Getting big during College life.

[HawaiianPride.]

By: Layne Norton

Last year I started my college career. I had moved far away from home and was thus left without the many conveniences of home. I had moved from Evansville, IN to St. Petersburg, FL. This was roughly a thousand-mile separation from home for me.

Suffice to say the lifeline between myself and home was thin to say the least. As a freshman in college I found that there were many temptations and many freedoms that did not exist at home. I also found that the 3 meals a day offered on the meal plan left much to be desired in the way of a bodybuilder's nutrition plan! This is how I learned to cope with the temptations, freedoms, and my nutrition in college.


College Drinking

Drinking is a part of college life. I mean lets be realistic, virtually everyone who goes away to college experiments with drinking. Even I did. I drank all of last year and part of this year before I realized it was time to put a stop to it. However the reason I stopped was not because I feared becoming an alcoholic or because my drinking was out of control, on the contrary.

I was a responsible drinker and I knew my limits and I never crossed them. I also made it a point to confine my drinking to the weekends only. Now if you are not a competitive bodybuilder and you just want to look good, it's ok to go out and drink on the weekends, not heavily mind you, but a 6 pack won't kill you. Some ways that you can make sure that the alcohol affects your muscle building as little as possible are the following...


* Consume about 50g of slow digesting protein (casein) before you begin to drink. Since I doubt you will want to fix a chicken breast while your kicking it with your buddies, the slow digesting protein will help keep you out of catabolism while you drink.

* Take a vitamin an hour before you drink. Many vitamins are not absorbed while you drink and thus taking a vitamin before you drink gives your body a chance to absorb these vitamins before the alcohol is introduced.

* Consume a lot of water before, during, and after you consume alcohol. I would recommend drinking 32 oz before you begin, an oz of water for every oz of alcoholic beverage you consume, and then 32 oz of water again after you finish.


Making The Sacrifice

Now if you are a competitive bodybuilder or a person looking to take their body to the next level let's face it, you're going to have to sacrifice drinking. I mean if you want to drink lightly every once and awhile on a very special occasion it won't affect your progress very much. But you can forget about doing it every week.

Consuming alcohol dramatically decreases testosterone levels , causing them to take as much as two weeks before they return to normal! Consumption of alcohol also lowers your Growth Hormone production, and increases your estrogen production.

RELATED ARTICLE

No Drinking And Training! No Drinking And Training!
Today I am going to list some reasons why you should not consume alcohol, or why you should moderate your intake. This will be especially true for bodybuilders.


To put it short it is a bodybuilder's worst nightmare. Once I realized I wanted to become a competitive bodybuilder I began to cut back on my drinking and now I drink very seldom, if at all. In a college atmosphere however it is difficult to be accepted without it, so here are some tips to help avoid drinking.

Tips:

* Workout a couple of hours before the parties start that night. If you workout then your mind will be focused on your bodybuilding efforts and drinking will seem less important. I have personally found this to be very helpful.

* Be the designated driver. If you are the DD then no one is going to give you static for not drinking. I mean without you they wouldn't even be going.

* If you are on an on-campus party and you feel like you just have to look cool, or fit in then fine...put water in a mug or some kind of covered cup. Everyone will think you are drinking and if you want to take it further you can even act a little silly or play the part. I hardly ever employ this technique however as I have hard time acting like something I'm not.


College Food

When it comes to college food there is much to be desired. It usually tastes bad and it is usually not good for you. Most everything they cook is high fat or processed. However there are some things that most cafeterias carry that are good for your bodybuilding purposes.

* Subs- Get a turkey sub with tuna, lettuce, and other low fat condiments (pickles, mustard, black olives, etc) on whole wheat bread. If you construct your sub right you can get a good 30-40g of protein, 80g of carbs, and 15g of fat out of it.

* Chicken Breasts- Most college cafeterias have a grill of some sort. Don't get the fried chicken or the hamburger. Don't even get a bun. Get a grilled chicken breast and put barbeque sauce on it. Tastes good and will give you about 25g of protein.

* Eggs- For breakfast most cafeterias serve eggs. I always eat a plate full of eggs every morning as eggs have the best amino acid protein of any single protein source.

* Salad- Most colleges also have a salad bar in their cafeteria. Salad is great for you as it contains a good amount of fiber. Shy away from high fat dressings and instead opt for low fat dressings or even vinegar if you can stomach it.

* Bran cereal- Most college cafeterias have choice of cereals. Choose unprocessed cereals such as Raisin Bran.

* Cottage Cheese- Cottage Cheese contains Casein protein, which is the most anti-catabolic protein found in food. I eat 2 or 3 bowls of it per day.

* Milk- Milk is a great bodybuilding tool. It is high in protein and contains a mix of 20% whey and 80% casein protein. It is also high in calcium.

* Fruits and vegetables- Most colleges offer choices of fruits and vegetables. These are great bodybuilding foods as fruits contain valuable anti-oxidants and vegetables contain fiber and many vitamins and minerals.


More Than Just Three Meals

Three meals per day is not enough for a serious bodybuilder. If you want to gain quality muscle during college you will need to invest in a small refrigerator and some sort of cooking device such as a George Foreman grill.

You may even want to buy a hot plate so you can cook eggs. I have found these things to be enormously helpful in my bodybuilding career. There are a few things that you can buy at the grocery that are fairly inexpensive bodybuilding foods. Here is a normal grocery list for me.

Bodybuilding Grocery List*

* 10 cans of chunk light tuna- $7.00
* 3 gallons of milk- $9.50
* 4 containers of cottage cheese- $9.00
* 1 bag of chicken breast (6 pieces)- $7.00
* 5 lbs. of beef- $9.00
* 1 32 oz jar of peanut butter- $3.50
* 2 boxes of raisin bran cereal- $5.00
* 1 box of oatmeal-$2.50
* 1 3lb. container of PowerAde- $7.00
* 3 dozen eggs- $3.00
* 1 generic mustard bottle- $1.00 *All prices are estimates

Here Is A Sample Of My Daily Nutrition:

*

Meal 1 (cafeteria)
2 eggs
3 egg whites
1 bowl bran cereal in milk
1 banana
32 oz of water
(30g protein, 80g carbs, 12g fat)

*

Meal 2 (my room)
1 can tuna mixed with mustard (tastes better)
1-cup oatmeal
one tbsp. of peanut butter
16 oz of water
(40g protein, 60g carbs, 10g fat)

*

Meal 3 (cafeteria)
1 sub with:
turkey
tuna
pickles
mustard
black olives
16 oz water
(30g protein, 80g carbs, 10g fat)

*

Meal 4 (Post workout at home)
30g of whey protein mixed with 10 oz of milk (If you don't have whey protein then fix eggs or have milk that equals 30g of protein).
About 95g of PowerAde mixed with 8 oz water.
Plus another separate 32 oz of water.
(40g protein, 90g carbs, 2g of fat)

*

Meal 5 (Cafeteria one hour later)
3 bowls of bran cereal
1/2-cup of cottage cheese
16 oz water
(30g protein, 150g carbs, 15g fat)

*

Meal 6 (At home)
2 cups of oatmeal
6-8oz beef
16 oz water
(30g protein, 100g carbs, 25g fat)

*

Meal 7 (At home right before bed)
1.5 cups of cottage cheese
3/4 cup oatmeal
16 oz water
(50g protein, 40g carbs, 10g fat)

Totals- 250g protein, 600g carbs, 84g fat.

Keep in mind that I weigh 205 lbs and thus will consume more protein, carbs, and fat than someone weighing less than myself. Adjust the totals to fit your weight.

I did not place times on these meals as this is my schedule and someone else's may be different. If your mealtime falls during class time then take a protein shake or bar to class, most professors do not mind if you eat or drink during class as long as you are not obnoxious about it.

I hope this article helps some of you college bodybuilders to get huge during college. As always, if you have questions about this or other articles or issues feel free to e-mail me [email protected]