ChasingKaz - May 18, 2007

Dugenheimer asks:

"I've decided to dedicate this summer to getting as big and strong as possible. I have a pretty solid training template, but am really lost on how/what to eat. Being somewhat restricted to the cafeteria here at school doesn't help much, either. What does your daily diet look like?"

This is a very timely question for me. I've got a contest coming up in two weeks that has the usual 231 lb cutoff, but the contest three weeks after that does not. Instead, it has a 201-265 lb class and in the interest of gaining every legal advantage, I'm going to try to add 15-20 lbs in those three weeks. Ideally, I don't want to go any higher than 245 for this contest because I'll have cut back down to 231 for the contest I'm promoting just three weeks later. I've never been over 230 before, and I've never had to cut, either. Hopefully, my discipline will be up to snuff. Not only will I be trying to help you with your goals with this entry, hopefully I'll be able to learn a thing or two to help myself as well.

What I can do is give you some pointers on how to gain some weight. What I can't do, however, is tell you what my daily diet looks like. Right now, I'm in the midst of rugby season, so not only do I have to eat for my training 3 days/week in the gym, I also have to meet the caloric demands of four to five hours of practice weekly and anywhere from one to three matches on the weekends. I haven't calculated it, but to simply maintain my current bodyweight of 225, I estimate that I have to consume 6000-7000 calories each day. That's a lot of cookies.

Being a college student living in the dorms, you have some interesting challenges to gaining weight. Challenges like being restricted to a cafeteria menu can be overcome by knowing the most beneficial selections, while hurdles such as living in a dorm can be easily overcome by some creativity. We'll tackle those issues shortly, but first, let's discuss some of the basics.

1. Eat, eat, eat.

Most people I talk to say that they can't gain weight no matter how much they eat. My only response to them is, "Eat more". What they don't realize is that following the FDA recommendations are not applicable if you're either active, over 165 lbs, or under the age of 50. To gain weight, you have to find your daily caloric needs and exceed that number consistently. Unfortunately, everyone's metabolism differs based on a variety of factors, including age, activity level, muscle mass, and genetics. Finding your base caloric requirement will take a bit of experimentation on your part. No matter how much you think you're eating, if you're not gaining weight, you're not eating enough. (Or you have a tapeworm).

2. Don't be afraid of fat.

Not only does this mean not to be afraid of fat in food, it also means that if you want to be strong, you can't be afraid of a little chub on your belly. I see too many beginners in the gym who want to be big and strong, but restrict their diet because they're afraid of losing the definition in their abs. The problem is that these kids have been brainwashed by magazines like Muscle and Fitness into thinking it's possible to keep your ripped abs and chest while going from 160 lbs to 250. In a few rare cases, it is, but for a vast majority of us, it's not. Most of the bodybuilders you see in those magazines look like that a month out of the year. Generally, your body starts burning muscle as fuel first once you drop below 12-13% bodyfat. If the guys whose lives depend on packing on muscle aren't afraid to be a little chubby (they're actually "fat" by most peoples' standards most of the year), why should you be?

Take IFBB pro bodybuilder, Lee Priest, for example. Most of the year, he looks like this.

Then two months before the big night at Mr Olympia, he starts shedding the fat to ultimately look like this

3. Muscle burns more calories than fat.

One pound of muscle requires approximately 45 calories per day while at rest, whereas a pound of non-muscular body tissue burns only 20-25 calories per day. What this means is that as you build muscle, you have to eat more and more, not only to maintain your newfound muscle mass, but to keep adding to it. Most people have trouble losing weight, but once you start gaining muscle, you'll find that it's a much bigger task to gain weight.

4. Eat before and after you train.

If you don't eat before you train, your body will become catabolic and start burning muscle as energy. The last thing your body will use as energy is stored fat, and this is a survival mechanism. Therefore, it's imperative that you eat some protein and carbohydrates prior to training so your body has a fuel source to burn other than muscle while you're training. It's also imperative that you get a good, high calorie meal shortly after you train to maximize muscle synthesis.

5. Supplement wisely

Sometimes, it's not always possible to eat when you want or when you should. For this reason, it's important to get a quality alternative source of protein that's portable and effective. It's also important to be able to distinguish between the quality products and the worthless shit. It's become quite difficult as of late to determine which protein powders are quality and which ones are products of the Weider marketing juggernaut, i.e. Junk, but I can make it easier for you. Ultra Peptide made by Xtreme Formulations is far and away the best protein on the market. Not only have I noticed marked gains while taking it, multiple pro strongmen (who are sponsored by other supplement companies) have expressed the same results. It's inexpensive, mixes well, tastes awesome in whole milk, and most importantly, it works. The only bad thing is that it can't be found in GNC or any chain retail stores. Luckily, it's available online at the link provided above, and their service is absolutely top-notch.

Other than the protein, don't waste your money on supplements. Most of them show nominal results at best, so you're better off getting them through a clean, well balanced diet. If you're dead set on spending money on supplements, buy yourself some fish oil for long-term heart health and joint lubrication, some basic daily vitamins to regulate body function and make up for what you can't get in your daily diet, and some L Arginine to stimulate growth hormone production.

Now that you're aware of some of the basics, let's get to overcoming those hurdles of being restricted to a cafeteria diet and dorm rules.

Cafeteria Eating

Most college cafeterias are set up like a buffet, which makes food choice pretty easy. While you're there, eat as much clean, unprocessed food as you can. Chicken, beef, fish, rice, and potatoes are going to help you reach your goals the fastest. What's going to set you apart from your peers is going to be the size of your pockets. Most cafeterias have some really good food choices that also happen to keep well in a dorm fridge, and this is no small coincidence. Foods such as chicken breasts, fresh vegetables (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, etc), or rice can easily be slyly slid into ziplock baggies, then concealed in large jacket pockets. Am I endorsing stealing? Hell, no. You're paying for it, so as long as you eat it eventually, you're clear. If the cafeteria security gives you any static, tell them I said it's okay. Just don't get caught.

One final suggestion is to eat all of the fish selections (which should be a significant part of your diet) at the cafeteria. Fish doesn't keep well, so it's best to eat is as fresh as possible. Stay away from processed fish, like fish sticks, but you can't go wrong from basing your in-cafeteria diet on fresh fish.

Dorm Life

If you're going to live in the dorms, you're going to have to be willing to break a few rules. (No, this isn't a recurring theme.) If you're allowed the luxury of a microwave, you've got a great start. You can use it to heat up all of the food you snuck in from the cafeteria. And if you're allowed to have a microwave, what's the danger in have a rice cooker, electric skillet, or vegetable steamer? With these three modern marvels, you can cook a gourmet meal. All you have to do is find a way to mask the smell of great food. If you're not sure how to hide the smell, ask a pothead. He'll know.

If you're not willing to take those risks, there are still a few avenues you can take to help you pack on the pounds.

1. Find a friend that lives off campus and cook at his place once a week. Boil eggs, bake chicken breasts, make burgers, whatever. Just so you have some real food to stick in your dorm fridge that you can eat when you need it. Sure, it's an odd request to ask of a friend, but it's a great way to keep healthy, muscle-building food at arms length. Besides, being big doesn't usually make sense to those on the outside. All your friend will know is that you're big and he's not. That should be justification enough for your actions.

2. Stock your dorm with things like 4% cottage cheese, canned tuna, and beef jerky. Sure, the last two aren't the best foods on the planet, but desperate times call for desperate measures. This is easy and effective.

Hopefully, these few things will help Dugenheimer achieve his goals. Even if you don't live in a dorm, I hope you, the reader, can benefit from this entry. This is by no means a comprehensive guide on how to pack on maximum muscle, but I hope it will help a few of the hard-gainers out there recognize what they're doing wrong. With any luck, it will help some of the dorm-bound college kids and this aging strongman gain a quality 15-20 pounds.

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You can join a more extensive discussion of gaining weight and adding mass by hitting POST REPLY in the "Gaining Weight" thread of the ChasingKaz message board

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Posted by Ben Hanson at 1:55 PM