Yesterday I proved you that your training is more important than your diet for lean muscle gains using the example of prison guys. Today I want to give you another example of guys who get muscular using bad diets: Olympic athletes.
One of these athletes has won 14(!) Olympic gold medals...
He's also been caught smoking marijuana...
They call him the "Baltimore Bullet"...
I'm sure you already know who...
Michael Phelps: 14 times Olympic gold medalist and notorious bad dieter.
So you already know how Michael Phelps trains: he swims. Like, a lot. But what about his diet? Well the NY Post reported in August 2008 that Phelps' diet consisted mainly of pizzas, pancakes, sugar loaden energy drinks and white bread. You know, the kind of foods that would turn you and me into a fatto.
While I think the NY post is off with their 12,000kcal/day, Michael Phelps isn't an exception. Olympic athletes are notorious for being bad dieters. They eat junk, they get drunk, they even smoke, but ... they win gold medals.
They win gold while you're stressing about 1 beer.
So I ask you: how can this guy get ripped eating pizzas, pancakes, energy drinks and white bread? Most guys, including me, would turn into lardos eating so much junk. Phelps clearly doesn't - why? Tell me what you think his secret is in the blog comments, I'll give you my answer Monday.
Pretty simple, while I’m spending 10 hours a day either behind a desk to commuting to my desk, he is working out. His day job is to burn more calories than I do in a week.
He works out 6 hours a day and swims 8 miles a day. I work out for 45 minutes 3 times a week and swim around 2 miles a week.
1) Train, Train, Train.
2) Carbs aren’t bad for you, if you use them. He eats tons of Pasta
Good point!
This comes down to your original training vs diet answer. They are doing the correct training and keeping it consistent. It’s all hard work end of the day. They consume all this terrible junk food but the energy is being used in the sports they are doing.
He’s a big guy, his calorie consumption is monstrous as he trains around 6 hours a day, almost everyday. He’s spent the majority of his life in water. Its rumoured he has scales behind his ears and his feet are beginning to web
Mad Skillz.
Also training, lot and lots of hard training.
Because he burns all the calories he gets in. He trains a lot, hence caloric needs.
My first thoughts were the same as Patrick’s, his day job is to workout. With this in mind, he is burning all the carbs for fuel to exercise.
Once again, here is proof that the principle of over-training is a myth and recovery supplements are a scam. Hmmm, maybe pot is the new steroid…
Eat lots, train lots.
Input high, output high.
Phelps burns everything he takes in. If you want to grow, eat more than you burn. If you want to shrink, burn more than you take in.
These are good points (and valid too). He burns up the calories he eats very well. Calories are calories no matter what source of food you get them from. It’s funny how quickly people forget that one point. But there is one caveat to this type of lifestyle: it always catches up to you. It may not be today or tomorrow, but someday his body will crave the amount of calories he is eating and then it will be a mental workout to overcome the cravings/desires of junk food.
The most important aspect of diet (for me) is knowing what else comes along with that energy source I put into my body. If I ate like Phelps does, I would be more worried over time about cardiovascular disease, insulin levels over time, cholesterol levels, you get the idea. Sure I could eat 5k calories a day but think of all the abundance of saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, etc. they consume as well. That’s not healthy.
No one is bulletproof: no one. it all catches up to you in the end. So Why damage your body like that in the long term? (Yes, I do believe in consumption exceptions like Olympic athletes and applaud them for dedicating half their life to an elite profession, but not for us everyday people)
You can eat a sensible diet and get a ton of calories in. Just don’t look to Phelps regime as an exemplary candidate.
G-Flux!!!!!
Easy. He trains like a machine so he uses all those “junk” calories instead of storing them as fat.
He’s training all day long, not sitting on his ass behind a desk or looking nerdy on his segway. When you’re living like that, your metabolism goes crazy 24/7, meaning he’ll burn all the fats and carbs he doesn’t need for training anyway.
It’s about life style if I have to answer briefly. You don’t use it, they’re all gone (muscle)
Well look at the type of foods he eats, how much of those foods he eats & when he eats them. Then look at the way he trains and what system in the body he is taxing daily. His energy stores are depleted every day & the foods he eats restores/ refills those energy stores.
He is a calorie burning machine because he trains 8 hours per day. That is his job..how he makes a living…..
Olympic ahtletes train every day for hours…they don´t go to the gym 3 times a week
He needs to supply the energy demand of his high volume & intensity training. Low calorie foods would make it a difficult task to get his caloric requirements since he would have to eat a much large amount compared to high calorie foods.
is there a link to the diet he has?
i agree with all of the previous comments, but I will also add that he is young, and metabolism slows down as one grows older. I don’t think he would look the same at age 50 even with that diet and regiment.
I actually had the pleasure of meeting Eric Shanteau, one of Phelps teammates, at a CNN function back in 2008, So, I asked him about the story.
He said that it was a bit over-hyped because that’s not Phelps’s, or any swimmer on the team, daily or regular diet, but he did say that they needed to consume large amounts of calories to offset lean mass losses from the 6-8 hours they spent in the pool!
And, this doesn’t include the training that they did out of the pool …
Eric also said that since he wasn’t a big eater, that during training he had to drink just as many calories as he was eating. So, it’s clearly about the tremendous calorie burn that they get through their training ….
It might not be in vogue or attract a niche market but calories matter. His body needs those calories for energy. Pretty simple. The equation is pretty simple for the 9-5 office employee too. You burn less so consume less. Caloric consumption matters if you want to be ripped.
He burns more calories than he consumes, which isn’t possible with that sort of diet working a 9-5, etc
I think Chris wyatt has a very good point.
I loving these facts you’re bringing out. It’s motivating me to train everyday like the Olympic athletes and the prison guys.
I remember one guy told me in the gym that exercising everyday won’t harm you. But guess you have to still be smart about it. Reminds me of Bruce Lee. He trained hard almost everyday and never really bothered with supplements and “rest” periods. He just trained to be the best at what he wanted to do, martial arts.
Now the real challenge for me is finding a way to do this while working an 8-5 job sitting on my behind. :)
Regarding the question about whether or not he actually eats 12000 calories a day, I know that to be true. I’ve eaten many times at Pete’s Grill in Baltimore, which he used to go to regularly. The waitresses there have all been there for a long time so I once asked if they could confirm that he eats the below foods for breakfast. They said he definitely does. And sometimes he’ll get even more.
Three sandwiches of fried eggs, cheese, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, and mayonnaise
One omelet
bowl of grits
three slices of French toast with powdered sugar
three chocolate chip pancakes.
Sometimes more. There’s actually a menu item there called “The Phelps” where you get all of that food.
From what I’ve also read about him, he doesn’t do much besides train in the pool, play video games and sleep–a lot of sleep. So when he’s not training he’s resting and recovering. He’s also genetically gifted–the ratio between his arms and legs is abnormal and perfect for swimming.
Train hard. Eat many calories. Rest. That’s the Phelps plan.
It’s all about caloric deficit. He and other olympic athletes train – either in the gym or in the pool, they spend most of their time there. Simple.
He burns more calories than he consumes. With his sort of diet that woud be almost impossible for someone working a 9-5, has children,etc
I think Chris Wyatt has made some very good points about the long term dangers.
the answers simple…… he’s more active throughout the day(sorta like 24*7 training)…..same reason why young athletes n’ teens who are very actice can still be ripped while eating junk!!!
Do not forget one more thing. For sure vast majoirty of his workouts is done in swimming pool…So, besides the calories he would burn when doing exercises, quite a lot of calories have to be burnt to keep normal body temperature in water…
I can’t wait till Monday….:-|
His diet is not the best. But it is not actually the worst. They have knowledge on what to eat and when(as Alias said) and do that generally. They don’t follow it by the book, not written in stone. How then do they get this way with a not PERFECT diet? Training. They train like sled dogs.
So:
not so PERFECT diet + woof woof training=awesome performance + body
And, like Alias said, they may be eating junk but it never in excess enough to become fat, they know how much to ingest
Not only does Phelps swim all those hours a day, he also works out in the weight room, including a combo of dry land exercises for core strength. All world class swimmers do weights and dry land work to build mass in muscles that will allow them to add speed to their races. And to keep them loose so they don’t cramp up or get injured… Also, they mix a blend of aerobic (breathing through their strokes) and anerobic type workouts in the pool (i.e. no breath sprints to increase endurance)…this combination burns a load of calories.
At 6-8 hours a day why is that NOT considered overtraining.I know he has naps built in and his regular nightime but is that enough recovery.Why am I supposed to be out of the gym in an hour or less for a multitude of reasons(overtraining,testoterone levels,etc).
I think Lance Armstrong trained something like 330 days a year for hours at a time
Train like a madman basically. Sounds like the harder u train a clean diet becomes less important. Time to train harder…
The only reason he can eat like that and “normal” people can’t is because he is an olympic athlete and trains as such. If your energy expenditure is as high as his you need as many calories as you can get.
Here’s a snippet of an interview with American Football player Bruce Carter. He has set UNC linebacker records in the power clean (374) and the vertical jump (40.5 inches). The 238-pounder has also been clocked at 4.39 in the 40 and bench-presses 440
“How strict are you about diet?”
“Well, not very. I eat a lot of McDonald’s and fast foods, but I do work out real hard.”
“Like how much McDonald’s?”
“Almost every day. I usually get three double cheeseburgers, medium fries, large tea and a six-piece McNuggets. I don’t think eating healthy as far as eating salads and that stuff really works for me.”
Well he does have a diet and it is kinda important. it’s even adjusted to his high caloric needs vs. stomach size. The prison guys actually didn’t have a diet, this guy does. Only it doesn’t sounds like a diet to us with all that junk …
When i did contest swimming and trained 5 days a week and had a contest besides the training days every day i was also able to eat what ever i want. Now i do have to be carefull with my desk job and 3x45minutes training. Without being carefull what i eat i even gained 20+kg bodyweight in fat while going to the gym. Took me over a year to get rid of that again.
I love JC’s post about Bruce Carter. And, I love Eric’s post. Can you tell I’m a woman? I was thinking someone is probably going to think I’m gay or something, but I just love hearing what you guys are talking about with working out.
The women’s magazines not only make money on selling those supplements, but on telling women what kind of workout routines they should have on what days and how not to overstress their bodies. I think it’s all a bunch of bunk.
I’m 46 and almost a year ago I just got sick of what happens when you sit around too much. So I started working out hard and often (5-6 days per week usually, no matter what time of the month it is). I feel like I live at the gym and people probably judge me and say I spend too much time working out and running/biking/elliptical training, but dang! It works. I’ve lost about 30lbs, and I’m more toned than I’ve ever been.
I just feel like the exercise gurus are handing people a bunch of hype and I love your site for telling it like it is. Women don’t want to work really hard — I think there’s a stigma attached, but I swear I don’t look like a body builder at all. I don’t take any supplements and I don’t eat completely clean (but I try! Even as I sit here munching on rice crisps cause I’m HUNGRY!)
OK, shoot me. Tell me to get outta here, I will. Send me to a womens site that isn’t about a bunch of bunk and I’ll go.
Keep up the good work! Oh, and I just think I’d want to shoot most the men in that prison video if I knew what they were in there for, but I do love to see a bunch of guys encouraging each other. That is a pretty big deal. Michael Phelps wouldn’t be where he is w/o his teammates and coaches, family, etc.
If you are a professional athlete, work out over 4 hours per day, or under 35 you can eat what you want. Remove any one of those variables, and you will get fat. Over 40, unless you work out 4 hours or more, a bad diet will out perform your workout.
Well, I’ll go for the simple answer, although it has already been said. He burns all of the calories he eats through his training, so he doesn’t gain any fat.
I can understand why he is not fat, considering they probably traing every single day and its like their day job. But what about building muscle? You need protein to build muscle. I guess you can also get protein from all the junk food your eating like KFC or a pizza.
But I also read somewhere (from someone who use to apparently work for a protein company) that protein doesnt build muscle, its all just marketing. This guy went onto say that even when he told some doctors about protein and building muscle they all had a laugh at him.
Try eating 12k calories ‘clean’, I think he HAS to eat a lot of junkfood or he won’t consume enough calories.
He’s a fat burn machine.. There’s no way he can be fat with the amount of excersices he does every day!! The reason for for his ripped body is not his diet..of course…TRAINNING!!
JC – good luck with Bruce Carter’s angle on nutrition. And better luck detoxing all of that out 5, 10 and 20 years from now
Because he burns all of the excess calories. I’m not 100% sure, but my coach tells me swimming hard for an hour burns about 700 calories. So I’m sure Phelps burns a lot of calories since he’s in the pool more than three hours a day. Also, I think some of the calories he doesn’t burn off gets used towards recovery since he’s under such a hard workload.
In honor of this post I will have pizza and beer tonight and enjoy it!
I understand and agree with the hard focused training. However, he only trains and swims like that during the season (part of the year). What keeps his weight from ballooning during his off season?
I read a lot of people mentioning that he needed extra calories to keep his body warm in water. Well the swiming poll isn´t exactly freezing cold guys..
Allow me to try and answer the question; How can he be ripped eating all that kind of food? I believe the answer has been mentioned, he burns a lot of calories exercising involving (resistance training) so his body fat percentage is really low which allows the muscles he gains to show. From his built he looks like he is an Ectomorph genetically making his body digest food faster and use it for immediate energy not storage.
I have been working out for a year trying to achieve what everyone wants wich is the hardest not impossible gain muscle while burning fat and did a lot of reading on nutrition and exercises..some of it is good some of it is rubbish.
I can tell you what I learned is there’s no such thing as “Fast Results” being 6 pack abs or bigger arms..etc. If you want to achieve your physique goals expect to put in a lot of consistent hard work and eat well, use your common sense! People physiology are wired different but the body responds and adapts to whatever it is subjected to, being resistance exercises to build strength and muscle or cardio vascular activity to burn extra calories and loose weight. Whatever your goal is keep this in mind a person caloric (intake/ expenditure), dictates what you will achieve 1-caloric deficit that would cause the body to start breaking down fat and later muscles for energy, if the body have no fat stored. 2- Not too much surplus so the body doesn’t store it as Fat reserve, none of this happen overnight it takes days and months. that’s why this goal is hard to achieve and demands time and discipline I can’t wait for the answer on monday and hope to learn from many of the bloggers. Good luck to all of you.
i think mehdi’s point is that training is key to lean muscle growth while diet is not. this discussion has turned into diet plus training is key to not being fat. building muscle and losing fat are not the same thing. you can build muscle and be a giant, fat slob, or you can build muscle and be lean. training builds the muscle, diet determines how fat you are.
obviously, phelps overcomes a diet which would make a normal person a blimp, with an excessive amount of training, burning enough calories to keep a constant weight. the type of training he does, does not build as much muscle as weight training would, which is why his muscles are smaller than a gymnast, thrower or prison weightlifter.
Phelps is like he is mainly for two reasons. First because he trains a lot and in a medium which dissipates a lot of energy in the form of heat, and this heat comes from the burning of that junk, and secondly because of his genetics. However genetics apart anyone who really did so much swimming would not be certainly fat.
For other athletes the reasons are the same a lot of strength training and aerobics. But when I say a lot i really mean like so much… but this does not mean in their free non training periods they can do what ever they feel like
so, basically we know that weight training and good amount of calories will give u muscle…..and supps r just a fu@#ing waste of money……
He trains a lot and uses the calories he consumes, even though a lot of what he eats is crap. In the end it will catch up with him. Take a look at how many ex-athletes look a couple of years after retirement….I know quite a few who become fat slobs. Boils down to a poor diet that they continue to consume after their career is over.
He swims alot.
Simply put, his energy out (Physical Training) is greater than his energy in (Junk Food/Good food etc). Therefore his bodyfat is low and his muscle mass is maintained by whatever resistance traing he incorporates. I think it is important to note that although physical training is far more important than diet for gains, for your average schmo who works eight hours a day and has some form of life beyond training; diet in the form of good clean food (lots of green, lean proteins, good fats and plenty of hydration) for whatever caloric output should still be an important consideration. Average folks don’t train from 6-8 hours a day, because of time constraints so some form of compromise in food choices needs to exist.
you just opened my mind to a whole different way of thinking and i thank you for that…Training is the number one rule…
I agree with pretty much everyone who’s posted here: he works enough to compensate for what he burns off.
his diet is to eat as much as possible, I think swimmers at this level need at least 10000 calories a day, and that is not easy too do when your his size.
Because of his amaizing amount of activity.