Nutrients must enter the body on time. This guarantees the bodybuilder sensational muscle growth!
With the beginning of a new day, a large-scale drama unfolds in the body of a strength athlete: anabolic hormones begin a battle with catabolic hormones. The first grow muscles, the others destroy them. Who will win? In bodybuilding, this issue is not usually left to chance. Otherwise, if catabolics win, the most fanatical training will lose its meaning. Fortunately, the bodybuilder has a powerful weapon in his hands – high-calorie nutrition. Catabolic hormones fear food calories like fire! However, calories alone are not enough to suppress destructive catabolic secretion. In addition, the enemy must be attacked by surprise when he is unarmed. In bodybuilding, this means eating according to the clock!
The bodybuilder’s body is terrified of starving for many hours. When you eat a product, it enters the digestive system and there it breaks down into nutritional elements – amino acids , mono- and macrosaccharides, vitamins, microelements and fat molecules. Figuratively speaking, the abdominal cavity is a huge reservoir of blood in which your many-meter-long, coiled intestines float. Through its walls, nutrients seep into the blood and then rush through the bloodstream to the organs of the body, giving them life. When the blood “empties” as a result of a long break in nutrition, the work of the entire body, and especially the brain, is threatened. In this case, the body urgently secretes catabolic hormones. They begin to break down your own muscle tissue, stripping it of amino acids. In other words, our body begins to “chew” itself.
It would seem that everything is simple. Eat more and that’s it! No, in addition, food must be taken strictly according to the clock! Without hesitation, you should fuel your body with protein and carbohydrates immediately after waking up in the morning. Then you need to take protein and carbohydrates exactly half an hour before training, and then load yourself with food no later than half an hour after completing the training. Well, for the fourth time you will have to turn to the clock before going to bed at night. Half an hour before falling asleep, you will again have to take in protein and unsaturated fats.
Only by following such a schedule will you be guaranteed a sure return from sweatshop training. Otherwise, your most Herculean efforts will go down the drain. Are you persistent and determined to succeed? Then eat by the hour!
1. Immediately after waking up
Whenever you open your eyes in the morning, you have 8-10 hours behind you spent without food. You yourself know how your stomach begins to churn when a break in nutrition lasts longer than 3-3.5 hours! Well, the night “hunger strike” is several times longer! In short, in the morning a real disaster begins inside the body! What should I do? You need to take “fast” whey protein and fructose immediately! The choice of whey is understandable, but what does fructose have to do with it? The secret is that the distress signal is first sent by our “starved” liver during the night. She needs to be fed first! The liver absorbs fructose most quickly. Here’s the solution!
COMPOSITION: 20 g protein, 20-40 g carbohydrates
MEAL: 20 g whey protein , 1 cup orange juice (or 1-2 apples) 195 calories, 22 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat
NATURAL FOODS: 2 cups whole milk, 166 calories, 16 g protein, 24 g carbohydrates, 6 g fat
QUICKLY: Protein-carbohydrate bar
2. Half an hour before training
Even if you, as expected, ate heavily 2-2.5 hours before training, right in the locker room you should take 20 g of whey protein and 20-40 g of “slow” carbohydrates. It turns out that for training to cause sustained muscle growth, our blood must be oversaturated with BCAAs. As for “slow” carbohydrates, they will serve you as a reliable source of energy and will delay natural physical fatigue.
COMPOSITION: 20 g protein, at least 20 g “slow” carbohydrates
FOOD MEAL: 20 g whey protein, 1 fruit (apple, pear, etc.) 195 calories, 22 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 0 g fat
NATURAL PRODUCT: 150 g canned tuna in water, 2 slices whole grain bread 265 calories, 34 g protein, 26 g carbohydrates, 3 g fat
QUICK: 60-80 g roast beef, fitness bar 220 calories, 20 g protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 5 g fat
3. Straight after training
Strength exercises are the strongest stress for the body. To cope with it, it forces muscle cells to open their “doors” wide to meet blood nutrients. Thanks to this, throughout the entire training session, muscle tissue “pumps” through itself a uniquely large amount of amino acids, sugar, hormones and oxygen. The effect does not end with the last exercise. It seems to retain momentum and lasts for another half hour. If you have time to load protein (whey plus casein ) and “fast” carbohydrates, muscle cells will acquire an internal supply of nutrients. This will give a powerful impetus to subsequent muscle growth, because every cell will literally have everything necessary for the synthesis of cellular protein at hand.
COMPOUND:40 g protein, 40-80 g fast carbohydrates
FOOD MEAL: 20 g whey protein, 20 g casein, 1-2 scoops Vitargo 520 calories, 43 g protein, 81 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat
NATURAL PRODUCT: 180 g chicken breasts, 2 pieces of white bread 288 calories, 37 g protein, 29 g carbohydrates, 2 g fat
QUICK: 2 cups hot chocolate with whole milk 314 calories, 16 g protein, 52 g carbohydrates, 6 g fat
4. Before bed
To save yourself from nighttime catabolism, you should take 20 g of casein right before falling asleep. This type of milk protein is extremely slow to digest. In the digestive tract, casein sticks together into dense lumps, which slowly “melt” under the action of gastric juice and enzymes. So throughout the night your muscles will receive the necessary nutrition in the form of amino acids and peptides. On the contrary, you cannot take carbohydrates. You don’t need energy, so the carbohydrates you eat will be converted into subcutaneous fat. But you could use some healthy fats. They will significantly slow down the absorption of casein.
COMPOSITION: 20 g of “slow” protein, some unsaturated fat
MEAL: 20 g of casein, 5-10 g of vegetable fats 720 calories, 23 g of protein, 5-10 g of vegetable oil
NATURAL PRODUCT: 1 cup of cottage cheese 163 calories, 28 g of protein , 6g carbs, 2g fat
QUICK: 2 slices low-fat cheese 150 calories, 18g protein, 3g carbs, 9g fat
30 minutes – that’s all you have after your workout to stuff your muscle cells to capacity with protein and carbs. Then the “protein-carbohydrate window” will close. If you do not eat on time, subsequent recovery of strength, and muscle growth itself, will proceed at its usual pace.
Example of a diet
This daily menu is designed for a bodybuilder weighing 85 kg. Use the meal plan as a guide when adding or cutting calories.
AFTER WAKE UP
20 g whey
1 cup orange juice
BREAKFAST
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup berries
3 whole eggs
1 slice low fat cheese
2ND BREAKFAST
1 whole grain muffin
2 tbsp. l. peanut butter
1 tbsp. l. honey
LUNCH
Burger with tuna: 150 g canned tuna in water, drain 1 tbsp. l. mayonnaise
1 cup lettuce
2 slices whole grain bread
1 cup boiled peas
BEFORE TRAINING
20 g whey
1 fruit
AFTER TRAINING
20 g whey 20 g casein 1-2 m.l. vitargo
DINNER
Tartilla:
250 g grilled beef, chopped
1/2 cup beans
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper
1/2 avocado
2 tbsp. l. hot sauce
2 unleavened tortillas
2 cups vegetable salad
1 tbsp. l. olive oil
BEFORE BED
20 g casein
TOTAL: 3241 calories, 294 g protein, 338 g carbohydrates, 95 g fat.