KICK-START MASS BY CHRIS ACETO Whether you’re a beginner or more experienced, these are the seven nutrition fundamentals for growth Although this article is a blueprint for beginners, more experienced bodybuilders should read it as a refresher. Beginners may not know all these basic rules of bodybuilding nutrition; more advanced bodybuilders often forget their roots and the standard nutritional elements that really work. When advanced bodybuilders substitute “high tech” techniques for basics, they commonly plateau, unable to push their physiques any further. Keep following these basic rules — no matter how far you’ve progressed — and you will keep progressing. It’s as basic as that. RULE 1. Eat seven meals a day. Eat every two or three hours during the day and you’ll keep growing, even if some of the foods you’re eating are less than ideal. Frequent meals keep the body flooded with nutrients and calories, preventing muscles from falling into a catabolic state. This eating strategy also helps control cortisol levels — cortisol being the hormone responsible for accelerating a catabolic state, or protein breakdown. When you avoid catabolism, then anabolism — or growth — is the only alternative. Keep eating and keep growing. RULE 2. Stress carbs throughout the day for growth. If I hear the adage “there is no such thing as an essential carb” once more, I’m gonna throw up. Let’s get this clear, carbs are essential for growth, full stop. They support a hormonal environment for massive gains — greater insulin drive for repair, greater insulinlike growth factor (IGF) levels for building muscle and improved testosterone uptake by muscle tissue. Every meal in a mass-building phase ought to include carbs. Carbs also make it much easier to take in sufficient total calories for growth. If you’re a young hardgainer on a low-carb diet wondering why you can’t put on size, the answer is clear. You need more calories from carbs to grow. RULE 3. Eat the right amount of protein. You need a certain amount of protein for growth. You may have the mistaken idea that the more protein you eat, the more your muscles will grow. That’s false. Once you’ve eaten one to 1.5 grams (g) of protein per pound of bodyweight each day, the rest of your protein consumption is going to waste. If you eat more than that, you’ll be trading off by consuming too few carbs. Protein and carbs go hand in hand. When you eat too few carbs, you waste protein. On the other hand, when carbs are eaten at every meal — and in larger quantities — the body will rarely burn its protein for energy. Depending on your bodyweight, aim for 25-40 g of protein at each of your seven daily meals and I guarantee you’ll have enough to grow. RULE 4. Skip the low-fat diet. Don’t splurge on butter and fried food; those things are out. Do include red meat on a daily basis, and stick with whole eggs (forget about just eating egg whites). Why? Red meat has a greater concentration of growth-supporting nutrients — B vitamins, creatine, iron and zinc — than any other protein food. You need some fat to grow (both the healthy and saturated versions). Fats spare glycogen stores (essentially, carbs stored for energy in your muscles) and help maintain a positive nitrogen balance — the benchmark measurement for growth. A reasonable amount of saturated fat (like that found in beef) helps boost testosterone levels, fostering a better hormonal environment for muscle growth. Set aside the low-fat fare for dieting and getting cut. Eat fats on a daily basis. RULE 5. Stress dairy for calories and growth. Check out Arnold Schwarzenegger’s diets from the olden days. Red meat and cheese made up a substantial part of his regime. Dairy foods — low-fat cheese, semi-skimmed milk, reduced-fat cottage cheese and yogurt — are exceptional sources of protein. Besides containing class-A amino acids, they yield special fats called short-chain fatty acids that support growth. These foods are also dense in calcium, which exerts an effect where calories are more likely to be burned or deposited as muscle mass rather than stored as bodyfat. RULE 6. Go easy on the vegetables. This one might get me in trouble with the nutrition police because everybody knows how important and healthy a variety of veggies can be. In the real world of getting big, though, you shouldn’t go too heavy on them because they’re very filling, yet low in calories. It’s often hard for a hardgainer or beginner to consume all the food needed for serious gains. Two servings of vegetables a day will do. Of course, if your stomach has room for more veggies, eat them. Rule 7. Make your preworkout meal massive. We hear a lot about the postworkout meal — what to eat after training — but the pretraining meal sets the stage for growth. A very large portion of easy-to-absorb carbs, such as ground rice mixed with sugar or honey or a couple of low-fat blueberry muffins combined with 30 g of whey protein, eaten 30 minutes or so before training virtually ensures that you won’t slip into a muscle-wasting state around your training time. The preworkout meal triggers growth by increasing hormones that drive nutrients into muscles while shutting off enzymes and hormones that might cause a loss of muscle during hard training sessions. Eat up before you train. Afterwards, take in approximately 40 g of whey protein with 80-100 g of simple carbs (sugar). WRAP UP These are the nutritional basics. They’re simple, but they’re also easy to overlook. Everyone is searching for a magic pill, but, unfortunately, the only magic out there in terms of nutrition comes in the form of discipline and consistency. Often, beginners don’t fully grasp that and more advanced bodybuilders forget it. Keep up your nutritional discipline and consistency, and you will continue to make progress, no matter what your level. FLEX To order Chris Aceto’s training and nutrition books, including Championship Bodybuilding and Everything You Need to Know about Fat Loss, visit www.nutramedia.com.