This is really the trifecta of training...like having your cake and eating it, too.

After all, what good is it to build all that muscle and cover it with a thick layer of fat by unnecessarily eating too many carbs (and calories)?

By far the best solution that I've come across is a nutritional method known as "carb cycling".

If you've used my Metabolic Surge or Muscle Explosion programs, you're very familiar with the concept of strategically rotating carbs in and out of your diet.

I rely on it because it flat-out WORKS.

Cycling your carbs improves your sensitivity to insulin and allows your body to "relearn" how to use bodyfat for energy.

When you eat carbs all the time, your body responds (very generally speaking) by decreasing insulin sensitivity.

Insulin is one of the most anabolic (muscle-building) hormones you've got and the more sensitive your muscles are to it, the faster you're going to grow.

There is a very simply analogy I like to use to describe this.

First imagine yourself sitting in a completely dark room...no windows, no light. You're completely used to the dark.

Then you light a match.

Even though it's a very small amount of light, that match looks as bright as the sun. This is because your eyes are now "light sensitive".

Now imagine lighting that same match sitting outside on a bright, sunny day... it doesn't even register.

That "washed out" state is what many people walk around in all day long if they've been eating carbs for long periods of time. When they eat carbs, it's like lighting a match outside. Their muscles don't respond as strongly to the insulin that gets secreted.

We want to be in the "sensitive" state where we're lighting a match in a dark room.

THAT is when insulin is highly anabolic. Then when you eat carbs, you'll get a very strong muscle-building response in your body...not just a "meh."

In addition, when you stabilize your insulin levels (and blood sugar levels), your body is forced to rely more on fat for energy. It increases it's "metabolic machinery" for using fat for energy, which helps you burn your own bodyfat more effectively at all times as well.

Targeted carb cycling allows you to eat carbs, build muscle AND stay lean (or get leaner), all at the same time.

Now, I'll be straight-up honest with you...in my own training, I use carb cycling like a sledgehammer...no precision whatsoever :).

I take carbs out when I want to lose fat, I put them in when I want to build muscle and strength. I don't measure anything, I don't track my intake...and it works for me.

But I've been training more than 27 years now and I know exactly what I need (and don't need) in terms of carb and calorie intake.

That may not be the case for you.

That's where Customized Carb Cycling comes in...

This is a concept put together by a guy I actually just met a few days ago, by the name of Matt Stirling. Matt is a 3-time world champion bodybuilder and personal trainer, so I knew when I met him that this was somebody who could teach me some really good stuff.

As I mentioned above, I use carb cycling like a sledgehammer...Matt, however, uses carb cycling more like a scalpel.

He calls his program the Customized Carb Cycling Solution.

His customized approach utilizes carb cycling in a way that targets the quantity of carbs you eat to the workouts you're doing so that you don't spill over into fat stores

This allows you to build muscle and lean out the same time...without having to worry about whether you're eating enough or too much.

As well (and this is actually an EXTREMELY important piece of the strategy), in his Customized Carb Cycling Solution, Matt also targets the workouts you're doing to how many carbs you're eating.

I can't emphasize enough how important this concept is...it's honestly the entire underlying nutritional basis of both of my programs that I mentioned above.

If you want to get the most out of cycling your carbs, you ABSOLUTELY MUST tailor your workouts to the nutrients you're eating.

Otherwise, you're wasting your time...you won't get nearly the results you're truly capable of and you won't take full advantage of the nutritional and hormonal states your body gets put into.

Matt nails this in his program.

If you've ever been confused about how much to eat or what to eat when carb cycling, don't worry...there's an App for that...

One of the coolest things about the Customized Carb Cycling Solution program is that it also includes a web app that tells you EXACTLY how much (and what) to eat based on all the personalized data you put into the system.

This is really where the "customized" part of the program comes into play.

The app will tell you exactly how many grams of protein, carbs and fats you should eat per meal and WHEN to eat them.

As well, Matt has put together an excellent food and meal guide so you know what foods to buy at the grocery store and how much of them to eat during the day, and when to eat them.

(I also really like his concept of a "floater meal" that you can eat whenever it's convenient for you rather than at a set time).

Bottom line, this is REALLY good stuff.

I'm a big fan of carb cycling for building muscle and getting lean...I've literally been using variations of it for more than 25 years.

It works.

And the Customized Carb Cycling Solution is a program (a very reasonably priced program, I might add) that can help you utilize it with surgical precision.

Grab your copy here.