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PowerliftingToWin Presents:
EatingToWin by Izzy Narvaez
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NOTICE!
Israel Narvaez is not a medical doctor, licensed nutritionist, or registered dietician and the information contained herein should not be taken as medical advice. These are only recommendations. These recommendations should NOT be taken as medical advice, nor are they intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any health problem. Recommendations by Israel Narvaez are not intended to replace the advice of a physician or health professional. Please consult your physician or a health professional before beginning any diet or exercise program.
This book may not be reproduced or recorded in any form without express written permission from the author. Copyright 2015 by Israel Narvaez. All Rights Reserved.
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Table of Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................................ 6 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 7 About PowerliftingToWin ................................................................................................................... 7 Introducing EatingToWin ............................................................................................................. 11 About the Author ........................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1: The Context of “EatingToWin” ...................................................................................... 14 Chapter 2: Performance Enhancement ........................................................................................... 16 Eat to Win........................................................................................................................................ 16 Chapter 3: Weight Class Management............................................................................................. 20 Weight Classes ................................................................................................................................ 20 Picking Your Weight Class ............................................................................................................ 20 Chapter 4: Body Fat Management.................................................................................................... 25 Why We Have to Manage Body Fat .............................................................................................. 25 Cutting and Bulking ....................................................................................................................... 27 Measuring Body Fat ....................................................................................................................... 31 Body Fat, Weight Class, and Competition ................................................................................... 34 Overall Recommendations for Managing Weight ...................................................................... 34 Chapter 5: Weight Cut Management................................................................................................ 36 EatingToWin Recap ....................................................................................................................... 36 Weight Cutting................................................................................................................................ 36 Weight Cutting in the Competitive Context ................................................................................ 38 Chapter 6: Putting The Big Picture Together ................................................................................. 40 Summary: The “Why” of EatingToWin ........................................................................................ 40 EatingToWin ................................................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 7: The Nutritional Hierarchy of Importance ................................................................... 41 The Fundamentals of Nutrition.................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 8: Energy Balance................................................................................................................ 42 Calories are King ............................................................................................................................ 42 The Correct Caloric Intake............................................................................................................ 43 Proper Rates of Weight Gain and Weight Loss ........................................................................... 45 Weight Loss Rates ...................................................................................................................... 46 Weight Gain Rates ...................................................................................................................... 46
4 Making Caloric Adjustments ........................................................................................................ 47 My Personal Caloric Adjustment Rules ....................................................................................... 49 Chapter 9: Macronutrition................................................................................................................ 50 Macros ............................................................................................................................................. 50 Protein............................................................................................................................................. 51 Fat .................................................................................................................................................... 54 Carbohydrates ................................................................................................................................ 55 The Relative Importance of Energy Balance and Macronutrition ........................................... 57 Chapter 10: Meal Frequency ............................................................................................................ 58 Meal Frequency .............................................................................................................................. 58 Meal Frequency Recommendations ............................................................................................ 59 Chapter 11: Nutrient Timing ............................................................................................................ 60 Carbohydrate Timing .................................................................................................................... 60 Setting Up “High Carb Days” ......................................................................................................... 62 Summary: EatingToWin “High Carb Days” ................................................................................. 63 Fat Timing ....................................................................................................................................... 63 Protein Timing ............................................................................................................................... 64 The Relative Importance of Nutrient Timing and Meal Frequency ......................................... 64 Chapter 12: Micronutrition .............................................................................................................. 65 Does “Eating Healthy” Matter? ..................................................................................................... 65 Practical Micronutrition Recommendations.............................................................................. 66 Relative Importance of Micronutrition....................................................................................... 68 Chapter 13: Supplementation .......................................................................................................... 69 Do Supplements Matter?............................................................................................................... 69 Supplements with Strong Support ............................................................................................... 70 Supplements with Weaker Support ............................................................................................ 77 Chapter 14: The EatingToWin Nutrition System Summary.......................................................... 81 Chapter 15: An Example of the EatingToWin System.................................................................... 84 Chapter 16: How to Cut Water Weight ............................................................................................ 88 Water Intake Manipulation .......................................................................................................... 88 Sodium Manipulation .................................................................................................................... 89 Carbohydrate Intake Manipulation ............................................................................................. 90 Food Weight Manipulation ........................................................................................................... 91
5 Supplements ................................................................................................................................... 92 Supplement Template ................................................................................................................... 94 Dehydration Tactics ...................................................................................................................... 94 Sauna Protocol ............................................................................................................................... 96 The EatingToWin Weight Cutting Protocol ................................................................................ 96 Chapter 17: Frequently Asked Questions ....................................................................................... 99 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 100
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Foreword Optimal Training is Holistic
While I personally believe that any approach to powerlifting that pretends to be optimal must be holistic in nature, please understand that this book is only going to cover nutrition. Again, I personally believe that addressing programming, technique, psychology, supplementation, and a variety of other variables are absolutely mandatory in constructing a truly optimal plan for any individual. That said, this is not an all-encompassing resource.
If You Want More than Nutriton…
If you’d like more information on the aforementioned topics, please visit PowerliftingToWin.com. The content on PowerliftingToWin.com is of equal quality to what you’ll find in this book. With everything I do, I endeavor to ensure it lives up to the PowerliftingToWin namesake. I believe you’ll find that to be the case as well. If, in particular, you’d like more information on Powerlifting Programming, check out our previous book: ProgrammingToWin.
Alternatively, if you’d like a customized, personalized training package which covers programming, nutrition, technique, psychology and more, all specifically tailored to your personal needs, please contact me for more information about my coaching services.
Thank YOU for Your Time and Consideration
Finally, I’d like to thank you for downloading EatingToWin. I have full faith that you will find the contents herein especially worthy of your time and consideration. As I have said elsewhere, PowerliftingToWin’s information is free and always will be. If you find this content to be of particular value to you personally, please consider making a donation to support the continued of PowerliftingToWin.
I believe in freedom of information and I believe in the goodness of people. As such, I trust that those of you who are in a position to make a contribution will do so if you find the material worthy. Likewise, I am incredibly happy that those of you who are not in a position to make a contribution can still enjoy this content freely. I take great pride in that fact. If you can’t show monetary support, but you’d still like to show your appreciation for my work, please consider sharing this information with your lifting friends. I cannot overstate the enormous impact that Facebook shares, forum posts, and the YouTube community at large have had on the growth and success of PowerliftingToWin. Without all of your social media love, this project would have died a long time ago. If you want to see it keep going, sharing the information with as many people as possible is even more valuable for the survival of PowerliftingToWin than a donation. Of course, any support you show is deeply appreciated!
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I Owe Everything To YouTube
I know I haven’t been as active on YouTube as I have in the past, but the reality remains the same: without YouTube PowerliftingToWin never would have come into existence. YouTube provided both the inspiration for this project and the required social momentum to get the project out there for people to actually see. Thanks so much for the support YouTube!
Long live the Tubes!
Have a nice day my friends, Izzy Narvaez www.PowerliftingToWin.com
Introduction About PowerliftingToWin PowerliftingToWin Is A Movement
PowerliftingToWin is a rebellion against the idea that maximal strength at all costs is the entire point of the sport of powerlifting. The point of any sport is competition. Competition exists to determine who the best athlete truly is. While strength is the largest component of what determines the best powerlifter, it is not the only component.
Powerlifting and Stereotypes
Far too often the average bystander conflates powerlifting with tremendously huge, tremendously fat men who both wear gear, including strange squat suits and bench shirts, and who take gear including anabolic steroids, growth hormone, and a variety of other performance enhancing drugs. While this is certainly one form of powerlifting, and an attractive form to many people, far too often the average bystander isn’t aware of the myriad of competitive options that powerlifting offers. The reality of the situation is that the world’s largest powerlifting organization is the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF). The IPF has nearly 100,000 member athletes. Of more importance, the IPF is a drug-free organization that supports a large deal of “raw” lifters (those who train without special suits and shirts). Unbeknownst to many, these natural, raw lifters are tremendous athletes who are, for the most part, healthy, strong, and relatively lean. You don’t have to be fat or take drugs to participate in powerlifting.
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Photo: www.powerlifting-ipf.com
Meaningful Powerlifting Competition
Not only that, but the IPF is the only organization in the world that consistently offers meaningful competition across all genders and age groups. That’s right: the IPF supports the sport’s largest, by far, women’s and master’s divisions. Anybody of any age, race, creed, or sex can compete for meaningful national and world championships in the IPF. In fact, the IPF was recently invited to partake in the World Games in 2008. This offered athletes the opportunity to win Gold medals for their country – an experience simply unavailable to any other organization or any other type of powerlifter. Further still, the IPF hosts a World Championship every single year. IPF Worlds is the only legitimate, unified world championship in the sport of powerlifting today. While the contest allows only drug-tested lifters, there is virtually no argument in the powerlifting community as to whom the best drug-tested, raw lifters are: they are the IPF World Champions. Every other form of powerlifting is so splintered and scattered that you’ll almost never get to see the best athletes go head to head.
Mike Tuchscherer brings home the gold for the USA! Photo: jtsstrength.com
What’s my point in all of this? PowerliftingToWin exists to promote the sport as a real sport and not merely as a gimmick to show off maximal strength. With the IPF, YOU, regardless of your demographics, have the opportunity to win a gold medal in a meaningful world championship. With the IPF, YOU,
9 regardless of your demographics, can set meaningful state, national, and world records. With the IPF, YOU, regardless of your demographics, have access to serious competition to test your mettle as an athlete.
This Book Is For Athletes And that is exactly the idea that PowerliftingToWin promotes: powerlifters are athletes. As such, the information presented in the following book will be coming from a frame of reference that targets athletes who are doing their best to compete and win. Even if you choose to compete outside of the IPF, and regardless of whether you are currently competitive at a local level, state level, regional level, national level, or even international level, PowerliftingToWin is about providing strategies and practices that maximize your opportunities for success as an athlete. PowerliftingToWin is not necessarily about getting huge or maximizing your strength at all costs; PowerliftingToWin is about… powerlifting… to… win. You are an athlete and this resource is dedicated to helping you improve as much as is possible at the actual sport of powerlifting.
10 IPF World’s:
Here Randy Zhou (left), Brett Gibbs (middle), and Jonnie Candito (right) represent the 83kg Juniors at IPF World’s. Photo: Courtesy of Jonnie Candito
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Getting Started with Competition
To find out more about the IPF, visit their website. If you’d like information on finding a powerlifting meet near you, PowerliftingWatch is a fantastic resource.
Introducing EatingToWin What is EatingToWin?
EatingToWin is the second installment in a series of mini eBooks that PowerliftingToWin has been producing. In the first installment, ProgrammingToWin, we took a look at what I consider to be optimal programmatic practices for your first few years in the sport. While programming is certainly a massively important aspect of powerlifting, nutrition is probably equally important. Which is more important? Well, which is the more important bodily organ: your brain or your heart? Both. Both? Exactly. While I do not claim to be the world’s foremost authority on nutrition, I do claim that nutrition is simply not as dauntingly complicated as some would have you believe. I’ve made a tremendous amount of mistakes, nutritionally speaking, at least in part due to the misinformation surrounding nutrition in the powerlifting community. With EatingToWin, I simply endeavor to provide you with a simple, easy-to-use framework that will allow you to make steady, consistent nutritional progress alongside your lifting program. I want to help beginners avoid the traps of becoming needlessly fat and/or being too paranoid to add any weight whatsoever. I want you to walk away from this reading with a big picture understanding of what you’re trying to do with powerlifting nutrition and how you’re going to go about doing it.
About the Author My Background
For those who aren’t already somewhat familiar with me, my name is Izzy Narvaez. I have been actively competing in Powerlifting for four years. My best lifts in competition are a 551lbs/250kg squat, a 320lbs/145kg bench, and a 535lbs/242.5kg deadlift. Although, at the time of this writing, I am pace to break all of my PRs in a meet I am participating in next weekend.
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Izzy Squats 551lbs/250kg
I am a former Starting Strength Certified coach, a former gym owner, and I have hands-on practical experience training dozens of novices through linear progression. Over the past year, I have also opened an online coaching practice that has allowed me to work with approximately fifty athletes from the complete beginner level all the way to those vying for National Championships in their respective countries.
My Experience
Frankly, although I coach athletes on a daily basis, I consider myself an athlete first and foremost. Most of my knowledge on the subject of nutrition was essentially born of necessity. I had to figure out how to make myself more competitive. I had to figure out how to cut weight in order to maximize my chances to win. In other words, virtually everything I’m recommending here I’ve put into practice both on myself and on dozens of clients.
13 Perhaps like many of you, when I initially started powerlifting, I was counseled to eat everything in sight. This worked very well for strength gains, but, unfortunately, of course, it works even better for fat accumulation. Being an athlete, having the dedication to lose the weight wasn’t really the challenge. The challenge was figuring out how to lose the weight without dropping my hard earned strength. Far too many lifters in powerlifting are paranoid about losing strength while “cutting”. Well, in this book, I’m going to reveal to you the EXACT strategies I used to GAIN STRENGTH while losing approximately 100lbs of body weight. I’m going to show you how I cut from 163lbs to 148lbs in a single day for a 24 hour weigh-in. Look, I’m not going to hold anything back. EatingToWin is a compilation of all the best strategies, ideas, and concepts that I’ve borrowed, developed, and put into practice during my time in powerlifting. The ideas in this book have been drawn from some of the top coaches in the world who I’ve had the privilege of working with personally. The ideas in this book have been tested on myself and dozens of my clients. In other words, to the best of my personal knowledge and experience, which is of course limited (as is anyone’s), these are the optimal nutritional practices that will help drive your training to the next level. I hope you learn something new and I hope you benefit immensely in your training. Enjoy!
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Chapter 1: The Context of “EatingToWin”
Introduction Nutrition in and of itself is a subject with vast and near limitless depth. When writing any snippet, article, essay, or book about nutrition, first and foremost, one must define scope. The reality is that optimal nutrition is highly contextual. What is your age, gender, activity level, medical status, and what are your goals? These are only a few of the myriad questions that must be asked, and answered, in order for an optimal nutrition strategy to be developed. As a powerlifting coach, catering nutritional plans to each individual is a key component of my job. However, in the case of this book, because I have neither the inclination nor the ability to cover the broad spectrum of optimal nutrition for all populations, please understand that the information contained in this book is explicitly aimed at powerlifters. And not just any powerlifter, but the powerlifter who seeks to optimize his nutrition specifically for competitive purposes.
Powerlifting World Record Holders Dan Green and Jesse Norris understand the importance of maximizing nutrition for powerlifting success.
Ultimately, the best diet in the world is completely worthless if you cannot adhere to its protocols based on your current life circumstances. Again, because I cannot possibly accommodate all the various possible life circumstances, this book is going to be written to a caricature of the hardcore competitive powerlifter. I am going to assume that you have no compliance problems with any of the protocols presented. In other words, I am going to assume, whether it is realistic or not, that your nutrition is one of the top priorities in your life and that you are willing to sacrifice where necessary in terms of your economics, social life, and overall willingness to discipline yourself
EatingToWin: The Goal
With all that said, EatingToWin is going to attempt to present you a practical, workable approach to optimizing your nutrition throughout your competitive career as a powerlifter. The book is designed to
15 guide you all the way to the advanced stages where, realistically, you’ll begin to need a highly individualized approach for optimal results. At that point, you might want to consider a coach. Before we can start laying down the groundwork for HOW to go about optimizing your nutrition for powerlifting, we have to establish WHAT exactly it is that we are trying to do and WHY we are trying to do it. First of all, the primary point of ANY sport-related activity for the powerlifter should be simple: increase your chance to win. Nutrition is no different. A powerlifter can increase his chances to win through nutrition in two primary ways: 1) Performance Enhancement 2) Weight Class Management
The goal is to win!
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Chapter 2: Performance Enhancement
Eat to Win Our relationship with food can often be a complex mixture of social, emotional, and biological needs. While I couldn’t even begin to cover the immensity of the previous statement, for the powerlifter, this relationship is theoretically simplified. The point of nutrition is to increase their performance in the gym and on the platform while maximizing their placing at any given meet. For a powerlifter, food is fuel. With this simple fact established, the question then becomes what precisely are the optimal types and amounts of fuel to optimize performance for the powerlifter. Well, as many lifters intuitively know, or at least quickly figure out, for the most part, the more fuel, the better. Now there are certainly limitations to this idea, but, without delving too deep into specifics at this point, the more a powerlifter eats, the better they’re going to perform.
Why We Want a Caloric Surplus
While there are countless reasons this is the case, in my opinion, perhaps the most important is that eating more tends to put you in a caloric surplus. Simply stated, a caloric surplus is when you consume more energy than you burn off during the day; a caloric surplus is when you consume more calories than you expend.
Arnold doing his best to create a caloric surplus
17 When you’re in a caloric surplus, your body has all the necessary energy it needs to maintain all important bodily functions, repair damaged tissues, build new tissues using the surplus material, and, to top it all off, store the rest of the excess energy for a rainy day. From a powerlifter’s perspective, a caloric surplus is ideal because the surplus allows the powerlifter to synthesize new muscle proteins and repair damage caused by previous workouts along with a host of other benefits. Because of the recovery benefits of a surplus, a powerlifter can train more frequently and with more overall training volume. Because of the increase in new muscle tissues (and other positive adaptations), the powerlifter can lift more weight as well. The increased frequency of training, alongside the additional training volume, increase both the rate at which adaptation can occur AND the size of each new adaptation. The more you train, the more frequently the body is forced to adapt. The more stress-recovery-adaptation cycles the body is put through, the larger the cumulative adaptation will be. For more on the stress-recovery-adaptation cycle, and other training related issues, check out ProgrammingToWin.
Stress—>Recovery—>Adaptation. This is how your performance increases over time. Photo: Practical Programming 3rd Edition, Mark Rippetoe, Aasgaard Co. 2014.
You see, there is a positive feedback loop from training while in a caloric surplus. Because of the increase in training frequency and training volume, the powerlifter increases their neuromuscular efficiency and builds more muscle. Due to these positive adaptations, the next time the powerlifter goes to lift, they’ll be able to handle more weight and do more volume. As a result, they’ll build even more muscle and become even more efficient. Guess what happens next workout? That’s right! The positive feedback loop is in full effect.
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More Fuel Means More Mileage: Eat More to Train More
Beyond the physiological changes that take place from training while in a caloric surplus, at an even simpler level, as we’ve already stated, the more food you’re eating, the more energy substrate you have in your system while training. In simple terms, the more fuel you have in the car, the longer you can drive the car. Training works the same way. When you’re eating more food, you can train longer and harder. Of particular importance is your carbohydrate intake. You see, dietary carbohydrates tend to be stored in the body as glycogen. For strength athletes, glycogen is of enormous importance to training quality. Glycogen is used to help create ATP (adrenosinetriphosphate) which is used, at a molecular level, to fuel anaerobic activity (among other things). If you run out of glycogen during intense activity, your ability to quickly regenerate ATP is severely compromised.
Here is an oversimplified version of how you fuel Anaerobic activity. Photo: http://www.fsps.muni.cz/
What this all means is that you won’t be able to do as many reps per set, you won’t be able to do as many sets total, and, often, you won’t be able to train with the same overall intensity. Additionally, you have to keep in mind that, in order to store each gram of glycogen, the body must also store approximately 3-4g of water. When your glycogen stores are full, you’re going to carry several additional pounds of water in your muscles. While the performance benefit behind this isn’t as significant as adding new muscle tissue, the increased size improves your leverage under the bar allowing you to lift more weight. This is similar to the positive cellular hydration benefits of the supplement creatine.
19 From a physiological perspective, as a powerlifter, there are direct and indirect performance benefits, both in terms peak power production and the ability to sustain more training in general, to keeping glycogen stores as full as possible.
The picture on the left is with full glycogen storage and the picture on the right is only partial glycogen depletion. Even the visual difference is noticeable let alone the cellular difference.
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Chapter 3: Weight Class Management
Weight Classes Now, after hearing the above information, you may be wondering why a powerlifter wouldn’t want to just stay in a caloric surplus all year. The answer lies in the fact that powerlifting is a weight class sport and weight class sports require weight management. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of weight classes, they are essentially just a competitive practice used to increase fairness. Here are the current weight classes in powerlifting:
Let’s say that you’re a 182lbs athlete. As you can see, in most federations, you’re above the 181lbs weight class limit. That means you’re technically in the 198lbs weight class. You’ll be competing against athletes who weighed between ~182lbs and 198lbs. If you’re an IPF athlete, you’ll be just under the limit for the 183lbs weight class and you’ll be competing against athletes who weighed between at ~164lbs and 183lbs.
Picking Your Weight Class Of course, intuitively, the next question to ask is how do I know which weight class is right for me? To answer this question, we need to take a brief detour to talk about what actually contributes to your overall strength in powerlifting. Now, this is actually an insanely long list of factors: 1) neuromuscular efficiency, 2) neuromuscular coordination, 3) muscle insertion points along the tendons, 4) muscle cross-
21 sectional area, 5) training specificity, and a whole host of other factors that generally fall under the umbrella of general genetic aptitude. Given the above complexity in determining someone’s aptitude for powerlifting, let’s keep our focus on the primary factor relating to nutrition: muscle cross-sectional area. That’s right, bro; the size of your muscles is one determinant of how much you can lift! Part of the point powerlifting nutrition, if you will recall, is to increase the size of your muscles.
The Bigger Athlete is usually the Stronger Athlete
Here is the critical takeaway: While all other things are never equal, assuming everything else about two athletes was exactly the same, whoever had the bigger muscles would lift more weight. Again, this is critical to keep in mind. Why? Well, there is one athlete in the world that has everything in common with you… you! Assuming your training is on point, the more muscle you add the stronger you will be. While you cannot directly compare to other athletes because of the complexity in determining what someone’s max strength on the powerlifts will be, you can maximize your chances by manipulating the variables that are under your control. Namely, you want to be in the weight class that allows you to carry the most muscle as a percentage of that weight class. Let’s take a look at a few case studies to understand why.
Hypothetical “Case Study” Context: Understanding LBM
In order to make my next points more salient, we need to talk about the concept of LBM (Lean Body Mass). Simply put, LBM is all the non-fat mass of your body. This includes muscle, bone, blood, skin, organs, etc.
Lean body mass! Photo: builtlean.com
If we know an athlete’s body fat percentage, we can use their total weight to determine how much LBM they’re carrying. This can give us a very rough idea of how much muscle they carry. For example, if an athlete is 200lbs and 10% body fat, we know that they carry 180lbs of LBM. In the following head-to-head match-ups of different athletes, I want you to try and predict who would be the winner in a powerlifting meet.
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Hypothetical #1: The Fat Athlete vs. The Lean Athlete
Now, for most of you, it is probably obvious which athlete is going to win this contest. Both athletes are the same weight and the same height. Considering both athletes are likely to have similar leverages and ranges of motion, unless there are HUGE neurological discrepancies, the second athlete is going to dominate the first because he likely has far more muscle mass. Being fat severely hurts your competitiveness. As such, you need to compete at a relatively lean body fat percentage in order to maximize your chances.
Hypothetical #2: Taller vs. Shorter Athlete
As you can see, in this instance, both athletes have the exact same body weight, body fat percentage, and LBM. However, you might have intuitively guessed that the shorter athlete was at an advantage here. Usually, the advantage of a taller athlete over a smaller athlete is that they can carry more overall muscle mass. In most sports, the taller athlete isn’t just taller; they tend to weigh more and they tend to be bigger in general. When lifting weights, this usually more than makes up for the fact that the smaller athlete has shorter limbs and a shorter range of motion. This is why we have weight classes, after all. However, in this case, not only does the shorter lifter have a smaller range of motion, but he also clearly has more muscle mass too. Why? Even though the LBM is the same here, more of the taller athlete’s LBM is composed of skeleton mass, blood, organs, skin, etc. Because the shorter athlete has a smaller frame, more of his LBM is going to be composed of muscle. The shorter athlete now has a range of motion advantage, a leverage advantage, and they also have more muscle. Unless the taller athlete is supremely gifted when it comes to the neurological side of the equation, he will most likely be dominated by the shorter athlete. What this hypothetical reveals to us is that you need to try and maximize the amount of muscle you carry relative to your weight class. Even though the taller athlete is VERY lean, his lack of overall mass puts him at a disadvantage versus the shorter lifter. Just being lean isn’t enough. Now, this isn’t totally his fault. It takes a lot of time to build a lot of muscle. However, what we can learn is that, in the long run, we want to try and gain enough muscle, while staying relatively lean, that we are one of the shortest athletes in our weight class.
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Hypothetical #3: The Smaller Athlete vs. The Bigger Athlete
Now, this is perhaps our most interesting hypothetical yet. These two athletes are the same height, and they have the same body fat percentage, but they don’t weigh the same. In fact, this hypothetical is almost more interesting if you pretend that Athlete A and Athlete B are the same athlete – just at different points in their career. Who is likely to be more competitive in their weight class: Athlete A or Athlete B? Well, if you’re following the logic and the example set in our second case study, you should be voting for Athlete B. Why? Because, again, he is carrying a higher percentage of muscle relative to the weight class limit. He is likely to possess a larger leverage, range of motion, and total muscle mass advantage over his competitors than his former self does in the lighter weight class. He’s more likely to be one of the shortest and one of the most “jacked” athletes in his weight class. He’ll be more likely be the athlete with the most muscle mass in the entire division. This gives him his best shot to win.
Case Study #4: Top of the Class vs. Bottom of the Class
This is an interesting example because although these athletes have almost the exact same stats, they wouldn’t compete against each other in a meet. Why? Well, they’re in separate weight classes. In all of our previous examples, the athlete with more muscle has the best chance to win. However, in this example, that is not the case. Why? Well, because Athlete B is actually at the bottom of his weight class, he’s most likely at a major disadvantage versus the other athletes in his weight class. For example, even though he’s 10% body fat and has a lean body mass of 163.8, a 198lbs athlete with a body fat percentage of 17% is going to have a bit more muscle and still be in the same weight class (198*.83=164.3)! Imagine the advantage athletes who are at the weight class limit, but who AREN’T fat might have. For example, let’s consider 198lbs athlete with 10% body fat: 198*.9=178.2. In this case, despite being lean, despite having muscle, Athlete B still might have ~15lbs less muscle than someone at the top of his weight class. Now, the conclusion to draw from this case study is by far the most nuanced yet. At first glance, it might appear that you don’t want to move up weight classes, ever. However, that isn’t quite correct because we’ve already noted, in Hypothetical #3, that if you CAN fill out to the top of a weight class, you’re going
24 to take your game to the next level. As we’ve seen in Hypothetical #4 though, in some cases, moving up weight classes too soon can be a mistake. We’re going to discuss the conundrum of getting caught “between weight classes” like this in more depth later, but, for now, just keep in mind that, if at all possible, it makes more sense to be at the top of your weight class rather than the bottom. In sum, this is why we want to carry as much muscle as possible relative to the weight class limit. This is going to involve being lean, being one the shorter athletes in the weight class, AND making sure we’re weighing in at the top of the weight class.
This picture features three World Record Holder’s from Right to Left: Chris Duffin (220lbs/100kg), Zahir Khudayarov (275lbs/125kg), and Dan Green (242lbs/110kg). None of these competitors are much taller than ~5’9” or ~175cm.
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Chapter 4: Body Fat Management
Why We Have to Manage Body Fat Let’s take a few steps back and summarize where we’re at in our quest to understand how best to manage our nutrition in powerlifting. First of all, we know it is highly desirable to be in a caloric surplus because this allows us to build more muscle, to recover more quickly from hard training, to have more fuel for high volume training sessions, and we can also keep our glycogen tanks on full. We also know that, in order to maximize our competitiveness within a weight class, we need to stay lean and we need to carry as much muscle as possible as a percentage of the weight class limit. In practical terms, we’d like to be the shortest, most muscular guy at the top of weight class we’re competing in. So, with this information, you might be thinking, well, the equation is simple. We just want to stay in a caloric surplus all year long while only adding muscle and never adding any fat. If only it were that easy.
The Importance of P-Ratio
“P-Ratio” (protein ratio) has to do with something called nutrient partitioning. As the name implies, and in overly simplified terms, the body partitions nutrients either towards protein synthesis or fat storage. There are numerous factors that determine what your actual P-Ratio is. The most important factor, unfortunately, is just genetics. Some people are blessed when it comes to the ability to synthesize new muscle proteins. For these people the ratio will be skewed further towards protein synthesis than for other people even absent training or proper nutrition.
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Here is the famous Arnold Schwarzenegger at only 16 years old. Some people are blessed.
However, EVERYONE can influence P-Ratio positively in three primary ways: 1) through their training, 2) through their nutrition and 3) through the use of drugs such as steroids. We aren’t going to discuss performance enhancing drugs, but I wanted to mention that fact for completeness and so that people understand muscle building is easier for the enhanced athlete. Through hard training, you provide an adaptive stimulus to the body that promotes muscle growth. I mean, this is the basis of all weight training, right? When you lift weights, you get stronger and you build bigger muscles. It works. Training only skews the rather further towards protein, though. If you optimize your nutrition, you can also skew the ratio towards protein. This primarily happens through ensuring an optimal dietary protein intake as well as an appropriate overall caloric intake. If you don’t eat enough protein or calories, you won’t maximize your muscle protein synthesis. On the other hand, if you eat too much, you’ll realize you can only build so much new muscle and the rest is simply stored as fat.
27 All this said, the main point I want to get across to you is this: No matter what you do, whenever you gain weight, a certain ratio is going to be fat gain. No matter what you do, whenever you lose weight, a certain ratio is going to be lean body mass loss.
Cutting and Bulking Even with perfect nutrition and training, you’re still likely to gain anywhere from 30-60% fat per pound gained. In other words, you simply cannot stay in a caloric surplus forever without getting fat. Eventually, it will happen. If you’re familiar with bodybuilding, this is why athletes traditionally have “cutting” and “bulking” periods.
Professional Bodybuilder Lee Priest taking the concept of cutting and bulking perhaps a bit too far.
Simply put, once the athlete reaches their maximal acceptable level of fatness, they initiate a diet or a weight loss period. This is called a “cut”. Athletes cut back down to a certain level of leanness that they’ve deemed appropriate and then they initiate a “bulk” or a weight gain period. The athlete then stays in a caloric surplus until they’ve reached that maximum level of fatness again. Guess what they do next? They cut. The point of this whole cyclical process is that, each time you finish a full cutting and bulking cycle, you should be starting off with more muscle than you had last time. Although a certain percentage of weight gain is always fat, and a certain percentage of weight loss is always lean body mass, if you cut and bulk properly, you should be able to come out with net positive amounts of muscle after each cut and bulk cycle.
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What Body Fat Levels Are Appropriate?
Of course the natural question to ask is what is the optimal body fat range for powerlifting? In other words, how do you know when to cut and bulk?
Example of various body fat percentages to give this section some context. Photo: builtlean.com
29 On the surface, you might think that the lowest body fat possible is going to be best. After all, the more muscle you carry as a percentage of the weight class, the bigger advantage you’re going to possess versus the competition. However, all athletes start to experience performance problems when they get too lean. The body simply isn’t designed to deliver peak performances while you’re in the mid-single digits of body fat percentage. The only real question here is how lean is too lean? Now, the problem with answering this particular question is that a significant amount of variation exists between athletes regarding the best body fat for them personally.
Functional Body Fat Range
You see, everyone has what you might call a “functional body fat range”. Inside this range, their performance in the gym is relatively normal, their body tends to gain and lose weight with a reasonable P-ratio, and, in general, they are healthy and hormonally balanced. However, outside of this functional range, things start to get whacky. For instance, if you get too fat, and go outside the top of this range, you’re going to experience worse and worse results in terms of your P-ratio. While there are many reasons this is the case, fat tends to be estrogenic; testosterone binds to it. The more fat you have, the worse your testosterone levels are going to be. This is going to have a direct impact on how well you synthesize new muscle tissue. Similarly, when you’re too lean, performance tends to plummet in the gym. Although I dislike the term “starvation mode”, it isn’t that inaccurate of a descriptor in terms of what your body goes through when you drop below your functional body fat threshold. You’ll be hungry all the time, psychological intensity will drop in your workouts, overall energy will be down, and you’ll start to lose more muscle per pound of body weight lost. In other words, much like getting too fat, getting too lean also worsens P-ratio for a complex variety of reasons. Not least of which is the fact that catabolizing muscle just starts to be more and more efficient when your fat stores become very low. Please keep in mind that these are overly simplified explanations for why P-ratio worsens at extreme levels of body fat (low or high).
So… What is the optimal level of body fat for powerlifting?
With all that said, your job, as a powerlifter, nutritionally speaking, is essentially to find and operate within your functional body fat range. For most athletes, a good estimate of this range is approximately 10-15% body fat for males and 18-23% for females. Once most athletes get too far below these levels, performance problems accelerate and you start losing a bit too much muscle tissue for further dieting to be practical.
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Examples of various body fat percentages for women Photo: builtlean.com
31 However, you must keep in mind that 10% will be too lean for some males and other men will be able to go as high as 18% without any ill effect. In order to be sure what your range actually is, you need to do several cut and bulk cycles. After each cutting period, note what body fat levels started to cause problems in terms of losing performance in the gym and also take note of where you seemed to start losing primarily muscle. From here, you can at least establish a reasonable minimum body fat level. Try not to cross below this threshold in the future. Once you have a reasonable minimum established, try not to go more than 4-6% above this level. The reason for this is that you don’t want to put yourself in a position where, in order to get down to your competitive weight, you need to diet for 4-6 months or more. Most powerlifters compete every 3-6 months at a minimum. If you need 6 months just to get in competitive shape, you’re going to greatly limit your opportunities to get on the platform, gain experience, and test whether or not your training is actually working.
Measuring Body Fat If you’re going to try and stay within specific body fat ranges, you need a way to measure your body fat. It is important to realize that there is no truly accurate method of measuring body fat except dissection. Raise your hand if you’re willing to die to get an “accurate” body fat measurement! No takers? Weird. While certain measurement systems are certainly more effective than others, all of them contain assumptions. Even the “gold standard” DEXA scan can be off by as much as 5% for particular individuals that fall outside the population a particular equation was developed for. 5% is our entire cutting and bulking range! Not only that, but you simply cannot take a DEXA scan every single week to make nutritional decisions.
DEXA scans are usually quite accurate, but you can’t use these on a regular basis which limits their utility for decision making purposes.
32 Ultimately, what we really need here is not accuracy but precision; we need something that is going to give us a reliable, repeatable measurement that we can then anchor to reality. To that end, I have two primary recommendations: take pictures and measure your waist around the belly button with a measuring tape. In particular, you might consider a MyoTape because they click once you’ve pulled them to a certain level of tightness. This increases precision.
The MyoTape.
The Mirror Method
The first and most reliable indicator of body fat is the mirror method. We can contort the numbers in a lot of ways, but if you have a pot belly, you’re probably not at a low body fat. Likewise, if you have veins on your six pack, you’re most likely pretty damn lean. This picture does a great job of helping us get a visual estimate of our body fat percentage:
33 In order to document the mirror method, simply take a weekly picture with your abs flexed. You can easily do this alone in the bathroom. Pictures allow us to make an impartial visual estimate while keeping a weekly record. This information can help you make decisions about when it is time to cut and when it is time to bulk. Make a note in your training logs of when your performance starts to drop significantly in the gym while on a cut. Take a look at your current pictures to get a visual reference for what might be your leanness limit.
Waist Circumference Method
While your waist measurement may not yield an accurate body fat %, it definitely gives you the cold hard truth of the situation. If you’re a fully grown male of average height, and your waist is 35-36”+, you probably need to start losing weight. Likewise, if you’re a fully grown male of average height, and your waist is ~30”, you’re probably not carrying a ton of fat. Obviously, waist measurement isn’t a perfect indicator, but it is one of those consistent, repeatable measurements that strongly correlates to body fat levels. If you notice that your performance in the gym starts cratering at a certain body fat level, check to see what your current waist measurement is. In the future, you can use this measurement as an indicator that you’re nearing your limits in terms of leanness. One waist measurement method that I’m fond of is the Navy Method. Again, this isn’t a super accurate method, but it only requires your height, neck circumference, and waist circumference. Females will also need hip circumference.
How to measure using the Navy Method Photo: scientificpsychic.com
Rather than taking the numbers it spits out as your accurate body fat level down to the decimal, again, simply use these numbers as anchor points for when you cut and bulk. In the future, you can use these objective measurements to make these decisions rather than playing games with yourself in the mirror. With objective measurements, you can take some of the self-questioning and waffling out of your cutting and bulking choices.
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Body Fat, Weight Class, and Competition Let’s return to our hypothetical case study model to put this into the context of competition.
As you can see, out of these two athletes one weighs ~190lbs at 15% body fat and the other weighs ~195lbs at 15% body fat. If these athlete have a meet coming up in a few months, how do we determine what weight class each should compete in? In this case, we have to calculate what their body weight would be if they achieved their minimum acceptable body fat levels.
For athlete A, we can see that, if he reaches his minimum level of 10%, he can make the 181lbs weight class. As we’ve learned with past examples, he’s going to be more competitive in a weight class where a larger percentage of the weight he carries is muscle. Because he doesn’t have to drop below 10%, he’s unlikely to experience a significant performance drop from making this cut. Therefore his goal should definitely be to diet into this meet in order to be more competitive. However, Athlete B is in a bit of a predicament. If he gets down to 10%, he’ll still be just north of 181lbs. He’d probably have to drop to somewhere closer to 8% body fat. If he does this, there is a serious risk he’ll experience significant performance decrease. As such, his goal should likely be to just fill out the 198lbs more effectively. For now, he’s in the somewhat dreaded position of being “stuck between classes”. We’ll learn how to avoid this in a future chapter. The takeaway lesson here is that you want to compete in whatever weight class that you can without going below your minimum acceptable body fat level. This is going to maximize the amount of muscle you carry relative to the rest of your competitors in that weight class. You’ll have a better overall shot to win the class.
Overall Recommendations for Managing Weight When your pictures and the Navy Method are putting you right around 10% for males and 18% for females, it is time to start bulking. When your pictures and the Navy Method are putting you around
35 15% for males and 23% for females, it is time to start cutting. Try to stay within this range. If necessary, modify the range to suit your individual needs by keeping track of your performance throughout your cutting and bulking cycles. When considering an upcoming meet, ask yourself what weight class could you make if you hit your minimum acceptable body fat level? If you can drop a class through dieting, without getting too lean, do so. If you can’t drop a weight class without dropping below your minimum acceptable body fat, do your best to compete in the weight class you’re already in.
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Chapter 5: Weight Cut Management
EatingToWin Recap With the next piece of the puzzle now in place, let’s take another step back to analyze where we are so far in terms of the overall context for powerlifting nutrition. 1) We know that we want to spend as much time as possible in a caloric surplus in order to build new muscle tissue, be able to perform more training overall, recover from that training more effectively, and to keep our glycogen tanks on full which helps accomplish all the aforementioned goals. 2) However, we also know that, in order to maximize our competitiveness, we want to be in the weight class where we can maximize the amount of muscle that we are carrying compared to our competitors. This both means being relatively lean and being one of the shorter competitors in our weight class. 3) It isn’t feasible to stay in a caloric surplus all year while staying relatively lean. As such, we must go through cutting (dieting) periods and bulking (gaining) periods. In general, males should cut when they hit ~15% body fat and bulk when they hit ~10%. In general, females should cut when they hit ~23% body and bulk when they hit ~18% body fat. We must manipulate our cutting periods so that, at competition time, we get into the lightest weight class possible without going below our minimum acceptable body fat level. So, is this the final overview for weight management? Are all the pieces in place to help us decide which weight class is best for us at any given upcoming meet? No. Not yet. We haven’t talked about the long upheld practice of “cutting weight” for a meet.
Weight Cutting Weight cutting is practiced by virtually all weight class athletes in all weight class sports. What is weight cutting, you ask? In essence, this is the practice of trying to weigh-in at less than the weight you’ll compete at. You see, the weigh-in times for athletes are not at the start of the competition. In powerlifting, there are two common weigh-in practices. The first, which you’ll find in the IPF and its affiliates, is the two hour weigh-in. As the name implies, this means that you’ll weigh-in two hours before you begin to lift. However, most federations actually employ a 24-hour weigh-in. In other words, you don’t lift until a full day after you’ve weighed in.
37 Competitors take advantage of this to “cut weight”. By partially dehydrating themselves to various degrees (losing water weight), manipulating sodium intake (sodium influences how much water you’re holding), eliminating dietary carbohydrate intake for a time (glycogen requires water to be stored), and emptying their bowels (taking laxatives or consuming a liquid diet for a time), competitors can often lose a VERY significant amount of body weight for weigh-ins. They often gain most (or all) of this weight back by the time they actually have to get on the platform and lift. Note that none of this “weight” is muscle mass. This is all transient body weight consisting of fluids and material in the bowels/guts.
Two competitors sit in a sauna in order to dehydrate themselves to make weight.
Now, it is incredibly important to point out that many of these practices are not entirely safe. If you’re an adolescent, cutting weight may impede your physical and sexual maturity. Regardless, if you do not know what you are doing, do not attempt to cut weight without the supervision of a licensed professional.
How much weight can you cut?
Exactly how much weight you can cut for a meet depends on how long the weigh-in is. Generally speaking, the longer the weigh-in, the more weight you can cut. For a two hour weigh-in, you can usually effectively cut 3-5% of your body weight. 5% tends to be pushing it, but some athletes manage this without too much of a negative impact on their performance. For a 24 hour weigh-in, some competitors cut as much as 15% body weight. In my opinion, this isn’t remotely safely. In fact, some high level competitors have put themselves in the hospital attempting such weight cuts. Anything more than 10% is probably asking for trouble if you’re not HIGHLY experienced. Do NOT try this type of weight cut alone!
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Why does weigh-in time affect how much you can cut?
The reason that you can cut more weight for a 24-hour weigh-in primarily has to do with two factors: 1) how long it takes to rehydrate and 2) how long it takes to resynthesize glycogen. Most of the tactics discussed above revolve around the practice of temporarily losing water weight. In the end, most of these tactics involve some kind of dehydration in order to be effective. Well, the reality of the situation is that you can only rehydrate so much in a given time frame. Because even minor dehydration has been shown to cause as much as a 10% drop in performance in some athletes, you’d be wise to limit your weight cutting to an amount where you can fully rehydrate before you compete. For a 2-hour weigh-in, this isn’t nearly as much water. For a 24-hour weigh-in, some competitors are near the edge of death (I’m barely exaggerating) when they weigh-in. Because they have a full day to rehydrate, they’re often alright by the time the competition comes along. The story is similar for glycogen resynthesis. Depending on the size of the athlete, you can only resynthesize somewhere around 50-200g of carbs every 2-3 hours. The exact number is very hard for me to pin down, but the central point is that you can only refill those glycogen stores so fast. If you completely deplete your glycogen stores, in order to lose all the associated water weight in the muscles, you can often drop a significant amount of additional weight. However, with a 2 hour weigh-in, you won’t have time to put it back on and the loss of glycogen will affect your leverages and your performance.
Weight Cutting in the Competitive Context Remember our 195lbs athlete who was 15% body fat? To jog your memory, he couldn’t make the 181lbs weight class because he would have had to drop below 10% body fat in order to do so. However, using weight cutting practices, he’ll have no trouble whatsoever making 181lbs. In fact, let’s put up a basic chart looking at what body weight you’d have to be in order to make a certain weight class given a 24hour weigh-in or a 2-hour weigh-in.
39 As you can see, for a 24-hour weigh-in, you can be as large as ~200lbs at 10% body fat and still make the 181lbs weight class! What this effectively means is that, with a 24-hour weigh-in, an athlete who weighed ~211lbs in the off-season at 15% body fat could still cut down to ~200lbs at 10% body fat and compete as a 181lbs lifter. Yes, that’s right; it is possible for a powerlifter to train at ~30lbs above his competitive class on a 24-hour weigh-in! Even with a 2-hour weigh-in, you could weigh ~190lbs at 10% body fat and still make the weight class. This changes everything in terms of our calculations and when we should move up weight classes. In fact, you should only move up a weight class when you can no longer make weight without going below your minimal acceptable body fat threshold and without cutting more than 5-10% water weight (depending on weigh-in length)! Now, even though everyone knows about these practices, I can tell you, from firsthand experience, that most competitors are not necessarily lifting to “win”. They’re lifting for their own personal growth, which is absolutely fine and commendable. However, if you learn to master this combination of dieting and weight cutting, you can earn yourself a tremendous advantage in your weight class by being the biggest competitor in it. Most people simply won’t do what it takes to cut this much weight while being lean. It does hurt your performance to some degree, but the advantage you gain by dropping a full weight class (or more), is usually more than worth it.
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Chapter 6: Putting The Big Picture Together
Summary: The “Why” of EatingToWin Alright, now that we’ve got all the pieces we need to put the big picture together. The primary purpose of powerlifting nutrition is two-fold: 1) Performance Enhancement 2) Weight Management In terms of performance enhancement, we know that we want to spend as much time as possible in a caloric surplus in order to build new muscle tissue, to be able to train more, recover more effectively from that training, and to keep our glycogen tanks on full. Even when we diet, we want to eat as much as possible while still achieving our weight loss goals because of the aforementioned performance enhancement benefits of food (and carbs in particular). However, we must manage our body weight in order to maximize our competitiveness. Our goal is always to compete in the weight class that maximizes the amount of muscle we can carry relative to the weight class limit. In order to do this, we must use a combination of staying lean and cutting weight. In order to stay lean enough, we will cut and bulk between approximately 10% and 15% body fat if we are male and approximately 18% and 23% if we are female. This puts us in a position to never be too far away, in terms of diet length, from being able to get to our competitive body fat level. In order to determine our competitive weight class, we will calculate which weight class we can make when we combine our 5-10% water cut with our projected body weight at our minimal acceptable body fat threshold. If you can no longer make a weight class without going below your minimal acceptable body fat threshold and/or having to cut more than 5-10% water weight (depending on your weigh-in length), you need to move up a weight class.
EatingToWin 1) Maximize calories in the context of an appropriate diet 2) Cut and Bulk between 10-15% body fat if you’re male; 18% - 23% if female 3) Compete in the lowest weight class possible while staying above your minimum acceptable body fat threshold and cutting no more than 5-10% water weight (depending on your weigh-in length) 4) Repeat this process over time to slowly move up weight classes and become more and more competitive. Now that we understand why we are doing what we are doing, it is time to examine the HOW of powerlifting nutrition.
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Chapter 7: The Nutritional Hierarchy of Importance
The Fundamentals of Nutrition If you’ve ever tried to have a conversation with anyone about weight loss, dieting, or nutrition in general, you’ll realize that the vast majority of people are majoring in the minors. When my friends and family who are not very familiar with the fitness world ask me nutrition questions they almost always revolve around “which foods to eat” or “which supplements to take”. I debated long and hard about whether or not to include a basic primer about nutrition in this book, but, in the end, I decided that it would be necessary to discuss at least some of the basics in order to make sure that we’re all on the same page. As such, I’d like to introduce to you a concept I’ve adapted from work by Eric Helms and that is the Nutritional Hierarchy of Importance. When we’re talking about achieving our nutritional goals, here are the main factors we need to consider in order of importance in my opinion: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)
Energy Balance Macronutritition Meal Frequency Nutrient Timing Micronutrition Supplementation
My goal here is that you walk away with a big picture understanding of how nutrition works when we’re talking about body weight management and performance enhancement for powerlifting purposes. I want you to see each piece of the puzzle in its proper place rather than giving undue consideration to areas which simply don’t matter as much.
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Chapter 8: Energy Balance
Calories are King Regardless of what some nutrition gurus would have you believe, the sole determinant of whether or not you lose weight or gain weight comes down to whether or not you are in a caloric surplus or a caloric deficit. Let me be very explicit about what that means. If you are burning more energy than you’re consuming, if you are eating less calories than you’re using, you will lose weight. This is called a caloric deficit. If you are consuming more energy than you’re using, if you are eating more calories than you’re using, you are going to gain weight. This is called a caloric surplus. If you are consuming just as much energy as you’re burning, if you are eating as many calories as you’re using, you won’t see a change in body weight. This is called your caloric maintenance level. You can eat all the chicken breast, brown rice, and vegetables in the world, but if you are eating too much, you will gain weight. Period. Likewise, if you budget your calories correctly, you can lose weight on McDonalds, cookies, and ice cream. This has been proven many times over by yours truly.
When you tip the balance towards the right side, you’re in a caloric deficit and when you tip the balance towards the left side, you’re in a caloric surplus. Photo: eattoperform.com
43 Let’s refocus here. If you’re trying to bulk and cut between specific percentages of body fat, the only way you’re going to be successful is if you’re consuming the right amount of calories on a daily basis. If you’re trying to cut weight on a caloric surplus, it just isn’t going to happen. Likewise, if you’re trying to gain weight, but it isn’t happening, you’re just not eating enough… PERIOD! If you’re trying to gain weight, you need to be in a caloric surplus. If you’re trying to lose weight, you must be in a caloric deficit. I’m just reiterating this fact because it is truly of the utmost importance.
The Correct Caloric Intake How can we be sure if we’re eating the right amount of calories on a day to day basis? While there are many fancy formulas out there that endeavor to help you determine exactly how many calories you need to eat each day to gain weight or to lose weight, the reality is that everyone has a different metabolism. If you consider two people of the exact same body weight, one of them might gain weight eating 2500 calories a day whereas the other might lose weight consuming the same number. The only way to be one hundred percent sure you are eating the right amount of calories per day is to weigh yourself regularly to make sure your weight is moving in direction you intend it to.
Without a scale, to gauge progress, you’re extremely limited in your ability to make accurate judgements regarding your caloric intake.
You have to adjust your daily caloric intake based on real world data. There is no other way. You can use the formulas if you want, but they’re just starting points. You have to adjust from the starting points until you’re seeing the correct changes in terms of your weight in the real world. Again, I cannot emphasize this enough: how many calories you should eat is determined solely by the real world results you’re seeing on the scale.
Calorie Counting and the Reality of Dieting
In previous section of this chapter, I discussed calories in a manner that paints them as rather absolute. You need to eat 3500 calories to make this happen or you need to eat 3400 calories to make that happen. Back in the real world, this isn’t a realistic way to approach calories.
44 Remember our discussions regarding accuracy and precision when it comes to body fat? Well, when we’re talking about diet the same rules apply. There is no way to know, with any true accuracy, the EXACT amount of calories you’re eating. Labels are only accurate within 5-10% most of the time. What are the practical implications here? We don’t actually need to know the true, 100% accurate calorie number you’re consuming. We only need a fairly repeatable number that we can use as a bench mark to adjust over time. If you’re “supposed to eat” 2400kcal, but you’re actually eating 2600kcal, this doesn’t actually matter if you’re eating the same foods consistently. Why? Well, when you base your intake decisions off real world data, you’ll still get the result you’re looking for. Follow my logic here. Let’s say you’re actually eating 3000kcal but you think you’re eating 2000kcal. This is a HUGE discrepancy and more than you’d ever encounter in the real world. It still doesn’t matter, though. If you’re not losing weight on your theoretical 2000kcal, you’re still going to eventually reduce the amount. Maybe the next week you’ll be eating a theoretical 1900kcal, but it is actually 2900kcal. Eventually, because you’re eating the same foods consistently, or you’re getting a consistent inaccurate measurement, you’ll be able to adjust downwards enough where you start losing weight. In the end, because of the real world results that you’re basing your decisions off of, precision and repeatability matter more than absolute accuracy.
Recommended Caloric Intake Starting Points
For males trying to gain weight, I’d recommend about 16x your body weight as a daily caloric starting starting point. For losing weight, males can use a caloric figure of approximately 12x their body weight. Females can use about 15x their body weight for gaining purposes and about 11x body weight for dieting purposes. For example, a 200lbs male trying to gain weight would eat ~3200 calories per day (200*16). A 150lbs female trying to lose weight would eat ~1650 calories per day (150*11). Again, these values are starting points. If you already know how much you need to eat in order to maintain your weight, you can use the general rule of thumb that there are ~3500kcal in a pound of fat. Therefore, because there are 7 days in the week, you’d need to create approximately a 500kcal calorie deficit per day to lose one pound per week. In the real world, this doesn’t work out so smoothly, but it is a decent place to start. I must stress that you have to adjust these numbers based on what is actually happening in the real world. You have to weigh yourself and see what is going on. I have seen males who need 20-25x their bodyweight in caloric intake before they see weight gain. If that’s you, keep adding calories until you see the proper changes in weight you’re looking for. If your weight isn’t going up, you’re still not eating enough.
Absolute Calorie Values vs. Ranges
If you try to hit any calorie number exactly, you’re going to drive yourself crazy. This is nearly impossible to do in the real world. As such, I’d recommend that you actually give yourself a calorie range. Sure, keep using the baseline estimates above as starting points, but convert them into ranges. I’d recommend a 100kcal +/- buffer. If you’re a 200lbs male, and you’re trying to gain weight, instead of trying to hit 3000kcal exactly, just consider any day that you fall into the range of 2900-3100 a success.
45 As we discussed above when it comes to precision, the exact amount of calories you eat each day doesn’t actually matter. As long as keep your calorie range moving in the right direction, your weight will also trend in the right direction as we make adjustments. This calorie range not only helps keep you sane, but it makes it actually possible for you to be successful on a daily basis. Trying to hit a specific number each day is a recipe for guaranteed failure.
Proper Rates of Weight Gain and Weight Loss The next thing we need to discuss is the proper RATE of weight change that we’re looking for when either gaining or losing weight. Remember our good ‘ole friend P-ratio? Yeah, well, he’s about to make another appearance here. You see, if you’re losing weight too quickly, your body is much more likely to catabolize muscle protein stores in order to help make up the energy deficit. Likewise, if you’re eating far too much, well, you can only synthesize so much new muscle tissue each day. The rest of your caloric surplus is likely going to be stored as adipose tissue (aka fat).
You might gain muscle slightly faster with a larger surplus, but, most likely, you’ll just gain fat MUCH faster instead. I don’t recommend bulking at unreasonable paces.
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Weight Loss Rates
In other words, there are ideal rates of weight gain and weight loss to shoot for. Specifically, if you’re losing weight, you should be aiming for anywhere from 0.5-1.0% of body weight lost per week. The leaner you are, the closer to 0.5% you should shoot for. The fatter you are, the closer to 1.0% you should shoot for. For most, somewhere right in the middle is best.
Weight Gain Rates
In terms of weight gain, to minimize the amount of fat you gain, and thus elongate the time you can spend in a caloric surplus (one of our main goals), you should be aiming for anywhere from 0.5-1.0% of body weight gained… per MONTH. That’s right; muscle gain is a far slower process than fat gain. The newer you are to training, the closer to 1.0% you should shoot for. In fact, rank novices, for a very short time, can gain even more than this. However, most of you would be best served by staying within the recommended bounds. The longer you’ve been training, the less important trying to gain weight is at all. For trainees with more than five years of experience with proper training and nutrition, you might only gain 2-3lbs of new muscle tissue per year. As such, a traditional bulking period where you purposely gain one pound a month might not make sense. Even if everything breaks right, you’re still likely to gain mostly fat. In these cases, with very experienced trainees, the focus should be on eating as much as possible without seeing any major changes in bodyweight while still ensuring proper recovery and progression in the gym. Let me be clear: most of you reading this have no business attempting the above strategy. You haven’t built your base yet. Bulking and cutting will still be highly effective.
How can we be so precise with our rate of weight change?
Some of you may be asking how it is possible to be so precise with our rate of weight change. After all, weight loss slows down after a period and people hit fat loss plateaus all the time. Well, again, this is why we don’t use formulas to determine our caloric intake. The only way we can reach this level of precision in our rate of weight change is by measuring our weight every single week and adjusting our caloric intake accordingly. In fact, if you’re a committed competitor, I’d personally recommend that you take a running daily average of your weight every single week. Weigh-in naked first thing in the morning after using the bathroom and before drinking any water. This practice is to minimize all variables. If you eat different meals, wear different clothes, or drink a different amount of water before you weigh-in, the results are less meaningful. You have too many other variables influencing the number. At the end of each week, you can compare your average weight during the current week to your average weight last week. By using a running average, you can eliminate the impact of any fluctuations from unusual dietary or lifestyle circumstances. For example, if you sleep in really late one day, you will weigh less than usual due to more dehydration. Similarly, if you eat a meal really high in sodium, you’ll likely weigh more the next day than you usually do. By taking a running average, these fluctuations are smoothed out.
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Making Caloric Adjustments Let’s talk about how to actually make caloric adjustments based on the weight readings that you’re getting. For example purposes, we’ll assume you’re dieting. If at the end of the week you find that you’ve lost between 0.5-1.0% of your body weight, you can keep your calories the same. If you’ve found that you haven’t lost enough weight, make a small adjustment and take away some calories from your daily intake range. If you’ve found that you’ve actually lost too much weight, make a small adjustment and add some calories to your daily range. In terms of specific numbers, I’d recommend making ~50-100kcal adjustments each week when necessary based on what is happening with your weight. While larger jumps can be attractive, weight loss and weight gain are not linear. That is, sometimes, adding or subtracting in small amounts can produce “whooshes” where you burst past plateaus. Despite the fact you made a small change in intake, a change that really shouldn’t produce big results on the scale, you’ll often see disparately large changes in weight. When you indiscriminately slash or increase calories, often times you can produce a rate of weight loss that is far too drastic or, on the other hand, gain weight too quickly. Simply be patient and make small adjustments to your caloric range. This way, you know that you’re eating absolutely as much as possible while still achieving your goals. If you decrease too fast, you run the risk of losing muscle and hurting your progress in the gym. You also might leave yourself in a place where there simply isn’t very much left to take away from. If you increase too fast, you’ll gain unnecessary fat and have to dial the calories back anyways. Stick to the process of slow adjustments to your caloric range.
Reversing Diet Direction: From Cut to Bulk or From Bulk to Cut
Before I give you my personal rules for adjusting caloric intake, there is one more aspect of dieting that I want to discuss conceptually: reversing diet direction. This entire chapter, for the most part, has been approached from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know what their current caloric intake is or doesn’t know exactly what is happening to their body weight with a given intake. However, let’s say you actually succeed in following this whole process, and you cut down from ~15% to ~10% body fat. Both the Navy Method and your pictures are suggesting it is time to transition back into bulking. What should you do? Should you try to calculate the appropriate calories for bulking and jump straight to the larger intake? Should you “spend a few weeks at maintenance” before slowly adding more calories? Should you “reverse-diet” and spend months slowly adding calories to get out of the deficit? “Reverse-Dieting” Recently, the protocol for reversing diet direction has received a lot of attention. Dr. Layne Norton, in particular, brought the concept of “reverse-dieting” to the forefront of discussion. In order to
48 understand reverse dieting, you first have to understand what we’re trying to accomplish when we end a diet. One of the biggest problems with dieting, in general, is that dieting significantly alters a whole host of hormones that control metabolism and hunger. When you first finish a diet, a disparity will exist between your hunger levels and the amount of food you need to maintain your body weight. In some instances, bodybuilding competitors have been known to put on 20lbs within weeks after completing a competition style diet. In addition to hunger issues, your metabolism itself will be depressed by potentially as much as 15%. In simple terms, virtually every hormonal system in your body is primed to help you put back on the weight you just lost. Traditionally, to help avoid this massive post-diet “rebound”, as it is called, many nutritional authorities advise that you spend a few weeks at caloric maintenance before returning to a caloric surplus. This allows time for important regulatory hormones such as thyroid and leptin to return to normal. Frankly, it allows you some time to return to normal psychologically as well. Reverse-dieting is just a form of returning to maintenance for a few weeks before transitioning into a surplus. Instead of jumping straight to maintenance, the diet process is “reversed”. That is, you might add 50-100kcal per week to your calorie range until you’re at maintenance – very similar to how you took out 50-100kcal per week on the way down, but just in “reverse”. Much of the recent controversy surrounds the “length” of the reverse-diet. As far as I can tell, there is very little support in the literature for lengthy reverse diets. You can probably maximize all the hormonal and psychological benefits of the reverse-diet process in 2-4 weeks. You most likely do not need a lengthy period before returning to maintenance. Why Does Anyone Recommend Long Reverse-Diets? Lengthy reverse-diets are only occasionally recommended because some athletes cannot stand the inevitable and necessary bodyweight and body fat rebound that accompanies the end of any diet. No matter what you do, you’re going to regain some fat after you end a diet. You’ll never be as lean as you were at the end of a diet while in a caloric surplus. That’s not how this works. That isn’t the goal of the reverse-diet. The goal is to get you back to something resembling semi-normalcy both psychologically and hormonally without you having massive binges post-diet. As I said, this really only takes a few weeks – although you may take quite a while before you feel “normal” again depending on the length of your diet. My “Reverse-Diet” Protocol When either transitioning out of a bulk or a cut, I prefer to “reverse” diet. The smaller changes on a weekly basis are less invasive to your life style, easier to comply with because they’re so similar to what you’ve already been doing, and, as discussed above, there may be some hormonal and p-ratio benefits to allowing your body weight to “stabilize” before each transition. In order to control the length of the reverse diet, and keep it reasonable, I simply take bigger jumps than usual when heading the opposite direction. I’ve previously recommended ~50-~100kcal changes to your daily range, but, while reverse-dieting, I’d recommend something more like ~200kcal changes. This ensures that you’re back to maintenance within 2-4 weeks of ending a diet and/or bulk.
49 While cutting, this practice minimizes unnecessary fat gain while your hormonal levels are recovering and, while bulking, this practice allows you to begin your diet with the absolute highest effective amount of calories possible. In other words, the conservative, patient approach that “reversing” represents improves dietary outcomes in my experience and in my opinion.
My Personal Caloric Adjustment Rules While these numbers are not the end-all-be-all, nor are they hard and fast rules, here are the numbers we’ll employ for the EatingToWin system:
During A Cut: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)
Lifter gained weight; subtract 200kcal from daily intake range (use this value for “reversing”!) Lifter lost less than 0.5% body weight; subtract 100kcal from daily intake range Lifter lost between 0.5%-0.6% body weight; subtract 50kcal from daily intake range Lifter lost between 0.6%-0.8% body weight; keep daily intake range the same Lifter lost between 0.8%-1.0% body weight; add 50kcal to daily intake range Lifter lost more than 1.0% body weight; add 100kcal to daily intake range
During a Bulk: 1) Lifter lost more than 0.5% body weight; add 200kcal to daily intake range (use this value for “reversing!”) 2) Lifter lost ~0.5%-~0.1% body weight; add 100kcal to daily intake range 3) Lifter lost less than ~0.1% body weight; add 50kcal to daily intake range 4) Lifter gained ~0.1-0.3% body weight; keep daily intake the same range 5) Lifter gained ~0.3-~0.5% body weight; subtract 50kcal from daily intake range 6) Lifter gained more than ~0.5% body weight; subtract 100kcal from daily intake range Remember, as a powerlifter, food is fuel. Don’t cost yourself progress in the gym because you were in too big of a hurry to decrease or increase calories. With small adjustments, you can keep progressing smoothly throughout your entire diet or bulk.
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Chapter 9: Macronutrition
Macros Right below calories in our umbrella of importance is macronutrition. You see, unfortunately, calories don’t tell the entire story. Intuitively, we all know that 3000 calories of bread do not have the same effect on the body as, say, 3000 calories of chicken breast.
There’s just something about steak. Amirite? Photo: wisegeek.com
One of the reasons this is the case is that the food we eat are primarily composed of three macronutrients: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Fiber is another quasi-macronutrient of importance to us in powerlifting nutrition. Technically, it is a type of carbohydrate. We’ll address each of these macronutrients one by one in order to better understand their importance in powerlifting nutrition. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it is important to note that entire books can, and have, been written on the subjects we are about to VERY briefly discuss. Nutrition is like a rabbit hole. In terms of complexity, it can go just about as far and as deep as you’re personally inclined to go. For our purposes, we’re going to try to focus on the information that is of practical importance to powerlifting nutrition
51 specifically. The amazing and varied complexity of the entire topic of protein is going to be left to experts far more qualified than myself.
Protein What it is actually important to know is that your body is completely reliant on dietary protein. That is, even if you get enough calories, you will still die eventually if you don’t consume any protein. Proteins are the very building blocks of life. Dietary protein contributes to the maintenance, restoration, and function of virtually every important organ in your body. Typical dietary protein sources include chicken breast, tuna, eggs/egg whites, turkey breast, protein powder, beef, fish, cottage cheese, and milk. Please keep in mind that many foods have multiple macronutrients in them. Milk, for example, has protein, carbs, and fats in it. When we get to talking about tracking macronutrients, remember that all of these should be accounted for and not just the protein.
Meat is my favorite source of protein. Photo: rivesqualitymeat.com
Back in the health and fitness world, you probably know that dietary protein is also necessary to help build new muscle tissues. Not only is dietary protein necessary to help build new muscle tissues, but it is also necessary to preserve what has already been built.
52 Again this primer on protein could easily consume another one-hundred pages. We’re not going to do that. If you want to learn everything there is to know about protein, I’d recommend Lyle McDonald’s protein book. For now, instead, let’s focus on the key take-away here: you HAVE to eat protein both to survive and to excel as a powerlifter.
Protein Needs
Protein needs vary significantly between populations. In the United States, the FDA recommendations for daily protein intake are 60-80g depending on gender. Now, this may be appropriate for your average sedentary individual, but this number grossly underestimates the optimal amount of protein for the average powerlifter. The traditional way to prescribe protein needs is based on body weight. A recent research review conducted in part by Dr. Eric Helms, who is both a PhD and an actively competing bodybuilder and powerlifter, would suggest that appropriate daily levels also depend on whether or not an individual is currently in a caloric surplus or a caloric deficit. In a surplus, slightly less protein is needed: ~0.8g-1.0g/lb or ~1.8-2.2g/kg. In a caloric deficit more protein is required to maintain muscle mass: ~1.1-1.4g/lbs or ~2.3g-3.1g/kg. However, research done by Dr. Layne Norton, and several others, has recently indicated that muscle protein synthesis, specifically, is optimized on a per-feeding basis. That is, beyond a certain limit, dietary protein consumed in one sitting does not contribute to further muscle protein synthesis. This is not to say that the protein isn’t used by the body at all, but merely that it isn’t used for further muscle building. This research indicates that muscle protein synthesis may be optimized by consuming ~3-5g of Leucine every ~4-6 hours. Leucine is an amino acid which is a constituent of most proteins. The gist of the research is that the body does not become fully re-sensitized to amino acids in the blood stream for the aforementioned ~4-6 hour period because levels remain elevated until that time. If more protein is consumed before this sensitivity is regained, you receive a muted response in terms of maximally stimulating further muscle protein synthesis. In short, you don’t build as much muscle.
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Photo: simplyshredded.com
While some in the fitness community debate the strength of the research supporting these findings, I’ve personally found adopting Dr. Norton’s suggested practices as measurably effective both in terms of my strength and the overall amount of muscle I am able to carry at any given time. As such, I will echo his recommendations. If you personally disagree, protein needs can be determined using the traditional body weight metrics. In simple terms, “getting enough protein” for powerlifting means eating ~4-6 meals per day that contain 30-50g of protein because this is approximately how much it takes to get 3-5g of Leucine per meal. If you’re towards the smaller side, you’ll need less leucine to elicit the optimal response. If you’re bigger, you’ll need more. Regardless, this all adds up to approximately 120g-300g of protein per day. Personally, I’d recommend shooting for 5 meals per day of 30-50g of protein. Use your bodyweight as a rough guide to help you determine the total amount that you’ll split between the meals. For example, a 200lbs male might consume a total of 200g of protein consisting of five 40g meals. A 150lbs female might consume 150g of protein consisting of five 30g meals. As you can see, when you get down to putting this into practice, it isn’t too terribly difficult.
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Fat Much like protein, dietary fat is essential for life. Dietary fat contains “essential fatty acids” (EFAs) that the body simply cannot synthesize on its own. A certain amount of dietary fat is also needed to optimize your hormonal milieu, joint health, brain function, and a whole host of other bodily functions. In short, you cannot go without fat. And, really, who would want to? Fat is one of the reasons most of our favorite foods taste so good. Typical dietary fat sources include nuts, butter, cooking oil, avocado, and chocolate. Many cuts of meat also have generous portions of fat.
Nuts are a very common source of fats. Photo: huffingtonpost.com
In short, we need fat to survive, keep our health in check, and to keep ourselves sane when dieting.
Fat Needs
Unlike protein, fat needs are a bit harder to pinpoint in terms of grams consumed. Your primary goals with fat intake are making sure you meet your needs for EFAs, keeping fat above reasonable minimums for health purposes, and ensuring you’re actually able to comply with your diet plan. An ultra-low fat diet tends to be a diet that we cannot adhere to in the long term. In general, for most powerlifting populations, an appropriate level of fat is going to be anywhere from 15-30% of total caloric intake. The reason for the wide range in potential levels of fat intake has entirely to do with circumstances. However, as a reasonable minimum, ~0.3g/lbs or ~0.6g/kg is as low as you’re going to be able to push things without experiencing long term issues related to under-consumption of fat. When a powerlifter is dieting, and trying to lose weight, it is important to keep carbohydrate levels high enough that hard training can be sustained. In order to keep carbohydrate levels up, even while calories
55 levels are declining, it can be useful to use the lower end of the fat range when calculating how many grams to eat. This is really a matter of asset allocation: you reallocate some calories to carbs and, in order to do so, you have to take away from fat. You can’t change protein because your protein needs are based on maintaining your hard earned muscle mass. For lifters who are not dieting, it makes sense to use a higher level of fat intake. It just simply isn’t necessary to use lower fat levels because you’ll have enough calories to work with that your carbohydrate levels will be high regardless. If you’re an older athlete, or someone who just doesn’t respond well to carbohydrates, consider the higher levels of fat in the above range. As in everything, there is room for individuality. Remember, as I’ve repeatedly said, nutrition is a very deep and complex topic. These are general guidelines for large populations of powerlifters. You, however, are a specific individual. While the chances are that you are one of the many for whom these general guidelines work very well for, there is the off chance that you’d be better served with something very different. This is where coaching can come into play to help you optimize your training and nutrition. In general, for the vast majority of circumstances, you’re going to want about 20-25% of your total caloric intake to come from fat. And, again, as a reasonable minimum do not drop things below ~0.3g/lb or ~0.6g/kg for a lengthy period of time (or possibly at all).
Carbohydrates I guess we finally get to talk about carbohydrates and glycogen, eh? Woohoo! Of the macronutrients we’ve discussed thus far, carbohydrates are the only one that is technically “unnecessary” for survival. Even without dietary carbohydrates, you can survive. While glucose is typically used to fuel brain function, and glucose requires glycogen which requires dietary carbohydrate intake, the body is capable of producing an alternative fuel called “ketone bodies” through the process of “ketosis”. You see, when you don’t eat carbs, and you only consume fats and proteins, your body enters the aforementioned state of ketosis. In an incredibly oversimplified generalization, ketosis is essentially a process by which your body begins to use fat as its main fuel source for everything (through ketone bodies). Many people have successfully used “keto diets” in order to accelerate their fat loss efforts. There is even some research to suggest that being in ketosis may have performance benefits for endurance athletes. However, as powerlifters, “keto diets” are not favorable, in my opinion, for a variety of reasons. Keep in mind that, again, we’re keeping this as simple as possible. If you want the in-depth discussion on keto, the man to go to is Lyle McDonald who literally wrote the book on the subject. High intensity, anaerobic exercise, such as lifting heavy ass weights, is primarily fueled by ATP (adrenosine triphosphate). ATP is created through a variety of cellular processes not all of which require the use of glycogen. With that said, as you begin to deplete your initial ATP stores, the body begins to preferentially break down glycogen in order to synthesize new ATP for further efforts. If you’re eating a
56 low-carb diet, this just doesn’t happen because you have little or no glycogen stored in the muscles to fuel the process. While you may not notice a decrease in performance in your initial sets, your ability to sustain a high workload will generally suffer quite noticeably. If you cannot train as hard or as long, you cannot become as strong and you will not be able to maintain as much of your previously earned strength or muscle mass. Additionally, there is some evidence to suggest, albeit statistically insignificant, that consuming carbohydrates with protein slightly enhances the total muscle protein synthesis stimulated by that particular feeding. As such, carbohydrates, in my eyes, are both critical to performance enhancement in terms of sustaining and increasing your workload and weight management in terms of maximizing the amount of muscle you gain or keep while dieting.
Carbohydrate Needs
It is important to remember the primary purpose that carbohydrates serve in powerlifting nutrition: fuel hard training. Now, if you were so inclined, you could probably determine, with semi-reasonable accuracy, approximately how much glycogen your training was consuming. From there, you could plot out exactly how many carbs you needed, how much protein you needed, and then you could allocate the rest of your calories towards fat. You’ve probably already noticed that isn’t the approach I’ve advocated in this book and there are several reasons why. First of all, if you’ve read ProgrammingToWin, you know that I STRONGLY endorse an autoregulated training style. With an autoregulated training style, I never know exactly how much work I’m going to do in a given session. Additionally, I’m constantly striving to push myself to do more work and harder work than I’ve ever done before. In other words, there is variance in how much glycogen I go through in any given training session. Further, I typically train six days per week. Rather than trying to approximate exactly how many carbohydrates I need to properly fuel my training, I prefer to set my protein intake, then set my fat intake as a percentage of my total caloric intake, and I allocate literally everything else to carbohydrate intake. Using this method, my carbohydrate intake is as high as it can possibly get. Whether I am dieting or gaining weight, because my carbs are kept “high”, I’m likely to have enough glycogen in the tank to perform long, hard training sessions. Because of this type of allocation of macronutrients, many of my athletes, including myself, have actually experienced strength gains while dieting. Because we have a plethora of carbohydrates in our diet, we have enough energy to occasionally set volume and workload personal records even while in a caloric deficit. If you set volume personal records, rep and max records aren’t too far around the corner. Again, let’s remember all the benefits of a full glycogen tank: 1) Water is required to store glycogen in the muscles. This added size improves your leverages under the bar. 2) When your glycogen tank is full, you have all the resources you need to produce ATP and survive long, hard, grueling workouts without hitting a wall. 3) Dietary carbohydrates may increase muscle protein synthesis when consumed at the same time as dietary protein.
57 For all these reasons, in terms of carbohydrate needs, I recommend using all of the calories you have left after accounting for protein and fat needs.
Fiber
Technically speaking, fiber is a type of carbohydrate. Essentially though, fiber is the indigestible material that is found in plants, fruits, whole grains, and a variety of other foods. The “substance” of fiber is such that it resists our natural digestive enzymes. While we can glean some energy from the processing of dietary fiber, for the most part, fiber’s real job is to act as “nature’s broom”. This undigested material pushing through our digestive system helps us “clean out”. Hey man, in the end, fiber makes it easier to poop. In all seriousness, a certain level of fiber is necessary for gut health. With that said, you can definitely take it too far. Consuming TOO much fiber can potentially blunt nutrient absorption and actually impede proper bowel movements. To keep food quality high in your diet, and to keep your gut in check, I’d recommend keeping your fiber intake between 10-20% of your total carbohydrate intake. That is, for every ~100g of carbs you consume, try not to eat less than 10g of fiber and try not to eat more than 20g. This general rule of thumb will serve you well in 99% of situations. Keep in mind that this recommendation is not additional fiber on top of your carbohydrate intake but rather this fiber recommendation is made as a percentage of whatever your total carbohydrate intake already is.
The Relative Importance of Energy Balance and Macronutrition Before we move on to the next chapters, I want to expound upon the relative importance of what we’ve covered thus far. Perhaps the single most important objective I had when I decided to offer a basic primer on nutrition in these earlier chapters was to help you clarify what matters most when designing a nutritional protocol for powerlifting. With that in mind, please pay attention to what I’m about to say next: getting your caloric intake and macronutrition handled correctly is responsible for at least 80% of your progress nutritionally speaking. To reiterate and state it differently, once you’ve got the correct caloric intake and macronutrient breakdown in your diet, you can only make marginal improvements to your nutrition protocol through virtually any other means. I don’t know how else I can put this other than to say that, relative to macronutrition and energy balance, supplements, meal frequency, nutrient timing, and food quality just aren’t that important. They just aren’t. While 99% of “diets” differentiate themselves using the four aforementioned properties and qualities, realistically, they are the factors least responsible for your nutritional success or failure. Don’t forget your calories. Don’t forget your macros. Everything else matters a lot less.
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Chapter 10: Meal Frequency
Meal Frequency Now, with all that said, there is some evidence to suggest that you might be able to slightly improve your nutritional protocol by manipulating both your meal frequency and nutrient timing. Much has been made of meal frequency recently in the fitness community. Intermittent fasting has become a popular eating schedule. For the unfamiliar, intermittent fasting typically involves abstaining from food for 16 hours and then eating all of your calories within an 8 hour window. The “bro style” of bodybuilding eating which called for eating every 2-3 hours on the clock fell under attack around the same time. However, many traditional bodybuilders steadfastly swear by this nutritional protocol. In reality, it most likely doesn’t matter much. While there appear to be distinct benefits to intermittent fasting, particularly with regards to fat loss, I personally recommend a protocol much closer to the bro style of eating.
This is Martin Berkhan the author of “LeanGains” – the website which really popularized IF several years ago. Photo: LeanGains.com
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Maximizing Muscle Protein Synthesis
Why? Well, we’ve already discussed why, actually. The current consensus amongst most credentialed nutrition authorities in the fitness community appears to be that muscle protein synthesis can likely be maximized by consuming ~3-5g of Leucine every 4-6 hours. In other words, to maximize how much muscle you build, you should likely be eating a meal with ~30-50g of protein 4-6 times per day. If you use intermittent fasting, you simply cannot do this. Again, if intermittent fasting works better for your lifestyle, great. Continue using it. Compliance is perhaps more important than what is theoretically optimal. However, for the purposes of this book, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend the strategy that is theoretically more optimal: eat more frequently to maximize MPS.
Pre and Post Workout Nutrition
Outside of maximizing muscle protein synthesis, there is an abundance of research demonstrating that consuming a meal containing carbohydrates and protein both prior to and upon completion of a high volume resistance training workout is beneficial both in terms of performance and muscle protein maintenance. In other words, even if you use an eating schedule similar to Intermittent Fasting, it behooves you to eat a pre and post workout meal.
Meal Frequency Recommendations When combining the research on maximizing muscle protein synthesis and existing literature on pre and post workout feedings, you should likely be eating 3-6 meals per day spaced 4-6 hours apart.
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Chapter 11: Nutrient Timing
Nutrient timing and meal frequency are closely related. For example, technically speaking, timing your protein doses is both an aspect of meal frequency and nutrient timing. Consuming a pre and post workout meal is both an aspect of meal frequency and nutrient timing. With that said, I’d like to offer further insight into the aspects of nutrient timing that may be relevant to powerlifting performance.
Carbohydrate Timing Of all the macronutrients, carbohydrates probably offer the most opportunity for manipulation in terms of nutrient timing. In fact, there are sensible ways to manipulate carbohydrate intake both within a given training week and each given day.
Daily Carbohydrate Timing
Most of the recommendations for carbohydrate manipulation involve timing your intake around workouts. This recommendation is centered upon the fact that peri-workout carbohydrate consumption can often boost performance. Eating carbohydrates pre-workout tops off your glycogen stores and can delay time to fatigue for a weightlifter. Similarly, consuming carbohydrates post workout can help replenish glycogen stores more quickly. While it is not necessarily of great importance to replenish glycogen quickly if you train only once per day, this may be a consideration nonetheless. The second reason carbohydrate timing is often suggested around workouts has to do with the fact that you’re more likely to partition nutrients favorably during this window. If you have an immediate need for glycogen, such as fueling the creation of new ATP or replenishing diminished muscle stores, the glycogen you consume is much less likely to be stored as fat. Additionally, glycogen synthesis is most effective post-workout. In other words, there may be a body composition benefit to consuming a large portion of your carbs in the peri-workout window. Exactly how much of your carbohydrate intake should come in the peri-workout window? Personally, I recommend consuming ~50-60% of your carbs in this period. I typically aim for ~20-30% in the preworkout meal and ~25%-35% in the post workout meal. Keep in mind that, for athletes training once per day, there may not be any tangible body composition benefit to such carbohydrate timing. In practice, I’ve seen better results with this protocol, but I want to be clear what the basis of my recommendation is.
Weekly Carbohydrate Timing
The basis for weekly carbohydrate timing, also known as “carb cycling”, is very similar to that of daily carbohydrate timing. Those who advocate carb timing believe that you will receive favorable nutrient partitioning if carbohydrate consumption is limited to times when it is needed most. Others simply believe that carbohydrates serve no other purpose than to refill glycogen. As such, they tend to recommend higher carbohydrate intakes on workout days versus off days.
61 While I am skeptical that this practice provides any meaningful return in terms of body composition, I do recommend an element of weekly carbohydrate cycling for those in a caloric deficit. I make this recommendation primarily for psychological reasons. Having one or two days per week where your carbohydrate and overall caloric intake are higher can massively boost compliance to a tough dietary protocol. This practice is called “refeeding” or having a “refeed day”. Refeeds help because you know that you’re never more than a few days away from a more “normal” day of eating. Compliance is more than half the battle in terms of achieving your nutritional goals.
Who doesn’t love the occasional cake, cookies, and ice cream!? Refeeds can help you fit some of these types of foods into your diet without “cheating”.
Now, don’t me wrong, there is also a physiological basis for my recommendations. Outside of the possible nutrient partitioning benefits, which I remain skeptical of, having periodic refeeds, where overall caloric intake and carbohydrate intake are temporarily spiked, can help transiently increase hormonal markers such as leptin and thyroid. While support in the literature probably isn’t there, countless bodybuilders and iron athletes can attest to the fact that having periodic refeeds keeps them from stalling out on their diets for much, much longer than when they’ve tried dieting without refeeds. I’ve personally found them invaluable while dieting down.
62 Of course, additionally, if you’re deep into a diet, your carbohydrates are likely to be quite low overall. When this happens, training begins to suffer. By timing your refeeds, or higher carb days, with your toughest workouts you can provide yourself with a temporary performance spike due to the larger amount of glycogen in your system. This can be of critical importance once you start getting down towards the end of your diet where progress starts to become dicey. And because the refeed days are still happening within the context of a diet, you’ll still lose weight at the end of the week.
Setting Up “High Carb Days” Let’s talk about the practice of actually setting up a high carb day. Remember, we want a day that is both higher calories than normal and more carbs than normal. In order to achieve this in practice, we’re going to lower protein, low fat, and increase carbs beyond where they normally are. Let’s say you are a male who weighs 200lbs and are currently aiming for a caloric deficit. Let’s set-up the theoretical diet: 1) You’d look back to Chapter 8 and see that 12x body weight is a decent starting point for a cut: 200*12 = 2400 calories. 2) You’d then set your protein needs. For overall protein needs, we can see that we need approximately ~1.1-1.4g/lb: 200*1.1 = 220g of protein. Because we don’t want to go insane, or be unrealistic, we’re going to convert this to a range of 210-230g or 220g +/- 5g. Keep in mind that there are 4 calories per gram of protein. In other words, 880 of our calories are coming from protein. 3) Next, we’re going to calculate fat. Because this is a deficit, and we want to keep carbs high, we might use the lower end of the fat recommendations and go with 20%. 2400*.2 = 480 calories. There are 9 calories in each gram of fat: 480/9 = ~53g of fat. As above, we’re going to convert fat into a range of 4858g or 53g +/- 5g. 4) Finally, you’re going to calculate your carbohydrate needs by allocating everything that is left. In order to do this, we have to subtract our calories from protein and fat from our total overall caloric intake: 2400-480-880= 1040 calories. There are 4 calories per gram of carb: 1040/4 = 260 carbs. Our final carb range is thus 255-265g or 260g +/- 5g. 5) Okay, at this point, we’ve got our baseline diet: 2400kcal, 220g protein, 53g fat, and 260g of carbs all plus or minus 5g. Coincidentally, this is how we get our calorie range as well. 6) For our high carb days, we’re going to increase carbs by ~50% from normal: 260*1.5=390g of carbs +/5g. 7) We’re going to lower our protein down to the needs of someone closer to maintenance because our calories will be higher on this day anyways: 200lbs*1.0g/lbs= 200g of protein +/- 5g. 8) We’re also going to lower the fat that we use for this day down ~2.5%: (2400*.175)/9=~47g of fat +/5g.
63 9) Here’s our freshly calculated high carb day: 200g protein, 390g carbs, 47g fat, ~2780 calories all +/- 5g. You’re going to have to keep in mind that, because these days are higher calorie, they also impact your weekly caloric total. You’ll have to adjust for this in calculating your average weekly calories. Keep in mind that I have provided a spreadsheet which sets up all of this for you automatically. As far as placement and frequency, again, I recommend two of these per week placed on your most difficult training days. Let’s say you train Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat. I’d recommend placing the two high carb days on Monday and Friday. If you train on Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri, I’d recommend placing the two high carb days on Mon/Thu. This way, you get the direct performance benefit on Monday and Thursday, but your glycogen stores are also still transiently higher for the workout the following days on Tuesday and Friday. In fact, this is EXACTLY how I set people’s programs up when they’re running PIP2 or higher from ProgrammingToWin.
Summary: EatingToWin “High Carb Days” In sum, here’s the recommendations I’m making for the EatingToWin System: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
Two high carb days per week Carbs should be ~50% higher than on normal days Decrease protein down to ~1g/lbs or ~2.2g/kg Decrease fat ~2.5% from normal days Time the high carb days with your hardest workouts of the week
Keep in mind that there are many other reasonable ways to include high carb days. You can only do one per week if you want. This will keep your normal days both higher carb and higher calorie. However, if you choose to do it the way I’ve presented here, just keep in mind that the spreadsheet will then be able to calculate all of it for you automatically AND you’ll be able to use this exact strategy with the PTW programs. In fact, this strategy was explicitly developed for use in conjunction with PTW programs.
Fat Timing Fat timing isn’t nearly as exciting as carbohydrate timing. In fact, I honestly don’t even have much to say here. The one nutrient partitioning recommendation that I can make, in terms of fat, is to limit fat in the peri-workout window. The reason I’m recommending limiting fat in the peri-workout window has to do with the fact that fat tends to greatly slow down digestion and absorption rates. If you’re following the EatingToWin system, you’re likely consuming a massive amount of carbohydrates both pre and post workout. What we don’t want is for the absorption of those carbs and proteins to be slowed down. That somewhat defeats the purpose of centering them around the workout in the first place. Additionally, there may be a potential nutrient partitioning benefit to limiting fat in the peri-workout window. Working out itself improves both insulin sensitivity and increases muscle protein synthesis. If
64 you’re consuming a large amount of fat, at the time when insulin is being peaked by your huge carbohydrate meals, you may end up having that dietary fat very efficiently shuttled off to fat storage. After all, that is essentially insulin’s job: it is an anabolic transport hormone. In any case, this may or may not matter, but it bears mentioning as a potential nutrient partitioning benefit. As a practical recommendation, limit fat intake in the peri-workout window to less than 10g per meal.
Protein Timing At this point, we’ve already gone over protein timing. Remember, to maximize MPS, you have two main concerns: 1) ensure you’re getting protein in your pre and post workout meal and 2) eat ~30-50g of protein every ~4-6 hours. See the Protein section of Chapter 9 for more detailed discussion on this subject.
The Relative Importance of Nutrient Timing and Meal Frequency A tendency that most of seem to have is to give undue importance to details when it comes to nutrition. Make no mistake about it… If you violated every single recommendation that I just made above, but you still hit your caloric intake goals and got your macros right, you’d make excellent progress. If you mastered every recommendation that I just mentioned above, but you didn’t get your caloric intake or macronutrient distribution correct, you might make “reverse progress” towards your goals. My main point here is that you should never put a nutrient timing or meal frequency concern ahead of your macros and your overall caloric intake. Those are still the predominant factors here. I’d rather you skip a meal and hit your macros than hit your meals and skip your macros. Don’t miss the big picture. No one is going to be perfect every day. 90%+ of your results still come down to just eating the right amount of food and the right amount of protein, carbs, and fats.
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Chapter 12: Micronutrition
Does “Eating Healthy” Matter? Micronutrition tends to be another one of those facets of nutrition that authors use to differentiate their products from other solutions in the marketplace. However, ultimately, unless taken to absolute extremes, micronutrition tends to just take care of itself. I’ll make practical recommendations in a bit, but first I want to discuss the idea of “healthy”, “clean”, or “paleo” foods. First of all, there is no standard clinical definition for any of these terms. And, when you press proponents of the aforementioned buzzword “diets” to actually define the terms, they frequently produce contradictory definitions that lose any significant meaning. Clinically speaking, there is no such thing as a “bad” food and a “good” food; there are only good and bad diets.
Are you Paleo, brah? Photo: evolvepaleochef.com
66 Look, I am in favor of high quality foods. I am not suggesting that you go out and eat a diet completely devoid of all fruits, vegetables, and other micronutrient dense calorie sources. The point here is more so that if you’re eating multiple servings of vegetables per day, if you’re eating a few pieces of fruit, and if you’re generally eating a wide variety of foods throughout the week, your micronutrition is likely already excellent. Having the occasional ice cream or cookie is completely irrelevant in the context of a diet that is already plenty rich in micronutrients. My main point here is that there is absolutely ZERO strong clinical research to suggest that, for example, eating a 100% organic diet has any measurable impact on performance in the gym or body composition. There is absolutely zero clinical evidence that “food quality” makes a statistically significant difference in performance or body composition in general. Subjectively, I’ve personally noticed better mood and energy when making an effort to eat “healthier” and, as such, I’m biased towards high food quality. I’d recommend you try to include the highest possible quality of foods that you can. At the same time, you need to realize this probably makes a very, very small contribution to your overall performance in the gym – if makes a contribution at all. If you’re basing your nutritional selections solely on the idea that only certain foods are “good”, you likely need to stop. More often than not, this type of neurotic behavior leads to a poor relationship with food that has a decent chance of one day developing into a full blown disorder. Keep everything in perspective. Choose foods rich in micronutrients the majority of the time, but allow yourself some flexibility in your diet.
Practical Micronutrition Recommendations While your energy balance and macronutrition is of utmost importance, you cannot afford to completely neglect micronutrition, either. A deficiency in certain vitamins and minerals can manifest in legitimate disease and sickness. On a lower level, you will negatively impact your sleeping patterns, mood, and overall energy levels if you aren’t getting enough vitamins and minerals.
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The Food and Drug Administration’s Recommended Daily Intake of various vitamins and minerals (USA). Photo: Wikipedia.org
As such, I’d simply recommend making sure that you get at least one serving of fruits AND vegetables per 1,000 calories in your diet. Remember, you need a certain amount of fiber anyways. Ensuring that you’re eating ~2-3 servings of vegetables per day and ~1-2 servings of fruit will go a long ways towards ensuring your micronutrition isn’t out of line. The last recommendation I’ll make, which isn’t so much of a recommendation as it is a note of caution, do not fall into the trap of eating the same exact foods every single day. When working with clients, I see this type of behavior all the time. Perhaps due to convenience or ease, athletes often fall into the trap of
68 eating the exact same foods every single day and only adjusting the quantities as their macro prescriptions change over time. Don’t do this long term. I understand that when you’re in the midst of a hardcore diet, this is convenient, but when the calories come back up, and the macros are less scarce, please return to seminormal eating behaviors. Lack of variety in food intake is both psychologically unhealthy and one possible way to mess up your micronutrition. You’ll run the risk of simply not getting the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals, or, perhaps more likely, you’ll get too much of the same ones.
Relative Importance of Micronutrition In one sense, micronutrition is of ultimate importance. If you don’t get enough of certain vitamins, you run the risk of developing certain deadly diseases. On the other hand, if you’re not going out of your way to eat a ridiculous diet consisting of nothing other than sugar, protein powder, and butter, you’re likely not going to deal with serious micronutrition issues. Please don’t let anyone convince you that you need to eat certain “good” foods to be successful. This is complete bullshit. At the very most, food quality MIGHT have a long term impact, but we see no strong evidence of this in the current literature. Overall, just make sure you eat a decent amount of fruits and veggies. Eat a varied diet with lots of different colors and flavors. You’ll be just fine. Concentrate on your energy balance and your macronutition because these are the factors that really control your nutritional destiny.
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Chapter 13: Supplementation
Do Supplements Matter? Contrary to popular opinion, supplements are easily the least important factor in maximizing your nutrition. Why? Because supplements can only… supplement another part of the nutritional hierarchy. For example, multivitamin or fish oil pills might help improve the micronutrition aspect of nutrition. A protein supplement, such as whey protein powder or protein bars, might help you reach your macronutrient goals. Creatine supplementation can be useful because it is hard to eat all the raw meat necessary to top off your stores naturally. Look, you get the picture. Supplements… supplement. They’re not critical by any stretch of the imagination!
What’s your stack, brah!?
With that said, I feel like lately there has been an anti-supplement trend that is a bit misguided. Frankly, it is true that there are VERY few supplements with STRONG support in the literature. Because most honest people out there want to prevent you from wasting your hard earned money on supplements that might work, they just don’t mention them at all. However, as you might have gathered from the rest of this book, or even the rest of my writings, I am all about using any fair and legal means necessary to gain an edge. While I will explicitly delineate between
70 supplements with strong support and supplements with weak support, I will be presenting more potential options here than the stereotypical advice of: “Lift heavy, take a multi, bro”. Before we move on, I’d like to give a shout out to what I believe is the single best supplement review service on the internet today: Examine.com. Examine offers research-based, critical reviews not only detailing which supplements have support in the literature, but also to what degree the literature supports each supplement. If you’re going to do your own research on supplements, Examine is the place to start.
Supplements with Strong Support 1) Whey Protein
What: Whey protein is a component of milk protein. It has a high concentration of leucine and is perhaps the single most bioavailable form of protein. Translation? Whey is a great way to supplement your diet with additional protein if you find yourself lacking. Why: While there is no real need for whey protein, I supplement my diet with it quite frequently. Frankly, when you’re trying to hit ~1.0g-~1.4g of protein per day, you can often fall a little short. A whey supplement allows you to boost your totals easily without drastically driving up your carb and fat intake. Basically, whey just makes it easier to hit your macros. Even though this is its only purpose, I still consider it perhaps the most useful supplement on the entire market. Because, as you should know by now, hitting your macros is more important than the supplements you take in the first place. How: There is really no need to take more than ~1-1.5 scoops of most whey protein supplements. After all, getting more than ~3-5g of Leucine in a single serving doesn’t do anything to increase muscle protein synthesis. You’ll need to mix the whey with some kind of liquid. I’d recommend water or milk. Cycling on and off is unnecessary. When: Whey is a meal replacement so you’d use it at meal time either alone or in combination with food. Recommendation: While it is perhaps not the cheapest, my favorite low carb, low fat, great tasting whey protein powder award goes to Pure Chocolate from Syntrax Matrix 5.0. The best protein bars? Quest Bars and it isn’t even close.
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2) Caffeine
What: Caffeine is a natural stimulant derived from coffee beans. Why: The bottom line is that caffeine reliably increases performance in athletes who haven’t developed a tolerance. There are positive effects seen nearly across the board including fat loss, endurance, and peak power output. How: For strength enhancement, take ~5mg/kg or ~2.5mg/lbs. It doesn’t matter whether you take it in pill, powder, or liquid form. Because tolerance will eventually be developed, if you use caffeine as an ergogenic aid, consider taking a month off when you no longer feel strong effects from caffeine consumption. When: Experiment individually, but you’ll want to take your caffeine within 30 minutes of beginning your workout. Personally, I don’t finish mine until I’m done with warm-ups. Note: There are genetic variations in the ability to metabolize caffeine. Not all doses will affect everyone equally. To avoid any harsh side effects, start small with your dosing and build up as necessary. Some people with sleep issues would be best advised to avoid caffeine in my opinion. Even small doses can exacerbate insomnia issues in some individuals. Recommendation: Cheapest you can get in bulk.
3) Creatine
What: Creatine is a molecule that is used to help create ATP quickly. Supplemental creatine allows you to maximize your muscular stores thus resulting in an improved ability to generate ATP. Over time, this leads to increased work capacity, power output, and lean body mass. Why: The benefits of creatine are primarily indirect. Because you’ll be able to generate ATP more quickly, over time, you’ll be able to do more reps per set and more sets per workout. This will lead to increased strength and muscle mass over time. How: Take 5g daily. Cycling on and off is unnecessary. When: Doesn’t matter. Creatine builds up in the system over time. Recommendation: Buy the cheapest creatine monohydrate you can find in bulk. I use Bulk Supplements.
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4) Beta-Alanine
What: Beta-alanine is one of the essential building blocks of muscle carnosine. Carnosine acts as a celluar buffer to acid in the muscles. When you lift, ATP is broken down and lactic acid is released. Carnosine combats the acidic effects of the aforementioned byproducts thus delaying time to fatigue. Why: If you perform any sets that take ~60+ seconds (~8+ reps), or if you’re using the GPP/HIIT protocols from ProgrammingToWin, Beta-Alanine is going to help increase performance or you might be able to squeeze out another rep and/or perhaps last a few more sets. How: Take 6g daily split up into 2-3 doses. I typically take 3g in my pre and post workout shakes. Cycling is unnecessary. When: Doesn’t matter. Beta-Alanine helps build up carnosine over time. Recommendation: Buy the cheapest Beta-Alanine you can find in bulk. I use Hard Rhino.
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5) Vitamin D
What: Vitamin D is one of the many essential vitamins and nutrients that we need. Sunlight is typically the primary source of Vitamin D. For those living in areas without a lot of sunlight, you can potentially benefit greatly from Vitamin D supplementation. Why: Vitamin D supplementation, particularly for those who are deficient, has been shown to improve mood, memory, cognitive function, and testosterone levels. As a lifter, having your hormones function optimally is going to be of great importance to maximizing your progress in the gym. How: Supplement with Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). You should be taking anywhere from ~1,000iu-~5,000iu per day based on your particular demographics and exposure to sunlight. Overdosing is possible, but nearly impossible at doses under 10,000iu per day. Take it alongside a fat source. Consult with your general care provider for recommendations more specific to your situation. Cycling is unnecessary. Recommendation: Take Vitamin D3 in liquid form or capsule form from the cheapest provider you can find. I use Kirkland Brand.
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6) EPA/DHA (Fish Oil)
What: EPA/DHA supplementation involves trying to balance your omega 3:6 fat ratios. The typical diet, particularly in the West, is too high in Omega 6s. Supplementing with fish oil, a great source of Omega 3s, can help bring your balance closer to the recommended 1:1 amount. Why: For those who do not consume enough fish, or who simply eat too much Omega 6 fatty acids, consuming fish oil can have a long list of general health benefits including: joint health, mood, and improved brain function. Improvements in general health can indirectly benefit the competitive lifter over time. How: While some people fall into the trap of “more is better” with fish oil, consuming more than 1-2 of EPA+DHA (total) is likely unnecessary for those seeking the general health benefits. Cycling is unnecessary. When: Doesn’t matter. The benefits are long term due to the aforementioned improved ratios. Recommendation: Find the cheapest brand possible. I use Kirkland Brand.
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7) Melatonin
What: Melatonin is a non-addictive sleep aid that helps regulate your sleep patterns. If you struggle with falling asleep or getting a good quality of sleep, Melatonin may indirectly benefit you. Many people have irregular sleep habits due to the way our society is structured. Melatonin production is very sensitive to light and many of us are often exposed to light all day long even before we’re trying to sleep. If you have trouble falling asleep quickly or deeply, or an irregular schedule, melatonin supplementation can help you get a better quality of sleep. If you already have excellent sleep hygiene, it likely won’t do much for you. Why: Quality and quantity of sleep is probably the number one determinant of your overall ability to recover from hard training. Sleep should be sacred to you as a lifter. If you’re not already familiar with sleep hygiene, you should be. Ultimately, melatonin is somewhat of a band-aide to help you with missteps in sleep hygiene. Regardless, anything you can do to improve your quality of sleep is well worth it in my opinion. How: Melatonin is often available in pill form or as a chewable tablet. Dosing is individual, but the recommended range is between 500mcg and 5mg. Start lower and work your way up. Cycling is unnecessary. When: Take Melatonin ~30 minutes before attempting to sleep. Recommendation: Buy a cheap generic brand. NOW Foods has a great option on Amazon.
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8) Multivitamin (conditional!)
What: “Multivitamin” is a generic, catch-all term for any supplements that contains a variety of the essential daily vitamins and minerals. Particular products can vary significantly. Why: You should really only consider a multivitamin if you’re in a heavy caloric deficit that doesn’t allow for a great variety of foods (or a lot of food in general). For the vast majority of people, a multivitamin is actually unnecessary. If you’re eating a well-balanced diet, you’re already getting the micronutrients you need. How: Most multivitamins involve taking 1-2 pills per day. Cycling is unnecessary. When: Usually, multivitamins are taken with food. Recommendation: A generic brand will work just fine. Don’t overpay for something that is likely unnecessary in the first place. I use Kirkland Brand.
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Supplements with Weaker Support 1) BCAAs
What: Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) generally refers to the combination of Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine. These are free form amino acids that do not get metabolized or used by the small intestine, liver, or kidney to any appreciable degree due to lack of the appropriate enzymes in these tissues. Why: According to research done by Dr. Norton, and quoting from my buddy Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum, “[BCAAs] spike blood amino acid levels sky high very shortly after oral ingestion and work almost exclusively at the level of skeletal muscle to stimulate muscle protein synthesis without interfering with the refractory period”. What does that mean? Well, theoretically, it means that BCAAs can get into your system, stimulate muscle protein synthesis, and still clear the system before you’re ready for that next dose of dietary protein. In other words, you can potentially build more muscle while you’re waiting those ~4-6 hours in-between meals. How: Mix the BCAA powder into water and drink it. Cycling is unnecessary. When: Pre/Post Workout: ~10g of BCAAs In-Between Meals: ~5g of BCAAs Note: This is going to be controversial, but I think BCAAs are just as important to my supplement stack as more established aids such as creatine and beta-alaine. I firmly believe that BCAAs have made a measurable difference to my overall recovery ability and the amount of muscle I can hold on my frame. My training logs confirm this. While Dr. Norton’s research is heavily criticized primarily because it is in rodents, the underlying physiological mechanisms for why this would work are sound in my opinion. Read more of Norton’s take here. You’ll have to make your decisions, but I strongly recommend BCAAs to all my athletes and I’m not going to back down from that recommendation here. Recommendation: I highly recommend Scivation Xtend. It tastes amazing and the ratios are all correct.
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2) HMB
What: HMB (β-Hydroxy β-Methylbutyrate) is a component of Leucine that inhibits muscle breakdown. Essentially, HMB is an anti-catabolic supplement. Why: Dr. Jacon Wilson’s lab has shown that, in combination with an effective periodization program, that HMB supplementation is potent when it comes to preventing muscular damage in response to novel training. In other words, HMB isn’t directly contributing to anabolism but, by significantly decreasing muscle damage, trainees can train more frequently, with more volume, and with higher loads. It is THESE factors that will can potentially lead to measurably improved performance in the gym. If you’re following a relatively high frequency, high volume training program, such as the PTW programs, and you’re not yet adapted to the new stimulus, HMB is something to consider in my opinion. How/When: HMB should be taken daily in three separate 1g doses. On training days, take 1g before training. Cycling on and off is unnecessary. Note: Keep in mind that total your total muscle mass is a product of muscle protein synthesis minus muscle protein breakdown. HMB is most effective when combined with training and supplementation that is maximizing the muscle protein synthesis part of the equation. When muscle protein synthesis is maximized, HMB can help increase net protein accretion by decreasing protein breakdowns. Alone, you wouldn’t expect to see as potent of results in the studies. Recommendation: Ideally, you’d use HMB-FA 30-45 minutes before a workout, but it isn’t available commercially yet. As such, I’m currenly using Met-Rx’s product as they originally put HMB on the market.
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3) TMG / Betaine Anhydrous
What: TMG (Trimethylglycine), also known as betaine, is a methyl derivative first isolated from beets. However, it is found it a variety of other foods as well. The exact mechanisms behind why TMG has been demonstrated to occasionally have positive impacts on strength, body composition, and work capacity aren’t fully understood. There are several competing theories, but the most probable revolve around increased creatine synthesis and/or the osmolytic properties of betaine (translation: it optimizes cellular hydration which improves function under stressful conditions). Why: The truth is that out of all the supplements I’m going to recommend, the support for Betaine is the most equivocal. The results just aren’t that consistent from study to study especially in terms of the improvements in body composition and peak power output. However, multiple studies have found that betaine has had a positive impact on work capacity – particularly when paired with metabolically challenging workout protocols. In other words, higher reps and/or high volume (with potentially limited rest periods). Frankly, I know several top iron athletes who both personally supplement with betaine and recommend it to their athletes due to the myriad potential benefits. I’d be remiss not to mention it here. You’ll have to decide for yourself if it is worth it given the inconsistent support in the literature. How/When: Take 1.25g both pre and post workout. Cycling is unnecessary. Recommendation: Buy cheap and in bulk. I use Hard Rhino.
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4) D-Aspartic Acid (DAA)
What: D-Aspartic Acid is an amino acid that helps regulate testosterone synthesis. Why: The research strongly shows that you can transiently increase testosterone with DAA supplementation to the tune of a 30-40% increase. However, there is no data to show that this increase in testosterone actually correlates to increases in strength or improvements in body composition. Additionally, further research is required to fully understand the long term effects of DAA supplementation. How/When: Take 3g per day at any point in the day for ~4-6 weeks. Cycle off for six weeks before resuming use. Note: Look, as I’ve noted above, this stuff does increase testosterone, but, ultimately, we don’t have any evidence that increasing testosterone within physiologically normal ranges actually does anything. Nonetheless, if you’re maximizing other aspects of your supplementation and micronutrition, this transient boost in testosterone may prove beneficial to your mood and general well-being if nothing else. I think it would be silly to go without mentioning one of the few supplements out there that demonstrably and naturally improves testosterone levels. Recommendation: Find a cheap generic brand. As usual, Hard Rhino is awesome.
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Chapter 14: The EatingToWin Nutrition System Summary
At this point, I believe I’ve discussed the why and how of all of the aspects of the EatingToWin System. As such, I’d like to bring everything together in one convenient place where you can just quickly reference the rules of the system. For explanations, please see the previous chapters. Please remember that the spreadsheet which comes with this book does all of this for you!
a) Bulk or Cut? You Should Cut When:
Males: ~15%+ Body Fat according to Pictures and Navy Body Fat Method Females: ~23%+ Body Fat according to Pictures and Navy Body Fat Method
You Should Bulk When:
Males: ~10% or less Body Fat according to Pictures and Navy Body Fat Method Females: ~18% or less Body Fat according to Pictures and Navy Body Fat Method
b) Set Up The Diet 1) Determine Calorie Needs If you’ve just finished a bulk or cut… Simply reverse out of the cut or bulk using the caloric adjustment rules below Bulking Caloric Starting Point Males: 16x Body Weight Females: 15x Body Weight Cutting Caloric Starting Point Males: 12x Body Weight Females: 11x Body Weight
2) Determine Protein Intake On High Carb Days ~1.0g/lbs or ~2.2g/kg On Low Carb Days ~1.1g/lbs or ~2.4g/kg
3) Determine Fat Intake On High Carb Days ~22.5% of Baseline Calories On Low Carb Days ~25% of Baseline Calories
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4) Determine Carbohydrate Intake On Low Carb Days All remaining calories go to carbs. On High Carb Days ~50% more carbs than Low Carb Days.
5) Determining Fiber Intake On All Days 10%-20% of total daily carbohydrate intake.
c) Adjusting the Diet 1) Collect Weekly Data Collect Cut vs. Bulk Data Measure Your Waist, Neck, and take a shirtless picture in the mirror at the start of each week. Collect Weekly Caloric Adjustment Data Take a running average of your daily weight. Weigh-in first thing in the morning before eating or drinking and after using the restroom.
2) Weekly Adjustment Rules Decide Whether to Cut, Bulk, or Continue Using your pictures and waist/neck data, determine if you should continue cutting or bulking or if it is time to switch phases. Adjust Weekly Caloric Intake Use the following rules to adjust caloric intake: During A Cut: i) Lifter gained weight; subtract 200kcal from daily intake ii) Lifter lost less than 0.5% body weight; subtract 100kcal from daily intake iii) Lifter lost between 0.5%-0.6% body weight; subtract 50kcal from daily intake iv) Lifter lost between 0.6%-0.8% body weight; keep daily intake the same v) Lifter lost between 0.8%-1.0% body weight; add 50kcal to daily intake vi) Lifter lost more than 1.0% body weight; add 100kcal to daily intake During a Bulk: i) Lifter lost more than 0.5% body weight; add 200kcal to daily intake ii) Lifter lost 0.5%-0.1% body weight; add 100kcal to daily intake iii) Lifter gained less than ~0.1% body weight; add 50kcal to daily intake iv) Lifter gained ~0.1-0.3% body weight; keep daily intake the same v) Lifter gained ~0.3-~0.5% body weight; subtract 50kcal from daily intake vi) Lifter gained more than ~0.5% body weight; subtract 100kcal from daily intake
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d) Supplements 1) Pre-Workout Shake i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi)
Caffeine: 300-600mg; ~5mg/kg or ~2.5mg/lb of body weight Creatine: 5g Beta-Alanine: 3g BCAAs: 10g HMB: 1g TMG: 1.25g
2) Post-Workout Shake i) ii) iii) iv)
Beta-Alanine: 3g BCAAs: 10g HMB: 1g TMG: 1.25g
3) When Convenient i) ii) iii) iv)
Vitamin D3: ~2000-5000iu/day Fish Oil: ~1-2g of EPA/DHA HMB: 1g, get three servings per day Multivitamin: Follow label dosing instructions
4) Before Bed i)
Melatonin: 500mcg-5mg
5) Between Meals i)
BCAAs: 5g
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Chapter 15: An Example of the EatingToWin System
To help the mass of information that I’ve just delivered sink in, we’re going to take a theoretical lifter and run him through the above system. In so doing, I hope to give you all a more clear understanding of how applying these rules would actually work. Please keep in mind that the spreadsheet which comes with this book will do all of this for you. Regardless, this section is further cement your understanding of the whole process.
Introducing Our Hypothetical Lifter: Izzy Meet our hypothetical lifter: Izzy. He is 5’6”, 180lbs, he doesn’t know his body fat, and he has no idea how much food he’s been eating. He is willing to learn macro counting, though. His waist measurement is 35”, his neck is 17”, and his pictures demonstrate that his upper abs faintly show when flexed.
Izzy Does Some Deadlifts
Should Izzy Cut or Bulk?
When we run his numbers through the Navy Body fat method, Izzy’s approximate body fat comes out to 17%. Based on his pictures, these measurements, and the fact he doesn’t have abs clearly showing, we can safely conclude that Izzy should initiate a cut.
Setting Up Izzy’s Diet
Setting Calories We know that Izzy should cut because he’s over 15% body fat. He doesn’t know how much he’s been eating however so we have to estimate his starting calories. In this case, 180 * 12 = 2160 calories. We’ll round up to 2,200 so that we can work in increments of 50-100kcal.
85 Setting Protein Izzy is going to be in a caloric deficit. As such, we’ll set his protein at ~1.1g/lb. 180*1.1=198g. We’ll round to 200g to make things simpler. His protein intake is 200g +/- 5g. Setting Fat To help keep Izzy sane on his diet, we’ll keep his fat intake at 25% of total calories. If he had more experience with macro counting, we might use 20% to keep his carbs higher. In this case though, 2200*.25=550 calories. There are 9 calories per gram of fat. To get our fat intake, we do: 550/9=~61g of fat. Final intake: 61g +/- 5g. Setting Carbohydrates The rest of our calories will be allocated to carbohydrates. First, we need to figure out how many calories we have left. We know that there are 4 calories per gram of protein and 9 calories per gram of fat. With this in mind, 200*4+61*9=800+550=1350. In order to figure out how many calories we have left for carbs, we need to do: 2200-1350= 850. There are also 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate. 850/4 = ~213. Final intake: 213g +/- 5g. Setting Fiber We want Izzy to consume between 10-20% of his total carbohydrate intake from fiber. This will automatically improve his micronutrient profile because it is hard to keep fiber high while eating junk. This will also keep his gut and digestive system functioning well. 213*.1 = ~21g 213*.2= ~42g Izzy should consume between 21-42g of fiber.
Izzy’s Baseline Diet
Izzy’s Baseline diet, +/- 5g, is: 2200kcal, 200g Protein, 213g Carbohydrates, 61g fat, 21-42g of fiber
Setting High Carb Days Calculating Macros Protein: We’ll use 1g/lb here because of the higher overall calories. 180*1= 180g +/- 5g Fat: We’ll lower the fat here to 22.5% of baseline calories to make more room for carbs. 2200*.225=495. 495/9= 55g +/- 5g Carbs: We’ll increase carbs 50% here. 213*1.5= 320g +/- 5g Fiber: 320*.1 and 320*.2 = 32-64g High Carb Day Diet: 180g protein, 320g carbs, 55g fat +/- 5g Placing High Carb Days Let’s say Izzy is following PIP3 from ProgrammingToWin. His training schedule is Mon/Tue hard lifting, Wed GPP, Thu/Fri hard lifting, and Saturday GPP. We’ll place his two high carb days on Monday and Thursday. This way, he’ll get the immediate benefits of more glycogen on Monday and Thursday while
86 also benefitting from the leftover glycogen increase on Tuesday and Friday. We get more bang for our buck this way.
Izzy’s First Weekly Macro Diet:
High Carb Days (Mon/Thu): 180g protein, 320g of carbs, 55g of fat 32-64g of fiber Low Carb Days (All Other Days): 200g protein, 213g of carbs, 61g of fat, 21-42g of fiber +/- 5g on All Macro Values
Adjusting Izzy’s Diet from Week to Week Okay, we’re going to make up a sample diet stretch here where we adjust Izzy’s macros and calories based on what is happening weekly. The following numbers assume Izzy is measuring his waist once per week on Monday and his “bodyweight” number is a running average of his morning weight every single day that week.
Getting Started: Here’s our starting Data… Week 0: 180lbs, 35” Waist, 17” Neck, Navy BF ~17% Izzy’s diet for week one will be: 200P/213C/61F. We already set this up in the preceding section. Here is the results after one week… Week 1: 178lbs, 34.5” Waist, 17” Neck, Navy BF ~16% Izzy has lost 1-(178/180)= 1.11% of his BW this week. This is too fast according to our rules. We’re going to add in 100kcal worth of macros. I’m going to spare you all the calculations, but his new macros at a 2300kcal baseline are: 2300kcal, 200P/231C/64F. Here are the results we get after the next week: Week 2: 176.4lbs, 34.25” Waist, 17” Neck, ~15.5% Navy BF Izzy has lost 1-(176.4/178)= 0.9% of his BW this week. According to our rules, we’re going to add another 50kcal just to slow the rate down a tiny bit and make sure he’s eating as much as possible while still losing at the rate we want to see. His new macros, after all the calculations, at 2350kcal will be: 200P, 241C, 65F. Here are the results we get after one more week: Week 3: 175.0lbs, 34” Waist, 16.75” Neck, ~15.5% Navy BF Izzy has lost 1-(175/176.4)=0.8% of his BW this week. According to our rules, this is the exact rate we’re looking for and we’re not going to touch his calories! His macros will remain the same.
Changing Gears:
Let’s fast forward ~10 weeks and assume Izzy is nearing the end of his cut.
87 Week 13: 166lbs, 16” Neck, 30.75” Waist, ~10% Navy Body Fat Izzy’s Macros have come down to 2000kcal during this process and he is now eating: 200P/174C/56F Week 14: 165.1lbs, 16” Neck, 30.5” Waist, ~9.5% Navy Body Fat At this point, Izzy is getting quite lean and he’s finally dropped below ~10% or so, his training is starting to suffer a bit, and all the indicators are pointing to the fact he should start bulking. Because his indicators all point to a bulk, he decides to transition out of his cut. He follows the EatingToWin rules and adds 200kcal worth of macros. Week 15: 164.6lbs, 16” Neck, 30.5” Waist, ~9.5% Navy Body Fat Izzy has lost 1-(164.6/165.1)= ~0.3% of his BW. We’re now in the range of taking ~100kcal jumps. Izzy is still not very far into the reverse-diet process. He’s still losing weight. Nonetheless, as per the rules, he goes ahead and adds another 100kcal worth of macros taking him back up to 2300kcal. Week 16: 164.5lbs, 16.25” Neck, 30.75” Waist, ~9.5% Navy Body Fat Izzy lost a tiny bit of weight his week, but he’s clearly getting closer to caloric maintenance. His waist and neck increase a bit as he puts back on some glycogen. As per the rules, he adds another 50kcal because he only lost ~0.1% of BW. This brings his intake back to 2350kcal. Week 17: 164.6lbs, 16.25” Neck, 30.75” Waist, ~9.5% Navy Body Fat Again, Izzy has gained less than ~0.1% BW. As per the rules, he adds another 50kcal bringing his total up to 2400kcal. Week 18: 164.9lbs, 16.25” Neck, 31” Waist, ~10% Navy Body Fat In this case, Izzy has gained just under ~0.2% body weight this week. He’s going to keep his macros the same and slowly push them upward as he bulks. After four weeks, he’s successfully reversed out of his deficit. This is what the cutting and bulking process looks like when you bring everything together.
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Chapter 16: How to Cut Water Weight
We’ve discussed the how and the why of nearly every aspect of powerlifting nutrition except for one: weight cutting. If you’ll recall, our rule for deciding what weight class to compete in was: the lowest possible weight class without crossing below our minimum body fat threshold and without cutting more than 5-10% water weight depending on the length of our weigh-ins. In this chapter, we’re going to bring the final piece of the puzzle together and figure out how to cut water weight for a meet – both for 2-hour weigh-ins and 24-hour weigh-ins. There are a whole variety of aspects to consider when of water cutting to make weight for a meet: 1) water intake manipulation, 2) sodium manipulation, 3) glycogen manipulation, 4) food weight manipulation, 5) supplements, 6) dehydration tactics, and 7) reconstitution. Please keep in mind that, as a general rule, the less of these tactics that you have to use to make weight, the better your chances will be of maintaining or increasing performance on meet day.
Water Intake Manipulation Many of the practices that we’re going to engage in involve ramping up some of the body’s compensation mechanisms. Water manipulation is really no different. The primary method of water manipulation is a tried and true practice called “water loading”. Water loading simply involves overhydrating yourself for a few days so that your body’s regulatory mechanisms kick into high gear and start excreting water at an accelerated pace.
Remember when you used to carry one of these around? Come on, admit it. Water loading just might force you to start carrying around a gallon of water again.
Once this is happening, we’ll drastically cut back on water. Now, the body will eventually compensate for this, but there is a delay period. In other words, when you initially cut back on water consumption, after overconsuming, your body will continue to expel water at an accelerated pace. In simple terms, you’ll keep pissing like you’re consuming a ton of water, but you simply won’t be taking in a bunch of water anymore.
89 Keep in mind that this practice only works if you’re already consuming an adequate amount of water when you begin the process. If you haven’t been drinking enough water in the weeks leading up to the weight cut, this won’t work. Let’s see what it looks like in practice.
How to Water Load
The following assumes you’ve been consuming ~1 gallon / ~4 liters of water per day in the weeks leading up to the meet. 24-Hour Weigh-In 5 Days Out: 2 gallons / 8 liters of water 4 Days Out: 2 gallons / 8 liters of water 3 Days Out: 1 gallon / 4 liters of water 2 Days Out: 0.5 gallon / 2 liters of water, stop drinking ~12 hours before your weigh-in time Weigh-In Day: a) Immediately drink 32oz of fluids made of 50% water and 50% gatorade, pedialyte or coconut water b) Drink as much water as you’d like. You’ll need to put a lot of water back on and, if you rush the process, you’ll get sick. This is very individual. Go at your own pace in terms of the water. Meet Day: I’d recommend sipping on the same aforementioned 50%/50% concoction described above. Just make sure you meet your hydration needs. We’ll discuss Meet Day nutrition more elsewhere. 2-Hour Weigh-In 4 Days Out: 2 gallons / 8 liters of water 3 Days Out: 2 gallon / 8 liters of water 2 Days Out: 1 gallon / 4 liters of water 1 Day Out: 0.5 gallon / 2 liters of water, Stop drinking ~12 hours before your weigh-in time Meet Day, Post Weigh-Ins: a) Immediately drink 32oz of fluids made of 50% water and 50% gatorade, pedialyte or coconut water b) Continue drinking this concoction throughout the meet. Meet Day, Lifting: Sip on the 50%/50% drink.
Sodium Manipulation Sodium manipulation works in nearly exactly the same fashion as water manipulation. You’re going to need a baseline level of sodium intake so that your body is already used to processing and dealing with salt. Then, you’re going to radically increase your intake for a short period which is going to cause temporary water retention especially alongside the extra water you’ll be drinking. This causes your body to kick into high gear as far as dealing with sodium goes. A few days out from the meet, you’ll cut out most of your sodium and, due to the delayed effect on your body’s regulatory mechanisms, you’ll dump out a lot more water than usual.
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Sodium loading generally requires that you put a lot more salt on your food than you’d like.
Let’s take a look at how it might play out in practice.
How to Manipulate Sodium
The following assumes that you’ve already been adding sodium to your foods in the preceding weeks via sauces and table salt. 24-Hour Weigh-In 5 Days Out: 5 grams 4 Days Out: 5 grams 3 Days Out: 1 gram 2 Days Out: 1 gram Weigh-In Day, Post Weigh-In: Add ~1 gram to every meal you eat Meet Day: There is no need for added salt here, but you might consider keeping some salty snacks on hand. Water retention, particularly intramuscular water retention, is going to be a performance enhancer on meet day. 2 Hour Weigh-In 4 Days Out: 5 grams 3 Days Out: 5 grams 2 Days Out: 1 gram 1 Day Out: 1 gram Meet Day: Add ~500mg-1000mg gram to every meal you eat (whatever your stomach tolerates best)
Carbohydrate Intake Manipulation Carb manipulation actually works differently than our previous forays into water and salt manipulation, respectively. You see, in order to store each gram of glycogen in your muscular stores, approximately 4g of water is required as well. Depending on the size your body, you might be capable of storing anywhere from 400-800g of glycogen or more. If you’re following along, this means that approximately ~2kg-4kg (~4.5lbs-9lbs) of your body weight is made up of glycogen and the water that is requisite to its storage. In fact, large male athletes often see even bigger losses than this when they’re fully glycogen depleted. Now, carbohydrate manipulation takes a bit of finesse because it is context dependent. If you have a 24hour weigh-in, you’ll often have plenty of time to completely deplete your glycogen stores for the weigh-in and then (nearly) completely replenish them by the time the meet starts.
91 However, if you’re a 2-hour weigh-in athlete, you absolutely will not have time to do this. Depending on how large you are, you might be capable of reconstituting anywhere from 50g-100g every two hours. In other words, you cannot completely deplete your glycogen stores and then completely replenish them in time for the meet. In fact, depending on the size of the weight cut, you might not want to mess with glycogen manipulation at all as a 2-hour weigh-in athlete. Water loading and sodium manipulation alone are often enough to produce 1-3kg (~2-6lbs) of transient weight loss depending on how large of a human being you are. As a 2-hour weigh-in athlete, if you can avoid doing so, I wouldn’t deplete glycogen too much. If you have no other choice in order to make weight, well, you have no other choice. I’m going to be presenting a partial depletion option here, but please keep in mind that even this option is going to be fairly drastic and might cause a dent in your performance. Remember the general rule: the fewer tactics you have to use to make weight, the better your chances of maintaining performance. 24-Hour Weigh-In 5 Days Out: High Carb Day (I usually do openers here; do a normal carb day if no training) 4 Days Out: 50% Normal Carb Intake up to a max of 200g carbs 3 Days Out: Minimal/Trace Carbs 2 Days Out: Minimal/Trace Carbs Weigh-In Day, Post Weigh-In: Eat ~100g-150g of carbs every 2-3 hours. Keep fat to ~10g per meal initially because it will blunt the rate of digestion and thus absorption. Fat can increase somewhat towards the end of the day. Do NOT eat foods that are significantly different than usual. Your stomach is in a fragile state. Meet Day: There is no particular carbohydrate recommendation that I’m going make for the meet itself. Keep snacks on hand, don’t eat foods too different from usual, and eat relatively normally. Keep your 50%/50% drink on hand and sip that for additional carbohydrates. 2-Hour Weigh-In 5 Days Out: High Carb Day (I usually do openers here; do a normal carb day if no training) 4 Days Out: Normal Carb Day 3 Days Out: 50% Normal Carb Intake up to a max of 200g carbs 2 Days Out: 25% Normal Carb Intake up to a max of 150g carbs 1 Day Out: Minimal/Trace Carbs, Stop Eating 12 hours before weigh-in Meet Day, Post Weigh-In: Eat ~100g of carbs every 2 hours. Keep fat to ~10g per meal initially because it will blunt the rate of digestion and thus absorption. You’re going to have to keep the fat low until towards the end of the meet. You need to maximize the rate of glycogen resynthesis.
Food Weight Manipulation One of the most underlooked aspects of cutting weight is perhaps the fact that food itself has a weight. You don’t want to waste pounds or kilos on the scale because you still have food digesting in your system. There are two ways to prevent this: a) liquid meals and b) taking a laxative at some point. I tend to recommend both in concert for best effect. I consider laxatives a supplement so we’ll just address the
92 liquid meals in this section. This is another easy way to take-off weight without directly affecting your performance. Starting about 4-5 days out, I recommend making one of your meals liquid. This is very simple to do. You’re going to need a whey protein powder supplement and perhaps some milk for flavoring. That is all it takes. You can add additional carbohydrates through waxy maize, dextrose, or some other carbohydrate product if necessary. Make the liquid meal the last meal of the day so you can start to get a sense of how it is going to impact your weight throughout the week. Let’s look at a sample template.
How to Manipulate Food Weight 24-Hour Weigh-In 5 Days Out: 1 Liquid Meal (last meal of the day) 4 Days Out: 1 Liquid Meal (last meal of the day) 3 Days Out: 2 Liquid Meals (last two meals of the day) 2 Days Out: All Liquid Meals Weigh-In Day: Eat regular food after weighing in! 2-Hour Weigh-In 4 Days Out: 1 Liquid Meal (last meal of the day) 3 Days Out: 1 Liquid Meal (last meal of the day) 2 Days Out: 2 Liquid Meals (last two meals of the day) 1 Day Out: All Liquid Meals Meet Day: Eat regular food after weighing in!
Supplements There are very few supplements worth a damn in this entire process, but let’s break down the categories: 1) natural diuretics, 2) natural laxatives, and 3) reconstitution support.
Natural Diuretics
A diuretic is simply something that enhances the rate at which you urinate. As far as I’m concerned, the most potent natural diuretic that won’t harm your performance is caffeine. 200mg is an effective dose for this purpose. Try to avoid PM doses that might affect your sleeping habits. After caffeine, dandelion root is fairly effective as well.
93 There are a few other natural supplements that can help. If you want all of this stuff at once without having to think about it, just find the cheapest, generic water pill that you can. My favorite happens to be Watershed by Absolute Nutrition. Follow the dosing guidelines on the label.
Additionally, if you’re at weigh-ins, and, god forbid, you’re overweight a bit, I’d recommend having some extremely sour candy on hand or a cinnamon product. Both will increase saliva production massively. From there, you can spit off the rest of the weight. This is often good for a pound or so (half a kilo). My favorite “supplement” for this is Warheads candy.
Natural Laxatives
I’m going to avoid talking about any prescription laxatives because you probably can’t and shouldn’t get your hands on them anyways. My go-to in this area has always been magnesium citrate as an oral solution. You need to keep in mind that this stuff tastes absolutely awful. It is disgusting. You’re also going to want to be near a toilet. I’m dead serious. The effects are, eh, “explosive”. However, you should be able to get it at any basic drug store. Follow the dosing guidelines on the label or until effect.
94 You’re going to want to take this after your last solid meal of the week before weigh-ins. This should be on the day where you have two liquid meals. You want to do this early enough in the day that you’re not waking up all night having to go to the bathroom. You also want to do it early enough that your system is cleared out by the time you’re taking in all liquid meals.
Reconstitution Support
I’ve already made mention of the 50%/50% drinks several times but I’ll do so again here. Mix a drink with 50% water and the 50% coming from either Gatorade, pedialyte or coconut water. Mix in ~10g of BCAAs or two scoops if you’ve been using Scivation Xtend. This will help you from overdosing the electrolytes by drinking 100% Gatorade and/or not replenishing them sufficiently by drinking all water. That’s the main purpose.
Supplement Template 24-Hour Weigh-In 3 Days Out: Water Pill, Caffeine (AM/Noon), Magnesium Citrate 2 Days Out: Water Pill, Caffeine (AM/Noon) 1 Day Out, Pre Weigh-In: Have sour candy or cinnamon gum on hand if spitting is necessary 1 Day Out, Post Weigh-In: Immediately drink 32oz of your 50%/50% drink 2-Hour Weigh-In 2 Days Out: Water Pill, Caffeine (AM/Noon), Magnesium Citrate 1 Days Out: Water Pill, Caffeine (AM/Noon) Meet Day, Pre Weigh-In: Have sour candy or cinnamon gum on hand if spitting is necessary Meet Day, Post Weigh-In: Immediately drink 32oz of your 50%/50% drink
Dehydration Tactics The most important thing that you need to understand right now is that dehydration tactics are inherently unsafe. They often involve a combination of both high temperatures and extreme dehydration. You should never attempt any dehydration method while alone. You may pass out and die. Seriously. Take the necessary precautions and contact the relevant professionals to guide you through this process if you’ve never done it before. You’re quite literally purposefully dehydrating yourself to dangerous levels in order to lose water weight. That is what is going on here. Through the use of the sauna, a hot bath, a steam room, or whatever method you choose, you’re going to sweat enough to lose a massive amount of water weight. And then you’re not going to drink water afterwards because you have to weigh-in. This is one reason why I recommend that you keep your weight cuts under 10% at an absolute max. You won’t have to risk traveling into truly dangerous territories.
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Dehydration: 2-Hour vs. 24-Hour Weigh-In
If you’re a 2-hour weigh-in competitor, I highly recommend that you just don’t try to use any of these dehydration tactics at all. You only have two hours to put water back on after the weigh-in. That isn’t enough time to fully rehydrate. Even minor dehydration has been shown to decrease performance in some athletes by up to 10%. Can you afford to lose 10% on your total? No? Then don’t try this stuff as a 2-hour weigh-in athlete. For you 24-hour weigh-in guys, let’s get into the meat and potatoes.
The Best Way to Dehydrate
Before we can talk about the best way to rehydrate, we need to talk about the absolute madness that many people engage in when trying to cut weight. Just about the WORST thing you can do, in terms of performance and muscle maintenance, is to put on a bunch of garbage bags and run around for hours doing calisthenics. When you’re dehydrated, and under eating to make weight, you’re HIGHLY susceptible to muscle loss. The fatigue and stress you generate from using these crazy methods can cost you a MASSIVE amount of performance the next day at your meet. With that said, in my opinion, the best method, due to its simplicity, is the sauna. You don’t have to run around and go crazy. You don’t have to put yourself in a position to lose muscle. You can just sit there, relax, and sweat. That’s it. This is why the sauna is so great. The other option I’ve used in the past, though I consider it inferior, is to convert your bathroom into a steam room. This is sometimes necessary when you travel for a meet, have to stay at a hotel, and can’t locate a nearby sauna. In any case, you need to block the airways in the bathroom by, for example, shoving a towel underneath the door. Next, you’re going to want to get the shower running as hot as possible. Once the heat is all the way up, plug the drain in the bathtub so that a pool can accumulate. When the hot water from the shower hits the pool, steam will begin to rise. In a few minutes, this makes the bathroom quite hot. It doesn’t work as well as a sauna, but it can get the job done in a pinch. Please keep in mind there are other options such as hot baths, but I can’t recommend these options because I’ve never used them. I strongly recommend sauna approach because it is tried and true. Weight class athletes have been using saunas effectively for decades.
Best Practices for the Sauna
First of all, let’s talk timing. You want to use the sauna as late in the game as possible because you want to know exactly how much weight you have left to take off. You should save the sauna for the early evening on the day before weigh-ins. This means you’re nearly fully depleted in terms of glycogen, you’re already a bit dehydrated due to the water and sodium loading, and your gut is empty due to the previous day’s laxatives and the current day’s liquid meals. In other words, you should already be a long ways towards making weight. This minimizes the amount of water you have to cut and it minimizes the amount of time you have to spend in such a dehydrated state. At the same time, don’t go too late in the day because you’ll have extreme difficulty falling asleep. Your body takes quite a while to return to normal temperatures. When it comes to actually using the sauna, I’ve personally had a lot of success with a 15 minutes in and 5 minutes out protocol. It isn’t practical, reasonable, or safe to just sit in the sauna for hours on end. Every time I get out of the sauna, I towel off any sweat that is on my skin. Once your body temperature
96 starts to down regulate after you get into the sauna, you can actually re-absorb the sweat on your skin. I don’t want to spend any more time in the sauna than is absolutely necessary so I always towel off. Additionally, you should keep a log of approximately how much weight you lose overnight starting ~5-7 days before your meet. This will give you a good idea of when to quit using the sauna. For me, I know from first-hand experience that I need to get within ~1.5lbs or so of making weight before I can get out of the sauna with peace of mind. I’ll lose the rest overnight. You always lose a little water weight overnight through exhalation alone. Just be careful not to cut things too close because you tend to lose a little bit less water overnight when you’re severely dehydrated. Let’s take a look at what this all looks like in a simplified form.
Sauna Protocol 1) 2) 3) 4)
Track how much weight you lose from night to morning during the week of the meet. Hit the Sauna with a guardian at ~5pm the day before weigh-ins 15 minutes in, 5 minutes out protocol, towel off the sweat each time Keep hitting the sauna until you’re well within range of losing the rest of the weight overnight.
In the end, the sauna just isn’t all that complicated. It just kind of sucks.
The EatingToWin Weight Cutting Protocol Let’s bring all of this back together into a simple, outline form for cutting weight.
24-Hour Weigh-In
5 Days Out: Water: ~2 gallons / 8 liters Sodium: ~5 grams Carbs: High Carb Day Food: 1 Liquid Meal, last meal of the day 4 Days Out: Water: ~2 gallons / 8 liters Sodium: ~5 grams Carbs: 50% Normal Intake up to 200g maximum Food: 1 Liquid Meal, last meal of the day 3 Days Out: Water: ~1 gallon / 4 liters Water in shakes counts towards total! Sodium: ~1 gram Carbs: Minimal / Trace amounts
97 Food: 2 Liquid Meal, last meal of the day Supplements: Magnesium Citrate (after last solid meal), Caffeine, Water Pill 2 Days Out: Water: ~0.5 gallons / 2 liters, stop drinking ~12 hours before weigh-in Water in shakes counts towards total! Sodium: ~1 gram Carbs: Minimal / Trace amounts Food: All liquid meals, shakes only, stop eating ~12 hours before weigh-in Supplements: Caffeine, Water Pill Sauna: 1) Go early evening 2) 15min in, 5min out 3) Stop when you’re within ~1-1.5lbs/0.5-0.7kg from making weight 1 Day Out, Post Weigh-In: Water: As much as you’d like Sodium: ~1g with every meal Carbs: ~100-150g every 2-3 hours Food: Don’t eat new foods, stick to what your stomach is used to Supplements: Immediately after stepping off the scale drink 32oz of fluids: 50% water, 50% Gatorade, coconut water, or pedialyte. Add 2 scoops of BCAAs to the drink. Meet Day: Water: As much as you’d like Sodium: Not as important, salty snacks if you want Carbs: Eat normal foods Food: Don’t eat new foods, stick to what your stomach is used to Supplements: Sip on your 50%/50% drink, BCAAs between attempts, Caffeine and other recommend workout supplements as desired
2-Hour Weigh-In
5 Days Out: Water: Normal Sodium: Normal Carbs: High Carb Day Food: Normal 4 Days Out: Water: ~2 gallons / 8 liters Sodium: ~5 grams Carbs: Normal Carb Day Food: 1 Liquid Meal, last meal of the day 3 Days Out: Water: ~2 gallon / 8 liters Sodium: ~5 gram
98 Carbs: 50% of Normal Intake up to 200g Maximum Food: 1 Liquid Meal, last meal of the day 2 Days Out: Water: ~1 gallon / 4 liters Water in shakes counts towards total! Sodium: ~1 gram Carbs: 25% of Normal Intake up to 150g Maximum Food: 2 Liquid Meals, last two meals of the day Supplements: Magnesium Citrate (after last solid food meal), Caffeine, Water Pill 1 Day Out: Water: ~0.5 gallon / 2 liters, stop drinking ~12 hours before weigh-in Water in shakes counts towards total! Sodium: ~1 gram Carbs: Minimal, Trace Amounts Only Food: All Liquid Meals, shakes only, last shake ~12 hours before weigh-in Supplements: Caffeine, Water Pill Meet Day, Post Weigh-In: Water: As much as you’d like Sodium: ~500mg-1g with every meal Carbs: ~100-150g every 2-3 hours, keep fat below ~10g to help speed absorption! Food: Don’t eat new foods, stick to what your stomach is used to Supplements: Immediately after stepping off the scale drink 32oz of fluids: 50% water, 50% Gatorade, coconut water, or pedialyte. Add 2 scoops of BCAAs to the drink. BCAAs should be used between attempts. Use caffeine and other workout supplements as desired.
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Chapter 17: Frequently Asked Questions Do I really have to take all those supplements?
Absolutely not. Please remember the hierarchy of nutritional importance. The supplements I suggest are for those who are interested in getting every last potential advantage possible. They’re for people who are trying to optimize their nutrition. If the supplements are financially tenable for you, don’t get them.
How should I train when following the EatingToWin System?
If you’re looking for programming discussion or actual programs to follow, check out ProgrammingToWin.
This is too complicated. Help?
Keep in mind that I did include a spreadsheet with this book that will essentially set-up the diet for you. If you’d still like further individualization and you’d like personal attention, please feel free to contact me.
Where can I learn more about nutrition?
When it comes to nutrition, here are the list of guys who I think are the absolute best in the industry right now with regards to information that is relevant to strength athletes: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)
Eric Helms: http://www.3dmusclejourney.com/team-3dmj.php Layne Norton: http://www.biolayne.com/ Jordan Feigenbaum: http://www.barbellmedicine.com/ Lyle McDonald: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/ Mike Israetel: http://renaissanceperiodization.com/ Alan Aragon: http://alanaragon.com/
Where can I learn more about Powerlifting?
Come on now, homie, you know you can always check out PowerliftingToWin for more powerlifting information on equipment, technique, and a variety of other powerlifting related topics.
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Conclusion Well my friends, there you have it: EatingToWin. I certainly hope that this has been worth the wait. I hope that you’ve received a tremendous amount of value from this book and I hope that your training forever benefits from any knowledge you have gained in its reading. I believe this to be among the finest work done thus far by PowerliftingToWin. As always, we’ll only strive to get better from here. Before the end, I do have some final thoughts for your consideration.
If You Want More…
If you’ve been impressed with this content, I am quite sure that you will find the informational archives at PowerliftingToWin.com to be of the same caliber in terms of quality. If you’re more of a visual learner, consider checking out the PowerliftingToWin YouTube Channel instead. Of course, if you’ve walked away from this reading feeling that you could benefit from working directly with me to optimize your nutrition and technique in addition to your programming, please email me for more information regarding my coaching services.
My Goals for EatingToWin I truly hope that this has been a thoroughly comprehensive, thoroughly enjoyable look into a powerlifter’s best practices for both performance enhancement and weight management via nutrition. I have endeavored to create a resource that not only tells you what you should do, but why you should do it. My goal was that you walk away from this reading feeling entirely equipped to navigate the open seas of powerlifting nutrition on your own. My goal was that you would learn something from this book that would make you a better a lifter. I truly hope I have succeeded.
Please Show Your Support
If you’ve found value in this book, please consider showing your support by making a small donation to the continued development of PowerliftingToWin.
If you’re not in a financial position to do so, I completely understand. If you’d still like to show support, consider sharing this content with your lifting friends. As I said in the Foreword, there is NOTHING better for PowerliftingToWin than having more people who know what it is! Join us on Facebook or YouTube and help share the word!
101 Together, I hope we can create the best powerlifting community internet. I believe we’re already well on our way. Time will tell.
Have a nice day my friends, Izzy Narvaez www.PowerliftingToWin.com
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Brought to you by: www.PowerliftingToWin.com This book may not be reproduced or recorded in any form without express written permission from the author. Copyright 2015 by Israel Narvaez. All Rights Reserved.
