Just Another Day: The Animal's Meal Plan.

We are gonna break it down, meal by meal and examine what it takes to be the biggest Animal we can be. From dawn til dusk and beyond we are going to focus on everything that goes down the hatch.

Just Another Day: The Animal's Meal Plan. banner

As you all well know, in this crazy lifestyle of ours, eating is more than half the battle. It is the backbone of our gains, the most essential element of our progress, the make or break, do or die, men from the boys factor in creating a truly awesome physique.

Pre-contest it is a rigorous chore—starving yourself, choking down the blandest of the bland vittles everyday for three months. It is the most grueling and demanding part of the bodybuilder's existence.

This article will not focus on that pre-contest purgation but instead on the structure of a solid day of mass eating. What to eat, when to eat it and why. Because even though we are talking about the calorie surplus of the off-season, we must still be meticulous and conscientious and eat with a purpose.

Even in the long sleeve, powerlifting months of winter we must eat with function in mind, on a schedule, day in and day out. We must focus on maximizing our potential and doing all we can to gain that inch on the next guy that will, in the long run, separate us from the rest of the pack.

We are gonna break it down, meal by meal and examine what it takes to be the biggest Animal we can be. From dawn til dusk and beyond we are going to focus on everything that goes down the hatch.

You will be eating often over the course of the day, constantly nourishing your musculature and at the same time supercharging the blast furnace that will be your metabolism, because after all we are in this to get diesel, not fat.

So use the following as a guide and feel free to tweak things here and there. Pay attention, class is in session.

Meal 1: Break The Fast

Rise and shine motherf*cker, it is time to feed the beast. You have been in a state of catabolism for at least a couple of hours by now and your muscles are screaming for some love. They need a whole lot of protein ASAP as well as a boatload of carbs.

This should be one of your biggest meals of the day from a calorie standpoint and should include a healthy dose of supplementation. Breakfast might look something like this:

Meal 2: Snack Attack

About two hours after the breakfast feast, you are going to want to facilitate the influx of some protein and carbs. This should be a smaller meal that can be consumed quickly, on the go:

  • 3.5 scoops of Real Gains mixed in skim milk
  • 1 sandwich: 2 slices of whole wheat bread, 2 tbsp natural peanut butter, 1 sliced banana

Meal 3: The Lunch Crunch

Taking the allotted luncheon respite, do all you can to consume a classic bodybuilding meal. Clean protein and some fibrous carbs—veggies work wonder for the digestive system. This is a low calorie meal, but should be nonetheless power packed:

  • 10 oz. Grilled chicken breast
  • 1 Large salad w/ fat free dressing
  • 1 Diet soda

Meal 4: Cheaters Do Win

This is a meal designed to help you maintain your sanity and at the same time load you up with some much needed calories.

We will call upon the classic American staple of the fast food slop house to prepare this mini-feast. Yeah, you might be hitting up the Golden Arches, but keep your shit together. Remember you are a bodybuilder first and must conduct yourself as such:

  • 1 Chicken sandwich
  • 2 Hamburgers
  • 1 Diet soda

Meal 5: Pre-Workout Prep

You can't get busy on an empty stomach. However, before you train you want to keep it light and purposeful. Like essential aminos. What you are consuming you are doing so for a reason. Nothing but powders and pills here, bro. Enjoy:

Meal 6: Opening The Window

Next to breakfast, this is probably the most important meal of the bodybuilder's day. Literally the moment you drop the weights on your last set, you need to be downing something anabolic.

This is the perfect time for a liquid meal, something easily assimilated and readily shuttled to the beaten and starving muscle cells. At this point, whatever you throw at them will be sucked up optimally and used to build a bigger you. Get to it.

  • Animal Nitro with 8 oz. grape juice
  • 3.5 scoops of Real Gains mixed with water (30 minutes after Animal Nitro)
  • Gatorade or carb drink mixed with 5g glutamine and 5g creatine
  • Uni-Liver tablets

Meal 7: The Winner Dinner

Arriving home from your war at the gym, it is time again for a traditional bodybuilding meal. This should utilize a protein source different than that which you had at lunch, for the sake of variety and a varied amino-acid profile.

We'll throw in a dessert here too, because this is the off-season after all, and what is the off-season without a little bit of the sweet stuff.

  • 10 oz. New York strip steak
  • 1 Baked potato
  • 1 Large salad with fat-free dressing
  • 1 Diet soda
  • 1 bowl of your favorite Ice cream

Meal 8: Big Dreams

Before you shuffle off to get your square eight, you have to place your body in an anabolic state for slumber.

A slow digesting protein blend including casein would be ideal here, along with some aminos to prime the internal muscle-building environment.

  • 3.5 scoops of Real Gains mixed in skim milk
  • 5g glutamine
  • Uni-Liver tablets

Conclusion

There it is, pimp. A day well spent. The dues paid to ensure that you'll be bigger tomorrow than you were just a day ago. There is a certain sense of accomplishment that comes with knowing that you put more thought and time into what you consume on an average day than most people put into their investment portfolio.

You realize all that needs to be done to get you where you need to be and you are more than willing to do it. You're gonna eat what you need to eat when you need to eat it, not because it is something you have to do, but because it is a part of who you are. You are one in a million. You are a bodybuilder. You are an Animal.