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Summer is around the corner and
another bodybuilding season is gearing up.
Did you accomplish your physique
goals to make 2005 your
 “best
ever?” Will it be this year?
I saw many bodybuilders do just that as I have
the privilege to work with clients from coast to coast. Before I
can dig into their program, however, I usually get asked, “Indiana?
Where’s that? What’s in Indiana? What do you do in Indiana?”
After I assure them that we have running water and we do more than
just sit around and watch the corn grow, I start questioning them
about their individual body type. I ask for body comp stats, past
contest pictures, current pictures, and literally every piece of
data I can pull together to help me peak them perfectly. Why?
Though there are major consistencies in physiology and how I handle
a client’s nutrition, there is also a great deal of individuality.
Now, I’m a pretty middle-of-the-road guy; I don’t have a confederate
flag and shotgun in the back window of a pick-up truck, but you also
won’t find me marching in a gay-pride parade or chaining myself to a
spotted owl’s tree in front of a bulldozer. You also won’t find me
spending too much time at extreme ends of nutrition unless it’s
absolutely necessary for a client’s success. Most of the time it’s
a rock-solid program to build and maintain muscle and well-timed
subtle changes along the way to shed the body fat with precision.
Each program for every client, however, is always unique based on
his or her body. Your program should be just as precise. Not
extreme, just precise.
When you decide its time to start dieting,
where do you begin? If you’re like me, it will be with protein.
How much protein do you need to build, or more appropriately,
maintain your muscle mass? For a bodybuilder, I would always start
with a base of at least one gram of protein per pound of lean body
mass. I like to add a little buffer because of additional cardio
and to guard against inadvertent catabolism due to the dieting
process. I add even more if a client is an ectomorph and loses
weight easily. As that person gets closer to a contest, if he or
she is on track to be ready ahead of schedule (my typical plan) then
I add even more. This is the high end of protein consumption as you
follow my rationale for adding more protein into the diet. For
example, I have one client who is a WNBF title-holder and is
currently six weeks out from a contest and meets every one of the
criteria for adding protein. He is currently carrying several
pounds of muscle above last year’s contest weight and is consuming
more than two grams of protein per pound of lean body mass! Keep
in mind this is an ectomorph with a high metabolism who is already
in virtual contest shape battling to maintain muscle. Not everyone
would ever need or be able to even use that much protein.
Protein intake should match your requirements
as a bodybuilder, but not necessarily at the expense of other
important nutrients.
The client I mentioned above is also consuming
250 grams of carbs per day. I haven’t raised his protein
exponentially at the cost of muscle-sparing, energy-building
carbohydrates or fat. These two nutrients are where most of us are
a little confused. Should I eat no carbs, low carbs, or moderate
carbs, and what about fat? Should I eat some red meat or maybe just
flaxseed oil or maybe no fat at all? I get email all the time with
questions that begin with, “I heard that……” and the email ends with,
“…..is that true?” Here’s where you need to really pay attention.
Your body type will give you a great starting
point on what type of dieting is best for you. In determining
whether you’ll be more effective with a higher or lower carbohydrate
diet you have to decide if you’re an ectomorph who has a very hard
time gaining weight, a mesomorph who can gain weight and has a
decent muscular frame, or an endomorph who gains weight very
easily. You can also characterize yourself in different degrees
such as an extreme ectomorph who has a very light muscular frame and
can barely gain five pounds in the off season. Or, maybe you’re a
moderate endomorph who has a lot of muscle, can gain weight easily,
but also doesn’t have a terrible time losing when you need to.
Recall that carbohydrates are the most muscle-sparing nutrient we
eat. More so than even protein, carbs will buffer against muscle
loss. I always want my clients to eat as much carbs as they can and
still lose weight. Now, that may be a gigantic difference for two
clients of even the same size due to body type, but I still want as
much as possible.
An ectomorph is generally very efficient at
glucose metabolism. Ectomorphs don’t convert a lot of excess
glucose into body fat because they use it rapidly for energy. This
person needs more carbs more frequently to maintain muscle mass and
energy. Making up for it in protein and fat isn’t as effective as
walking the fine line of a higher amount of carb intake.
Slow metabolic endomorphs do much better with
a lower amount of carbs. If this person consumes too many carbs
throughout the day, then glucose metabolism (which is a slower
process for an endomorph) blocks ketogenic metabolism where body fat
can be used for energy. Remember that when you have carbs that are
available to be used as energy, they will be. If your body is slow
at using carbs, as indicated by a slower metabolic rate and carbs
making you look “soft,” then you have to eat a low enough amount so
that your body will turn to body fat for energy. I still like to
keep carbs as high as possible for this type of client but for the
slowest of the slow (metabolically) it sometimes requires brief
spurts of no-carb dieting.
An easy way of giving yourself a solid
starting point is to set your protein intake first.
Determine how
many calories you think you need to reach your goals. Next, add
about 20-25% of your total calories from fat. Then, fill in the
rest with carbs. Track your nutrition meticulously for two weeks
and make notes on how you feel and how your workouts are going. If
progress is too slow or too rapid, analyze your plan in light of
your body type. Are you too high or too low on protein? Adjust
your carbs up or down as needed. You can also adjust your fat. I
never go below 15% on fat intake, but I also don’t like to go too
high. Once you get over 25% of your total calories from fat, you
could use those extra calories as protein or carbs for a greater
benefit than the additional fat can give.
I realize the last part of this article raises
as many questions as it answers. The adjusting and monitoring of a
specific person’s nutrition and determining if it’s the absolute
best way of dieting is very much an individual process even with so
many scientific constants. The true art of this process is using
all the science available and molding it to a single person and all
their individuality. As I work with a WNBF world champion or a
fifty-five year old heart attack survivor, the program becomes a
process. Constant tracking, monitoring, adjusting, and analyzing
forms the program into what works perfectly for that person. I
suggest no less for you. Start now. Create an initial program.
Track it flawlessly. Make adjustments one at a time so you can
monitor your body’s reaction and don’t be afraid to keep trying new
things until you’re confident you know how your body responds best.
You may just stumble onto perfection!
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