The following extract comes from Vince Gironda's 1984 Book: Unleashing the Wild Physique (available here). This book cannot be recommended highly enough, from VInce's no nonsense take on steroids to his innovative training techniques. Today's post comes from Vince's advice on weight gain. The real secret to gaining weight is food. The more you eat, the… Continue reading Vince Gironda Weight-Gain Diet
What if I told you about a diet that not only mimicked the effects of steroids but also allowed you to gorge on meats, eggs and cheese for days at a time before indulging in pizza and pancakes on the weekend? A diet that would help you get leaner, stronger and more muscular. A diet… Continue reading Revisiting the Anabolic Diet
Open any muscle mag from the mid-20th century and chances are you'll find a reference to Rheo H. Blair, and his famous instant protein. Blair's protein was used by the top bodybuilders of the 1950s ranging from Gironda to Arnie. He was a firm believer in the importance of top quality protein and often got… Continue reading Protein Way of Life by Rheo H. Blair
Once again reaching into my mail- bag, I found of couple of interesting questions that may sound like the same old cookie-cutter questions, but my answers put a new twist on two staple parts of bodybuilding — nutrition and off-season weight gain — and my take on the best type of off-season dieting and how… Continue reading Chad Nicholls, ‘The Contest Guru’, Muscular Development, December, 45:12 (2008), 426-432.
The Carnivore Diet - the practice of solely consuming meat products - has grown exponentially in the past few years. As someone who has experimented with a range of diets, everything from all fruit to raw meat, it's remarkable to see an all meat diet gain traction for the lifting community and the general populace.… Continue reading Before the Carnivore Diet? Rheo H. Blair’s Meat and Water Diet (1960s)
If it is convenient, it is often found a great help to eat 4 to 6 meals per day, tho this is not necessary. Many men have found that the addition of a light lunch at about 10 o’clock, another at about 3:30 p.m. and another just before bed time has been the secret of… Continue reading Peary Rader, ‘The Six Meal A Day Plan’, The Rader Master BodyBuilder and Weight Gaining System (1946)
Thanks to a schedule that keeps me on the road over two hundred days out of the year, this area has become my specialty. Charles Glass and one of his partners, noted nutritionist Mike Watson, have given me so much valuable guidance related to eating, but none may have been more important for me than… Continue reading Triple H, ‘Eating on the Road’, Triple H’s Approach to a Better Body (New York, 2000)
Describing himself as Arnold's Seminar Nutritionist, Balik opened his short pamphlet on gaining muscle with the often forgotten law that 'nothing beats persistence.' Produced alongside a pamphlet on gaining muscle, which we'll be discussing in a future post, Balik's Total Muscularity represents a great insight into the training philosophy of 1970s Muscle Beach bodybuilding. Sparing myself… Continue reading John Balik, Total Muscularity: SuperStar Nutrition (Santa Monica, 1979)
Photo by Kamil Szumotalski on Unsplash Fasting can be described as either complete abstinence from food or a reduction in the amount of food a person consumes. In some cases, it can include abstinence from drinking as well, and it can be both short-term and long-term. There are many reasons for fasting, from spiritual ones… Continue reading Guest Post: A Short History of Fasting
Carbohydrates... those omnipresent fruits, yams, grains and vegetables, are older than mankind. In recorded history, it appears that the Egyptian culture was the first to 'mill' their high-energy grain, removing fiber, as well as much of the nutrition. Bingo—mankind had its first refined carbohydrates. Sugar was first introduced into Europe around 700 AD when Arabian… Continue reading Jay Jacobsen, ‘Carbohydrates Are Not The Devil! All Aboard The Carbohydrate-Glycemic Train’, Planet Muscle (March – April 2003)
