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

by Michael Matthews

many people worry that they’ve “blown” their diets after a single instance of overeating, not realizing that the absolute amount of fat that they can gain from a single meal or day—no matter how much they’ve eaten—ranges from negligible in the case of a single “cheat meal” (a few ounces) to mildly irritating in the case of a day of feasting (0.5 to 1 pound). Therefore, when you stumble (and you will), show yourself the same compassion and forgiveness that you would show a friend.

All too often, people use weight loss progress as a license to loosen the dietary reins and hinder further progress. How can we guard against the slackening effects of success? According to another study conducted by the same team of scientists at the University of Chicago, we should avoid getting into the habit of patting ourselves on the back for all the work we’ve done.40 Instead, we should view our wins as evidence of how important our goals are to us and how committed we are to seeing them through. That is, we should look for reasons to keep going, not to slow down and take in the scenery.

If you can develop the will to push through a punishing workout when every ounce of you wants to quit, to tackle dietary temptations large and small, and to successfully follow regimented diet and exercise plans, then chances are you’ll also have what it takes to meet important deadlines, resist seductive invitations to overspend, and realize your greater ambitions for self-development and growth.

People with vague, unrealistic, or uninspiring fitness goals (or none at all) are always the first to quit. These people are easy to spot too. They show up to the gym sporadically to sleepwalk through workouts, barely breaking a sweat. They constantly complain about how situations and circumstances “made” them fall off the wagon (pesky office potlucks!). They’re always on the lookout for the newest fads and magic bullet fixes. If you’re going to succeed where the masses fail, if you’re going to get into the best shape of your life and become a paragon of health and fitness, you need to inoculate yourself against these attitudes and behaviors,

I don’t see anything wrong with playing a bit to our vanity if looking great also helps us feel great (and it does).

The more in shape you are, the more you get to enjoy higher energy levels, better moods, more alertness, clearer thinking, fewer aches and pains, and higher-quality sleep, to name just a few of the advantages. And then there’s the deeper stuff like more self-confidence and self-esteem, more productivity and self-fulfillment, and more intimate and satisfying relationships.

I’ve worked with thousands of guys over the years, and here are a few examples of the fitness wins they’ve shared with me: Getting asked for advice in the gym Getting more attention from the opposite or same sex Feeling more confident and competent inside and outside of the gym Being more productive at work Eating desserts guilt-free Looking fantastic in a suit Setting a good example for their kids Enjoying outdoor activities again Eliminating aches and pains Trying new physical challenges like a hiking, biking, or running

Regularly look at the pictures you’ve saved, read the affirmations you’ve written, and review the whys you’ve formulated, and you’ll always feel a wind in your sails, propelling you ever closer to your best body ever.

There’s more to life than training, but training is what puts more in your life. —BROOKS KUBIK

diet is primarily how you lose fat, maintain a desirable body fat level, and boost muscle growth, and training is primarily how you gain and maintain muscle mass.

How much you eat is more important than what you eat. You should eat foods that you like. The majority of your calories should be nutritious. You should eat on a schedule that works for you.

You are right to be wary. There is much bullshit. Be wary of me too, because I may be wrong. Make up your own mind after you evaluate all the evidence and the logic. —MARK RIPPETOE

When someone says they want to lose (or gain) weight without paying attention to their calories, or says that energy intake and expenditure have nothing to do with their weight, they’re being just as silly.

it gets difficult as you get leaner and your body’s natural desire for more food rises.

There are just three simple steps to figuring out how many calories you should eat every day: Calculate your basal metabolic rate. Calculate your total daily energy expenditure. Calculate your target daily calorie intake.

Here’s the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation for men: BMR = 10 x weight (in kilograms) + 6.25 x height (in centimeters) – 5 x age (in years) + 5

I recommend the following slightly modified activity multipliers when calculating your TDEE: BMR x 1.15 = Sedentary (little or no exercise) BMR x 1.2 to 1.35 = Light activity (1 to 3 hours of exercise or sports per week) BMR x 1.4 to 1.55 = Moderate activity (4 to 6 hours of exercise or sports per week) BMR x 1.6 to 1.75 = Very active (7 to 9 hours of exercise or sports per week) BMR x 1.8 to 1.95 = Extra active (10+ hours of exercise or sports per week)

If you want to lose fat, you need to eat fewer calories than you’re burning. This is known as cutting. If you want to maintain your current weight and body composition, you need to eat more or less how many calories you’re burning. This is known as maintaining. If you want to gain muscle as quickly as possible, you need to eat slightly more calories than you’re burning. This is known as lean bulking.

Therefore, my recommendation is an aggressive but not reckless calorie deficit of about 25 percent when cutting. In other words, when you’re cutting I recommend that you eat about 75 percent of your average TDEE. For most men, this comes out to 10 to 12 calories per pound of body weight per day.

When combined with a high-protein diet and rigorous workout schedule, a calorie deficit of about 25 percent allows for speedy fat loss and considerable muscle gain without any serious side effects.

Forty percent of your calories should come from protein. Forty percent of your calories should come from carbohydrate. Twenty percent of your calories should come from dietary fat.

Multiply your target daily calorie intake by 0.4 and divide the result by 4 to figure out your target daily protein intake (in grams). Multiply your target daily calorie intake by 0.4 and divide the result by 4 to figure out your target daily carbohydrate intake. Multiply your target daily calorie intake by 0.2 and divide the result by 9 to figure out your target daily fat intake.

That is, you’ll likely gain just as much muscle eating about 110 percent of your average TDEE as you would eating 120 or 130 percent but a lot less fat. And so that’s my recommendation for lean bulking: eat about 110 percent of your average TDEE. For most men, this comes out to 16 to 18 calories per pound of body weight per day.

Here’s how to turn your lean bulking calories into macros: Twenty-five percent of your calories should come from protein. Fifty-five percent of your calories should come from carbohydrate. Twenty percent of your calories should come from dietary fat.

Multiply your target daily calorie intake by 0.25 and divide the result by 4 to figure out your target daily protein intake. Multiply your target daily calorie intake by 0.55 and divide the result by 4 to figure out your target daily carbohydrate intake. Multiply your target daily calorie intake by 0.2 and divide the result by 9 to figure out your target daily fat intake.

Calculating your maintenance calories is straightforward. There are two ways to do it: Eat the same amount every day. This would be your average TDEE, and for most men, it comes out to around 14 to 16 calories per pound of body weight per day. Practical speaking, this will mean that some days you’ll be in a slight calorie deficit and other days a slight surplus. That’s fine. They will balance out to neither weight loss nor gain over the course of weeks, months, and even years if you so desire. Eat more on the days that you’re more active and less on the days that you’re less active. This requires that you estimate your energy expenditure each day and eat accordingly.

Thirty percent of your calories should come from protein. Forty-five percent of your calories should come from carbohydrate. Twenty-five percent of your calories should come from dietary fat.

Multiply your target daily calorie intake by 0.3 and divide the result by 4 to figure out your target daily protein intake. Multiply your target daily calorie intake by 0.45 and divide the result by 4 to figure out your target daily carbohydrate intake. Multiply your target daily calorie intake by 0.25 and divide the result by 9 to figure out your target daily fat intake.

The collective agreement among reviewers is that a protein intake of 1.2-2.2 g/kg is sufficient to allow adaptation to training for athletes whom are at or above their energy needs. In other words, when you’re maintaining or lean bulking, a protein intake of 1.2 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day—0.55 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day—is adequate.

In a review by Phillips and Van Loon, it is suggested that a protein intake of 1.8-2.7 g/kg for athletes training in hypocaloric conditions may be optimal. That is, when athletes are restricting their calories for fat loss, they should eat more protein than when they’re not in a calorie deficit—in the range of 1.8 to 2.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, or 0.8 to 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day.

I am building a fire, and every day I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match. —MIA HAMM

If you haven’t eaten protein in the three to four hours preceding your workout, then it’s a good idea to eat 30 to 40 grams before you train. If you have eaten protein in the last few hours, though, then you don’t need to eat more. You can just eat after your workout.

We recall that as far as muscle building goes, eating protein does two vital things: It bumps up muscle protein synthesis rates and suppresses muscle protein breakdown rates. It provides your body with the raw materials needed to build muscle tissue (amino acids).

This is why you should eat protein before you train if it has been a few hours since you last ate some. It’ll get your body building muscle again, and as I mentioned, it may even prime it to receive a larger anabolic boost from the training.3

The research on eating carbs before a workout is clear: it improves performance. Specifically, eating carbs 15 to 60 minutes before working out will help you push harder in your training and may also aid in postworkout recovery and muscle growth. Eating carbs before training provides your body with an abundance of glucose to burn for immediate energy. This helps you in three ways: The more glucose that’s available for your muscles to burn, the better you’re going to perform in your workouts (especially if they’re longer).5 Elevating blood glucose levels helps preserve the glycogen stored in your muscles, because your body doesn’t need to draw from these glycogen stores as heavily to fuel your training.6 This, in turn, improves performance. Research suggests that maintaining higher levels of muscle glycogen improves cellular signaling related to muscle building.7

My favorite preworkout carbs are nutritious whole foods like oatmeal, bananas, dates, figs, melons, white potatoes, white rice, raisins, and sweet potatoes.

it’s a good idea to eat 30 to 40 grams of protein within an hour or two of finishing a workout.

So long as your diet is set up properly on the whole, no individual meal ranks high above another. In other words, so long as your daily calories and macros are on point, when you eat isn’t going to greatly influence your results one way or another.

The first step in creating a meal plan is creating a list of your preferred sources of protein, carbs, and fats; your favorite fruits, veggies, and whole-grain foods (if you haven’t already listed them under your preferred carbs); any recipes that you might want to use; and any treats that you want to include.

Next, you should familiarize yourself with the nutritional facts of your chosen foods using CalorieKing, SELF Nutrition Data, or the USDA Food Composition Databases. As you do this, you’ll probably find that some foods and recipes are too high calorie or macronutritionally imbalanced to fit your needs. Remove these from your list.

Set up your pre- and postworkout meals first. Add your primary sources of protein to the rest of your meals. Add your fruits and vegetables. Add any additional carbs and caloric beverages that aren’t dessert or junk. Tweak your protein intake as needed. Add additional fat as needed. Add treats if desired.

You certainly can have “cheat meals” without ruining your progress and you don’t have to stick to a short list of “approved” foods, but you can’t eat yourself unconscious every week without paying a price.

how you cheat matters. If you make any of the following mistakes, it becomes detrimental: Cheating too frequently Eating too much in a cheat meal Indulging in cheat days, not meals Eating too much fat Drinking alcohol

let’s look at how to cheat correctly. Cheat once per week. When cutting, try not to exceed your average TDEE for the day. When lean bulking, try not to exceed 130 percent of your average TDEE for the day. Try to keep your fat intake under 100 grams for the day. Drink alcohol intelligently.

it begins with a simple formula that looks like this: 2–3 | 4–6 | 9–15 | 2–4 | 3–5 | 1–2 | 8–10 No, that isn’t a secret code that you have to break, but it does contain the “secrets” to building the body you’ve always wanted.

2–3 Train 2 to 3 Major Muscle Groups Per Workout

a push-pull-legs routine separates your major muscle groups into three different workouts: Chest, shoulders, and triceps (push) Back and biceps (pull) Legs (including calves, usually)

4–6 Do 4 to 6 Reps Per Hard Set

a “hard set” is a heavy, muscle- and strength-building set that’s taken close to technical failure (the point where you can no longer continue with proper form).

work in the rep range of four to six reps, meaning that most of your hard sets are going to entail doing at least four reps but not more than six. For most men, this means working with weights that are around 80 to 85 percent of their one-rep max.