Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body

by Michael Matthews

A pooled analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota analyzed the data from 10 studies to investigate the association between fiber intake and heart disease.106 Researchers found that each 10-gram increase in daily fiber intake was associated with a 14 percent decrease in risk of all heart disease and a 27 percent decrease in risk of death from such disease.

Research conducted by scientists from Harvard University supports these findings.107 After following 43,757 men for six years, these researchers found that as fiber intake increased, the risk of heart disease decreased. Further research from Harvard University demonstrated that soluble fiber decreases total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, which helps protect against heart disease.108

According to the Institute of Medicine, children and adults should consume 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories of food eaten.116 Here are some easy ways to make sure you hit your daily requirement: • Eat whole fruits instead of drinking juices. • Choose whole-grain breads, rice, cereals, and pasta over processed forms. • Eat raw vegetables as snacks instead of chips, crackers, or energy bars. • Include legumes in your diet (a tasty way to do this is to cook some international dishes that use a lot of whole grains and legumes, such as Indian or Middle Eastern food). If you’d like to see the fiber content of a wide variety of common foods, Harvard University created a handy chart that you can find here: http://bit.ly/hvd-fiber.

Regardless of the sources foodwise, 1 gram of protein contains 4 calories, 1 gram of carbohydrates contains 4 calories as well, and 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories.

A high-protein diet is absolutely vital for building muscle and preserving it when you’re dieting for fat loss. • Regular exercise, and weightlifting in particular, increases your body’s need for essential amino acids and thus protein. • Your best choices are meat, dairy products, and eggs, and second to those are certain plant sources like legumes, nuts, and high-protein vegetables like peas, broccoli, and spinach. • Protein from meat is particularly helpful when you’re weightlifting, as research has demonstrated that eating meat increases testosterone levels and is more effective for building muscle than vegetarian sources.

It’s hard to put an accurate cap on how much protein your body can absorb in one meal. It’s definitely a hell of a lot more than the 20 to 30 grams that some people claim. • Eating protein more frequently is likely superior to less frequently; each protein feeding should contain at least 30 to 40 grams of protein, and feedings can contain quite a bit more protein if necessary to hit daily targets. • Whey protein can be taken anytime, but it’s particularly effective as a post-workout source of protein because it’s rapidly digested, which causes a dramatic spike in amino acids in the blood (especially in leucine).

All forms of carbohydrate we eat are either metabolized into glucose or are left indigested, serving as dietary fiber.

High, long-term intake of simple carbohydrates (disaccharides like sucrose and HFCS) has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

• Overweight, sedentary bodies don’t deal with simple sugars nearly as well as lean, physically active ones do. • If you exercise regularly and aren’t overweight, your body can likely deal with simple carbohydrates just fine. • Eating a lot of foods with added sugars can reduce the amount of micronutrients your body gets and thus cause deficiencies.

The glycemic index (GI) is a numeric system of ranking how quickly carbohydrates are converted into glucose in the body. A GI rating of 55 and under is considered “low GI,” 56 to 69 is medium, and 70 and above is high on the index.

Get the majority of your daily carbohydrates from nutritious, unprocessed foods, which will incidentally be lower on the GI, but don’t be afraid to include a few higher-GI foods that you like.

• Healthy fats, such as those found in meat, dairy, olive oil, avocados, and various seeds and nuts, help your body absorb the other nutrients that you give it, nourish the nervous system, help maintain cell structures, regulate hormone levels, and more.

Research has associated trans fat intake with a variety of health problems: heart disease, insulin resistance, systemic inflammation, female infertility, diabetes, and more. • The best way to avoid trans fats is to shun the types of foods that commonly contain them, regardless of what the nutrition facts panel says.

The Institute of Medicine reported in 2004 that women should consume about 91 ounces of water—or three-quarters of a gallon—per day, and men should consume about 125 ounces per day (a gallon is 128 ounces). • Make sure the water you drink every day is filtered and not straight from the tap.

The evidence is pretty clear: eat enough fiber and you’re more likely to live a long, healthy life. • According to the Institute of Medicine, children and adults should consume 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories of food eaten. • Only insoluble fiber can’t be processed by your body and goes right through you. Soluble fiber turns into a fatty acid in the gut and contains somewhere between 2 to 4 calories per gram.

Play it safe with food products that promote “net,” “active,” or “impact” carbs and just count all the carbs listed on the nutrition facts panel.

Some people say eating protein before you work out doesn’t matter, and they’ll often cite a study or two to back up their claims.1 On the other hand, you can find scientific evidence that pre-workout protein does enhance post-workout muscle growth.2

In this case, research shows that pre-workout protein likely will help you build more muscle because it spikes plasma amino acid levels (and thus protein synthesis rates) before training.4 Most people train early in the morning or several hours after lunch (after work or before dinner), and this is why I generally recommend 30 to 40 grams of protein about 30 minutes before training.

Fortunately for us, the research on eating carbohydrates before a workout is much more straightforward: it improves performance, period.7 Specifically, eating carbohydrates 15 to 30 minutes before exercise will provide your muscles with additional fuel for your workouts, but it will not directly stimulate additional muscle growth.8

So, if eating pre-workout carbs is good, what types are best? Again, the research is pretty straightforward: low-glycemic carbohydrates are best for prolonged (2 or more hours) endurance exercise, and high-glycemic carbohydrates are best for shorter, more intense workouts.9

In terms of what to eat, I don’t like pre-workout carbohydrate supplements. They’re little more than overhyped, overpriced tubs of simple sugars like dextrose and maltodextrin. Don’t buy into the marketing BS. There’s nothing inherently special about these types of molecules other than that they’re easy to digest.

Instead, I much prefer getting my pre-workout carbohydrates from food. My favorite sources are rice milk (tastes great with whey protein!) and bananas, but other popular nutritious choices are instant oatmeal, dates and figs, melon, white potato, white rice, raisins, and sweet potato. In terms of numbers and timing, I recommend eating 40 to 50 grams of ca...

That’s it for pre-workout nutrition: 30 to 40 grams of protein (and whey is best), and 40 to 50 grams of carbohydrate 30 minutes before training is all you need.

And this is why I recommend that you eat the familiar number of 30 to 40 grams of protein in your post-workout meal. The protein I use, which you can find in the bonus report, also contains additional leucine, which has been shown to further increase muscle protein synthesis over just whey protein alone.24

In terms of how much carbohydrate to eat in your post-workout meal, a good rule of thumb is about 1 gram per kilogram of body weight. And in terms of when to eat the carbs, the general recommendation is “immediately after exercise.” Research also shows that eating about half of the 1 gram per kilogram amount 2 hours later can help further replenish glycogen stores, but this is optional as the effects aren’t nearly as pronounced as the initial post-workout meal.34 I recommend that you include this second post-workout meal if it fits your meal planning needs but don’t if it doesn’t.

• Eating protein before working out, and especially a quickly digested protein high in leucine like whey, can help you build more muscle over time. I recommend 30 to 40 grams of protein 30 minutes before training.

Eating carbohydrate before working out, and especially a quickly digested form, will improve your performance. I recommend 40 to 50 grams of carbs 30 minutes before training.

Eating protein after working out, and especially a quickly digested protein high in leucine like whey, can help you build more muscle over time. I recommend eating at least 30 to 40 grams of protein in your post-workout meal.

Eating carbohydrate after working out, and especially a quickly digested form, raises insulin levels faster and keeps them elevated longer, which in turn keeps muscle breakdown rates low. I recommend 1 gram of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight in your post-workout meal, which you should eat immediately after exercise.

Cutting is “fitness speak” for feeding your body less energy than it burns every day to maximize fat loss while minimizing muscle loss. Bulking refers to feeding your body slightly more energy than it burns every day so as to maximize muscle growth. You also gain body fat while bulking. Maintaining refers to feeding your body the energy it burns every day, which enables you to make slow muscle gains without adding any fat.

When we engage in resistance training, we damage the cells in our muscle fibers, and this signals the body to accelerate the normal rate of protein synthesis to repair the large number of damaged cells.3 When you restrict your calories, however, your anabolic hormone levels drop, and your body’s ability to synthesize proteins becomes impaired.4 That is, a calorie deficit blunts your body’s ability to fully repair the damage you cause to your muscles through exercise. This is why it’s also easier to overtrain when you’re in a calorie deficit.

This is why you generally can’t build muscle efficiently while restricting calories for fat loss—something often referred to as “body recomposition” and often pitched as the new school of bodybuilding.

If you’re an experienced weightlifter who has already built a fair amount of muscle, however, you won’t be able to build any appreciable amount of muscle while restricting your calories for fat loss. No matter what type of diet or training protocol you use. Period. Your goal while cutting is to preserve muscle, not gain it.

Proper bulking starts with understanding that when you raise your calorie intake and take your body out of a deficit, your anabolic hormone levels rise, and your body’s ability to synthesize proteins is restored to normal levels. This is why bulking involves eating slightly more energy than you’re burning but not eating everything under the sun, moon, and stars, which leads to excessive fat storage. This not only makes you look like a big, bloated mess, but it also makes it easier to get fatter and impairs muscle growth.

You see, as body fat levels rise, insulin sensitivity drops, which means that cells become less responsive to insulin’s signals.6 As the body becomes more insulin resistant, its ability to burn fat decreases, and the likelihood of storing carbohydrates as fat increases.7 Furthermore, insulin resistance suppresses intracellular signaling responsible for protein synthesis, which means less total muscle growth.

Now, let’s shift gears and talk about two other types of people I commonly run into: the small, relatively lean guy who’s a bit too worried about putting on some body fat while bulking properly, and the guy who wants to get really lean as the first order of business. The trap the first guy is likely to fall into is simple: he chronically undereats and then usually makes strength gains in the gym but fails to add any real size. Eventually, he quits out of frustration. Don’t make this mistake. If you’re gaining strength but not size, you’re not eating enough. And some guys need to eat a lot to make steady progress on the scale. I’ve worked with 170-pound guys who had to eat more than 4,000 calories per day just to gain 0.5 to 1 pound per week!

What many guys don’t realize is how much visual size you lose once you get below 10 percent. The body fat that you’re stripping “pads” all your muscles, making them look larger, and unless you have considerable actual lean mass, you just look small.

This is why I recommend that you juggle your cuts and bulks to remain in the 10 to 15 to 17 percent body fat range until you reach a point where you’re absolutely satisfied with your overall size at 10 percent, and then cut below this point. In fact, many guys (including me) find that they need to reach a point where they feel they’re too big at 10 percent to have the look they want at 7 percent.

Before we get to the numbers, I want to note that you shouldn’t add or subtract from your total calorie intake based on the exercise you do in the program. The formulas I give below assume that you will be doing four to six hours of exercise per week, which is what the program calls for.

Cutting requires a bit more dietary precision and compliance than bulking and maintaining because if you overeat a bit on a bulk or maintenance diet, you still gain muscle and weight. Overeat on a cut, though, and you can quickly get stuck in a rut. You’re looking to lose between 0.5 and 1 pound per week when cutting, and if that sounds low to you, remember that weight loss that is too rapid is undesirable as it means you’re losing a fair amount of muscle as well as fat.

When you cut, you will first calculate a starting point and adjust as needed. Here’s where you start: • 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day, • 1 gram of carbs per pound of body weight per day, and • 0.2 grams of fat per pound of body weight per day. For a 200-pound male, it would look like this: • 240 grams of protein per day, • 200 grams of carbs per day, and • 40 grams of fat per day, This would be about 2,120 calories per day, which is a good starting point for a 200-pound guy looking to lose weight.

When I’m cutting, I try to be within 50 calories of my daily target. Some days I’m a little higher and some a little lower, but I don’t have any major swings in my intake. Stick to lean sources of protein, and you won’t have trouble putting together a meal plan that works. If your protein sources contain too much fat, you’re going to find it hard to keep your calories where they need to be with proper macronutrient ratios.

After seven to ten days of sticking to your cutting diet, you should assess how it’s going. Weight loss isn’t the only criterion to consider when deciding if your diet is right or wrong, however. You should judge your progress based on the following criteria: • your weight (did it go down, go up, or stay the same?), • your clothes (do they feel looser, tighter, or the same?), • the mirror (do you look thinner, fatter, or the same?), • your energy levels (do you feel energized, tired, or somewhere in between?), • your strength (is it going up, going down, or staying about the same?), and • your sleep (are you exhausted by the end of the night, do you have trouble winding down, or has nothing changed?). Let’s talk about each point briefly.

Generally speaking, if your weight is going up on a cut, you’re eating too much or moving too little.

A huge, killer diet trap that many people fall into is eating a lot of “hidden calories” throughout the day. Then they wonder why they aren’t losing weight. Hidden calories are those that you don’t realize are there and account for, such as the following: • the 2 tablespoons of olive oil used to cook your dinner (240 calories), • the 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise in your homemade chicken salad (200 calories), • the 3 cubes of feta cheese on your salad (140 calories), • the 3 tablespoons of cream in your coffee (80 calories), and • the 2 pats of butter with your toast (70 calories).

The best way to avoid hidden calories is to prepare your food yourself so you know exactly what went into it. For most people, this just means preparing a lunch to bring to the office, as they usually eat breakfast and dinner at home.

It’s worth noting that you don’t want to reduce intake below your BMR, as this can cause too much metabolic slowdown. In case you don’t remember, here’s how you calculate your BMR: BMR = 370 + (21.6 * LBM [lean body mass in kg]) This answers the question of how long you can cut for: you can cut until your intake reaches BMR, but don’t reduce your intake lower than that.

Last but not least, let’s talk about how to eat on the days when you’re not lifting or exercising at all. In the case of cutting, it’s simple: keep your numbers the same. You don’t need to adjust up or down.

CALCULATING YOUR BULKING DIET As you know, a proper bulking diet requires that you eat more calories than you burn every day.

So, let’s get to the actual dietary numbers for bulking. Here’s where you start: • 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day, • 2 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day, and • 0.4 grams of fat per pound of body weight per day. That’s where you start. For a 150-pound guy, it would look like this: • 150 grams of protein per day, • 300 grams of carbs per day, and • 60 grams of fat per day. This would be about 2,340 calories per day (remember that protein and carbs contain about 4 calories per gram and fat contains about 9), which is the right place to start bulking for a 150-pound man.