During the depletion workouts, I found it easier to include more machines vs. free weights. The first week I used all DB's and barely made it through the first cycle.

How are you dividing the depletion workouts? I used what he recommended and went through 3 sets of 15-20 per muscle, saved legs for last, then repeated. I tried doing 6 sets straight per muscle once and barely made it halfway through. Felt like I was going to fall asleep while on the verge of puking. :)

I want ym book ... damnit !

i'd typically do 20-30min of cardio before each depletion workout. my strength was scheite for the workout, but that wasn't really the point of those workouts. i'd push the big weights during the power workout

I am just running the sample routine he has in the book, doing three sets of each 15-20 reps, then repeating it. I do legs first to get it out of the way. For some muscle groups I switch up movements for instance my first three sets for chest are flat bench, my second three are on the incline machine.
I also switch up bi/tri movements so I dont get bored, but legs always stay the same.

I'll give that a go next week, although the depletions are hard enough without doing cardio first. Did you not do cardio the rest of the week?

WRT to cardio, I would limit it at first. See how you progress for a couple of weeks, assess progress, and add in some cardio as needed. Towards the end of the diet, I did some cardio on depletion days as well as Wednesday.

311's suggestion on the machines is a good one. Also, don't stress too much about the Thursday carb load. Eat 2-3 carb up meals, then get the rest on Friday. It's more important to get the actual carb load goal than anything else.

The carb load kind of threw me off the first week. My numbers are insane, taking in 1200, an thats on the low end of the spectrum.

WRT? I'm a little slow with the abreviations bro, help me out here.

with respect to

LOL, I was slamming 1800 grams in 30 hours! :D

It was super easy buying those Sara Lee Begals (blueberry) and dunking them in water between bites. Tastes sooo good. I usually ate one in between my meals without a problem. That was the best way I had to continue refeeding myself with carbs. I know Lyle speaks very highly of begals.

Yeah I got some bagels waiting for friday, and I have a brand spankin new box of lucky charms for tonight. After my workout my carb up will look like this.

100g Pure Virtago
50g Whey

Lucky charms till the end of the night ... gotta love hi gi cereals.

Then friday will be mostly lower GI carbs, starting with a big bowl of oatmeal in the morning. Then sandwiches on whole grain bread, then bagels an such. I cant wait.

Somethings telling me I picked the wrong damm diet....Lucky Charms lol :banghead: