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Ecto’s Bible - A hard-gainers standard for success Chapters 3 & 4
by Superior1, Moderator @ www.Anabolic-Paradise.com
For more information about Superior1 and his line of Superior Nutraceuticals supplements, please click on the above banner
For more information about Superior1 and his line of Superior Nutraceuticals supplements, please click on the above banner.
Over the next five months we will be featuring the Ecto's Bible - A hard-gainers standard for success, two chapters at a time. Last month we covered mental preparedness and setting goals. We will also be highlighting metabolism, nutrition, training amongst many other topics. Please check back monthly for the next instalment.
Chapter 3 - Macro nutrition, Metabolism and Muscle
Not only are we going to take a few moments and discuss nutrition, metabolism or muscle separately, but also we're going to look at the three simultaneously. Because in the grand scheme of your mission the three is virtually one single process. When considering nutrition what you put into your body is what you’re going to get out of it. Or better yet your diet regimen will show through your physique. Our job is going to fully understand the process and all its intricacies that relate to the muscle building process, both directly and indirectly. Of course we are not going to break down every biochemical mechanism and theory that the human body encompasses, but we will look in depth to the primary ones that are more pertinent to your mission. A better understanding of the process will help you to better understand why you apply the practicals. Obviously for the actual cellular processes to take place you don't need to read and understand, but doing so will enable you to be able to adjust and modify your regimen to better meet your specific needs.
Biochemistry of the nutrient/muscle connection
The term "you are what you eat" for all intent in purposes is the truth. If you recall back to junior high school you'll remember the table of elements. You may not still memorize the catchy saying who’s purpose was to help you spout out the chronological order of the elements during test time, but think back and recall a few. As we had learned all matter is made up of the elements, in our case this would include nutrients as well as our bodies. For our ‘specific’ purposes, it's going to be muscles. We will discuss what makes up muscles as well as how they are fuelled, and more importantly what makes them grow. This means we will have to elaborate on protein, carbohydrates and fats.
The basic difference between protein and carbohydrate is that while carbohydrates are simple sugars made up of (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen), protein is made from amino acids derived from (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur). It’s the nitrogen that’s a basic or better yet the differentiating component between carbohydrates sugar structures and of the protein's amino acid structure. The protein (or amino acids) accounts for 15 to 20% of the total lean body mass. And the carbohydrates (or sugars) make up the rest. Yes there is lots of water in the muscle tissue but we will look into this further as we read on. Let’s just make the note that protein is set apart from carbohydrates due primarily to this nitrogen content. So muscle tissue is made up of the primary basics of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen.
Let’s consider the two primary pathways for fuelling and nourishing the muscles. One is what I call the hydrogen/oxygen pathway and the other the nitrogen/oxygen pathway. In some cases to make my point I will refer to the hydrogen/oxygen pathway as the H20/glycogen pathway. You have probably not heard it being referred to in these particular terms by the more scientific types, but for the purposes of this reading we will.
70% of the muscle is fueled by this hydrogen/oxygen pathway in the form of sugar and water (H20 & glycogen) as earlier noted. 30% of muscle is fueled by the nitrogen/oxygen pathway in the form of proteins or (amino acids). So suffice to say, to build muscle you must take in the chemical elements that the muscle is they themselves made of and uses. We as humans are very fortunate, because the basic steak and potatoes make up the primary elements we need to take in, thus the reason we don't eat rocks. We take in many types of nutrients when we eat. Macronutrients are your proteins, carbohydrates and fats. You also have micronutrients in the form of iron, sodium, potassium and zinc to name a few. As a bodybuilder you hear about getting the right kinds of nutrients and plenty of them. Well it's this macro and micronutrients they speak of. And we will discuss all the ones that pertain to our agenda of putting on mass.
Protein: The Greek word protein means first place
With that being the case, I want to first look at the nitrogen/oxygen pathway that constitutes the protein aspect of the nutrient/ muscle connection. We are looking at this area first because this is the area that usually needs the most improvement when it comes to building muscle. Even though this area makes up a lesser percentage (30% versus 70%) of the muscle it is the more stable component of the muscle tissue and tends to lean towards steadier more permanent gains than the other pathway we will discuss later. Today's American diets are not geared for a bodybuilder. The typical meal is usually too low in protein and far too high in carbohydrates and saturated fats. That fact results in the muscle missing out on a very important aspect of the muscle building process. In addition, the three meals a day concept adds insult to injury and is definitely not beneficial or in the best interest of the bodybuilder, and this goes for all types of bodybuilders.
Consuming enough protein is usually a problem for most beginning bodybuilders, much more so than sedentary folks. Breaking away from traditional meals and away from your comfort zone is not effortless, but it is mandatory in order to get enough protein frequently enough throughout the day. The lack of frequent protein intake is a multifold problem in reference to keeping your body in an anabolic (muscle building) state. If your not consuming enough protein frequently enough you are more than likely not getting your total daily protein needs in grams or calories. In addition, breaks of more than 3 hours, along with insufficient overall total daily protein intake will result in diminished nitrogen levels, which will be discussed further in Chapter 4 & 7. Sufficient protein intake is a primary factor for keeping your body in a positive nitrogen balance, which promotes protein synthesis, a major contributor to maintaining an anabolic state in your body. Those who live a sedentary lifestyle, with minimal resistance training, those bodies just have less use for the additional protein. In which case the USRDA's and most physician and dieticians recommendation is suffice. But when you’re pounding weight and breaking down muscle tissue, the infrequency of protein intake results in an overall insufficient intake of protein as well as causing periods of low blood levels of amino acids and nitrogen levels. The end result is you're wasting your grueling efforts in the gym at the cost of starved and stagnated muscle growth.
Protein is broken down into amino acids, which each amino acid plays a different role in the metabolic process. The primary purpose is to build the tissue, in our case ‘muscle’. Some also control other bodily functions. One of those being the thyroid, Amino acids such as L-Tyrosine, which is an essential component for the production of T3. L-Tyrosine along with several other amino acids keeps your Thyroid converting T4 to T3 and that is a major contributor to overall metabolism. Amino Acids primarily act as trigger mechanisms for various functions throughout the whole body. The aspect of getting ample steady protein cannot be over emphasized, since as I mentioned earlier this is the area where real and true long term more permanent lean body mass is built. Let me clarify what I mean here. It’s not absolutely permanent but it is the more stable than the hydrogen/oxygen aspect of muscle metabolism.
To further clarify so you don't mis-interpret what I'm relaying here. It's easy to lose and gain weight both muscle mass and fat mass fairly quickly by hydrating and dehydrating the muscle and fat cells through carbohydrate manipulation through the H2O/glycogen pathway. But when it comes to building the muscle 'fibers' its going to be along this nitrogen/oxygen pathway. Both pathways have a synergistic effect on one another but I just want to clarify the importance of this protein role for now. Think of it this way. It takes a full week to train a body part, to break it down takes less than an hour but in order for those broken down fibers to fully recover as in re-building muscle with amino acids, it takes a week, maybe a couple days less with the ideal diet and rest. Compare this with the fact you can alter the size and appearance of a muscle within just a few hours by hydrating the cells with H2O and glycogen. The processes are on two differing time scales as far as their metabolic rate in reference to completing their individual purposes of the processes to completion. Forcing this H2O/glycogen into the muscle is the main reason beginners will see quick gains when they begin training and then the gains seem to slow or stop. The beginner at that point has made use of the quick advantages that the carb loading mechanism which is along this hydrogen/oxygen pathway. Advanced body builder during contest time understand this principle and make the most use of it. Beginners usually don't understand this process but it still takes place. Once a beginner is acclimated to the weights and obtained proper form he can then really crank up his intensity up to a point that really taxes the muscle fibers and break them down (unlike before) and not just hydrating the separate stores of H2O/glycogen. The more permanent gains will then start coming thus not in leaps and bounds. This further pushing of your self and tapping this new level of muscle growth is the area that many beginner fail to enter and it's simply what is going to set you apart from the next guy.
This is also the reason a lot of fad diets are able to drop weight on over weight people. They are virtually shedding in quick order this excess glucose and water from the system. And if you have ever known a competing bodybuilder it is not uncommon for them to put on 20-30 lbs after a show. And this is through this H20/glycogen pathway I am speaking of. It’s not like they are actually increasing the size of their muscle fibers in this instance. But they are saturating the muscle cells that store the glycogen and water. Hopefully your sharp enough to follow me so far. So you can almost even say that you can increase muscle mass at a rate five times faster through this H20/glycogen than you can through the nitrogen/oxygen pathway. So what are you saying then?? It’s more important for muscle mass gains to focus on this the carbohydrate aspect? No not at all. They are both important, but as far as real and true muscle hypertrophy of the muscle fibers, it’s important to understand how the nitrogen/oxygen pathway works within the whole process.
This nitrogen/oxygen pathway is the mechanism that creates the most ‘anabolic’ state in your body, enhanced by bombarding your muscle with resistance and good nutrition. Not everyone is going to truly oblivorate and breakdown their muscle fibers, and even less will pre-plan and supply the proper nutrients required to cause an anabolic state to even occur. This is not to take anything away from carbohydrates or fat, because without them protein would not be able to effective do its job, if at all, in the way of re-building the muscle tissue. Instead protein would be used as an energy source, and could cause your current hard earned muscle to be eaten into. There are too many benefits to frequent and ample protein intake to build mass, be sure to make use of them and make sure your efforts are focused on that aspect.
Now the purpose of this writing is not to explain to you how to lose body fat or slim down. But it’s important for just basic understanding to know how your diet and protein intake can affect your fat levels, and in turn your body composition. Americans have always wanted a quick and easy fat loss plan, as they do many aspects of life. The results have been from water pills, diuretics, and appetite suppressants that cut overall calories. That approach is not all bad. But it is when that is the first angle of approach for those looking to drop the weight. Peoples 'want it now' mentality tells them that they just want a pill to take to alleviate all of their woes. And they fail to look at the factors that have to be in place before hand. The fail to look at the hours of sweating on the tread mill, the straining of the heavy weights, The fail to exercise discipline and self control when it comes to their diet. It shows they don't want it bad enough, it shows they are willing to settle for less, it shows that they are afraid of failure. They mostly fail to look at the fact of dropping calories properly when attempting to lose weight and they take the 'lost it now' route which is never long term.
The problem isn't so much the dropping of calories. On a whole and in fact you have to drop calories to drop weight. However the problem arises when protein is also dropped and the exercise level hasn't changed. Someone may lose weight but they will also lose precious muscle mass, which slows overall metabolism when it is lost. When the subjects come off the diet, all the weight they lost comes back in fast order due to this reduced metabolism due to muscle mass loss. And the new stimulus of additional calories causes an over abundance of calories thus the weight comes right back. The secret to long term healthy weight loss is reducing calories, keeping the protein intake high and the carbohydrates intake moderate if not low. Also important is taking in only the most quality polyunsaturated fats. If resistance and cardiovascular training is added they will make an environment for not only for a longer term weight loss, but also a much better body composition in the mean time. This is that 'path of MOST resistance' that most people fail to take.
Protein is a highly effective tool in promoting fat loss, and it is for a few reasons. The first reason protein promotes fat loss is due to the energy it requires to actually process and digest it, and this is multifold. Firstly between 20-30% of the calories in protein are expended just by digesting and processing it compared with 5-10% for carbohydrates and less than 5% for fats. This has a synergistic effect with the very fact that the protein food is taking up room in your digestive system leaving less room for hunger triggering carbohydrates that alter blood sugar levels. Not to mention the excess of consumed carbohydrates has a high risk of being stored as fat. The fact that protein expends more energy when digested and that it triggers further thyroid function by converting T4 to T3, it has a thermo-genic effect that raises overall core body temperature and metabolism.
Another reason is one we briefly mentioned earlier, it triggers thyroid function. This makes protein assimilation even more efficient. Protein intake combined with resistance training builds muscle mass (LBM), which in turn raises overall metabolism even more. Lean Body Mass (LBM) is what raises the metabolic rate which has a direct effect on 'burning off' carbohydrates as well as fats before they are stored as fat. As we learned the muscle mass gained from protein is more permanent thus the fat burning effects are synonymous and have long term and permanent benefits also. This is important for assimilating Protein carbs and fat, and is important when it comes to building muscle tissue, and staying fairly lean. Why touch on protein intake for fat loss when we are here to talk about gaining muscle mass? Well it’s an area that just simply needed to be touched on so we did. It’s something you really need to know anyway to help you better understand not so much gaining mass but for the purposes of physique enhancement.
To summarize the protein aspect of building muscle we need to keep consider these factors and make them a permanent part of our overall regimen.
Consume protein every 3 hours.
Consume @1.5 grams of real food protein for every lb of body weight. And supplement with .5 grams for
every 1 lb of body weight. This equates to 2grams for every pound. 150lbs=300 grams.
Consume high quality proteins in various forms to cover the full spectrum of the amino acid range.
You WILL need supplemental protein which equates to at least 25-30% of your overall protein intake. Most
of this being in the form of predigested protein powders. Whey, Egg, Soy.
Carbohydrates: Fuel for growth
Most people will say that the H2O aspect of muscle is not real lean body mass (LBM), and in the last chapter I may have even made comments that supported this statement. But that was not my intent; I was attempting to point out the actual difference in the actual metabolism between the two pathways. The belief that H2O does not contribute to LBM is not altogether true. It indeed plays a very important roll. It is true that H2O and glycogen stores are not muscle fibers per se, but they do contribute to LBM and overall metabolism. It’s just not to the degree that true muscle fibers do. LBM is essentially every component of muscle tissue, both nitrogen/oxygen based protein FIBERS, and the cells that store both the H2O and the glycogen.
You can think of muscle tissue and LBM as a sponge. Without any water at all a sponge is dried up and useless for the intended job of either absorbing fluids or washing dishes. Your muscles are just as useless when they are dehydrated. You can think of the dry fibers of the sponge in the same way as your actual muscle fibers, both are made up of proteins. What happens when you add water to a dry sponge? It expands and grows to accommodate the added water by storing it in small cells within the sponge material. Most of the waters are held between the fibers and not inside the fibers. However there is a small percentage that is held inside and as part of the fiber. This is very similar to how muscles store water. Not so much in the fibers but outside them, in cells. The sponge becomes more useful once some water is added, but just enough to hydrate the fibers in the sponge, just as your muscles are. Water can be added and removed from the sponge changing the size of it in a matter of seconds by squeezing and then re-hydrating it. If no other water is added after it's squeezed (or taxed) then eventually it will shrink and soon dry up. And eventually in time the sponge will deteriorate. This squeezing of the sponge is the same as working your muscle, the glycogen is used up and since muscles store glycogen with water at a ratio of 3:1, 3 grams water is lost/gained with every 1 gram glycogen lost/gained. The majority of the water can be added and removed from the sponge, just as we mentioned the muscle could earlier, very quickly and efficiently. However too much water, more than the sponge can hold and the water cannot be stored. This is synonymous with excess glucose being supplied to the muscle. If the muscle is in a state of need its ideal. Just as it is for a dried up sponge. If the muscle is NOT in a state of need then glucose is stored ‘outside’ the muscle cell and inside the fat cells along with water for later use. Now that we have a better general understanding of the characteristics of the muscle in reference to how it stores nutrients let’s look further into carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are made up of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon (as sugars and starches) They are supplied to the muscle through this hydrogen/oxygen pathway, which serves to fuel and hydrate the cells with glycogen and H2O at the 3:1 ratio mentioned earlier. The muscles not only burn the glycogen but also stores it. Getting as much of the compounds into the muscle cells without the glucose 'spilling over' is ideal for muscle nutrition as well as muscle appearance. Otherwise it’s being stored in the interstitial space just under the skin and as fat stores. And this is something we do not want when we are trying to enhance our physique. This balance of keeping the nutrients inside the muscle tissue and from spilling outside is the ideal situation for a bodybuilder. However the balance is the trick. You have to know your body well, and that takes time to apply your knowledge and time to go through the process of trail and error. But soon with enough strict control you will learn this of yourself.
Maximizing the anabolic/ anti-catabolic response through carbohydrate manipulation
Carbohydrates are broken down fairly easily into glucose in order to be used for energy for various bodily functions, in our case primarily muscle tissue. The glucose is carried to the muscle by a hormone called insulin that’s released by the pancreas. This insulin is triggered by either exertive activity or by consuming carbohydrates. When you exercise your body realizes that you're going to need glucose for your hard working muscles. It will trigger the pancreas to produce insulin in order to carry glucose out of the liver where it’s stored as well as the blood stream where it’s readily used for muscle nourishment and brain function along with various other bodily functions. And for our case after an intense training session to the muscle tissue that is now in a state of need. This is why doctors recommend exercise to diabetes because of this factor. I can help them produce their own insulin in some causes. Insulin is also said to be one of the most anabolic hormones in our bodies due to this action of transporting the nutrients to the muscle tissue.
Insulin levels are also spiked when consuming carbohydrates in order to shuttle the excess glucose out of the blood stream. If insulin levels where not raised during this feeding, then it would result in high sugar levels in the bloodstream, which is diabetes and can cause many health related ailments. It's important to know carbohydrates come in many forms, from simple to complex. Different sources of carbohydrates are broken down and dumped into the bloodstream at different rates. These rates are listed on a scale called the glycemic index. Ranging from low teens to 150. The higher the number the faster the carbohydrate is broken down and converted into glucose. Higher glycemic carbohydrates will trigger insulin levels at a much more drastic rate than lower glycemic carbohydrates will. It does this in order to get the high volume of glucose out of the bloodstream. The problem for sedentary folks is the muscle has no need for it. Muscle can only store so much, and while sitting around muscles are not using and processing it fast enough. This excess of glucose has no room to be stored in the muscle so it's redirected over into fat cells. The body does this because it intends to use the glucose at a later time in case a period of time in which food will not be consumed for longer term energy needs. The problem comes when people do not have this fasting period that the body is expecting. Also sedentary people do not have periods of exercise to make use and deplete the glycogen stores in their muscles. So the glucose keeps getting stored over and over again, and it's stored along with water causing the fat cell to be over-hydrated. Since were not sedentary, lets look at its effects on an active bodybuilder.
For a bodybuilder, getting the proper amount of carbohydrates (not too many or too little) in terms of overall daily grams is very important. In addition, the proper type carb in terms of glycemic value, at the ideal times is one of the most important aspects to building a better physique and maximizing the potential your gains. Most new bodybuilders do not take in enough carbohydrates for muscle hydration to occur especially for hard gaining ectomorph types with high metabolisms. Even if the individual does take in enough carbohydrates he may not be consuming them in the most efficient manner through carbohydrate manipulation. The problem is most beginners and even some moderately advanced bodybuilders do not know how to properly time their carbohydrate intake, and they are either unclear or unaware how important modifying this carbohydrate intake can be.
Let’s take an example, Muscles that are supplied too much glucose by either consuming too many grams when they were really not needed, or else they were too high on the glycemic index and the amount that was consumed was quickly converted into glucose, but not really needed in any substantial way by the muscle cells, due to lack of activity. This can and will result in the excesses, spilling over into undesirable areas outside the muscle. Not ideal for someone trying to enhance his or her physique. Some people are more carb sensitive and their bodies do not process and distribute the glucose in ways beneficial to their goals. Hard gaining ectomorphs have a harder time getting enough of them before their metabolisms burn them off. Those types more than likely take in too little in grams or too low on the glycemic index after training sessions, at a time when the muscle cells and the whole metabolic function is able to make the best use of them. This lack of intake at a most beneficial window of opportunity will certainly result in slowed recovery for several reasons we will discuss. This will be different for each individual; it's going to take trial and error on your part in order to get the timing, the ratios and types of glycemic carbs. But as a hardgaining ectomorph your main focus is going to be getting plenty of them post training and throughout the day. There will be times you want to back off the carbs and adjust the glycemic values for leaning purposes and to tighten up your physique. But for starters focus equally on getting enough of them and proper manipulation of them. You will know if your not getting enough by the virtue of flat looking muscles and lack of full, tight muscle bellies and by stagnated gains due to lack of hydration in the muscle cell. As long as your protein & fat intake is on target, you may look to additional carbs if you're not gaining. You will know you're getting enough by actually putting on weight, and you'll know you’re just over that threshold if you're putting on fat. This is OK when all out bulking. But when you feel you are getting too fat, it may be time to re-evaluate your diet and adjust the carbs accordingly, but not too soon or too drastically at the cost of hindered muscle gains. In summary, carbohydrate manipulation is important for both bulking and cutting while keeping overall physique composition in mind.
If you remember, protein has an ‘anabolic’ effect. Carbohydrates also have a positive effect other than the fuelling and hydrating effect on muscle tissue. They have an anti-catabolic or (muscle sparing) effect on muscle tissue by serving as a buffer to protect the proteins in both the free form amino acid, as well as the muscle fiber proteins from being scavenged and cannibalized by the body for energy. By taking in enough carbohydrates to fuel the muscle you leave protein to freely do its job of triggering metabolic functions and rebuilding fibers without hindrance. What is the primary mechanism that enables carbohydrates to be the most efficient anti-catabolic nutrient you can consume. Keeping the muscle well hydrated up to but not beyond the point of spill over is ideal for bulking and keeping your physique in top condition. But again when all out bulking is called for. DO NOT back down on overall calories!! Make gaining overall mass your top priority, and worry about your beauty later. There is a time for that, and your body type will make it easy for you to tweak your physique to the appearance your desire.
To summarize carbohydrate in take it’s important to keep these factors in mind.
Consume the majority of your daily carbohydrates post training. At least 50% of your daily carbs within the three hours window after training. This is the time when your body makes the most efficient use of them. By storing the glycogen in the muscle cells versus fat cells.
During the day consistenty consume complex medium gylcemic carbs. With lower gylcemic carbs closer to bed time.
Fats: Further fuel for growth
While you may have been one of those that has been brainwashed into believing that fats are bad for you. You need to forget everything you may have heard or believed. Since most of America is overweight and fat, most have been scared to even come close to a fat gram. It’s not until the recent low carb, high protein and high fats diets began hitting the scene did ‘most everyone’ believe this lie. And even now you have critics on both sides arguing which is better. Honestly, fats are not as bad as the hype had previously permeated society. Fats are however not particularly good for you, At least most fats in todays diets. But we are not here to talk about being ‘healthy’ as much as we are about gaining mass. As an ectomorph, you just simply do not fit the profile of the typical american. And even while someone that is overweight needs fats to function, You, as an ectomorph needs them so much more. Since we are going to began to increase our fat intake, let’s at least make the majority of those fats ‘good’ fats. We are not going to get into detail about fats and how they are metabolized in detail. But if anything please don’t overlook the benefits that additional ‘good’ fat consumption will give you while you’re on the road to packing on mass. Fat has too many benefits to discuss in detail, so we are going to keep this section simple.
Caloric count: Fats are the easiest method to boost your calories to a supra maintain level. And remember from earlier it’s calories that essentially put on the mass. While Protein and Carbs have 4 calories per gram, Fat has 9, that’s over 2x’s the calories per gram than its sister macronutrients. Fats are an ideal vehicle to keep your body protected from catabolism. It does this in a similar way that carbs protect your free proteins from harm in order to do what they are designed for and that is to rebuild muscle tissue. It’s the carbs and fat that serve as the energy sources. And while you use carbs as a primary energy source, You are really using carbs to fuel the muscle and keep it hydrated. Fat serves the same purposes on different pathways but they without question serve in a very synergistic way. Let’s read on.
Just briefly we are going to talk about fats in reference to dieting. But we won’t stay on this long. Fat will, without question, help you maintain muscle mass more so than carbs while dieting. It does this primarily by reducing insulin secretion, and most of us now that the body will not release stored fat in the presence of insulin. Carbohydrates is a precursor and a trigger to insulin as we have read. Insulin pretty much for the life of you ‘HAS’ to be secreted after ingesting carbs or else you have a whole slew of ailments lying in wait. So for a dieter adjusting these ratios of proteins, carbs and fats, to a ratio of 33/33/33 across the board is a good place to start for overall physique enhancement. And as you will read in the next couple chapters starting with that ratio as an ectomorph attempting to gain is a good place to start also. It’s a nice balance to begin testing your bodies reactions to differing macronutrient ratios. We’ll touch more on this later. Now let’s talk about mass building fats.
Most people think you need plenty of carbs to function, and that’s not altogether true. While it is the quickest form of energy for the human body, it’s not always the ideal energy source at all times. We all know that carbs i.e. glucose i.e. glycogen produces ATP, but it’s not the ONLY way the body produces ATP. Protein and fat also have their own mechanism to produce ATP. When your diet is high in carbs your body converts it into glucose, and what the muscles do not use the rest is stored as triglycerides or (body fat). When your body again needs the energy it will reconvert the triglyercides into glucose to be used for energy. However when fat intake is increased more so than carbs your body doesn’t have all the extra glucose stored as fat, it’s then that most of your energy will come from the break down of free fatty acids and/or body fat stores. If carbs are limited to just enough to be stored in the muscles and no more, then the additional fat consumption will be beneficial by leaving the glucose where it’s best stored in the muscle and not outside that muscle. Now, since your body is currently in a different mode of free fatty acid metabolism then it’s in a much better state of burning fat more efficiently.
Basically you’re leaving glucose to satiate the muscle and fats to fuel your additional energy requirements. And since this method reduces insulin secretion, your body will overall maintain a better appearance through it’s metabolic process throughout your day. By balancing the ratios of fats to carbs your changing the mechanism in which your body burns its fat, by activating the lipolytic (fat burning) enzymes and decreasing the lipogenic (fat producing) enzymes. This method is more pronounced when the ratios are drastically changed in the case of dieting, thus the reason the atkins/keto type diets work. But, in the same way when bulking, and attempting to achieve a visually pleasing physique, you will want to make sure your fat consumption is not lagging far behind your carbohydrate consumption levels. If anything, since fats have more calories you’re better off making sure fat calories are at minimum, equal to carb calories. This rule applies anytime of the day except for the 2 hour window after you have trained. And that’s the only exception.
Remember when you’re in the mode of using carbs as your primary source of energy all day everyday your body is much more likely to break down protein into glucose and use them as energy. This is called (gluconeogenesis). After training when the muscle is in dire need and insulin levels are spiked due to the intense training, and furthermore cortisol levels rise. It’s best to take in the quickest forms of glucose (carbs), due to your muscles sucking them up and making the best use of them at that very moment. However, during the day you want high calorie fats to do this and you want your body in this lipolytic state for the remainder of your day. Studies have shown that this short duration of carbs loading will not ‘switch’ your body over into the glucose burning mode. But your body will stay in the free fatty acid mode if the primary source of energy is fats and not carbs.
Now what they hell does all this mean on a day to day basis, and what am I supposed to do, consume more fats than carbs? Well, let me make the point of this chapter a little clearer! I’m npt hear to same drop your carbs and jack your fat up. You would drop weight on a diet like this. That would be good for some, actually probably good for most. But as an ecto, don’t forget about your fats. They are certainly as important as your carbs. Since most newbies may still be eating too sloppy of ever too clean. The main point of this chapter is for you to realize you very well may need to increase your fat intake to a level that will get you the added calories you need to grow. If you take both sections above and apply them appropriately, and if you don’t forget this section on fats, then you will be on your way to putting on mass that you never could before.
Now since you’ve now planned to eat plenty of steak and beef, and what ever type chicken you can get your hands on, as well as plenty of non-white fish. You will probably be getting in a decent amount of fat. But decent is not enough. It would be wise to find some other sources of fats other than what you pick up in regularly processed foods. You are going to HAVE to supplement your fats with other sources. Because what you pick up throughout the day just isn’t enough. That is unless your eating big macs everyday multiple times a day, And if your doing that your probably not getting in the best proteins and carbs when you need them. But now since you are eating high quality protein and good sources of carbs, it’s time you looked to the best sources of fat outside your normal diet.
Below are some great sources of supplemental fats. We will talk more about these in the supplements chapter, but for now and for the purposes of this chapter, we will make mention of the best sources. Next time your out at the grocery store remember to pick up some of these. They are typically cheap calories and they are all good sources of good fats. Not only will you begin to feel better, and have more energy and be less prone to fatigue and over training. But you’ll have more added benefits than this chapter can hold. Most will make good snacks or else good additions to your current meal replacement shakes, since most fail to have any decent amounts of fats in them.
Olive oil
Sunflower oil
Safflower oil
Flaxseed oil
Borage Oil
Walnuts
Coconut Oil
Avocados
Cod Liver Oil
Fish Oil
Peanut butter
Some factors to remember when it comes to fats.
Consume moderate portions of fats in the morning with a good predigested protein source. Most any powdered protein source will do.
Consume moderate portions of fats at bed time with a good source of slow releasing proteins such as casein, or else some real food protein. Nothing better than a steak or a chicken breast.
Steer clear of fats in your post training shake. This is the time for carbs.
Water
There is one main reason you should be drinking plenty of water. And that reason is, So you won’t be drinking much of anything else.. It’s pretty much time to stop drinking your sodas and coffee, and alcoholic beverages of choice. At most you could feasibly drink one cup of coffee in the morning and a glass of wine at night. But any other time you should be drinking a consistent daily snack of water.
While there is nothing particularly fun about drinking water, there is no calories, and only trace minerals. The benefit that is has on your physique and your health is more pronounced than the joy of drinking it will ever bring. It’s a great diuretic, which helps your muscles to be more pronounced, it’s great for avoiding muscle cramps, and works wonders for hydrating your muscle cells. The more water you’re drinking, the more water that will stay in your muscle cell and out of the undesirable places. Plus by drinking plenty of water (a gallon a day is enough, If on toxic chemicals then more water will be needed to flush the kidneys) you will be drinking less of the sugary, caffeine ladened beverages.
Since muscles are 70% Water, Then it’s water that helps your muscles to be as full as they can possibly be. And that for an ectomorph is a goodly portion of the battle to gaining mass and doing everything in ones power to even caused an optical illusion if you will or the overall visuals of your muscle size and shape. So drink plenty of water, your muscles will thank you and most if not all your organs.
Chapter 4 - Practical and essential aspects on nutrition and metabolism for hard gainers
When it comes to packing on mass there is no substitute for pure unadulterated calories. It is certainly the most effective tool of the trade if your in the line of work of gaining mass. A lot of beginners primarily referring to ectomorphs will make the mistake and train for several months or even several years without modifying their diet from their traditional eating patterns. Many more will change their diet, they will eat more than they usually do but still they wonder why they are not gaining weight. Some may wonder; Am I working out hard enough? Or what supplements can I take to gain weight? When they are overlooking the cheapest forms of weight gain products on the market. And that is real food, Steak, Chicken, Pork, Eggs, Potatoes, Rice, Beans, Nuts, Vegetables!! That’s the secret to gaining mass!! If you have been training and you are just not gaining weight you are simply not eating enough!! For a hard gaining ectomorph it takes excessive amounts of food, more than a normal person can even fathom. Even to a point that eating is all you seem to do.
Hopefully knowing or now realizing this doesn’t discourage you from driving to achieve your vision, but realizing it is reality will put you on the right path from here on out. The amount of calories an Ectomorph requires in order to pack on the mass can NOT be over emphasized. You’ll have to realize Ecto’s typically have insanely high driven metabolisms and they have the ability to burn calories off long before the excess calories enable our bodies to even be put into an anabolic state. Ecto’s burn calories faster than they can comfortably be consumed, and this is multiplied when resistant training is incorporated also. Caloric intake has got to exceed spendature in order for an anabolic environment to occur, in order to gain weight. The fact of an ecto’s body type having long, thin, flat muscle bellies in combination with higher metabolisms makes it very difficult to gain mass of any sort, namely lean muscle mass. So extreme and drastic measures will have to be put into place to make it happen. I know you wanted to hear something that requires much less effort, but I’m not here to tell you want you want to hear.
Mental approach to proper nutrition
So now that we’ve just been told something that we really already knew, but hoping to hear something different, we are still left with an unclarified answer. Just how much am I supposed to eat? Is what you are probably asking if your one to think that you are indeed eating enough but again one that isn’t gaining. But before we get into the details of how much and what kind and why, let’s look at the mentality required of us. Since calories will slightly differ from one person to the next, the mentality is the same for everyone. I compare the mental state you mind has to be in to push yourself to consume the extra calories you will need to exceed the threshold required to grow, to the mentality it takes to push those last few reps on the bench press or squat rack. The last few reps are the most difficult but they count the most. You HAVE to squeeze out those last few reps in order to feel and even obtain the stimulus required to breakdown the muscle fibers.
It’s the same with your diet. It’s that last chicken breast you don’t care to choke down, it’s that third can of tuna that is just not appetizing. Whether your full or just damn tired of chewing food, it’s that last several bites that count the most. I call it ‘forced rep eating’. Similar to the last few ‘forced reps’ on the squat rack. When eating to have to ignore your body messages to stop eating, you’ll have to ignore that full satiated feeling that leaves to craving nothing else. That feeling is no longer your gauge that you will use to let you know you have eaten enough. If you body is telling you it’s full “I’ve had enough!!” in most cases it’s saying, “this is all the food I need to sustain energy for a given amount of time” which is generally based on average expenditure from the previous few days. As well as the volume of food your used to consuming. It then that you digestive system is satisfied and your comfortable and happy. But feeling full is not enough for an ectomorph. It’s what you eat beyond this feeling that is going to be the calories that make you grow.
Our bodies are very adaptive, meaning it adapts well to outside stimulus. That can be good and can be bad. Good because newly applied stimulus in the form of resistance will cause our bodies to grow. However we will stop growing once our body has adapted to that particular level of stimuli. So for us we should be forever changing the stimuli applied to our bodies. And this is in the form of food and exercise. If we look back several thousand years when humans were hunting and gathering, we can see we where not originally designed to have access to food 24 hours a day. Our bodies were designed to store fat before it built muscle in order to use the excess stored fat as energy for later use. As Neanderthals we would hunt and kill, then gorge ourselves and not have any other food for days. Of course we have slowly changed over time but for the most part our bodies are still in survival mode. And building larger more energy consuming muscles is not beneficial when it comes to survival, although fat stores are. When there is more muscle present, one will burn more calories just from the very nature of having added LBM. So one will need more food earlier than someone with the fat stores already in place. So we find ourselves sin a battle of keeping muscle mass high and fat levels low. This is the case with any body type, more so with endomorphs than ectomorphs. With extreme ectomorphs we fit and struggle to add any type of mass on our bodies. But we are a select few, and the ones that need to apply the most effort to attaining a heavily muscled physique.
So we find ourselves in an on-going battle to build muscle tissue, since our bodies are saying “no I want to burn off as much energy as I can” hindering us from packing on muscle. Heck we can train with the intensity of 5 Olympia contenders but it wouldn’t matter if we are not getting in the calories that pushes us over are maintenance level. It’s a matter of realizing we are no long in survival mode, that food is no longer a pleasure source, or even as a energy source to get you to your next meal. It’s time to realize that food is a tool to stimulate muscle growth. It is not only the most effective tool in your muscle building arsenal but it’s also the most cost effective. If you don’t have your diet right before you look into supplement or drugs or new training principles then you have a long hard road ahead of you. Take some time re-focus your priorities and get your diet right before moving on. This is turn will save you from wasting hours and hours of grueling work in the gym.
It’s now time to take your bodies and your routines both food and training out of their comfort zones. It’s time to step over that line and operate in the realm that makes you grow versus the realm that feels good. This is going to take a devoted and determined mindset that can be considered somewhat insane. It’s going to require effort in pre-planning your meals ahead of time and pre-planning your feeding sessions as to not skip a meal. This also means eating at the pre-scheduled time no matter what your body is saying. I can’t tell you how many times I sat down and still stuffed from the meal 2 ½ hours before and still with a fiery determination in my eye ate the 1250 calories I had pre-planned anyway. Sitting down in front of your meal is going to require the same focus as mounting up to the squat rack for a heavy set of deep squats. When you squat you ignore the torment, the pain, the agony and the discomfort. Approach the dinner table with the same mentality. The dinner table is where most ecto’s fail. This my fellow ecto’s is what it’s going to take from you!!! So either realize it and do it, Or change your vision to marathon running…. Sooner or later it will become more of a habit and your stomach will stretch and your body will adjust to what your mind tells it. But you first have to decide in your mind where it is you want to take your body. Train your mind to overcome your bodies signals to stop, to quit when it shouldn’t It comes down to will power, and whether or not you have more then the next guy. You better since he has a head start in the area of genetics!!!
When finding yourself needing to focus, think of things like this… “I was just not born with the genetic makeup to have the physique I desire, so it is going to take a mental edge to enable the will power to push myself to the point I need to be pushed in order to force my body to grow into what I visualize it to be.” You’ll have to believe as an ectomorph that your in a battle with your own body and your mind will have to overcome what your body is pre-programmed by genetics to do. Just tell yourself things like” If I go over 3 hours without eating my body will began to feed off of the muscle tissue that I have worked so hard for” It’s really more of a mental battle than a physical one. I’m sure your training hard enough in the gym pushing out the reps. But I doubt your diet is exactly where it needs to be.. Luckily our minds are stronger then our bodies. It’s up to you and only you to trick your body into growing by attacking it at every known angle with stimuli that will force the growth you seek. This starts with proper diet, “proper diet” That sounds weak as hell!!! Let’s try again. “Gaining mass starts with INSANELY INTENSE FEEDING SESSIONS!!!” And it’s followed up with adequate training regimen and rest. Our minds and the knowledge within it, is what we will use to place our bodies in the environment needed to grow muscle. Our bodies will NOT do it on their own, it’s going to take a more mental and insane approach on your part.
Insanely Practical Approach
OK! So now hopefully you realize it takes a lot of will power & mental effort to consume the amount of food needed to make your skinny body grow muscle. If you can’t train your mind to approach your food requirements in the way described above your more than likely going to quit do to the failure to gain the weight your busting your ass to gain. So once your confident in your mind that you going to do it, We can touch on the more practical side and that is in numbers how much should I be consuming, and even what ratios. So now that we have touched on the mental aspect of eating enough. Let’s look a bit deeper into the more specific requirements for your own individual body. The number of calories will differ from individual to individual. Some initial experimentation will need to take place to help you realize where you are now in reference to caloric intake and ratios, if you do not already know.
With people in general caloric requirements differ greatly depending on body types and goals, and even current body stats. But for the purposes of this writing since we are all true hard gaining skinny ecto’s we will look at a more narrow guideline that suits our body types well. Calories will be generally close for most ecto’s of the same stats, however the ratios is what will differ more so than overall caloric requirements. So this is the area we will spend most our time dissecting and applying to your individual regimen. Anything you read in this next chapter is not set in stone. It’s impossible to do so without having hands-on perspective of your diet and your bodily changes. You will have to be your own honest judge and use your own intelligence and knowledge when you experiment with your own ratios when tweaking your diet for the most efficient results. What we are here to do in this chapter is develop a sound foundation for you to work from in order to avoid months and even years of trial and error.
At first you’ll need to gain knowledge on the different types of food, their macronutrient makeup as well as there specific caloric counts. Chapter 8 of this book will help you do that if you are not already familiar. Your also going to have to develop and more specific idea of what you are now and currently have been taking in in reference to overall calories and the ratios that you have been consuming. At first if your not doing it now, we will want to count our calories. Many people disagree with this approach, and just say “if your skinny just eat as much as you can!!“ This has some truth to it, but again we are here to develop a foundation, And if you fail to know what you foundation is build upon it’s hard to tweak your diet one way or the other. Before long you will have a good idea what you eating if you put the effort forth, and there will be no long term need to count calories per se. But counting them for now is important to set your base.
Calculating daily caloric requirements
Lot’s of factors determine your caloric intake and the ratios your going to need. Even in a small group of ecto’s we may differ in the way we each metabolize proteins carbs and fats. This is where some experimentation will be needed. But as far as overall calories body weight is going to be the determining factor for how much to consume. And that is primarily LBM, which in an ecto’s case is probably not vastly different from his overall weight. LBM is Lean Body Mass which is essentially the weight of the body minus the calculated weight of the fat by either a skin fold test or a more accurate means of calculating body fat. LBM is the determining factor for overall caloric intake, because it is the pure lean muscle tissue that is the furnace of your body. It’s the LBM that burns off the calories. As we learned earlier the fat is pretty much lying there waiting to be used as energy. Fat does NOT burn up calories. For an example an individual with 10% body fat at a weight of 222lbs would have a LBM of 200lbs (222x.10=22lbs fat-222lbs=200LBM). An individual with an overall body weight of 222lbs with a 20% body fat would have a LBM of 178lbs
(222x.20=44lbs fat=178lbs).
Once you have determined your LBM you can use the formula below to determine your maintenance calories. For a person that weights 200lbs of LBM that lives a sedentary lifestyle without a moderate level of exertive activity should consume around 10 calories for every lb of LBM per day. Which would result in 2000 calories a day. The USRDA bases diets on 2000 calories which is average. This is to maintain a non-active lifestyle without considerably losing weight. Now note I said losing weight, I did not say changing body composition. How those 2000 calories are construction in terms of protein carbs and fat ratios will determine that individuals body composition.
Now as a hard gaining ectomorph this requirements are going to differ drastically from USRDA recommendations. A sedentary ectomorph is going to need about 50% more than normal body types, just to maintain. 10 calories for normal folks and 15 calories per lb of LBM for an ecto to maintain. This would equal 3000 calories just for a non active ectomorph that’s weights 200lbs to maintain normal energy requirements and a stable body weight. Now if you are an active ectomorph you are going to need even more. It’s required to consume 20 calories for each lb of LBM. That would put that 200lb ecto at a maintenance calorie requirement of 4000 calories, and this is just to maintain!! Since we are not into maintaining we are going to have to eat more than our 4000 calorie maintenance level. This 4000 calories is a very minimum.
As an ectomorph we have come to learn that we not only have high metabolisms but muscle types that require excess to give them shape. If we have not heard this phrase throughout our childhood and adolescent years we have heard it now. What does it mean to have a high metabolism? It basically means our bodies are very efficient at metabolizing nutrients and at a higher level of assimilation than an average individual. You essentially burning off calories faster than your body can consume them. This doesn’t work in your favor when it comes to building muscle tissue so to speak. At least not with a normal caloric intake, it’s virtually impossible. During a normal caloric intake an ecto’s body has just enough nutrients to fuel the fast burning metabolism, just enough to fuel the muscle and not enough to do what is called glycogen super compensation (otherwise known as carb loading).
Battling genetics
Now a high metabolism is not the end of the world for someone wanting to build muscle mass. As young ecto’s we were always labeled by our parents or grandparents as having a fast metabolism, when in fact this is really not the only factor for being thin. In most cases is simply our genetic makeup. It’s a result of the body types our parents handed down to use. Ectomorphs typically get labeled that way usually because they can eat more with gaining an ounce like the next guy. More of a factor than a speedy metabolism is that an ectomorphs muscles are just not shaped in a way to be considered the athletic type. The muscles are longer, thinner, more flat and stringy. They are void of the full thick muscle bellies that are given to the more athletic mesomorph. It’s simply the shape of the muscle. Our genetic makeup gives us muscle types that do not care one bit to grow, or much less fill out to a point to look nice and full and rounded. These muscle types are very non responsive to any type stimulus, thus very stubborn when it comes to growing. And in many cases the high metabolism comes into play and makes it all the more difficult to even think about gaining muscle. Normal calories and a normal exercise regimen is not going to cut it. It will do NOTHING to make the stubborn, long, flat, thin muscles to grow. So ectos are really faced with two extreme cases that are contrary to building muscle mass. Firstly just poor genetics for bodybuilding and metabolisms far to high to leave our bodies with excess nutrients to put our bodies in an anabolic enough state to enable the muscle to respond. So in order for an ecto to acquire the muscle gains he is seeking. It’s going to take excess from every angle, this is excess stimulus in the form of a bombardment of food and of intense and heavy resistance on the muscle fibers. We'll get into the resistance side later, But for now we will talk about the excess nutrients.
Knowing the amount of food to consume and making it happen is not an effortless task. But it’s going to be your key to growth. It will certainly be a challenge for you to develop the habits required to be consistent in getting plenty of nutrients throughout the day, each and every day. It’s not the end of the world and it is possible but not until to realize and apply what it takes. And understand that your body type calls for much more calories than normal people can get away with. From what we have learned so far I think you get the picture that it’s going to take a lot of extra effort to eat enough. And since that extra effort will always be required, we need to remain focused on making sure we eat enough from the start of our quest and each morning as well as focusing through out the day and throughout the length of the time frame for your set goal.
Before we start eating everything in site (which is the overall attitude you really need) let’s look at the why, the when and the how of these calories you’ll be consuming. Understanding the mechanisms on just how these nutrients work on a more cellular level will enable you to better manipulate your diet to take better advantage of the cellular activity that takes place that causes the anabolic state to develop that you desire. With the knowledge and the application you’ll be able to reach you full potential in the area of muscle growth more effectively and more efficiently. Since ectomorphs are much more prone to being in a catabolic state due to the very nature of that body type internal furnace to burn up calories at supersonic rates, it’s important to learn how to avoid this dilemma through proper nutrition. Obviously without the knowledge it’s impossible to apply the principles.
* Article by Superior1, Moderator @ www.Anabolic-Paradise.com.
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