WHAT THE FUUU*&%$!!! What is up with this diet? Is anyone trying it? I can’t see how it could work unless you got the genes of Brad Pitt. It sounds too crazy to me. If anyone out there is giving it a shot, keep me in tune with your progress. I would really be interested to here about any results from a bold man who tries it.
Though I have not tried this diet per say, I have done similar. Just completely overshout my caloric requirements and eat lots of fried chicken, and burgers and whatever. It did work. I was not terribly lean by the end of the plan but I did have more muscle. My advice on this sort of thing is similar to the authors. If you can’t gain weight this will work. I know too many people who are really lean year round and complain about not being able to gain weight.
I haven’t followed this exact diet, either, but its pretty close to how I eat to gain size.
In fact, I don’t understand how someone trying to gain size could eat any differently and still make good progress. To me this should be called the “Get Real Diet”, because its how 99% of us are going to have to eat if we want to pack on the muscle.
I put on 20 lbs in a little over 4 months using a similar diet and a workout centered on squats/deadlifts/rows/chins/overhead press/bench. Did I gain fat? Yeah. Hold water? Yup. Double chin? Check. Did I lift heavier every single time I was at the gym? Hell yeah. Did my arms and chest get thicker? Yes. Thighs? Well, adding 120 lbs to my squat over 4 months answers that question.
So now I'm dieting the fat and water off and its coming off pretty easily. And I'm also retaining much of the size/ strength I gained during that period. The old pants fit once again and the double chin is gone. All it took was a couple of weeks on a zero carb diet to get the fat under control.
Its the kind of diet needed for size. And its one everyone should follow, especially during the winter months when you’re under a layer of clothes anyway.
Thanks for the info eag and alex. I will be starting a bulk diet in mid Feb. I was thinking more on the lines of the chanko diet until I read the POW diet article. I think I will give it a shot with creatine and ribose as supplements.
I think that diet was made for people with the “genes of brad pitt” who can’t seem to gain any weight. I personally have to be a little more careful these days, but about ten years ago this diet would have helped out a lot.
On the topic of this POW diet, does anybody know what the macronutrient ratios are supposed to be? I get fat as hell if I jack my carbs much higher than 50%. There seems to be a lot of fat in this diet, so is the ratio something along the lines of 40/30/30 or 33/33/33? Thanks for any help, want to add some bulk.
There really are no set ratios on this diet. And if you’re worried about gaining fat, don’t try this diet. You’re gonna put some adipose tissue on as well as muscle. The one thing you want to do is make sure your fat intake is somewhere around the Zone or Isocaloric range (30-33%). No point in going any higher than this. Fat is a very anabolic nutrient, it’ll keep those test levels up to snuff. If you don’t want to gain excess fat somewhat haphazardly just do a regular Zone or Isocaloric based diet, w. cals 10-20 percent over maintenance spread across 5-6 meals. I find it a little funny that people are getting so worked up over this type of diet. I’m not being critical, but just keep in mind that this diet isn’t geared toward everyone, but for the super-duper hardgainers that are struggling to gain a measly pound. Don’t sweat over all the details, just eat like a horse, train hard 3-4x/week (or even maybe twice a week utilizing a 20-rep squat routine or something) and rest. You’ll grow.
Thanks for the info teddykgb. I’m not a hardgainer, so I’ll stay away from this diet. It shocked me when eag said this is the diet everyone should follow.