Build Muscle With My “Super-Size” Diet Plan

Here’s an easy nutrition plan to help you pack on slabs of lean muscle over the next 12-weeks.

It’s a template which I have used for many years with too many male and female clients to count, and it always gets the job done.

(And yes, even if you’re a gym newbie!)

If you can combine this diet plan alongside a solid weightlifting program, such as Classic Size or Biceps Boom (both found in the members area of russhowepti.com), you can expect some tremendous results over the next 12-weeks. Let’s get to work!

Listen Up!

Most of the nutrition advice you’ve been given about building muscle is dead fucking wrong

If you walk into any gym you’ll see that “old school” style of dieting is still very prominent today, and you’ll meet countless guys who believe that the best way to gain muscle is to simply “eat whatever the fuck you want”.

Yeah, and you’ll also notice they have one thing in common… a belly!

Fuck that old approach, because it’s a recipe for disaster.

You see, the vast majority of people who do things “the old way” end up getting trapped in an endless loop of “cutting” until the diet becomes emotionally draining, and the “bulking” until they feel like they’re getting fat.

Rinse and repeat, for fucking YEARS!

Worse still, they feel unhapy the whole time they’re doing it.

I say this as someone who used to eat this way myself.

You see, back in the early 2000s I was your classic “gym bro”. I ate exactly like the magazines told me to, and I bought all the fucking supplements I could carry home from the supplement store (remember those?!), and all it ever did was get me down.

That’s because I was constantly stuck in a cycle of “bulking” and “cutting”, and what this means is that either I felt great but looked like shit, or I looked great but felt like shit.

There was no in-between back then, because the fitness lifestyle was all about extremes.

In the years since those days, science now taught us that rigid, so-called “clean eating” doesn’t work for most people, and is no longer considered the best approach for helping people shred body fat and build lean muscle.

So before we go any further into setting your daily nutritional targets, I’m gonna need you to agree to a change of mindset.

I’m not gonna tell you to exile your favourite treat foods on this diet plan, nor will I instruct you to “dirty bulk” (e.g. binge eat shitty food just to get your calories up).

No, I want you to come out of this program as a bigger, leaner, more muscular man (or woman) and in order to do that we need to maintain a sense of “balance” with regards to the foods you eat and kill the unnecessary sense of “guilt” that comes from foods which didn’t come out of the fucking ground.

Consider this “Bulking 2.0”!

Eat 1.2g Protein Per Pound

You will eat 1.2 grams of protein per lb of body weight, so a 200lb guy will eat 240g protein per day, and a 130lb lady will eat 156g protein per day.

This will absolutely maximize your potential for muscle growth over the next 12-weeks.

The amino acids which make up protein are known as “the building blocks of muscle”, and it’s is of paramount importance that we provide your body with plenty of these little bad boys as they play a crucial role in helping your muscles not only grow but also recover from workouts.

Unfortunately, in my 22+ years working as a personal trainer you’d be amazed how many guys I’ve met who skimp on their protein intake!

Heck, for a lot of them, their post-workout whey protein shake was literally the only protein they ate all day long!

So from this point on you will set your protein intake to 1.2g/lb.

This puts you right in the “sweet spot” for achieving the greatest amount of muscle growth (as confirmed by a 2018 meta-analysis which looked at the daily protein requirements of athletes), and you can expect it to have an awesome impact on the results you achieve over the next 12-weeks! (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

NOTE: There are several “experts” out there who recommend setting your protein intake even higher (e.g. 1.5g/lb or even 3g/lb!), but this is both impractical and unnecessary, s research clearly shows it does not lead to greater muscle growth. It’s no coincidence that those guys are also affiliated with supplement brands.

Eat 0.5g Fat Per Pound

You’re going to aim for 0.5 grams of fat per lb of body weight, so that’s 100g fat per day for a 200lb guy, and 65g fat per day for a 130lb lady.

This macronutrient was demonized throughout the 1980s when the media wrongly labelled it as “the root cause of obesity” (ouch!), and even though research has since shown that’s not the case at all, fat still suffers from the bad press it received all those years ago and this causes lots of people to mistakenly avoid it.

But here’s the thing…

When we do not support ourselves with enough dietary fat it can throw off the body’s production of key muscle building hormones like testosterone and cortisol. If this is dont on a long-term basis it can wreak havoc on your gym results, and in a worst case scenario even lead to a crashed endocrine system!

It’s time to start prioritizing this ultra-important macronutrient, so set it to 0.5g/lb from this point on.

Eat 1.5g Carbohydrates Per Pound (At Least!)

You’re going to aim for 1.5 grams of carbohydrates per lb of body weight, so that’s 300g carbs per day for a 200lb guy, and 195g carbs per day for a 130lb lady.

Of the three macronutrients, this is the one you can “play with” as you tweak your diet to accommodate either more or less calories in the future.

You see, the reason I set protein and fat first is because they are deemed “essential nutrients” as the body cannot create the amino acids nor the DHA and EPA found in these two macronutrients so we must ensure we get enough of them via our diet if we want to maximize our results. (6, 7, 8)

That’s why protein and fat are nutritional priorities, meanwhile carbs are the one we can “play with” when we’re looking to either increase or decrease the total number of calories that we are eating.

This will provide you with enough energy to power through your workouts, and a good starting point in terms of gaining some high quality size.

I want you to start at 1.5g/lb and if you aren’t gaining enough size after 4-weeks you should bump this up to 2g/lb, or on the flipside if you feel like you’re gaining weight too quickly you can reduce it to 1g/lb.

This will ensure you have enough explosive energy to power through your workout program, and it puts you at a great starting point to gain some high quality lean muscle mass!

Drink Plenty Of Water Each Day

You will aim for 3-4 litres of water each day.

Water is one of the most overlooked aspects of a great diet plan.

It can have a profound effect on your end result; not only how you perform in the gym, but also how you feel, and how your muscles look in the mirror!

For example, did you know that a dehydrated muscle loses early 20% contraction force

You do now!

On average, the human body loses around 2 litres of water via the kidneys and intestines, 0.5 litres of water via breathing, and another 0.5 litres via perspiration. That’s 2.5 litres right there and we haven’t even considered the additional water we’ll need to take on board during exercise!

The reason most guys forget to stay on top of their water intake is because it’s boring. But remember your muscles are over 75% water, so don’t think of it as simply drinking water, think of it as “filling your muscles!”

You know it makes sense, bruv.

The Number Of Meals You Eat Per Day Doesn’t Fucking Matter

You now have the solid nutritional targets in place to help you achieve fantastic muscle building results over the next 12-weeks, but people often get caught up in additional “hacks” which are said to improve results even more.

One of those is the belief that eating smaller, more frequent meals will lead to superior fat loss and muscle building results.

This theory dates all the way back to the early 1980s, when it was thought that by spreading your daily calories across multiple smaller sittings (e.g. 8-10 meals instead of the more traditional 3-4 meals) would put the body into a constant state of digesting food and make the metabolism work harder/faster, ergo more fat loss.

We now know this isn’t true.

In fact, several studies published over the last 30 years have confirmed that eating smaller, more frequent meals actually has no effect on the metabolism or on fat burning at all, so you can really structure your meal setup in any way you prefer – it’s the overall daily numbers that really count! (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)

Many of my PT clients prefer eating 3 main meals and a couple of snacks, and some of them prefer having 6-8 smaller meals instead. Just do what works best for your lifestyle.

Reward Yourself With A Day Off Every 2 Weeks

Dieting is a hard process, so the worst thing we can do is try to make it even harder by trying to be “too strict”.

It’s like it’s built in to the human psyche, almost as if we feel the need to punish ourselves for wanting a better body.

But whenever people try going too hard, too fast, they always crash off the rails and then beat themselves up for being right back at square one all over again.

Rinse and repeat, sometimes for fucking years.

That’s why I’ve always given people a day off every two weeks.

This will do a couple of major things for your results:

• It’ll make your journey a whole lot easier!

Reward days act as targets, and knowing these days are coming up soon is a great method for cutting out unplanned snacks (e.g. instead of the seemingly endless slog of a traditional diet, yours is broken into two week blocks).

This helps you stay consistent because it feels much more achievable and there’s a reward waiting at the end of each small block.

Honestly, you probably wouldn’t believe how many clients I’ve had achieve success with this over the years, may of whom had previously struggled with their diets!

Oh, and even though you’re trying to gain size, these reward days are still an important part of the process because the bulk of your foods on regular days will still be the stuff we class as “healthy” (e.g. lean protein, starchy carbohydrates, fruit, vegetables), so this “downtime” acts as more of a mental break than anything else. (13)

• You will not feel “food guilt” ever again!

In my 22 years working as a personal trainer, almost everyone I’ve ever met suffers with “food guilt”.

This is the weird sense of shame we feel when we eat something that perhaps we shouldn’t have (like I said earlier, for some reason we feel te need to punish ourselves for wanting a better body!).

Understand that the main risk of “food guilt” is not the food itself, but rather the emotional response it triggers. We often push the “fuck it button” because we wrongly believed that eating one off-track food has ruined our entire diet, and then we tell ourselves some bullshit like “I’ll start over on Monday” even though it’s only Wednesday right now, which inadvertently turns one day of bad eating into a whole week of it – and by the time your wedding arrives you feel fatter than a turkey in a corset!

So check this out:

Reward days are a sure-fire way to eliminate this so-called “food guilt”, because when these days are actually structured into your diet you don’t feel like you’re doing anything wrong.

If it makes you feel better, you can think of them as mental health days, designed to give you a break from the hard work of a continuous diet.

(Because in a weird way, that’s exactly what they are.)

And as you achieve a great transformation, over time you’ll begin noticing that your relationship with food has also improved. You no longer have any fear of the foods which most people mistakenly believe will ruin their results (e.g. a sugary treat) because you understand that eating your favourite foods is still part of the process, and that everything is okay in moderation. So yeah, shout it from the rooftops, because you can finally enjoy a chocolate bar without feeling like you fucked up!

Support Your Diet With These Supplements

Most people are completely lost when it comes to supplements.

The good news is there’s only a few supplements which have been 100% proven to help us build more muscle and burn more fat, so I want you to stick to these and only these

• Whey Protein

A main benefit of a whey protein supplement is that it makes it easier to hit your daily protein target with zero prep time.

It’s also a fast-digesting sources of protein, so it’s a good choice after your workouts when your muscles are hungry, and this fast digestion speed means that whey doesn’t fill you up as much as other protein-based foods (very handy when you’re trying to eat more calories!).

Be sure to get a whey protein supplement which keeps “filler ingredients” (e.g. stuff that’s not protein) to a minimum and provides you with around 20-30g protein per serving, as this is the “sweet spot” for the biggest anabolic response and there’s no need to go any higher. This is the one that I use.

• Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine is the best muscle building supplement of all time.

You read that correctly. This little white powder will help you boost your explosive power, max strength, and lean recovery speed, and lean muscle mass. (16)

There’s no need for anything fancy here, just basic creatine monohydrate will do. This is the one I use.

• Pre-Workout

Most people think a pre-workout is just to boost your energy, but a good pre-workout is so much more than that.

Because alongside the obvious energy-boosting element it’ll also provide you with clinical doses of several additional ingredients (CitMal, beta-alanine, betaine) to improve the delivery of key nutrients to your muscles during exercise so you can achieve more reps per set and recover faster.

This is the one I use.

• Omega-3

These essential fatty acids are great for helping us build muscle, and just great for our overall health in general.

The DHA and EPA contained within fatty fish offer us more beneifts that I can list here (read this post), and most people don’t eat white fatty fish on a regular basis, so supplementing with it just makes sense.

This is the one I use.

• Multivitamin & Minerals

Much like Omega-3, this is simply a case of “plugging the gaps” which most people miss by not eating certain foods on a regular basis.

Fruit and vegetables contain different combinations of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) which help the body with a wide range of tasks; from the softness of your kin, to the shinines of your hair, the strenght of your fingernails, your energy levels, and even your mood!

Most people don’t eat a wide enough variety of foods to unlock the full spectrum of results here, so supplementing with a good multivitamins and minerals supplement is a sensible move.

This is the one I use.

In Summary

And you’re done!

Now you’ve got a simple framework to help you achieve a fantastic muscle building transformation over the next 12- weeks, and I look forward to seeing your results.

This is a template which I have used with hundreds (maybe even thousands!) of clients over the years; dating all the way back to my early days working as a PT in a local council gym, up to the present day at the legendary Powerhouse Gym!

Now it’s your turn, so good luck!

Further Reading:

If you enjoyed this blog, then you’ll probably also like reading these.

>> The Truth About Protein Requirements For Athletes
>> Russ’ Guide To Supplements That Actually Work
>> The Rules To Ripped

References:

1. Thomas D. T., et al. American College of Sports Medicine Joint Position Statement. Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc (2016).
2. Jäger R., et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr (2017).
3. Morton R. W., et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med (2018).
4. Witard O. C., et al. Effect of increased dietary protein on tolerance to intensified training. Med Sci Sports Exerc (2011).
5. Leaf A., et al. The Effects of Overfeeding on Body Composition: The Role of Macronutrient Composition – A Narrative Review. Int J Exerc Sci (2017).
6. Leibel R. L., et al. Energy intake required to maintain body weight is not affected by wide variation in diet composition. Am J Clin Nutr (1992).
7. Golay A., et al. Similar weight loss with low- or high-carbohydrate diets. Am J Clin Nutr (1996).
8. Golay A., et al. Weight-loss with low or high carbohydrate diet. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord (1996).
9. Schoenfeld B. J., et al. Effects of meal frequency on weight loss and body composition: a meta-analysis. Nutrition Reviews (2015).
10. Munsters M. J. M., et al. Effects of Meal Frequency on Metabolic Profiles and Substrate Partitioning in Lean Healthy Males. PLoS ONE (2012).
11. Norton L., et al. Optimal protein intake to maximize muscle protein synthesis Examinations of optimal meal protein intake and frequency for athletes. Agro Food Industry Hi Tech (2009).
12. Moore D. R., et al. Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men. Am J Clin Nutr (2009).
13. Stewart T. M., et al. Rigid vs. flexible dieting: association with eating disorder symptoms in nonobese women. Appetite (2002).
14. Bandegan A., et al. Indicator Amino Acid-Derived Estimate of Dietary Protein Requirement for Male Bodybuilders on a Nontraining Day Is Several-Fold Greater than the Current Recommended Dietary Allowance. J Nutr (2017).
15. La Bounty P. M., et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: meal frequency. J Int Soc Sports Nutr (2011).
16. Butts J., et al. Creatine Use In Sports. Sports Health (2018).