“You need stones.” “Stones?” “Yeah, stones. Big rocks that don’t move. Lines you don’t cross.” “What are your stones?” “Extremely limited trans fats and deep fried foods. I might eat ’em once per month. If that.” The e-mail conversation continued when I was asked about the importance of stones — something I usually call cojones [...]
“You need stones.”
“Stones?”
“Yeah, stones. Big rocks that don't move. Lines you don't cross.”
“What are your stones?”
“Extremely limited trans fats and deep fried foods. I might eat 'em once per month. If that.”
The e-mail conversation continued when I was asked about the importance of stones — something I usually call cojones (which is a Spanish vulgarity for testicles) simply because you need to have the “nuts” to stand firm in some beliefs and principles — especially with nutrition.
You can't suck at nutrition if you want to add muscle without body fat. Training and nutrition are a double helix. They work together. They support each other. They are conjoined, and shouldn't seen as separate.
I used to suck at nutrition. I didn't really care about it. Training interested me more. But nutrition supports training. If your nutrition sucks, you won't recover well. That means training performance and progress drops. And that means muscle growth is sub par.
This isn't saying you have to count calories (I don't), but you have to have a basic understanding of it all. So if you're cooking in mountains of oil or don't know what to eat, when to eat, or when to eat what, consider these things.
#1 Your “diet” has to fit your lifestyle.
Your nutrition habits have to be sustainable in the long term. There are some 30, 60, and 90 day “diets” out there that carry extreme protocols. But they're extreme because there's an understood end.
“Do this for 30 days and then stop.”
Clean bulking doesn't have an end. It has to suit your lifestyle for months and months. Maybe even years because it's not the fast path.
#2 You have to have a modicum of nutrient understanding.
What's a carbohydrate? How many calories are in one gram of carbohydrate? What about fat? Fat calories? Protein? Protein calories?
Which nutrients are best for muscle growth? Recovery? Which nutrients does training deplete? Which ones need replenished?
I'm not asking you to memorize the process of cellular respiration or anything, so don't freak.
#3 You have to have to have a modicum of food understanding.
Counting calories is frightening. You're doomed to carry around a scale for the rest of your life. The agony!
It doesn't have to be like that. Casual peeks at nutrition facts give you a good idea of what you're eating. No weighing or measuring needed.
You should know that eggs are primarily fat and protein, and that they have about 70-90 calories depending on the size of the egg. You should know sources of starchy carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates. You should know low fat protein sources and high fat protein sources. And how much protein and calories is in about a fistful of each. You should know foods that are primarily fat.
Here's a great example of why this is important: mainstream media tells us that nuts are a great source of protein.
But considering the ratio of grams of protein to total calories, they're actually a pretty poor source of protein. In other words, you shouldn't be eating nuts for protein. You can eat them for other reasons, but they aren't going to deliver a huge protein punch. And if you eat enough of them so that they do, the rest of your nutrition is going to be screwed.
Yeah. This is the stuff I'm talking about. Again, it's not difficult. Start peeking at nutrition facts.
#4 You have to have a semblance of structure.
The, “I'll eat whatever I want, whenever I want” mindset doesn't bode well for clean bulking.
You need a few principles that just stick.
For instance, one principle in Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Diet (which I think is better suited for a sedentary population — just using it as a comparison) is eating 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking.
That's structure.
I have two structural elements that I generally abide by:
- Getting a decent amount of protein with each meal.
- Eating a certain “core” of food every day to ensure I hit some essential numbers. (More on this in future articles.)
#5 You have to get real.
I mean this in both the metaphorical and philosophical sense. Stop looking for a super magical supplement to fix your problems.
Supplements are scapegoats. “You didn't get results because you didn't buy my $92.35 supplement!”
I'd rather see you invest in cooking supplies.
Whey is useful because it's a dirt cheap protein source. Creatine is also worthy to try. Partly because it's (once again) dirt cheap, but because for those that respond to it, it does good things.
And that's the end of my supplement list.
Outside of that, buy a variety of foods and learn how to cook.
#6 You have to understand a bit of why.
Knowing to eat some carbs post workout is nice, but why? Knowing why stops you from making stupid mistakes in the future.
This question always reroutes me to the sixteen year old kids that buy “SUPAR MASS PROTEIN GAIN XzORz.” And those that think whey protein is a steroid. And that creatine comes straight from the devil's hands.
Know why.
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLB372RTCO4
Don't have — or feeling shaky in — these six things? Don't have the cojones?Then your clean bulk hopes are slim. Not that I want to destroy your hopes, but it's reality. Gaining muscle without gaining fat is an advanced operation. Think about it.
True bulks are popular because you ensure enough nutrients are floating around to build muscle with. If you're throwing a party, you're going to over buy food so everyone has enough. And a consequence of this is having left overs.
Clean bulks are a more precise estimation. It's an attempt to buy just enough so that everyone can eat as much as they want with no food left over. You're trying to predict something that isn't really predictable.
Most people fail.
Your understanding of when to deliver certain nutrients, when to avoid certain nutrients, and why you're delivering certain nutrients important. If you don't know this, my book, The Chaos Bulk, will be useless.
But there's hope, so don't worry.
Nate Miyaki has become rather popular these days, and for good reason. I'll forever know him as the man that got me to stop farting. He's never disappointed me.
If you need this solid nutrition ground floor — if you need some cojones — you should invest in Nate's Intermittent Feast resource. It's an easy-to-comprehend, no fluff series of eBooks and videos to help you learn the basics and beyond.
Let's go back and see why I recommend Intermittent Feast:
#1 Your “diet” has to fit your lifestyle.
Intermittent Feast is built around a traditional working schedule. You eat the largest meal later at night, which is usually the most lifestyle friendly time to devote to some serious cooking time to. Otherwise you're looking at little prep through out the day.
#2 You have to have a modicum of nutrient understanding.
Previously, Nate described his philosophy as “paleo meets sports nutrition.” You're going to know what foods better serve your training needs and when to eat them.
You might even stop farting, like I did.
#3 You have to have to have a modicum of food understanding.
Not going to lie, this responsibility is on you. (Although Nate does have a few nice tables that list foods he recommends.) But no product in the world can force you to read — no, glance at — nutrition labels. So just do it.
#4 You have to have a semblance of structure.
Nate's Intermittent Feast frame work is a structure on it's own (remember that whole lifestyle friendly bit?). You'll know how to handle your nutrition under any circumstance — training in the morning, evening afternoon, or not training.
#5 You have to get real.
It's not a pitch for supplements. In fact, Nate explains why supplements aren't necessary.
#6 You have to understand a bit of why.
Nate is a philosophical Ronin samurai. Of course he explains his rationale. What I enjoy about Intermittent Feast is how all of the parts are connected.
Nate recommends one big meal at night and training strategies, lunch decisions, and everything is constructed around that meal, which means everything is connected.
It's beautiful, really.
So beautiful that the Chaos Bulk — my go to clean bulking strategy — is an extension of Intermittent Feasting. Why? Because it's quite simply the most reasonable, effective, practical, and lifestyle friendly “diet” out there.
Never mind the fact that Nate and I have the same skin complexion. Same hair color and length. Same skinny-fat history. Same interest in obscure martial arts flips. And same general ideas about nutrition even though we live on opposite ends of the country and never talked before 2012.
So if you need some cojones, it's your job to read and watch (there are videos too) everything Intermittent Feasting has to offer. Or you can just go out and spend $69 on a monthly supplement order and expect your goodies to get the job done for you. (Do they ever?)
Just sayin….
From here, you'll learn about how and why chaos intertwines with nutrition and why it could be your clean bulk savior. But none of that matters unless you adhere to the third rule of the clean bulk: you need some cojones when it comes to nutrition; you can't suck at it.