experience were put on a carefully monitored diet and exercise program. Six men completed the nine weeks the study took. In that time they put on an average of over 7 kg (about 16 lbs) of lean body mass while losing 1.3 kg (about 3 lbs) of bodyfat. They were also tested on the bench press and single leg leg press. The bench press went up from 116 kg to 131 kg (from 255lbs to 288lbs) and the legpress showed similar improvements. (These exercises were NOT trained during the nine weeks of the study.) Finally the girth of the upper arm increased on average 19%.

Eating:

On overeating phases (12 days): Regular diet + 1500 kcal from good oils, protein powder, a sugarmix that contained creatine and a multivitamin. Ten minutes before every workout they took a disgustingly sweet” sugar drink w creatine (70g carbs) and another one after the workout. A proteindrink was consumed at bed time. Other than that just follow your regular diet.

Cutting phase (12 days): Eat maintenance calories or a modest deficit (10%) with protein drinks 4 times per day. Drink one of these at bed time and the other spread throughout the day.

Training method:

I don´t think the training program was anything unusual. During bulking phase they trained heavy with low reps. NO cardio.

During cutting phases the trained with light weights and high reps. Add to this walking or some mild form of cardio for 40-60 minutes every day.

- Was the study published in a peer review publication?

It was presented and well recieved at the annual conference for doctors in Sweden. I guess this is the place where a lot of new studies are presented to other doctors and stuff

Fredrik Paulun, one of the most respected sports nutritionists in Sweden wrote in a mail:

The ABCDE diet is one of the hottest topics ever published on nutrition and training for bodybuilders. A new study, published by Torbjörn at the Annual doctor´s conference showed very good results from this method.”

A quick translation from one of the study participants:

The researchers were very strict about everything. We went to a lab twice a week for tests. First you had to breath into a mask which measured your metabolism. They also took your temperature to see if the body temperature would rise during the study, and it did. Then you were weighed, measured with calipers and measure tape. Then they measured the amount of fluid in your body by electrodes.

After that you had to jump into a water tank, where you had to breathe a helium mix for five minutes until they weighed you under water (sitting on a small metal construction in the water) to get exact numbers on how much body fat you had. After that there were blood tests and every participant were tested for steroids during the study.

Torbjörn Åkerfeldt himself said in a mail to a forum member:

I have actually never claimed that you should lower the energy intake by more than 10% during the cutting phase. Bill Phillips didn´t believe in this so he changed the information in the article series in MM.

In my study the participants were even allowed to eat maintenance calories during the cutting phase and lost fat nontheless.

I also recommend a 12 day overfeeding cycle and 12 days cutting, and not 14 days + 16 days as BP says.
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