Don’t Eat To Grow
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am more than just a Bodybuilding Nerd. I am a nerd on several different levels. Like an onion, but smaller, brown, and drizzled in a paste made of turmeric and curcumin. One of those nerdy layers is my love for Bodybuilding Podcasts, and just podcasts in general. Because I don’t have many friends, I like to imagine that the people I listen to on-the-line, via podcasting, are right here in my lonely office, speaking directly to me! Sounds pathetic, I know, but you don’t know what happens in make-belief land after each podcast is over (insert seductive grin and raised eyebrow). Recently, I listened to a podcast by Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D., which featured Dr. Valter Longo, a director of the longevity institute of Southern California. Aside from imagining that they were both naked together while making suggestive innuendos about “IGF-1 protein folding” and and acting out the process as to which way “folds best”, they brought about an ultra-interesting topic that immediately snapped me back into reality; Intermittent Fasting.
The whole concept of intermittent fasting is one that goes against the grain of thinking, especially for bodybuilders! As a young lad, or lady, entrenched in the methods of bodybuilding, the idea is to pound as much food as you need in order to “grow” your muscle. Give the muscle an anabolic environment 24/7 through training and then bathe the muscle cells in rich nutrients of essential amino acids, proteins, glycogen, water, and essential fats. If you are a bodybuilder and you have missed a meal, well then, you might as well quit now and take up Cross Fit (zing!). Because you’ll NEVER grow with that kind of attitude! Such is the mentality that we have conditioned ourselves to believe. And for the most part, it is correct! However, the human body has a biochemistry that is smarter than you are. Wrap your head around this one; Dr. Scott Stevenson is one of the smartest guys EVER. Can you imagine how smart his own body and biochemistry is if even HE can’t out-think it???!! How’s your paradigm doing? Shifted? The point is, you can’t keep doing the same thing all the time and expect to progress! You know this about training, so you should know this about diet too!
Prepare yourself, it’s about to get brainy. As per the stunning research suggested by Dr. Valto Longo, Fasting Mimicking/Intermittent Fasting will start a cascading biochemical reaction within the human body. The reaction causes damaged cells to die and re-proliferate, and re-proliferate at a higher functioning level than before. Without boring you to tears with chemistry and physiology, this process impacts human biochemistry, hormonal pathways, neuronal activity, and aging/metabolism at several different levels! Ponder this for a moment! Take, for example (and this is just one of thousands of simple examples that could be used), a damaged muscle cell that is “tired” and “overused”. That muscle cell will not function optimally, which will effect muscular contraction, cell function, muscle protein synthesis, and recovery from workouts. Through the process of Intermittent Fasting, damaged cells “die off”, and new cells take their place, stronger and better than ever. – Detour, Engaged – When man existed in the Ice-Age during times of feast and famine, their bodies managed to cope without food for months. Yet they remained strong enough to persevere and land that big score wooly mammoth that they were able to feed off of for equal time, or less, than their period of starvation. You think these periods of prolonged fasting along with timely intermittent wooly mammoth re-feeds had anything to do with their ability to survive?? It is a SURVIVAL mechanism that is within our DNA and is programmed into every cell in our body through millions of years of evolution! And here we are today, with this same information coded into our present DNA and we get “hangry” when we’ve not eaten for 3 measly hours. How’s that for a humbling revelation! – Resume Present Course – So given this information regarding fasting, how do we, as bodybuilders use it?
The research being done by Dr. Longo is slightly different than how we, as a bodybuilding breed, would apply it. Whereas his approach would be to fast for a prolonged period with calculated re-feeds of high fats, low proteins, low/no carbohydrates, a bodybuilder may only fast for 13-16 hours and have a select portion of the day for when fit-grow-foods can be administered. I like to use the word “administered” because it makes me feel like a scientist, and you, a science project! Sixteen hours is a long time to go without food for a bodybuilder, I can feel you sweating right now, and it’s unpleasantly moist. However, with proper food timing and proper supplementation, you can have the best of both worlds. Look, you are a bodybuilder, so you should be used to “starving” anyways! Unless, of course, you aren’t a real bodybuilder that understands what suffering is (Ooooooo, SHHHALLANGE!). A specific Intermittent Fasting protocol would need to be precisely calculated and generated (another science-y experiment-y word) with augmentation using specific supplementation. Let’s take your average “keto” style 130lb female and a “carb” eating 200lbs male as examples, and seeing as how this article is on the RedCon1 website, I should probably use RedCon1 supplementation as examples, or else risk being whipped, water-boarded, and terminated:
For a 130lbs Fit-Chick Potential Plan:
-fasting period from 9pm – Noon the next day
– Pre-Morning Cardio stack: 2 Caps RedCon1 MENTAL FOCUS, 1 Cap DOUBLE TAP
– Meal 1 (at noon) – 6 egg whites, ½ avocado, 1-2 cup spinach
– Meal 2 (at 2pm) – 1 scoop RedCon1 ISOTOPE, 1 teaspoon Macadamia Nut Oil
– Meal 3 (at 4pm) – 5oz. Chicken Breast, 2 cups green veggies, 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
– Pre-Workout – 1 Scoop TOTAL WAR, 1 Scoop BIG NOISE
– Post-Workout – 1 scoop RedCon1 ISOTOPE, 1 teaspoon Macadamia Nut Oil
-Meal 6 (no later than 9pm) – 5oz. Lean Beef, 2 cups green veggies, 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
– SLEEP, FAST, AND DO IT ALL AGAIN!!
For a 200lbs Gym-Bro Potential Plan:
-fasting period from 9pm – Noon the next day
– Pre-Morning Cardio stack: 2 Caps RedCon1 MENTAL FOCUS, 2 Cap DOUBLE TAP
– Meal 1 (at noon) – 10 egg whites, 2 whole eggs, 1 cup Oatmeal
– Meal 2 (at 2pm) – 2 scoops RedCon1 ISOTOPE, 1 tablespoon Macadamia Nut Oil
– Meal 3 (at 4pm) – 10oz. Lean Beef, 1 Cup Rice (cooked), 2 cups green veggies
– Pre-Workout – 1 Scoops TOTAL WAR, 1-2 Scoops BIG NOISE
– Intra-Workout – 1 Scoop CLUSTER BOMB, 1 scoop ISOTOPE (lots of water and sip throughout workout)
– Post-Workout – 10oz. Chicken Breast, 1-2 cups rice (depending on hunger)
– Meal 6 (no later than 9pm) – 8oz. Lean Beef, 2 cups green veggies
– SLEEP, FAST, AND DO IT ALL AGAIN!!
Understand, I’m taking averages here. Everyone’s body is different and everybody’s metabolisms are different. If you feel as though you fit into one of those general categories above, then fine, give it a whirl! If not, well that’s fine too, this is just an example of how to include “Intermittent Fasting” into one’s diet plan while still meeting general nutritional requirements for building muscle. The health benefits and anti-aging bonuses cannot really be denied given what current research is saying, so it maybe wise for you to starve a little. I can tell you this, it will build character and discipline, AND build muscle! So stay hungry, my friends.
~by Vijay Puri BS DC
