Over the course of my training career (going on
24+ years now) there are two programs that
have shaped the structure of just about every
program that I've ever put togther.

The "big ideas" behind these two programs really changed my
understanding of how the human body works...how it responds
to training and nutrition. Really, these two programs gave me
the "keys to the castle."

From the training side of things, it was Bulgarian Burst Training
by Leo Costa. This program taught me the value of alternating
phases of high-volume, high-frequency purposeful overtraining
with phases of low-volume, low-frequency undertraining in
order to force adaptation from your body as a SYSTEM rather
than just treating it as a collection of bodyparts.

If you've used any of my programs, you've likely recognize this
concept...first you ramp up, then you back off.

I used this training style during my first year of training
and it helped me gain an additional 40 lbs of bodyweight
in 4 months, beyond the 32 lbs I had already gained in my
first 5 months of training (I went from 145 lbs to 217 lbs in
8 months when I started training).

Now, you'll notice that I said bodyweight....I didn't say it was
all muscle (a good portion, but not all).

I had the TRAINING down cold...what was missing was the
NUTRITIONAL approach that would allow me to add muscle
without piling on all the fat as well.

I had to wait an additional SIX YEARS to discover the secret to that.

And that secret came in the form of ABCDE...Anabolic
Burst Cycling of Diet and Exercise.

I first read about this concept in the Muscle Media magazine...
and when I did, the nutrition side of things just clicked for me.

Essentially, you're alternating cycles of low-calorie eating and
fat-loss focused training with high-calorie eating and mass-
focused training.

This fit perfectly in line with the cyclic way that I knew the
body worked when it came to training...and now I could apply
it to my nutrition as well.

At the time, I was working on cruise ships and believe me,
food was everywhere. If you think you can gain weight on a
10 day cruise, try working on a ship for 10 MONTHS and not
put on a whole lot of fat.

This ABCDE framework was literally PERFECT for what I
needed to build muscle and keep lean in a "target rich food
environment." I stayed on this calorie cycling approach for
several years straight and maintained a peak bodyweight of
around 210 lbs +/-, while staying at 8 to 10% bodyfat.

Naturally, being insane the way I am, I was constantly
experimenting with ways to make it even better. The results
were my Metabolic Surge program, my Mad Scientist Muscle
program, and the peak of insanity...my Muscle Explosion
program (if you've tried it, you know what I'm talking about).

Over the years, I lost track of my copy of Muscle Media that
had the original article in it...I wish I would've hung onto
that because it was literally one of THE most influential
articles I've ever read on muscle-building nutrition.

What I've got for YOU today, though, is the chance to read
the original full ABCDE concept that influenced my training
so much...the concept that really took my ideas of how to
eat for lean mass gain down the path you see right now.

As far as I'm concerned, this stuff is GOLD and it should
be in the library of every serious trainer.