There are few things in our lives within our control. Instead, we must be reactive and hopefully make the decisions to the best of our ability.

When it comes to your training and diet, you are in the driver’s seat. These two things are of the few things in life actually within your control.

Now, that does not mean you have to be a control freak and turn these aspects into obsessions. That would open a whole can of worms that we do not endorse.

Instead, the goal is to make each of these things as simple as possible so that you can place all of your willpower in the execution.

Just like your training program, the nutrition strategies before you are broken down so that you can take action. Follow these tactics to supplement your training and reinforce your transformation into a freak.

I. CaLoRiEs ArE KiNg Of ThE FrEaKs. When it comes to building muscle, caloric consumption is the most vital aspect of growth. More specifically, you must supply the nutrients necessary to grow thick and dense muscle.

To achieve these freak levels of muscle, you MUST be in a caloric surplus.

However, more does not necessarily mean better. Or in this case, more muscle.

This is NOT a free pass to eat your damn face off. While that sounds freakin’ fantastic and you will certainly pack on the pounds.

But the composition of those pounds will not be quality nor all muscle. The gains will come as a result of fat as well.

In Freak Muscle, we are aware that what you truly desire is an aesthetically pleasing physique. Not one where you have to diet down hard and switch to an intense caloric deficit at the completion of this program just to remove the layers upon the muscle you built.

We are skipping the big reveal here. You should be able to showcase this new muscle growth immediately. During this muscle gain phase, we will be looking to gain as little fat as possible.

To do this, we must begin by establishing your baseline and determining your maintenance caloric intake at this moment.

Over the next three days, stick to your normal diet. The only difference is that you will be tracking the number of calories you are consuming. We urge you not to change a thing in your nutrition.

This works best if you include two weekdays and one weekend day to give the best overall picture.

After the three days of tracking in your favorite calorie counter like the MyFitnessPal app, you will take the average of those three days’ caloric intake.

Now, here’s where we begin to make the changes.

TRAINING DAYS: You will take that number and multiple by 20%.

REST DAYS: Remain at baseline.

If you are hard gainer, add 10 percent to your baseline calories (Multiple baseline calories by .10 and then add)

If you put on fat easily, subtract 10 percent from your baseline calories. (Multiple baseline calories by .10 and then subtract)

For example, we have the famous freak, Schlitzie who figures out he consumes 2,000 calories on average. We take that numbers and multiple by .20 to get 400. This is the amount of calories that

Schlitzie must add to his diet on the days that he trains in the sideshow.

On the days, Schlitzie completes the workouts in the Freak Muscle training program, he will now consume 2,400 calories.

Before putting these new calories into play, we recommend that you take a weight and waist measurement to establish your starting point.

Every week to two weeks, you should re-take these measurements to monitor your progress.

The goal each week is to:

Increase your scale weight and strength while your waist measurement remains constant or decreases.

That is utopia. Do not expect that to be the case day in and day out of this program. However, by monitoring and making adjustments, the game plan can be customized to how you are responding.

Outside of measuring and monitoring your body fat percentage, the best indicator of muscle gain without increases in fat is looking at your body weight, waist measurement and strength levels.

If your progress is moving in the right direction, stay on course.

If your progress plateaus, you will either increase your caloric intake by 10 percent. To do this, multiple your training day

calories by .10 and add to the total. So, the example of 2,400 calories will now be 2640.

If you want to be more aggressive with your muscle gain or find yourself to be a true hard gainer, you should increase your caloric intake on days you train and rest. So, every day of your week will be increased.

You can also achieve this through planned re-feeds on a weekly to bi-weekly basis.

If you are gaining weight too fast, you can combat this by decreasing calories by 10 percent or including metabolic conditioning of your liking for 2 to 3 days per week.

The key to consistent gains will be constant monitoring of your progress and using these adjustments to keep your body moving in the right direction of freak muscle.

Ii. PrIoRiTiZe PrOtEiN. Once you have the number of calories you need to consume set, the next step is breaking down the composition of that intake. This is where macronutrients come in. 

If calories are king, then you could consider protein intake the queen. 

Freaks LOVE their protein. 

Meat, fish, eggs, dairy sources and protein powders are the core of a muscle-building meal and overall diet. 

Not only will adequate protein intake directly assist your growth by providing your body with the building blocks of muscle, its consumption will also:

• Create an anabolic hormonal environment that promote muscle building and fat loss

• Repair and promote growth of damaged muscle, bone, skin, teeth and hair

• Assist with fat loss due to its high thermic effect of food (20 percent of calories are burned during digestion process)

• Provides nine essential amino acids that the body cannot produce and must be supplemented with through the diet

• Has a high satiation value that will help keep you feeling full and satisfied for longer periods

A high protein diet is necessary to build freak amounts of muscle.  To optimize your nutrition for maximal muscle gain, you must prioritize your protein intake.

This means you should consume protein at every meal.

The amount of protein you should consume through out the day should mirror your exact goals.

Back to our favorite performer, Schlitzie, who is 150 pounds at 10 percent body fat. [You can estimate your body fat percentage here.]

Schlitzie has a lean body mass of 135 pounds [150 - (150 x .1) = 135]. He would like to add 12 pounds of muscle over the next 12 weeks. No easy feat by any means.

He would take his lean body mass (LBM) and multiple that number by 1.2 for 162 (135 x 1.2 = 162). This is the target amount of protein (in grams) that Schlitzie will eat each day.

To determine your specific protein intake, multiple your LBM by 1.2 to 1.5.

IiI. EnSuRe EnOuGh FaT InTaKe To OpTiMiZe HoRmOnEs Freaks do not fear fat. They know that fat is not the enemy, but another addition to your muscle-building arsenal. Its consumption is a vital component of the freak of nature diet.

Specifically,  healthy fats are the foundation of optimal functioning hormones. Since hormones are the drivers behind muscle growth, burning body fat and boosting the metabolism, optimal fat sources should be integrated into the diet.

Fat also assists in:

• vitamin absorption • hormone regulation • brain function

With that said, we must note that fat is the most nutrient dense macronutrient at 9 calories per gram. Therefore, we must be wise in its consumption to reap its benefits without sacrificing our physique oriented goals.

The plan of attack will call for consuming most of these essential fatty acids through our protein sources, eliminating processed fats and refined oils (trans fat), and adding quality fats beyond the animal-based sources when necessary.

It also must be noted that your fat and carbohydrate intake (discussed next) are inversely related. Therefore, as fat intake increases, carbohydrate intake decreases. And vice versa.

Depending on your body fat percentage, the ideal fat intake will range from 20 to 40 percent of your caloric intake. To determine your specific fat intake, use the chart below:

FaT InTaKeBoDy FaT % % OF CALORIC INTAKE:

3 - 8% 20% of caloric intake

8 - 12% 25% of caloric intake

13 - 15% 30% of caloric intake

16 - 20% 35% of caloric intake

21% + 40% of caloric intake

Back to our main freak, Schlitzie. Since we know that he is 10 percent body fat, 25 percent of his caloric intake will be from fat intake.

To calculate this, you will take the caloric intake we discovered above and simply multiply it by .25 (2400 x .25 = 600). Then we will take that number and divide by 9 (the calories per gram) to get 66.67. Rounding up, Schlitzie’s fat intake will be allotted 67 grams.

Iv. CoNsUmE CaRbOhYdRaTeS. The final piece of your macronutrient puzzle will be your carbohydrates. If you strength train, especially in this Freak Muscle program, there is no doubt about it that you need carbohydrates. 10000%. 

Since you will be training harder than ever before, carbohydrates are the body’s preferred fuel source during high-intensity activity. In order to spare muscle from being broken down as a fuel source, we will consume carbohydrates at the proper times [we will dive into this later] to take advantage of synthesizing new muscle tissue and repairing damaged cells from training.

When broken down, carbohydrates are simply made of glucose (a.ka. sugar) molecules. They are stored in the liver, brain, blood and muscles as glycogen.

Typically, carbohydrates are separated into two categories, simple and complex sources. In our nutritional strategy, we break carbohydrates into two different categories:

1. NON-STARCHY CARBOHYDRATES:

These are your green veggies. And yes, vegetables are carbohydrates. A high caliber diet will include a high intake of vegetables and aim for the inclusion at EVERY MEAL.

[NOTE: You will not count these towards your daily macro targets]

Green, leafy vegetables will maintain the balance between acid to alkaline. This offset is necessary due to high acidity of protein consumption. The vegetables and some fruit will stabilize this by being high alkaline foods.

2. STARCHY CARBOHYDRATES:

These are your secondary carbohydrates and the macronutrient sources you must EARN from training. These starchy components will supply the benefits of properly timed insulin (which we will further discuss).

Some of your best options are but not limited to:

• Rice (white or brown) • Sweet Potatoes • Oatmeal • Fruit • Potatoes • Quinoa

To determine your specific carbohydrate intake, you will fill the remainder of calories.

Once again, Schlitzie comes to the rescue. So we know that his caloric intake on training days is 2400 calories. His protein intake is 162 grams, which is 648 calories (162 x 4). His fat intake is 67 grams, which is 603 (67 x 9).

Adding these two numbers together, we arrive at 1251 calories between protein and fat intake (648 + 603). We subtract that

number from his total caloric intake to get 1149 calories remaining (2400 - 1251 = 1149).

Then we take this remaining number and divide by 4 (the calories per gram of carbohydrates) to arrive at 287 grams of carbs.

Schlitzie’s final calories and macros on his training days will be:

2,400 Calories 162 g Protein 287 g Carbohydrates 67 g Fat

V. MiCrOnUtRiEnTs FoR MaSsIvE GaInS. With your macronutrients in place, a too-often overlooked aspect of muscle growth and overall health is your micronutrients. More specifically, the consumption of vitamins, minerals, fiber and water.

When it comes to squeezing the most out of your training and nutrition, the priority of micronutrients is high on the freak of nature’s list.

While you may think they have a small impact due to their name, they can be the freak factor in how you look, feel and perform. Thankfully, it’s quite easy to ensure that you are hitting your daily requirements.

Vitamins & Minerals: Without going into crazy detail that is out of the scope of this manual, vitamins and minerals can be fulfilled by eating a diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Prioritize high food quality, organic when possible.

Aim to hit 80 percent of your macros with whole foods. That should take a majority of the work.

To look deeper and individualize, we recommend that you get blood work done to determine which micronutrients you may be deficient in. You may need to supplement or include a specific food that is high in that vitamin.

Hydration: Water makes up 60 percent of our total body weight, so we would say it’s pretty damn important. Not to mention, it also:

• Composes 75% of your brain and muscles and 83% of your blood

• Helps the body in transporting and absorbing nutrients to your cells

• Flushes out toxins, removes waste, and aids bowel movements

• Protects and cushions your joints and organs

As we touched upon in the mechanisms behind hypertrophy, cell swelling was a vital portion of producing metabolic stress. A cell that is hydrated properly and possesses mineral balance will have more endurance. One that is dehydrated and depleted will cause reduced pumps, cause cramping and reduce your overall muscle building potential.

Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces daily.

Fiber: When in a caloric surplus with intentions to build muscle, you will come to a point where it becomes difficult to consume all “clean” whole foods. However, that is not a free pass to hit your macronutrient targets with less than optimal foods that lack vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Before you crack open that carton of ice cream, make pancakes on Sunday morning (because the Rock), or eat all ‘dem tacos, there is one specific additional target you must hit in your diet.

That target is your daily fiber intake.

As a general recommendation, your intake should be 20 grams at the minimum and up to 60 grams at that maximum.

These optimal fiber levels will help with digestive health and gut motility (keeping you regular), assist in blood sugar control by blunting the response of higher glycemic indexed carbohydrates and increase your metabolic rate. 

In this case, more is not better. Stay within the recommended range to avoid malabsorption, gas, bloating and constipation. 

Vi. NuTrItIoN FrEaK FaCtOrS These are quick hits or X-Factors on the nutrition side of your freak transformation.

• In all honesty, none of this matters. All the crazy, intense methods. The set and repetition schemes. The perfect macros. The nutrient timing. It’s all worthless if you do not execute on a consistent basis.

• The perfect diet provides the nutrients we need, stimulates and satisfies our taste buds and feeds our goals to bring us closer to becoming who we want to ultimately be.

• Meal frequency, the number of meals consumed daily, is trivial towards your muscle-building goals. Whether your schedule allows you to eat 6 meals a day or a single feeding, calories and macronutrients are the priority.

• However, to fully optimize muscle growth, your body needs nutrients to build muscle. Aim for 4 to 5 meals with at least 3 to 5 hours between them.

• Nutrient timing is most vital around the workout. Consume the majority of your carbohydrates in the pre, peri and post workout windows.

• Realize that willpower is a finite. The same total amount is spread among your training, diet, work, career goals, relationships, and social life. Awareness and balance are the keys to managing willpower.

• If you breakdown and go off your diet, the absolute key is to stop the binge immediately. At whatever it takes, put your willpower towards not allowing it to extend more than a single day.

• Meal Preparation is an extremely important and effective strategy to hit your macro targets while not tapping into your willpower reserves. Dedicate one to two hours a week to meal prep and you will save more time and energy in the long run.

• If you are terrible at cooking or just hate it, look into a meal delivery service to solve this problem.

• And even if you do hate it, you should still learn how to cook. It is a necessary skill by humans to be able to feed oneself. You never know what might happen if the freaks take over.

• Practice mindfulness in your eating. Chew your food fully. Smell, taste and enjoy your food. Your meals should stimulate your senses.

• Rotate your sources of protein, fat and carbohydrate sources to avoid developing food sensitivities. Eat as much of a variety as possible. A good way to ensure this is by eating food that is in-season.

• Do not allow social anxieties or peer pressure derail your progress. Remember why you are doing what you are. Own your evolution into a freak.