Training-Time Meal Variations
How to Shredmaxx With any Workout Schedule
The most frequent question I get asked about the Shredmaxxing Protocol is what to do if you workout in the Morning. And rightfully so. We’ve been told that the post-workout anabolic protein window is the key to winning your (totally natural) professional bodybuilding competition. Its basically muscle memory to slam a protein shake after our workout, but what if you workout at 6am? What if you workout at 9pm?
Most guys who understand nutrition have the basics figured out: Protein matters, don't eat like a slob, prioritize whole foods. But there’s a massive gap between understanding what to eat and knowing when to eat what, especially relative to training.
Your body operates on hormonal cycles that shift dramatically throughout the day. Cortisol peaks in the morning, insulin sensitivity changes with circadian rhythm, glycogen storage capacity fluctuates based on when you last trained. This all impacts what your body decides to do with the food you eat.
Understanding the metabolic context of training windows and adjusting your fueling strategy accordingly is key to flexible shredmaxxing. Anybody can get jacked with a militant schedule (see example: average prisoner gymbro), but its a different can of worms when you’re traveling, time zone hopping, dealing with unpredictable work schedules, or have other obligations that take precedent.
This protocol will serve two purposes:
A full nutrition program for morning, midday, and evening training schedules
A semi-comprehensive overview of metabolic foundations so you can create your own eating schedule
I hate rules, you should too. Understand mechanims and you can free yourself from the chains of room temperature IQ meal plans.
Understanding Metabolic Foundations
Nutrient partitioning is everything. Where your body sends nutrients (muscle cells vs fat cells) depends primarily on 3 factors:
Insulin Sensitivity: How effectively your cells respond to insulin’s signal to uptake glucose. Highest in the morning and immediately post-workout, lowest in late-evening.
Glycogen Depletion Status: Empty muscle glycogen tanks pull nutrients into muscle tissue like a vacuum. Overflowed tanks shunt excess carbs toward fat storage.
Hormonal Environment: Cortisol, growth hormone, androgens, and thyroid hormones all influence whether nutrients get used for energy, stored as glycogen, or converted to fat
Keep insulin sensitivity high, optimize hormones, keep your metabolism burning in “goldilocks” zone to upregulate basal metabolism. And respect. the. Randle. cycle. When you eat fats and carbs together, they compete for the same oxidation pathways. Your body can’t efficiently burn both simultaneously. Neither fuel source gets used optimally and excess energy gets stored.
There is no shredmaxxing without respecting the Randle cycle.
Core Protocol Rules:
Randle Cycle Separation:
High-carb meals: 80% calories from carbs, minimal fat
High-fat meals: <30g carbs, prioritize high quality fat intelligently (treat like supplement)
The higher your daily caloric intake, the more important this is. The more your metabolism is upregulated (via shredmaxxing), the more you can mix fats & carbs (although I don’t recommend if wanting to shred).
Fruit Till Noon (FTN):
Implement 3-5 days per week.
Consume only fruit, fruit juice (plus optional MCT oil/collagen) for 3-4 hours after waking
Trains your body to efficiently metabolize carbohydrates, upregulates mitochondrial function without the burden of protein/fat digestion
Fructose from whole fruit gets processed differently than glucose. It goes through the liver first, doesn’t spike insulin as dramatically, and actually improves hepatic (liver) insulin sensitivity over time. By extending your overnight fast with pure fruit, you keep autophagy elevated, maintain fat oxidation from the night before, and prime your metabolism for efficient carbohydrate use earlier in the day. This is quasi-intermitting fasting without any of the catabolic, pro-cortisol effects (quite the opposite).
Starch Loading Around Workouts
Stack complex (starchy) carbs pre and post workout. Starch breaks down into glucose over 2-4 hours. Consume pre-workout to improve performance, pump, and muscle growth. You want to “use” starchy carbs to train hard and recover harder.
50-100g starch carbs 60-90 minutes before training
150-250g starch carbs withing 60 minutes of completing training
Post-workout is your glycogen supercompesation window. GLUT4 transporters are maximally expressed on your muscle cell membranes, insulin sensitivity is sky high. Your muscles are giga-primed to pull in glucose. Most well-trained guys have 400-600 total muscle glycogen capacity, you likely depleted 30-50% during training. Aim to slightly exceed glycogen depletion for super compensation. The more muscle you have and the harder you train, the more carbs you need. Combine with lean protein for optimal anabolic state.
Complex carbs give me a noticeably “fuller” look. Simple sugar for getting lean & dry, complex carbs for getting jacked & pumped. Cycle accordingly.
Leverage Pro-Metabolic Tools
Beyond basic nutrition & timing, specific compounds can amplify your body’s ability to handle carbohydrates, partition nutrients toward muscle, speeding up metabolic upregulation and mitigating risk of becoming a chud.
These aren’t fat burners or appetite suppressants, just tools that improve how efficiently your cells use fuel.
Taurine →Shuttles glucose into your cells, preventing excess blood sugar
L-Carnitine L-Tartrate → Improves fat mobilization (burn) AND insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle
C3G → Increases GLUT4 expression, increases insulin sensitivity
Black Ginger → Thermogenic, increases fat oxidation and glucose uptake, activates AMPK, upregulates cAMP
Ubiquinol & PQQ → Boosts ATP production in high-energy organs, protects mitochondria
These are tools. Minor tweaks that can upgrade your machinery. Like installing a new fuel injector & transmission on your car. Essential? No. Efficacious? Absolutely.
Upregulate mitochondria, boost fat mobiliation, and make sure glucose efficiently enters your cells. Taurine in the AM, Taurine, Black Ginger, & L-carnitine pre-workout, C3G Post-workout, Ubiquinol with high fat meal.
This serves as troubleshooting and scaffolding for various workout times. I recommend you Copy-paste the sections that apply to you into a separate document and keep on your phone. Godspeed
MORNING WORKOUT
For those with tight schedules. Morning workouts actually have their benefit. Cortisol is naturally spikes, meaning more fatty acid mobilization and nervous system activation for high intensity. Growth hormone is elevated from the night before, but glycogen is depleted.
Training fasted can lead to muscle breakdown and recovery issues. Here’s what I recommend:
The Night Before
Carb refeed BEFORE you go to bed. 90 minutes after your high fat meal (if time enables), get a moderate carb & protein refeed in. Yogurt, honey & berries. Maybe some sprouted oats. Troubleshoot and see which meal leaves you the most “full” upon waking (gauged by pump & performance at the gym).