It suggests that higher dietary cholesterol intake leads to greater muscle and strength gains (in elderly men though) than low cholesterol intake. It is possible to read the full text for free.
This reminds me of the late Vince Gironda recommending bodybuilders to eat a lot of eggs to increase their gains from training.
As an experiment I personally increased my egg yolk intake to 12-16 yolks a day. I have to say that after 3 months my strength has increased a little more than usually and people say I look bigger, but I only see a small effect on the scale.
Now, I am not advising anyone to do the same. The jury is still out. More personal and professional research is needed to prove anything.
Does anyone on this forum ever used Gironda’s advise of eating more than ten egg yolks a day?
What are your experiences?
I read some ‘older’ BBing books over the last year, and there is a common thread where the majority of guys would have eggs, hamburger, and cottage cheese and coffee every day for breakfast. While I’m not one of get into the real chemical nitty-gritty of it, I do believe that cholesterol directly ties in to your testosterone production.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I read some ‘older’ BBing books over the last year, and there is a common thread where the majority of guys would have eggs, hamburger, and cottage cheese and coffee every day for breakfast. While I’m not one of get into the real chemical nitty-gritty of it, I do believe that cholesterol directly ties in to your testosterone production.
S
[/quote]
Might be because testosterone is derived from cholesterol =]
[quote]Higgins wrote:
The Mighty Stu wrote:
I read some ‘older’ BBing books over the last year, and there is a common thread where the majority of guys would have eggs, hamburger, and cottage cheese and coffee every day for breakfast. While I’m not one of get into the real chemical nitty-gritty of it, I do believe that cholesterol directly ties in to your testosterone production.
S
Might be because testosterone is derived from cholesterol =]
[/quote]
That still does not mean increasing cholesterol intake will increase testosteron and muscle mass in reality. This is why I asked for personal experiences. Almost anything can sound logical, only few things actually work…
I go back and forth on the issue of eating eggs and beef, and have decided that certainly while eggs and beef are okay, I prefer my main sources of cholesterol to have less saturated fat. Shrimp is the shit and as good a source of cholesterol as are eggs, and taste better. Maybe a little pricey, but I eat what the frick I want. Costco shrimp baby. $12 for 2 pounds.
I’m convinced I really fucked myself in the long run when I was in my early 20’s (early 90’s) with the ‘no fat’ dieting. I was running, rowing crew, and lifting (very high reps). I was relatively skinny and surely didn’t put on any mass because of constant dieting.
I sure wish I was hitting 5000 calories a day in steak back then. Catching up sucks.
That still does not mean increasing cholesterol intake will increase testosteron and muscle mass in reality. This is why I asked for personal experiences. Almost anything can sound logical, only few things actually work…[/quote]
I think it isn’t as much as straight line as it is the law of diminishing returns. You need an ample amount of cholesterol (I feel) to get in that “zone” during the workout. It is one of the things that the body needs, and when it is deficient in it, it runs sub-optimally. Whenever I eat eggs+beef during the day over a sustained amount of time, I get a certain clarity/rage in the gym whereas if I just eat chicken/tuna with added fats cycling through meats, I’ve noticed I struggle in this same area.
If you ate 100 eggs a day, you won’t get proportionally stronger but eating 6-8 whole eggs and some beef during the day I feel is very beneficial. I also like these because it gets the saturated fats up (which may be whats causing that affect as well) whereas if I’m living off chicken/tuna/shakes with olive oil fish oil etc that is lacking as well.
That still does not mean increasing cholesterol intake will increase testosteron and muscle mass in reality. This is why I asked for personal experiences. Almost anything can sound logical, only few things actually work…
I think it isn’t as much as straight line as it is the law of diminishing returns. You need an ample amount of cholesterol (I feel) to get in that “zone” during the workout. It is one of the things that the body needs, and when it is deficient in it, it runs sub-optimally. Whenever I eat eggs+beef during the day over a sustained amount of time, I get a certain clarity/rage in the gym whereas if I just eat chicken/tuna with added fats cycling through meats, I’ve noticed I struggle in this same area.
If you ate 100 eggs a day, you won’t get proportionally stronger but eating 6-8 whole eggs and some beef during the day I feel is very beneficial. I also like these because it gets the saturated fats up (which may be whats causing that affect as well) whereas if I’m living off chicken/tuna/shakes with olive oil fish oil etc that is lacking as well.
[/quote]
Good point! It true that it is not clear where the point of diminishing returns lies. The study only looked at people who ate 3-5 eggs a day at most. Gironda advised eating a lot more. (I read 20-40 eggs a day) I wonder if it really made those bodybuilders build muscle any faster than if they ate 10 eggs a day.
Thanks for the detailed reporting guys! Keep 'em coming.
GOMAD, more than ten eggs a day, the anabolic diet, CKD etc. all are useful for what their used for but using just one for an extended time i reckon would probably hurt ur health. gains/fat loss on the other hand tends to benefit.
comes down to the old health OR size??
i prefer size. i drink prob a half gallon of whole milk a day, eat fast food, have eggs almost everyday so ya know. to each their own. but i might try increasing the steak and eggs like the oldies did.
steak, eggs, milk, oj, heavy whipping cream, heavy lifting, sleep… all they ever did.