What do bodybuilders eat. A diet of proper nutrition for a bodybuilder every day. We select a competent diet

Equipment and tools 10.07.2020
Equipment and tools

Eat more and grow!

Champion Bodybuilder Diet

Ronnie Coleman once said: "Many people want to look like real bodybuilders, but few people want to lift really heavy weights!" Of course, if you are an eight-time Mr. Olympia who handles 100kg dumbbells like empty bottles, making such statements is not difficult. But this is true: it takes superhuman efforts to build an impressive muscle mass. Anyone who wakes up solely to exercise, and then avoids any physical activity all day, fearing to lose at least half a centimeter of the volume of the biceps, knows this very well. No less titanic efforts are required for a bodybuilder at the dinner table. Today we will talk about an off-season diet aimed at recruiting muscle mass... Welcome to Jay Cutler's kitchen!

Are you weak?

The dedication and discipline in any sport goes far beyond the gym. Baseball players, basketball players and even professional computer gamers (there are some) hone their skills for endless hours on the field, on the court, or behind a joystick. For bodybuilders, the gym with its equipment - dumbbells, barbells and exercise machines - is only half the battle. They should spend at least as much time at the dinner table. Perhaps no other sport has such an attentive attitude to nutrition as in bodybuilding. The effectiveness of work in the gym directly depends on the quantity and quality of food. Jay Cutler is the best example in this sense - the seriousness and thoroughness of his approach to the off-season diet is widely known.

Along with fanatical workouts, nutrition for Jay is the main vehicle for perfection. His motto: "I eat not for pleasure, but in order to become bigger." The only thing you can be absolutely sure of is that Jay will not succumb to the temptation to relax. “I love the challenge, I love the challenge,” he says. Jay's goal during the offseason is to get as big as possible, which requires the right amount of food. Unlike most off-season diets, his diet is exceptionally clean and simple. He eats all his dishes without sauces and seasonings.


I don't eat - I eat!


Jay's fridge is stuffed with flounder

Jay doesn't count calories or fat. It is enough for him to know that he gets 20% of his daily calories from fat, and the rest from carbohydrates and proteins. Approximate figures are 1000 g of carbohydrates and 350 g of protein. Protein sources include red meat, eggs, and specialty foods. nutritional supplements... Jay gets his carbohydrates from rice, oatmeal, asparagus and broccoli. How does he manage to eat such a huge amount of carbohydrates and protein? He just eats 10-12 times a day! Every hour and a half plus two meals a night! If in competitive season he gets up in the middle of the night to do cardio, then in the off-season it is replaced by food.
There is only because you want, this is one thing - anyone can have a snack when he is hungry. But eating only because you need to eat, since you intend to become the greatest bodybuilder on the planet, is a completely different matter. It takes tremendous willpower and discipline to sit at the table and chew not to satisfy hunger, but because it is necessary to achieve the goal. Imagine that you are sitting down at a table that has the same dish that you recently ate. It takes real courage, even obsession. Imagine doing this 10-12 times a day today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow? Is it difficult to digest such a thought? Now let's look at the usual off-season jay's muscle gain diet menu:

  • 1st meal: 12 egg whites (two whole eggs), 1 toasted French loaf, 1 bowl of oatmeal (dry metered), 1 tablespoon honey, 1 banana, 1 cup black coffee, 1 scoop of whey protein.
  • 2nd meal: 280g beef (tenderloin or edge), 2 plates of rice, 1 plate of broccoli or asparagus.
  • 3rd meal: post-workout whey protein shake with creatine.
  • 4th meal: 280g beef, 2 plates of rice, 1 plate of broccoli or asparagus.
  • 5th meal: 15 egg whites, 1 bowl of oatmeal, and 3 rice cakes (15 grams of carbs each).
  • 6th meal: protein-carbohydrate cocktail.
  • 7th meal: 280 g of beef, 1 plate of broccoli or asparagus.
  • 8th meal: 3-4 servings of sushi (dinner).
  • 9th meal: 12 egg whites (two whole eggs), 1 bowl of oatmeal.
  • 10th meal: whey protein and oat buns (5-6 pieces).
  • 11th meal: 280g beef, 1 bowl of oatmeal and nutritional supplements.
  • 12th meal: protein-carbohydrate cocktail (optional).

One person eats it all in one day! That's more food than some people need for a week. As we can see, the menu is mostly meat. This is Jay's main source of protein. In addition, he takes fish oil, digestive enzymes, multivitamins and folic acid. Sushi is the only weakness in the diet, which he enjoys at family dinner.

Cutler brings a little variety to his diet in the traditional bodybuilding way - sprinkling sugar and cinnamon on his favorite rice cakes as a small reward for hard training. He also drinks water constantly.


Get it, Atkins!

Obviously, carbohydrates are at the forefront of Jay Cutler's off-season diet. He eats about 200g at breakfast and at least 300g after training. If there are two workouts a day, then after the second 200-250 g of carbohydrates are also provided. Bodybuilders knew the "secret" of weight control with carbohydrates long before the general public started buying low-carb foods. An ordinary person would have long been treated for obesity if he ate such a huge amount of carbohydrates. But remember: Jay trains hard - sometimes twice a day, not counting cardio. In addition, one should take into account the huge amount of already built muscles, which turns his body into a perpetual fat burning engine. Thanks to them, metabolism and fat burning continue even during rest. It seems that Jay, even just sitting on the couch, burns more calories than the average person during his daily run.

The Truth About Huge Muscles

The main advice that Jay gives to people who are interested in him how to build dimensions without gaining fat is to take his principles and adjust them to your goals. In the offseason, Jay's weight fluctuates somewhere between 128 and 144 kg. He suggests distributing all the nutrients as a percentage and starting to find an individually appropriate amount of food. For starters, Cutler recommends consuming 2 grams of protein for every pound of lean body mass. He himself eats much more protein food, because he is not afraid to gain excess fat (excess protein can be converted into glucose and deposited as fat). Over time, the amount of carbohydrates should rise to a level of 4-5 grams per kilogram of lean body weight (Jay consumes 6 grams). Fat should make up 20% of the daily diet. You shouldn't add them to your diet on purpose, since we already get enough fat from regular food, even if we eat relatively clean.

Can the average person, or even the average bodybuilder, follow such a diet? Not! In reality, most people will not be able to afford this. That amount of food costs Jay $ 15,000 a year. For a person in his profession, it’s an investment that pays off, but for the average person who trains with weights, such a budget can ruin. Even professional bodybuilders, unless they are among the elite, and they do not have a tight schedule of performances and good contracts, cannot afford such expenses.

Another question is time. Jay almost all day does nothing but sit and eat, and at home. Of course, no boss in the world would like a subordinate who needs a break every hour to eat. However, most bodybuilders still manage to follow the standard recommendation to eat 6 times a day. It's easy even if you work full time. You can always find a moment for a quick bite, and the advanced athlete can drink a protein shake or eat a bar. Let's try to bring Jay's diet closer to the capabilities of an ordinary person.

  • 1st meal: 6 egg whites (one whole egg), 1 bowl of oatmeal (dry metered), 1 banana, 1 cup of black coffee.
  • 2nd meal: 170 g chicken breast, 1 plate of rice, 1 plate of broccoli.
  • 3rd meal: protein cocktail.
  • 4th meal: 170 g beef, one baked potato, 1 plate of asparagus.
  • 5th meal: protein bar.
  • 6th meal: 170 g flounder, 1 bowl of rice, 1 bowl of broccoli.

As a result, we get protein, carbohydrates and dietary fat, distributed over six meals. This is a general guideline and serving sizes are based on lean body mass.

Champion selection

The requirements for a candidate for the title of Mr. Olympia include more than training in the gym and visits to the solarium. The main battle of the bodybuilder, as we have already found out, takes place in the kitchen. Imagine once again the need to eat the same thing every day for many weeks, and you will understand how difficult it is. Most people see food as one of the pleasant ways to spend their leisure time while meeting the biological needs of the body. For Jay, food is the meaning of all his activities, his life and success depends on nutrition, training and rest. It's a choice. “I love that I do what the others don't, so I am a winner,” says the new Mr. Olympia, explaining his unusual lifestyle.

Jay's whole life is focused on achieving victory. And you, too, must do whatever is required if you want to win. Enjoy your meal!

Bodybuilding can be challenging. Indeed, the constant fiddling with containers, choosing the most anabolic foods, and cooking will tire anyone. Success in building powerful muscles will be achieved by those who adhere to KBZHU for a set, and eat relatively healthy foods. At the same time, you don't need to go crazy and run after organic bulgur grown in the fields of a secret farm. Quite ordinary food can satisfy the body's need for macronutrients and eliminate the need to take additional dietary supplements. It is only important to be able to combine it all, and not to forget to eat on time.

In bodybuilding, judges do not evaluate how a person trains in the gym, but his physical condition. In this regard, weightlifting is easier. Nobody looks at your abs, and does not assess the presence or absence of body fat. A bodybuilder has to adhere to a strict enough meal plan all year long to stand on the competitive stage for only 5 minutes. But what is even more difficult is the path of the ordinary fitnessist. "Healthy lifestyle" nicknames do not use the help of pharmacology, and must monitor their diet even more stringently in order to look good all year round.

To put it simply, nutrition in bodybuilding is a constant alternation of two phases:

  • ... The athlete eats a lot, consumes "excess" in terms of the needs of the average person, the amount of calories, and to provide muscle growth with the necessary "fuel" and energy;
  • ... The athlete cuts down on the calorie intake, but tries to maintain the amount of protein at the normal level or even higher. For 12 weeks at least, the athlete eats with a calorie deficit, eats, and, and. This phase leads the practitioner to the very appearance that everyone envies. After the end of the "drying", you need to spend some time on the maintenance calorie content and start a new set.

When switching to "drying", the number of calories is reduced first by the same percentage, and then gradually reduced by another 10-15%. On drying, the athlete can reduce his calorie content by 1000 kcal or more from the mass gain numbers. But these recommendations are just a diagram. In fact, the speed of getting rid of is an individual indicator, determined genetically. Therefore, athletes manipulate macronutrients to maintain maximum muscle and burn more fat.

Macronutrient ratios are key in bodybuilding. There are different points of view, some people try to keep a relatively large amount of carbohydrates all year round, and when drying, they first reduce the amount of fat. Others, on the contrary, stick to a relatively low-carbohydrate and high-fat diet in order to cut carbohydrates and raise fats even more.

  • Half of the calories should "come" with carbohydrates, at the stage of "mass" this amount can be increased to 60%;
  • Approximately 20% with fats, can be reduced by 5% if you "don't dry out" and there is nothing else to cut calories, and 30% with proteins, plus you can increase this amount by 5%

This recommendation works well for relatively healthy person... If we are faced with someone who has problems with insulin, sugar levels and quickly gains body fat for this reason, it is advised to adhere to a diet high in protein and fat, and eat 40% of calories.


General recommendations for organizing a diet for human health are as follows
:

  1. Avoid "processed" foods that are low in vitamins and minerals, choose whole grain instead of cereals, natural meat and fish instead of cuts and sausages, whole eggs instead of powder, and whole grain pasta instead of instant noodles;
  2. Discard. Say no to margarine, rapeseed and soybean oils and their products, as these oils contain too much omega-6;
  3. Do not consume more than 10% of your daily calories with sugar and fructose. Consider everything, including those contained in the gainers;
  4. Eat regularly, the portion size should be reasonable, you do not need to get up from the table with heaviness. If you cannot "eat all the calories" with this condition, use a reasonable amount of gainer.

Foods to eat

This is what a bodybuilder's product list should look like.:

  • Meat, fish and poultry - lean beef and pork steaks, lean pork tenderloin, chicken and turkey breasts, salmon, cod, tilapia, chicken thighs from farm chickens;
  • Dairy products - low-fat cottage cheese and yoghurt with natural lactobacilli, skim milk, cheeses (limited);
  • Cereals - buckwheat, oatmeal, bulgur, barley, bread made from whole grain flour, as well as pasta from it, soba, quinwa, rice, popcorn without butter, sauces, sugar;
  • Fruits - oranges, melons, apples, berries, pears, peaches, grapes;
  • Vegetables - all types, especially leafy greens and broccoli;
  • Starchy vegetables - sweet potatoes and potatoes, green peas, milk-ripeness corn;
  • Legumes - chickpeas, beans, green and regular peas, regular and red lentils, white beans;
  • Vegetable oils - olive and avocado;
  • Saturated Fat - Natural unsalted butter or ghee

Foods to avoid

Recently, it has become fashionable to write that everything that can be measured and recorded in a food diary can be eaten too. But it's better to take care of your health and keep these foods to a minimum in your diet.:

  1. ... The same US FDA guides imply that a woman can drink 0.33 beers, or a glass of wine, or 1 shot of strong drink, and a man can drink twice as much. But we must remember that alcohol can significantly affect recovery, and its use can slow down protein synthesis, so it should be excluded during serious preparation;
  2. Sugar in foods and dishes. Cookies are better at home, cakes and casseroles are better, whole wheat flour and no-calorie stevia sweetener will be far more beneficial than a sweet addition made from regular sugar. A small amount of simple carbs before and after training is beneficial, but should be obtained from licensed grapes and peaches, not sugar. This will make it easier to get the right amount of calories;
  3. Products fried in fat. When heated, even the most beneficial oils turn into a potential source of inflammatory processes in the body. It slows down recovery in bodybuilding and is quite unhealthy. Therefore, it is better to eat fried fish and meat to a minimum. It is worth carefully reading the composition of nut pastes. They should be free of saturated hydrogenated fats.

Certain types of food can seriously interfere with exercise. The thing is that they create gas and can cause digestive disorders.

These products include:

  • Fatty cream, pork, lard, fatty fish;
  • Beans, broccoli, and cauliflower
  • Diet cola or mineral water with gas

Additives

There are a wide variety of supplements on the market, from amino acids to protein complexes, fat burners and "anabolic" complexes. But a fairly limited amount of this works.

  • ... The simplest protein can help satisfy daily requirement in protein;
  • ... Creatine Monohydrate is the only supplement with proven anabolic effects. Its use helps to gain muscle mass, and to be more enduring during training;
  • ... It is included in the lists of substances prohibited by anti-doping law for athletes. But bodybuilders use it to improve concentration and focus during training.

A rough diet for a bodybuilder will give you an idea of \u200b\u200bexactly how to eat.

Monday

  • Breakfast: Chatterbox, oatmeal, a portion of mushrooms to scrambled eggs.
  • Snack:Cottage cheese with blueberries.
  • Lunch: Beef cutlet with rice and broccoli
  • Snack:Whey protein and banana
  • Dinner: Grilled asparagus with salmon and quinoa

Tuesday

  • Breakfast: Whey Protein Pancakes with Calorie Free Sauce
  • Snack: Boiled eggs with apples.
  • Lunch: Steak with vegetables and sweet potato.
  • Snack: Protein cocktail, a handful of hazelnuts.
  • Dinner: Pasta with marinara sauce and turkey steak.

Wednesday

  • Breakfast: Minced chicken sausages with egg and potatoes.
  • Snack: Greek yogurt and almonds.
  • Lunch: Turkey breast with basmati rice and a serving of mushrooms.
  • Snack: Protein shake and grapes.
  • Dinner: Greens and spinach salad, mackerel and brown rice.

Thursday

  • Breakfast: Homemade doner - turkey, egg, red sauce and vegetables in a whole grain pita.
  • Snack:Yogurt with granola.
  • Lunch: Potatoes and broccoli baked with sour cream, plus chicken breast.
  • Snack: Protein shake and berry mix.
  • Dinner: Wok with brown rice, chicken and vegetables ..

Friday

  • Breakfast: Berries, high protein Greek yogurt, plus oatmeal soaked in the evening.
  • Snack: Crushed mixture of nuts plus a piece of jerky.
  • Lunch: Fillet of tilapia baked with lemon plus beans and vegetable salad.
  • Snack:Protein shake, berries.
  • Dinner: Beef with brown rice, beans and corn.

Saturday

  • Breakfast: Turkey, egg, with corn, bell pepper, cheese and salsa
  • Snack:canned tuna and bread
  • Lunch: Tilapia fillet with potatoes and vegetables
  • Snack: Protein shake and pear.
  • Dinner: Beef with legumes, brown rice and vegetables

Sunday

  • Breakfast: Fried eggs with toast on whole wheat bread and avocado
  • Snack: Protein balls with almond butter
  • Lunch: Green peas with pork tenderloin
  • Snack:Protein shake and strawberries
  • Dinner: Turkey Meatball Pasta

It may seem that bodybuilders are the healthiest group of people in the world, but this is not always the case. Many athletes face specific challenges that are not typical of the rest of humanity.

Being extremely low in body fat all year round can be detrimental to mood and sleep quality. Many people note that "drying" is accompanied by dietary depression, and "mass" is very difficult to do anything other than cooking and eating food. Training is generally more satisfying for athletes and is the easiest part of bodybuilding.

Eating healthily while on vacation with your family or going on holidays can be difficult. "Comfortable food" can be a real problem if a person does not have sufficient willpower.

Constant thoughts about the quality of the body and the amount of fat on it can become a kind of obsession. Psychologists use the term "orthorexia" - this is an unhealthy craving for proper nutrition, and the inability to eat ordinary food.

In women, fertility can be impaired due to the constant "dry" form, but the exact "contribution" to this problem of low fat percentage is not known. Hypothalamic amenorrhea in athletes is known even among those who do not keep in an extremely dry form. It is triggered by anabolic steroids and overtraining.

Anabolic steroid

Having been engaged in bodybuilding for a while, you can come to the conclusion that everyone takes them and there is nothing wrong with anabolic steroids. And without them, there are no good results. Here you need to understand that the pressure of the "community" can be strong, and the result from the "course" is minimal, especially if we are faced with a beginner who is not yet used to the diet and training.

Conclusion

A bodybuilding diet is a combination of predominantly complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and complete protein sources. Each meal should contain about 30 grams of protein, or a little less. It is better to stick to a fractional eating style, if there are no problems with the pancreas, and consume as much natural products as possible.

Meals for a set or drying are not a “diet” with a schedule of meals, they are given in the article simply as an example of a varied diet. It is important to stick to the number of calories and adhere to the correct portion size, while trying to eat as varied as possible.

Be sure to read about it

Hello to you, my young winners of the Mr. Olympia competition and all those who only dream of becoming one! Do you want to look like the cool rolls on the posters? Who doesn't want to? Everybody wants!

To achieve this, you need to not only swing. You've probably already read a dozen articles about the training program, but even if you work hard like dad Carlo in the gym and don't adjust your nutrition, the muscles will simply have nowhere to gain the desired volumes.

Therefore, my beloved friends, today we will learn how to eat properly and will analyze in detail the topic "Nutrition of a bodybuilder for weight." Get out your notebooks and pencils, the lecture begins. Let's expose our body to an extreme reboot.

Gaining muscle, not fat

Whatever you come up with, but an ordinary person eats completely differently from an advanced bodybuilder. And the point is not that the menu of the latter contains various sports nutrition. It is the selection of products in this case that will be very specific.

To begin with, your body is under extreme stress during exercise. Oddly enough, it is a stressful situation that allows us to develop and move forward.

I will give an example that is accessible to anyone. If you starve for a long time, then at the moment when you start eating normally, the body will try not only to restore what was lost, but also to make supplies for future nuclear times. Therefore, you will start to gain weight rapidly. This is the main harm of any extreme diet with significant calorie restriction.

Roughly the same processes will occur with your muscles. Imagine that you regularly exercise and use large working weights, which means that you invariably injure your muscle tissues, they stretch and even break (we are talking about microtrauma).

The natural defense mechanism in this case will work according to the previous principle. Muscles will begin not only to strengthen, but also to increase in volume to protect your body from the upcoming overload. All this is expressed as progress and mass growth.

Therefore, in order to maintain this balance, we need nutrients that support the body's work, time and strength.

As for nutrients, it should be carbohydrates from which we get energy. And also, which are the main suppliers of amino acids, and from them, in turn, new muscle tissue cells are built.

Another postulate, without which you will not achieve anything, is this: you must receive more than you spend.

Naturally, you and I need some kind of starting point, that is, the number of calories from which we will start. How do you know how much energy is needed for the daily needs and demands of our body? There are many ways to calculate these numbers, from counting the calories of all the food you eat in a day and analyzing your daily weight gain and weight gain.

And you can finish with tricky formulas, which take into account both height and age, and current weight and even a person's gender. They will have to be dreary to multiply, add and square.

The simplest equation is your weight multiplied by 30. The resulting figure will be the average indicator of the calories you need.

So, suppose you multiply your weight by 30 and get the desired figure. To it, we add 500 kilocalories from above. This will be food for a surplus or excess of calories. If this is not enough, then add more. If you continue to gain weight even with such a schedule, then we remove the excess.

You will definitely have to make allowances for genetic data, that is, take into account your metabolism. If you are an endomorph (see article), whose metabolism is naturally slow, then there will be some adjustments for you. And a completely different meal plan may be for an ectomorph with a high-speed metabolism, able to cope with large amounts of food without loss.

We select a competent diet

Now it remains to determine what food should be eaten?

Fat should be discarded as much as possible only because it contains twice as many calories as carbohydrates or proteins (for equal volumes).

Often the problem when drawing up a menu rests on the fact that we incorrectly plan the ratio of these indicators, that is, proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

And, oddly enough, we usually choose a larger amount of carbohydrates and a very small amount of proteins, which is fundamentally wrong. After all, we have already found out that the basis for building muscle tissue is precisely amino acids or proteins.

As a result, we come to the only correct formula, which implies 50 or 60% carbohydrates, about 30% proteins, and the rest of the numbers will be recommendations for fat intake.

In fact, we are simply changing the dietary program of modern nutrition, which is usually dominated by fats, to the opposite proportion, with a predominance of proteins.

The best protein for weight gain is animal protein, not vegetable protein. And it's not that bodybuilders hate vegans. It's just that the amino acid profile of animal protein is much richer and better suited for building new muscle tissue.

For successful progress, you need to get 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. We take only animal products. Moreover, the amount of protein, friends, in the finished product is not equal to the weight of the original product. That is, 100 grams of chicken breast contains only a fraction of the required proteins. All these tables are in the public domain and it is not a problem to find them.

Often on all kinds of sites and I come across recommendations to push on the chicken breast, sometimes it seems that all the pitching has literally gone crazy on these breasts. Whatever they say, there is no particular protein in them, it's just a fairly cheap, affordable and low-fat type of proteins we need.

In fact, you can eat whatever you like: beef, fish, turkey, seafood, eggs, milk, and so on.

Now let's go over carbohydrates. There are two flavors: fast and slow.

Slow or complex carbohydrates differ from the former only in that the body absorbs them gradually. In addition, they do not give a sharp jump in insulin into the blood and help maintain an even level of energy.

The fast ones do exactly the opposite. They are rapidly absorbed, give a sharp jump in insulin and energy, but all this has a short-term effect.

Among other things, insulin loves to "take away" the received energy into fat, which is a source of absolute evil for us.

As a result, the slow ones help you forget about hunger for a long time and feel great, and the fast ones cause a brutal appetite in an hour.

All sweets are simple carbohydrates. Yes, we pass them in the store, or even better, we go around this department in another row.

Complex carbohydrates are cereals. Moreover, the less processing they were subjected to, the better. That is, in the store we are looking for packaging with the inscription whole grains. Among other things, they contain fiber, which, although we cannot absorb it, helps to ensure excellent digestion.

Fats, by the way, are not suitable for us either. Animals, on the contrary, will work to the detriment, so you should give preference to vegetable and complex ones: Omega-3 and Omega-6 (flaxseed oil, fish oil, and so on).

By the way, in the morning and in the afternoon we need more energy, so we give it to the body in its pure form, that is, we saturate it with carbohydrates. Therefore, friends - carbohydrates for breakfast and lunch.

Moreover, after prolonged forced fasting during sleep, it is better to give the body the opportunity to receive a lot of clean and available energy. Sometimes it is appropriate to consume carbohydrates immediately after training, when our strength is also practically at zero.

In this case, experts advise sometimes even to eat simple carbohydrates (protein or amino acids can also be added here). It can even be products that are harmful at other times, for example, a chocolate or a bar, or a specialized gainer. But the last tip is individual.

But by the evening, the mobility decreases, especially since our fibers have previously suffered and destroyed and they require additional amino acids. And, therefore, we eat protein foods. We do not give dinner to the enemy, but we choose more meat during this period. Before going to bed, you can drink a long protein such as casein, which takes a long time to process. A cheaper option is low-fat cottage cheese.

The last point will be about fractional nutrition. It will activate your metabolism and keep your energy levels at the same level.

Reading the recommendations, you will come across tips to eat 8, or even 9 times a day. It is difficult to switch to such a system after 3 meals a day. First, you can add afternoon tea to this scheme, then second breakfast, and so gradually reduce the number of meals to about 6 times.

Pre-prepared containers help a lot in this. We imposed on ourselves 6 such bowls with lids in the evening and the next day you will only have to take them out and eat without additional problems.

Thus, you should consume about half a kilogram of meat, about the same amount of cottage cheese, 5 eggs, 300 grams of vegetables and the same amount of porridge. This daily ration is very rough, but I am giving you it as a starting point so that you can provide a rough list of foods. How to divide them into a day, I think you already understand too.

My friends! Now you are almost close to understanding how bodybuilders gain mass. But I want to warn you right away: mass gain is impossible without increasing the body fat. It is impossible to deceive these processes in the body, no matter how hard we try.

You will have to come to terms with this fact and, as they say, swim a little on the mass. When you start to dry, that is, get rid of excess fat, while maintaining the accumulated reliefs, everything will be settled, but we will talk about this some other time.

Now I hope you understand that the main field of action during the building of mass will be in the kitchen, and not in the hall ?! I repeat once again that a special diet is the decisive link in this struggle.

My friends! Never give up trying to get results. Otherwise it will become a habit. Good luck and looking forward to seeing you again. Tell about this article, it improves karma.

Importance proper nutrition cannot be overstated. Arm yourself with the science to help you build muscle!

If your goal is to build large, strong and prominent muscles, then no training methods in the world will help you without proper nutrition in the proper volumes. The body needs nutrients to recover and grow after exercise. Simply put, if you want to build muscle and strength, then you must eat.

Our nutritional program is effective, progressive, and easy to use. It draws on the latest research in dietetics and is the perfect complement to our science-based training programs. This muscle-building meal plan will help you get bigger without gaining too much fat.

The problem for many people who are "overweight" is the negative effect of body fat on insulin sensitivity, which slows down the process of muscle growth. Our diet will help avoid this. It allows you to gradually increase your calorie intake so that your body has time to adjust to it. That is, you will not have problems with metabolism and excess body fat.

Let's start by putting together a basic diet. Due to individual differences in metabolism and activity level of each person, I prefer not to use equations to calculate calories. Instead, I find it more effective to start by determining the amount of calories you are currently consuming and adjust it gradually.

This program requires you to track your exact calories and macronutriens for the next 6 weeks. If this approach is new to you, search the internet for information about it and take the time to study it.

If you don't know how many calories you are consuming, keep a diary or use special programs to write down everything you eat in the first 3 days of your diet. Some smartphone apps can help you calculate your average calorie intake over that period.

To speed up the muscle building process, you will need to add 300 calories to your baseline intake. For the next 2 weeks, monitor your body weight by measuring your chest, neck, arms, etc. Also track your body fat with a caliper and follow these guidelines:

  • If you are gaining weight without excess fat, add another 300 calories to your daily diet.
  • If weight gain does not occur, add 500 calories.

Repeat this process every 2 weeks adding more and more calories.

Increasing the number of calories

Bodybuilder's Calorie Diet Guide

To accelerate muscle gain, add 300 calories to your basic diet. Monitor your weight for two weeks, measure the amount of fat and muscle. If you've gained weight other than fat, add an extra 300 calories. If you are not gaining weight, add 500 calories.

As soon as your calorie intake increases, you begin to gain fat. How to proceed in this case? You can choose one of 2 options.

First, stop adding calories. However, I like one way that I learned from Lane Norton. He recommends adding significantly fewer calories. Therefore, we will add only 50 kcal to the daily diet every 2 weeks.

They will be burned in the process of daily activity, but after a couple of months of this practice, your body will receive the amount of calories it needs to build muscle.

Divide these calories into 3-4 meals, consuming them approximately every 4 hours. To keep things simple, make your servings the same size, except for the post-workout meal. It should contain about 20% more calories than the rest.

What kind of calories should you consume? Let's figure it out!

Protein

Consume 1.5-2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight for the next 6 weeks. This is significantly less than some bodybuilders consume. And one more tip - buy high quality products.

Why so few? Research shows that when you consume 1.5g of protein per kilogram of body caps, muscle growth begins. In our program, we try to optimize protein intake. I believe that if you consume high quality protein, then there is no need for surplus.

Distribute the protein evenly between meals. Each of them should contain at least 30g of protein. Also use its various sources. Here are a few of my favorites:

  • Chicken thighs
  • Chicken breasts
  • Turkey breast
  • Salmon
  • Mussels
  • Tuna
  • Shrimp
  • Lean beef
  • Pork tenderloin
  • Chicken sausages
  • Turkey bacon
  • Whey Protein
  • Casein protein
  • Greek yogurt
  • Cottage cheese

Fats

Diet fat serves several important functions. First, it provides a concentrated form of energy. Some fats also affect hormone production. To maintain your health and growth, you must consume enough fat during the next 6 weeks of intense training.

After you compose a basic level of calories, calculate your fat intake so that it takes up about 30% of your diet. Further, this percentage will increase. As you increase your calorie intake, for every 300 calories you add, there should be 150 calories from fat. There are 9 kcal per 1 g of fat, so 15-17 g of fat should be added for every 300 kcal. When increasing the diet by 50 calories, add about 5 g of fat.

Unlike protein, the level of consumption of which remains more or less constant throughout the day, fat intake should be inversely related to carbohydrates. In other words, if you eat a diet rich in carbohydrates, you should reduce your fat intake, and vice versa.

There are 3 main types of fat: polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated fat. Don't focus on any one of them, consume different types of fats. Here are some of my favorite sources:

  • Olive oil
  • Canola oil
  • Avocado
  • Almond
  • Walnuts
  • Pistachios
  • Macadamia nuts
  • Butter
  • Coconut oil
  • Linseed oil

Carbohydrates

The last of the macronutrients, around which, perhaps, the most confusion. To get the most out of the different types of calories, I divide carbs into 2 groups.

  1. Starchy carbohydrates

The following foods are fast-digesting and high in calories:

  • Regular potatoes
  • Sweet potato
  • Quinoa
  • Rice (white or brown)
  • Sprouted grain bread
  • Tortilla
  • Kamut
  1. Fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are rich in dietary fiber and are digested more slowly. They are lower in carbohydrates and lower in calories. I've also included legumes on this list. So, the second group includes the following products:

  • blueberry
  • Raspberry
  • Strawberry
  • Apples
  • Oranges
  • Pears
  • Spinach
  • Cabbage
  • Broccoli
  • Cucumbers
  • Pepper
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Lettuce and greens
  • Green beans
  • Carrot
  • Green onions
  • Mushrooms
  • Bulb onions
  • Tomatoes
  • Lentils
  • Black beans
  • Beans

It is very easy to properly incorporate these foods into your daily diet. A few general rules that I follow in my carbohydrate intake:

  1. Eat fruits and vegetables with every meal.
  2. Eat starchy carbohydrates for breakfast and immediately after exercise.
  3. Eat more fat and more fruits and vegetables at meals without starchy carbs.

The amount of protein will remain unchanged. The rest of the calories will be split between fat and carbohydrates.

There are about 4 calories in 1g of carbohydrates. This means that when you increase your diet by 300 kcal, you add 35-40 g of carbohydrates. With the addition of 50 kcal, 12g will be carbohydrates.

Meal plan

Now you know how to prioritize and distribute calories and nutrients in your diet. Now let's use an example to calculate a rough meal plan.

For a man weighing 80kg, the program will look like this:

  • Basic diet: 2700 kcal
  • Baseline Protein (2g / kg): 160g (720 kcal) *
  • Baseline Fat (30% of Total Calories): 90g (810 kcal) *
  • Baseline Carbohydrate (Calories Remaining): 229g (1170kcal) *

* calculated based on basic diet and body weight.


Bodybuilding is a fairly popular sport among men and women and is a process of body modification by increasing ( hypertrophy ) musculature in general, and individual muscle groups in particular, as well as the formation of body relief due to the reduction of subcutaneous fat. Formation of an athletic physique is based on specially designed resistance training systems, high-energy special meals with an increased / decreased content of certain food ingredients, the use of sports dietary supplements and anabolic / pharmacological agents.

Distinguish between amateur bodybuilding, which the majority are engaged in to improve the structure of their body / figure, and professional, uniting athletes participating in competitions, during which the aesthetics, volume and proportionality of the bodybuilder's physical development are assessed. We do not consider the issues of the training process; these issues are covered on specialized web resources with videos and in special literature.

It is generally accepted that diet for bodybuilders, along with strength training, is the foundation of bodybuilding. Moreover, it is a properly selected diet during training in the gym that allows you to solve specific problems that athletes face - gaining muscle mass, increasing strength, burning subcutaneous fat. Generally speaking, the main tasks of nutrition for bodybuilders are:

  • Providing the body with an adequate amount of energy, correlating (exceeding / insufficient) with its consumption during training, depending on the task of the training cycle.
  • Balance of the food ration in relation to the intensity / objectives of physical activity. The ratio of nutritional energy derived from various food ingredients (FJU) varies depending on the goals of the bodybuilder.
  • Creation of an appropriate metabolic background for synthesis and action, regulating the necessary reactions, both in the body as a whole and in various tissues.
  • Using nutritional factors to build muscle / increase strength / reduce body fat.
  • Individualization of nutrition, taking into account the physiological, anthropometric and metabolic characteristics of the athlete's body, the state of the gastrointestinal tract, personal tastes and eating habits.

Next, we will consider nutritional issues at various stages / tasks of the transformation of the athlete's body, which will be especially useful for novice bodybuilders who make a lot of mistakes when forming their diet. It is proper nutrition that is the most important condition for creating a basic background of the recovery period (super recovery and fusion of myofibrils). It should be remembered that proper nutrition and the gym are the basis for achieving specific results and one does not work without the other.

Weight gain

More often than not, weight gain is the first challenge faced by an athlete. The main principle of body weight growth is the consumption of energy from food in excess of its consumption (ensuring a positive energy balance in the body). The simplest method for calculating the approximate amount of energy required to maintain the weight in a constant state is the formula: weight (in kg) x 30. The data obtained indicate the caloric content of the daily diet required to maintain a static nitrogen balance. But when playing sports, the nitrogen balance always becomes negative. Therefore, when working on body weight, it is necessary to add another 600-1000 calories per day to this indicator, depending on the individual characteristics of the body structure (somatotype of the athlete) throughout the entire cycle of strength (anaerobic) training.

For beginner athletes, it is recommended to gradually increase the calorie intake to a level of weight gain in the range of 600-800 g / week. The main goal of this stage is to gain lean muscle mass, and many athletes also increase body fat, which is a common mistake. Of course, gaining body weight without increasing body fat is almost impossible, but it is necessary to strive to minimize fat gain. It should be remembered that an increase in weight exceeding 900-1000 g / week is already due to an increase in fat. Therefore, weekly weight control and appropriate dietary adjustments are very important.

The next important principle of muscle growth is the formation of a diet containing the main food nutrients in the following proportion: proteins - 20-30%; fats - 15-20%; carbohydrates - at the level of 50-60%. Further, knowing your calorie intake rate, you need to determine how much basic food should be present in your diet. nutrients , that is, make up a specific diet for a bodybuilder for the day.

The required calorie rate and a specific proportion of the BJU content in the diet are taken and the amount of each of the food ingredients is calculated based on the energy value of 1 g of protein and carbohydrates, 4 calories each and 1 g of fat - 9 calories. And by determining the amount of food ingredients required to provide a given calorie value according to special tables nutritional value products and the content of BZHU in them, we determine the amount of products needed for an athlete per day.

Now about the quantitative content of BZHU in the diet and their quality. The most important condition for muscle growth is the inclusion of a sufficient amount of protein in the diet, which performs the main plastic function. The protein requirement of bodybuilders during training for weight is increased and averages 1.5-3.0 g / kg of body weight, which is due to physiological nitrogen losses during intense long-term training.

However, it would be a big mistake to increase this value above the maximum limit of the norm, since this worsens the digestibility of protein, as a result of which they are formed in increased amounts. ammonia and urea which increase the burden on the kidneys and liver. In addition, the increased production of ammonia has a toxic effect on brain cells, which leads to a slowdown in the transmission of nerve impulses and, accordingly, a pronounced decrease in the reaction, and also has a detrimental effect on microbiocenosis intestines, reducing the content /.

As you know, when you swing to increase muscle mass, it is necessary to provide conditions conducive to an increase in the content of structural and contractile proteins in muscle tissue. It is possible to influence the process of enhancing protein synthesis in muscles by including a protein component with high biological value and digestibility in the diet. At the same time, the higher the quality of the consumed protein and in sufficient quantity, the faster the athlete's muscle mass will grow. The biological value of a protein means its amino acid composition, which provides the body's quantitative and qualitative need for nitrogenous substances.

Inadequacy of the amino acid composition of protein in food leads to disruption in the body of the synthesis of its own proteins. Moreover, in the process of building protein, the lack of any essential amino acid limits the use of other amino acids , and a significant excess contributes to the formation of highly toxic metabolic products. Of particular importance among the essential amino acids is leucine, which is a key regulator and activator of the process of muscle protein synthesis. Equally important is the level of protein digestibility, which reflects the degree and rate of its breakdown in the gastrointestinal tract and the rate of amino acid absorption (absorption into the blood and muscle tissue).

For athletes, the optimal source of high-quality protein is milk proteins, consisting of whey protein (15%) and casein (85%). In this case, both fractions are digested and assimilated evenly, but first, biologically active low-molecular whey proteins ( lactalbumin , lactoglobulin , immunoglobulin ), and then - high molecular weight casein.

The use of milk protein is especially important for muscle recovery after intense exercise. Also, the most complete protein is chicken egg protein, which contains all essential amino acids in an optimal ratio and is almost completely absorbed by the body. At the same time, thermal cooking of chicken protein does not lead to a loss of its qualities.

Thus, the main sources of high-quality protein in the diet of a bodybuilder can be animal products - low-fat varieties of red meat (without connective tissue formations) with the digestibility of meat protein by 75-87%, fish with protein digestibility of 90-95%, cottage cheese, milk, dairy products (assimilation of milk protein 95%), chicken eggs (assimilation of protein 98-99%). Vegetable proteins are characterized by low digestibility at the level of 55-65%.

Although they should be present in the diet (25-30% of the total protein consumed) due to the content of many trace elements and (soybeans, legumes, seeds, nuts, cereals), they are not included in the athlete's diet in the protein component quota. taken into account. And if amateur athletes can still afford a vegetarian diet and still increase muscle mass in an insignificant amount, then professional bodybuilders, under such nutritional conditions, will achieve the required level leucine , which allows starting the processes of protein synthesis in the body, cannot.

Important principles of the protein supply of the athlete's body are:

  • Competent consumption of the protein component throughout the day with the obligatory inclusion of protein before / after training. An even distribution of protein in servings throughout the day is extremely important for the gradual and timely replenishment of amino acids in the body, which is necessary for protein synthesis. In addition, pre-workout protein supplementation enhances the genetic mechanisms for muscle growth compared to fasting. It is also known that anaerobic exercise itself increases the rate of protein synthesis by 90-120% compared to rest, and the use of food proteins / amino acid mixtures immediately after the end of strength training (after rocking) enhances this effect and allows you to get the maximum benefit for the restoration of muscle fibers.
  • Include a maximum amount of protein in every meal. It has been proven that athletes who ate 30 g of protein with each meal have a higher (20%) level of protein synthesis compared to those who ate protein only for dinner, which increases the body's ability to build muscle mass.
  • The predominance of high quality protein in the diet with a maximum absorption rate. It is important to know that a protein intake of 2 g / kg body weight is optimal for stimulating protein synthesis without increasing protein loss. And a further increase in its consumption increases the level of protein breakdown and reduces its synthesis.

As for the extremely healthy egg white, it should be consumed only after heat treatment (boiled / fried), since the protein of a raw chicken egg is poorly absorbed due to its constituents ovomucoid and avidina negatively affecting the enzyme of gastric juice. During heat treatment, they are destroyed and the assimilation of egg protein reaches 98%

An additional source of protein is nutritional supplements (sports nutrition) containing - whey protein concentrates, isolates or hydrolysates, which are quickly absorbed in the body or long-acting protein ( casein ). Many modern supplements contain protein, partially broken down into peptides (long / short chain amino acid compounds). However, they should not completely replace natural protein nutrition and can only be used as an addition to the diet.

An equally important condition for gaining muscle mass is a sufficient content of carbohydrates in the diet, without an adequate content of which synthesis decreases adenosine triphosphoric acid (ATP) and through the mechanism gluconeogenesis processes are intensifying catabolism muscle fibers.

Carbohydrates ingested with food primarily provide glucose to the skeletal muscles, both during strength exercise and during the recovery period. And only then, glucose and fructose are used for synthesis glycogen in the liver. Accordingly, with a lack of glycogen in the muscles, the glycogen reserves in the liver are included in the process of energy production, and after their depletion, muscle protein is involved in the process of obtaining energy. Therefore, with insufficient consumption of carbohydrates, there can be no talk of any muscle growth.

For the fastest recovery of muscle glycogen after intense physical activity and optimization of its reserves, the content of carbohydrates in the athlete's diet should be 7-10 g / kg of body weight. Only with a sufficient carbohydrate content can muscle fibers be protected from catabolic destruction, since fat, as an energy source, is practically not used during intense anaerobic loads due to insufficient oxygen supply to the body, without which the fat oxidation process is impossible.

But we need the growth of muscle mass, which is impossible without the intake of a sufficient amount of energy into the body. Since stocks glycogen during training, they sharply decrease, and the muscles are micro-injured, then during the rest period the body needs to restore glycogen reserves to the initial level, thereby creating more favorable conditions for metabolic processes aimed at plastic restoration of muscle tissue. Therefore, the carbohydrate component is the basis for the growth of muscle tissue along with proteins.

However, the type of carbohydrates consumed is of particular importance. The use of mono / di / oligosaccharides (simple carbohydrates) causes a significant short-term increase in the concentration of glucose in the blood, which is quickly broken down completely, does not lead to saturation. Therefore their specific gravity in the athlete's diet should not exceed 25-30% of the total carbohydrate quota. Accordingly, the diet is limited to: sugar, confectionery, sweets, jam, preserves.

The inclusion of polysaccharides (complex carbohydrates) in the diet provides a smoother and more prolonged increase in blood glucose, thereby contributing to muscle saturation glycogen , and on the other hand - the formation of a sense of satiety. The source of complex carbohydrates are cereals, rye pasta, whole grain bread, brown rice, vegetables, legumes, sour fruits.

More literate from the standpoint of changing the concentration of blood glucose is the division of carbohydrate-containing foods according to the principle of "glycemic index". High and medium GI foods are recommended after prolonged and intense strength training, since their consumption during the "carbohydrate window" accelerates the increase in muscle glycogen stores to a greater extent than low GI carbohydrate foods. This approach optimizes the glycogen recovery process, as glycogen resynthesis occurs fastest in the first 30 minutes after the end of a workout, and then continues at a slower pace for 6 hours.

Fat, although not the main source of energy for a bodybuilder, during training, is a must-have component of the "jock" diet. Their lack of food (less than 20% of the daily ration of energy from fats), than the diet of novice athletes, negatively affects the hormonal background of the athlete and his performance. The biological value is primarily of vegetable fats containing polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are not synthesized by the body, but come exclusively with food. These are primarily cold-pressed vegetable oils, nuts, seeds.

Proper nutrition for "jocks" involves the consumption of 25-30 g / day of vegetable fats. The most valuable animal fats are: saturated fat of animal origin: milk fats found in dairy products, butter and fish oil, the source of which is fatty species of sea and river fish (tuna, salmon, catfish, mackerel, herring).

The optimal ratio of fat intake is 1/3 saturated, 1/3 monounsaturated and 1/3 polyunsaturated fats ω-3 ... At the same time, trans fats must be completely eliminated from the diet.

Of particular importance is the sufficient fat content in the diet during the training process, aimed at increasing strength indicators, which is achieved by working with weights of maximum weight, in which the muscles develop the maximum possible effort in a short period of time. The fat content in the diet during this training microcycle should be increased to 30-35%. At the same time, saturated fats must also be present in the diet, contributing to the acceleration of the production of (male hormone), at a low concentration of which an increase in strength is impossible. In addition, when working with a large weight, the ligamentous-articular apparatus suffers, for the strengthening of which it is extremely necessary to have a sufficient intake of various types of fats in the body.

When shaping the diet, one should not forget about the sufficient intake of micronutrients (vitamins / minerals), which play an important role in the processes of energy production, synthesis and production antioxidants ... The diet of novice bodybuilders often does not contain enough, group B, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, antioxidants ( vitamins C and E , selenium, beta-carotene). Therefore, during the period of intense training, it is necessary to take complex vitamin and mineral complexes. However, the intake of vitamins / microelements by amateur athletes should not exceed the norm by more than 2 times.

The diet for strength training of a bodybuilder turns off and takes into account many aspects, one of which is the creation and maintenance of hormonal levels, which allows you to more fully use the body's capabilities to increase muscle tissue. As you know, concentration testosterone in a man's body decreases rapidly after 35-40 years, so the nutrition of a bodybuilder after 40 years should help maintain its concentration, since it contributes to the growth of strength and muscle mass by accelerating protein synthesis in muscle tissue and affecting the nuclei of muscle cells (increases the number of nuclei in muscle fibers). The lack of testosterone after 40 years increases the processes of muscle catabolism.

A properly organized diet contributes to the increase in testosterone concentration. To this end, the diet should include foods containing zinc, which promotes the production of the hormone, as well as prevents it from becoming a female hormone. estrogen ... The main sources of zinc are oysters, 100 g of which contains the daily allowance for an adult man (15-20 mg) and various seafood (shrimp, mussels, squid, crabs), which must be included in the diet after gentle heat treatment together with vegetables at least 3 times a week. The daily intake of zinc for a bodybuilder can vary between 20-40 mg, depending on the intensity of the exercise.

To increase testosterone, it is important to increase the fat content in the diet to 30-35%, since fat is the main material for production testosterone ... At the same time, it is necessary to increase the consumption of directly saturated animal fats (cream, fatty fish, sour cream). All of these foods, except zinc, contain unsaturated fatty acids. omega-3 /omega-6 , selenium , fat-soluble vitamins A , E involved in the synthesis of testosterone. Alternatively, it is allowed to take dietary supplements containing zinc in combination with magnesium and vitamins C and D ... The daily dose of magnesium for an athlete should be 500-800 mg, and vitamin D - 25 mcg.

To prevent a surge in synthesis insulin , which triggers the process of converting testosterone into a bound form and aromatization, the proportion of carbohydrate foods with a high glycemic index ... To stop the production and get rid of excess estrogen in the diet, it is necessary to include cruciferous vegetables (turnips, cabbage, radishes), which include diindolylmethane (DIM), which helps reduce excess estrogen. Fiber is no less useful, cleansing the large intestine of toxic elements, the accumulation of which leads to an excess of estrogen.

Another of the most important conditions for gaining body weight is the correct diet. One of the common mistakes novice bodybuilders make is 2-3 meals a day, while the diet should be 5-7 meals a day. Remember one of the most important rules - with an anabolic type of load, you cannot be hungry. It is strictly forbidden to skip meals, the period between meals should not exceed 3 hours, which allows maintaining a sufficient level of glucose in the athlete's blood. The last meal should be no later than 2 hours before bedtime. This regime promotes a more complete absorption of nutrients and a decrease in the load on the digestive tract from breakfast to dinner.

The distribution of food nutrients during the day should proceed from the principle of the predominant consumption of the carbohydrate component in the first half of the day, which is due to the body's need for energy during the day, and protein in the second, which is extremely necessary for the body as a plastic material during the recovery period (at night). That is, the proportion of carbohydrate intake should change throughout the day: in the morning in a larger volume, in the evening - in a smaller one, and their complete absence in the last 2 meals. Before going to bed, it is recommended to take a "night" long-acting type of protein (casein), and in the morning, to neutralize catabolic processes and trigger anabolic processes, immediately take a protein-carbohydrate cocktail after sleep.

To maintain adequate hydration and thermoregulation, it is important to pay attention to and adequate water intake to replenish the loss of fluid and salt lost in urine and sweat. Even with moderate dehydration, the level of testosterone production decreases and strength indicators suffer. Dehydration speeds up catabolic processes (reduces protein synthesis and accelerates its breakdown). This can be avoided by consuming an adequate amount of water (at least 2.5 l / day). It is necessary to consume water frequently and in small portions (200-300 ml).

Also, with intense exertion, it is important to monitor the salt balance, since water without sufficient electrolyte (sodium, chlorine) content in the body does not linger, since the processes of intercellular hydration are triggered by these electrolytes. Without sufficient concentration in the water, the additional fluid will only lead to a decrease in hydration levels, which will negatively affect overall health and athletic performance. Therefore, during strenuous training, especially in hot weather, it is recommended to add sea salt (0.3-0.7 g / liter) to the water or use sports rehydration solutions.

Diet food at the stage of fat burning (body drying)

The next stage after gaining body weight for athletes involved in bodybuilding is the formation of body relief due to the reduction of subcutaneous fat. For novice athletes, this stage is often associated with weight loss, which does not correspond to the correct approach to the process of "drying" the body. Despite some weight loss in general, the training process and nutrition are aimed at burning subcutaneous fat while maintaining the volume of lean muscle mass and muscle strength characteristics.

Drying of the body should only be carried out with increased muscle mass, since if it is lacking, drying the body leads to exhaustion / exhaustion of the body with flabby muscles and sagging skin. A measure of the effectiveness of burning body fat is the percentage of body fat. Typically, the benchmark for amateur men is 13-15% and 15-18% for women. Professional athletes reduce their fat content to lower levels, but this is done only before competition and for a short period of time.

The main principle of the diet for reducing fat is to reduce the level of glycogen in the muscles and the transfer of metabolism in the body to lipolysis, which is achieved by switching the athlete to a special diet and training (aerobic exercise to create a negative energy balance in combination with resistance exercises to prevent muscle loss. masses).

A diet for drying the body is based on the creation of a negative energy balance in the body, which will result from a calorie deficit in the diet in relation to the level of the athlete's energy consumption (base energy consumption and energy consumption for physical activity) and an increase in speed metabolism ... At the same time, nitrogen balance must remain constant to maintain muscle mass.

For amateur athletes, the best drying option is the method of gradual (stepwise) reduction of the calorie content of a diet with a calorie deficit at the level of 10-20% of the daily intake. This is achieved by excluding from the diet mainly foods with a high glycemic index and fats (to a lesser extent). Accordingly, the body, with a constant deficiency of carbohydrates, begins to gradually switch to another type of energy production - lipolysis , which leads to the burning of subcutaneous fat.

The level of reduction of the carbohydrate component is determined by the set rate of burning of subcutaneous fat. Normally, the total body weight loss should not be higher than 1 kg / week, since as a rule, when this indicator is exceeded, the body's self-defense mechanism is activated and the body fat does not decrease or even begins to increase. Therefore, weekly control of body weight and fat levels is extremely important. The main mistake of novice bodybuilders is a sharp restriction of the calorie intake of the diet. This process should be carried out smoothly and gradually, since it is the smooth reduction of the calorie content of the diet that promotes the predominant loss of fat, and muscle mass decreases in a much smaller proportion.

The general ratio of BJU in the diet during body drying changes and amounts to 50-60% protein, 10-20% fat and 30-40% carbohydrates in various food systems. When working on terrain, it is especially important to gradually reduce the consumption of carbohydrates, bringing their content to 1.5 g per 1 kg of body weight. If during drying the body weight has ceased to decrease for some period, it is necessary to reduce the intake of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates in the diet should be represented by complex carbohydrates (grain bread, cereals, rye pasta, brown rice, sour fruits, vegetables), while it is recommended to use them in the morning.

As for proteins, their amount should be at the level of 1.5-2.0 g / kg of weight and they should be represented by high-quality animal proteins with high digestibility - lean red meat (beef), rabbit, chicken, turkey, eggs, fish, seafood, low fat milk products (yogurt, milk, cottage cheese, kefir). Fat in the diet should be present in minimal quantities, but not less than 40 g per day (0.5 g x body weight). These are mainly vegetable fats, solid animal fats are practically excluded.

When drying and working on relief, low-fat food and natural products should prevail in the diet. A common mistake for amateur athletes, a diet with a complete elimination of fats or a minimum content of carbohydrates, which is unacceptable and, moreover, dangerous to health due to the risk of developing ketoacidosis and an increased burden on the kidneys due to high protein intake. The acceleration of metabolism is carried out by fractional nutrition (5-7 times a day) and the use of liquid in an amount of at least 3 l / day. Hot peppers and green tea contribute to an increase in metabolism.

During drying, it is forbidden to consume harmful high-calorie foods - fast food products, canned food, mayonnaise, smoked meats, ketchups, fatty meat and fish, carbonated drinks, pickles, marinades, sweets, sugar, jam, jams, ice cream, dried fruits, honey, sweet fruits (pears , peaches, apricots, bananas, grapes, persimmons), pastries, cakes, dough products, starchy vegetables (eggplant, potatoes, corn), alcoholic drinks, since they inhibit the process of burning fat.

Culinary processing of products consists of boiling, stewing, steaming, baking, frying is excluded, since it increases the calorie content of the diet. Greens and vegetables are recommended to be consumed raw. There are other dietary programs for drying the body - the method of carbohydrate rotation, the keto diet, but they are mainly used by professional athletes.

Drying the body by amateur athletes is often accompanied by mistakes, the main of which are:

  • A sharp restriction of calorie intake.
  • Malnutrition / overeating.
  • Elimination of fats or carbohydrates from the diet.
  • Avoiding salt.
  • Rare meals during the day and uneven distribution of food throughout the day (skipping breakfast, eating carbohydrates in the afternoon).
  • Not drinking enough free fluid.
  • Lack of control over the rate (speed) of weight loss.
  • Unstandardized / unreasoned use sports nutrition.

Given the high cost of the diet, many novice athletes try to form their budgetary diet for a bodybuilder to a minimum. For this, some bodybuilders often try to get better with baby food. Many athletes on the forums are also interested in whether baby food is useful for adults and can it be used instead of protein? Of course, baby food can reduce the burden on the budget, but baby food in bodybuilding cannot replace sports nutrition in general or protein in particular, since it is intended for other purposes and has a completely different balance of nutritional nutrients and is not suitable for building muscle mass.

Moreover, replacing sports nutrition for children under conditions of intense physical activity can harm the body and level sports performance. Also, novice athletes should understand that the process of gaining body weight and drying muscles should take at least 3-5 months.

Attempts to speed up the process and non-compliance with the norms of weight gain / loss in an effort to achieve an unrealistic body composition for one's somatotype can negatively affect the athlete's health, in particular, the cardiovascular system or the musculoskeletal system. Especially dangerous is the excessive rate of weight loss, which may be accompanied by a decrease in performance, weakening immunity , cognitive dysfunctions, deterioration of general well-being.

Allowed Products

The bodybuilder's diet includes:

  • Soups with meat / fish broth with a minimum fat content.
  • Chicken eggs in any form (whole or separately).
  • Meat of beef / veal, chicken, rabbit, turkey in boiled, steamed, baked form.
  • Fatty species of river / sea fish (cod, hake, sardines, herring tuna, salmon, trout), oysters, seafood (crabs, shrimps, squid, mussels).
  • Whole grain cereals, grain bread, brown rice, cereal crispbread, coarse pasta, bran.
  • Sour milk drinks and low / medium fat products (hard cheeses, cottage cheese, fermented baked milk, yogurt, kefir).
  • Cold pressed unrefined vegetable oils, butter, fish oil.
  • Soybeans, legumes (peas, lentils, beans, chickpeas).
  • Nuts, seaweed, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and flax seeds.
  • Vegetables (bell peppers, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, onions, cucumbers, zucchini), garden herbs.
  • Unsweetened fruits / berries.
  • Freshly prepared juices, rosehip decoction, herbal tea, green tea with lemon, still table water.

Approved Products Table

Proteins, gFat, gCarbohydrates, gCalories, kcal

Vegetables and greens

greenery2,6 0,4 5,2 36
eggplant1,2 0,1 4,5 24
beans6,0 0,1 8,5 57
zucchini0,6 0,3 4,6 24
cabbage1,8 0,1 4,7 27
broccoli3,0 0,4 5,2 28
boiled cauliflower1,8 0,3 4,0 29
watercress2,3 0,1 1,3 11
bulb onions1,4 0,0 10,4 41
carrot1,3 0,1 6,9 32
cucumbers0,8 0,1 2,8 15
salad pepper1,3 0,0 5,3 27
salad1,2 0,3 1,3 12
beet1,5 0,1 8,8 40
celery0,9 0,1 2,1 12
soy34,9 17,3 17,3 381
asparagus1,9 0,1 3,1 20
tomato0,6 0,2 4,2 20
jerusalem artichoke2,1 0,1 12,8 61
pumpkin1,3 0,3 7,7 28
dill2,5 0,5 6,3 38
beans7,8 0,5 21,5 123
garlic6,5 0,5 29,9 143
lentils24,0 1,5 42,7 284

Fruits

avocado2,0 20,0 7,4 208
oranges0,9 0,2 8,1 36
garnet0,9 0,0 13,9 52
grapefruit0,7 0,2 6,5 29
pears0,4 0,3 10,9 42
kiwi1,0 0,6 10,3 48
lemons0,9 0,1 3,0 16
mango0,5 0,3 11,5 67
tangerines0,8 0,2 7,5 33
nectarine0,9 0,2 11,8 48
peaches0,9 0,1 11,3 46
apples0,4 0,4 9,8 47
baked sweet and sour apples0,5 0,5 12,3 59

Berries

gooseberry0,7 0,2 12,0 43
red currants0,6 0,2 7,7 43
black currant1,0 0,4 7,3 44

Nuts and dried fruits

nuts15,0 40,0 20,0 500
cashew25,7 54,1 13,2 643
sesame19,4 48,7 12,2 565
flax seeds18,3 42,2 28,9 534
fenugreek seeds23,0 6,4 58,3 323
sunflower seeds20,7 52,9 3,4 578

Cereals and cereals

buckwheat (unground)12,6 3,3 62,1 313
oat groats12,3 6,1 59,5 342
cereals11,9 7,2 69,3 366
wheat bran15,1 3,8 53,6 296
millet groats11,5 3,3 69,3 348

Bakery products

whole grain crispbread10,1 2,3 57,1 295

Confectionery

marshmallow0,8 0,0 78,5 304
meringue2,6 20,8 60,5 440
paste0,5 0,0 80,8 310

Raw materials and seasonings

honey0,8 0,0 81,5 329

Milk products

skim milk2,0 0,1 4,8 31
sour cream 15% (low fat)2,6 15,0 3,0 158
natural yoghurt 2%4,3 2,0 6,2 60

Cheese and curd

cottage cheese 1.8% (low fat)18,0 1,8 3,3 101
tofu curd8,1 4,2 0,6 73

Meat products

pork liver18,8 3,6 0,0 108
beef18,9 19,4 0,0 187
beef liver17,4 3,1 0,0 98
boiled beef tongue23,9 15,0 0,0 231
boiled veal30,7 0,9 0,0 131
rabbit21,0 8,0 0,0 156

Bird

boiled chicken fillet30,4 3,5 0,0 153
turkey19,2 0,7 0,0 84

Eggs

hard boiled chicken eggs12,9 11,6 0,8 160

Fish and seafood

boiled fish17,3 5,0 0,0 116
squid21,2 2,8 2,0 122
salmon19,8 6,3 0,0 142
mussels9,1 1,5 0,0 50
seaweed0,8 5,1 0,0 49
herring16,3 10,7 - 161
zander19,2 0,7 - 84
cod17,7 0,7 - 78
tuna23,0 1,0 - 101
trout19,2 2,1 - 97
hake16,6 2,2 0,0 86
pike18,4 0,8 - 82

Oils and fats

butter0,5 82,5 0,8 748
linseed oil0,0 99,8 0,0 898
olive oil0,0 99,8 0,0 898
sunflower oil0,0 99,9 0,0 899

Non-alcoholic drinks

mineral water0,0 0,0 0,0 -
instant chicory0,1 0,0 2,8 11
green tea0,0 0,0 0,0 -
black tea20,0 5,1 6,9 152

Juices and compotes

carrot juice1,1 0,1 6,4 28
pumpkin juice0,0 0,0 9,0 38
rosehip juice0,1 0,0 17,6 70

Fully or partially limited products

The bodybuilder's diet excludes from the diet:

  • Fatty broths and soups based on them.
  • Canned food, sausages, smoked meats, fatty meats, fast food products, goose / duck meat, semi-finished products, animal fats.
  • Sugar, chocolate, ice cream, honey jam, dried fruits (figs, raisins, prunes, dates, dried apricots), sweets, sweet desserts, jams, condensed milk.
  • Wheat bread, cakes, pancakes, puff / pastry products, semolina, pastries, cookies, dumplings, waffles, cakes, dumplings.
  • Carbonated and alcoholic drinks.

Prohibited Products Table

Proteins, gFat, gCarbohydrates, gCalories, kcal

Vegetables and greens

radish1,2 0,1 3,4 19
white radish1,4 0,0 4,1 21
red radish1,2 0,1 3,4 20
black radish1,9 0,2 6,7 35
spinach2,9 0,3 2,0 22
sorrel1,5 0,3 2,9 19

Fruits

bananas1,5 0,2 21,8 95

Berries

grapes0,6 0,2 16,8 65

Mushrooms

mushrooms3,5 2,0 2,5 30

Nuts and dried fruits

raisins2,9 0,6 66,0 264

Snacks

potato chips5,5 30,0 53,0 520

Cereals and cereals

semolina10,3 1,0 73,3 328
rice white6,7 0,7 78,9 344

Flour and pasta

pasta10,4 1,1 69,7 337
pancakes6,3 7,3 51,4 294

Bakery products

buns7,2 6,2 51,0 317

Confectionery

jam0,3 0,2 63,0 263
jam0,3 0,1 56,0 238
sweets4,3 19,8 67,5 453
pastry cream0,2 26,0 16,5 300
biscuits7,5 11,8 74,9 417
dough7,9 1,4 50,6 234
halva11,6 29,7 54,0 523

Ice cream

ice cream3,7 6,9 22,1 189

Cakes

cake4,4 23,4 45,2 407

Chocolate

chocolate5,4 35,3 56,5 544

Raw materials and seasonings

mustard5,7 6,4 22,0 162
mayonnaise2,4 67,0 3,9 627

Milk products

milk 3.6%2,8 3,6 4,7 62
milk 4.5%3,1 4,5 4,7 72
cream2,8 20,0 3,7 205
sour cream 25% (classic)2,6 25,0 2,5 248

Cheese and curd

cheese24,1 29,5 0,3 363
cottage cheese 18% (fat)14,0 18,0 2,8 232

Meat products

fatty pork11,4 49,3 0,0 489
pork liver18,8 3,6 0,0 108
pork kidneys13,0 3,1 0,0 80
pork fat1,4 92,8 0,0 841
fat2,4 89,0 0,0 797
beef liver17,4 3,1 0,0 98
beef kidney12,5 1,8 0,0 66
beef brains9,5 9,5 0,0 124
bacon23,0 45,0 0,0 500

Sausages

p / smoked sausage16,2 44,6 0,0 466
smoked sausage9,9 63,2 0,3 608
sausages10,1 31,6 1,9 332
sausages12,3 25,3 0,0 277

Bird

smoked chicken27,5 8,2 0,0 184
duck16,5 61,2 0,0 346
smoked duck19,0 28,4 0,0 337
goose16,1 33,3 0,0 364

Fish and seafood

smoked fish26,8 9,9 0,0 196
salted fish19,2 2,0 0,0 190
red caviar32,0 15,0 0,0 263
black caviar28,0 9,7 0,0 203
canned fish17,5 2,0 0,0 88
fish semi-finished products12,5 6,7 14,7 209

Oils and fats

cream margarine0,5 82,0 0,0 745
vegetable-fat spread0,0 40,0 0,0 360
animal fat0,0 99,7 0,0 897
cooking fat0,0 99,7 0,0 897

Alcoholic beverages

white dessert wine 16%0,5 0,0 16,0 153
cognac0,0 0,0 0,1 239
beer0,3 0,0 4,6 42

Non-alcoholic drinks

cola0,0 0,0 10,4 42
instant dry coffee15,0 3,5 0,0 94
pepsi0,0 0,0 8,7 38
sprite0,1 0,0 7,0 29
energy drink0,0 0,0 11,3 45
* data are indicated for 100 g of product

Menu (Power Mode)

The bodybuilder's menu is compiled individually, according to the bodybuilder's diet for a week in accordance with the training stage (weight gain, body drying) according to the list of permitted / prohibited foods, taking into account the calorie content of the diet and the ratio of BJU.

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