Friday, October 9, 2015

Q&A with Neil Hill

He answered some questions that people emailed him about. Take a look this and hopefully, this will help you get to the next level. Here's five common questions people asked him.

Intermittent fasting, what do I think of it . . .?

Intermittent fasting in my opinion has become "trendy" over the last few years like most diet protocols and now seems to be losing its momentum slightly. The reality is, cramming in your calories for the day across 1-2 meals a day seems crazy to me - your blood sugar levels, insulin response and general energy/hunger levels will be all over the frigging place. Not to mention the fact your body has to try and digest and assimilate all of the nutrients in one hit. I'm NOT a fan!

How should you plan your carb cycle? 

A few weeks back I wrote two emails on carb cycling, one for fat loss and one for building muscle. If you are carb cycling for fat loss there is no ONE cycle which works better than others. However, I would always move to a "low" day after a "high" day typically speaking, to allow the metabolic spike you experience from the "high" day to churn through your stored fat whilst being low on calories the next day. 

In terms of how frequent you have high days depends on your body type, training and fat levels. Usually the leaner you are the more you need in terms of frequency AND volume typically speaking.

What do I think of IIFYM?

I'm a big advocator of having flexibility and living this as a lifestyle WHEN possible, HOWEVER I do NOT like IIFYM. The issue I have is that you see so many people bundling food groups i.e. carbohydrates under the same roof which is BS! You see people justifying having a Macdonalds, Pizza and other s*** over natural food sources. Yes you want flexibility but do not convince yourself that your body behaves and reacts in the same way on these fuel sources. There is a time and place for it, but don't become disillusioned in thinking pizza and sweet potato are equal energy sources FFS! As you know I'm also a big proponent of nutrient timing and high meal frequency. 

What is the best macro split for building muscle?

There isn't f***ing one! Nobody can tell you that a specific macro split will work for you and everyone else out there. The real "trick" with nutrition is to trial things, give them enough time and slowly analyse how you respond and make adjustments as you go rather than massive wholesale changes every week where you or your body doesn't know whether its coming or going! 

What do I think of Ketogenic diets?

They've helped a lot of people get lean, you can't deny that and for SOME it is the best way forward. However to follow a low carb, high fat diet you don't necessarily need to be on a "keto" diet and reach a state of ketosis to benefit from a higher fat, lower carb diet. What I will say though is that I do prefer to keep carbs as high as I CAN (which depends on the person) because usually I find it helps maintain a fuller looking physique and keeps your metabolism firing better. Like I said, "usually."

Hope this helps!!

Neil Hill

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