Maybe This Is Why You’re Not Growing

The pro bodybuilders are huge–impressive and mind-boggling, to say the least, and lots of guys aspire to that look. Few get there, however, even if they do take, um, special “supplements.” Why? What is the limiting factor?

Well, genetics, of course–and that includes how your body uses the food you eat. In your quest for a ripped 250-pound physique you must eat a meticulous, ridiculous diet. Why ridiculous? Because most people cannot imagine eating the way a pro eats (this is a real diet from a real pro; oh, and this is eight weeks out from a contest)…

Meal 1: 6 oz. lean beef, 1 cup egg whites, 2 whole eggs, 100 grams grits

Meal 2: 10 oz. chicken breast, 2 cups white rice

Meal 3: 10 oz. lean beef, 16 oz sweet potato

Meal 4: 10 oz. chicken, 12 oz. sweet potato

Meal 5: 10 oz. lean beef, 16 oz. sweet potato

Meal 6: 8 oz. chicken, 1.5 cups oatmeal

That doesn’t include his postworkout shake and his bedtime shake. That’s 54 oz. of meat a day–more than 3 1/2 pounds! And the calories must be well over 5,000…

Not only do you have to eat a boat-load of calories, but your body must use the majority of that food to build muscle, which is a genetic predisposition. Most people will just get fat eating like that….

And even if you do have the genetics, can you imagine cooking all that food? You’d need a full-time chef or a lot of free time and clean aprons. (Look at that diet again; remember, that’s EVERY DAY!)

What it does hammer home is that extreme muscle size is very hard to acquire for most–even if you have incredible genetics and you’re using copious amounts of anabolic drugs. The bottom line is that you still have to eat a crazy amount of food and be able to partition those calories to muscle!

It takes a lot of discipline, pain tolerance and laser focus to be a top pro–or even a top amateur. If you’re not in that league–still aspiring to get big–then you need to be very consistent with a clean, muscle-building diet. Probably not to the extreme–protein, calories, etc.–of the above, but meticulous nonetheless.

Me? I’m a realist–I know I don’t have the genetics for all that mass, so I’m satisfied with being fairly muscular and lean (not to mention lazy–I refuse to cook all of that!). I try to keep my abs in view throughout the year, but 20-inch arms are not on my radar these days. I eat clean, but not nearly like the diet above. Even half of that would make me bloated fat.

The bottom line is that muscle is difficult to build for most of us, so if you want it, you’ll have to have certain genetics and make some big sacrifices–one being to cook and eat lots of the right food. It’s the only way to get huge, genetics willing.

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout is available at X-Workouts.com. It’s a joint-friendly, growth-hormone-spurring method designed to trigger muscle growth, fat loss and health. The 4X companion e-books, The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout and The X-centric Mass Workout, are also at X-Workouts.com.