Researched and Composed by Jacob Wilson

Introduction

I will break down the essence of nutrition for bodybuilding in this article!  This article goes hand and hand with the self assessment sheet that is in the magazine.

It all boils down to this: if you have run into a plateau, or are not seeing the gains you would like to see, then it is probably your diet that is holding you back!  I will break down nutrition into 9 different categories.  And for each category I describe, I want you to ask yourself this question:  " am I doing currently doing this? "  If you are not, then you need to be, that is, if you want optimal gains!

1.  Meal Frequency

You need to understand that the more frequently you eat, the more muscle you will gain and the leaner you will be.  This is for several reasons, three of which are:

A.  High meal frequency allows you to consume smaller meals throughout the day, rather than larger meals in only a few sittings.  Your body can absorb smaller meals with a greater proficiency than it can larger ones.  For example a 600 calorie meal can be digested, and used to build muscle much easier than a 1200 calorie meal.  That being said, if a person is bulking and eats six, 600 calorie meals, then he will get a total of 3, 600 calories.  If he had however ate 3, 1200 calorie meals then he would have been more likely to store fat.  You see, the more overloaded our digestive system becomes, the more fat we will store.  In addition, as I stated, smaller meals will be absorbed and used with much greater efficiency.  The more your body can use the nutrients you feed it, the more muscle you will gain.  Period!

B.  Food is the most anabolic substance known to man!  It is literally more powerful than the most potent steroid!  Anytime you eat a well balanced, nutritious meal, you place your body into a state of anabolism. Anytime your body runs out of food, it turns on itself for energy, this is called catabolism. Which is why meal frequency is so vital, the more consistent you eat, the longer you will keep your body in a state in which it can optimally build muscle!  

C.  Meal frequency induces thermogenesis.  Every time you eat, your bodies temperature rises and you burn more calories.  In other words, it keeps your metabolism extremely high, which can benefit you, by keeping you leaner on a bulk and also burning fat at a much higher rate on a cut.

Rating:  

3 meals a day = horrible day!
4-5 meals a day = average
6 meals a day = very good
anything above 6 = fantastic!!

   Eating only 3 meals a day, your metabolism has time between meals to slow down.  Your goal is to keep your metabolism burning as much fat as possible.  Basically, by giving your body a constant supply of food in smaller amounts, it increases your metabolism, and we all know what that means. That's right, weight loss. Just think, just by changing the times and frequency of your meals you can aid in weight loss. That doesn't mean you can eat junk food as your meals, you have to eat reasonably of course.

   I eat every 2.5 hours.   I also prepare two days worth of food in my refrigerator.  Having food ready and eaily accessible is KEY to making things simple and convenient.

   Post workout protein shake..... immediately after a workout, rapidly absorbed whey protein is the first choice for muscle repair and growth.  It  will be delivered straight to the muscle cells in response to the high levels of anabolic hormones circulating in the body. Whey protein itself has an amino acid profile that is very similar to that of human muscle and is the fastest absorbed protein you can get your hands on. This catapults your body straight back into a repair and grow state, as apposed to the state of being broken down. This is the aim of the post workout meal at all times.

I am currently sponsored by Metabloix Nutrition : )

http://www.metabolix.net/catalog/index.php?ref=15