After many years of training I have learned a lot about diet and nutrition and seen many bodybuilders with poor nutritional habits destroy their physiques. In my opinion there are five main ingredients to building yourself a better body:

• Genetics – being the most influential
• Diet – you cant grow without food
• Training – you cant grow without proper training
• Willpower – you cant grow if you give up
• Self Discipline – you cant build a decent physique if you can’t stop yourself binging

If you take away one of these ingredients it will make your job all the more difficult. Structuring yourself a decent diet can reap rewards such as better health, improved fitness levels, and a better physique.

Here is a diet I have designed for a bodybuilder wishing to add mass while staying fairly lean. Unless your a genetic super freak and I doubt you are or else you wouldn’t be reading this, you will gain fat whilst eating above maintenance calories. Some people will gain more fat than others, some people will find it more difficult gaining mass than others, its only by experimenting you can find out what your body needs in order to improve your appearance.

Example bulking diet plan for an average 200lb person looking to add quality mass

06:30am :

10g of L-Glutamine and 5g Branch Chain Amino Acids

07:00am :

30 mins Steady State cardio (walking uphill, jogging slow, cycling)

07:45am :

100g oats in water

4 egg whites & 1 whole egg (high omega 3 eggs if you can)

10:30am:

Meal Replacement Powder 20g Carbs 40g Protein

1 tablespoon of peanut butter

01:30pm:

150g tuna or 150g chicken breast on wholemeal pitta bread

Large salad – tomatoes, lettuice, cucumber

Apple

Some fish oils (O3 epa,dha)

04:30pm:

50g Mackerel or salmon on wholemeal pitta bread

1 tablespoon peanut butter

05:00pm: Training (weights)

06:00pm:

40g Whey in water

20g maltodextrin

20g dextrose

Creatine

Vitamin C

06:45pm:

75g rice

150g chicken breast or 150g lean beef

Loads of vegetables (2 cups full)

15ml Flaxseed Oil

09:30:

250g cottage cheese

Mackerel or salmon salad

Handful of nuts

* Note - This diet should be tweaked for individuals and is just a starting guideline bulking diet.