Typical Meal Plan for a -120kg Powerlifter

Hey all, and welcome to my final post on this blog!  With some background information regarding my sport and its energy demands already established, I think it's about time I centralize this information in a hypothetical meal plan for a powerlifter that weighs 231-264lbs (105-120kg).

Powerlifters fall in the lower-middle range for caloric requirements in the grand scheme of athletes.  While their workouts are tiring, they involve a lot of downtime.  Powerlifting work bouts, at their absolute worst, will last a little bit over a minute, such as a clustered set of 8 or more reps on deadlifts.  Near competition, work bouts for powerlifters may last for only 15 seconds as their rep counts taper off.  Calories absolutely should be adjusted according to what phase a powerlifter is in, especially if said powerlifter competes at a high level and/or is on the cusp of making weight for his or her class.

So let's set the groundwork for his diet:

• This athlete is 5'10", 245lbs, 20% bodyfat
• His name is Joel
• Joel can squat 545lbs, bench 365lbs, and deadlift 585lbs
• He works as a personal trainer/strength coach, typically trains 4-5 clients per day, followed/separated by online consulting for his athletes (avg of 3-4hrs of this per day)
• He drinks 500-750mL of water during each session with his client(s)
• He is currently 9 weeks out from his next meet, so he's doing some fairly high volume work (3-5 sets of 5-9 reps per exercise) with moderate intensities (65-80%)
• He wants to maintain his weight
• He likes high protein intake because it controls his hunger
• He works out at 3:00pm

Joel wakes up at 5:00am every morning.  By 6:00am, he has eaten breakfast and showered.  This is his breakfast:

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Kodiak Power Cakes are delicious, have an extremely simple ingredient list (the first of which is whole grains), and when prepared with milk and eggs instead of water, are quite high in protein.  Beyond that, you can't go wrong with a big bowl of old fashioned oats and a large cup of black coffee.  This breakfast provides Joel with the cellular and cognitive energy he needs to get through the day, while keeping him fairly satiated, but not bloated.  With the amount of liquid in this breakfast, too, it satisfies a significant portion of his daily water intake.

After breakfast, Joel heads to work.

Joel trains his first two clients from 7:00am to 9:00am.  Before his 9:30am shows up, he gets in a quick snack and checks one of his athletes' programs:

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This meal replacement bar is calorically dense, high in protein and carbs, contains plenty of vitamins and minerals, and tastes great.  This keeps Joel going for the next couple of hours, once again, without bloating him, while keeping him satiated.  He'll also drink 500mL of water with this snack.

His second round of clients finishes up at 11:30am.  This gives him plenty of time to heat up his lunch/pre-workout:

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This is about as basic as lunch gets, and Joel is totally fine with that.  This lunch provides him with plenty of calories at a far enough distance from his upcoming 3:00pm workout so that he doesn't have to fear seeing it on the gym floor, and the mixed vegetables provide provide him with some vitamins and minerals to keep the doctor away.  Sometimes he'll add low/zero-calorie salsa if he's feeling adventurous.  He'll usually drink 1000-1500mL of water with this meal.

He trains a client from 1:00pm-2:00pm and spends the next hour updating some of his athletes' programs.

It's now 3:00pm.  He trains until roughly 5:30pm.  As he trains, he consumes a simple, DIY, low/zero-calorie intra-workout drink consisting of:

• 1500mL of water
• 2 servings of Optimum Nutrition's "Amino Energy"
• 5g of Optimum Nutrition Creatine Monohydrate
• 12mL of LYTEshow electrolyte solution

Joel doesn't think intra-workout drinks help him out that much, but for convenience, he uses them as opportunities to get his supplements in for the day, which are also quite basic.  The "Amino Energy" contains amino acids (including beta-alanine) to help support carnosine synthesis during his workouts.  The creatine monohydrate replenishes his phosphate stores so his body can more readily produce ATP.  The LYTEshow provides his body with minerals to keep him hydrated during these high-volume workouts.

It's 6:00pm.  Joel just finished his cooldown stretches, and his blood sugar is low.  He needs a quick surge of fast-acting carbohydrates and some protein, PRONTO.  So here is what he eats immediately after his workout:

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Cream of rice.  It's always been there for us.  Every athlete should probably include this in his or her diet.  It's easy to digest, it's calorically dense, it tastes great, and it mixes well with anything.  Joel mixes some protein powder into his cream of rice so his muscles have something to feed on until dinnertime.  He also drinks about 1000mL of water with this meal.

After spending an hour or two consulting his athletes and analyzing their training clips he has them send him, he heads home and picks up dinner on the way.  And if there is one dinner that is always worth having, it's a burrito bowl from Chipotle:

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This is the dream.  Joel tops off his day with a giant bowl of brown rice, seared chicken, assorted salsas, and a mountain of mixed vegetables.

After he's done eating dinner, it's 9:00pm.  At this point, he is full, exhausted, ready to go to bed, and ready to start the cycle all over again.  By 9:00pm, Joel has drank approximately 7.25L (~2gal) of water, and his total calories/macronutrients for the day add up to:

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*all calorie and macronutrient values were obtained from www.myfitnesspal.com

Beta-Alanine Supplementation

Are Pre-, Intra-, and Post-Workout Carbohydrates Important for Powerlifters?

Hey all, hope everyone had a great July 4th!

Today is the day I write and publish my first official blog post.  In this, I'm going to talk about why pre-, intra-, and post-workout carbohydrates are popular topics, as well as go over what some old and recent literature suggests on the matter.  My goal here is to make some of the data regarding this topic as easy to understand as possible.  Hopefully by the end of this post, you will have a better idea of why this topic is of such a high order of importance, and whether it's something worth your time and energy as an athlete, coach, trainer, nutritionist, etc.

Summary of Points

• Glycogen is the preferred source of energy for the Krebs cycle
• Workout volume and intensity respectively affect degree and rate of glycogen depletion
• Resistance training heavily expends glycolytic energy
• Post-workout carbohydrates improve immediate recovery and performance
• Pre-workout (and possibly intra-workout) carbohydrates may benefit morning lifters, two-a-day lifters, and low-carb dieters

A Quick Anecdote

Something happened yesterday.  I forgot to eat a small meal 1-2hrs before my workout, I didn't have any Gatorade during my workout, and after my workout, I had another 2 hours to wait until my July 4th dinner was ready.  My workouts take 2 hours to complete, and they aren't easy.  I was in quite the predicament.

Sure, I was hungry during and after my workout, but then again, I always am.  But I was still able to hit every rep and set at the weight and RPE I was expecting to.  I just... didn't feel as good as usual while doing it.

So What's the Big Deal?

If exercise physiology has taught me anything, it's that the Krebs cycle is the mecca of energy production in the human body, and glycolysis is its lifeline... well... its preferred lifeline, at least... sorry to leave you out, oxidative phosphorylation.

As many of you may or may not know, glycolytic ATP production is much faster than oxidative ATP production.  In order for glycolysis to happen, we need glycogen, and glycogen comes from glucose, which comes from ingested carbohydrates.

So here's where pre-, intra-, and post-workout nutrition earn their heat.  As we exercise, we expend phosphagenic and glycolytic energy (along with oxidative energy, but that's not important here).  The degree to which this occurs depends on total workout volume, and the rate at which this occurs depends on the intensity of our bouts.  It's the same as measuring gas expenditure from driving a car.  Drive for longer, and you use more total gas.  Drive faster, and you use more gas per unit of time.

Let's apply this rambling to a hypothetical, but not unrealistic, athlete/scenario.

Powerlifters tend to train with a lot of volume, and they also tend to train at a fairly high intensity.  I'll paint a picture for us both to look at.

Allow me to introduce you to Brian, an imaginary national-level -105kg lifter.  Let's say Brian is 8 weeks out from his next meet.  He's currently running a program with DUP, and as a -105kg class lifter, he can squat 600lbs, bench 400lbs, and deadlift 600lbs.

Here's his high-intensity, moderate-volume workout for this Friday:

That's 60 total reps of compound barbell movements, at supra-80% intensity, followed by another compound movement for another 32 total reps, followed by one of the most dreadful exercises known to man.  This is a fairly typical scheme for a competitive powerlifter who works out 3-4 times per week.  So surely there is bound to be some serious glycogen depletion during this workout.  We'll come back to Brian in a bit.  Sit tight, Brian.

On Glycogen Depletion

Todd Astorino and Len Kravitz have an excellent analysis of older literature on glycogen depletion in strength training.  Research dating back to the 70s, 80s, and 90s has shown glycogen depletion to be more liberal than one may expect.  Here are what I found to be its most important points, though I encourage everyone to read the whole review:

• Robergs et al. (1991) showed a workout as simple as 6 sets of leg extensions can deplete up to 38-39% of one's stored glycogen
• Tesch et al. (1986) showed a 30 minute workout consisting of front squats, back squats, leg presses, and leg extensions to fatigue depleted 26% of total stored glycogen in its subjects
• A follow up study, by Essen-Gustavsson and Tesch (1990) found a 28% glycogen depletion accompanied by a 30% muscle triglyceride depletion after the same workout
• Haff et al. (1999) showed athletes who "supplemented" 250g of carbohydrates after their morning workouts experienced significantly better performance (more sets, more reps, and for 30 minutes longer) during their second workout, 4 hours later
• Glycogen depletion reduces work capacity

But now let's look at what a more recent study found regarding a similar topic (pre- and intra-workout carbohydrates).  Kulik et al. (2008) tested the effects of pre- and intra-workout carbohydrates supplementation on squat performance.  Here's a summary:

• Subjects performed sets of 5 with 85% of their 1-rep max
• One group was given .3g of carbohydrates per kg of body mass before the workout and after each set
• The other group was given a placebo of equal volume and frequency
• No difference in performance was found

The subjects in this study ate a controlled diet consisting of 55% carbohydrates, 20% protein, and 25% fat.  They went into their workouts "fresh" so to speak - rested, and with plenty of glycogen in their system already.

Let's cross-pollinate this information.  The subjects from Haff et al.'s study underwent back to back workouts, separated by 4 hours of rest.  Account for the glycogen depletion reported from Robergs et al and Tesch et al.  Post- and pre-workout (and possibly intra-workout) carbohydrate sourcing is particularly important for those with already-depleted glycogen stores.  This is important for:

• Morning lifters
• Eat a moderately high-carb breakfast before working out
• 2-a-day lifters
• Eat plenty of carbohydrates immediately after the first workout
• Low-carb dieters
• Consume majority of carbs directly before and after working out

But What About Brian?

Brian works out at 4:00pm every day after he is done training and coaching clients.  His 7:00am breakfast consists of 2 cups of milk-cooked oats with a scoop of whey protein mixed in.  His 12:00pm lunch is 8oz of chicken thigh and a cup of cooked brown rice.  He eats an apple as a snack at 2:00pm, and he always makes a Chipotle run on his way home from the gym (extra rice and beans, triple chicken).  He doesn't need to worry about pre- and intra-workout nutrition, because his diet already provides him with sufficient glucose to keep his glycogen stores filled.  Plus, by the time it's 4:00pm, he's already had 2 full meals and a snack.

Remember my anecdote?  Well, my diet is pretty darn close to Brian's, so even though I forgot to eat lunch, my weeks of consistently sufficient dietary habits kept my glycogen stores at levels that were more than capable of getting me through my workout.  Now, if this were something I did every day, there'd be more to say.  But I guess the moral of the story is that if you're eating enough total calories and carbohydrates, peri-workout nutrition isn't something you should be losing sleep over.

However, when carbs are tight, such as when cutting weight for a meet, timing your carbohydrates around your workout is important and will significantly affect your performance and recovery.

Do you have specific peri-workout carb sources or meals?  If so, what are they, and do you think they help you?

References

Astorino, Todd & Kravitz, Len (n.d.). Glycogen and Resistance Training. Retrieved from https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/glycogen.html.

Essen-Gustavsson, B. & Tesch, P. A. 1990. Glycogen and Triglyceride Utilization in Relation to Muscle Metabolic Characteristics in Men Performing Heavy-Resistance Exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 61, 5-10.

Haff, G. G., et al. 1999. The Effect of Carbohydrate Supplementation on Multiple Sessions and Bouts of Resistance Exercise. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 13(2), 111-7.

Kulik, J. R., Touchberry, C. D., Kawamori, N., Blumert, P. A., Crum, A. J., & Haff, G. G. (2008). Supplemental Carbohydrate Ingestion Does Not Improve Performance of High-Intensity Resistance Exercise. Journal Of Strength & Conditioning Research (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins), 22(4), 1101-1107.

Pöchmüller, M., Schwingshackl, L., Colombani, P. C., & Hoffmann, G. (2016). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Carbohydrate Benefits Associated with Randomized Controlled Competition-Based Performance Trials. Journal Of The International Society Of Sports Nutrition, 13, 1-12.

Robergs, R. A., Pearson, D. R., Costil, D. L., Fink, D. D., Pascoe, M. A., Benedict, C. P., Lambert, C. P., and Zachweija, J. J. (1991). Muscle Glycogenolysis During Differing Intensities of Weight-Resistance Exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology, 70, 1700-1706.

Tesch, P. A., Colliander, E. B., & Kaiser, P. 1986. Muscle Metabolism During Intensity, Heavy- Resistance Exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 55, 362-6.

About Me

For whom this blog concerns: welcome!

My name is Erik McLeod.  I'm a Kinesiology major at George Mason University, and this is my blog where I will ramble about pre-, intra-, and post-workout nutrition, specifically for powerlifters.

Some quick info about me: I love strength sport, I love training people, I love coaching people, I love educating people, and I love lifting heavy things, particularly off of the floor.  My dreams are to succeed as a strength coach and meet handler, and to become a freakish deadlifter.

Picking this topic was a no-brainer for me.  I train for strength, I eat a lot, and I always make sure to surround and fill each of my training sessions with calories.

Meal timing (especially peri-workout nutrition) has certainly received its fair share of well-earned criticism due to its roots in bro-science and misinformation.  But one thing is for certain: how you feel and perform depends on what and when you eat.

For someone seriously interested in getting strong, what you eat, and when you eat, while lifting multi-hundred-pound pieces of knurled metal for 2-3hrs per day, 3-6 days per week, is pretty darn important.  A forgotten pre-workout meal can cause serious energy drainage early into a session.  Eat too soon before a session and you'll never want to brace against a belt ever again.  Forget to bring or get a post-workout meal and you'll turn into a sociopath with hunger pains and low blood sugar.  The list goes on.  As I always say, "there's nothing worse than a hungry powerlifter."

But regardless, this topic is important to me and everyone else interested in becoming strong, and that's why I'm writing about it.

I hope to have some interesting things to say about this topic, and I hope you all enjoy reading it.

Blog logo credit: https://logomakr.com/