Feeding involves learning how to stay free of excess body fat, in excellent shape and muscular. This means knowing how much and what food to eat to get the best possible result. This means learning the basic health substances and determining how much you need each of them.



Good nutrition is also related to proteins (protein beverages), vitamins, minerals and other food supplements. It not only helps you to become bigger and stronger, but also keeps you healthier and supports your immune system not to miss exercise because of health problems such as colds. The benefits of good nutrition also include everything from improving the speed of recovery from heavy workouts to ensuring good skin appearance and optimal function of the liver and other organs.

That is why the basic principles of nutrition are as important to an athlete as the basic principles of training. Nutrition is of utmost importance for building a strong, healthy and incredible looking body as well as your workouts. Exercises create a need for healthy substances - how many and what kinds of healthy substances you will give it, is a key factor in getting the kind of results you want.

 

During the Arnold Classic, the competitors are interviewed each year after leaving the stage. One of the most common questions is, "What do you think was the most important factor that helped you enter such an incredible form for this race?" Most often champions such as Shawn Ray, Nasser El Sonbati and Fleck Wheeler (or the winners in Miss International or the winners of the Arnold Fitness race) do not answer this question by telling, for example, that they have made heavy push-pulls, that they have added more holiday days to their programs or that they have trained more analytical exercises.

NO! In most cases (especially in recent years), they talk about better nutrition, increased use of dietary supplements, or more effective diets that have allowed them to gain muscle, reduce the percentage of body fat, and to be able to train with maximum energy up to the race itself.

 

Progress in nutrition and nutrition strategies is the main reason why we see so many premium champions in sports today. In recent years, training has improved but has not changed revolutionary. Increasing knowledge about nutrition, however, is the reason why we see more and more first class contestants taking part in competitions today. Needless to say, better eating will not create a champion without much training. Together with intensive workouts and good mental attitudes, however, knowledge and perfection in the field of nutrition is the third factor that determines success in bodybuilding.

In the past, athletes have been fond of feeding on an instinctive basis, tailored to the way they feel. So, initially, they were able to build sizes but failed to achieve a real relief. When bodybuilders appeared to have become fully embossed - like Harold Poole or old Vince Girdona - their size was usually smaller. They still did not know what the number would be, but at the same time they would get perfect.

In my early years I ate well and grew to an extremely large size. However, I found that the clean table would not lead me to the heights I was struggling for. So at the time I came to live in California, I began a serious study of diets and eating habits, trying to develop a physique that has everything - size, shape, proportions - embossed to the smallest detail. To be top champion, I argued, is to develop your body to its ultimate capabilities. The body, on the other hand, will never be able to reach its maximum if there are not enough vital healthy substances available - in the right place and at the right time.

The basics of nutrition are relatively simple. Knowing how to apply them in your workouts and how to understand the individual needs of your own body, how it responds to the various dieting for downloading and weight gain - is quite another thing. Like many other aspects of training, in the end you are forced to rely on the Instinct principle.

 

First, you have to learn the fundamental foundations by isolating the variables that play such an important role in energy production and building and maintaining muscle tissue. Going beyond the boundary of basic knowledge, understanding that eating is more than just knowing which are the basic substances of biological importance and how the body uses them - to that end, you need to learn to apply this information to your own needs, and your own individual body type.

Excerpts from: "Complete Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding" by Arnold Schwarzenegger