Meal Frequency and Consistency for Mass Gain

October 8, 2019

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Nathan Waters - Total Health Performance

Last week we had some of the boys come in and do a mass gain camp during the school holidays. The biggest takeaway from the whole thing for me (and now I think the boys too) is that it doesn't matter how hard you train, to gain mass, you have to eat all of your meals and have them at a consistent time. This is something I stress often but was highlighted a lot last week. In my opinion it is one of the biggest thing missing in most people's plans, along with lack of sleep.

The boys train really hard but where they tend to fall down the most is with their nutrition. Lack of planning is one thing, but just eating the shear volume of food needed to grow day in and day out seems to get them. Most people don't realise how far off they are until they really try to put on some quality lean mass. I find it to be much harder than fat loss for the majority of people. It takes a lot of discipline as you can't get away with missing meals. 

If you don't eat consistently, you won't grow. It is as simple as that. You can't build muscle without eating. 

When I question the boys meals, asking what they have eaten, they will say they ate heaps. Then I ask a few more questions and they may have missed breakfast, that's not in the plan. Or they say I had eggs, and I say how many? 2. Well you need more like 6-8 whole eggs to grow. So, what the problem is, is that often people think they are eating a lot when in reality they aren't. 

For mass, most people aren't eating enough and they aren't eating frequently enough. 

I tend to recommend 5-7 meals a day when trying to put on mass. This include a post-workout shake. Now I know people say you don't need to eat that frequently but from experience with clients, that amount of meals tends to work best. The only time we have shakes is post workout. No substituting shakes for solid meals. As Charles Poliquin said in a seminar, you have to eat solid food to get solid.

If you want to gain mass, my advice is to eat frequently, eat a lot, and be consistent with it. 

Tags:

Lean Mass

muscle mass

Hypertrophy

Charles Poliquin

Nutrition

Choline and Betaine for Body Comp

March 25, 2018

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Nathan Waters - Strength Coach

I am not a huge science guy and don't understand a lot of the studies out there and the way they are conducted etc. but I do still try and read and understand as much research as possible. This morning I came across this study and found the results quite interesting.

"In conclusion, the present study provides solid evidence for the first time, in the large Newfoundland population, that higher dietary choline and betaine intakes were associated with a more favorable body composition (lower body fat and higher lean body mass) in both women and men. In addition, this favorable association was independent of age, gender, total calorie intake, physical activity level, menopausal status, smoking status, medication use, and alcohol consumption. The beneficial correlation for choline seems better than betaine."

Choline is often seen as a member or relative of the B family of vitamins. It is involved in the metabolism (breakdown) of fats and is involved in the stability and functioning of cell membranes. It also plays a role in cell signalling and supports the synthesis of acetylcholine. Personally, I use Alpha-GPC to support healthy brain function and noticed great improvements by taking it after suffering many concussions. It helps improve memory, and also strength gains when taken before a workout. Before bed I have take Phosphatidylcholine with good success too. These are the two ways I get some choline in supplemental form. The most common dietary source of choline is through egg yolks. 

Betaine is a derivative of glycine. It supports cellular hydration and increased cell volume. It can also support aerobic and anaerobic energy production. This could be due to its role in creatine biosynthesis. Betaine is also a strong methyl donor which may reduce the risk of heart and liver diseases, as well as cancer. When you have low levels of methyl donors, it can result in high levels of homcysteine and reduced metabolism in liver, among other things. Betaine can be found in spinach, beets, and shellfish.  

Tags:

Choline

Betaine

body weight

body composition

body fat

anaerobic

aerobic

brain function

concussion

acetylcholine

Idiot-Proof Weight Loss - 4 Easy Steps

September 28, 2015

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Gemma Smith

So many of you out there claim to be unable to lose weight even though you've tried absolutely everything. Assuming that you really have tried absolutely everything and you are still overweight, then I challenge you to follow these 4 easy steps and to not lose weight. 

This involves NO EXERCISE - Interested?? Read on...

1. Swap Plastic for Porcelain – 99% of you are coffee drinkers (myself included), but don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you to stop drinking it. You all get take away, most of you every day, in these little (or big) plastic take away cups. What happens is that the plastic gets hot (hot water from the coffee), it leeches into the coffee, you drink the coffee and the plastic that’s in it. You can’t taste it but I can assure you that it’s there. Do yourself, and your legs, a favour and go to Big W, grab a stainless steel, glass or porcelain coffee cup and next time you get your coffee, get the nice lady behind the counter to fill her up!
2. Eat the Charles Poliquin Meat and Nuts for Breakfast – no this is not a joke, and yes, you can do this, you just have to get over the fact you are eating a big juicy steak for breakfast – you’d eat bacon and eggs, so this really isn’t any different.  For more information, please read this article:http://www.strengthsensei.com/the-meat-and-nut-breakfast/
3. Drink Water, and then Drink it Again – 3L per day, no exceptions. Do not drink out of plastic, even if it says “BPA Free” – truth is, it has BPS in it, which is basically BPA, just under a different name. Stainless steel or glass. No excuses. If you can, have cold water – your body has to warm it up so you use more calories which means more fat loss. 
4. Go to Bed – sleep away your fat, no exercise needed! You need 7-9 hours sleep every night, any less and you’re setting yourself up to fail. If you go to bed late, go to bed earlier. Start with small steps if you need to, for example, if you go to bed at 11pm, try for 10:50pm and gradually get it to where you get the hours needed. If you can’t sleep, try some Magnesium and Glutamine before you go to bed.

Tags:

fat loss

weight loss

body composition

health

healthy