Body Building - Food Basics

Nutrition plays such a major role in bodybuilding that we thought we’d do another feature on the basics of body building nutrition. This article is for all of you guys and girls who’ve either forgetten about the importance of food in your training or simply neglect it in favour of spending more time in the gym. Crash course in eating for body building coming right up!

Suppliments - Good Or Bad

A bodybuilder’s nutrition orbits around two principal aspects a) your basic food intake and b) your suppliments. You need both to really make gains and one without the other would be like hitting a brick wall.

Dietary habits must guarantee not only a proper loading of calories but the complete spectrum and variety of nutrients and macro nutrients your body craves for to create true muscle mass. This means eating a good mix of fruit, vegetables, meats and plenty of fresh water. Don’t underestimate how important water is when it comes to bodybuilding because if you do you’re likely to suffer.

If you’re food eating is great then maybe you’re missing out on your supplementation. If you’re one of those people that think supplimentation is a dirty word or only steriod junkies use them then you’ve been living on a different planet these past 10 years.

Not only is supplimentation essential for the delivery of all those nutrients and substances that aren’t normally or easily available in food stuffs, but let’s face it with todays modern food production techniques natural foods just aren’t natural anymore and they certainly don’t carry the same nutritional purity they did many years ago, making supplimentation even more essnetial today than yesterday.

We Are What We Eat

Sure the above is a totally made up phrase, but for many it’s a concrete truth. Looking after a well muscled physique means a significant percentage of our success will most surely depend on our dietary choices. Even the hardest training routines will never translate into shredded muscle mass if we don’t pay attention and find a balanced way to feed ourselves.

So let’s remind ourselves of the basics once more. Are you consuming the necessary amount of calories per day ? Is your diet balanced with a health amount of Carbohydrates (needed for energy), Proteins (needed for repair and growth) and Fats (to help absorb and utilise the stuff before).

We’re not going to lay down any specific plans for you but take a look at your food intake and give it a good run over. Ask a friend to analyse what you’re eating and ask them what they think ? You may simply be eating the wrong stuff or too little of it.

A Complex Nutritional System

Yes basic factors such as morphology, training approach and your short/long term objectives are all formative factors when designing an effective diet but don’t over complicate things. A nutritional system doesn’t have to be rocket science; focus on the basics and remember that the relationship between muscle size and the amount and quality of food we ingest are directly related. If you’re looking to gain mass and aren’t eating enough, then simply put you’re not going to grow.

Sitting down and designing a nutritional system that works for you is something you’ll thank yourself in the months to come so don’t delay, sit down and do it today (will take you an hour max).

Remind Yourself Why You’re Eating

Outsiders to bodybuilding often get estranged and even annoyed because of the many meals we builders seem to require on a daily basis. Like it’s all “eat, eat, eat; gym; eat”. The problem here is that sometimes we ourselves stop eating those smaller regular meals because we forget why we’re eating that way in the first place.

So just in case you’ve forgotten or even better your little sister or skinny brother in law ever happen to give you grief about all the meals you’re eating, lets clarify that essentially all the eating is designed to hit three main objectives:

• 1.) We’re trying to keep our body fueled up so that we can benefit from a constant level of energy.
• 2.) We’re aiming to achieve proper food assimilation. We can only digest and absorb a limited amount of nutrients on each intake, thus it must be distributed multiple times throughout the day.
• 3.) We need more food than most people do, due to the demanding levels of load and training we apply to ourselves.

And that’s it, remind not only the people around yourself why you eat but remind yourself because if you’ve forgotten, wake up and apply the above for maximum food gains.

Organic Vs Processed Vs Suppliments

Nowadays, the procedures involved in the commercialization and distribution of food are so complex that you gotta re-think your eating strategy. With so many chemicals applied either during the growing period or the cleaning and/or packaging of products, you have to wonder if the food you’re eating is really giving you the benefits it’s supposed to.

For most foods it’s highly likely that most of the nutrients and vitamins that would hopefully be found in that food may never really make it onto our dinner tables. Thus, we find ourselves facing a significant reduction in quality nutrients in natural food stuffs. We need these nutrients as part of our daily balanced diet so where do we seek them.

Well some say go organic others say make use of modern day suppliments. In the end the choice is yours but do think about how you’re going to get those all essential vitamins and minerals for your body. They’re absolutely needed and you need to weigh up how and where you’re getting them because most modern day food aint gonna cut it.

Protein, Protein, Protein

Make no mistake if you want to grow and build solid muscle you need protein, and not just some of it, but a whole truck load of it. The gains achieved by individuals not supplimenting with a protein shake or other protein based suppliments will see gains reduced by as much as 50%. There’s no point training and pumping that iron if you’re not going to feed yourself the means to repair that muscle.

Final Words

Make sure you’re eating enough, and once you’re eating enough make sure you’re eating the right stuff. Follow these simple steps and you’ll see yourself getting stronger and bigger in no time.