Eating Through the Sticking Points

[stef]

by Matt Reynolds

This is not an article on how to look good. It’s not really an article on how to be healthy either. It’s an article on how to get big and strong. I couldn’t care less if you look like a bodybuilder or a Hollister model or anything in between. I don’t care if you have abs. I don’t care what your cholesterol numbers are. What I do care about is that you’re weak.

Article

[Tom Campitelli]

This is going to piss a lot of people off. Great article, Reynolds.

[Pomf]

I've actually been struggling a lot with this myself. I'm at a point where I'm debating with myself whether I want to eat like crazy and gain some weight and strength or keep doing what i've been doing which is dieting, not necessarily out of a vain desire to get a six pack but since i've been quite (and by quite i mean very) chubby since i was about seven years old or so i kind of wanted to know what it felt like living without this massive gut around my waist.

My question would be, in regards to eating more for gaining mass and strength, does it really matter if you eat more on the rest days? Would only eating more on days in which i lift be the best way to go about this or do i actually have to try to cram the food in every single day? And for people who've already experimented with tweaking their calories and whatnot, how much food is too much? as in is there a limit to how much more food you can eat to get stronger? is there a point where if you eat more than x amount of calories above the amount of calories you burn where anything above x gives far less strength/muscle gains in comparison to the amount of fat you pack on?

[mattypee]

This article made me go to the fridge for a big glass of milk.

[solomani]

Great article! I know the times where I have struggled at weight X, gone out the next day for a party or whatnot (or buffet) eaten my guts out and then the I practically threw the bar of the rack at the weight I had struggled with before.

I still am curious though. Coming at this from a different angle, whats the science of this if any? It seems its purely a caloric thing and quality doesn't matter at all - be it healthy or unhealthy its irrelevant to getting strong - sound right? Does the body really use all 5k+ calories a day or is it some kind of "confidence trick" played on the brain? By that I mean your brain holds you back physically until it knows it can get the food it needs to maintain the strength you can potentially build and then lets you "go" in terms of muscle growth.

I am gluten intolerant so I focus on getting my 200g of protein a day and not so much on raw calories. But I have seen a difference between my lifts on days when I get my 200g + lots of calories (healthy or otherwise) as opposed to days where 200g of protein but lower overall calories. Need raw calories. I just wonder what the body is doing with it all.

[Toni Kallio]

Thanks for an interesting read.

There are, of course, different paths to become strong. Finnish powerlifter Jarmo Virtanen totalled 865kg (340-192,5-332,5) in 1992 in the 90kg class. In 1993 Virtanens total was 870kg (337,5-192,5-340) in the 82,5kg class. Not RAW, but anyway.

[Tamara Reynolds]

Goddamn, this is good, Reynolds.

[Corrie]

I appreciated all the examples you gave Matt. It's hard to argue with success. Great read.

[Rob Waskis]

Pearls before swine, but a damn fine article nonetheless.

[Shaun]

Thanks for an interesting read.

There are, of course, different paths to become strong. Finnish powerlifter Jarmo Virtanen totalled 865kg (340-192,5-332,5) in 1992 in the 90kg class. In 1993 Virtanens total was 870kg (337,5-192,5-340) in the 82,5kg class. Not RAW, but anyway.

Most people who put up huge weights at light bodyweights are also really short...