|
CALORIE OVERLOAD PROGRAM EXPLAINED
How This Program Works
For many people gaining weight is not too difficult at all, but gaining muscle
without gaining body fat can be next to impossible. Where most people traditionally
'bulk up', you find they gain a moderate or even small amount of muscle and
bulk up greatly on fat deposits and water retention. Of course, we all know,
that it is the training that you perform that is the stimulus for your body
to build muscle tissue. Your diet is there to supply your body with the increased
demand for nutrients that are required to support this growth and repair to
the nervous system and your cells. Very often after a brief weight gaining cycle,
many people stop simply because they have put too much body fat on.
The two main reasons for this are:
1. Over time, your metabolic rate adjusts to the higher calorie level, and consequently
to carry on gaining weight you need to increase the amount you eat. This process
continues until you need to eat huge amounts just to make a very moderate weight
gain.
2. On high calorie, high carbohydrate diets, your sensitivity to insulin starts
to fall. In response, your body creates more insulin to get a reaction, this
in turn creates an environment where surplus calories are more easily turned
into body fat.
When taken together, you can see the problem. Firstly to continue to gain weight
you need to continuously increase calorie consumption. Secondly, your body is
now reacting in a less favorable way to high calorie diets. The result - all
excess calories are being stored as body fat. This is where you end up with
the big, bloated look and a tendency toward retaining water and a drop in training
quality. You will also find that the fatter you get, the lower your natural
and free floating blood testosterone is, which is a primary anabolic hormone.
So what you end up with on a rather unsuccessful weight gain program is a fatter,
watery body with a lowered immune system and less muscle building testosterone,
a lower sensitivity to your insulin hormone (another primary anabolic hormone)
and therefore a lowered growth hormone level. Rapid increases in body weight
can even lead to high blood pressure. So how do you combat all of these negative
side effects of poor weight gain programs. Well, the calorie overload program
can help you achieve positive muscle gain while minimising the acknowledged
problems.
The Basics
This particular program is very simple, and because it overcomes these two major
problems, has been the mainstay of athletes for many years. It achieves this
by only elevating calories by a small amount, typically around 500 per day,
so that your body is placed in a calorie overload state sufficient to gain a
small amount of weight. It does not cause 'force feeding' states where your
body starts to lay down fat. Any excess calories your body is being provided
from the extra 500 calories are going to be utilised for muscle building. Of
course calorie quantity (energy balance) is one factor, never underestimate
the importance of calorie quality. There is little point in consuming an extra
500 calories of saturated fats and sugar. This is of course counterproductive
to your goals.
What Can I Expect?
Many athletes will initially gain around 1lb per week on this program, a rate
that can not be sustained for long, which will eventually fall to around 2lb
per month. Most people will also be able to reduce body fat percent on this
program, as fat gain should be virtually zero. Especially when one consumes
high quality food choices and follows a light to moderate cardiovascular routine
alongside the resistance portion of your program. Don't forget that a little
cardiovascular training is beneficial on all types of programs, as it improves
circulation, oxygen delivery and nutrient delivery to the working muscles. A
healthy respiritory system will help you train more effectively when handling
heavy weights.
As with all long term weight gain programs, it is essential that exercise performance
is progressive to promote muscle tissue gain through adaptation. With the wrong
training you will not even stimulate your muscles to grow, so investing time
in researching an appropriate method, based on your goals and body type will
be more than worthwhile, rather essential.
|
