The famed bodybuilding coach Vince Gironda once said that 80% of bodybuilding is diet. One of the best known trainers of all time, Gironda spoke from experience.
With some fame as a bodybuilder himself, The IronGuru, as he became known, was more famous for helping a newcomer to the USA, Arnold Schwartzenegger move rapidly up the road to become one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time.
In fact, Gironda trained many of the greats in the field for nearly five decades, including some of the biggest names in bodybuilding from the 1950s all the way into the late 1990s.
Vince Gironda believed that the way to become successful at building muscle is to follow a proper bodybuilding diet. Over the course of his career, Gironda was immensely influential in convincing others to follow his lead.
In a nutshell, a bodybuilding diet should focus on the best useable sources of protein, natural carbohydrates in the form of fresh vegetables and fruits, fats and oils,and finally, nuts. Bodybuilders also need to include supplements that help grow muscle tissue and reduce the subcutaneous fat on the body.
Nutrition expert Bernard Beverley has said that bodybuilders should make sure to build their diets around proteins which are similar in structure to those found in the human body, since these are the most readily available for the body to use. Not all protein is equal, no matter what any bodybuilder or nutritionist may tell you. It’s not only the amount of protein in your diet that matters, but what kind of protein you eat.
Surprisingly enough, eggs are the food which contains the highest levels of these proteins and should definitely be part of any bodybuilding diet. Other good sources of protein are organ meats, fish, beef, poultry, lamb and milk. Higher protein vegetables including beans are also good to include in your diet.
However, soybeans, as high in protein as they are, happen to have a readily bioavailable protein content of only 22%! This means that you would have to eat much larger quantities of soy-based foods to get the proteins you need when compared to some of the other sources listed above. When preparing for bodybuilding events, Vince Gironda recommended eating up to three dozen eggs daily rather than using anabolic steroids!
The goal is to give your body plenty of high quality proteins which allow them to repair and rebuild muscle tissue. After six to eight weeks of this diet, you should then scale back to a more moderate intake of eggs, since you’ll have already achieved the results you were looking for.
You’ll find other bodybuilding diets which focus on red meats and fresh fruit and vegetables. While each of these diets is made with a specific goal in mind, all are intended to provide your muscles with plenty of protein to rebuild and repair muscle. Of course, these kind of diets are not designed to be eaten for the long term. Gironda would recommend dietary supplements to his students along with the diets themselves, such as wheat germ oil, kelp tablets, dessicated liver and lipotropic amino acids to help the body take in and use protein. For students with upcoming competitions, Gironda would often suggest a cyclical diet to help them gain definition by losing subcutaneous fat.
The cyclical diet involves four days of no carbs at all, then one day of eating a normal diet. This may be repeated for as long as eight weeks depending how much subcutaneous fat they’re looking to lose.
Any good bodybuilding diet should consist of around 24% protein from high quality sources, 40% natural, unrefined carbohydrates (meaning no refined sugars or starches), ample fiber and a balanced amount of fats.
The cyclical diet before a competition is a diet which works well for many; but keep in mind that it is not recommended to eat this way for longer than eight weeks at a time. Whenever you’re on a bodybuilding diet, it’s also important to make sure that you take appropriate supplements as well to help you get in shape and stay healthy at the same time.
If you would like more tips on what makes a good Bodybuilding Diet plus a free report revealing the 7 secrets to your ideal body, visit www.wholelifegym.com