[jeff]

When body building or training for muscle what food should you eat? I mean like, for sure protein enriched foods but what else????? ;)
Bananas, spinnach, eggs?

[L-kun]

Hopefully, the myth of drinking raw eggs has already been dispelled. The only outcome of drinking raw eggs is bad breath!

As for food, well, this is how I see the order of influence on body building and training for muscle:

1) genetics--if 'ya ain't got it, 'ya ain't gonna get it
2) supplements--eat those horse pills
3) nutrition--well-balanced diet, none of that Atkins mumbo-jumbo

In my scientifically unproven observation, if you take two guys (approximately same weight) and subject them to the same workout routines with the same frequency, the factors above in that order would influence their muscle development.

Case in point, in the days before I had to grow up and take on responsibilities, a friend and I worked out together regularly for at least a year. At our max, we were probably 10 pounds apart in our exercise weights. Nevertheless, he had better shoulder and chest definition. Conversely, he also had chicken legs and no matter how hard he worked at it, he could not bulk up his legs, whereas I didn't have to exert any extra effort. Leg-wise, we also exercised with the same amount of weight.

Considering other factors though, he started lifting years before I did. He also was on a steady diet of amino supplements and other horse pills probably since high school.

He also ate like a horse, but despite that, his body composition is still very lean. I, on the other hand, have not been so fortunate.

When "body building", just remember that you don't have to bulk up in order to have strength.

Given a choice between the gymnast physique or the Conan the Barbarian physique, I would rather go for the gymnast.

[jjforumuser]

i don't think you should worry about protein, the average diet already has enough protein to support weight lifting.
carbohydrates are what you should be getting plenty of, if you don't eat enough to fuel your muscles, they will have to resort to burning protein instead.

do you know anyone on the atkins diet who has gained any muscle? i doubt it.

[JudoDad]

L-kun, on Apr 21 2004, 11:22 AM, said:

Hopefully, the myth of drinking raw eggs has already been dispelled.  The only outcome of drinking raw eggs is bad breath! 

Drinking raw eggs is dangerous and stupid. Having said that, I drank raw eggs once after seeing Sylvester Stallone do it in the first Rocky movie. (This is a prime example of the influence movies have on young adults! )

[tkdguy]

jjforumuser, on Apr 23 2004, 03:30 PM, said:

i don't think you should worry about protein, the average diet already has enough protein to support weight lifting.
carbohydrates are what you should be getting plenty of, if you don't eat enough to fuel your muscles, they will have to resort to burning protein instead.

do you know anyone on the atkins diet who has gained any muscle? i doubt it.

Interesting - much literature I come across generally advocates approx. 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight for high intensity strength-related sports to support anabolism. Conversely, I find it (empirically) hard to imagine an average diet (Atkins or other calorie restrictions notwithstanding) that is deficient in carbs.

[jeff]

OOps! did it again. last post is mine. just forgot to log on again!!!!
Re-emphasis on the eggs though.

[L-kun]

tkdguy, on Apr 23 2004, 11:45 PM, said:

Interesting - much literature I come across generally advocates approx. 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight for high intensity strength-related sports to support anabolism.

My lifting buddy was very much into protein. Besides gorging on food--generally meat--he also took the amino supplements. I was tempted to try the amino pills, but the thought of swallowing that horse pill swayed my disposition.

I also didn't want any side effects even though it was "safe". In the end, I consoled myself with whatever I could get naturally.

One thing for sure though, if you can cut out the sweets altogether, that will definitely help. B) The older you get, the harder it becomes to shed some of that baggage.

[Ranma]

so does he have any noticeable side effects yet?

[L-kun]

ncy_czn, on Apr 27 2004, 04:15 PM, said:

so does he have any noticeable side effects yet?

Well, he is irritable, short-tempered, and slightly balding, but he's still lean. Good metabolism.

I think he also developed some sort of digestive problem from his gorging days and his unusual eating habits. There were occasions where he would go through 64 ounces of orange juice in a morning. What a whacko!

One thing I do envy about him--besides the good metabolism--is the fact that he can stay out of the gym for days, weeks, months, heck, even years(?), and after one hour of moderate lifting, it looks as if he had always been lifting.

Genetics....*sigh*

[Dragon]

"When "body building", just remember that you don't have to bulk up in order to have strength."

Oh yeah! I've got skinny legs (i've being told by a lass who's dead now ) but I can legpress a max of 260kg! I only weigh about 75!

also, name summat without carbs without fibre! NOWT! Imagine Catherine Zeta Jones on t'bog.

"OGGY OGGY OGGY AY AY ARRRGGHHHH! COME ON YA WEE.... ARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!! OH! There it goes....Only took me 6 hours...oh nuts, that's me liver!"

[L-kun]

Dragon, on Apr 29 2004, 10:56 AM, said:

Oh yeah! I've got skinny legs but I can legpress a max of 260kg! I only weigh about 75!

No kidding. What is it with you skinny legged guys?!

Back in the days...I went through what I thought was grueling sets of leg extensions and settled into the next machine. A tall, lanky guy then hopped onto the leg extension. He proceeded to move the pin to the bottom of the rack (i.e. maximum weight on the machine) and did his sets with ease. I had only done 1/4-1/2 the stack.

All hail the tall, lanky, skinny guys and their powerful legs.

Legs are supposed to be 2-3 times stronger than arms, but because I hated squats and leg presses, my arms were generally stronger than my legs.