Arnold Schwarzenegger is such an iconic figure in the bodybuilding and fitness world; I thought I had to do the obligatory article on his workouts. But then, every website on this side of Mt. Olympus has an article on what he did for his workouts. You know – 5 to 6 exercises per bodybpart, 5 to 6 sets per exercise, and 5 to 6 reps per set. Are you seeing a trend here?
Oh, the heck with that…
Then, I thought I’d dial it back to when I was a kid and write about what Arnold (my pal – on a first name basis) used to recommend. I’d do a whole series of posts covering his approach, dieting, starting, and advance level training suggestions. That’d work.
So, I wrote the 1st post on having the right mindset according to the Big Guy.
The second – this one – was going to be on diet. Then I had second thoughts, and a third, and a fourth…
I thought about skipping this one.
Why you ask?
Glad you asked…
Arnold’s suggestion can be boiled down to
Eat Big – Get Big!
- But is that good advice?
Maybe not…
But the more I thought about, the more I realized that as much as we have advanced nutritionally, some things still stay the same – as in Arnold’s advice.
You know, that’s really the whole thing behind Vince Del Monte’s No Nonsense Muscle Building course that he sells for 77 bucks. He’s got all these exotic workouts (really not much different from what I suggest in workout routines area, and I charge nothing), but when you get right down to it, it’s all about eating enough calories to get big. He puts a nice spin on bulking up huge and cutting down later to get big.
And that’s a strategy as old as the sport and bodybuilding itself.
Eating for Muscle
The concept is simple, and if you’re reading this, you probably know backwards and forward. You breakdown the muscle fibers and feed your body enough nutritionally dense calories to repair, rebuild, and make stronger the damaged muscle fibers.
Arnold used to advocate (I don’t know if his stance has changed in recent times) a high-protein, high-calorie diet as the secret to rapid weight gain. In his body, Arnold: Education of Bodybuilder, he suggested the following, daily eating plan:
Breakfast: 7:30AM – 3 eggs, 1/4 to 1/2 pound beef patty; 2 pieces of buttered toast; 2 glasses of milk
Midmorning Snack: 10:00AM – half sandwich, meat; 1 hard-boiled egg; 1 glass milk
Lunch: 12:30PM – 1 meat sandwich; 1 cheese sandwich; 2 glasses milk; fruit
Midafternoon Sanck: 3:00PM – 1 hard-boiled egg; 3 slices cheese; 2 glasses of milk
Supper: 6:00PM – 1/2 to 3/4 pound ground beef; baked potato with butter; salad; vegetables (corn, beans, peas, etc.) 2 glasses milk
Bedtime Snack: 9:00PM – Protein Drink: 2 glasses of milk. 1/2 cup nonfat milk solids, one egg, 1/2 cup ice cream. Mix in a blender
He also recommended the some of the following suggestions:
1. Take your own lunch to work. Make sandwiches of roast beef, meat loack, ground beef, tuna, liverwurst, chicken, turkey, ham, egg, peanut butter or cheese.
2. Use only 100% whole wheat…
3. If you get hungry between meals, eat cashews…
4. Dried fruits…
5. Use Mayonnaise, oil, and salad dressing whenever possible…
6. Have an extra protein drink on workout days.
7. Plan a definite eating schedule…
Arnold states that this sample eating plan should provide upwards 5000 calories and 300 grams of protein.
This is the classic, bulk up diet. Consuming 5000 calories daily is an attempt to get as big as you can in as short of time as possible. It is accepting that you will get fat along with muscle. And that you will lose the fat once you reach the size you want to be.
Here’s another example of a weight gain diet from Alan Palmieri – This is seriously old school!
Some thoughts on this sample diet
- I’m okay with eating every 3 hours or so. If your goal is to consume 5000 plus calories, this is really your only option.
- As a kid, I drank a ton of milk. Larry Scott, Arnold – all of them recommended up to a gallon of milk a day. That’s a lot of milk. For some of us, that’s also diarrhea. Cutting back to 1 glass of whole milk should work. Just replace the missing glass with nuts or yogurt.
- I’m not crazy about ground beef. You should be able to substitute with chicken breast or tuna for the protein.
- Not crazy about the raw egg. When I first saw Rocky, I couldn’t wait to down my first glass of raw eggs. With Salmonella, raw eggs need to be out. YOu can replace with a good, protein mix (get em cheap at Costco).
- Doesn’t seem to be enough fruit, vegetables, and fiber in his plan. Fiber for weight gain seems counter-intuitive, but fiber is key to keeping your digestive system healthy – be during weight gain or weight loss.
- For weight loss, I recommend skipping fruit juices and eating whole fruit. For weight gain, I’m thinking calorie dense drinks like orange juice and grape juice is okay.
In his book, Arnold’s Bodybuilding For Men
More to the point, in that book, Arnold suggested that a bodybuilder “do need more protein than the average person, but probably no more than around 100 grams, and certainly no more than 150 grams.” Of course, this was during the time he was going “mainstream,” and you have to wonder whether that had an influence on his conversion. Afterall conventional wisdom, then and now, look at bodybuilders consuming massive levels of protein as idiots.
His revised formula for basic good eating:
- Eat about 1 gram of protein for every 2 pounds of bodyweight
- Eat no less than 60 and no more than 100 grams of carbohydrate per day
- Limit your fat intake
- Take a limited amount of vitamin and mineral supplementation just for insurance
- If you want to gain or lose weight, vary your caloric intake – and that variation should be mostly in carbohydrates, in the form of vegetables, potatoes and fruit.
Arnold’s hints for bodybuilding:
- Eggs have good protein, but a lot of fat. Don’t eat more than 3 a day
- Meats like beef and pork contain high amounts of fat…substitute chicken or fish…
- Skip dessert and food with processed sugars – go with veggies that contain complex carbs
- Fruits are a plus
- Have more, smaller meals than a few, big meals
- Processed foods mean more sugar and salt
- Losing or gaining weight is a gradual process; trying to do it overnight is really hard on the body.
So, in his second book, his recommendations seem more in line with conventional, or mainstream, wisdom of that time period (early 80′s). Nevertheless, a read of that book basically confirms that to gain weight, you need to up the calories. The focus is mostly on getting in decent shape but that message on weight gain is clear to me.
The bottomline is…
To Get Big – You Eat Big
Nuff Said…
