- Joined
- Sep 12, 2004
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- 9,525
I wrote this for another board and most of it is pretty simple rudimentary stuff we all know, but ive had lots of pm’s lately from new members asking about how I eat or how I got here so I figured I’d post it here too. Feel free to ignore lol
I started training at the age of 19 due a a serious back injury from a motorcycle race crash. They had me start PT and I found out I enjoyed it. At 6’1”
and 141 pounds I was definitely nothing special to look at. Over the years of trial and error I’ve come to a lot of conclusions and picked up a lot from other people. I I I ate and trained my way up to an all time high of 274 and set several all time powerlifting records a couple of which still stand. Here’s some bullet points.
1. To gain size you’re gonna need to get fat. Now don’t take this the wrong way and think you’ve gotta be a sloppy mess, but as an ecto you need calories and you’re going to have to eat a lot to overcome your fast metabolism. Good news is you’ve got that fast metabolism so when it comes time to cut it’ll be easier for you. If I drop carbs from two meals a day(which still has me at around 4-500 grams a day) I can consistently lose 1 or more pounds of fat a week for awhile before needing to make changes.
2. And one of the most important, don’t eat foods you like, eat foods that like you. You’re gonna need a helluva a lot of food, and there?s no way you’llput it all down if foods are giving you gas, bloating, acid reflux, etc. just because xyz bodybuilder eats it doesn’t mean you should. The only carb I can consistently eat in large quantity is white rice and I eat a shitload of it. 4 cups a day plus an additional 240 grams from cream of rice. White rice digests quickly and this is what you need. You Can’t eat meal 4 if meal 3 is still in your stomach. I digest beef much more efficiently than chicken so I eat as much as I can before my wife starts yelling at me about our grocery bill.
2a. Little bonus tip on rice, Thai sticky rice contains a muuuuch higher amount of amylopectin and less amylose than any other form of white rice. This makes it digest even more quickly than jasmine or basmati.
2b. Picked this up from Stan Efferding, add a little dextrose 1-2 tsp, on top of your rice. This stimulates amylase(carb digesting enzyme) in your mouth and aids in digestion of your rice. It makes it easier to consume more as well.
3. Fat’s your friend. But healthy fat. Grass fed butter, Mac nut oil, coconut oil, olive oil, beef tallow, less lean cuts of meat like ribeye, chuck roast, and chicken thighs are much more calorie dense and allow you to consume more calories without consuming more food.
4. Drink your calories. Adding things like fruit juices and Gatorade to meals makes it easier to fit in more carbs and calories without any additional food volume. Orange and cranberry juice in particular are stimulating to the liver and this can help boost appetite as well.
5. Eat at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. More is better for some people, but for me protein is much too satiating and I can’t eat much else if I try to go to 1.5-2 grams. Make up the difference by eating more carbs.
6. Training. Your training should be heavy, focused on progressive overload, and intense, but it should be lower volume. You’ve already got a muscle burning furnace of a metabolism, don?t stole it with too much activity. Dc training is where I built most of my size and I feel the 2 way split is perfect for most hard gainers. Or a push pull legs split.
7. Eat some damn junk food. You need the calories. But refer to rule 2. Try to eat things you know sit well for you. For some reason if I order 3 McDoubles and put all of it on one bun it tastes great, is a shitload of calories, and I digest it easily. A couple pieces if pizza on the other hand sticks with me forever and gives me gas and all kinds of stomach upset.
8. Beef!!! Eat as much of it as you can afford. But it in bulk, grind it up, whatever, but it just works better than other protein sources.
9. There’s a million other things I?m forgetting and I’ll update this post as it goes along, but feel free to ask any questions.
10. Forgot a huge one. Digestive enzymes. These will help you digest more food. You can only process what your can digest. You want a product with protease(preferably more than one kind) amylase, and lipase at the very minimum. Other great things to be in there are papain, lactase, bromelain, ox bile. One of these before larger meal really can help make a difference.
11. Gut health is everything. I have ibs and eating is difficult for me. 10 grams of glutamine first thing in the morning and before bed on an empty stomach goes a long way towards keeping your intestinal tract healthy and avoiding leaky gut syndrome which trust me….will wreak havoc on your body. As your push bodyweight up you’ll also have to push food and finding ways to help your gut is crucial to consume these amounts of food. Eat fermented foods. Saurkraut and kimchi are two of my favorites and I eat so much I make them myself by the gallon. You can also take a probiotic, but getting it from food will always be better