Gluttony (Latin, gula)Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste. In the Christian religions, it is considered a sin because of the excessive desire for food, or its withholding from the needy. Gluttony was broken down into six types. I will only focus on two, Nimis - eating too much and Praepropere - eating too soon. That means only 30% of your soul is Damned.
So you want to put on some muscle? Well, I’m going to tell you how to do it by using gluttony. In all truth, that is all it is. Hate to break it to you, your not going to gain muscle by eating chicken, rice and broccoli. Your “five clean meals a day” will not get it done my friends and you CANNOT put on a great amount of muscle and get lean at the same time!! (Unless your over the age of 35 and have been over prescribed hGH and Testosterone… later blog)
At this point, one may ask (I would at least) " How the F^@K would you know?!?!"
Well, great question... I started trying to gain weight in 10th grade in high school. At 16 years old, 5’11 I was 118lbs…. yes, I was 2 dimensional. It took many years to meet, talk and train with the right people to find out how it is done. Forward 10 years, at the age of 26, still 5’11 but now at a weight of 278lbs competing in local, state and regional powerlifting meets. I am NOT a standout by any means by gaining 160lbs in 10 years.
As stated in my intro, I wrote for many boards for many years. If you belong or frequent any boards you have heard of Doggcrap . He did the same thing and is STILL doing it today. Jason Mueller was another, before Doggcrap, that more than doubled in size over a 10 year period. Many have done it, with and without pharmaceutical help. The latter does render slightly slower gains and a little more fat to trim off but.... your diet is 80% of the game folks. If your food is off.... nothing will work. That includes "supplements" of any kind... ANY KIND!
Clients have come to me with a gym bag of "supplements" asking "how should I take this?" (I'm amazed at how stupid people are...) My response normally is kinda in the ballpark of " WTF is wrong with you? Why the hell would you buy all this sh!t... then bring it to me?? Are you F@$King crazy. Get that sh!t outta here and write me up a food log for the next three days. I want to know what your shoving in your face first before we do anything... got it? see you in three days dumba$$!" They come back three days later (ya... they actually come back..) to find out they are NOT eating enough food.
So lets get your food straight and get started paving your road to Hell….
Nimis - eating too much
This is the name of the game. Protein should be your main focus. You need 2-3g / protein per pound lean bodyweight. My rule of thumb start at the high end, see how your body reacts. Mostly likely, explosive diarrhea, back your protein intake down by 10% until that stops. God is not causing this because your sinning, its because there is not enough protease* available to aid in digestion of the extra protein intake. Your body will adjust, then bump your protein intake up as you lean bodyweight goes up. Count your grams of Protein, not your overall calories.
*Proteases are involved in digesting long protein chains into short fragments, splitting the peptide bonds that link amino acid residues. Some of them can detach the terminal amino acids from the protein chain (exopeptidases, such as aminopeptidases, carboxypeptidase A); the others attack internal peptide bonds of a protein (endopeptidases, such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, pepsin, papain, elastase).
Proteases are divided into four major groups according to the character of their catalytic active site and conditions of action: serine proteinases, cysteine (thiol) proteinases, aspartic proteinases, and metalloproteinases. Attachment of a protease to a certain group depends on the structure of catalytic site and the amino acid (as one of the constituents) essential for its activity.
Your secondary focus should be high quality fats. Fats have high caloric density and help maintain hormone levels. Fat does not make you fat, Sugar does.. we all know that. You should be adding mono unsaturated fats (olive oil) and flaxseed oil or seeds to your shakes and meals. I ramp my fats up as the day goes on. This may lead to problems just as protein did if your not use to eating some fats. This is due to inadequate amount of lipase* present. This is relative to my carbohydrate intake.
*Pancreatic lipase is an enzyme (more specifically, a lipase) secreted from the pancreas that uses hydrolysis to break apart fat molecules. Bile salts secreted from the liver and stored in gallbladder are released into the duodenum where they coat and emulsify large fat droplets into smaller droplets, thus increasing the overall surface area of the fat, which allows the lipase to break apart the fat more effectively. The resulting monomers are then moved by way of peristalsis along the small intestine to be absorbed into the lymphatic system by a specialized vessel called a lacteal. This protein belongs to pancreatic lipase family.
Lastly your carbohydrates. I prefer High Glycemic ramping to Low Glycemic as the day goes on. Of course everyone knows about post workout meals (PWO), so I'm not going to waste time your with it. You can be loose on your selection just make sure your eating just cooked veggies and salad after 6pm.
Praepropere - eating too often
Eat every 3-4 hours. You need a constant intake of high density food. This also means eating once at night. Ask anyone that has ate this way. Its is the hardest part of gaining muscle. You will not be able to meet your protein needs to grow by eating that 3 meals and 2 snack. It going to be more like 7-8 meals a day. You know, let me rephrase that.... 5 meals a day may work if you protein requirement is less that 300g / day. That would mean your lean bodyweight is 100-150lbs & your eating up to 60g of protein each meal.
But now lets work the equation for a friend/client of mine that is a monster. 6'3" 330lbs @ 15% bodyfat offseason... competes just shy of 290lb @ 3% bodyfat... lean body weight is 280lbs... min protein intake is 560g / day (thats equal to 5lbs of beef/day...minimum). On second though... I'll do a realistic example at the end here using Johnny Skinnypants.
The way I recommend laying meals out as follows. Eat every 2 hours before noon or 1pm. After that, eat every 3 hours until bed. The midnight meal is REALLY a mid-sleep meal about 4 hours after you went to bed.
As we all know, when you go without eating for more than a few hours, your body senses deprivation and shifts into a “starvation mode.” Part of the starvation response is to decrease resting energy expenditure. In effect, the body slows down its metabolic rate to conserve energy. This is accomplished primarily by decreasing the activity of thyroid hormone, particularly the active form called T3. As a rule, the longer the period in between meals, the greater the decrease in T3 production.
In addition, reduced meal frequency has a negative effect on insulin levels. This causes insulin spikes, which switches on various mechanisms that increase fat storage. The spikes then lead to a crash, where there is a tendency toward hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Hunger pangs ensue and you invariably end up eating more than you otherwise would, often in the form of refined sweets....So then high GI carbs in the morning may stimulate your hunger earlier the day??
You adjust your carbohydrate accordingly. If you getting fat, drop them back. Not gaining enough, bump them up. It really that easy, just pay attention to your body.
SUMMARY: (aka. How the Hell do I apply this to help me???)
Before I go into this. There a TON of eating plans out there. Some of what I wrote kinda may look like this or kinda may look like that... and it should. What I am sharing here is something that works. I have made a LIVING doing this for the past 10years and helped hundreds of people .. it is my JOB, NOT my hobby.
With that being said, this is how its done.
Johnny is a skinny guy. Johnny thinks being BIG will solve his problems. Johnny goes to the gym and works out but he is not growing. Johnny save his cash to come to me to get his diet correct. Johnny is 5'8" and weights 150lbs @ 10% bodyfat. So.. his lean bodyweight is 135lbs. Johnny is NOT using any "supplements". I will set his protein intake to at least 270g / day.
Heres how the food plan will go for Johnny:
- 6am Wake and Go Workout
- 7am Meal 1 PWO shake 50g pro & 100g high GI carbs (dextrose) NO FATS
- 9am Meal 2 5oz chicken or tuna & 1.5 cups cooked rice or 1 lrg cooked baked potato
- 11am Meal 3 35g protein shake w/ less than 30g carbs & add 1tsp flax oil
- 1pm Meal 4* All you can eat Buffet, Sushi, Fajitas, Pizza... just eat!!! then wash it down with a 35g protein shake.
- 4pm Meal 5 35g protein shake w/ less than 30g carbs in it add 1tsp flax oil
- 7pm Meal 6 4oz ground beef 2 cups cooked veggies and a salad w/ olive oil based dressing
- 10pm Meal 7 4 scrambled eggs w/ 1oz cheese and a cup of veggies (peppers, onions, mushrooms
- 11pm Sleep
- 3am Meal 8 35g protein shake w/ 1tbls flax
Give it a try and leave feedback on this blog about it.
notice: I have a real job that keeps me real busy. I will answer any questions ASAP. My posts will be limited one per week at this point. Also, me calling BULLSH!T on 90% means there is 10% out there that really know their sh!t. The problem is they get over looked. By me doing this blog, I'm going to do my best to bring that 10% to the top. They deserve it. -746-
