Article by Dorian Yates on FOOD

[goose]

This is an article by Dorian Yates.


I am an advanced bodybuilder with 10 years of hardcore lifting to my credit, and I currently train on a four-day split. My plan is to pack on size and quality, but I'm not sure how to structure my diet to complement my training.

My younger brother is just getting started, and he needs a diet plan too. What do you recommend?

Rick Wright

London, England

The one way you can ever hope to add size and quality is with a nutritional program that is pragmatic and realistic. There's no use training balls-to-the-wall unless you are aware of how to set your training table with the correct foods and in the precise proportions to achieve all of your goals.

I'm going to focus on the needs of both the beginner and the more advanced bodybuilder: Your brother is right there with you, since you still don't have the nutritional side of the equation figured out after all the years of pumping iron.

When I first experimented with split-routine training in 1983, I weighed a mere 180 pounds. Two years later, when I entered my first novice contest, I was up to 210 pounds and packing some serious mass. My training program and diet stayed exactly the same during those two crucial years of my development. In my typical daily menu (see "The Beginner's Diet Meal Plan"), I divided my calories (an average of 3,500 in 1983-84 and 4,000 in '85) into a ratio of 30% protein, 55% carbs and 15% fat.

Protein is at the core of the muscle-building process. You need to consume 1 1/4 grams (g) of protein per pound of bodyweight per day if you expect to make any progress. Carbs, of course, are fuel to stoke your engine for heavy-duty training sessions. Fat is a necessary evil, as the body requires just enough to keep the physiological system ticking along.

A good rule of thumb is to strive for gaining one to two pounds of muscle per month. I put on heaps of mass at a benchmark of 3,500 calories daily. Don't get carried away with eating too many calories too soon.

You describe yourself as an "advanced" bodybuilder, so let's examine the gray area between beginner/intermediate status and advanced.

After I won my first novice contest, in 1985, I decided to train for the '86 British Championships, which were slated for October of that year. I kept my training routine the same as it had been in the 1983-85 period, but I made the following modifications in my diet to get bigger, harder and denser.

The significant change was increasing daily calories from 4,000 to 5,000. This substantial increase propelled my bodyweight to an offseason peak of 255 pounds, the heaviest I'd ever been up to that point in my career.

I won the heavyweight division at the British Championships, but I failed to garner the overall because I'd gotten too gung ho over pushing my bodyweight up so high and then trying to streamline down to 214 pounds -- only four pounds more than my 1985 competition weight.

In the wake of the '86 British Championships, I followed the lead of Rich Gaspari (Mr. O runner-up from 1986-88) and started being very strict about weighing and measuring everything I ate in order to obtain a better spread of correct nutrients. Cheat meals became a thing of the past.

I then devised an offseason meal program (see "A Typical Daily Offseason Menu") to add bodyweight gradually and intelligently. The one thing I've changed since then is to replace fruits (simple carbs) with potatoes and green vegetables (complex carbs) for a more efficient source of energy to sustain hardcore workouts.

Remember that your best intentions in the gym will fall short if you don't apply proper nutritional principles to your "advanced" training sessions.

THE BEGINNER'S DIET MEAL PLAN


Breakfast 5 eggs, scrambled
2 slices whole-wheat toast
bowl of oatmeal (with skim
milk)
multivitamin/multimineral pack

Midmorning meal milk/egg protein shake
(mixed with skim milk)
1 banana

Lunch 6 oz chicken breast or tuna
1 baked potato
2 cups assorted vegetables

Midafternoon meal milk/egg protein shake
(mixed with skim milk)
1 orange

Evening meal 8 oz steak
1 baked potato or 8 oz rice
2 cups assorted vegetables

Supper bowl of oatmeal (with skim
milk)
4 egg whites, 1 yolk
A TYPICAL DAILY OFFSEASON MENU

(approximately 5,000 calories)

Breakfast 6 egg whites, 2 yolks
5 oz oats
2 oz raisins
3 slices whole-wheat toast
1 orange
multivitamin/multimineral pack
5 peptide-bond amino-acid
tablets

Midmorning meal 1 pint skim milk blended with
2 scoops milk/egg protein
powder
1 orange

Lunch 7 oz tuna
3 1/2 oz pasta
2 oranges
carb drink
5 peptide-bond amino-acid
tablets.

Posttraining meal 1 pint skim milk blended with
2 scoops milk/egg protein
powder
3 bananas
2 protein bars

Evening meal 8 oz chicken or steak
10 oz baked potato
7 oz mixed vegetables
4 oz pineapple
5 peptide-bond amino-acid
tablets

Supper 5 egg whites, 1 yolk
1 slice whole-wheat toast
1 or raisins
5 peptide-bond amino-acid
tablets

[C_Bino]

Thanks for the thread Goose my man. Good stuff. Hopefully this will help some of the newbs TRULY realize how important diet is to training and overall advancement in the sport of bodybuilding.

[Liftnainez]

great post brotha.. cant stress it enough how diet is the key to the body you want..

[goose]

The great Arnold said BB is 70% diet.....

[Darkness]

The great Arnold said BB is 70% diet.....

Thats one of the most significant quotes in BB. And then of course the "eat big get big"

[Testostack]

Very interesting.....not so far from mine....no reason why i should grow bigger then...thx for the article!

[hosam4ever]

great bump it

[BajanBastard]

Hey Goose4 i need help man. I'm 5'11 @ 156 lbs about 8% BF, dude i eat EVERYTHING in sight and i can't gain weight! Today alone i had a can of pepsi, a can of tuna and a pack of cheetos for more protein, I’ve been eating this much for the past week and nothing!

I'm going on a cycle, will 2000mg tren and 1000mg deca a week help me? Thanks!

[daem]

Hey Goose4 i need help man. I'm 5'11 @ 156 lbs about 8% BF, dude i eat EVERYTHING in sight and i can't gain weight! Today alone i had a can of pepsi, a can of tuna and a pack of cheetos for more protein, I’ve been eating this much for the past week and nothing!

I'm going on a cycle, will 2000mg tren and 1000mg deca a week help me? Thanks!

You aren't eating enough cheetos, bro. Who are you kidding with 1 pack? Up it to the 1lb bag and you should be good to go.

[SMAN12b]

Hey Goose4 i need help man. I'm 5'11 @ 156 lbs about 8% BF, dude i eat EVERYTHING in sight and i can't gain weight! Today alone i had a can of pepsi, a can of tuna and a pack of cheetos for more protein, I’ve been eating this much for the past week and nothing!

I'm going on a cycle, will 2000mg tren and 1000mg deca a week help me? Thanks!

Big, you will never grow like that!! What kind of example are you setting for the newbies out here??? YOU KNOW you need at least a full 2 litre bottle of Pepsi to make and keep any gains!! And up the Deca to 2000mg a week silly!!

(NEWBIES... this is a JOKE !!!)

[D-Money]

Good article. Thanks for posting it! I think that guy knows what he's talking about.

[primetime1]

yeah man good read, hope some newbs get to readin it

[Testostack]

Big, you will never grow like that!! What kind of example are you setting for the newbies out here??? YOU KNOW you need at least a full 2 litre bottle of Pepsi to make and keep any gains!! And up the Deca to 2000mg a week silly!!

(NEWBIES... this is a JOKE !!!)

I think he was just kiddin! OR, we may have a serious problem then. Cuz that's def. not a Yates' diet....

[marcus300]

Hey Goose4 i need help man. I'm 5'11 @ 156 lbs about 8% BF, dude i eat EVERYTHING in sight and i can't gain weight! Today alone i had a can of pepsi, a can of tuna and a pack of cheetos for more protein, I’ve been eating this much for the past week and nothing!

I'm going on a cycle, will 2000mg tren and 1000mg deca a week help me? Thanks!

You need some primo in that mix, that will make you fly!!!

great read

[BigMaus]

You need some primo in that mix, that will make you fly!!!

great read

Ok, im new here.
Been working out for 2 months now.
So this cycle is the way??

Thanks guys!!

stats:

1.90 mtr
bf 6%
67 kg

[goose]

Hey Goose4 i need help man. I'm 5'11 @ 156 lbs about 8% BF, dude i eat EVERYTHING in sight and i can't gain weight! Today alone i had a can of pepsi, a can of tuna and a pack of cheetos for more protein, I’ve been eating this much for the past week and nothing!

I'm going on a cycle, will 2000mg tren and 1000mg deca a week help me? Thanks!

Let`s take the example above for people who want to gain some mass with food. This is quite common and it is related to your genetic code,can be an advantage or a Disadvantage depending on goals.The solution is if you have this type of problem is to have a shake with every meal,this does not mean to sacrifice the quality of your food.

[oldman]

Hey Goose4 i need help man. I'm 5'11 @ 156 lbs about 8% BF, dude i eat EVERYTHING in sight and i can't gain weight! Today alone i had a can of pepsi, a can of tuna and a pack of cheetos for more protein, I’ve been eating this much for the past week and nothing!

I'm going on a cycle, will 2000mg tren and 1000mg deca a week help me? Thanks!

what's wrong with this diet? Looks pretty clean to me. DY would be proud.




~Old

[SMAN12b]

what's wrong with this diet? Looks pretty clean to me. DY would be proud.




~Old

THE PROBLEM WITH THIS DIET IS THAT HE IN NOT TAKING IN ENOUGH PEPSI TO SYNTHESIS THE PROTEIN IN ONE CAN OF TUNA!! AND HE will never get his Dick up unless he doubles the DECA !!! :no (PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A RUNNING JOKE)