Bodybuilding
So, I joined a huge Bodybuilding forum, because I was looking to pack on a little muscle. But as soon as I started getting into some of the nutrition department posts, I realized how disseminated the whole bodybuilding and weight lifting community is with poor health advice and that I definitely don't want part of that.
2g of protein for ever pound of body weight? I don't care if somehow it packs on muscle like nobody's business, I don't want that kind of damage to my kidneys, liver, and bones. It seems like a giant echo chamber of FLEXXX magazine psuedoscience. Has anyone else come across issues like this? A bunch of people who eat only meat, whey protein shakes and maybe a few bananas?
They all seem rather indifferent about the long term effects on health and more focused on the instant superficial muscle gains... Seems like a rather faulty way of thought.
I go to a bodybuilder gym (although I'm not a bodybuilder), so YES! Although I did hear a guy talk to another lifter about how whey protein makes your waist straight down instead of cut in like a V. That was the only challenge to mindset.
Definitely faulty...and probably largely based on product placement, advertisement, industry, and sales! Gotta have that protein powder. ::) Was it a vegan bodybuilding forum? I don't know how the mindset is there. http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/
No, simply bodybuilding.com, I thought it'd have some ideas on cutting weight a little and putting on a little more muscle. It was pretty much 250,000 posts saying "MOAR PROTEENS! LIFT HEAVY!" and diet plans of 8 whey and casein protein shakes with maybe a dry chicken breast and egg white for dinner. After browsing through and looking at these guys and wondering "why?", I'm starting to think my current musculature is just fine...
No, simply bodybuilding.com, I thought it'd have some ideas on cutting weight a little and putting on a little more muscle. It was pretty much 250,000 posts saying "MOAR PROTEENS! LIFT HEAVY!" and diet plans of 8 whey and casein protein shakes with maybe a dry chicken breast and egg white for dinner. After browsing through and looking at these guys and wondering "why?", I'm starting to think my current musculature is just fine...
Probably! Do you do any type of weight training? I'm a fan of the good old fashioned body weight exercises.
Oh, I lift with dumbbells at home mixed with pull-ups and push-ups three days a week. Fairly heavy weights. I do high intensity interval cardio two days a week and yoga one day a week. For a frame of reference, there's a pic of me in the P90X thread. After seeing the meat-head shit show that can be the competitive weight lifters, I think I may just stay moderately strong and light and healthy.
lol, oh. Yeah, I think you're good.
I know you didn't like reading a bunch of meat eaters protein advice, but the muscle that you hope to build has to come from somewhere. And that somewhere is the food that you take it. Unless you're eating at a caloric surplus, it will be impossible to gain mass.You CAN veganize this process, pretty easily I might add. Ally posted a pretty great website, and Veganfitness.net has some dudes on there you would never guess were vegan.
It sounds like you are already pretty in-shape, and probably have a decent base level of strength. Have you heard of Strarting Strength? It's a great routine if you're looking to get into weight lifting. Just Google it. "light and healthy" are not mutually exclusive to each other, you can be heavy(er) and healthy as well! Eat, Lift, Grow.
I understand the mechanics of weight lifting and putting on muscle. I was bench pressing 300 lbs at the age of 17, I think my real concern with the field as a whole was more of the idea that wellness and overall health is almost completely neglected in favor of being huuuugggeee. Subsisting on nothing more than cans of tuna, dry chicken breast, whey protein shakes, and creatine.
Yeah, fuck creatine.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691485/?tool=pmcentrez
This isn't really any good input but I started body building a bit over the winter. Spring - fall I'm cycling and running all the time and while its not really that effective to bulk up as a runner / cyclist I still felt like doing so. So I weight trained 4 days a week and ate what I felt like I should be eating. Whatever I did worked because my muscle doubled itself since last year. There actually was what looked like a helpful article on bodybuilding.com but you know, I think the best thing to do is just eat what you think you should eat and not overtrain.
Also, just do squats. Squats are the only thing that matter. :D
Have you read "Thrive" by Brendan Brazier?
http://www.amazon.com/Thrive-Nutrition-Optimal-Performance-Sports/dp/0738212547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301515739&sr=8-1
He recommends hemp protein, which you can buy in powdered format in the refrigerated section of your health food store. I've been tossing a couple of scoops of that into my morning breakfast smoothies and it seems to help. His other recipes by and large are not my cup of tea.