Nutrition and Supplementation.....a MUST!

In my opinion, the main component in building muscle mass and making solid gains in bodybuilding is NOT just in the training....it is in the Nutrition! No matter what you do in the gym, the nutrients and raw materials MUST be in your body for recuperation, repair and growth. Of course this is not earth-shattering news if you are familiar with bodybuilding. However, if you are just starting out in bodybuilding and weight training, hopefully this little piece of information and what I am going to share with you will save you a lot of aggravation, wasted time in the gym, and most importantly...MONEY! You show me someone in the gym that has been training hard and exhaustively for months or years and doesn't look like he's gained an ounce of muscle, and I'll show you someone whose body is lacking in the nutrition it needs to grow!

On this page I will share with you my experiences in the area of nutrition and supplements. There is an abundance of information on the web from countless websites on this subject (foremost, check out my favorite website, www.bodybuilding.com ! And although there are quite a few good one, there are however, many more that are full of disinformation, and have a "catch"...they want to, of course, SELL you something! This is but one of many, many, potholes that you will encounter on your road to big muscle gains. It's all about knowledge, and you have to acquire the right knowledge to make those gains!

To start, my training started to show some rewards the moment I really started to pay attention to my diet. And when I say pay attention, I don't mean just shoveling food into my body (although that is part of it), but keeping track of exactly how much food and what kind of food went into it! I'm taking carbohydrates, proteins and fats. The muscles need protein to grow, carbohydrates for energy, and a certain amount of fats are needed by the body for maintenance and certain bodily functions. My ratio that has worked for me has been 50% carbohydrates, 40% proteins and 10% fats. And my caloric consumption tends to hover about 4500 calories per day, sometimes much more when trying to gain (bulk up), and less when maintaining and keeping control of the waistline. :)

The first thing that I must suggest for ANYONE serious in gaining muscle and packing on muscle pounds is (get ready for this): a small calorie counter guide or book! My best investment was in a calorie counter book that was right at the checkout counter at my local supermarket. With this amazing little book, I was not only able to see how many calories each food item contained, but the quantity that needed to be consumed for a particular food. And for the first time, I was able to determine EXACTLY how many calories I was consuming during the day. And guess what? Initially I was not consuming nearly enough calories to repair my body after a heavy duty workout, let alone grow! No one can build up muscle mass by consuming only 1200 calories a day! Once I increased the calories, the strength increased, and then came the size. Increasing the calories was at first rather difficult because the amount of food you must intake can be a little bit...MUCH! But it is necessary, and then you must methodically plan your meals for throughout the day..and of course this is where supplementation comes in!

Supplements:

Yes, the key is in the eating, but then comes timing, amount and regularity. I found out that for myself, consuming six small protein and carbohydrate-rich meals a day did wonders for my gains. And if you're saying, "how can I find the time to eat all that food during the day?". Well, that is where those wonderful "supplements" come in. Now, let us always remember, supplements are just that...they are to supplement an already well thought out diet. NOT TO REPLACE IT! So, in the beginning, if I can make a suggestion: buy one good high quality calorie-dense protein powder, a good amino acid supplement, creatine monohydrate and a high quality multi vitamin tablet or capsule. That is what I did, and still do. And being that I am not a genetically gifted person I had to make it a point to get all of my meals and supplements in to force it to grow (and it did!). If you read My Bio, it tells the whole story. I went the route of buying every supplement and pill hawked by the muscle mags, and I can honestly say that what I spent in supplements, snake oils, muscle-anabolic-releaser-gainer-psycho-blast-you-name-it, I could've EASILY bought myself my own gym today! The point is, do your research. Read labels. If you are not competing in a contest, you do not need to buy thousands of dollars worth of supplements. Use the K.I.S.S. method.... Keep It Simple and Stupid. Get the raw material together, get the mass on first, THEN see what works for you. Wait until you get the size before throwing the money around!

There is much much more that I could cover, and I will in the future. I would also like to know what your nutrition is like...... what is working for you? What isn't? Wanna talk more about nutrition? I'm in the process of outlining my nutrition and supplement guide to be distributed to those that are interested. Will it be full of technical jargon? No! It will be about cutting through the hype and just figuring it out. If you have any comments, opinions or would like more information feel free to drop me an email at musclflex8@yahoo.com

In the meantime, eat BIG, lift BIG and get BIG!!!

Ron