The Sandow Method/Use Light Dumbells

Now if you’re like most people you immediately write off the use of light dumbbells. You most likely view such things as the Sandow Method as malarkey.

You’ve seen many things stating how old time strongman couldn’t possibly have become strong using light dumbbells, people stating thier opinion, saying things such as the light work was simply used to sell courses. But what if it wasn’t?
What if it does work?

Bodybuilders often try to get the most they can out of a certain weight. They may squeeze the shit out of each rep,and/or push the # of reps quite high.

If you’re trying to come up with what is physically possible it’s best to drop most sources and look to the elite. Be it current or past. The book The Super Athletes by David Willoughby is a great starting point.

(Page 195 The Super Athletes by David Willoughby)

Look closely at #17 (Highlighted). Are you telling me you don’t think the man accomplishing that would be wicked strong,despite using a light dumbbell?

Run the #s there. 12lb 1.5oz is 12.09 lbs. 16000 reps in 2hrs 58 minutes. The poundage is 193440 or 96.72 tons in under 3 hours. 16000 divided by 178 minutes is just under 90 reps a minute. I’ll use 89 for the math. 89×12.09 is 1076lbs, that’s over half a ton. He moved over half a ton every minute with his upper body for almost 3 hours. Obviously he had strength endurance, but I’d venture to guess he’d have a least a decent 1rm simply due to hypertrophy and all the volume.

I know from experience feeder workouts using 10 lb dumbbells for hammer curls improved my max curl. It’s reasonable to beleive the same would apply here.

Try this: Grab a 10lb dumbbell, And set a timer for 5 minutes. Your goal is to press 500 reps.(one hand only,no breaks,you stop you’re done) I can almost guarantee you won’t accomplish it. I hit failure near 200 reps. Now imagine doing this for 3 hours straight, and successfully.

You can become stronger using anything. Get it!

-J

Bodyweight Circuits

PT for me consists of pushups,bodyweight squats,and calf raises.

I just did them for the day, roughly 100 of each. Now normally each exercise is done one after the other finishing one at a time,but I was bored and decided to mix it up a bit.

I mixed the exercises, no rest circuit style, 5 of one,15 the next,25 the third. I’d do 5-25 of each,then switch. I mixed my stance for bodyweight squats,doing Hindu, regular,and staggered stances. I did some of the pushups very slow and controlled.

By doing all 3 exercises mixed with no rest I got out of breath. I also managed to get a pump over most of my body. It’s snowing,the roads are shit. This is how I can always exercise. This circuit requires no equipment and can be done anywhere. I did this session in the bathroom.

Many would say this isn’t effective, but they’d be wrong. I got cardio work from this. In 2015 I was able to run well at 215lbs simply by doing bodyweight circuits and jump rope. I lost weight and got stronger from all the reps.

I’ve been doing the pushup, bodyweight squat,calf raise PT for 44 days now. My quads are gaining size, and the mind muscle connection is growing. If I do it circuit style most of the time  I’ll regain my cardio.

If you’re ever gymless there is always a way to build strength and stamina. Give my,or your own bodyweight circuit a try.

Strength through adversity!
-J

Chest Feeder Workouts

Hilariously my most visited post keeps getting hits for the keywords “chest feeder workouts”, the topic of that post is not about chest specifically but feeders in general. In that one I mostly talked about improving my shoulders.

So taking the que from Google results, here you are chest feeder workouts:

Pushups Daily

Like I’ve said before I’ve done pushups near daily for almost a decade. My chest was always my most developed bodypart, but whether this was genetic, or from all those early in puberty pushups I do not know. I’d assume that it’s both. Regardless for anyone looking to bulk up their chest I can not recommend doing daily pushups  highly enough. They are an essential part of a balanced day.

Start easy 10 a day, and over time ramp it up to any big # you like. 100 is not many, 250 is a decent # for this, 500 even better. Take those into consideration, and know this: I’ve done roughly 1000 in an hour before using perfect form. Depending on your structure and your leverages cutting the range short to even as little as say an inch for very high pumping reps may be the best for you. Nothing works my chest better than ultra high rep (250+ rep) sets at the very bottom of the pushup’s range of motion.

Bench Frequently

Growing has to do with both volume, and getting stronger. Pushups cover your volume, and benching is where you build the raw strength.

Bench( rotating through variations is acceptable, incline,flat, dumbells) as frequently as your shoulders will allow you to. The # of times per week can vastly be improved by doing shoulder health work such as plate external rotations, shoulder dislocates, and face pulls. It is smart to add in pull work to balance this pushing work.

You will want to treat your reps the way a Russian powerlifter would and keep it low rep, and only moderately weighted. Focus on power here, using your 5-8rm for multiple sets of 3 daily is the ticket. Add weight when it gets far too easy, but keep those protocols. This has been one of the ways I can bench all the time without issue, I keep the volume low.

If High Frequency Benching is Not An Option

If no matter what you try your shoulders act up to an unacceptable level, despite low volume speed reps,rehab work, and balancing out with pulling work it’s acceptable to not bench that frequently.

You’ll be fine with the pushups. In fact the volume can be just about infinite here. Do to the nature of closed vs open chain exercise, I’ve found balancing with back work isn’t that necessary with pushups. For bench it is.

So if benching is out of the question simply do lots of pushups, in any range of motion, daily. Simple. It may not be easy though.

Flexing/Squeezing

Simply flexing/squeezing your chest can be highly beneficial. Most positions are fairly hard to describe, I’d have to video them, so I’ll leave it up to you to find what method/position of contraction works.

Quick hints though :

  • Push your shoulders downward
  • Push your hands together
  • Slowly push your hands outward

You can also focus on the contraction during the pushups you should be doing.

Dips

This really depends on your leverages, and what places/bar you’re using. If this works for you great, if not pushup.

Others

You could do flys, pec deck work, anything that hits your chest really, but this isn’t where I’ve put much if any of my time. Play around here, my other category may be exactly what works for you. An idea, light ultra high rep db flys laying on the floor( from Apocalypse Barbell Blogspot, site no longer available)

Recap
  • Pushups Daily- build up the volume, use any range of motion
  • Bench -For low volume, as frequently as you can allow, if your joints can’t take this it’s acceptable to drop
  • Flex/Squeeze/Contract- Squeeze the shit out of your chest
  • Dips- Like bench are an option
  • Others- Whatever you come up with that works for you

Volume, and getting stronger. That’s how you build size.

Really if all you take away from this to apply to your chest feeder workouts is do lots of pushups every day  I’ve made my mark.

Get It, And Do Pushups Daily. Build that Arnold Chest!

-J

Curl Every Day/Bicep Feeder Workouts

Yesterday was the 12th day that I curled in a row, about 3 of the days were regular barbell curls, 1 day was preacher curls, 3 were moderate to heavy sets of 5-8 hammer curls, and 5 of them were feeder workouts doing a set of 100+ hammer curls with 10lb dbs.

I decided to do this after hitting a strict curl with 135 about 14 days ago. I wanted to see if I could force the 1rm to become a 5rm.

Yesterday was supposed to be test day, but I wasn’t sure if I’d be going to the gym so I did a feeder set in the AM. That night I ended up going and testing after all.

I did an easy set of 3 with 95 to feel the movement, then got to it. I ended up hitting a hard 2 and failed the 3rd rep.

12 days of extra work for my weakest bodypart, and I turned the 1rm into a 2rm. Yes I fell short of making it  a 5rm, but that was purposefully aiming high. All in all I’d say in spent less then an hour doing biceps in that time. A few sets or a feeder take little clock time.

For the rest of the month I’m going to curl every day in some capacity.

For the most part I will be sticking with hammer curls for sets of 5-10 at the gym or feeder workouts with the 10lb dbs at home. I don’t generally like short curl bars, and using a regular barbell can be hell for the wrist. Hammer curls cause no problems, so hammer curls it is for the most part.

Roughly 3 more weeks of this. I’d like to not only get the 135×5, but surpass it and hit 155×5. This short term progress opened in my eyes to the possibility of much more impressive feats like a curl of 185+ or 135×20+ reps.

Honesty forcing bicep improvement will make me have to get better at chins too. In the past my biceps were carried by my ability to do a moderate # of chins regardless of bodyweight. Improving one would improve the other, and doing both would compound the effects.

Now I’m thinking get chin endurance to 20+, and be able to 1rep with at least 1/2 my bodyweight added. The curl improvement really opened up possibilities in my mind.

I’m going to get crazy strong on these. Diesel biceps, and diesel back strength here I come!

 

 

Dirty Bulking aka Getting Jacked

It makes me laugh how much mental effort some put into the idea of getting big, bulking up.

The science involved isn’t rocket science. It’s quite simple really. You have to eat more than you’re burning. Yes there are times when you will recomp,but that’s not the topic here.

Bulking : How To Do It , The Pluses And The Minuses:

How:

Eat more. You’ll want to get more protein in, but carbs will be how you really up the calories. They can cost pennies and are easy to eat in copious amounts.

After wrestling season ended my junior year of high school in ten days I went from 195 to 215. How you ask? I ate everything I could get my hands on, and wasn’t running 3-5 miles near daily.

During spring track I was between 225 and 235.

Over that summer I force fed up to a little over 250 (253lbs), again eating everything I could get my hands on, and in large quantities. I’d drink a gallon + of whole milk daily,often eat ground beef mixed with cheese by the pound, eat every available home cooked meal, and lots of junk food. Yes I got fat, but after dropping down to 225 I looked fine. I honestly feel at the time this was the only way I’d get bigger.

Pluses:

You can radically change your homeostasis point for size.

You can become far larger than nature sans force feeding and weights would have you. For me to get past 185 at 6′ I had to force feed. 185 to 195 , was olive oil mixed into chocolate milk/protein shakes. 195 to 215, everything, 215 to 250 even more so, 225 to 245 slower,with conditioning, but with the same diet approach.

Minuses:

Doing it dirty/Sumo wrestler style , you will get more fat. This isn’t the end of the world. If you keep in conditioning work this can be mitigated, and give it time and you will lean out at a new bigger bodyweight set point.

Foods:

I know some who eat only “clean” foods. That’s not me. I got bigger with milk as my staple. Often when I want size or faster strength gains I add in more dirtier sources such as frozen pizza, mozzarella sticks, or straight up junk food like soda,honey buns, Doritos etc.

I don’t believe you really need gram+ of protein per pound of bodweight. You can make do with far less. The more important part of the game is calories. Hit a minimal amount of protein say 150 grams day and then get to 4-6k calories daily. This guarantees that you’ll be big. If you train hard enough, and condition hard you won’t be fat, you may have a normal level ie not particularly lean level of bodyfat,but not fat either. Train long enough and as you get stronger you’ll slowly recomp.

Recap:

Dirty bulking and big compound lifts are how I was able to get far past 200lbs, and stay there.

Keep in calisthenics and conditioning with this though. This keeps you from getting sloppy. A minimum level of performance in each is very useful to maintain.

Get It.

-J

Go For It

Due to weather I’d taken Tuesday off from the gym. I really don’t take off days well, and therefore hardly take them. On Wednesday I felt off, and was making 1000 excuses not to go. Partially for that reason, partially because I knew today most likely will be another weather off day( it is), and I was festering about lifting. I forced myself to go.

I broke it down to as small of steps as possible. Pack the bag, step out the door, start the car. Dreading the commute, instead of my normal rap CDs or country radio I put on my Toby Keith CD. It’s my go to music for when I need to distract myself into a better place.

In the locker room I had a decent conversation that swung my mood upwards.

I figured Olympic lifts and high rep benching. No mental effort required.

I did those, but like the guy in the locker room said “Today will end up being a great PR day ” Power of suggestion or not, I hit a bench for reps PR,tied my power snatch PR, and just knew I’d hit 500+ on the fat bar deadlifts. At that point I could feel it. There was no doubt in my mind.

Now consider this, just days after getting out of commercial gym hell,and into the new more lifting friendly gym I pulled 484 on a fat bar. That was 6 months ago. I set sights on 500+ here.

I decided to actually warm up. Pulling singles,all mixed grip, focusing on exploding. 114,204,294,384. On that rep a buddy asked me if I had just pulled 5 plates a side, he miss saw there were only 4 plates. Now since the bar is only 24 lbs, 5 plates a side weighs 474. I was about to add only the 10 a side, 494,5 plates on a regular bar (minus 1lb), then realized no wait it’s still 5 shy. Then the off by 1lb hit me again. I added a 10 and a 5,30lbs  more to 504. Keep in mind my lifetime PR regular bar is 515.

I get my buddy to film me, while telling him what angle I wanted, I told him after the lift was complete to walk towards the plates to clearly get then on camera. Any doubts I shortly had during the final plate loading were gone.

I chalk up my hands, I hadn’t for any of the warm up sets. Get the confirmation that’s it’s recording, grab, focus on body tightness, roll it towards me and pull.

Up,up,up. A little bit of seeing stars once I broke knee level, but I didn’t pass out, once I got through the knee area dead zone I had it, hit lock out and I held it there for a little while. Purposely drop it,turn and start yelling to one of my buddies/celebrating about the lift.

I’d wanted that 500+ fat bar pull for ~6 months. Now I want 600+. It’ll happen. I’ve just gotta continue strengthening the system. My mind says 700,800 are possible. From 15-16 in awe of huge weights  to 22 seeing elite strength as definitely within the realm of possibility. Now watch how fast that 600+ fat bar deadlift comes!

Whoo! Keep The Path!
Persistence and Tenacity!

Conquer + Ascension
-J Out!

Here it is 504lbs, Fat Bar Baby!

Small Technique Change

Last weekend I wrote about how I was given some technique pointers on power cleans by our gym’s highland games competitor. It dawned on me that I didn’t say what the main advice was.

He suggested I try hook gripping the bar. Now I’ve tried hook gripping on deadlifts once, and immediately wrote it off. Keeping an open mind I jumped back in and was instantly better at cleans.

Since then I’ve been playing with some Olympic lifts every session.

With that one little suggestion I’m now much better at the lifts.

I’ve now hit 225 power cleans in a wicked fatigued state. It’s now a weight that I own. This means I’ll be hitting PRs very soon. Hell 255 was very close for a couple misses that same day, so I was near hitting PRs on a day where I had little “pop”.

I’ve hit a power snatch PR using it already.

Simply changing how I hold the bar has made a ton of practically instant improvement. I couldn’t tell you if my bar path is better, or if I’m now using lower body power instead of arms, hell my cleans still look like in the word’s of an old coach “retarded caveman heave” form. The effort involved is less though. I have improved.

The last few days of them brought me to the realization, one that I’ve been having frequently as of late, that I will hit some crazy lifetime numbers. I just have to keep going.

Never quit, and you’ll progress quite far.

-J

Train For Yourself

What You Need To Hear

It’s strange and amazing how the universe will put something you need right in front of you at the right time. Yesterday I was reading Lift Run Bang, a solid lifting blog, and came across a comment.

Here it is screencapped:

( It’s from this post)

While I may not agree entirely with that blog or the comment, you can glean ideas from anyone, I very much agree with that commenter’s mindset, do what you want, it works for you.This has worked well for me.

In the past my deadlift was maintained through shrugs. Heavy cheat form,body english heaving shrugs. With straps, and using weight well past my deadlift max.

I haven’t done these in a long time.

Yesterday I got my 495 deadlift back, and decided to shrug at the end.

I had intended to go 5×5 with 495 here, I always found deadlift 1rm+ for any rep range to be beneficial.

I was mentally checked out at this point, and the first 3 sets were hard. Not doing shrugs may just be what was missing from my deadlift. The retarded back strength they built may be what my pull was missing.At that point not wanting to be in the weight room any longer I got pissed and combined the last 2×5 into a set of 10. It was easier than the first 3 sets. Anger can still help with shrug strength.

Still I was not happy to see one of my pet lifts regress.
Hopefully partial squats aren’t in the same boat. I’ll have to test, and readd those too.

As I said yesterday I want to live at the gym.

It’s time to get back to my basics, crush it in the manner that was and is truly me, and truly mine.

How I Trained In The Past

I used to be ribbed for squatting everyday. I squatted most weight sessions between 2011 and 2015, and I did so every day for the first 6-7 months of 2016. Those 6 months saw my squat raise more than it had in years going from 405×1 to 455×2.

Shrugs were done 1-3x a week. Always on Saturday which were in essence retard strength days. Saturdays were partial squat and shrug days. I generally shrugged mid week as well. The partial squats were started at the bottom from the pins, and the heavy cheat shrugs often turned into max out hand and thigh lifts. These movements gave me a lot of core thickness, and more physically resilient.

I’ve gotten away from them.

My Mentality and “Split”

I don’t compete, or particularly identify with any strength sport. Lifting is, and probably always will be me just about me getting stronger.

I should be gaining the strength then by whatever means I like.

I need to get back to training in the way that’s me.

So each session would look something like this:

  • Legs- Squats :Front or Back mostly, Partials 1x wk, sometimes a non squat movement.
  • Push- Rotate through movements, normally I  bench with the most frequency.
  • Pull-Rotate through movements, I’ve been liking fat bar work, and lat pulldowns.
  • Assistance Work- Whatever I feel like, or needs work( Can cover any of the 3 parts)
  • Condition- Rotate through movements, lately this has been incline treadmill sprints.

I am not wed to any order for covering all aspects either. If I want one prioritized, or am dreading one I’ll most likely do it first. I almost never do pull before legs unless its light for both. I will however squat and then deadlift.

Become Hardier, Do More!

Honestly doing full body sessions makes it hard to lift with a partner.

I got a laugh out of a buddy the other day saying to me “I like training with you, but I really can’t, cause I never can tell what you’re actually training.”

While bodybuilding splits can work for people, those that use them are losing out on a lot of physical ability that bombing a part once a week and being sore for days keeps them from realizing.

My recovery allows for decent amounts of full body volume on a daily basis. The frequency gives me far better results, and mentally I like doing lots of whatever I like doing. I imagine that most who would actually give this a fair shot would find the same thing.

I can’t imagine that God or evolution would intend for us to be anything but enduring, easily recovering powerhouses. We in the past were far hardier than we are now. Don’t be one of those that have backslid. I know that it took me years,and seemed like it wouldn’t happen at the outset,  but if I can do it so can you.

If I lift with a buddy I still tack on the other two movement parts (legs,push,pull) that I didn’t just do with them, and I don’t feel sore in the part we trained together either the next day. Also I make sure to condition.

Train how you want, but evaluate, are you really just doing as everyone else does? Are you where you need to be, and are you in a shape that says robust? Are you not an embarrassment to all the strong individuals who have come before you? Make sure you’re not, and if you are, change it. It’ll take as long as it takes though. Live for the journey.

It’s 2017, a new year. Fuck compromise, it’s my year, my time. Make it your year too.

-J

Mixing It Up

500 Fat Bar Pull

The fat bar pull of 500+ is still on my mind. I’ve yet to achieve it.

I still won’t squat.

It seems like pulling moderate-heavy  daily and attempting it every couple days just isn’t working for me.(Right now)

Maybe I need to back off for a few days. The last heavy pull day I did had me fail 474, and locked my back up.

The Other Day

I pulled with a regular bar and bands the next day. At first I was still pulling raw, but due to my back starting to feel like it would lock,and how rough bands are on your hands I strapped up. This allowed me to get more quality work in, and pulling overhand is easier on the spine than mixed. The smart thing to do would’ve been stop once my back started feeling weird as I almost injured myself while cracking my back a few hours later. Don’t be an idiot.

I took about 48 hours off, and spent them doing back rehab type work. My lower back was tender for 36 of those hours. The spine was fine. I simply did superman holds, flexed, and said it would be fine, and it was.

Today

Today wanting to pull, and not being an idiot, I realized I may have to strap up  now to pull frequently and safely. I did band speed pulls, but all overhand or strapped. I feel fine, and cracking my back didn’t send me down the path of injury dread.

My hands can still handle more than the rest of the system.

That’s cool, hands were always a weakness. Not anymore. So strapping up isn’t an issue, and gives the plus of evening up my back development.

The Weakness? + Going Forward

I still am unsure of what exactly is the weakness.

It could be simply my body has yet to adapt to the frequent conditioning. I am doing some almost daily.

It could be quads.

I could be lower back.

I’m still going the brute force method, doing abs,lower back, and/or quads practically every session. I’ve stopped most upper body push work.

The day I almost injured myself I actually benched a PR, 325 for 1. Thats 6lbs over the fat bar pr, and 10 over the 3 plate regular bench. The only difference was the laterals for 10 days.

Honestly the last 10-14 days my upper body has gotten better appearance wise. Laterals, lots of abs, and daily conditioning. I’m still thick as fuck, but chubbier than I should be.(Temporarily)

I’ve been very hungry lately and sleeping more than usual. I don’t seem to be gaining weight, but the aesthetics are up, I assume these are due to all the work, and conditioning. I’m recomping in the least mental effort way. Brute Force Baby.

Speed work and bodybuilding work to get the pull up.

Upper by feel. (Like today I superset triceps and lats to end)

Condition.

Quad work if I remember.

Abs and/or lower back most sessions.

Brute force still, but modified ways.

Narcissism + Life Is Good + PRs/#s

Honestly I’m finding that I’m loving the views on here, and looking forward to getting the YouTube views. I’ve started flexing in the mirror. I like what’s happening.

I know the #’s will come, and I’m amped all the time looking for new content, I know I’ll get some crazy PR’s on video.

It’s cool whats happening.

I’m recomping while eating a ton, and dirty at that.

The key was adding the conditioning.

Watch for the shit that’s to come.

Anything I can pull, I can pull fat bar.

Upper body is gaining.

I can’t complain, Life is good.

I gotta just keep putting in work. I keep running programs, and numbers in my head trying to see how fast I could get to/guarantee certain numbers.

I know that I’ll bench 405, squat 500, and deadlift 600.

Years ago it seemed like #’s like that would never happen. Hell i just caught a 135 curl on camera, 2 years ago I thought I’d never hit that, I’ve done it twice now. The above numbers are far lower than my lifetime PRs will be. Those are all 2017 #’s I’ll hit. Add 80 to bench, 50 to squat, and 100 to deadlift, I could gain more than that this year.

I kept going, and shit is flying up now. I just had to persist.

Everything will go my way(eventually).

I’m fucking amped up.

Kill it guys!

– J

Cheap + Dirty Bulking

Now according to gym rules this may be dirty as hell, and leads most to say I couldn’t possibly be functional on such a diet. But just like my lack of a training program, I fly in spite of the circumstance. My food intake is not even IIFYM(If It Fits Your Macros), at best it could be defined as a near disregard to what I eat.Here it is.

To Be A Vulture

Firstly I eat what’s available. I’m like a vulture, or maybe a goat. Probably some combination of both to be honest. I will eat anything. Don’t want to finish your meal, I got this. Oh you’re giving me that food, ok I’ll eat it. (I was once given  6 dozen + donuts, I ate most that weekend, 48 hrs of donuts, almost nothing else, and 1000+ pushups a day, jump rope, and swimming)

Honestly I always had the mentality that I’d just out train my diet. I can remember saying  this after one too many days of cutting weight. I’d rather add 1000 calories of activity than not eat the food. Plus I do lots of calisthenics and random work outside of the gym.

But to the meat of things.

How To Grocery Shop For A Broke Bulk

When I’m grocery shopping, and I learned this while broke as fuck, I separated food into the two simple categories

  1. Protein Source
  2. Calorie Source

I paid no heed to the carb vs fat content of the calories sources, I just looked for low cost items that i enjoy.

Cost efficient was defined in 2 ways:

  1. Grams Protein/$
  2. Calories/$

I looked for 40 + grams protein per dollar, but would occasionally let this slide to 30-35( pork/beef)

For calories I tried to get 1000+ per dollar. White rice, and top ramen max this at 2000-2500cals per dollar. Dollar store generic cookies hit 1200.

Generic soda is in this ballpark, as are generic pop tarts.

I was ok letting it slide as low as 500 calories per dollar though.

Unlike most I can thrive on “crap” foods, and happen to enjoy food combinations that no one else does.

I happened to just eat a bowl consisting of 2 packs ramen w chicken flavor packs, 1/2 cup oats, a bunch of mexican 4 cheese mix, and a decent amount of pepperoni thrown together. I almost added peanut butter, or tuna, but wasn’t feeling either at the time.( I have mixed all of the above in the past though)

Now that I’ve mentioned that run the cost and macros. Easily 1500 calories, prep/cooking 5 minutes, and the cost ~$1.50.  60+ grams protein, fuck ton of carbs and fat. Honestly I’m probably low balling all the numbers but cost. It’s probably close to 2k calories. The ramen and oats alone hit 1k.

$30-50 wk

If you have the time to train a shit ton, and not much cash you could still bulk on less than $30 week. Hell with $50 you could buy far more than you could possibly eat.

Check this:

Round here we have eggs for 75¢ or less per dozen ( Walmart by the 60ct, or grocery store sales), milk is $1.99-2.60 gallon (depends on store) rice 2olbs for $11, Ramen 12 packs cost $1.99. Chicken leg quarters cost $7 for 10lb bags. Hell ground beef costs a bit under $2lb in 5 or 10lb rolls.

For calories, you can get generic junk food cheap. Cookies, pop tarts, soda. The cream soda doesn’t taste any different, root beer depends on the store. Hell sometimes the dollar stores carry canned fish, mackerel, or salmon where you can  open, drain and get 40-60grams protein ready made for a dollar. Others may hate you for the smell though. And shit I forgot pork rinds, dollar store carries those too ,50 grams protein a dollar there in snack form.

So say $30 week, thats $4 daily, with $2 left over.

First off the calories need to be high. So ramen.

For protein we’re looking at cheap meat or eggs, milk can be an option too.

Eating Plan

An example of each days food:

  • 6 packs Ramen. $1, 2400 cals, 60g protein
  • 2 lbs chicken leg quarter, $1.40,  1200 cals, 70g  protein
  • 1 dozen eggs, 75¢, 840 cals, 72 g protein
  • 1/3 gallon of milk, 67¢,  800 cals,  42 g protein

That’s roughly 5000 calories and ~245 grams protein day at a cost of $3.82 day.

Technically I came in at $26.74 week. Theres a little left over for more.

Hell $50 wk can involve better foods, but imagine that is just too much for you right now. Off the top of my head 3 lbs ground beef, 6 packs ramen a day, similar cals, similar protein. That’s the no thinking version but put some thought into it, you can do much better here, and rotate in awesome stuff like steak or bacon.

At either price point you could cycle the meats a bit more, or lose the milk and sub with meat or eggs.

Eggs are essentially the SUPERFOOD.

$30 wk, broke but bulked.

Make sure you move a lot though.

How Many Meals + The Trick To Pigging Out

Now that plan could be 2 meals daily for the ravenous, or those who don’t like eating frequently. 3  squares for just about anyone. If you cant eat big, or like the frequency sit down 4 times. A dozen eggs isnt that huge, nor a lb of leg quarter. Milk is easy to drink whenever.

The secret to eating copious amounts is to eat as much as you can in a roughly 20 minute period from the first bite to end.

Split that plan into 2-4 meals it’ll fit easily in the time frame.

Cook the chicken bulk, and reheat a lb per meal, let the chicken cool, and microwave the ramen. Sit a large glass and the milk container at the table. Wait till the chicken is cool enough to use your hands, and start. The eggs can be fried , or for the lazy microwaved into the ramen. Raw eggs are fine. Salmonella has been way overblown.

Mind you I consider this dirty eating, and I eat very dirty.

It may not be the healthiest. So as I said move a LOT.

I wouldn’t cut conditioning here. Bad shit happens when you do.

But this will support strength and mass.

I’d consider healthy eating organic keto. I personally never buy organic though.(Still broke)

Healthy with in reason to me is steak and mashed potatoes.(Not organic)

Do what you gotta do. Any circumstance can be worked with.

-J