Lean Mass Gain for NFL prospects

    I get this question a LOT. STILL. If you want to gain weight, eat. Its that simple. Really. Look at all the obese people around you everyday. If you want to gain lean mass, well, youre gonna have to eat a LOT. Of protein. By this I mean dense protein sources. Forget about the calorie, its a pretty bad measurement for a concept of how much heat a food will produce when burned. Were not burning food in an oven here. We are trying to pack on some extra leverage and armor with at least 15-20 lbs extra muscle. To do that we need protein. I mean TOTAL grams protein. Dense protein sources are usually one of two things. Meats and fish. Guess what. Youre gonna have to eat a lot of these. Wanna gain 20 lbs before the Combine next year? You need to eat to that size/weight. Im not advocating the use of anabolics/androgenics here; although they certainly would help, they wont be the end-all, be-all solution. The real world data shows that the results of AAS use just isnt what people think. No one gains 20 lbs in 4 (or even 8) weeks from just juice. If they gained 20 lbs in 8 weeks they tremendously upgraded the quality and quantity of protein they were eating daily. They HAVE to feed the body protein. Steroids simply increase protein sysnthesis (there are other things they do well but we're not going into those here). Without them, you can still achieve the 20 lb LBM gain (*given a longer timeframe, even 40lbs can be done as well while remaining athletic and drug-free, and allowing for accomodation to new leverages, new mass, etc.) Its simple, but not easy.

Think 20 of these slapped onto you is gonna be easy?

  Now, gaining this weight naturally is gonna take some getting used to. Is it possible your blood pressure is gonna go up a tad? It can, but once your body gets used to the bigger area it has to pump blood throughout, it will go back down. Think adding 20 lbs of muscle is natural? Its not, and your body can try to fight it a bit. Just remember we adapt to anything given enough reason, stress to do so, and time. Gaining 20 lbs fast can be tough to deal with at first, especially once youre eating a lot, and it can be tough to walk and breathe at the same time after big meals. But we are doing this for a goal, something bigger than today. Just remember you can and will adapt. Youre gonna need more fiber in your diet everyday too. Eating steaks 2-3 times a day, chicken twice, and eggs and bacon in the AM can slow your digestion down to a level that will not allow you to eat often enough. Keeping digestion quick and smooth is like a well-built and maintained AR-15. Give it good ammunition and watch it perform above and beyond your highest expectations. Same with digestion. There is plenty of data to indicate that the nerve endings throughout the digestive system act as a sort of secondary brain, and believe me, if you eat the wrong foods you will feel it in your REAL brain. See http://www.suite101.com/content/the-brain-bowel-connection-a27274. Keep everything moving fast enough to avoid rotting food and food byproducts, which the toxins they produce will cross the intestinal wall and be released in the bloodstream, causing all kinds of havoc throughout the body.

Your body better be as smoothly operating as this guy is deadly effective

    Ever heard of the paleo diet? Meat and veggies, pretty much. Start liking it, since thats what you will be eating MOUNTAINS of. By doing so you lower your insulin resistance as well and allow insulin to do what we want it to do. Become a natural anabolic for us. We will be incorporating some of Kiefer's carb-backloading concepts as well, but since we arent following his suggestions/guidelines to the letter, were not actually backloading. Its more like a combination of paleo, Dante's protein guidelines, Kiefer's backloading, Heckman's digestion guidelines, and Tim Ferris' ideas here and there. You could technically do this for the rest of your life and live damn well, but eating this much is tough, and spending this much $$$ on food for every meal, every day, for the rest of your life will possibly get tiring too. If you gain the weight that you need and continue to improve your athletic perfomance and strength development, and play in the NFL, just know that the $$$ concerns over food will be virtually a non-issue (most players are provided more than enough food during camps and in season, and anything outside of that you will be able to afford yourself) and that you need to remember that most players eat like this during their career, and almost definitely during camps and in-season (keeping weight on gets harder and harder as the season goes on, and noone wants to be weaker, smaller, and exhausted(er) at the last, and most important, games of the season.)

   For quite a few years, a man by the name of Dante (Trudell) has been quietly changing the rules of the game in the bodybuilding community. And the people he trains, well they blow up. His big thing is pushing 2 grams of protein per lb bodyweight. Is this effective? Ridiculously. Now im not saying we need to think, act, or train like a bodybuilder. But this method is tough to argue with in the face of all the proof he has. Is it hard to do? Kinda. Think about this. If you weigh 220 lbs, you need double that in your daily protein intake in grams (440g pro). This is knocked down a bit by the use of 2 large protein shakes (2 or three scoops each) per day, in between meals, but its still not easy. Most people are shocked to find out that they usually eat roughly 50-75g of protein a day. Fitday.com has a free nutrition calculator/tracker that is fairly easy to use once you learn it. Start tracking your baseline diet to see where you need to increase. Most people need to be eating a large portion of meat with every meal.

• For example, breakfast (eggs are a decent protein source) can be 4-6 eggs, several strips of bacon, (roughly 50-60g protein) and some (think 3) fish oil caps and fiber (with this much protein daily you will need it, trust me), good sources of this are mixed veggies (warm them up, you need handfuls), broccoli by itself, psyllium husk fiber, etc. or a moderate amount of all 3 (best way IMHO).
• Several hours later, a shake (2-3 scoops, good for 40-70g protein), but not with too much added in since whatever you add will necessarily slow digestion, which is NOT what we want (you should be hungry every 2-3 hrs if not more, and there will be plenty of times where you will have to eat when you are NOT hungry). 
• Lunch: Steak/Chicken/Fish (roughly 50-60g protein), plently of veggies whatever style u want, 3-4 more fish oil caps, and handful of almonds. 
• Another shake, same amount (40-70g protein). 
• Meal 3:Steak/Chicken/ or Fish (another 50-75g roughly, it will look like 6-8 oz steak), plenty of carbs (assuming this is after training, otherwise veggies), 3 fish oil caps, cup of coffee (or substitute, only needed w/ carbs). 
• Snack 1: handful of almonds/nuts, lemon wedge or two (at least try to bite into it if you cant eat them), half liter milk (~15g protein). 
• Meal 4: Chicken, steak, or fish, (~40g protein, smaller portion sizes than before, approx 4-6oz.), veggies (stir fry for this example). 
• Snack 2: handful of deli meats, a couple slices of cheese, half liter milk (15g protein) 
• Meal 5: Chicken, steak, or fish (40g protein), some sort of greens supplement, broccoli, peppers & onions, etc. 

Total is in excess of 450g protein. Is this hard to eat? Somewhat. But it can also be AWESOME. Think about how many times a day you can eat steak! You may wanna pick up a summer job or something to start affording all this food though. Personally, I think that the return on investment is pretty damn good if you make it into the NFL.

                                                                       Paleo Foods


  Since we follow paleo guidelines somewhat with this football eating hybrid, just remember that you are eating veggies with every meal (and protein better be there as a primary food) as a hunter-gatherer style of eating.  There is one exception. After training. You had better eat a TON of carbs for the meal following training. Technically, nothing is off limits, just make sure you get plenty of protein, and that the cleaner you eat the better off you will be. This is from Kiefer's backloading, and works extremely well for recovery and mass gain while staying lean. Pizza, french toast, hamburgers, whatever. Throw in a little caffeine if you are eating less clean, to keep yourself plenty insulin sensitive. This is effectively your one cheat meal per day, since you arent eating carbs the rest of the day, so make it worth it. If you train more than once a day, a large portion of carbs should be eaten after strength/resistance training, but you can have plenty after conditioning as well. Skill practice will not require carb back loading after, however, but to keep yourself sharp a little bit of honey afterwards is acceptable. Also, plenty of nuts here and there (I eat these with every meal) will allow for higher natural testosterone levels than without. Keeping these levels high through plenty of meats, fishes, eggs, and good fats is HUGELY important in gaining lean mass, as well as keeping you mentally sane and tough.

Keys to athletic lean mass gain:
1) 2x lb BW in grams protein
2) Paleo eating except after training (backload carbs then)
3) >10g fish oils/day
4) Lots of fiber - psyllium husk fiber is quick and painless, add in natural sources like broccoli too.
5) Plenty of nuts (almonds esp) and healthy fats
6) Cissus Quadrulangaris - excellent for building lean muscle, up to 7g/day (try to shoot for 45mg/lb bodyweight, good idea to take before meals spread out over several doses)
7) Slam plenty of milk (at least a liter a day, up to a gallon a day) everyday, I like it between meals if im not having a shake.
8) Gallon of water a day.
9) Some sort of greens supplement (Athletic Greens, Amazing Greens Superfood, etc.)
10) If you wake up at night (most top athletes do, at least once, especially to pee) and wanna get a jump start on protein grams, slam a protein shake (you could even keep it by your bed) with a little fiber in it (1/2 tsp metamucil or psyllium husk fiber) and you should wake up w/ a slightly increased recovery and a headstart on the protein requirements for the day.
11) Consider cold showers after training for improved fat burning, better feeling joints, and mental toughness.
12) Also consider fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, natto, kefir, some cheeses, and fermented fish (also, Asian fish oils).

    Closing notes: Just since you are eating like this does not mean to change your training style. Lift for power, rate of force development(RFD), and raw, nasty strength; condition w/ the prowler, tractor tires, hill runs, etc. Make sure you get enough mental training in each session as well as physical (mental toughness is DAMN important if you want to keep playing football after college), but this article is not about training for football after college. That will possibly come later with several other professionals well-versed on that topic, with special focus on energy system devlopment and the specific conditioning and strength needs for this particular sport.
Also, please note that the USDA requirements for protein as well as studies commonly quoted (remember these are done mostly on elderly, sedentary populations) give much lower values than 2x lb of bodyweight for total grams protein/day. This is ridiculous to assume that there is a danger in eating larger amounts of protein than some arbitrary level. Eating double your BW lbs in grams of protein is perfectly safe unless you have one of several rare genetic disorders (you would be aware if you did) or if your kidneys have been fried (fever of 106 or higher in your lifetime) or damaged, or if you have only one kidney total. The fever issue is individual; whether your kidneys were actually damaged by a fever that high or not - personally ive had fevers that high 3 separate times in my life and my kidneys work just fine.