hard truths about him "One day" Diet

When I was in college, I took a first aid class. We spent an entire class period going over and over again all the signs, symptoms, and causes of heat exhaustion. (Don’t worry, this article isn’t about heat exhaustion.)

I remember thinking to myself, I wonder when someone is going to ask the “how long” question.

There are a number of factors that dictate how long it will take for a person to experience heat exhaustion. It can be anything from your temperature, your activity level, your size, your age to your current fitness level.

For example, if a properly hydrated 21-year-old cross-country runner runs three miles in 100-degree heat, he’ll most likely be fine.

However, if a sedentary desk worker with 35% body fat waddles from his car across the parking lot to the front door of Wal-Mart in the same heat, he may be at risk of collapsing faster than a slush pup in a tar pit.

Anyone with an IQ above 85 can see that many different factors come into play. Without fail, however, the question effectively arose: “How long does it take…”

What does heat exhaustion have to do with anything? Following my Macro Pairings Made Easy article, I must have had 100 girls ask me what percentage of protein, carbs, and fat they should be eating.

Like heat exhaustion, there are a number of factors that will influence the outcome.

First of all, you shouldn’t be based on percentages if you only follow a healthy lifestyle. But even then, you have to eat different size portions on different days of the week.

For heaven’s sake, when you challenge yourself with an intense total-body workout, you’re going to need a lot more fuel. Not only that, but your macro needs will also change; you will need less of some and more of others.

So if it’s just as important to the general girl looking for an active lifestyle, how much more important would it be to the girl on a contest prep diet?

Where do you eat the other days, dear?

A pro Figure competitor asked me to take a look at her standard diet that she bought from her trainer guru online.

The first thing out of my mouth, other than the fact that it was a mold diet, was where the hell are the other days?

“What do you mean?”

What I mean is what are you supposed to eat the other six days of the week? Surely no one in their right mind would have the same foods, amounts, and locations every day of the week, would they?

“Oh no, sometimes I trade orange roughy for tilapia, or pickled banana peppers for a can of green beans. Plus, I have a cheat meal once a week.”

Sorry, but swapping one protein source for another in exactly the same amounts isn’t what I’m talking about, and adding a quick meal once a week doesn’t exactly count as carb rotation either.

Look here, one surefire way to underperform and limit your potential is to follow the same macro numbers every day. You don’t do the same workout every day of the week, do you? Of course not!

Heck, your daily activities change from day to day. So why would you eat the same macro numbers every day of the week?

“Yes Wet Wolf, but the days I exercise will be like a low carb day as my energy expenditure will be so high.”

Nice try, but it just doesn’t work that way. This is not a contest to see who can make your energy balance fall apart.

You eat based on your past and future activities, not the other way around!

In fact, not only should you be eating different macro numbers on the days you weight train, you should be eating different macro numbers on at least four different days of the week.

And to cry out loud, align your high-carb days with your weight-training days.

“However, I’m already doing that, Wet Wolf. I’m on a carb rotation, but my protein and fat don’t change, and I don’t map my lifting days to my higher carb days. Also, this diet worked for me. in the past, so I’ll stick with that!”

First, every time you swing your macros around your daily activities, you’re setting yourself up to properly meet your body’s energy and recovery demands.

And oh man, I’ve heard that “it worked” a million times, and I’m still not sure what it really means.

When you’re sitting in a pre-contest eating pattern, you don’t want it to just work out; you want it to optimize the thermogenic and anti-catabolic properties of your body.

And guess what, if you only eat basic, non-adaptive macro values ​​day after day, you’re setting yourself up for a catabolic cascade.

Also, if you think your plateau diet worked, what do you think a swinging macro eating pattern would do? It would not only work, but it would flourish.

“Wrong again, Wet Wolf! My trainer changed the diet every month, and that’s why it worked.”

Changing a day diet once a month is like changing your underpants once a month!

I hope your drug cycle has sped up or you have super genetics because changing a diet a day on a monthly basis is like trying to kill an elephant with a fly swatter, especially if the girl didn’t exactly win the lottery. with her genetics.

You want a multi-strike to thwart the stubborn bastion of estrogenic fat that has claimed your body stronger than a group of Al Qaeda insurgents. The only chance you have is to have a strategic and well-planned attack, keep your body guessing, and manipulate your weapons constantly.

After all, the human body is an extraordinary adaptive organism. Your job is to survive, and holding on to body fat is part of your survival.

“Who cares if my one day diet isn’t optimal, or what if it’s wrong? Can’t we all just get along?”

Not on my watch.

New: Questions and answers

Now that we’ve put the one-day diet to rest, it’s time to give birth to a new feature: Wolf Q&A.

The questions may seem simple, but the answers are not always easy. And that’s what many competitors talk about.

This week’s set of questions is courtesy of JackieMC13.

Upper body strength record

Q: How would someone build upper body strength in record time?

A: It depends on what you have been doing in the gym before. If you haven’t been training at all, almost anything will bring immediate results.

I can tell you right now that the best way to see immediate strength gains is to change up your routine. Change your planes of motion, change your exercises, add some weight, do an extra rep, work on your grip strength, or start doing Zercher squats because something has to give.

If you’re someone who’s always had trouble with pull-ups and push-ups and you’re finally looking to break a plateau, then this is what I suggest: lose fat.

I have never seen a woman close to 20% body fat who can do pull ups. On many occasions I have coached a woman who falls like a sack of potatoes when she tries to do a negative pull up, or that she can’t even do a half bend. Then once she’s down 15 pounds, all of a sudden those pull-ups and pull-ups become so much easier.

Also, this may sound crazy, but change your routine! Step away from that cable pull-down and go for modified versions of the chin-up.

Remember your fifth grade PE class and how none of the kids could do a chin-up? What did they make everyone do instead?

A bent-arm fall, that is. See how long you can keep your double chin on the bar, or you can perform several sets of five-second grips, always ending with a three-second eccentric.

Another effective method is to place a flexible band over the bar and wrap it around your knees. The band offers the most help when you’re hanging like Donkey Kong at the bottom, and then when you pull up, the resistance drops and you have to do all the work.

Most people also neglect the importance of hand and forearm strength. When you’re hanging from a bar, your grip is most important.

Use some Lynx Performance grips as you perform your bent-arm hang. When you take them off and just use the bar, it will feel as small as a toothpick.

If you can’t perform a bodyweight chin-up, then perform sets of three to five repetitions with a few heavy one-arm dumbbell rows.

Bodyweight bent-over rows can also help build your foundation so you can one day pull your chin over the bar.

last minute details

Q: How should someone approach last-minute contest preparation details, such as sodium and water handling for first-time competitors?

A: Six years ago, I met a girl who entered and won her first Figure show. The following week she won her second. Actually, she has a very high genetic body fat set point and a cute face, so she was able to get away with higher body fat.

However, at 14% body fat, he was far from what I would consider contest lean.

I’ll never forget that before she prejudged on her show she was eating rice cakes to help her “fill up” as she put it.

Guess what folks, if you’re at 14% body fat at your competition, all you need to “fill out” is a smarter competition prep plan for the future!

You’re not some stuck-up bodybuilder who needs to eat pie filling and wash it down with a quarter of insulin.

A few rice cakes or a few raisins the morning of a show is fine, but it’s rarely the case, as most girls never get skinny enough to begin with.

Another problem I’ve seen is that most girls use the high glycemic carb load as a cheat meal to prejudge the 12 weeks.

I knew a girl who filled her sassy pro-tan cheeks with Oreos and peanut butter because her “coach” wanted to “fill” her up. She got so sick to her stomach that she curled up in a fetal position and she couldn’t even walk for a few hours until her tummy settled down.

I’ve heard stories of peanut butter cups flying through the air, girls cutting up bags of granola, and mouths full of raisins. But come on people, most girls would do just fine with some chicken and a sweet potato in the morning.

I’ve heard horror stories of girls who didn’t drink anything for three days straight, while taking some prescription diuretics in the hopes that those saddlebags would go away. Did I mention they did all of this in just three days?

You don’t need to take some black market diuretic made in some cesspool in Tijuana that will leave you inches away from lifetime visits to a dialysis clinic.

Just worry about losing as much weight as you can. Once you’re in the best shape possible, you can take an over-the-counter mild diuretic and reduce your water intake the day before the show.

Now, follow everything you learned today and make me proud.