Let's talk - Natural Mr Olympia gives advice

[schweefy]

Hey John - I'm looking at putting together a diet to help me bulk up a bit and was wondering if you could help. Right now I'm eating around 3000 cals/day just to maintain my current weight of 182lbs. I would say my body type is ecto-meso as I was able to put on 17 lbs in my first two yrs of working out without ever "bulking". However, I haven't been able to push past 182lbs in the last year and I think I prob need a diet in the 3500-4000 calorie range in order to put on anymore weight. I've never strictly focused on my diet in regards to macros and numbers, rather I just eat good clean food 95% of the time. This is a rough estimate of the totals I'm taking in. It may fluctuate a bit as my supper meal is usually different every night:

protein - 200g
carbs - 250g
fat - 50g

So I think the time has come where I need to come up with a solid diet if I want to progress further and was wondering if you had any suggestions or examples of diets in the 3500 - 4000 cal range. My first meal would be at 7:15am, workout would be around 5:00pm and bed time would be around 10:30pm. I workout 4-5 x a week and do zero cardio. I appreciate the help.

[N@tural1]

At Serge's Gym back in 1981-86 the majority were black athletes and they all responded fast only a few Michael Jackson lookalikes had more trouble. The info stayed hush hush, the blacks stayed with the blacks and the others the arabs and the asiatics or caucasians just got on with their workouts. His gym "Nubret's International Club" produced a lot of championship physiques, numerous M. World wabba, and Universe contestants male and female. About 40 athletes a year would compete for the top european honours and his gym would take 50% of all the top 3 places : Eduardo Kawak, Gabin Lambert, Jupiter, Lafortune, Bertil Fox, John Juan Brown M. Universe, Gomba, Jaqueline Nubret, Jocelyne Pigeonnau, Chantal Nelson, Jeff Primm, etc etc

Thats very interesting. Do you know if these lifters were using super high volume Serge style?

[Natural_O]

Hey John - I'm looking at putting together a diet to help me bulk up a bit and was wondering if you could help. Right now I'm eating around 3000 cals/day just to maintain my current weight of 182lbs. I would say my body type is ecto-meso as I was able to put on 17 lbs in my first two yrs of working out without ever "bulking". However, I haven't been able to push past 182lbs in the last year and I think I prob need a diet in the 3500-4000 calorie range in order to put on anymore weight. I've never strictly focused on my diet in regards to macros and numbers, rather I just eat good clean food 95% of the time. This is a rough estimate of the totals I'm taking in. It may fluctuate a bit as my supper meal is usually different every night:

protein - 200g
carbs - 250g
fat - 50g

So I think the time has come where I need to come up with a solid diet if I want to progress further and was wondering if you had any suggestions or examples of diets in the 3500 - 4000 cal range. My first meal would be at 7:15am, workout would be around 5:00pm and bed time would be around 10:30pm. I workout 4-5 x a week and do zero cardio. I appreciate the help.

I think you may not be eating as many calories as you think right now. If you are eating 200 grams of protein (4 calories per gram), that comes out to 800 calories. 250 grams of carbs (4 calories per gram) comes out to 1000 calories and 50 grams of fat (9 calories per gram) adds up to 450 calories. This grand total only adds up to 2250 calories.

I found in my experience that eating more complex carbs is what helped me to add more size and bodyweight. Protein is important, of course, and you should eat 1.25-1.5 grams for each pound of bodyweight (in your case, this would be 229-275 grams per day) but the complex carbs will really make a difference.

I would suggest eating one complete protein food with each meal (eggs, lean beef, turkey, chicken, steak) and TWO sources of complex carbs with each meal (oatmeal, whole wheat bread, potatoes, sweet potatoes, brown or wild rice, whole wheat pasta, oat bran). For example, you could have 3 whole eggs, 4 egg whites, oatmeal and 2 slices whole wheat bread with breakfast.

I would suggest eating 250-275 grams of protein, 425-450 grams of carbs and 60 grams of fats per day. This would bring your total calorie intake up to 3340 calories, more than 1000 more than what you were eating before. If you eat good, clean bodybuilding foods, you should be able to make on more muscle mass without getting too fat. Good Luck!

[conan25]

From what I remember about reading about Serge Nubret, he always trained light for the pump with a lot of volume (sets) and six days a week of training. I prefer to train heavier with a little less volume and more days off.

Ive been doing the Serge routine for 9 months-Natural O told me a while ago that the way I do it would suffice-work the bodyparts once a week( i do ohter traning too-jujitsu etc) and I have made good size gains-maybe if I did it 2x week id be leaner? but I need to do cardio -just lifting doesnt burn the fat off me-I really think I would be overtraining doing 6x week-even with just moderate weights
I would still be sore from the previous workout-is it godd to train while still being sore(same bodypart)? being a natural I think that is overkill but love the Serge routine anyway

[Ravish]

Hey Natural O!

What do you use to calculate your calories? I've had a look at a few websites and a lot of them have different results. Which one would you most recommend.

Also just to get a quick answer, I've just started measuring my food lately and would like to know how much protein there is in a 100grams of chicken?

[Natural_O]

Ive been doing the Serge routine for 9 months-Natural O told me a while ago that the way I do it would suffice-work the bodyparts once a week( i do ohter traning too-jujitsu etc) and I have made good size gains-maybe if I did it 2x week id be leaner? but I need to do cardio -just lifting doesnt burn the fat off me-I really think I would be overtraining doing 6x week-even with just moderate weights
I would still be sore from the previous workout-is it godd to train while still being sore(same bodypart)? being a natural I think that is overkill but love the Serge routine anyway

I don't think training each bodypart twice a week would help you get any leaner. The only way to get leaner is to burn more calories or through your diet. If you are doing a lot of martial arts training, that would help you to get leaner. As for building the muscles, if they are still sore from the last workout, I would not recommend training them again. You should only train them again when they are fully recovered. The only way you can train each bodypart twice a week is if the muscles are recovered. I think training the muscles twice a week is a good intermediate routine.

[markandspike]

Hi John.
At what stage in your development did you gain the most muscle mass. And what where the deciding factor which contribution to the gains (can you give details).

Thanks
Mark
England

[conan25]

I don't think training each bodypart twice a week would help you get any leaner. The only way to get leaner is to burn more calories or through your diet. If you are doing a lot of martial arts training, that would help you to get leaner. As for building the muscles, if they are still sore from the last workout, I would not recommend training them again. You should only train them again when they are fully recovered. The only way you can train each bodypart twice a week is if the muscles are recovered. I think training the muscles twice a week is a good intermediate routine.

Thanks for the info-I have been lifting for quite a while on and off-but I made really good gains using the Serge routine-but he says to do it 6 days a week-im not sure if that would benefit me-actually I dont have the time anyway-Im a dad lol

[magiata93]

John Hansen says hes a natural competitor and has won the natural mr. olympia and universe. Do you think he is natural? He is a very big guy, probaly the biggest claimed natural. I know Ronnie and Jay and those guys claim natural but this guy actually has competed in national natural events. I know the human body is capable of great things but getting this big naturaly is hard top concieve. Whats your thoughts?

natural u mean no steroids or just food and water cause taking creatin is not very natural. all bodybuilders take supps, thats a fact and prob 99% of them take PH and steroids

[|ceman]

natural u mean no steroids or just food and water cause taking creatin is not very natural. all bodybuilders take supps, thats a fact and prob 99% of them take PH and steroids

Creatine is very natural. It's found in higher concentrations in beef, but is also in other food sources.

At least in my opinion, anything that is in a food source is natural (regardless if it's concentrated or provided in powder form).

[Natural_O]

Hi John.
At what stage in your development did you gain the most muscle mass. And what where the deciding factor which contribution to the gains (can you give details).

Thanks
Mark
England

Hey Mark, I gained most of my size when I was 20-21 years old. I started training at 14 years old and gained 20 pounds in my first year. I entered my first show at 16 years old and competed for the next 3 years so I didn't put on a lot of size during that time. I was 135 pounds when I started training at 14 and I got up to 180-185 pounds in between contests and I would compete at around 170-175 pounds as a teenager. When I turned 20 years old, I took a year off from competing and got up to 205 pounds in 6 months. By the next year, I bulked up to 230 pounds so that was the biggest increase in bodyweight in my bodybuilding career.

The deciding factor in getting bigger was that I wasn't dieting any more so my body had a chance to grow and respond to the heavy workouts that I was doing at the time. However, when I got to 205 pounds, my body wouldn't grow any more. The thing that got me past that sticking point was dramatically increasing my calories to overcome my fast metabolism. I really ate a lot of food during this time, eating lots of complex carbs and protein foods that had some fat in them like whole eggs, lean beef and steak and protein drinks made with milk, eggs, bananas and ice cream. It took me from February until August to go from 205 pounds to 230 pounds but this was the biggest gains I made in my career.

[Natural_O]

natural u mean no steroids or just food and water cause taking creatin is not very natural. all bodybuilders take supps, thats a fact and prob 99% of them take PH and steroids

Yes, by natural we mean no steroids, growth hormone or other performance enhancing drugs. This doesn't include supplements like protein powder, meal replacements, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, creatine, N.O. (nitric oxide) or other supplements you can buy at your local health food store. I don't take pro hormones because I've heard too many conflicting things about them.

[Ravish]

John, what would you suggest for an intermediate routine? Also you mention that you always worked to increase your strength - how did you go about this?

[Natural_O]

John, what would you suggest for an intermediate routine? Also you mention that you always worked to increase your strength - how did you go about this?

A good intermediate routine would include training each bodypart twice a week. The routine I liked had me training the pushing muscles (chest, delts and triceps) on Monday and Thursday and the pulling muscles (legs, back and biceps) on Tuesday and Friday.

Another way of doing it would be to train chest, back and delts on one workout and legs and arms on the next workout. I would train 4 days a week and rest 3 days a week so I could recuperate and get bigger.

To increase my strength (and size), I would always train heavy (in the 6-8 rep range). I would normally warm-up with a moderately heavy set of 10 reps, then go heavy where I could only get 6-8 reps. On my last set, I would often do a very heavy set where I could only get 3 reps on my own and my partner would give me 2 more forced reps. Using this method would gradually make me stronger until I was able to do the heavy weight for 5-6 reps on my own. Of course, I would only concentrate on the mass building, basic exercises like squats, deadlifs, bench press incline press, barbell rows, et, etc.

[Natural_O]

Hey Natural O!

What do you use to calculate your calories? I've had a look at a few websites and a lot of them have different results. Which one would you most recommend.

Also just to get a quick answer, I've just started measuring my food lately and would like to know how much protein there is in a 100grams of chicken?

I weigh and measure everything and write down the calories for each food I eat plus the grams of protein, carbs and fats. I write this down everyday when I am dieting to lose bodyfat. This way, if I am not losing the fat fast enough, I can refer back to my diet journal and look at what I am doing. Perhaps I am eating too many carbs or too many calories (or even too little calories). The body is always changing and the diet that worked for me 5 years ago may not work for me today.

If you don't know how many calories or grams of protein, carbs and fats are in a certain food, you can just google that food and get the information or look in a book like the Nutrition Almanac. 100 grams of chicken is equal to about 3.5 oz and there is 28 grams of protein in 100 grams of chicken breast.

[PaC-mAn8]

Hey..John..how ya doin. Didnt know you had a Q & A thread. I live in the Naperville area of Chicagoland. Any possibilities of just a workout. Was looking to get advice from ya and see how ya do things.

[Natural_O]

Hey..John..how ya doin. Didnt know you had a Q & A thread. I live in the Naperville area of Chicagoland. Any possibilities of just a workout. Was looking to get advice from ya and see how ya do things.

Absolutely, email me at John@naturalolympia.com and we'll set something up!

[PaC-mAn8]

Absolutely, email me at John@naturalolympia.com and we'll set something up!

Sent!

[N@tural1]

A good intermediate routine would include training each bodypart twice a week. The routine I liked had me training the pushing muscles (chest, delts and triceps) on Monday and Thursday and the pulling muscles (legs, back and biceps) on Tuesday and Friday.

John

This is actualy my personal favorite way to split the body into two

legs/back/bi
chest/delts/tri

Each one 2x per week

Would you give an example of how you'd set up a routine based on this? Id be curious to compare notes with the way I set it up!

Thx

[Natural_O]

John

This is actualy my personal favorite way to split the body into two

legs/back/bi
chest/delts/tri

Each one 2x per week

Would you give an example of how you'd set up a routine based on this? Id be curious to compare notes with the way I set it up!

Thx

This was actually a very difficult routine because I still included all the basic exercises. Here is an example of how I would structure the routine:

MON-THURS

Bench Press
Incline DB or BB Press
Flyes
Standing Clean and Press
Side Lateral Raises
Bent-Over Lateral Raises
Barbell Shrugs
Close-Grip Bench Press
Lying Tricep Extensions
Weighted Parallel Bar Dips
Seated Calf Raises
Standing Calf Raises

TUES - FRI

Squats
Leg Press
Leg Curls
Stiff-leg Deadlifts
Wide-Grip Chins
Barbell Rows
T-Bar Rows
Deadlifts
Incline Curls
Barbell Curls
Wrist Curls

[Ravish]

I weigh and measure everything and write down the calories for each food I eat plus the grams of protein, carbs and fats. I write this down everyday when I am dieting to lose bodyfat. This way, if I am not losing the fat fast enough, I can refer back to my diet journal and look at what I am doing. Perhaps I am eating too many carbs or too many calories (or even too little calories). The body is always changing and the diet that worked for me 5 years ago may not work for me today.

If you don't know how many calories or grams of protein, carbs and fats are in a certain food, you can just google that food and get the information or look in a book like the Nutrition Almanac. 100 grams of chicken is equal to about 3.5 oz and there is 28 grams of protein in 100 grams of chicken breast.

Nice one John. What were your favourite foods when bulking up?

[Natural_O]

Nice one John. What were your favourite foods when bulking up?

When I was bulking up, I tried to eat good, clean bodybuilding foods like eggs, beef, chicken for my protein and oatmeal, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta and baked potatoes for my carbs. However, I also had to eat foods that had some fats in them so I would get enough calories in me to gain weight. Fats have nine calories per gram so they are much more calorie dense than either protein or carbs. I would often snack on Haagen Daaz Ice Cream (Swiss Vanilla Almond was my favorite). My protein drinks consisted of whole milk, eggs, protein powder, bananas and ice cream. When I finished blending these drinks, they would fill the whole blender! I drank two of these every day, one after my workout and the other right before I went to bed. On the weekends, when I went out late with my friends to the night clubs, we would usually stop at an all night restaurant to eat before going to bed. I would always order a ham and cheese omlette with hash browns and whole wheat bread (with butter and jelly preserves on top). In addition, I would order a Belgium waffle (with butter and syrup) and a chocolate milk shake to drink (with a banana in it). How is that for a late night snack? LOL

[Ravish]

When I was bulking up, I tried to eat good, clean bodybuilding foods like eggs, beef, chicken for my protein and oatmeal, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta and baked potatoes for my carbs. However, I also had to eat foods that had some fats in them so I would get enough calories in me to gain weight. Fats have nine calories per gram so they are much more calorie dense than either protein or carbs. I would often snack on Haagen Daaz Ice Cream (Swiss Vanilla Almond was my favorite). My protein drinks consisted of whole milk, eggs, protein powder, bananas and ice cream. When I finished blending these drinks, they would fill the whole blender! I drank two of these every day, one after my workout and the other right before I went to bed. On the weekends, when I went out late with my friends to the night clubs, we would usually stop at an all night restaurant to eat before going to bed. I would always order a ham and cheese omlette with hash browns and whole wheat bread (with butter and jelly preserves on top). In addition, I would order a Belgium waffle (with butter and syrup) and a chocolate milk shake to drink (with a banana in it). How is that for a late night snack? LOL

Hmm you sure about that? LOL Right now I weigh 180lbs, how much calories should I be getting to bulk up? The only fats I get in my diet right now are from whole eggs, peanuts, almonds, flaxseed oil and fish oil pills so am I getting enough? I really don't want to 'dirty bulk' but I've been stuck on 180lbs for a while now.

[Natural_O]

Hmm you sure about that? LOL Right now I weigh 180lbs, how much calories should I be getting to bulk up? The only fats I get in my diet right now are from whole eggs, peanuts, almonds, flaxseed oil and fish oil pills so am I getting enough? I really don't want to 'dirty bulk' but I've been stuck on 180lbs for a while now.

It really all depends on how fast your metabolism is. When I was 20 years old, I wanted to get as big as possible and, truthfully, it was hard to put on weight or even to get fat. In other words, my metabolism was so fast, I couldn't even get fat. I was stuck at 205 pounds for over 8 months and I couldn't get past that weight no matter what I did.

The only way for me get beyond that sticking point was to increase my eating even more (and I was eating a lot at that point already). I started eating 6-7 egg (whole eggs) omelette's made with muenster cheese for breakfast along with whole wheat toast and oatmeal. For lunch, I had half a pound of lean ground beef (90% lean) with more bread and rice. I would also have two of those big protein drinks every day. I was stuffing myself but that is what it took to really bulk up and get big at that stage of my bodybuilding career.

I was able to eat like this because of my age (20 years old) and because my bodytype was ecto-mesomorph. If I was older or if my bodytype was more endomorphic, then it would be a mistake to eat this much. However, it definitely worked for me. I was able to bulk up to 220 and then 230 pounds by the summer and it totally changed my physique. I broke through former barriers and everything got much bigger. Even my calves got noticeably bigger from carrying around more bodyweight.

What was even more interesting was that my body was changed forever because of this bulking up period. After that point, it was never difficult or impossible to gain weight anymore. Years later, when I was competing in the Natural Mr. Universe (1995-96), I was able to bulk up again in the off season quite easily because I had done it previously over 10 years earlier.

When I talk to a lot of young guys now, it seems they are very reluctant to bulk up because they are afraid of getting fat and losing their abs. My current training partner is like that. He is 25 years old and his weight is stuck at around 187 pounds at about 5'10". He is eating a lot but he won't REALLY eat in order to gain a lot of weight. He wants to look good for the ladies and doesn't really want to lose his abs or gain so much weight that he loses his chiseled cheekbones in his face. LOL

I have to admit that when I was 20-21 years old, I was so obsessed with getting big and winning the major bodybuilding titles, that I didn't care if women found me attractive or not. I was on a mission and I didn't care what other people thought of me or my appearance.

My suggestion is to keep increasing your calories until you start to gain weight. If you feel like you are putting on too much fat, you can cut back on your caloric intake. However, you have to realize that, if you are young and your metabolism is going very fast, you are going to have to gain some fat in order to bulk up and put on some muscle. After a certain time, this bulking up process will be self defeating but, at the right age and for the right bodytype, it may be the only thing that will allow you to break the skinny barrier and finally get to the size you want.

[N@tural1]

This was actually a very difficult routine because I still included all the basic exercises. Here is an example of how I would structure the routine:

MON-THURS

Bench Press
Incline DB or BB Press
Flyes
Standing Clean and Press
Side Lateral Raises
Bent-Over Lateral Raises
Barbell Shrugs
Close-Grip Bench Press
Lying Tricep Extensions
Weighted Parallel Bar Dips
Seated Calf Raises
Standing Calf Raises

TUES - FRI

Squats
Leg Press
Leg Curls
Stiff-leg Deadlifts
Wide-Grip Chins
Barbell Rows
T-Bar Rows
Deadlifts
Incline Curls
Barbell Curls
Wrist Curls

wow lots of exercises there John! How many sets (work sets) did you perform per exercise when you trained this way? And how long did it take!?

[C-24]

Hi Natural MR.Olympia!

You suggest to train heavier between 6 to 8 reps. I think my body can adapt to a routine in one session only. What can I do ?

Do we need to change the exercices at each workout, change the reps too ? My biceps are hardly sore after a hard workout, what do you suggest me to 'kill' them but without overtraining them (or loosing pump while training because of working them too long) ?

My biceps training is as follow : 3 exercices of 3 sets and the rep range depends... sometimes 8 to 10, 8 to 12, 6 to 8... I usually start with barbell curl, then incline curls and finally the scott machine.

Thank you

[Bat_Man]

Hello Natural Mr. Olympia,

This is my first post on this thread and i just want to thank you for the useful information and motivation you give us to train hard and most importantly remain natural.

I have a question concerning a diet plan i found in an old issue of Flex magasine. It was an article by Chris Aceto, whom explained a two week cycle diet where you manipulate your macronutirents in order to put on as much mass as possible and the least fat possible.

If i were to summarize the diet it would look like this:
Days 1-5: eat 1g of protein for every pound of bodybweight and 2g of carbs for every pound of body weight. So a 200 lbs bodybuilder would be eating 200gs of protein and 400 gs of carbs.

Days 6-10: These are glycogen loading days. Carbs are bumbed up to 3g for every pound of bodyweight and protein is maintained at 1g per pound of bodyweight.

Days 11-12: Carbs are dropped to 1g per pound of bodyweight and protein is raised to 2g per pound of bodyweight. Chris Aceto states: "A high protein lower carb intakes improves insulin sensitivity in muscle tissue, priming muscles to uptake not only a greater amount of carbohydrates but also amino acids on days 13-14."

Days 13-14: eat 3-4 g of carbs per pound of bodyweight and around 1.5 g of protein per pound of bodyweight.

This diet lasts 14 days and can be repeated for as long as necessary. What are your thoughts on this style of dieting and do you think it would be beneficial for a natural bodybuilder?

[Natural_O]

wow lots of exercises there John! How many sets (work sets) did you perform per exercise when you trained this way? And how long did it take!?

Yes, this was a very crazy routine and I know I could never do it today. However, it worked pretty well for me when I was 20-21 years old. I was probably in the gym for at least 2-2 1/2 hours each workout and it was very tough. Plus, the gym we were training in did not have air conditioning so it was a bitch in the summer. We would do 4-5 sets for the major exercises like bench press, squats, barbell rows, etc and probably 3-4 sets for the other exercises. I would imagine it was at least 30-35 sets a workout and it was HEAVY all the way through. I was younger than so I recuperated much faster and I was able to train each bodypart twice a week although I would only squat and deadlift once a week.

[Natural_O]

Hi Natural MR.Olympia!

You suggest to train heavier between 6 to 8 reps. I think my body can adapt to a routine in one session only. What can I do ?

Do we need to change the exercices at each workout, change the reps too ? My biceps are hardly sore after a hard workout, what do you suggest me to 'kill' them but without overtraining them (or loosing pump while training because of working them too long) ?

My biceps training is as follow : 3 exercices of 3 sets and the rep range depends... sometimes 8 to 10, 8 to 12, 6 to 8... I usually start with barbell curl, then incline curls and finally the scott machine.

Thank you

If your body is adapting to a routine, you need to keep increasing the resistance so your body has to keep adapting. If you are consistently training heavier and heavier, your body will have to grow to adapt to the changing poundages.

As for changing the exercises, I have two routines that I use for each bodypart and I alternate them each week to keep the muscles a little off balance. There are certain exercises that really work for me and I always stick with these exercises for my workouts. I like using the basic exercises because they are the most effective for building bigger muscles and the ones that work the best for my physique are the ones I've used throughout my career.

If you have a bodypart that is very stubborn or is not getting sore, you can occasionally shock it by doing a volume routine (lots of sets) once in awhile - just to shock the muscle. However, just because a muscle is not getting sore does not mean it is not responding or growing. What I like to do for a stubborn bodypart is to train it twice a week. I'll train it heavy with the basic exercises once a week and then train it lighter with a pump-type workout using different exercises on another day of the week (usually 3-4 days later). With the biceps, you also might want to consider training them with different bodyparts and see if they respond better. You might get more of a response if you train biceps right after back or you might get more results by training them first in the workout (with chest or with triceps). I always got a great pump in my biceps from a heavy back workout and I would train biceps right after back. However, my biceps always grew very easily for me so this advice might not work for you.

[Natural_O]

Hello Natural Mr. Olympia,

This is my first post on this thread and i just want to thank you for the useful information and motivation you give us to train hard and most importantly remain natural.

I have a question concerning a diet plan i found in an old issue of Flex magasine. It was an article by Chris Aceto, whom explained a two week cycle diet where you manipulate your macronutirents in order to put on as much mass as possible and the least fat possible.

If i were to summarize the diet it would look like this:
Days 1-5: eat 1g of protein for every pound of bodybweight and 2g of carbs for every pound of body weight. So a 200 lbs bodybuilder would be eating 200gs of protein and 400 gs of carbs.

Days 6-10: These are glycogen loading days. Carbs are bumbed up to 3g for every pound of bodyweight and protein is maintained at 1g per pound of bodyweight.

Days 11-12: Carbs are dropped to 1g per pound of bodyweight and protein is raised to 2g per pound of bodyweight. Chris Aceto states: "A high protein lower carb intakes improves insulin sensitivity in muscle tissue, priming muscles to uptake not only a greater amount of carbohydrates but also amino acids on days 13-14."

Days 13-14: eat 3-4 g of carbs per pound of bodyweight and around 1.5 g of protein per pound of bodyweight.

This diet lasts 14 days and can be repeated for as long as necessary. What are your thoughts on this style of dieting and do you think it would be beneficial for a natural bodybuilder?

I think that's a great diet plan for someone trying to gain weight and muscle mass who has a fast metabolism. I often tell bodybuilders who are trying to get bigger to eat more carbs and not just protein. I see so many young guys who are eating a ton of protein but neglecting to eat good complex carbs. This diet cycles your carb intake from high carbs to somewhat lower carbs so your body will respond better when you go back to the higher carbs.

I would listen to anything that Chris Aceto says because he is very knowledgeable about nutrition, especially as it pertains to building muscle. I was very fortunate to meet Chris in person when I was guest posing at a contest in Tennessee in 1994. I had already read his books and many of his articles so it was an honor to meet him in person and talk to him. He gave me some great advice when I was competing in the natural competitions over the next few years and I learned a lot from him. Much of what I applied to myself and what I advise others to do I learned from Chris Aceto. So, yes, I think that is a great diet plan for someone who is trying to build more muscle but has a fast metabolism and is finding it difficult to gain weight and size.