Vital Stats

Name: Sohee Lee
Education: B.S. in Human Biology from Stanford University
Occupation: NSCA Certified Trainer, Peak Performance NYC
Website: www.soheefit.com
Location: New York, NY

Clean eating. We’ve all seen it held up as the best way—the only way—to live a fit life, look and perform like an athlete, and not die before our time. Of course, clean eating has a dirty little secret: It always comes alongside its greasy sidekick, the cheat meal.

This makes me sad, and it irks me. I’m talking about the whole clean/cheat setup, and really, the whole idea of “clean.” I’ve spent time on the darkest side of clean eating—namely an eating disorder—and I think it’s time for this way of thinking to die. My job now is to spread the gospel of flexible dieting.

Many of you might be familiar with that term, but it’s probably from misguided articles and forum posts ridiculing the idea of IIFYM (aka, “if it fits your macros”). If you’re a clean eater, you may have made some snarky remark a time or two about us flexible dieters being unhealthy. Perhaps you’ve even commented on our moral character. We’re bad people, we’re going to hell for eating pretzels, and we should be ashamed of ourselves because we eat our baked potatoes with butter. The gall!

Enough with the snarky name-calling! Let me show you the truth, the way, and the light to food freedom! The first step is to debunk the most common myths about flexible eating.

“Enough with the snarky name-calling! Let me show you the truth, the way, and the light to food freedom!”

Myth 1

False! Eating a bunch of crap is … well, crap. That’s the typical American diet, and it’s far from what constitutes flexible dieting.

Key components of flexible dieting include

• Overall mindfulness of macronutrient and micronutrient intake, whether you count macros. This means that you’re aware of approximately how much protein you consume, and that you also get sufficient fiber.
• Understanding that treats and junk food are allowed, but not as the norm. I like to recommend an 80/20 rule. Other people lean toward 90/10; that still feels fairly restrictive to me.
• Portion control. This is vital. There’s a difference between 1 doughnut and 12, and you don’t abuse this. Think a handful of gummy bears rather than a whole bag. A small serving of sweet potato fries with a chicken salad. A glass of wine to complement a steak.

So what do flexible dieters eat? Primarily whole food sources, with a sprinkling of fun indulgences on the side. If the typical American is going to eat a croissant and a glass of orange juice for breakfast, he is not a flexible dieter. What a flexible dieter might do instead is throw in an omelet with that meal, keep the croissant, and then choose better carb sources for the rest of the day. Why? Because, a croissant is a treat.

Believe me, I’ve definitely tried to get in my protein and fiber through junk food alone, and it can’t be done. There’s no realistic way to meet your daily nutrient needs through chocolate and gummy bears. Besides, who wants to survive on a steady diet of nothing but sugar and fat? That would make anyone sick. In fact, it’s making plenty of people sick all around us, all the time. It’s called type-2 diabetes.

And if you do end up having a particularly treat-heavy day, then the next day, you rein it in a little. You don’t obsess over it; you don’t worry about it; you just move on. It’s all about checks and balances. Don’t mistake that for bingeing and purging—there’s a big difference.

Myth 2

What’s healthy about a restricted food list? There is nothing positive that can come out of putting a whole slew of foods off-limits and shackling yourself to specific food items. Let’s take a look at your clean diet for a second:

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. And let’s be honest, I’ve given a generous portrayal of a clean diet there. The real thing is often far, far more repetitive.

Yes, I understand that consuming a nutrient-dense diet is incredibly healthy. But that’s not what “clean eating” is. There is an incredibly high correlation between exclusive eating (i.e., limiting food choices) and binge eating. This is no coincidence. Study after study has shown that as soon as you deem a food forbidden, your desire for it increases even more, even if you may have never wanted it in the first place.

Not allowed to eat chocolate? All of a sudden, that’s all you can think about.

On the flipside, having the option to consume a treat doesn’t mean that you will necessarily chow down on it. Rather, it means that you won’t be using up your willpower to actively resist the food.

Can You Get An Elite Physique With A Flexible Diet?

Think flexible dieting and elite physiques are incompatible? The late Serge Nubret would disagree. The former Mr. Universe maintained a series of popular threads on the Bodybuilding.com forum late in his life, in which he outlined his philosophy of lifting and dieting, and he often spoke out against the perceived need to diet or “cut.”

“I never dieted in my life,” he wrote in one post. “I was just listening to my body. It was telling me what to eat, when, etc. If I’m listening to my body, no mistake can be done. That is instinct.”

Myth 3

You tell me what’s worse for your health:

• Eating a square of chocolate every evening, savoring every bit of it, and then moving on with your life, OR
• Hurriedly scarfing down not one, not two, but three whole chocolate bars in one sitting with no self-control whatsoever and then feeling guilty—not to mention bloated—for the entire next day, if not longer.

I think the answer is obvious.

Newsflash: It’s entirely possible for a flexible dieter to eat the same way as a clean eater most of the time. Yet come Saturday night, the clean eater may go out to dinner for his weekly cheat meal and have a burger, French fries, and a milkshake, followed by cheesecake for dessert, and then come home and eat everything but the kitchen sink. The flexible dieter, on the other hand, can have the same burger and French fries and have no problem stopping there. Hell, he may not even finish the fries because he’s reasonably full and feeling satisfied.

Do you see the difference here? The flexible dieter hasn’t lost touch with what satisfaction feels like. Throughout the week, the flexible dieter stuck to whole food sources not because he had to but because he wanted to. He had no problems whatsoever with controlling his food intake on the weekend.

“But sugar is bad for me,” a clean eater might proclaim. Well, did it ever occur to you that the only times you allow yourself to consume too much added sugar is when you binge?

Sugar itself may not be the culprit. After all, apples contain sugar. It’s the massive quantity of added sugar you consume in one sitting that makes you sick.

Myth 4

Not all flexible dieters choose to count their macros. But for those who do, the guidelines for determining macronutrient guidelines aren’t too different from those of bodybuilders and other strength athletes.

Namely, protein intake is usually around 1 gram per pound of bodyweight, and carbs are 0.6-1.5 grams per pound, depending on goals, the leanness of the individual, carb tolerance, body type, metabolic capacity, age, and activity level. Fats fill in the remaining calorie allotment. People who are striving for muscle gain naturally will have a higher calorie allotment, 16 times bodyweight or upward. People who are looking to lose weight would start off closer to 10-12 times bodyweight.

Let’s use me as an example. I’m a 24-year-old female mesomorph, 115 pounds, with approximately 18 percent body fat. I train five days each week with a low-to-medium activity level for my job. I would calculate my maintenance macros for training days as follows:

Some flexible dieters like to carb cycle between training days and off days like I do, not only for the physiological benefits but also because it affords them the leeway to fit in higher-carb treats on training days and, conversely, higher-fat treats on off days. My off-day macros might look like this:

Having 89 fat grams for an off day would allow me to consume foods including, but not limited to full-fat cheese, coconut oil, nut butters, and maybe even some fried goodness.

This is just one of many possible approaches to the macro puzzle. Flexible dieting is all about honoring your personal preferences with regard to macronutrient amounts, food choice, meal timing. This will allow you to adhere to your program and consequently yield the best results.

Myth 5

Look up #flexibledieting hashtags on Instagram and all you’ll see is the ice cream, Pop Tarts, and burgers that we consume. But what the pictures don’t tell you is that those foods actually make up a small portion of our daily food. We typically don’t show off the chicken breast, sweet potatoes, and veggies we consume. Why? Because it’s way more fun to talk about our treats.

So no, a cheeseburger is not the same thing as eating a high-quality cut of protein. But if we decide to order that burger, it’s because we’ve been eating well recently, weighed our options, and perhaps even factored the meal into our macros. We’ve decided that that’s what we truly wanted to eat, and we have no qualms about indulging our taste buds for a night.

Again, flexible dieters prescribe to an 80/20 rule or some variation. We care about our health just as much as a clean eater does, but we also understand that to make a lasting lifestyle change, we need to create sustainable habits. We have no timeline to get to where we want to be; we’re all about enjoying the ride.

Are you a flexible dieter? If not, what are you waiting for? Freedom awaits you. Are you a clean-eating diehard? Make your case in the comments.

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Vital Stats

Name: Greg Robins, CPT
Education: University of Massachusetts Boston
Occupation: Strength and Conditioning Coach at Cressey Performance
Twitter: @coachgregrobins
Website: thestrengthhouse.com
Location: Hudson, MA

When it comes to building muscle and strength, three exercises can kick sand in the face of pretty much any other move out there. I’m talking about “the big three” for getting big: the squat, bench press, and deadlift.

Unfortunately, performing these exercises endlessly can lead to stagnation—mental and physical—and once your brain hits the exit, your gains are likely to go on hiatus, too.

Sure, you could ditch these exercises for a while and embark on an entirely new program to shake things up, but these are awesome moves and gym staples for good reason.

So, I have plan that can give you the best of both worlds: the gains these exercises undeniably and inevitably produce, but enough variety to hold your interest, too. Try these variations after your basic sets for the big three exercises. It’s as simple as that—and the resulting gains will amaze you.

The muscle-making and strength-building magic happens in three basic ways:

• You do more work than before, which leads to progress.
• Your body adapts neurologically, which leads to even more progress.
• Your work on the variations will improve your technique on the originals.

Check out these variations for each of the big three lifts, and learn how you can implement them to elevate your training and improve your physique!

1 Deadlift Variations

Complete your planned rep and weight scheme of deadlifts, and then try one of the following variations:

Block Pulls

Blocks pulls are not to be confused with rack pulls, which use the power rack. Placing the bar on the pins of a power rack takes any slack out of the bar and changes the lift drastically.

Block Pull

For a block pull, simply elevate the plates 1-4 inches off the ground by using mats, blocks, or even other 45-pound plates. Then either use the same weight as you did on your last set or add up to 10 percent to the bar.

Complete another few sets at the same number of repetitions you used for deadlift.

Romanian Deadlifts

Drop the weight 10-20 percent and perform 3-5 additional sets of 3-8 repetitions.

Deficit Deadlifts

This variation is for more advanced lifters and is designed to help increase the range of motion. Basically, elevate your feet 1-2 inches off the ground and pull from there. You can stand on top of 45-pound plates, use hard mats, or a short box.

When performing the deficit deadlift, I recommend dropping the weight by 10-20 percent. The set and rep scheme would be identical to that of your deadlift off the ground.

2 Squat Variations

Similarly, after crushing your regularly scheduled squats, you could work in one of these variations for getting out of particularly troublesome sticking points:

Pause Squats

“Brutal is one way to describe the pause squat.”

Brutal is one way to describe the pause squat. Brutally effective, that is. A pause squat is just as it sounds: an ever-so-slight pause at the bottom, then bounce right back up.

I recommend dropping the bar weight by 10-20 percent and performing a few more sets at the same rep range this way. One to three seconds at the bottom more than suffices.

The paused position should be where you actively hold the weight up, not in the fully rested position. If you drop to the very bottom, you’d most likely engage the end range of your joints to create stability, but not so much your muscles to create the much preferred “active” stability.

Pin Squats

Try squatting from the pins. The pins change the nature of the exercise by removing the lowering (eccentric) portion. To set these up, move the safety pins in your squat rack so they hold the bar in a position where you are at or about 1-2 inches above parallel.

With the pins set and the bar loaded, dip yourself under the bar and into a proper position to squat the weight up. Maintain the same bar weight as you did for reps—keeping between 60-80 percent effort—except now perform only single reps.

3 Bench Press Variations

The bench press is a gym standard, but a few key variations can help push you past sticking points, should they arise. If you’re keen on improving your bench press, try using one of the following:

Floor Press

Essentially a bench press from the ground, the floor press doesn’t make the bench press any easier. Quite the opposite! The nature of the position nearly eliminates the drive of your legs and the arch of your back. The upshot is that this exercise will add productive volume to your upper body and contribute to an improved bench press.

To set up a floor press, simply move what are called the “J” hooks in your squat rack so they sit just low enough that you can un-rack the bar from a lying position on the floor.

From there, drop the bar weight by about 10-15 percent and perform a few more sets after the bench press, using the same number of repetitions you did with the standard bench press.

Paused Bench Press/Bench Press From Pins

The same guidelines as the pause squats or pin squats apply here. In this case, pause the bench press on your chest for the allotted time or set the safety pins about 1-2 inches above your chest.

Drop the bar weight by 10-20 percent and perform a few more sets at the same rep range with one of these two variations.

Close-grip Bench Press

Bring your grip a few inches closer together and perform the press with the same movement as normal. Just be extra careful about keeping your elbows tucked so they remain under this narrow hand spacing.

Close-grip Barbell Bench Press

Drop the weight by 10-15 percent and perform a few more sets of close-grip bench presses using the same repetition numbers as the standard bench press.

Now go out and give these a try!

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Bodybuilding.com is more than just the world’s largest fitness site; it’s also a vast data pool thanks to BodySpace, the largest social media site in the world dedicated to the fit-minded. We’re based in Boise, Idaho, which seems like an emerging fitness capital, and it got us to thinking: How ripped are we compared to the rest of the United States of Abs?

So we decided to data-mine a new installment of our “Strength in Numbers” study. Using BodySpace, we identified the 10 U.S. cities that are the “most ripped.” No, we didn’t stalk people in gyms to arrive at this ranking. We took the number of people with body fat less than 10 percent for each city and divided it by the total number of users with their body-fat percentage recorded. In the following list, that percentage comes after the city’s name.

Beg to differ? Care to argue? Plead your case in the comments below!

1 Sioux Falls, SD, 31.4%

A bustling local economy isn’t the only thing strong in Sioux Falls. Its residents are building muscles and getting ripped, too. Hot summers make a getaway to one of the more than 70 Sioux Falls city parks and greenways a must, while winter snowfall is enough to make skiing, snowboarding, and tubing available to residents. Whether you’re slathering on that sunscreen or strapping on your snowshoes, the outdoors beckons.

Cool Gym:

In addition to standard strength equipment, private Fitness Club dFINE, which is exclusive to only 300 members, offers everything from personal training to fitness classes from your standard boot camp to classes like “Nothing Butt” and “Daily Push.” They also boast upscale contemporary d?cor to set the mood as you pound through those reps.

Cool Restaurant:

A restored 1908 hydroelectric plant, this cafe is positioned on the east bank of the Sioux River in Falls Park. Enjoy a scenic garden view while keeping things healthy with dishes like the “Queen Bee salad,” which features chopped kale, prosciutto, raisins, and shredded parmesan. Looking to up the ante? Opt for the sweet potato brisket or the grilled turkey wrap, which features both fresh-sliced turkey and black bean salsa.

Cool fitness event:

With a parks and recreation department which hosts everything from playgroups for kids to morning walking programs for all, it’s no surprise that the city has designated an “Annual Healthy Living Day.” The free family event brings together local fitness and health professionals to educate residents to live a sustainable, smart lifestyle.

2 Lincoln, Nebraska, 29%

Lincoln is the healthiest and happiest city in the country, according to a Gallup-Healthways poll. Lincoln is home to the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers and is the perfect stop for the young and athletic. It boasts football, baseball, and hockey teams as well as the No Coast Derby Girls! Lincoln supports an astounding 125 parks connected via 131 miles of trails open for foot or bike traffic, making it very inviting for outdoor recreation.

Cool Gym:

Lincoln’s largest CrossFit affiliate is an 11,000 square-foot facility that caters to anyone and everyone interested in this approach to fitness. The main instructor, Jordan Klasek, has more certs than you can shake a stick at. The gym’s website says: “Go ahead. Take the challenge. Make a positive change. It’s your life, isn’t it?”

Cool Restaurant:

Rated the “Best of Lincoln,” Lazlo’s Brewery and Grill specializes in signature burgers and world class New York steaks. To avoid the trappings of a one trick pony, their menu features popular Rainbow chicken, fresh seafood, and an array of made-from-scratch soups, salads, and sandwiches. Time to pack in the protein!

Cool fitness event:

The O’Rourke is a traditional triathlon that welcomes all ability levels as part of the “Healthy for Life” community wellness program.

3 Boise, Idaho, 26.6%

We’d like to say that Boise made this list because so many Bodybuilding.com employees walk the hallways with a six-pack under their shirt, but Boise screams “fit” based on numerous criteria. It ranked first in “Men’s Health” magazine’s “The Best & Worst Cities for Men 2013,” and reached number four on the companion list in Women’s Health. Heck, even the pets somehow seem healthier in this outdoorsy town.

Cool Gym:

Boise and nearby Meridian have fitness chains and other gyms, but “Edge” is the most-badass training facility in the Treasure Valley, making it a haven for high school studs looking to score D-I scholarships. The rough-hewn warehouse space is run by Matt Wattles, a 300-pound strongman and past president of the American Society of Exercise Physiology. It’s by appointment only, and you won’t want to argue with the proprietor.

Cool food:

This farmer’s market displays the best local produce and offers an endless bounty of organic awesomeness to fuel your active lifestyle. Grab an array of fresh vegetables and whip up a veggie omelet before your midday workout.

Cool fitness event:

Las Vegas has the Olympia, Columbus has the Arnold, and Boise has this annual celebration of bodybuilding and fitness, courtesy of this website, Bodybuilding.com. The biggest and most unique fitness-related EXPO in Idaho will be held this year at Century Link Arena on June 7. Come check it out!

4 Madison, Wisconsin, 26.2%

The state capital of Wisconsin, Madison is a rural location with a big-city culture. The metropolitan area of about 500,000 people offers an eclectic variety of activities for the visiting fitness enthusiast. Getting around isn’t a problem since the streets are very bike-friendly and you can tap into a deep vein of local flavor just traipsing along the streets downtown. One of the more popular points in downtown is Monona Terrace, where you can enjoy a panoramic view of Lake Monona and join in on free Tai Chi exercises during the summer.

Cool Gym:

If monkeying up rocks is your jam, Boulders Climbing Gym offers more than 8,000 square feet of indoor climbing space and hosts a number of local and national competitions for rock climbing enthusiasts.

Cool restaurant:

Fit 2 Eat on Speedway Road is where the Madison fit set often stops for a pre-workout meal or post-workout refueling. Everything is made fresh to order, including many vegetarian and gluten-free entr?es.

Cool Fitness Event:

Every year the Ironman Wisconsin Triathlon is held the Sunday following Labor Day Weekend. The initial swimming leg takes place in Lake Monona, while the cycling and running courses meander through the urban streets of Madison and continue onto the roads of Dane.

5 Buffalo, New York, 25.7%

Lurking inside the sweaters of Buffalo, New York, are thousands of athletic bodies eager to show what they’re made of. A consistent presence on “American’s fittest city” lists, Buffalo is not only packed with gyms, it’s also rapidly building renown as a bike-friendly city with more than its share of farmer’s markets and healthy food options (wings notwithstanding). As an added bonus, if you’re ever in Buffalo and feel like you need to lose a few pounds, just step outside and start shivering. It’s all about the brown fat activation, baby!

Cool gym:

Fierce Training is located in a beautifully restored historic building which, in previous professional lives, has contained horse stables, a car wash, and a book-binding business (not all at the same time). From the outside, you’d never guess that a 4,000-square-foot Valhalla of heavy weights and functional training lurked within. Owner Giovanni Preziuso keeps membership limited to minimize competition for equipment, and also offers personalized fitness training, suspension training, kettlebells, Olympic lifting, and everything in between.

Cool restaurant:

Chef Mike Andrezejewski’s sushi-meets-fine-dining haven has grown over the years from a local secret to one of the most coveted seats in upstate New York. The seafood gets flown in from around the world daily, and is served up in visionary rolls, salads, and entrees which combine the freshness of traditional Japanese with French-style decadence.

Cool fitness event:

Now in its 63rd year, the NPC Mr. Buffalo bodybuilding competition is bigger than ever, annually drawing thousands of fans to the Niagara Falls Convention and Civic Center, located just a few walking lunges from the legendary cascade. In 1980, the show expanded to include a women’s bodybuilding competition, Ms. Buffalo, and has since grown to include a bikini competition in 2009. It added men and women’s physique comps last year.

6 Fort Wayne, Indiana, 25.3%

This seemingly random Indiana town made our list for good reason! In 2001, “Self” magazine listed Fort Wayne as the 4th least-fit city in the United States. Since then, the city has built a fit, active community that puts health first. With 2,000 acres of parks, 68 miles of trails, many gym options, and a multitude of healthy restaurants, Fort Wayne makes fitness fun and easy.

Cool gym:

Take a break from your usual cardio session and train for an hour in a trampoline park! The floor-to-wall trampoline courts offer fun for everyone—you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy the freedom of being airborne. Grab a team and play dodgeball, bring your kids for a day of fit family bonding, or just bring your exercise gear for some cardio that’s so fun you’ll forget you’re working out!

Cool restaurant:

Treat yourself to some natural foods at the Fort Wayne Co-op! There you can purchase your favorite organic groceries or stop at the hot food bar for a meal. No matter your dietary restrictions, tasty, healthy, organic choices await.

Cool fitness event:

Although 2013 was its inaugural year, the Fort Wayne Health and Fitness Expo will only get bigger and better. There, you can meet other fit-minded friends and visit vendors to learn about the newest fitness products, training methodologies, and nutrition information. You can also watch or participate in the exciting expo competitions like Strongman or CrossFit.

7 Columbus, Ohio, 25.1%

Once upon a time, the fittest people in Ohio’s capital city were the athletes at The Ohio State University. Today, they’ve got plenty of competition. Every April, pro and amateur athletes of all types pack venues around the city for the Arnold Sports Festival, competing in everything from bodybuilding to CrossFit to table tennis. To the west lurks Louie Simmons’ legendary Westside Barbell and Dave Tate’s Elite Fitness compound. MusclePharm founder Cory Gregory’s Old School Gym is the same distance to the east. Just north of downtown, Rogue Fitness outfits strength athletes around the world with high-quality American-made equipment and maintains a legendary gym at its HQ.

Cool gym:

Where to begin? Option one: Go see Louie or Dave if you dare—and if they’ll have you. Other popular powerlifting dungeons include Dogg Pound and Lexen Extreme. Rogue’s gym is closed to the public, but the city abounds with well-equipped CrossFit boxes. The Old School Gym is an absolute steal at $35 a month if you don’t mind the drive. For a change of pace, consider Ohio Krav Maga, which combines CrossFit curriculum with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and other situational combat training. In a city this strong, you need to be able to defend yourself.

Cool restaurant:

Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse in downtown Columbus is a favorite haunt of post-contest bodybuilders—rumor has it Flex Lewis brought his 212 trophy in with him last year—but it’s not a sustainable option for hard-training athletes on a budget. The in-house delivery restaurant Fit Food Meals, on the other hand, lends a high-end chef’s touch to lean eating. The menu changes daily and can be tailored to people with special dietary needs.

Cool fitness event:

The Arnold Classic bodybuilding championships and the Fitness, Figure, and Bikini Internationals may get the headlines, but the Arnold Sports Festival has plenty more to offer than just bodybuilding. Olympic sports like fencing, swimming, boxing, and table tennis are all featured prominently. The strongman competition is one of the most prestigious in the sport, as are the arm wrestling, powerlifting, and highland games. If you’re up to the challenge, you can even compete in the annual “5K Pump and Run,” a bench press and running biathlon that always sells out quickly.

8 Saint Paul, Minnesota, 25%

Never mind the ice-cold winters—this is a surprisingly athletic state. The city of Saint Paul offers many gym options, healthy restaurants, and athletic events held year round for the fitness-minded. From frozen 5 Ks to blisteringly hot summer triathlons, Saint Paul has something for everyone and in every season.

Cool gym:

Nestled just outside of downtown Saint Paul, GreenBody houses nine trainers in a studio with a home-like feel. They offer personal training and challenging group fitness classes which alternate being held indoors and outdoors, depending on the unpredictable climate of Minnesota. From learning to make your own probiotic-packed kombucha at home to swinging kettlebells, GreenBody teaches healthy, harmonic living.

Cool restaurant:

This restaurant prides itself in getting all its ingredients from Minnesota and its neighboring states of Wisconsin and Iowa. Brasa offers fresh, delicious meals which come from chemical and hormone-free farms, along with the added reassurance that no additives, MSG, or high-fructose corn syrup are in any of their dishes. Try the homemade pulled chicken or tender smoked beef!

Cool fitness event:

Held each fall since 1982, this notoriously beautiful course begins in downtown Minneapolis and winds through 26.2 miles of roads and stunning lake views, finishing at the capital building in downtown Saint Paul. More than 300,000 fans gather along the course each year to cheer on runners of every ability and age. Additionally, the health and fitness expo is free to the public and offers many discounted deals and goodies to shoppers.

9 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 25%

This is one of America’s hottest cities, so breaking a sweat isn’t difficult. Situated atop the “bluff” rising above the Mississippi River delta, Louisiana’s capital city flourishes with a dynamic mix of collegiate enthusiasm and modern industry. More than 20 percent of its residents are students at one of Baton Rouge’s four universities.

Cool Gym:

For overall value, size, equipment, and variety, the University Recreation Center at Louisiana State cannot be beat. It’s currently undergoing an expansion that will make it 250,000 square feet. It has an outdoor aquatic center, a 3-story cardio and weight fitness area, a climbing wall and challenge course, numerous fields, courts, and exercise rooms. Everyone is welcome.

Cool Restaurant:

People come to Louisiana for the atmosphere, for Mardi Gras, for the food. Baton Rouge houses some of the best seafood in the country. It has amazing Cajun cooking and raw sushi. You can find quality food everywhere, but The Chimes (three locations in the city) knows how to handle the unique and diverse flavors of Southern cuisine!

Cool Fitness Event:

Like most major cities, Baton Rouge hosts a number of races and runs throughout the summer. The Summer Hump Series, The Fat Boy 5 K, Freedom Mile, and the Daddy, Daughter and Son 2-mile Relay are just a few. But the best race of the season is the Mardi Gras Mambo, a 10 K or 15 K road race through beautiful Baton Rouge. More than 1,700 runners danced the mambo to the finish in 2013!

10 Billings, Montana, 25%

If you yearn for outdoor adventure, natural inspiration, and endless recreation, Billings, Montana, is your place. Known as Montana’s trailhead, Billings provides nearly limitless opportunities to embrace Northwestern culture. The Magic City offers a stash of healthy dining options, robust farmer’s markets, and several gyms to quench your thirst for fitness.

Cool gym:

Granite Fitness is as tough as, well, granite, and comes stocked with everything a fitness enthusiast could ask for. Group fitness classes are taught in abundance thanks to a solid aquatics center, full-size gymnasium, and a full-line of weights. Get pumped up on life and fitness at this all-in-one fitness mountain!

Cool restaurant:

The term “all-natural” gets thrown around loosely, but The Fieldstone Caf? lives up to its reputation as a locally owned establishment that only cooks homegrown food. The Fieldhouse Caf? is a certified green restaurant that makes everything from scratch and takes pride in its customer service.

Cool Fitness Event:

Formerly known as the Montana Governors Cup Marathon, the Montana Marathon starts in the community of Molt, west of Billings, and is broken into a full and half marathon, a 10K, and a team run. The Montana Marathon combines hilly terrain with pavement throughout to test the best runners under grueling circumstances.

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Vital Stats

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Every so often in the health and fitness world there comes along an elixir that can reputedly increase an athlete’s muscle mass, stamina, speed, and strength, while boosting their metabolic rate and staving off hunger to aid weight loss.

The one that’s supposedly been ticking all the above boxes for years is colostrum milk. Colostrum is produced by female mammals late in the gestation period and for the first few days following birth. In cows, bovine colostrums is usually produced in the first four days after a calf is born, and its main purpose is to ensure the complete development of the young animal’s gut.

In addition, colostrum reinforces the newborn’s immunity to infection by providing antibodies, antimicrobials, immunoregulation, and antioxidative factors.

Before the advent of antibiotics, bovine colostrum was the main source of antibodies used to fight infections. The reason? Antibody levels in colostrum can be 100 times greater than that of regular milk.

Recently researchers have developed hyper-immune bovine colostrum, a special type of colostrum which contains antibodies targeted at specific diseases. However, studies have shown its ineffectiveness, and it has also been shown that natural bovine colostrum actually contains more antibodies than the developed type.

Some athletes and coaches also use colostrum because of its promise as an ergogenic aid to enhance performance in high-intensity exercises, in addition to its utilization in the medical community.

But what does the science say about colostrum?

Well, a key component of colostrum as an ergogenic aid is its high IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) content. The importance of IGF-1 in muscle growth can’t be understated because of its ability to activate cell growth.

However, research is split down the middle in regard to colostrum’s ability to raise IGF-1 levels. A Finnish study¹ in 2002, conducted by Dr. Antii Mero and associates reported that colostrum did in fact raise the body’s levels of IGF-1. However, a more recent study by a Dr JD Buckley refuted that claim and instead found that colostrum actually increased anaerobic power.

That result seemed to be substantiated by a study carried out by a Dr Z. Hofman when he gave colostrum to elite field hockey players and noted their marked improvement in a number of speed tests and time trials.

Another study⁶ compared the performances of professional cyclists given 10 grams of whey protein per day to a group who received the same amount of colostrum over an eight-week period. Cyclists using colostrum reported a greater improvement in a 40 km time trial. They also showed better stamina levels and quicker recovery times.

Cyclists using colostrum reported a greater improvement in a 40 km time trial.

This once again brings up the question of whether colostrum has more benefits to offer with strength-building (anaerobic) or stamina-boosting (aerobic) exercises.

In another study⁸ conducted on elite female rowers by Dr G.O. Brinkworth, colostrum appeared to have no effect on performance. However, an increase in the body’s buffer capacity was observed.

Muscle buffer capacity is the ability for muscles to neutralize acids that accumulate in them due to high-intensity training, therefore fighting off fatigue. The authors of the research theorize this could be the result of an increase in fast-twitch muscle fibers which, as we all know, are predominantly linked to anaerobic exercise.

The weight of evidence would seem to suggest that colostrum offers consistent performance improvement in activities that involve the anaerobic energy system. Plus, it conclusively appears to shorten recovery times.

The next question we need to address is: What is the ideal daily dosage?

The recommended serving size on virtually all commercially available colostrum supplements ranges from 3-to-6 grams. However, the lowest dose shown to work in studies is 10 g, while the greatest improvements came as result of subjects consuming 20 g daily.

For instance, in the Hofman study, it was noted that colostrum supplementation at 10 g per day didn’t illicit a response at eight weeks whereas, in his previous research, subjects demonstrated an improvement in performance at eight weeks after consuming 20g per day.

This is backed up by research⁹ conducted by Dr. Jose Antonio at the Sports Science Lab at the University of Delaware; it noted an increase in the body’s lean mass in subjects who took 20 g of colostrum daily. Furthermore, colostrum has positive effects on body composition in addition to its ability to enhance the body’s natural defense against infections.

It is worth reiterating that the lowest dose proven to be effective in studies was 10 g per day which took longer than the normal eight weeks to show any effect. The majority of studies tend to use 20 g per day with this dose, showing positive effects at the eight-week mark.

But, all potential benefits aside, money spent on colostrum would be a waste if you don’t have a solid nutrition plan in place.

REFERENCES

1. Mero A, et al. (2002) IGF-I, IgA, and IgG responses to bovine colostrum supplementation during training. Journal of Applied Physiology 93(2):732-9.
2. Buckley JD, Abbott MJ, Brinkworth GD, et al. Bovine colostrum supplementation during endurance running training improves recovery, but not performance. J Sci Med Sport. 2002;5:65-79.
3. Buckley JD. Bovine colostrum: Does it improve athletic performance? Nutrition. 2002;18:776-777.
4. Brinkworth GD, Buckley JD, Bourdon PC, et al. Oral bovine colostrum supplementation enhances buffer capacity but not rowing performance in elite female rowers. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab . 2002;12:349-365.
5. Hofman Z, et al. (2002) The effect of bovine colostrum supplementation on exercise performance in elite field hockey players. International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 12(4):461-469.
6. Coombs JS, et al. (2002) Dose effects of oral bovine colostrum on physical work capacity in cyclists. Med Sci Sports Exercise 34(7): 1184-8.
7. http://www.icnr.org/blog/13-home-page/49-colostrum-and-athletic-performance
8. Brinkworth GO & Buckley JO. (2004) Concentrated bovine colostrum supplementation reduces the incidence of self-reported symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection in adult males. European Journal of Nutrition 42(4):228-32.
9. Antonio J, et al. (2001) The Effects of Bovine Colostrum Supplementation on Body Composition and Exercise Performance in Active Men and Women. Nutrition 17:243-247.

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Vital Stats

Name: Sohee Lee
Education: B.S. in Human Biology from Stanford University
Occupation: NSCA Certified Trainer, Peak Performance NYC
Website: www.soheefit.com
Location: New York, NY

Clean eating. We’ve all seen it held up as the best way—the only way—to live a fit life, look and perform like an athlete, and not die before our time. Of course, clean eating has a dirty little secret: It always comes alongside its greasy sidekick, the cheat meal.

This makes me sad, and it irks me. I’m talking about the whole clean/cheat setup, and really, the whole idea of “clean.” I’ve spent time on the darkest side of clean eating—namely an eating disorder—and I think it’s time for this way of thinking to die. My job now is to spread the gospel of flexible dieting.

Many of you might be familiar with that term, but it’s probably from misguided articles and forum posts ridiculing the idea of IIFYM (aka, “if it fits your macros”). If you’re a clean eater, you may have made some snarky remark a time or two about us flexible dieters being unhealthy. Perhaps you’ve even commented on our moral character. We’re bad people, we’re going to hell for eating pretzels, and we should be ashamed of ourselves because we eat our baked potatoes with butter. The gall!

Enough with the snarky name-calling! Let me show you the truth, the way, and the light to food freedom! The first step is to debunk the most common myths about flexible eating.

“Enough with the snarky name-calling! Let me show you the truth, the way, and the light to food freedom!”

Myth 1

False! Eating a bunch of crap is … well, crap. That’s the typical American diet, and it’s far from what constitutes flexible dieting.

Key components of flexible dieting include

• Overall mindfulness of macronutrient and micronutrient intake, whether you count macros. This means that you’re aware of approximately how much protein you consume, and that you also get sufficient fiber.
• Understanding that treats and junk food are allowed, but not as the norm. I like to recommend an 80/20 rule. Other people lean toward 90/10; that still feels fairly restrictive to me.
• Portion control. This is vital. There’s a difference between 1 doughnut and 12, and you don’t abuse this. Think a handful of gummy bears rather than a whole bag. A small serving of sweet potato fries with a chicken salad. A glass of wine to complement a steak.

So what do flexible dieters eat? Primarily whole food sources, with a sprinkling of fun indulgences on the side. If the typical American is going to eat a croissant and a glass of orange juice for breakfast, he is not a flexible dieter. What a flexible dieter might do instead is throw in an omelet with that meal, keep the croissant, and then choose better carb sources for the rest of the day. Why? Because, a croissant is a treat.

Believe me, I’ve definitely tried to get in my protein and fiber through junk food alone, and it can’t be done. There’s no realistic way to meet your daily nutrient needs through chocolate and gummy bears. Besides, who wants to survive on a steady diet of nothing but sugar and fat? That would make anyone sick. In fact, it’s making plenty of people sick all around us, all the time. It’s called type-2 diabetes.

And if you do end up having a particularly treat-heavy day, then the next day, you rein it in a little. You don’t obsess over it; you don’t worry about it; you just move on. It’s all about checks and balances. Don’t mistake that for bingeing and purging—there’s a big difference.

Myth 2

What’s healthy about a restricted food list? There is nothing positive that can come out of putting a whole slew of foods off-limits and shackling yourself to specific food items. Let’s take a look at your clean diet for a second:

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. And let’s be honest, I’ve given a generous portrayal of a clean diet there. The real thing is often far, far more repetitive.

Yes, I understand that consuming a nutrient-dense diet is incredibly healthy. But that’s not what “clean eating” is. There is an incredibly high correlation between exclusive eating (i.e., limiting food choices) and binge eating. This is no coincidence. Study after study has shown that as soon as you deem a food forbidden, your desire for it increases even more, even if you may have never wanted it in the first place.

Not allowed to eat chocolate? All of a sudden, that’s all you can think about.

On the flipside, having the option to consume a treat doesn’t mean that you will necessarily chow down on it. Rather, it means that you won’t be using up your willpower to actively resist the food.

Can You Get An Elite Physique With A Flexible Diet?

Think flexible dieting and elite physiques are incompatible? The late Serge Nubret would disagree. The former Mr. Universe maintained a series of popular threads on the Bodybuilding.com forum late in his life, in which he outlined his philosophy of lifting and dieting, and he often spoke out against the perceived need to diet or “cut.”

“I never dieted in my life,” he wrote in one post. “I was just listening to my body. It was telling me what to eat, when, etc. If I’m listening to my body, no mistake can be done. That is instinct.”

Myth 3

You tell me what’s worse for your health:

• Eating a square of chocolate every evening, savoring every bit of it, and then moving on with your life, OR
• Hurriedly scarfing down not one, not two, but three whole chocolate bars in one sitting with no self-control whatsoever and then feeling guilty—not to mention bloated—for the entire next day, if not longer.

I think the answer is obvious.

Newsflash: It’s entirely possible for a flexible dieter to eat the same way as a clean eater most of the time. Yet come Saturday night, the clean eater may go out to dinner for his weekly cheat meal and have a burger, French fries, and a milkshake, followed by cheesecake for dessert, and then come home and eat everything but the kitchen sink. The flexible dieter, on the other hand, can have the same burger and French fries and have no problem stopping there. Hell, he may not even finish the fries because he’s reasonably full and feeling satisfied.

Do you see the difference here? The flexible dieter hasn’t lost touch with what satisfaction feels like. Throughout the week, the flexible dieter stuck to whole food sources not because he had to but because he wanted to. He had no problems whatsoever with controlling his food intake on the weekend.

“But sugar is bad for me,” a clean eater might proclaim. Well, did it ever occur to you that the only times you allow yourself to consume too much added sugar is when you binge?

Sugar itself may not be the culprit. After all, apples contain sugar. It’s the massive quantity of added sugar you consume in one sitting that makes you sick.

Myth 4

Not all flexible dieters choose to count their macros. But for those who do, the guidelines for determining macronutrient guidelines aren’t too different from those of bodybuilders and other strength athletes.

Namely, protein intake is usually around 1 gram per pound of bodyweight, and carbs are 0.6-1.5 grams per pound, depending on goals, the leanness of the individual, carb tolerance, body type, metabolic capacity, age, and activity level. Fats fill in the remaining calorie allotment. People who are striving for muscle gain naturally will have a higher calorie allotment, 16 times bodyweight or upward. People who are looking to lose weight would start off closer to 10-12 times bodyweight.

Let’s use me as an example. I’m a 24-year-old female mesomorph, 115 pounds, with approximately 18 percent body fat. I train five days each week with a low-to-medium activity level for my job. I would calculate my maintenance macros for training days as follows:

Some flexible dieters like to carb cycle between training days and off days like I do, not only for the physiological benefits but also because it affords them the leeway to fit in higher-carb treats on training days and, conversely, higher-fat treats on off days. My off-day macros might look like this:

Having 89 fat grams for an off day would allow me to consume foods including, but not limited to full-fat cheese, coconut oil, nut butters, and maybe even some fried goodness.

This is just one of many possible approaches to the macro puzzle. Flexible dieting is all about honoring your personal preferences with regard to macronutrient amounts, food choice, meal timing. This will allow you to adhere to your program and consequently yield the best results.

Myth 5

Look up #flexibledieting hashtags on Instagram and all you’ll see is the ice cream, Pop Tarts, and burgers that we consume. But what the pictures don’t tell you is that those foods actually make up a small portion of our daily food. We typically don’t show off the chicken breast, sweet potatoes, and veggies we consume. Why? Because it’s way more fun to talk about our treats.

So no, a cheeseburger is not the same thing as eating a high-quality cut of protein. But if we decide to order that burger, it’s because we’ve been eating well recently, weighed our options, and perhaps even factored the meal into our macros. We’ve decided that that’s what we truly wanted to eat, and we have no qualms about indulging our taste buds for a night.

Again, flexible dieters prescribe to an 80/20 rule or some variation. We care about our health just as much as a clean eater does, but we also understand that to make a lasting lifestyle change, we need to create sustainable habits. We have no timeline to get to where we want to be; we’re all about enjoying the ride.

Are you a flexible dieter? If not, what are you waiting for? Freedom awaits you. Are you a clean-eating diehard? Make your case in the comments.

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Sometimes, let’s face it, another liquid protein meal in a shaker cup just won’t cut it. We all know the feeling, right? When it happens, it’s time to think outside the bottle. Envision something more along the lines of protein goodies like banana cake donuts, peanut butter cookies, and chocolate balls—the sort of treats whose names alone make your heart flutter.

Try these favorite whey snack recipes from the athletes of Beast Sports Nutrition, and your cheat meals might suddenly begin getting jealous!

Peanut Butter Protein Beast Bars

Nicknamed “Bazooka Joe” for his powerful punches and lethal low kicks, Joseph Valtellini is a professional kick boxer for Glory who takes training very seriously and needs to recharge his body after hard workouts. On top of his training, he’s also a high school physical education teacher for kids with special needs. How does he do it all? He makes sure his favorite protein-loaded snack is readily on hand and has a Beast of a shake after his workouts.

Joseph’s peanut butter Beast bars are flourless and sugar-free, and allow him to hit his target calories and macronutrients on the go.

• 1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp raisins
• 2 tbsp roasted, unsalted almonds
• 1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup 100% Beast whey chocolate or vanilla whey

1. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Shape into bars and let it sit in the fridge or freezer overnight.

Peanut Butter Protein Beast Cookies PDF

Ultimate Beast Muscle Shake

Sometimes a shake isn’t the problem; it’s your shake that’s the problem. When that happens, try this recipe on for size. Joe gulps this post-workout shake within 30 minutes of his workout to jump-start the recovery process and shuttle the necessities to his body: protein, fast-digesting carbs, a bit of healthy fats, and a hit of antioxidants.

• 1 scoop 100% Beast chocolate or vanilla whey
• 1 scoop Creature
• 1 scoop E-liminate green apple powder
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1 tsp virgin coconut oil
• A handful of frozen mango and strawberries
• A few ice cubes

1. Mix in a powerful blender.
2. Sip and enjoy!

Ultimate Beast Muscle Shake PDF

No-Bake Peanut Butter Beast Cookies

Love peanut butter? You and NPC competitor Brandan Fokken have something in common! Brandan knows nutrition is the key to dialing in the look he needs to compete at a high level, but sometimes his body craves the not-so-good stuff. He isn’t afraid to admit that cookies are one of his weaknesses. Luckily, these peanut butter cookie recipes are healthy craving-killers!

• 1 cup 100% Beast chocolate or vanilla whey
• 1 cup natural peanut butter
• 1 cup organic quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup raw honey

1. Combine whey, peanut butter, oats and honey in medium bowl.
2. Mix until it gets thick enough for you to start molding.
3. Shape into balls the size of a tablespoon (makes about 24 balls).
4. Lightly flatten each so that it takes the shape of a cookie.
5. Eat!

Beast Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

We all know the saying “double the chocolate means double the gains.” What, you haven’t heard that one? Well, it’ll become your new muscle mantra after trying this incredibly simple recipe from Brandan’s secret stash.

• 2 scoops 100% Beast chocolate whey
• 2 cups P28 white chocolate peanut butter
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 tbsp ground flax seeds (optional)

1. In a large bowl, mix together peanut butter, chocolate whey, and bananas.
2. Mold the mixture into 20 tablespoon-size balls.
3. Freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.

Beast Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls PDF

Beast Whey Banana Cake Donuts

Adam Bisek is a strength and fitness coach with a bevy of certifications , in addition to being an accomplished physique competitor. When it comes to nutrition, he doesn’t believe in merely changing his clients’ diet; he pushes them to change their habits. However, Adam still knows how to embrace his inner foodie and enjoy pleasurable treats, especially during the off-season.

Adam’s banana cake doughnuts might sound like a major sugar bomb, but they’re actually gluten-free, paleo-friendly, and won’t make you feel like you’ve made a bad decision.

• 3 medium ripe bananas
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/3 cup 100% Beast vanilla whey
• 1/8 cup (42 g) honey
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Stevia powder (or 1 tsp of liquid stevia)
• Pinch of salt

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp raw honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Blend bananas and honey in a food processor until smooth.
3. Add eggs, coconut flour, whey, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and stevia to the mixture in food processor.
4. Puree until completely combined.
5. Grease doughnut pans and pour ingredients into pan.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let donuts cool before you put on the optional topping.

1. Mix together honey and melted coconut oil in a bowl.
2. Mix cinnamon and coconut sugar together in a separate bowl.
3. Once doughnuts have cooled, use a basting brush to spread on a thin layer of the coconut oil honey mixture, then sprinkle doughnuts with the cinnamon sugar on all sides.

Beast Whey Banana Cake Donuts PDF

Beast “Bulking” Protein Bars

These are hands-down Adam’s favorite protein goodie. “I can eat a whole pan in a sitting. I can’t tell you how many people I have hooked on these things,” he says.

Using nutrient-packed, gluten-free ingredients, these bars offer a healthier alternative to most store-bought protein bars. While Adam calls them “bulking” bars, he says that they can be incorporated into any diet for any goal. “I simply call them that because I can’t stop eating them,” he confesses.

• 2 cups natural peanut butter or raw almond butter
• 1 1/2 cups organic raw honey
• 2 1/4 cups 100% Beast vanilla whey
• 3 cups gluten-free whole oats
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)

1. Heat peanut butter and honey in a medium saucepan until melted.
2. In a separate bowl, mix whey and oats (and slivered almonds, if using).
3. Add melted peanut butter and honey mixture to the bowl and mix until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
4. Pour into 9x13pan lined with parchment paper and spread evenly.
5. Refrigerate for 1 hour before cutting.
6. When solid, cut into approximately 24 bars.
7. Keeping the remaining bars refrigerated…if there are any left.

Beast “Bulking” Protein Bars PDF

Chocolate-Covered Fruity Protein Bites

At 7 feet tall, NPC physique competitor Greg Clausen is a muscle-packed spectacle. His go-to snacks to fuel his powerful body are simple bites of genius. “I typically make these while I’m undergoing contest prep, ” he says. “My sweet tooth is unbelievable crazy, but I don’t want to derail my progress, so I turn to my protein snacks.”

Greg eats these “bites” as a snack throughout the day. They’re packed with phytonutrients from the fruit and protein from whey, making for an energizing combination that’s easy to make and unnecessary to resist.

“These completely satisfy my cravings and don’t hurt my work in the gym,” Greg says. “It only takes a few minutes to make these, and they’ll save you weeks of setbacks you might get from binging on actual junk food!”

• 1 cup frozen fruit (strawberries, grapes, blueberries, etc.)
• 2 scoops 100% Beast chocolate whey
• 2-4 tbsp of almond milk (or water)
• Walden Farms calorie-free chocolate syrup (optional)

• Prepare a cookie tray lined with a sheet of parchment paper.
• Mix the whey with enough almond milk (or water) to create a batter-like consistency. You don’t want it too watery.
• Use a toothpick to grab each piece of fruit and dip it in the chocolate batter until the fruit is sufficiently coated in the batter.
• Transfer each bite to the parchment paper.
• If desired, add a little bit of Walden Farms chocolate syrup to each fruit bite.
• Freeze tray for about 30 minutes, remove from tray, and enjoy throughout the day.

Chocolate-Covered Fruity Protein Bites PDF

Protein Mousse

It’s tough not to love a delicious one-step recipe. Greg’s protein mousse is just that. Just scoop, mix, and chow down! Or, if you freeze it for about 30 minutes, it can be like eating frozen yogurt brimming with protein.

• 1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 1 scoop 100% Beast vanilla whey
• 1 tsp stevia
• 2 tbsp of PB2 powdered peanut butter (optional)
• Handful of fresh blueberries (optional)

1. Blend all ingredients together and eat as is, or freeze for 30 minutes first.

Protein Mousse PDF

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Vital Stats

Name: Richard Talens
Education: Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Occupation: Co-Founder, Fitocracy/Celebrity Trainer
Location: New York, NY
Website: dicktalens.com

I’m no stranger to body transformations. Having been a both fitness coach and the co-founder of Fitocracy, I’ve been exposed to countless successful transformations, but even more stories of people who’ve started, continued, and ended their fitness journey. Unfortunately, despite all the inspiring and triumphant stories out there, most people are still failing at reaching their fitness goals—and obesity rates continue rising.

How can that be? The two reason I hear people cite the most are, “If I just had the motivation,” and “If I only had the willpower.” They seem to think there’s a secret to making a successful fitness transformation—like motivation and will-power are some sort of magic pixie dust that makes fit people instantly hate the taste of pizza and love the treadmill.

You know who has motivation? Your average Joe who joins a gym in January. He’s motivated as hell. Sadly, neither he nor his motivation stick around until March rolls around. He stops going to the gym, feels guilty, and then blames his lack of willpower.

Let me say it once and for all: Fitness success is not merely about motivation! Motivation is fleeting and unreliable. Rather, fitness is a skill, like riding a bike or learning a language. Here’s how you can cultivate the skill and make it work for you.

The Growth and Fixed Mindset

Psychologist Carol Dweck has a great theory which places people on a continuum comprised of two different fundamental mindsets: “fixed” and “growth.” Her theory wasn’t necessarily created with fitness in mind, but I believe it goes right to the heart of what makes us succeed or fail in our physical goals.

Those with fixed mindsets believe that success is based on innate talent.

Those with fixed mindsets believe that success is based on innate talent. In other words, someone is born with certain characteristics, and you either have them or you don’t. Failures—such as the failure to follow a diet—are the result of lacking these characteristics, such as self-control, discipline, or intelligence.

By contrast, those with a growth mindset believe that success relies upon improving their different skill sets through hard work, learning, and experience. These people believe they can improve their success in different facets of life. I happen to agree.

Back to my original bike-riding analogy: The growth mindset is analogous to falling off the bike on your first attempt at riding, but being willing to get back on and try again. You understand that you didn’t fall because you lack the necessary discipline to ride your bike. You just know your skill isn’t fully developed yet, so you keep practicing until it is.

For millions of people, all things involved with fitness seem to fall squarely in the realm of the fixed mindset. When they slip up on their diets, they tend to scold themselves for being undisciplined and lazy, rather than stopping to think about why they slipped up and how they can avoid it in the future. People with a fixed mindset try to force their success with sheer willpower, which simply doesn’t work.

Studies have shown that willpower is a finite resource. Thus, relying on it alone is less likely to lead to success. If fitness is a skill, which I believe is the case, then it should be improved by working the muscles of other skills that constitute a successfully fit life. Embrace these five skills of fitness, and you’ll be on the road to a lasting change.

1 Knowledge

Knowledge is an evidence-based understanding of things like training and nutrition. It allows you to create a plan and execute it. Knowledge can be either basic—understanding calories and how they impact your weight—or relatively advanced, such as correctly incorporating a carbohydrate re-feed in order to raise leptin during your diet. You can improve your knowledge by reading sites like this one, or by utilizing credible fitness pros like Alan Aragon and Layne Norton for their encyclopedic knowledge.

Knowledge is the most important of all skills, but paradoxically, it is also the most abused.

Knowledge is the most important of all skills, but paradoxically, it is also the most abused. That’s because more fitness and nutrition information is swirling around the Internet than ever. Everyone can be a citizen scientist or guru, it seems. Easy access to abundant resources like PubMed often leads to misinterpreted or romanticized readings of information.

Too much information, especially if you can’t sift through all the white noise, can put you at a disadvantage. After all, what good will understanding the optimal meal timing to optimize muscle protein synthesis do for you if you can’t stop yourself from binge eating?

That’s where mindfulness comes into play.

2 Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the examination of your feelings, surroundings, and your existence relative to everything else. Think of mindfulness as fitness wisdom. It’s the ability to learn about yourself and your feelings. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to learn from your mistakes.

I recently had the following conversation with a client:

As you can see, the client saw a binge as a failure without any underlying context. He was actually confused by the idea that he could dig deeper into his binge beyond simple failure. This is a case where people approach fitness with a markedly different eye than they do, say, business.

I figured I screwed up. That led me to feel anxious. Eating everything in sight was a way to cope with that anxiety.

In business, people may seek out patterns to preclude the chance of repeating a mistake, but this doesn’t seem to be the case in fitness. It’s as if fitness is an all-or-nothing principle.

By practicing mindfulness, the client eventually broke down his binge into independent events and traced them to conscious decisions. We agreed that going 50 calories over maintenance is hardly a disaster. The next time this client sees this same pattern, he can use previous experiences to disrupt this course of action.

You can improve mindfulness by following the “totem exercise” that I write about here.

3 Self-Compassion

Hate. Guilt. Self-loathing. These are the typical feelings of someone who slips up on an otherwise “perfect” day. For many, cycles of perceived dieting failures have perpetuated a lifetime of these feelings. They become convinced that they need to “strengthen their resolve” to overcome these weight-loss hurdles. And each time, they face the same disastrous outcome.

Research has shown that developing self-compassion allows people to think of fitness more as a skill to improve, rather than an end goal. Those who show self-compassion forgive themselves for their mistakes so that they can try again with a more productive mindset.

The next time you mess up, cut yourself some slack! Then exhibit mindfulness by figuring out what went wrong.

4 Humility

Humility is the skill that gives you the motivation to improve all other skills. Without it, you stagnate.

Those who show self-compassion forgive themselves for their mistakes so that they can try again with a more productive mindset.

The first time I heard intermittent fasting expert Martin Berkhan say that “Breakfast is not that important,” I was outraged. Seriously? Everyone knows that breakfast is obviously the most important meal of the day!

Anger is a natural reaction to a hole being punctured in your steadfast beliefs. You’ve been drilled for so long about the dangers of skipping breakfast, and how doing so will doom you to obesity. How dare someone tell you differently!

Research has shown that when people’s deepest convictions get challenged by contradictory yet credible information, they actually cling more tightly to their existing beliefs.

I later re-examined Berkhan’s claim. I started skipping breakfast and was rewarded with more mental energy and additional hours in my morning for having done so. As an entrepreneur who works more than 80 hours a week, skipping breakfast has added countless hours to my productivity. It just works for me. The only way that I was able to accept this information was practice humility—suppressing my ego and being open to the possibility that I was wrong.

This is just one example. I can think of countless others in the realms of training, nutrition, and health. It turns out that the more you learn about fitness—or any other skill for that matter—the more you realize just how much you don’t know.

Whenever you feel the need to lash out because your precious beliefs are under attack, think again. Keep an open mind and be willing to re-examine your beliefs.

5 Discipline

Discipline allows you to create habits, which in turn are created by repeating a task over and over again—going to the gym at the same time every day, preparing tomorrow’s meals at the end of every day, and so on.

Some studies show that discipline, however, can expire by the end of the day. Making decisions throughout your day—no matter how small—drains a ton of energy. If you’ve ever felt mentally exhausted after a day full of meetings, then you know what I mean. Hell, thinking really hard depletes self-control so much that it could even reduce maximum voluntary strength, according to one study.

Research has shown that when people’s deepest convictions get challenged by contradictory yet credible information, they actually cling more tightly to their existing beliefs.

This could pose a problem when it comes to the nitty-gritty of keeping in line with your fitness-related goals. Think about it. By the end of the day, you might feel so mentally depleted that the paltry remains of your willpower and self-control resources may lead you to make the “easier” decision about the gym. You know, just putting it off completely.

Simply put, making hard decisions at work, deciding whether to go to the gym, and saying no to that piece of cake all compete for the same pool of mental resources. However, there is a way to combat this: Build a habit.

When something is repeated often enough, that action no longer requires a costly conscious decision. The kicker is that habits may require more willpower at the start, but a good habit is well worth the effort it takes to build.

Putting it All Together

As with any skill, you improve fitness by doing, not just by thinking. Here’s how how all these skills could intertwine in your life:

Discipline allows you to create habits, which in turn are created by repeating a task over and over again.

• Knowledge: Find a training and nutrition plan that appeals to you and fits your goals and lifestyle. Stick to the program as best as you can, but expect to slip up along the way.
• Mindfulness: If you find yourself deviating from the plans frequently, dig to the root of your behavior and experience in a non-judgmental way.
• Self-compassion: Guilt will naturally arise if you skip the gym or deviate from your nutrition plan more than a couple of times. But rather than throw your hands helplessly in the air, forgive yourself and figure out what’s going wrong, so you can fix the problem.
• Humility: Realize that your long-held beliefs can be wrong, or at least, they could be causing you to miss beneficial opportunities. Your ideas of what you’re incapable of can also be wrong. The more you practice your skill, the more you’ll have your mind opened.
• Discipline: Humility and discipline go hand-in-hand. Perhaps morning is the most logical time for you to train, but you resist it because you think you’re “not a morning person.” Use some discipline and create a habit around waking up earlier every day.

Run through each skill and determine what you need to improve. Sometimes, improving a skill—like mindfulness—is as simple as becoming aware of it. You will become disciplined enough to do the mundane, tough enough to always forgive yourself when you fail, and brave enough to accept that being wrong is OK.

Once you can take failures, examine them, and improve upon them, you’ll be well on the road to developing fitness as a skill. Remember that a successful transformation on the outside first requires a transformation within!

Which of these skills do you find is your greatest strength or weakness? Discuss in the comments below and let’s all work together on improving our fitness skills.

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Vital Stats

Name: Hunter Labrada
Age: 21
Height: 5’9″
Weight: 235 lbs
Education: Texas A&M University
Sponsor: Labrada Nutrition Athlete
Location: College Station, TX

Probably the most common question I’m asked by bodybuilders is “How much do you eat in a day?” Not what—although of course I get that, too—but how much. To me, this shows just how much people are worried about whether they’re eating enough.

I’m a full-time student at Texas A&M University, and I live in College Station, which is a large college town, so most of the time the person asking the question is a fellow student. When I reply, “6-7 meals per day and between 4,500-5,200 calories,” the person is astounded. (I’m talking about guys only for now; women deserve another conversation). Then they’ll give me excuses like “I don’t have enough time” or “it’s too expensive to eat like that.”

My reply: false, and false. As an economics major and a bodybuilder, I can tell you that I’ve both run the numbers and put them to the test in the real world. No matter who you are or where you live, you can do this!

This is my plan to help you to eat as much as you can handle, with minimal prep time and less money than you’re probably wasting already. Equipment, recipes, and shopping—I’ve got it all right here. So let’s get started.

The Four Kitchen Essentials

Before you get rolling in the kitchen, you’re going to need to outfit yourself with a few essential appliances: a microwave, a slow cooker, a rice cooker, and a George Foreman style grill. You probably already have access to the first of those things, but trust me, the other three are just as important.

They allow you to prepare—in large quantities, I might add—all that is necessary to eat like a bodybuilder in a college setting. An oven is nice to have, as are a stove and a blender, but they aren’t necessary, and most college dorm rooms don’t have them.

Below are the basic dishes I prepare in each of the essential kitchen appliances. I encourage you to go online and do some research to find recipes to fit your taste.

The possibilities are endless, and trust me, there’s no substitute for a good collection of recipes.

1 Microwave

I use my microwave to reheat all of my prepped meals. I use it to cook red potatoes and sweet potatoes, both of which I eat almost every day. To cook any kind of potato in the microwave, make sure you do the following:

1. Rinse and lightly scrub the potato with your hands in cold water. Potatoes are grown in the ground, so they usually have a little dirt on them, and because they typically come in mesh bags, they’ll also pick up other contaminants along the way. Obviously cooking them will kill all bacteria, but who wants to eat dirt?

2. Using a fork, poke a few holes in each potato you’re going to cook—unless you like cleaning exploded potato off the sides of your microwave.

3. Cook potatoes two at a time, wrapping each one individually with a wet paper towel. This will help keep them moist and your microwave clean.

   For small potatoes, such as red and golden potatoes, lay a damp paper towel over an approximately 10-ounce serving. The cook time will vary from microwave to microwave, but typically potatoes need 6-8 min to cook.

   Check for readiness with a knife; if you can put it through the potato with relative ease, you’re good to go. If your knife stops or becomes hard to push, pop the potato back in the microwave for another couple of minutes.

2 Slow cooker

We all know how busy a college workload can get, which is why the slow cooker is a must-have. You simply throw the ingredients in, cover it, plug it in, and forget about it for a few hours.

Beyond being convenient time-wise, cooking with a crock pot makes your meats leaner; the fat will melt away into the juice/sauce you’re cooking in. It also keeps things interesting, because the combinations of meats and sauces are infinite.

My favorite meat by far to cook in a slow cooker is chicken, because it gets so tender and easy to eat. But there are thousands of recipes out there, so I encourage you to try your favorite meats and find one you like. This is the basic process, though:

1. Let your slow cooker heat up for about an hour. Place the thawed meat in the bottom of the slow cooker. Most varieties of slow cookers can hold four boneless chicken breast halves at a time.

2. Add around a half cup of liquid to help it cook evenly and add flavor. You could simply use water and a bouillon cube, but my personal favorites are salsa, low-fat barbecue sauce, and fat-free salad dressings such as ranch, Italian, and balsamic.

3. Let it cook! Because the cooker operates at a low heat, meats typically take 3-4 hours on the high setting and 6-8 hours on low. A general rule of thumb is that one hour on high is equal to two on the low setting.

4. After your meat finishes cooking, retrieve the meat with a fork and dump the remaining contents down the drain.

3 Rice cooker

Like a slow cooker, it’s basically an electric pot that you just plug in. Follow the directions that come on the rice of your choice. A couple of tips:

1. Put a bouillon cube in with your rice and water. It will give your rice a better flavor without adding calories.

2. Dress your rice up with different vegetables and sauces. My favorites are black beans or pesto.

4 George Foreman-type electric grill

Get the biggest one you can, so you can cook a lot of food at one time. Some of my favorites to make on the grill are turkey, lean beef burgers, and chicken breasts. Because of the design, excess fat runs off, making it acceptable to use fattier cuts of meat.

Find the Hidden Costs of Your Habits

One of my biggest pet peeves is the people who say they can’t afford to eat the way I encourage them to eat ? as they hold a $2 beverage they just purchased from a vending machine.

Fast food seems cost effective, but buying whole foods in bulk will save you money over time.

Coincidentally, that’s how much a carton of eggs costs. Or they clutch an $8 fast food meal or sandwich, which happens to be how much 10 pounds of instant oats costs at Sam’s Club.

See what I’m getting at? If you were to forgo just one fast food meal every two weeks and a $2 purchase every other day, you’d have enough money for the most nutritious breakfast a bodybuilder could ask for, seven days per week. What could be healthier than a bowl of oatmeal and a half dozen eggs?

When it comes down to it, it’s usually not the investment of money that turns people off from eating like a bodybuilder, but rather the investment of their time that grocery shopping and prepping meals requires. But the truth is that just a little advanced planning makes shopping a breeze, while saving money. Here’s how:

Club stores

First off, get access to some kind of bulk-buy grocery store such as Sam’s Club or Costco. The key word: access! That doesn’t mean buying a membership. I’m almost positive that between parents, family, and friends, there isn’t one of us who couldn’t figure out how to get a member card—or just a member—to use for one afternoon each month. This step is critical, because these stores offer everything in larger value sizes and are priced much more reasonably than conventional grocery stores.

You can buy large amounts of whole foods at club stores like Costco and Sam’s Club. Save money, buy in bulk!

Case in point: a 10-pound container of name-brand oats goes for $8 in a club store. A couple of aisles away, a 43-pound bucket of long grain brown rice costs $40. Imagine how long it would take you to go through that! Lastly, grab a 10-pound sack of red potatoes for $6 and a 4-pound sack of sweet potatoes for $3.50. Carbs solved.

When protein is your highest priority, shopping at a normal grocery store is a big no-no. For example, most grocery store frozen fish comes packaged in 8-oz. bags. What am I supposed to do with that? Not only is it barely one serving, but it also costs nearly as much as the 48-oz. bags I get from Sam’s! And both fish are farm raised, frozen, and unseasoned, with identical nutritional data.

After you grab the fish, walk to the other freezer and grab a 10-pound bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $24. Add in some lean ground beef and turkey breast, and you now have 4 different protein sources, not counting any protein powder you might use throughout the day.

Putting it All Together

Hunter Labrada is a student in College Station, Texas, and he knows how to build muscle on a budget.

Now that we’ve gone over both carbs and proteins, let’s do some quick math. Just for the sake of argument, let’s pretend we all have an appetite like Shrek and can actually eat 10 pounds of oatmeal and 43 pounds of brown rice in two weeks. (Trust me, you can’t.)

I’ve cut this meal plan down to the proteins and carbohydrates only, but I would encourage you to add fruit like bananas and apples, and also frozen vegetables to your diet.

You could also sub out one of the meat sources, such as the turkey, for an equivalent amount of eggs.

Two Weeks of Macros

That’s a generous amount of clean food at $75.75 per week. While I realize this is a still looks like a financial commitment, it is definitely less than a majority of students actually spend on food and drinks each week.

If you’re on a meal plan with a cafeteria, that’s a different story. But tell me this: Are you using that meal plan to eat lean proteins, veggies, and healthy fats, or junk foods like pizza? Be honest.

Supplements on a Budget

Make your own “weight gainer” in a pinch. Blend whey protein isolate with oats, a little water, ice, and enjoy!

With all the money you save by being smart with your food shopping and preparing your meals, you might actually have enough money left over to invest in useful bodybuilding supplements. But just as with your food, make sure you make only the purchases which give you the most bang for your buck.

First in my book is a high-quality whey protein isolate, due to the enormous benefit of its rapid digestion after training. It also gives me some flexibility throughout the day with my meals if the circumstances don’t permit a whole food meal.

When I want a sustained flow of amino acids and to stay feeling full, I’m a big fan of proteins which blend fast-, medium-, and slow-release proteins, like Labrada Lean Pro 8. Another advantage of whey protein is that you can make your own “weight gainer” in a pinch. Simply blend your whey protein isolate with oats and a little water and ice in a blender, and enjoy.

Next on my list of supplements to buy on a budget would be a jar of creatine monohydrate. Creatine is a safe, proven muscle builder that is relatively inexpensive. Just make sure you get a quality product that uses pharmaceutical grade creatine. If you want to add beyond that, the next steps would be a fish oil supplement and multivitamin.

It’s Up to You

Bodybuilding isn’t just the hour or two you’re in the gym and the shake you drink afterward. It is a 24-7, 365-day-a-year lifestyle. The rewards, however, are obvious. No matter how much money or prestige you have, you can’t just wake up with a lean, muscular body. It is, and will always be, a reward for hard work and dedication.

In college you run into many temptations that tear you out of the gym. Make sure to force your way back in. Do the work, and your physique will change.

If you’re committed to packing on muscle and you’re training hard, don’t leave your nutrition to chance. You’ve got everything you need here, and in a way that will work with even a bare-bones budget.

But there’s no room in any budget—big or small—for cheap calories like soda, candy, and booze. So cut them out, and wear your results with pride!

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Vital Stats

Name: Nic Troupe
Height: 5’8″
Weight: 207 lbs

NPC Men’s Physique competitor Nic Troupe has a history many of us can relate to. After an injury forced him to retire from his college football team, Nic was a little lost. But, unlike many ex-collegiate athletes, he didn’t spend his extra time feeling sorry for himself. Instead, Nic dove into the academic side of athletics and found his way into a lifetime of fitness, which eventually led him into competition. Check out Nic’s story and get his full fitness program!

Nic grabbed an undergraduate degree in fitness management, which led him to Wartburg College and Northern Iowa University, where he worked on the strength staff as a graduate assistant. “I got really involved in athletic training, and coaching strength and conditioning,” Nic says.

With an M.A. in physical education and a CSCS certification in hand, Nic then spent six years as a strength coach at a high school. Nic took pride in helping young athletes better themselves, but he also wanted to improve his own fitness. “I’ve trained for 5k and 10k road races and warrior dashes, and I’ve done competitive bench press competitions,” says Nic.

“I may make the switch to bodybuilding in the future, but we will have to wait and see.”

Clearly an athlete, Nic’s latest challenge has been competing in physique. He placed 2nd at the 2012 NPC Denver Novice and Masters Championships, and 4th as a novice at the Max Muscle Mile High Natural Championships.

His competitive future was looking bright when calamity struck. As he and his fiancee were waking across the street, they were hit by a taxi. Nic suffered severe neuromuscular damage which inhibited his speech and made even basic movements like walking up and down stairs very painful. His physical issues lasted for three months, and he had to back out of a show 8 weeks before he was scheduled to compete.

Undaunted by his setback, Nic recovered and continued to compete. In 2013, he placed 9th in the open division of the Colorado State Championships. For his future fitness endeavors, Nic is prepared to bring his best-ever self to the stage. “I may make the switch to bodybuilding in the future, but we will have to wait and see,” he says.

Nic’s Nutrition Program

Nic’s nutrition philosophy is based upon the “If It Fits Your Macros” approach. His greatest success has come from not over-complicating his diet. He focuses on eating healthy foods every day, but doesn’t deprive himself, especially during the off season. “If I want to have a Pop-Tart, I’ll have one,” says Nic. “I know that my approach doesn’t look like all of the other guys, but it works for me and I am happy with the results I get.”

Using this approach, Nic has been able to stay leaner in the off season without losing any muscle mass.

As stage day draws nearer, the indulgences are far less frequent. Other than cutting some indulgences near a competition, Nic’s diet stays pretty much the same in and out of season.

Nic’s Training Program

The guiding principle behind Nic’s training program is constant change. He rarely does the same workouts twice, so his body never knows what’s coming and he stays excited about his training.

When aiming to build mass in the off-season, Nic does heavy lifts in straight sets. As contest season nears, he changes his regimen to include more supersets, trisets, and dropsets to keep his heart rate up and burn more fat.

Below is a sample training week that Nic might follow. After doing this workout routine, he may not repeat the same sessions for another 4 or 5 weeks. All rest periods are kept to around 60 seconds, with the exception of legs and shoulders, which is taken to 90 seconds rest between sets.

“As contest season nears, he changes his regimen to include more supersets, trisets, and dropsets to keep his heart rate up and burn more fat.”

Nic’s Supplement Program

When selecting a supplement to use, Nic looks for two primary factors: cost and taste.

Because of his previous results and enthusiasm for iSatori, when he reached out to iSatori, he was quickly invited to become a brand rep on the Bodybuilding.com forums, and now he gets all the great-tasting supplements he enjoys.

His stack isn’t huge, though. “I base my diet on lean gains rather than going for an all-out ‘dirty bulk,’ so I don’t need much beyond my diet and training,” says Nic. “I’m really liking how Bio-Gro is helping me with adding lean mass without additional calories.”

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Vital Stats

Name: Greg Robins, CPT
Education: University of Massachusetts Boston
Occupation: Strength and Conditioning Coach at Cressey Performance
Twitter: @CoachGregRobbins
Website: thestrengthhouse.com
Location: Hudson, MA

Gaining weight can be incredibly difficult and stressful for certain people. For these folks, commonly called “hardgainers,” adding even a little size can seem like a monumental task. Personally, I’m skeptical about the extent of this difficulty. From my time in the military to setting recent personal powerlifting goals, I’ve had my fair share of experiences gaining healthy weight.

At my lowest weight of 173 in the military, I had the energy of a bull and personal bests that included a 435-pound deadlift, a 315-pound squat, and a 285-pound bench press. Later, when I flew up to 230 pounds, these same lifts shot up over one hundred pounds apiece, and I still boast a better-than-average work capacity.

Over the years, I’ve learned that tackling any goal comes down to being honest, acknowledging how much work it will take, and pushing through that work. If you’re a hardgainer who wants to gain weight, you probably won’t feel hungry all the time, but you’ll still have to eat. If you really want to grow, you need to silence your fears of getting fat, of your performance suffering, and of eating 100 percent clean.

“Gaining weight can be difficult and stressful. With proper training and willingness to do the work, you can build quality muscle and add healthy size.”

I don’t care how hard it is for you to gain weight. With proper training and willingness to do the work, you can build quality muscle and add healthy size. Do you have the courage to actually step outside your comfort zone and get something done? If you want to grow, start with these seven tips!

1 Use data over guesswork

The guessing game and going by “feel” never give you an accurate picture of what you eat on a daily basis. So do the math and figure it out!

Write down your daily diet in a notebook or food-tracking mobile app, crunch the numbers, and seek help if you need additional eyes. You may be surprised by what you find. Perhaps you thought you ate 3,300 calories one day when, in fact, you ate only 2,900. That’s a 400-calorie difference that can add up overtime.

“Write down your daily diet in a notebook or food-tracking mobile app, crunch the numbers, and seek help if you need additional eyes.”

Often, you just need something as visual as a food log for a couple weeks to fully grasp what you put into your diet—or not, in many cases.

Action point: Spend at least one month writing down your meals, snacks, and calories of any form that touch your lips. This serves as a mental exercise to get yourself used to eyeballing portion sizes and grasping the frequency and size of the meals you can consistently suck in on a daily basis.

Take advantage of this experimental period to tweak your diet according to results and how you feel, and learn how your body responds. For example, if you haven’t been gaining as much muscle as you’d like, check your protein intake to see if it’s adequate; if not, bump it up by increasing protein portion size or shift foods around a bit. One gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is a solid daily target.

One month is all you need to get a good picture of your caloric intake, but if you feel like it really helps, by all means, continue doing it until you can confidently start assembling meals through approximation and still achieve the results you want.

Just be sure to avoid getting consumed by the idea that you need to count every calorie all the time.

2 Add calorie bonuses in addition to planned meals

Hardgainers don’t gain weight for a slew of reasons. Chief among them is that they don’t sneak in enough extra calories into their diet. Finding something to add as a surplus source of quick and easy calories is clutch for major gains.

Sure, this might be easier said than done, but it’s a matter of identifying foods and recipes that are calorie-dense but light on stomach space. These foods include nut butters, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, grass-fed butters, honey, full-fat coconut milk, and full-fat Greek yogurt. Some other viable options consist of drinking milk throughout the day, making peanut butter and (insert your choice of condiment) sandwiches, homemade 1,000-calorie protein shakes, and homemade energy bars or “cookies.”

“Finding something to add as a surplus source of quick and easy calories is clutch for major gains.”

Once you figure out the foods which bloat the calorie count but not the stomach, plan to put them into your meals. That means making things in advance, thinking ahead, and having foods like full-fat Greek yogurt and nut butters within arm’s reach and ready. Don’t be lazy about it.

More calories = more growth, so pack on the calories and cram them in where you can.

Action point: one of my favorite quick and easy snacks

1. Grab a jar of all-natural peanut butter (none of that added sugar and oils funny business!) and empty it into a bowl.
2. Add two or three scoops of quality protein powder, a little honey to taste, and about 1/2 cup of dried oats.
3. Add just enough water to make it mixable but not soupy at all.
4. Mix all together.
5. Separate into little balls that can hold together and refrigerate.
6. Eat one with each of your meals over the next few days.

Other good options include many awesome high protein recipes by Protein Powder Chef, Anna Sward.

3 You need to eat carbs (yes, even the starchy ones)

This tip seems pretty straightforward, but you’d be surprised by how many people ask me why they’re not gaining weight when their only carbohydrate sources come from vegetables, trace amounts of sugars, fruits, and legumes.

I’m not saying to go completely crazy on trashy carbohydrates, but your body will gain better results from additional carb sources such as rice, oats, sweet potatoes, and—dare I say it—bread. This is especially true with heavy weightlifting, since carbs are needed to replenish glycogen stores that a particularly grueling lifting session devours. Some studies suggest that timing the majority of your starches around when you train may shunt unnecessary fat storage. For example, eat these starches either pre- or post-workout.

Action point: Add two bananas, a bowl of oatmeal (one cup measured uncooked), or half a cup of rice (measured uncooked) to your post-training meals.

4 Fat is where it’s at

Fats are essential to your diet because they cushion your vital organs, help you digest certain types of vitamins, maintain optimum brain function, and more. Plus, fats are the easiest way to add extra calories. Fat sources are calorically dense, go down quickly, provide a lot of energy, and of course, they’re damn tasty. Before you go to town on heavy cream and lard, fats should come from quality sources, like raw nuts, sunflower seeds, nut butters, avocado, fattier cuts of meat, olive oil, real mayonnaise, and some cheese.

Fats should comprise most of your meals when you’re not training or close to training times.

Action points: things you can do to add more fats and thus more calories to your diet

• Liberally douse your veggies in grass-fed butter or olive oil.
• Pat some butter in your sweet potato.
• Add extra olive oil in your marinara sauce.
• Use real mayonnaise in your sandwiches.
• Eat a whole avocado with your meal (they go with everything!).
• Snack on macadamia nuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, and any of the other more nutrient-dense nuts throughout the day.

5 Eat faster

Before your body has the chance to feel satiated, fill ‘er up! If you eat too slowly, you give your brain a chance to catch up on your stomach’s actual satiety levels, which is usually about a 20-minute delay. When you sit down to eat, start shoveling as much food as you comfortably can into your gaping maw. That means the opposite of what most weight loss experts will tell you. Never put your utensils down during your meal.

Action point: Make it a point to eat your meals with training buddies or friends who eat more food than you do. That way it becomes sort of a competition. It also puts “eating a lot” into a humbling perspective when you can see how much other people eat in comparison to yourself.

6 Drink more calories

Chewing takes work and time. Drink your calories whenever you can, whether that ends up being milk, coconut water, or a simple shake. Big, nutritional shakes you make at home are the real moneymaker here. You can add extra calories from coconut milk, nut butters, high-quality protein powders, and fistfuls of greens to make that shake give you both weight and nutritional gains.

Action point: Drink beverages like coconut milk, milk, or coconut water with each meal.

7 Have a positive relationship with your food

Far too often, people get consumed by the act of eating that they forget to savor food and view food as more than just numbers. Learn to cook, enjoy your food, and stop eating alone.

Having a positive relationship with food will do wonders for the poor habits you don’t even realize are taking place. It’s often the negative association that stems from the “need to eat” and makes hardgainers less likely to be able to adhere to consuming more calories. In these cases, it just helps to have a friend to be there along the way.

Action point: Plan to have dinner with a friend at least twice each week over the next month. As I already mentioned, try to make plans with friends who aren’t afraid to say yes to two entrees or second (or even third) helpings!

Do you have any other weight-gaining secrets to share with other hardgainers? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Hardgainer’s Guide To Muscle Building!

Every hardgainer is looking to add muscle. This guide will focus on the types of weight training, cardio and nutrition needed to meet your goals.

How To Go From Bones To Buff In Just 30 Days!

For someone struggling to gain mass, a different approach must be taken. Here are the benefits of a 30-day program for ectomorphs. Check it out!