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

by Michael Matthews

We must first calculate our BMR, which is easily accomplished by using the Katch McArdle formula. Here’s how it works: BMR = 370 + (21.6 * LBM) LBM refers to lean body mass, and it’s in kilograms for this calculation. In case you’re not familiar with it, lean body mass refers to the nonfat components of the human body. You calculate LBM by subtracting your body fat weight from your total body weight, giving you the weight of everything but your body fat. Here’s how it looks: LBM = (1 – BF% expressed as decimal numeral) * total body weight For instance, I’m currently 186 pounds at about 6 percent body fat, so my LBM is calculated like this: 1 – 0.06 = 0.94 0.94 * 186 = 167 lbs. (LBM) There are 2.2 pounds in a kilogram, so here is the formula to calculate my BMR: 167 / 2.2 = 76 kg 370 + (21.6 * 76) = 2,000 calories per day Once you know your BMR, you can calculate your TDEE by multiplying it as follows: • by 1.2 if you exercise 1 to 3 hours per week, • by 1.35 if you exercise 4 to 6 hours per week, or • by 1.5 if you exercise vigorously for 6 or more hours per week. The resulting number will be a fairly accurate measurement of the total energy your body burns every day.

One gram of protein per pound of body weight (2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight) per day has been a bodybuilding rule of thumb for decades. • Higher levels of protein intake, usually in the range of 1.2 to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight (2.6 to 3.3 grams per kilogram of body weight) per day, are commonly recommended when dieting to lose fat.

The human body is about 60 percent water in adult males and about 70 percent in adult females. Muscles themselves are about 70 percent water. That alone tells you how important staying hydrated is to maintaining optimal levels of health and body function. Your body’s ability to digest, transport, and absorb nutrients from food depends upon proper fluid intake, and staying hydrated helps prevent injuries in the gym by cushioning joints and other soft-tissue areas. As you can see, when your body is dehydrated, just about every physiological process is negatively affected. To avoid dehydration, 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).90 Now, keep in mind that those numbers include the water found in food, which accounts for about 20 percent of the water in the average person’s diet. I’ve been drinking 1 to 2 gallons of water per day for years now, which is more than the Institute of Medicine’s baseline recommendation, but I sweat a fair amount when I exercise and I live in Florida, which means even more fluid loss through sweating.

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).

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 carbohydrates 30 minutes before you train to feel a noticeable

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.

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.

CALCULATING YOUR CUTTING DIET 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.

CALCULATING YOUR BULKING DIET As you know, a proper bulking diet requires that you eat more calories than you burn every day. While this sounds like a great idea now, don’t be surprised if you get sick of eating “all of this food” at some point along the way. You won’t be slamming down thousands of extra calories every week like some programs would have you doing, but even slight overfeeding over time can get a little uncomfortable. You can also expect to hold more water than normal, as you’ll be eating a substantial amount of carbohydrate every day. This makes you look kind of “puffy.” Again, it’s just part of the “price” you have to pay for optimizing muscle growth.

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.

CALCULATING YOUR MAINTENANCE DIET Here’s your starting point for maintenance: • 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day, • 1.6 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day, and • 0.35 grams of fat per pound of body weight per day. For a 180-pound male, it would look like this: • 180 grams of protein per day, • 290 grams of carbs per day, and • 63 grams of fat per day.

• Eat 30 to 40 grams of protein and 40 to 50 grams of carbohydrate 30 minutes before training. • Eat 30 to 40 grams of protein and 1 gram of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight after your weightlifting workout. • Consider eating 0.5 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight 2 hours after your weightlifting workout.

Cardio machines often show pretty graphs indicating where your heart rate should be for “fat burning” versus “cardiovascular training.” You calculate this magical heart rate by subtracting your age from 200 and multiplying this number by 0.6. If you keep your heart rate at this number, you’re often told, you’ll be in the “fat burning zone.”

The results: after six weeks of training, the subjects doing the intervals had lost significantly more body fat. Yes, four to six 30-second sprints burn more fat than 60 minutes of incline treadmill walking.

I start my workout with 2 to 3 minutes of low-intensity warm-up on the lowest resistance. 2. I then bump the resistance up several notches to give me something to pedal against but not so much that my quads get fried in just one bout, and I pedal as fast as possible for 60 seconds. If you’re new to HIIT, you may need to start with 30- to 45-second sprints. 3. I then reduce the resistance to its slowest setting and pedal at a moderate pace for the same amount of time as my high-intensity interval (60 seconds). If you’re new to HIIT, you may need to extend this rest period to 1.5 to 2 times your high-intensity intervals (if you sprint for 30 seconds, you may need 45 to 60 seconds of recovery). 4. I then repeat this cycle of all-out and recovery intervals for 25 to 30 minutes. 5. I finish with a 2- to 3-minute cool-down at a low intensity.

Therefore, I recommend that you separate your weightlifting and cardio sessions by at least a few hours if at all possible. Personally, I lift early in the morning and do my cardio after work, before dinner.

If you can, I recommend having a protein shake after your weightlifting and before your cardio as this will help mitigate the muscle breakdown. HOW OFTEN YOU SHOULD DO CARDIO In terms of frequency, here’s how I do it: • When I’m bulking, I do two 25-minute HIIT sessions per week. • When I’m cutting, I do three to five 25-minute HIIT sessions per week. • When I’m maintaining, I do two to three 25-minute HIIT sessions per week. • I never do more than five cardio sessions per week, as I’ve found my strength begins to drop off in the gym if I do.

The Bigger Leaner Stronger program has a simple method of progression: once you hit 6 reps for one set, you add weight for your next set. The standard increase is a total of 10 pounds: 5 pounds added to either side of the barbell or a 5-pound increase in each dumbbell.

The Squat Setup

Get under the bar and place your heels at about shoulder-width apart, with the toes rotated out by about 20 to 25 degrees (your right foot should be at about 1 o’clock and your left at about 11 o’clock).

CHEST Your goal shouldn’t be to just have a “big chest” because just adding size willy-nilly won’t necessarily give you the look you want. The goal is to have a big, proportionate chest that has fully developed upper and lower portions. The exercises that best accomplish this are few, and they maximally recruit muscle fibers and allow for heavy, progressive overload without dramatically increasing the risk of injury. Here they are:

Incline Barbell Bench Press Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Flat Barbell Bench Press Flat Dumbbell Bench Press Dip (Chest Variation)

Here’s the goal in terms of overall back development: • large, but not overdeveloped, traps that establish the upper back, • wide lats that extend low down the torso, creating that pleasing V-taper, • bulky rhomboids that create “valleys” when flexed, • clear development and separation in the teres muscles and infraspinatus, and • a thick, “Christmas tree” structure in the lower back.

And here are the exercises that get the job done: Barbell Deadlift Barbell Row One-Arm Dumbbell Row Pull-Up Lat Pulldown (Front and Close-Grip) T-Bar Row Seated Cable Row (Wide- and Close-Grip) Chin-Up Barbell Shrug

It’s important to develop all three heads of this muscle group, because if one is lagging, it will be painfully obvious. In most cases, the medial and posterior deltoids need the most work because the anterior deltoids get worked pretty intensely with proper chest training. The other two heads don’t, however. Here are the exercises I recommend focusing on in your shoulder training: Seated Barbell Military Press or Standing Barbell Military Press Seated Dumbbell Press or Arnold Dumbbell Press Dumbbell Side Lateral Raise or One-Arm Dumbbell Side Lateral Raise Rear Delt Raise (Bent-Over or Seated) Face Pull

My list of favorite leg exercises is pretty short and simple. They are compound movements, they allow for heavy weights, and they are safe. These are the exercises I’ve used to dramatically improve my own legs, and they will do the same for you: Barbell Squat Front Squat Hack Squat (sled, not barbell) Leg Press Barbell Lunge (Walking or In Place) Dumbbell Lunge Romanian Deadlift Leg Curl (Lying or Seated) Calf Raise (Donkey, Standing or Seated) Calf Press on the Leg Press

Working legs is very simple. Rule #1: Always do squats. Rule #2: Always do squats. Rule #3: You get the point.

Based on these two points, the calf routine I’m going to recommend works as follows: • Do 2 calf workouts per week with at least one day in between each. • Do 6 sets per workout. • For the first set, point your toes forward. For the second, point them slightly out (about 20 degrees). For the third set, point them slightly inward. Repeat for the next 3 sets. • Use a 2-1-2 rep tempo: 2 seconds to full contraction, a slight pause while contracted, and 2 seconds to release. • Once you hit the top of your rep range with a given weight, add 10 pounds.

Calf Workout A Standing Calf Raise – 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps Seated Calf Raise – 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps Rest 2 to 3 minutes in between these sets Calf Workout B Leg Press Calf Raise – 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Donkey Calf Raise (or Leg Press Calf Raise) – 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps Rest 1 to 2 minutes in between these sets

Let’s move on to the triceps: Close-Grip Bench Press Seated Triceps Press Dip (Triceps Variation) Lying Triceps Extension (“Skullcrusher”) Triceps Pushdown

Regularly performing the right ab and core exercises. Building a great six-pack requires that you do both ab exercises that train your rectus abdominis and exercises that train the other core muscles that complete the look we want. What are the right exercises, then? Let’s find out… Cable Crunch Hanging Leg Raise Captain’s Chair Leg Raise Ab Roller Air Bicycles Flat Bench Lying Leg Raise Decline Crunch

I’ve found that abs seem to respond best to a combination of weighted and unweighted work. Here’s how I like to do it: • Do a set of a weighted exercise like the cable crunch, captain’s chair leg raise, or hanging leg raise for 10 to 12 reps (you can add weight to the latter two by snatching a dumbbell in between your feet). • Go directly into 1 set of an unweighted exercise, to failure. • Go directly into 1 set of an unweighted exercise, to failure. • Rest 2 to 3 minutes. For example: • Do a set of cable crunches in the 10- to 12-rep range. • Go directly into 1 set of captain’s chair leg raises, to failure. • Go directly into 1 set of air bicycles, to failure. • Rest 2 to 3 minutes. Do 3 of these circuits two or three times per week, and your abs and obliques will develop. In

In your first warm-up set, you want to do 12 reps with about 50 percent of your heavy, 4- to 6-rep set weight and then rest for 1 minute. This set should feel very light and easy. For instance, if you did 3 sets of 5 reps with 225 pounds on the bench last week, you would start your warm-up with about 110 pounds and do 12 reps, followed by 1 minute of rest. Second Set: In your second warm-up set, you use the same weight as the first and do 10 reps, this time at a little faster pace. Then rest for 1 minute. Third Set: Your third warm-up set is 4 reps with about 70 percent of your heavy weight, and it should be done at a moderate pace. This set and the following one are done to acclimate your muscles to the heavy weights that are about to come. Once again, you follow this set with a 1-minute rest. With a working set weight of 225, this would be about 155 to 160 pounds. Fourth Set: The fourth warm-up set is the final one, and it’s simple: 1 rep with about 90 percent of your heavy weight. Rest 2 to 3 minutes after this final warm-up set. This would be about 200 pounds if your heavy weight were 225. Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Sets: These are your working sets performed in the 4- to 6-rep range with about 85 percent of your 1RM.

As a general rule, for every 10 pounds you add to the bar, you’ll lose about two reps. The same goes for each 5-pound increase on the dumbbells.

The purpose of the Strength Week is to give you more practice doing the key exercises (the more you do them, the better you get) and help you get stronger faster. Make every fourth training week on the program a “Strength Week.” That is, for every three weeks of “normal” workouts, you do one Strength Week. If you normally rest/deload every eight weeks but, for whatever reason, need to do it early—let’s say after six weeks of training—just start your next training cycle anew.

If you’re able to go longer than eight weeks before needing a rest/deload week, follow the 3:1 ratio between normal and Strength weeks until you need to take a break. Your Strength Week working sets should be done with the same weight as your working sets in your normal workouts. You progress in your strength workouts in the same way as your normal workouts—once you get six reps, add five to ten pounds to the bar and continue working with that weight. Rest the normal three to four minutes in between sets. You can continue doing cardio (or not) as usual.

If you flatten your back and round your shoulders at the top of a bench press or flare your elbows out too much, you will probably have shoulder problems at some point.

According to Dr. Michael Holick, however, even 2,000 IU per day is suboptimal. Research shows that 2,000 IU per day is the minimum needed to maintain vitamin D sufficiency (30 milligrams per milliliter), but Dr. Holick maintains that optimal vitamin D status is between 50 and 80 milligrams per milliliter, which would call for a daily intake closer to 5,000 IU.11 So, I recommend that you start at 2,000 IU per day and then get blood tested for your 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (the usable form of vitamin D your body creates) to ascertain your vitamin D status. Chances are, you’ll come in below 50 to 80 milligrams per milliliter. Research shows that you need to increase intake of vitamin D by 100 IU to increase blood concentration by 1 milligram per milliliter, so you can then calculate how much additional vitamin D you’ll need to take to reach optimal levels.12 For instance, if your test came back at 30 milligrams per milliliter and you wanted to raise it to 50 milligrams per milliliter, you would need to increase your current intake by 2,000 IU.

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body and is heavily depleted by intense, prolonged exercise.57 Research has shown that supplementation with glutamine can… • reduce the negative effects of prolonged exercise on the immune system (research has shown that exercise depletes glutamine levels in the body, which in turn can impair immune function), • improve your endurance and reduce fatigue in prolonged exercise, and • help your body better deal with the systemic stress of prolonged exercise.58

NITRIC OXIDE SUPPLEMENTS These supplements often consist of a form of the amino acids arginine and citrulline and the substance agmatine. They claim to increase the body’s production of a substance called nitric oxide. Nitric oxide widens blood vessels and thus enables more oxygen and nutrients to get to the muscles, which can improve performance. While this sounds like just another dubious marketing pitch, there are studies to support some of these ingredients and claims, but again the problem comes back to dosages.62 You’ll often find nitric oxide-boosting molecules in pre-workout products, but in amounts too small to matter. That said, when dosed properly (about 8 grams), I’ve noticed that citrulline in particular improves workout pump and performance.

Synephrine is a chemical compound found in certain types of citrus fruits (particularly the bitter variety). It’s chemically similar to ephedrine and catecholamines, and although less potent, it induces similar effects in the body. Research shows that supplementation with synephrine increases both basal metabolic rate and lipolysis, inhibits the activity of certain types of fat cell receptors that prevent fat mobilization, and increases the thermic effect of food (which, in case you don’t remember, is the “energy cost” of metabolizing food).75 Furthermore, research shows that synephrine works synergistically with caffeine to enhance both caffeine’s and its own fat-loss properties.76 The synergism noted in a standard “ECA” (ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin) stack also applies to synephrine.

Additionally, anything that has the ability to increase catecholamine activity can also suppress hunger between meals (a component of the fight or flight response), and thus synephrine is generally considered to be an effective appetite suppressant as well.

Clinically effective dosages of synephrine range from 25 to 50 milligrams and can be taken anywhere from one to three times daily, depending on individual tolerance.

How to Use Green Tea Extract for Weight Loss

If you look at the dosages proven effective in clinical studies, you’ll see that 400 to 600 milligrams of catechins per day is the normal range.83

5-HTP The amino acid 5-HTP is found in foods like milk, meat, potatoes, pumpkin, and various greens, and it is converted into serotonin in the brain, which is one of the principal neurotransmitters involved in feelings of happiness. Research shows that when taken with food, 5-HTP increases feelings of fullness and thus helps you control your food intake.91 Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that 5-HTP’s satiety mechanism can reduce cravings for carbohydrates in particular.92

Clinically effective dosages of 5-HTP range from 150 to 500 milligrams, which should be taken with meals. Like synephrine, one to three servings per day is common depending on tolerance.

Forskolin is found in the Indian herb Coleus forskohlii and has long been used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat heart and respiratory disorders.

forskolin’s effects are amplified by the effects of synephrine.95