The Bodybuilding Diet Program

Many years ago a statement was uttered by one of the greatest bodybuilders and trainers of his era, Vince Gironda, and the statement was that "bodybuilding is 80% diet."

While "The Iron Guru", as Vince became known, held some fame as a bodybuilder himself, he was better known for introducing the USA to newcomer, Arnold Schwartzeneger and helping him rapidly become one of the greatest and most famous bodybuilders of all time.

From the 1950s through to 1997, his list of acolytes was like a who's who of bodybuilding.

During his multi-decade career as a trainer of champions, Vince was absolutely convinced that a good bodybuilding diet program was the key to being a successful bodybuilder, and played a big part in convincing other people of this belief.

Bodybuilders need to include supplements in their diet that help to grow muscle tissue and reduce the subcutaneous fat stored on the body and also should focus closely on the best useable sources of protein, natural carbohydrates in the form of fresh vegetables and fruits, fats and oils, and finally, nuts.

A renowned biologist by the name of Bernard Beverley, once stated that human tissue is 100% biological. This means that it is very important for bodybuilders to consume foods that are very high in biological content for developing that tissue as far as possible. High biological content foods are often confused with foods that are high in protein, but this isn't entirely the case as not all protein is the same. For food to be high in biological content it must contain protein of a structure that is very similar to the protein contained in human tissue.

You may be wondering what food has the highest biological content, this may surprise you but it is the humble egg! There are some other foods that are also high in biological content that include raw milk, organ meats (heart, liver, kidneys and sweetbreads), steak, lamb, poultry and fish. You should include foods that are high in protein into your bodybuilding diet program as well because these are also really important, some examples are beans, legumes and some other vegetables.

One food that may throw you off are soybeans. These may be really high in protein but are only 22% biological. The previously listed foods should be eaten instead of soybeans because of the massive amount that you would have to consume to equal the amino acid content of the higher quality protein foods. Instead of using anabolic steroids, the Iron Guru used to consume as many as three dozen eggs per day to prepare for a contest!

New levels of strength and the ability to quickly repair any damage to muscles can be achieved through the huge influx of biological protein gained when eating this many eggs. This amount of eggs should be reduced to about one or two a day after you have achieved your goal, which would generally be about six to eight weeks in duration.

There are different views and approaches to a bodybuilding diet program, some focus on red meat and veggies, while others use a diet high in dairy products and fish. These diets are designed to load the body with useful protein to aid in replacing and rebuilding torn muscle tissue caused by heavy workouts. These were never meant as long-term diet plans however. Gironda recommended some helpful muscle building supplements and these included: Kelp tablets, desiccated liver, lipotropic amino acids (inositol, choline, methionine, betain that aid in the metabolism and assimilation of protein) and wheat germ oil. To get rid of that last bit of subcutaneous fat, the Iron Guru developed a special bodybuilding diet cycle for his students that were in preparation for upcoming contests

The bodybuilding diet program that Vince Gironda developed was made up of four days with absolutely no carbohydrates, and then on the fifth day you could eat normally. Then, for the next four days eat no carbohydrates again, and on the tenth day eat normally. This diet was used for anywhere from three to eight weeks until every vein popped out of the skin surface and every muscle separation was visible.

A good guideline for a bodybuilding diet program is that it should be focused on protein, fats, good carbohydrates and fiber. A breakdown of this diet should be 24% protein, 40% natural carbs (no refined starches or sugars) and the balance of the diet will be in fat and fiber.

Just before a competition, your diet, and cycling of zero carbs for the four days beforehand and the fifth day free, should be followed for no more than eight weeks. You must make sure that you take all of the appropriate supplements.

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