| You see them all over the Internet - 'high calorie meal | | | | bodybuilding seminar back in 1990. The two-hour |
| plans' purported as necessary for going from skinny | | | | presentation had attendees asking personal questions |
| runt to 'muscular he-man' with the simple application of | | | | of a Mr. Olympia competitor who had placed as high |
| a one-workout-per-week bodybuilding training routine. | | | | as second in that biggest of bodybuilding contests: |
| "Experts" tell you to pump heavy iron, eat every three | | | | "How much muscle can you gain in a year?" asked |
| hours, and take in 3,000 to 5,000 calories per day and, | | | | one of the audience members. |
| voila, those massive quantities of excess calories will | | | | Keep in mind - this was asked of a genetically gifted |
| miraculously be converted to slabs of powerful and | | | | athlete who admitted to all of us that he was on |
| shapely muscle. This simple-minded prescription is one I | | | | regular cycles of anabolic steroids and growth |
| personally adhered to twenty years ago. The result? I | | | | hormone drugs. |
| ended up with more body fat than muscle and an | | | | "When I was in my teens, I could gain up to ten pounds |
| eating addiction more intense than what it had been | | | | of muscle per year." He answered. "Now that I'm |
| prior to my having official approbation by the "high | | | | twenty-seven, I'm lucky if I add on two pounds of |
| priests of bodybuilding" for being a downright pig. | | | | muscle per year." |
| Do you need to "eat a lot" in order to build muscle? | | | | So with his genetics and pharmaceutical enhancement, |
| Are 'high calorie meal plans' a necessary component | | | | he gained ten pounds of 'solid weight' (muscle) in a |
| of natural bodybuilding nutrition? Or is there a low | | | | year. This was his fastest rate of muscle growth. |
| threshold to the law of diminishing return in this context: | | | | When we divide those ten pounds of muscle per year |
| Too much food ingestion requires processing energy | | | | by 365 days, we get nearly .03 pound of muscle per |
| by the body; energy traded from the reserves | | | | day. Ask yourself: How many extra calories does it |
| necessary to undergo the muscle building recuperation | | | | take to activate tissue recuperation for gaining .03 |
| process itself? If the latter is the case, then body fat | | | | pound of muscle each day? |
| accumulation might be the lesser of detriments from | | | | We know the formula for gaining body fat. With 3,500 |
| excess calorie consumption; the greater being a | | | | calories being present in each pound of fat, a mere |
| hindrance to the very muscle building progress that the | | | | 500 calories above maintenance is required each day |
| under-developed natural bodybuilder is seeking. | | | | to gain a pound of body fat in a week. That's a gain of |
| My Bad Experience with 'High Calorie Meal Plans' | | | | .14 pound of fat each day. If we assume we need as |
| In the late eighties and early nineties, very high calorie | | | | many calories to gain muscle as we need to gain body |
| meal plans were the rage in bodybuilding. As high as | | | | fat (big assumption), we can subtract .03 from .14 to |
| 10,000 calories-per-day consumption were being | | | | get .11 and then multiply .11 by 500. This gives us 55, |
| encouraged in certain bodybuilding circles. This | | | | which we can subtract from 500 to get 445. |
| simple-mindedly ridiculous eating protocol was the fuel | | | | If we need as many calories each year to gain ten |
| behind the marketing machine that promoted "weight | | | | pounds of muscle as we do to gain ten pounds of fat |
| gainer powders" that eventually reached the excesses | | | | - we'd need approximately 445 daily extra calories |
| of packing around 1,400 calories in a single serving. | | | | (above maintenance) to make it happen. |
| Smack-center on the receiving end of those marketing | | | | Wow... approximately four-hundred fifty calories each |
| messages was... uh... well... "yours truly." I was more | | | | day? That's about half a serving of dessert at the |
| than happy to hear that my gluttonous habits were | | | | 'Cheesecake Factory.' More nutritionally speaking, it's a |
| justified by the earnest and worthwhile endeavor of | | | | small can of tuna, a half cup of oatmeal, a banana, and |
| building muscle and strength. Consequently, many of | | | | an apple; not exactly a 'high calorie meal plan' if you're |
| these high-calorie, sugar-packed "meal supplements" | | | | currently maintaining your weight on a 2,000 |
| sat on a shelf in my pantry right next to the high-calorie | | | | calorie-per-day diet. |
| foods that competed with them for space in my | | | | Conclusion |
| stomach. | | | | Energy is required of the body to digest and process |
| Of course, I hit the weights like a madman. I did | | | | the mega calories from a "high calorie meal plan." This |
| "compound exercises" (squats, bench presses, | | | | is often wasted energy that could have otherwise |
| dead-lifts, T-bar rows) because these movements | | | | been utilized to actually build some muscle. When we |
| were supposed to make me big. Well, actually, it was | | | | consume food that amounts to 3,000, 4,000, and 5,000 |
| the combination of these so-called "testosterone | | | | calorie per day "meal plans", the simple fact that |
| releasing exercises" and all the high-calorie healthy | | | | muscle tissue grows at a slower pace than these |
| protein and carbohydrate foods I was consuming that | | | | calories can be utilized for their contribution to its |
| had been promised to make me "big." | | | | growth makes the meal plans prescriptions for fat gain. |
| Did the 'high calorie meal plans' put weight on me? You | | | | Twenty five years of natural bodybuilding has shown |
| bet they did. But it wasn't the kind of weight that was | | | | me this: Utilizing an effective muscle building schedule |
| typically associated with bodybuilding. I managed to | | | | routine is higher in importance for progress in "solid |
| eventually brandish a 38-inch waistline and a tipping of | | | | weight gain" (muscle) than is following a supposedly |
| the scale that exceeded 230 pounds. As if the food | | | | tailor-made plan of natural bodybuilding nutrition. After |
| addiction I'd already had wasn't bad enough, now I had | | | | all, if your muscle breakdown/recuperation timing ratio |
| one that included 1,000 calorie bodybuilding smoothies | | | | is not optimal, all those well-timed bodybuilding meals will |
| and a lethargy-inducing, incessant food coma problem; | | | | contribute little to that .03 pound-worth of recuperation |
| not good. | | | | needed each day. In other words: the calories could |
| An Example of Why 'High Calorie Meal Plans' don't | | | | end up on your waistline while your solid flesh remains |
| make sense for Natural Bodybuilding Nutrition | | | | underdeveloped. |
| I'll never forget an answer to a question I heard at a | | | | That's from a guy who's speaking from experience. |