I had a really bad training day yesterday. It actually got me a little depressed. Started a new peaking cycle with weights that should have been easy. They were not easy.
I'd been doing a volume cycle prior to this to get from the bottom of my new weight class to the top...and to stop being so comically skinny in my singlet. I drank my gallon of whole milk daily on top of eating good, home-cooked meals.
But at the end of the volume cycle, I took a short break from all the extra calories. I stopped drinking the milk, though I continued to eat very well.
So come the new cycle and weights that really should feel doable nearly crushed me. The next morning, however, I felt charged. Sometimes you need to get the snot knocked out of you to clear your head. I had the option of changing my every-other-day plan to a two-on/one-off/two-on/two-off whole body plan. I knew that if I went back in to the gym, I'd have an incredible session. But I also knew I needed to get some milk into my system. I strongly suspected that the couple days without the milk were why I was feeling so weak.
I'd taken to buying a gallon of milk at the gas station a few steps from the gym just before the session. Then I'd drink half the cold, cold milk during the session and the other half throughout the rest of the evening. A couple of guys were amazed that drinking whole milk between sets of squats, benches and deads didn't make me puke. You get used to it.
Anyway, I started drinking my fucking milk again and had the best session I'd had in recent memory. I even set a very, very easy personal record in the conventional deadlift too (see my log) with oodles to spare.
Obviously today is partly the result of previous training and just hitting a high point in my individual strength cycle...but I really don't think it's a coincidence that I did so well after quaffing the mix of macronutrients in that whole milk. I just do better when I'm consuming vast quantities of whole milk. A gallon or so per day seems to be about right. I'm sure I could get a lot of the same benefits by eating well and in large quantities, but milk is such an easier delivery system for nutrients than food. It's nature's way of making small mammals into big mammals overnight. And I am a small mammal who needs to move up a couple of weight classes.
Wherever I train, work or live, I can be seen drinking from a gallon jug of whole milk. I'm like a black Popeye with a milk jug instead of a can of spinach.
Anyway, drink your milk. You'll get stronger faster.