Working with Different Body Types
by John Meadows on February 1, 2011February 2011: Getting Started in 2011
Now that a New Year is upon us, all the gyms are filled with resolution making newbies. Everybody wants to start to get in better shape. Come around March, most of these people will drop out, and we will have our pick of machines again.
This is also about the time that most start dieting for spring shows or rededicating themselves to putting on muscle. I want to take you into the plans of a few of my people, just to give you an idea of how each is different, and what we are doing. Your profile might match one of these people!
John Quint
Bodytype – Mesomorphic – Grows easily, has to suffer a bit to get totally ripped.
John won the Super heavies in the Mr. Ohio last year as well as a few other titles. He cemented himself as a top competitor around here. John has one of those body types where he has to stay lean for a while in order to really see deep muscle separation. He is one of those guys where people will say, if he was just a tad sharper and more separated….know what I mean?
Some people would say it’s thick skin. John isn’t actually competing until May, but his diet is set-up as if he is competing 4 weeks sooner. His normal approach is a 16 week diet, but we are doing 20 weeks this time. The goal is to then be fat free in 16 weeks, and then allow for his skin to thin, and for muscle separation to deepen over the next 4 weeks leading up to the show. John’s diets always ramp down carbs slowly until they get to pretty low levels (50 grams or so). This year he will be doing that sooner, and then hopefully be able to add a bit back in as he maintains his condition for the additional 4 weeks. Take a look at this pic taken 2 weeks out from Collegiate Nationals last year. He is very lean, but there is an opportunity for better muscle separation. See what I mean? In terms of training technique to achieve this, stretching and various therapies can help, which is interesting because John is a Myofascial Therapist, so he can actually do some of the technique on himself.
Starting diet for John:
40% Protein
25% Carbs
35% Fat
This will vary slightly on training and non-training days. Training days requires a bit more carbs and less fat.
We will ramp down carbs as we go, and ramp down fat to a degree as well. John will use a heavy dose of Essential Aminos daily (40+ grams) as his diet gets tougher. This prevents him from losing any muscle at all.
Todd Buchanon
Bodytype – Endo-mesomorphic – Grows well, but also adds fat easily if calories are even the slightest bit too high.
Old man Buchanon as we call him, is a 43 year old machine. I don’t agree with his frequent competing throughout the year, but it’s his choice, so I support him. He has made tremendous progress in his conditioning, as he is now know for it, instead of just his shape. For Todd, he is competing again in late February at the Northern Kentucky bodybuilding championship. Todd’s metabolism is a bit stubborn, probably due to his frequent dieting throughout the year. Though he does get ripped, he has to suffer a bit, because his body loves to hold water and fat! For him, I have to push him real hard on low carbs, make him suffer actually, then pull back and refeed him to keep him sane. Todd will do around 10 days of low carbs (50-100 grams) taken only pre and post training, and then I’ll give him a high calorie meal or two to keep his metabolism from getting stale. It’s usually a 200-300 carb day, which to many of us, wouldn’t be enough. For Todd though, it is enough, and if I go higher, I can see him getting fatter almost immediately.
Starting diet for Todd at 16 weeks out:
50% Protein
25% Carbs
30% Fat
Current Diet at 5 weeks out for Todd:
60% Protein
15% Carbs
25% Fat
Carbs will continue to decrease for Todd, to ensure that he is as ripped this year as he was last year.
Here he is 4 week out of his next show.
Mark Angelou
Bodytype – Ectomorphic. Hard to gain muscle, loses it easily, and stays lean.
Mark is a very hard gainer and very thin naturally. When he came to me he was about 180 lbs at 6 foot tall, 2 years ago. He does not compete, but is very passionate about training and getting better. For Mark, I have to really push his calories, and push him hard to progress in the gym. His goal is to get to a lean 220. He is now 211, and is getting there slowly but surely. For Mark, a missed meal, or training, almost instantly results in regression, so he has to be 100% consistent.
Mark’s diet is to hammer down as much healthy caloric dense grass-fed beef, whole eggs, oats, etc as he can. I also give him 6 cheat meals a week. Yes 6, he needs them, trust me.
Ricardo Bonner
Bodytype – Endo-mesomorphic. Hard to get really lean, but does gain muscle well.
Ricardo just started with me this week. I have a good feeling about this guy. I am sometimes wrong with my first impression on people and their willingness to bust ass and achieve results, but most of the time, I can tell. Ricardo 6 months from now will look totally different if I am right on this one.
So here is the diet I started him on, based on his answers on the questionnaire and sensitivity to carbs.
Sarter Diet for Ricardo
Non-Training Days – 2,700 calories
43% Protein
20% Carbs
37% Fat
Training Days – 3,000 calories
45% Protein
25% Carbs
30% Fat
If you have any questions, please send them to me via the website or directly to [email protected]