Your bodybuilding diet will depend on your body type, your gender, your metabolism, and your lifestyle. If you’re a hard gainer, or an individual who has an exceptionally fast metabolism, then you can probably skip stage one of the bodybuilder’s diet plan. Average individuals, though, who have not yet fully developed their muscles, and are still carrying around a few pounds of excess body fat will have to go through this diet plan, if not something similar.
What you need to remember
Any bodybuilding diet plan is paired off with an equivalent bodybuilding workout routine. In other words, stage one of this diet plan will naturally fall in the same timeframe as the beginner workout routines for any bodybuilder. In other words, both stage one and beginner routines would both run for about 3 weeks, and they would both be geared towards losing body fat and nearly starving the body for nutrients and calories. This is in preparation for the stage 2 diet, which will be complemented with a muscle developing or intermediate workout routine. Stage 3 diet is for advanced bodybuilders who undergo maintenance or advanced weight training programs, and so on.
Stage one: Beginner bodybuilding diet – Fat reducing
The principle behind the beginner or stage one diet is to rid the body of excess fat. Most of the time, individuals already have fairly pronounced muscles. The only problem is that these muscles are covered with excess amounts of body fat. To make it easier for the muscle to develop, a bodybuilder would first need to shed off a few pounds. This entails about three weeks of cardio-heavy workout routines that should be performed around 3 to 4 in consecutive days a week.
While you’re on this exercise routine, you need to eat just enough complex carbohydrates before a workout and moderate to light snacks after a workout. Your caloric intake during this stage should be kept to a minimum since you’re trying to lose weight, but it shouldn’t be too drastically scarce that you lack energy during your workouts. Keep your diet high protein, staying away from sweets and salty food that could counter your weight loss program, and get yourself a Natural anabolic Alternative that can boost all this. Ground flax seeds are great additions to your meals because they aid in fat burning and energy absorption.
Stage two: Intermediate bodybuilding diet – Muscle Development
After the first 12 sessions of your body-building routine, you should gradually move on to the intermediate weight training program. This focuses less on cardio exercises, and targets separate muscle groups per day, in alteration. Because you’re trying to form muscles during this stage, you will need to keep your diet centered on high-quality protein. The best protein source known in the market is whey. Second, it is egg protein. Most bodybuilders make meal replacement shakes made out of whey powder and egg at least once a day during their workout days. Intermediate workouts are done 4 times a week, as preferred by the trainee. Since it alternates the muscle groups, it doesn’t have to be done consecutively.
Stage 3: Advanced bodybuilding diet – Maintenance
Neither the workout routine nor the diet of advanced bodybuilders should be followed by intermediate or beginner trainees. The diet for this stage has high caloric content, following the basic principles of the intermediate bodybuilder’s diet. This scheme takes into account the fact that the trainee has already developed a faster metabolism (because of more than 24 weeks of weight training), so it’s safe for him/her to take in more food. That is, of course, if s/he is trying to bulk up. The workout during this stage is also done more frequently, almost daily, for six times a week. If an intermediate or beginner trainee adapts this diet, s/he will bloat up and lose muscle mass.
Supplements
To make sure that enough nutrients are being absorbed by the body during workout routines, it’s advisable for bodybuilders to take in a complete set of vitamin supplements, including multivitamins, Vitamin C, protein, and calcium.
