Calf fatigue from squats and defining "clean" eating

[Stu Hughes]

Hey Coach, a couple (hopefully) straightforward questions for you:

1. My last two workouts I find my calves getting very fatigued during squats, so much so that today's workout I couldn't complete the whole 3 sets of 5 because they felt so fried.

I sorted out my squat stance a couple weeks ago - this had the effect of eliminating the lumbar spine and knee discomfort during workout, as well as some slight patellar tendon inflammation I experienced the day after the workout. My drive out of the hole is also improved, so I'm not sure why I'm suddenly finding my calves fatigued so greatly.

2. I have a terrible feeling I've been seeing food in a false dichotomy, i.e. if I cannot gain weight on a usual "clean" bodybuilder diet of skinless chicken breasts, cottage cheese and broccoli, then I must have to eat lots of mac and cheese and spicy beef enchiladas (2500 calories of ground beef, cheddar and corn tortillas many a blocked bowel shall make). The latter has of course made me rather sick as I've tried shoveling this kind of food down at the expense of starchy and leafy vegetables, grains and fruit.

Would I be correct in concluding that "good food" conducive to weight and muscle gain is more along the lines of what our proverbial mothers cooked for us? Red meat roasts and stews, rich sauces and gravies, eggs, starchy root vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, milk, fruit, bread, rice, beans, nuts and lots of butter and olive oil? This isn't "clean" eating in the eyes of a ricecake-munching bodybuilder, but neither is it likely to make me feel like I've eaten Plaster of Paris. Am I actually seeing things properly now?

Forgive the foolishness of my youth!

Stu

[Mark Rippetoe]

1. I'm damned if I've ever heard of extreme calf muscle fatigue from squatting. the calves are involved, of course, but primarily as stabilizers of the knee angle and are functioning isometrically over a very short ROM. I'd need to see this squat you're doing.

2. I think you're on the right track. Gain weight with lots of good food, and keep the gooey carb intake down to a minimum. Milk is good food.

[j5coleman]

Pay attention to your toes next time. Some people, when they tighten up their legs, etc., will also (unwittingly) very forcefully try to contract their toes, almost like they're trying to grab the floor. This is particularly true when their hands aren't in position to support them (squats, new skiiers, etc.) -- not sure why, but maybe searching for some sort of security blanket. Anyway, that tension can fry calves pretty quickly. If that's the case, a quick reminder to relax your toes will fix it.

[Atlas shrugged]

most bodybuilders eat what you're describing as good food. they only get crazy with their diets for a few months before a competition. you should eat oatmeal shakes too, it will keep your bowels moving. and it's a good source of calories.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Oatmeal shakes???? That would scare my bowels into moving.

[Johnny Pain]

Oatmeal shakes???? That would scare my bowels into moving.

Agreed, I believe mine moved upon reading that.

As for clean eating, having shoveled enough fast food and mac and cheese in to make a small nation hyperinsulinemic over the past two months, I can attest to the less than favorable feelings and laborious, putrid bathroom visits. Since I have gained 40 lbs, I have cleaned up my eating a bit, and fallen in line about how you described in the first post. I would loosely call it "Paleo" plus pasta and potatoes (unintended alliteration I assure you).

One tip I did pick up from the lovely, statuesque Eva Claire Synkowski, was consuming Coconut Milk. The stuff is basically straight fat, and loaded with calories. You can find it in the ethnic foods aisle. Goya makes it. Tastes like total shit, and I have experienced some mild nausea while getting adjusted, but It's a quick way to down a shitload of fat cals. You can experiment with tossing in a scoop of your favorite protein powder in as well, for one, it tempers the taste a bit, and two, it beefs up the protein a bit since the coconut milk has little.

Aside from that Whole Milk, Whole Milk, Whole Milk. It's magic.

[Polynomial]

One tip I did pick up from the lovely, statuesque Eva Claire Synkowski, was consuming Coconut Milk.

Let me save you the pain of downing it straight and point out that coconut milk is the primary wet ingredient in curries. So, a can of coconut milk, some curry paste, a shitload of chicken, and you've got lots of fat AND protein.

One of my favorite high protein snacks is red curry with chicken, which I supplement with extra chicken. Comes out to be about 80 grams of protein when I'm done, and that's just one meal.

[Konstantinos Kavos]

Oatmeal shakes???? That would scare my bowels into moving.

I have tried them. They are quite tasty. But the results are explosive. If you have regular bowel movements already, do NOT try them. I speak from painful experience.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Umm, curry...

[fluxboy]

.
As for clean eating, having shoveled enough fast food and mac and cheese in to make a small nation hyperinsulinemic over the past two months, I can attest to the less than favorable feelings and laborious, putrid bathroom visits. Since I have gained 40 lbs, I have cleaned up my eating a bit, and fallen in line about how you described in the first post. I would loosely call it "Paleo" plus pasta and potatoes (unintended alliteration I assure you).

Agree with Johnny here.

Eating lousy, high calorie food will make you feel ill. However, convenience plays a role. If you're not much into cooking, and you can't afford the expense of eating out, getting your fill of red meat roasts on a daily basis is simply not going to happen. I made my best gains off 1.5 lbs of ground beef and three boxes of mac and cheese a day. I stopped it after about three weeks as I just felt too vile. However, my gains also slowed down considerably from that point on (when I swapped over to mass quantities of trail mix).

However, the point here is:

Both Johnny and I put on 40 lbs in two months. We both drank GOMAD. We both followed SS exactly as written. We both gravitated to high calorie, poor quality consumption, and we both acknowledge the role it played in our success.

(and we're both trying to eat better now)

Best,
Flux

(ps One other study. Years back I met a guy in MMA who went from a skinny twerp, to a 240 lb asshole. While his attitude sucked, I remember asking him how he did it. He said it was easy, he just mixed up a few pounds of ground beef and hamburger helper in a huge jug that he ate throughout the day. Then he separated my shoulder.)