nOva's "bulking" diet

[novastepp]

thnx....would you take a look at my diet and give me your .02....cant really take credit for it.....trainers approach and he appears to know his shit....just so many cals...eve have to eat so much your back starts to ache?

maybe from bad posture at my desk

[Deluge1]

....are you kidding me right now? look at the rest of his meals. He's bulking bro.

Oh, hes bulking? Thanks tips.

By your theory of bulking I guess he should just eat all protein and no carbs or fats...


Wasn't trying to put down the diet I was just always told that you should have either carbs or fats in with your protein if not both...

[novastepp]

i try to separate as much as possible, but this works for me. i eat a lot. sometimes i will switch things around but this is my outline. and yeah i like carbs a lot more than fats. people are so scared of them, but if tehy would just find a carb source taht works for them teh way sweet potatoes and oats do for me, they would indulge in them too and make fantastic gains.

[1buffsob]

Oh, hes bulking? Thanks tips.

By your theory of bulking I guess he should just eat all protein and no carbs or fats...


Wasn't trying to put down the diet I was just always told that you should have either carbs or fats in with your protein if not both...

Ok...... but why? So the body would utilize the fat and/or carb source as fuel instead of the protein? Also, I'd consider the 11g of fat to be............ fat. But that's just me.

Meal #4 (3:30 pm)
-6oz chicken breast (or) turkey breast + 1cup of 4%fat cottage cheese + s/f metamucil
[(367cals) 8g carb, 11g fat, 59g pro]
*also included in this meal is 1g vitamin C, some brocolli*
**note that sometime around 1 hour before this meal i will have 600mg of ALA**


1buffsob

[steve0]

Ok...... but why? So the body would utilize the fat and/or carb source as fuel instead of the protein? Also, I'd consider the 11g of fat to be............ fat. But that's just me.

Meal #4 (3:30 pm)
-6oz chicken breast (or) turkey breast + 1cup of 4%fat cottage cheese + s/f metamucil
[(367cals) 8g carb, 11g fat, 59g pro]
*also included in this meal is 1g vitamin C, some brocolli*
**note that sometime around 1 hour before this meal i will have 600mg of ALA**


1buffsob

are you asking this as a Q, ? if so you never wantthe body to use protein as energy, if that happens your in a bad spot. or is this a combineing macro Q ? because i know that 1buff knows his shvt ?

[Columbus]

Help me out on the confusion, are you saying you DO or DONT separate?

[1buffsob]

are you asking this as a Q, ? if so you never wantthe body to use protein as energy, if that happens your in a bad spot. or is this a combineing macro Q ? because i know that 1buff knows his shvt ?

I was just being sarcastic. It was in reference to Deluge1's comment:

I was just always told that you should have either carbs or fats in with your protein if not both...

I see no problem with meal 4 being a "mostly" protein meal. The 11g of fat will provide enough of an energy source to keep the body from utilizing the protein as fuel. It also helps that Nova sits on his ass all day and sleeps. And considering the fiber intake along with the casein protein, not to mention the meal's placement in the daily diet, it should provide a steady flow of amino's long after the next meal.

Then again, I helped nova with his diet, so I might be a little biased. LOL

1buffsob

[1buffsob]

Help me out on the confusion, are you saying you DO or DONT separate?

People do what works best for them. But in my experience, seperating carbs and fat is needed for most people if the goal is to remain lean when bulking. Throwing 2 egg yolks into the mix along with oats as a carb source is not a problem though. Oats are such a low GI food and very slow digested, that it isn't a problem in this case. If the carb source was a baked potato or wheat bread, then there'd be a problem.

1buffsob

[Columbus]

Agreed....good wholesome carb source with fats is a-ok.......just be moderate.

I use 2 full eggs and 2 tb of pb with 1.25 cups of oats (and whey and egg whites) first meal of the day....when I cut, I will prob. nix it to p/f or p/c

[Columbus]

People do what works best for them. But in my experience, seperating carbs and fat is needed for most people if the goal is to remain lean when bulking. Throwing 2 egg yolks into the mix along with oats as a carb source is not a problem though. Oats are such a low GI food and very slow digested, that it isn't a problem in this case. If the carb source was a baked potato or wheat bread, then there'd be a problem.

1buffsob

Wouldnt say a problem per se, as my brother will eat cereal, muscle milk OR pb and jelly on wheat and a TON too...or pb on rice cakes.....just depends how you handle them...I never looked, but maybe he's using whole grain bread and cakes....

[1buffsob]

Agreed....good wholesome carb source with fats is a-ok.......just be moderate.

I use 2 full eggs and 2 tb of pb with 1.25 cups of oats (and whey and egg whites) first meal of the day....when I cut, I will prob. nix it to p/f or p/c

Now that is something I'd never do, oats or not. 60g+ carbs with 40g fat, has lard ass written all over it. You do what works for you though. I've worked hard on my abs. I plan to keep them. I'm sure nova does as well.

1buffsob

[steve0]

Now that is something I'd never do, oats or not. 60g+ carbs with 40g fat, has lard ass written all over it. You do what works for you though. I've worked hard on my abs. I plan to keep them. I'm sure nova does as well.

1buffsob

hell yeah it does, now nock that down to the 30-45 range on carbs and keep fats around 5-15 grams at max and you should be good

[novastepp]

i separate because a year and a half ago when i started i dirty bulked cause i didn't know too much about diet. and that lasted not hardly 8 weeks until i piled on some muscle, but fat too. then i leanbulked last fall and i found out what would bloat me, make me gain fat ect. ect. so now this is teh approach i am learning from now. all is good so far, but i'm still learning about my body.

[Columbus]

wooo..your right...1st meal will be 1.5 cups of oats, 2tb of pb and 1 egg.....or 1tb of pb and 20 alomnds.....then second meal with have another cup of oats, pineapple, 6oz chx.....lower in fat all the way up to prebd where its high fat again!

[1buffsob]

wooo..your right...1st meal will be 1.5 cups of oats, 2tb of pb and 1 egg.....or 1tb of pb and 20 alomnds.....then second meal with have another cup of oats, pineapple, 6oz chx.....lower in fat all the way up to prebd where its high fat again!

I thought you were concerned with fat gain. If so, why "chance" (Should say guarantee) fat storage from combining 75g carbs and 35g fat?

1buffsob

[spound]

Just my two cents:

"Bulking" to me means DIETING with more carbs basically. I am on basically the same diet I was on during pre-contest, just with A LOT more carbs, slightly higher fat (maybe even the exact same amount), and a couple more food choices to add A LITTLE variety. THings are still very structured and everything is timed and and eaten for a reason. Cardio is still in the equation as well, it jsut is not as intense, nor as frequent/long duration. A VERY high carb day is inocporated once per week as well. This works VERY well for me. I am putting on CLOSE to a pound every week and my bodyfat is staying exactly the same...I still have shreaded abs...not contest shreaded, but shreaded enough to make people look twice and say "damn" when I have my shirt off at the pool.

[Superballer]

Just my two cents:

"Bulking" to me means DIETING with more carbs basically. I am on basically the same diet I was on during pre-contest, just with A LOT more carbs, slightly higher fat (maybe even the exact same amount), and a couple more food choices to add A LITTLE variety. THings are still very structured and everything is timed and and eaten for a reason. Cardio is still in the equation as well, it jsut is not as intense, nor as frequent/long duration. A VERY high carb day is inocporated once per week as well. This works VERY well for me.

Awesome. I was thinking along exactly the same lines, thanks for chiming in, Spound.

[novastepp]

Just my two cents:

"Bulking" to me means DIETING with more carbs basically. I am on basically the same diet I was on during pre-contest, just with A LOT more carbs, slightly higher fat (maybe even the exact same amount), and a couple more food choices to add A LITTLE variety. THings are still very structured and everything is timed and and eaten for a reason. Cardio is still in the equation as well, it jsut is not as intense, nor as frequent/long duration. A VERY high carb day is inocporated once per week as well. This works VERY well for me. I am putting on CLOSE to a pound every week and my bodyfat is staying exactly the same...I still have shreaded abs...not contest shreaded, but shreaded enough to make people look twice and say "damn" when I have my shirt off at the pool.

Ahhh, thank you. i was getting tired of volleying with these questions.

[Columbus]

Looks good bro...how are the lifts? I updated my log and diet.....still need the cals, good clean cals, but reduced some pw and added some fats during the day..

[spound]

ANother thing I would like to add: (sorry nova if I am hijacking, I am hoping these posts are more so adding to your thread than retracting anything from it, if you would like me to shut up, jsut say so...)


Alot of people make dieting out to be such a difficult thing, which I guess it can be if you dont know the bascis, but its really not hard. To me, the key to making gains, or I guess I should say, making the specific changes to your physique that you desire (whether it be fatloss or muscle gain) is to keep things VERY constant everyday. I dont mean you have to eat the exact same things everyday, but the exact same macros should be in place every day with each meal as the day before and also at the same times...or structre (revolving around your training session that day). Cardio should be the exact same every week as well.

The reason I say this is because if you keep all things constant, then you eliminate almost every variable in which could be causing you problems. For instance, if things are constant everyday (and you have made the proper food choices) then you can make easy changes right off the bat according to what progress you would like to make. You should have a baseline set for your protein (~I use 2g per lb of LBM) and fats...YOU NEED PLENTY OF HEALTHY FATS!! Dont go overboard on them, but a good amoutn should be used (IMO, around 40-120g of fats depending on your size/deveolpment) THis way, if those two things are SET, and they are the same everyday, and you are still putting on fat...then pull some carbs out. If you do this, then it is scientifically IMPOSSIBLE for you to keep gaining fat at the same rate you were (after pulling carbs) or to keep gaining more fat at all period...unless you have awful food choices. That last statement was made under the assumption that your caloric expenditure from day to day didnt drastically change either. If you are not gaining the way you think you should, then add more carbs and/or throw in a high carb day to refill glycogen storage.

I like to set my cardio at a set level during the offseason, but if I am dieting I will use cardio a lot more to manipulate my progress instead of mainly only manipulating my diet.

This is why I also like to monitor my weight very closely. If I am gaining more than 1lb per week (2lbs if on gear) then you an be certain some of it is fat...and I will cut carbs. If I am losing more than 2-2.5lbs per week while dieting then I add carbs back in b/c you start losing weight any faster than that, you can be almost certain some of it is muscle weight.

[svarturer]

Good shit spound

NOVA keep on writing mofo

[novastepp]

spound, great info man. you are adding everytime you post bro. feel free to chime in at any time.

[l2elapse]

Just my two cents:

"Bulking" to me means DIETING with more carbs basically. I am on basically the same diet I was on during pre-contest, just with A LOT more carbs, slightly higher fat (maybe even the exact same amount), and a couple more food choices to add A LITTLE variety. THings are still very structured and everything is timed and and eaten for a reason. Cardio is still in the equation as well, it jsut is not as intense, nor as frequent/long duration. A VERY high carb day is inocporated once per week as well. This works VERY well for me. I am putting on CLOSE to a pound every week and my bodyfat is staying exactly the same...I still have shreaded abs...not contest shreaded, but shreaded enough to make people look twice and say "damn" when I have my shirt off at the pool.

what would be your typical high carb day spound? as in what do you eat that day = ]

[budlight1]

all this methodology with bulking is going to cause paralysis through analysis. Here is the trick to bulking. EAT ALOT.

[novastepp]

all this methodology with bulking is going to cause paralysis through analysis. Here is the trick to bulking. EAT ALOT.

great philosophy, but not if you want to limit fat gain while maximizing muscle gains. i like to at least see my tabs all year round, because i've worked real hard to get them. yes, you do need to eat a whole lot. but watching exactly what you are eating, and doing it intelligently will warrant better results.

[Columbus]

that was my #1 downfall lat go around...no way am I telling you what to do..but trying to get the abs and bulk, just was running in circiles for me....you worked hard for them, as did I. They arent going anywhere, just getting a nice coating till it's time to unveil them again......just my .02

[budlight1]

great philosophy, but not if you want to limit fat gain while maximizing muscle gains. i like to at least see my tabs all year round, because i've worked real hard to get them. yes, you do need to eat a whole lot. but watching exactly what you are eating, and doing it intelligently will warrant better results.

i have read your cutting log and you did do a real good job getting lean. But if your worry to much about keeping abs your not going to grow as much as you could if you just bulk and cut. I had a six pack a little over a month ago i have gained about 9 pounds since then and my abs are going away a little but that is totally worth the nine pounds i have put on. My diet isn't all that clean either. MAcros are kinda overrated as long as your protein is in check. My goal right now though isn't ab's its to be 230. Since i have cut down before i know even if i gain some fat its not a big deal i can cut when the summer comes. I just think of myself as a hibernating bear, thats also what im going to tell my girlfriend when she says im getting fat. If i start gaining to much fat then ill cut the calories a little or do some cardio. Right now though i think my way is working best for me. But hey everyone is different and has a right to there opinion.

[svarturer]

here we go again

[spound]

what would be your typical high carb day spound? as in what do you eat that day = ]

You are going to sh*t when I tell you this, but it is true....On these days my carbs are soo high that there is no possible way I could get them all down just from eating brown rice and oats. There fore, most all ofmy carbs on these days come from basically anything I want that does not have much/any fat in it. I keep my protein the same and then pound down breakfast bars, granola bars, nutrigrain bars, lowfat oatmeal cookies, pasta, pasta sauce, waffles etc... As long as it is low fat, its fair game. On these days, I feel damn near sick/bloated as shit by the end of the day, and it actually kinda sucks to have to get it all down after the second or thrid meal, but I am full as shit all week with intense pumps and vasularity. Do not mistake this for a cheat, b/c it is not, notice it is low fat and very controlled and planned at a certain time. This day will be planned according to waht my bodyweight is doing and how my conditioning is coming along. If I am not gaining fast enough or my weight is declinging too fast throughout the week after carbing up and I start falttening out early, then I will add them more often, or jsut have a clean carb up day in between. If my bodyweight is moving up faster than I woudl like (meaning gaining some fat) then I will spread them out more, or lower carbs some throughout the week.

NOW...I will say that this kind of thing only works if you are STRict the whole week prior to this. B/c if not, then your glycogen stores will already be pretty full b4 your carb up and therefore, you will jsut be storing fat. Its a fine line.

[novastepp]

well its been a while since ive had time to get on here. hell, i don't even have the time to whore anymore but i think its a good time for an update. these pictures i have really suck ass, but i don't care. its all i had time to get done.
my stats, as of 9/30/06
height- 5'9"
weight- 207lbs
biceps- alllllmost 17in
upper thigh- 25in
lower thigh- 22.5in
neck- little over 18in
calves- 17in
waist- 31inches

[novastepp]

pics

[audis4]

Lookin great bro! keep it up. How much longer you bulkin for?

[novastepp]

i'm going to be bulking until january sometime. probably going to be a huge fatass by that point. but if i can get my LBM above 200lbs by then i'll be a happy guy. i want to be able to cut down to 7-8%bf and be over 200lbs after this.

[UpstateTank]

damn solid progress bro!

[1buffsob]

That's my boy!!!

Looking good brotha. Much improved. I actually see lats.

[hawktribal]

you look great bro. you can definitely tell you've put on some quality size. are you still keeping the diet relatively the same?

[novastepp]

yeah my diet has been high in pro and carbs. with fat supped when i need to. my schedule isnt as easy as i had hoped it would be this semester so eating all that food has been a challenge. i have gained fat yes, but sometimes i honestly have to eat what i can get. somedays i can't fit enough food with me. its just so stressful sometimes so i eat what i can. but im going to be bulking until around christmas then cut off the fat, so i'm excited to see how my progress continues.

[CoreyTampa09]

Hey Nova, first time checkin out your thread.. and damn kid you got it down pat. I just started bulking yesterday, and I was wondering if you could take a look at it. I also just finished cutting and had some great progress no where as good as urs...but then again it was my first real shot at cutting dedicated. Im at about 15 percent fat id say prob a little less. I was wondering what ur split looked like if you could post it? GOOD LUCK AND WELL SEE WHOS CHAMP IN LATER IN THE MONTHS TO COME!

[novastepp]

i have used 2 different splits thusfar. my reps always go 12, 12, 10 (increasing weight each set) and sometimes i will drop weight down and go until failure (usually 14-16 reps) on multijoint exercises.

mon- chest/tri
tue- back/bi/trap
wed- off
thur- shoulder/abs
friday- legs
sat-off
sun-off

or...

mon-chest/tri/shoulder
tues-back/bi/trap
wed-off
thurs-chest/tri/shoulder
fri-back/bi/trap
sat-legs
sun-off

on this 2x a week split. i decrease my work so i have adequate time to recover between days. and i do different exercises on different days as well.

[Quil]

NOVA, sorry if I missed it earlier in the post, but are you still doing any cardio, or did you cut it out mostly?