What Olympic Athletes Eat (Infographic)

Below is an infographic showing what some of the top athletes at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games ate while they were in Beijing, China.

At first, I thought the information about Usain Bolt was made-up. But this article corroborates the McDonald's diet.

Sources: “Usain Bolt by Augustas Didzgalvis (cropped)” by Augustas Didžgalvis – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Usain_Bolt_by_Augustas_Didzgalvis_(cropped).jpg#/media/File:Usain_Bolt_by_Augustas_Didzgalvis_(cropped).jpg

Infographic: http://www.decibelnutrition.com/blogs/news/19120407-the-diet-of-champions-infographic

Should You Bulk or Cut?

Let me preface this by saying that “bulking” means putting on 1 or 2 pounds a month.

The 5-10 pound-a-month bulks are dumb as hell.

That said, dudes are either bulking or cutting.

Am I right?

You are either trying to add muscle mass or lose fat.

There is no “maintaining” when it comes to bodybuilding.

So, how are you supposed to know which to choose?

Bulk or cut?

I have 3 keys when it comes to making this decision.

3 keys for making the ‘bulk or cut' decision

1.  The 15% Body Fat Rule

This is something I came up with.

I tell guys that if they are at or above 15% body fat then they should cut.

If, on the other hand, they are under 15% body fat then they should bulk.

Under 15% —> Bulk

Over 15% —> Cut

There are several reasons for this.

The leaner you are, the easier it is for you to build muscle.

The fatter you are, the more likely it is that excess calories will be stored as fat.

Insulin sensitivity is also negatively affected the fatter you are.

2.  The time of year

Normally, guys bulk during the winter and cut during the summer.

The reasoning is that you can put on some fat and cover it up with sweaters during the winter and then you cut the fat and show off the abs during beach season.

This makes sense.

You can do it this way or switch it up and do something that hardly anyone does.

You can cut during the winter and bulk during the summer.

I've been meaning to do it that way just out of curiosity.

 3.  Personal Preference

Look, I can tell you why you should bulk or should cut, but what it really comes down to is personal preference, i.e., what do you want to do?

So, if you're at 20% body fat and love eating and gaining muscle, then go ahead and bulk.

If you are 6 feet tall, weigh 160 pounds with 8% body fat and want to cut, then go ahead and cut.

After all, you have to enjoy what you do or what's the point, right?

So, hopefully this helps you make the ‘bulk or cut' decision a little easier.

I have given you guidelines, not rules.

Just out of curiousity, how do you decide when to bulk and when to cut?

Photo credit:  Anton Mukhametchin

5 Reasons Why Your Muscle Building Program Sucks

His results speak for themselves. What about yours?

Building muscle has always been a passion of mine.

The #1 goal of the majority of my clients is to build as much muscle as possible.

If you want to build significant muscle, you need to start taking it seriously. Below are 5 reasons why you're not making the gains you should be making.

1. You wing it.

You need a plan.

Do you think Washington just yelled “Charge!” during the Revolutionary War?

Hell no.

Do you think Tiger won the 2000 US Open by 15 shots by simply “Grippin & Rippin” it?

Hell no.

Do you think Dorian Yates won 6 consecutive Mr. Olympia's without a plan?

Hell no.

So, what makes you think you can build large slabs of muscle without a plan?

You can't.

So pick a muscle-building split and stick with it for the next 3 months.

2.  You are focusing too much on isolation exercises.

To get big you need to lift big.

You wanna know how Arnold got huge?

He picked up heavy shit and moved it.

What a genius, right?

Relying mostly on curling 20 pound dumbbells and doing leg extensions ain't gonna do anything for you.

Try doing 50 pull ups, 50 dips, and 50 squats a week and see what that does for you.

3.  You are trying to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

Look, unless you can re-write the universal laws of thermodynamics, you cannot build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

You know who can do that?

Those that take steroids and/0r are genetic freaks.

I'm talking the top 1%.

That is not you.

You need to gain weight.

Gain weight, but don't get fat.

There is a difference.

When dudes try to gain muscle they eat anything and everything.

The result is that they gain muscle and a ton of fat.

Don't do this.

You cannot force feed a muscle to grow.

4.  Your form blows.

Your form when performing exercises doesn't need to be perfect, but it can't be terrible.

Strive for “solid” form.

Whenever possible, lift in front of a mirror so you can see what you are doing.

5.  Your recovery blows.

The key to building muscle fast is frequency.

That is to say, the more often you can stimulate a muscle, the more a muscle will grow.

But, frequency depends on recovery.

You can train a muscle whenever it has fully recovered from its previous stimulation.

Increased Recovery —–> Increased Frequency —–> Increased Muscle Growth

Things that affect recovery ability

• nutrition
• sleep
• stress
• booze
• smoke

What can you do to enhance your recovery?

• Make sure you are eating healthy.
• Make sure you sleep about 8 hours a night.
• Try to limit stress.
• Limit your boozing.
• Dont' smoke, dummy.

So, there you have it — 5 reasons why your muscle building program sucks and what you can do about it.

Which do you fall victim to? Tell us in the Comments.

photo credit:  PUMPING IRON – TWO

Lean Bulking: 5 Ways to Gain Muscle Without Getting Fat

Winter is my favorite time of year. Why?

Because it's bulking season. You know – eat, lift, eat.

Guys love bulking season, but most make the same huge mistake (no pun intended).

What's the mistake? They become fat.

In their attempts to gain muscle, they eat everything in sight which leads to excessive fat gain. You cannot force-feed muscles to grow. It does not work that way.

So, after the typical 6 months of bulking, they need to diet for 6 months to lose all that fat they gained. During those 6 months of dieting, they lose most of the muscle they gained–if not more.

Back to square one.

So, what's the solution to building muscle without getting fat?

Well, I came up with 5 of them.

Implement one or all of them at once.

5 Ways to Gain Muscle Without Getting Fat

1 – High/Low caloric intake days

I love this strategy. It's simple. It works.

The idea is to eat a high amount of calories on your weight training days and a low amount of calories on your non-weight training days.

Your body needs more calories for energy and muscle building when you train.

I would recommend consuming 500 calories over your maintenance on your high days and consuming your maintenance on your off days.

This strategy will help you keep the fat gain at bay.

2 – Get lean first prior to starting your bulk phase

Yea, yea, yea, I know you want to get big.

But, you gotta listen–the leaner you are, the more likely your body will add muscle versus fat.

Conversely, the fatter you are, the easier it is for your body to gain fat.

If you are a man, get under 10% body fat before you start bulking and never ever let yourself get above 20%.

If you are a woman, get under 20% body fat before you start bulking and never ever let yourself get above 30%.

3 – Cyclical Bulking

Let me know if this sounds familiar.

You bulk for 3-6 months, get fat, then cut for 3-6 months and you end up looking the same as you did when you originally started 6-12 months ago.

This is known as “traditional bulking.”

I don't know about you, but the hardest part for me is psychologically having to cut for 3-6 months.

That sucks.

I had to do it when I competed in my bodybuilding contest.

It's a long time to be miserable.

I've got a better idea–cyclical bulking.

Focus on building muscle for 4-8 weeks then follow that with a short cutting phase of 1-2 weeks.

Each bulking cycle will leave you with a little fat to burn off in those 1-2 cutting weeks.

Shorter cutting weeks leads to less muscle loss.

Plus it's easier psychologically to only have to diet 1-2 weeks at a time versus 3-6 months.

4 – Consume the majority of your daily carbs around your weight training sessions.

You can stick to the traditional 3-6 month bulking phase if you want. Try consuming the majority of your carbs immediately after your weight training sessions.

Your body craves carbs post-workout. Carbs will be stored as glycogen which is a source of energy for your muscles. Your body will not store carbs as fat post-workout.

Carbs are beneficial post-workout. This is the only time I recommend consuming simple sugars as well.

Implementing this eating strategy will help you pack on muscle without getting fat.

5 – Perform your damn cardio

I fall victim to neglecting my cardio during bulking season. I mistakenly think that cardio will “burn up my muscle,” or something ridiculous like that.

Let's say you burn about 700 calories a week performing cardio. That's not a lot. Probably like 3 moderately intense 30 minute sessions. That adds up to about 3,500 calories a month or 1 pound.

That's 1 pound of fat less that you do not have to diet off once you start your cutting phase.

So, if your bulking phase is 6 months, you will start your cutting phase with 6 pounds of less fat than you normally would have had you neglected your cardio sessions.

So, do your cardio when bulking.

Ok, so forget about traditional bulking. It's dead. You need to start bulking smarter. Think about gaining muscle while minimizing fat gain.

You'll thank me when summer rolls around and all the fat guys are sweatin' bullets because they have to drop all that fat that accumulated during their dirty bulking phase.

You, on the other hand, will be able to coast to single-digit body fat.

Supplement Scams

Supplement Scam Alert! Read here about supplement scams the food supplement industry does not want you to know about (because if you did, they'd go broke and you'd make some gains!).

Think about it for a minute: If all those nutritional supplements worked, then why don't we all look like [insert hottest body on the planet right now – examples might be Dexter Jackson, Brad Pitt, or Megan Fox]?

Why don't food supplements work? Here's a key question in seeking out that answer: How could the supplement industry stay in business if they did?

Here's the lowdown on the supplement scams the food companies run on you every time you open up a fitness-, health-, or muscle-building magazine.

Did you know that all the fitness-related magazines were either controlled, owned, or heavily influenced by the supplement industry? Look it up. Advertising is big business and there's no bigger business in the health-related magazine industry than food supplements.

Muscle&Fitness sells nothing but supplement ads, many of which are promoting Joe Weider's own supplement line. Here's an excerpt from an ad in the July 2009 edition of Flex Magazine (another Weider publication):

New Super-Molecule is 2,000 Times More Potent Than Anything You've Ever Taken!

Is that hyperbole? Yes, absolutely. Does it sell? YES! ABSOLUTELY!!

You're not in this game to get 5 -10 percent gains. You want 2,000 percent gains!

SUPPLEMENT SCAM #1: If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

Choking down a pill or mixing up a powder is far easier than hitting the gym, running up stairs, and eating healthy food. That's why people take supplements, for the most part. It's for the magic elixir, the instant gratification.

Don't get me wrong: Some supplements DO work. But they aren't miracle workers. None of them will do what anabolic steroids do, either. Some claim to have “anabolic effect.” But so does steak and eggs, heavy weight training, and steroids.

The supplement companies have a vested interest in keeping you from reaching your peak. Think about it: If you “became” Ronnie Coleman by taking Supplement X, then, when you got there, wouldn't you stop?

If a drug cured you of cancer, you surely would stop taking it once your cancer was in remission.

If you got to your goal weight of 330 pounds of rock-solid monster muscle, would you keep taking your weight-gain powder?

If you lost 100 pounds and looked the best you ever looked, would losing 120 pounds make you happier? You'd have to keep taking the supplement forever and, soon, you'd be dead, weighing a whopping 37 pounds!

So, supplements have to give the appearance of working, yet they simply cannot deliver on their promise, or else they'd go out of business. Hence, the supplement scams!

In the latest edition of Flex, page 38 had the first “editorial content.” Guess what was on the first 37 pages? Supplement advertisements. I'm not kidding.

SUPPLEMENT SCAM #2: If you have to “sell it” that strong, it's probably too good to be true!

Here's another trick the supplement industry uses to sell their “goods” (we should call them “bads” in this case): They take a bodybuilder, have him “bulk up” (i.e., get fat), then have him take their supplement while he works his arse off in the gym and eats like a concentration camp victim.

“Miraculously,” the dude trims down, loses 10 percent body fat and gains 10 pounds of muscle, all in “less than 28 days!”

What a crock! First, they took somebody who had already “been there,” and took him “back there.” That's too easy. Give me ANY pro-caliber athlete and in 3 months' time, I can have him looking like he used to look. It's simple.

Arthur Jones did this 40 years ago with his Nautilus training machines. He took a young Casey Viator who had been in a car accident, after having been crowned the youngest Mr America ever, and “transformed” him using the Nautilus method (high intensity, single sets per body part, isolation exercises, training to failure, etc.).

Casey could start training today and get back to 80 percent of his best shape in 3 months!

SUPPLEMENT SCAM #3: Beware the “Before-After” photo scam.

The supplement guys also strategically place “testimonials” next to the “Before-After” photos (or outright lie about it) to imply that THOSE models gave the glowing review.

Also beware the “phony review,” where an internet marketer is selling supplements by giving an “objective review” of a product. Most likely, he's getting paid for any sales of the product made through his page. It's called “affiliate marketing” and the FCC is about to crack down on this practice.

(By the way, I do the same thing here on these pages, but I only sell what I take myself and I only take what works.)

Another thing you may not be aware of: Nutritional supplements are not regulated or tested by any government entity. Manufacturers can claim nearly anything. Further, they can put just about ANYTHING in their products!

Did you know that? Here's a line for a product called “EPONOX.”

NEW EPO Blood Building Technology for Extreme Muscle Growth

Does that sound a little scary to you? It certainly does to me! Basically, if this stuff does what it says it does (which it probably doesn't), you will be manipulating your body to build more red blood cells than it would naturally manufacture. Athletes call this “blood doping.” Lance Armstrong, 7-time Tour de France winner, was accused of blood doping through use of drugs that boosted EPO output.

(My take, by the way: He did use drugs, but only while in cancer treatment, but not while competing. I have no proof of this, other than the fact that he never failed a drug test while competing, and he was placed under far more scrutiny than any of his competitors.)

Not only are the proposed benefits of such blood-boosting dubious, they can be harmful! Imagine more blood coursing through your veins. Your blood pressure will rise, more stress will be placed on your heart pumping all that blood around. Remember, you cannot compress a fluid, so what happens is, if taken to extremes, your blood vessel walls get thinner. Not a good thing!

However, it's highly doubtful that this supplement delivers on its “promise.” But if it did, I'd run away from this supplement. Nothing long-term-good can come of it.

Finally, a word on ephedrine. Lots of “fat burners” have used this chemical compound, or a derivative, for years. A handful of people have died while taking supplements containing ephedrine. The FDA finally pulled it off the shelves. It's now a banned substance.

While I'm skeptical that the root cause of these deaths was due to ephedrine, I remain unconvinced that you cannot get similar results with — get this — HARD WORK.

I know, it's tough to get all excited about working in the gym and eating well. But it remains the best long-term method for building the body you want. It works. And it won't kill you.

Some of the stuff they put in food supplements is downright scary. Putting untested ingredients is not only part of the supplement scam, but it ought to be a crime.

As I alluded to before, there are supplements that work. You can find them here (it's a really short read).

You don't need fancy “blends” or “optimized” proportions. You certainly don't need the multi-color, multi-page “Special Advertisements” hawking such hyperbole.

And you certainly don't need the outrageous prices.