The off-season is here! You’ve toiled through a pre-contest diet, and made your showing at long last. You vowed that next time you stepped on-stage, you’d have more muscle. It’s very likely you enjoyed a well-deserved cheat meal following the show. Perhaps it was followed by a few weeks of eating junk and just relaxing. Now, that time has come to a close.
The off-season officially starts today. You know what the training is going to be like – hard and heavy. You’ll spend your 90 minutes in the gym, four or five times per week. You’ll use your very heavy off-season AAS cycle, if that’s your ‘thing’. You’ll take more naps. You’ll try to make it to bed on time. You’ll cut back on the cardio, completing only the minimum needed to keep your heart and lungs healthy. And you’ll eat.
Ah yes, you will eat. The success of an off-season is determined by the number of pounds of muscle you gain. Nothing (short of newly-introduced AAS use) will affect your off-season gains more than the addition of two new factors to your diet: more calories and more protein.
Calories are the most important factor. The top professional bodybuilders you see possess bodies that are like furnaces. They efficiently burn thousands of calories per day. They may require 4000 to 7000 calories per day just to maintain their body mass levels. They didn’t reach body weights of 240 to 280 pounds by eating small. They got their by eating BIG! And you need to do the same, if you wish to become the bigger possible bodybuilder you can be.
Protein is the other factor. If you are trying to gain muscle, you need to be consuming 350 to 400 grams of protein per day. This is a lot, and will require you to be much disciplined in your eating. If you are using AAS, then your daily consumption needs to be somewhere between 400 and 500 grams of protein, as you will certainly make use of these grams due to increased absorption rates. Here is a sample meal plan for off-season eating.
Meal 1
12 egg whites, 4 pieces toast with butter, breakfast potatoes, fruit
Meal 2
50 grams whey protein shake with water
Meal 3
9 ounces chicken, beef, or fish, along with 500 to 700 calories worth of carb source such as pasta, rice, or beans
Meal 4
50 grams whey protein shake with water
Meal 5
9 ounces chicken, beef, or fish, along with 500 to 700 calories worth of carb source such as pasta, rice, or beans
Meal 6
50 grams whey protein shake with water
Use this diet for two weeks, and re-evaluate your weight and body fat percentage. If you’re looking the same, it’s time to increase portion sizes or perhaps add a small treat to each meal. If you’re looking much fatter, you need to reduce the total number of calories, through either removing a meal, or reducing portion sizes at each of these meals. And, on the off-chance you’re losing weight, it’s certainly time to increase the caloric intake by 20% or more.