When a student asked Charles Poliquin his best single dietary tip for optimal leanness, energy and sustained mental focus, he told us to try the rotating meat and nuts breakfast.

My coach, Ben Pakulski, introduced me to the Meat & Nuts Breakfast in prep for the 2011 WBFF World Championships & I can testify to increased metal focus, less craving and more focused energy. Not to mention 4% bodyfat.

Why is the rotating meat and nuts combination so effective?

1) The meat allows for a gradual rise in blood sugar.

2) The nuts provide a great dose of healthy smart fats that allow blood sugar to remain stable for a longer period of time.

3) Reduces food sensitivities that are known to increase cortisol in people. It’s very common for individuals to have allergies to beef, eggs, whey, casein, tuna and oatmeal, the typical bodybuilding staples.

In short, breakfast IS the most important meal of the day – what you eat for breakfast determines your entire neurotransmitter production for that day.

Personally, it’s quite funny to see the reaction of my friends when the visit me in the morning and watch me cook some form of meat for breakfast but literally everyone who has made the switch has reported the same benefits of increased energy, more mental focus and fullness.

Multiple studies on employee productivity or on children’s attention patterns have demonstrated that a high-protein diet breakfast not only impacts on the energy and productivity levels of morning till noon but also extends its positive effects into the late afternoon.

 Here is the Meat & Nuts Breakfast over the next five days:

Day 1

1-2 buffalo meat patties
1 handful of macadamia nuts

Day 2

1 large venison steak
1 handful of cashew nuts

Day 3

1-2 lean turkey burgers
1 handful of almonds

Day 4

salmon omelet
1 handful of walnuts

Day 5

2 lean ground beef patties
1 handful of Brazil nuts

Day 6

3 slices of turkey bacon
1 handful of hazelnuts

***COOKING TIP: I usually add some coconut oil, 2 whole organic eggs and a massive handful of spinach and mix all together in a frying pan. It takes less than five minutes to prepare.  Plus, I usually have 5 grams of high quality fish oil to mitigate the insulin response longer.

***The BEST Recipe Resource: The Muscle Cook, Dave Ruel has the best bodybuilding cookbook online and it includes dozens of amazing meals like Sun Dried Tomato Salmon, Salmon Burgers, Turkey Bacon Wrapped Scallops, Buffalo (Bison) Burgers, London Broil, Jamaican Pork and so many more that you use for the rotating meat and nuts breakfast. Just add the nuts to Dave’s recipe and your set. And for this week only, you can buy Dave’s nutrition system, Anabolic Cooking for $40 Off.

What if you’re allergic to nuts?

Charles recommends you add a portion of the following low-glycemic/low-fructose fruits with your breakfast:

Apricots
Avocadoes
Blackberries
Blueberries
Grapefruit
Loganberries
Nectarines
Olives
Papayas
Peaches
Plums
Raspberries
Strawberries

The rule of thumb when eating fruits is to aim for organic, especially for strawberries, as they are one of the most sprayed crops in the world.

What if you’re skinny and trying to build muscle?

If you’re still wear extra small clothes and having a hard time gaining muscle, adding 1-2 cups of carbohydrates to your breakfast will help you gain weight as prescribed in No Nonsense Muscle Building. For anyone looking to lose fat or optimize leanness, the rotating meat and nuts breakfast is a must try dietary strategy.  Also, it’s not critical to rotate around six different meals a week – I usually rotate two different combos a week and every month I switch up the sources to two different combos.

I’ve been preaching the rotating meat and nuts breakfast since Live Large LIVE so for those of you who are “believers”, share how this new dietary strategy made a difference below!

I love hearing your feedback.

Vince Del Monte

When I was invited to the Hypertrophy Bootcamp, I didn’t actually think it was a a REAL bootcamp! I thought it was primarily lecture. Nope!  Fifteen “balls to the wall” workouts in five days! Three chest and back workouts Monday; three quad workouts Tuesday; three arm workouts Wednesday; three hip workouts Thursday and three shoulder workouts Friday. Afterwards the reoccurring comment was, “I have not been training hard enough.”  It was a raw reminder of the importance of INTENSITY.

We asked Charles, “What has been the greatest and worst thing you’ve seen in the fitness industry since you started 32 years ago?”  His reply was, “The Internet.”  It’s great because of all the free information but horrible because more than 95% of the information in completely wrong.  This got me reflecting…. 

After yesterdays three quad workouts, getting out of bed this morning fight like an Olympic event. After todays three arm workouts, I will be shocked if I have the ability to style my hair tomorrow morning!

We covered three different hypertrophy protocols for arm training while emphasizing multiple angles on the strength curve to reach the end results of bigger arms.  I am absolutely grateful for the opportunity to be around individuals who have made this line of work their life calling so they can make my life better and I can hopefully do the same for you,

Okay, here are today’s take aways…

1. Every arm exercise moves through a force curve – the stretch (fully extended) position, mid range (where you are strongest) and the shortened (fully contracted) position.  Isolating different points of the strength curve makes a huge difference in hypertrophy.

2. Arnold (probably intuitively) got this correct. If you study his workouts you’ll notice he uses many exercises to stretch the length, overload the mid range and strengthen the contraction.  Maximize Your Muscle members know this style of training as Positions of Flexion (as coined by Steve Holman of IronMag)

3. It’s “Tricep(s)!” not Tricep….”

Day 2 Report from Charles Poliquin’s 5-Day Hypertrophy Bootcamp in Rhode Island

The nickname for Day 2 was Dropping The Hammer of Doom on the Lower Body!

When it was announced my team of three would be doing three quad dominant workouts in one day I thought, “How is that even possible?”  Especially when you’re training the same muscle group each session.  And especially since I never considered myself a masochist.

Completing three workouts a day on the same body part (I’m predicting) is going to be the “a-ha” moment of the week and I don’t think any of us thought we could make it through. So far we have… but we still have another leg day on Thursday so maybe I should shut up. If you’re thinking…

Are we sore? Oh my gawd yeah.

Did I want to crawl into the fetal position, suck my thumb and call my Mommy?  By the 25th set of the first workout, yup!

Isn’t this over training? Absolutely. But it’s strategic and brief.

Will I recover?  Of course!

We’re all listening to the wisdom and experience of Charles and sticking to his precise peri nutrition protocols and increase bumped up nutrient intakes by 50% overall normal requirements.

Plus, we’re in groups of three so the moral support is awesome. I’m in a group with two Alpha Males and we’re having a blast pushing each other to the brink of death.

Here are some of my take aways from our in-class sessions and nazi-style workouts…

1.   Pre Workout Stack: 40grams of BCAA, 5grams of Carnitine (l-carnitine and acetyl-l-carnitine from tartrate), 1 electrolyte pack, beta-alanine.  I had this stack three times today!

2. BCAA increase blood sugar while we train, are strongly anti-catabolic, require no energy to digest (maintaining growth hormone levels), increase cortisol (cortisol provides energy) insulin and growth at the same time, increase insulin sensitivity, and increase androgen receptivity.  Best way to take BCAA caps is to put them in a cup and carry your cup around with you. If you can only afford one supplement, BCAA is your best pick.  Plus, if you have a sensitivity to dairy, throw away your protein powder (unless it’s lactose free) and just use BCAA.

3. When hamstrings act as a knee flexor, you utilize more slow fast twitch muscle fibers. When hamstrings act as a hip extensor, you utilize more fast twitch muscle fibers. Therefore, your knee flexor exercises should be more explosive, lower reps and heavier. And your hip extensor exercises should be more controlled, higher reps and moderate weight.