Don’t forget to treat yourself from time to time too. Some fine dining in NYC at Morimoto.
“Begin each day as if it were on purpose.” ~ Mary Anne Radmacher
This includes your diet. If your goal is to build lean muscle mass, you have to eat each meal with that purpose in mind. However, it might be done a bit differently than you think. Here’s an article about what I ate in order to gain 32 pounds of ripped, athletic muscle in 32 weeks.
Building ripped, powerful muscle can be broken down into two factors.
1. Training: what you’re doing in the gym to break down muscle.
2. Recovery: what you’re doing to repair that muscle in the form of proper nutrition and rest.
I cover training a couple times a week here usually, so we’ll condense training into breaking down as much muscle, as fast as possible with intense, and effective workouts.
Rest comes from training no more than 4 days a week, and getting 8 hours of sleep every night. You will see better results if you’re getting your 8 hours of sleep every night, but I’m terrible at sleeping. I went through my transformation without those 8 hours, so don’t freak out if you’re not a good sleeper or if you have insomnia.
However, I did see better gains when I was sleeping a solid 8 hours a night. So do your best to get some sleep!
Foods
I like food. Which is weird because I have always enjoyed eating, but I could never gain a single pound. A few changes in diet, and dramatic changes in my training led to my 32 pounds of ripped muscle in 32 weeks.
As you may know, the system that helped me gain my lean muscle mass kind of found me. I was done with trying to gain lean muscle mass, and stumbled upon this system accidentally when I got a job as a trainer. I was still fighting, and I wasn’t concerned with gaining mass, I just needed powerful muscle.
I was put under the tutelage of a great trainer who thought the system would help me get what I wanted.
Anyways, the system opened my eyes to a lot of different things in the training realm, but also with diet. Here are a couple of the changes I made to my diet that helped lead me to my 32 pounds in 32 weeks transformation.
Fast Carbs, Fast Workout
I already mentioned that I shortened my training both in length and frequency to 4, 30-45 minute workouts weekly. I also began having a fast carbohydrate, protein, and glutamin mix during my workout. This – and sometimes before or after my workout – was the only time I was having fast carbs.
It gave my body fast acting fuel that it could burn during a workout, instead of burning muscle. It also spiked my insulin levels. Insulin is an absorption hormone. What this did was help my body absorb the protein to my muscles faster, and more effectively when I needed it most (during a workout where I was ruthlessly breaking down muscle).
You can also have this immediately after a workout. I’ll cycle between both, depending what kind of carb mix I’m using.
Pre and Post Workout
About an hour to an hour and a half before I workout I’d be eating a healthy meal that was high in protein, good fats, and good carbohydrates.
Example:
A couple home-made chicken burgers. Use whole wheat buns, pickle’s and mustard.
After a workout – because of your during workout shake – your insulin levels will still be high. This means you’ll have a couple of hours to give your body the nutrients it needs to properly recover. Remember, recovery is what you’re trying to accomplish with this meal.
Due to the spiked insulin levels keep the fats low with this meal – although it’s your preference.
Example:
French Toast with 12-16 egg whites, 3 slices of toast, all-natural maple syrup.
Whatever egg whites you don’t use, scramble and eat them anyways. This is the only meal I’ll have without a lot of fat. More on that in a bit.
Protein + Slow Carbs = Lean Gains
My meals were dominated by protein – which helps in repair broken down muscle tissue – slow carbohydrates – are processed differently than fast carbs, actually boost your metabolism, and aren’t stored as fat like fast carbs are – and fats. Yes, fat.
I have always felt that eating natural foods like animal proteins – meat, eggs, milk – vegetables and anything else that comes from the earth and isn’t processed, is a lot better for you than any alternative. So, what I cut out of my diet were things that were processed.
I didn’t have any trans fats, or consume any packaged goods, or anything that was considered a fast carbohydrate unless it was a cheat meal, or it was close to my workout.
My breakfast was 4-6 whole eggs, and a cup of steel cut oatmeal with blueberries and 2% milk. Saturated fats, when combined fast carbs are more likely to be stored. Fast carbs on their own actually contribute more to fat gains than natural fats do.
Counting Calories
That’s one thing I didn’t do. I just ate a crap load of food. In the meal plans for the POWERHOWSE CHALLENGE, I do give you meal plans that have certain amounts of calories, just so you know how much X amount of calories really is. But when I went through my transformation I just pretty much ate every source of protein, good fat, and slow carbohydrate in sight. And loved it.
Resources
Video: How I Gained 32 Pounds of Ripped Muscle in 32 Weeks
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