THE GOLDEN AGE PROGRAMME FOR SIZE AND STRENGTH: PT.5

In this final part of the Golden Age Programme, I talk about the role of nutrition and show you how to plan a diet to follow during the programme

Welcome back to the Golden Age Programme for Size and Strength, an all-round programme for beginners and intermediate lifters.

This five-part programme will give you everything you need, as far as I’m concerned, to build a tremendously solid base of size and strength in the Golden Age manner. You don’t have to have one or the other: you can have both.

This is part five of five. Here I’m going to explain to you how to eat properly to get the most out of your 12-month programme. Let’s get to it!

Link to the Introduction

Link to the History of the 5x5

Link to the Outline of the Programme

Link to last week’s Progression Guide

The Raw Egg 5x5: Nutrition

It’s a simple truism: if you want to get big, you have to eat big. Here’s how Reg Park used to eat in his prime, in his own words:

I liked to eat like a king, but only food that was good for me. I ate prodigious amounts of food during the day, but adhered to a very balanced diet with everything in proper proportions. My favorite food is steak, which I sometimes eat twice a day. I also like salads, orange juice and wine. I have a wine cellar in my home. I also have used protein supplements and take vitamin and mineral tablets.

But Earle Liedeman, of Iron Man magazine, tells a slightly different story.

Once, when dining with Reg, he gargled three large plates of vegetable soup, then gulped chunks from his extra large and thick steak without his teeth sinking into the meat once, apparently, next stuffed many side dishes of vegetables into his ever open mouth and these include an extra large pair of baked potatoes, a huge bowl of salad, three glasses of milk and the last, the piece de resistance, a big dish of ice cream with cake. And all this, mind you, in about ten minutes. Gee! I've seen hungry bloodhounds gobble down food, but Reg Park wins a can of fried grasshoppers as second place for amount, and first place for speed.

Of the three bodybuilders I featured in my second book Three Lives of Golden Age Bodybuilders, Reg appears to have been the least discerning in terms of his diet. But even so, what he shared with Chuck Sipes, Chet Yorton and all the Golden Age greats was a diet built around nutrient-dense animal foods — meat including organ meat, eggs, raw milk, cream, butter — in large quantities, with only a minimum of supplementation, perhaps at most a protein powder and a few different kinds of pills. It’s worth remembering that there just weren’t many supplements available back in the day apart from protein powders and vitamin pills and maybe some desiccated liver tablets, so guys like Reg weren’t dry-scooping preworkout or mixing up anything the average gymbro might consider an essential part of his nutrition regime today.

Just like the 5x5 programme itself, this nutrition guide will follow the K*I*S*S* (keep it simple, stupid!) maxim. Don’t overcomplicate things and try to juggle a ridiculous amount of variables at once. Get the basics right and you’ll make good, honest progress. This guide will be designed around a whole-food diet with a minimum of supplementation.

A Note on Supplementation

The first successful commercially made protein powder: Rheo Blair’s Instant Protein Supplement

Before we go any further, then, it may be worth getting the issue of supplementation out of the way. Supplementation is sometimes necessary — sometimes, but not always. If you eat a varied diet rich in high-quality whole foods, you are unlikely to be deficient in anything necessary to build muscle.

I’ve already mentioned that protein powders can be helpful to increase overall protein consumption, but you don’t need them. You can consume enough good-quality protein through a diet rich in whole foods. The last time I touched a protein powder, I was in my late teens. Over the last four or so years of heavy lifting, I’ve relied solely on meat, dairy and eggs, and most of the Golden Age greats did the same.

If you’re going to be exercising in a calorie deficit, it may be a good idea to take a multivitamin, to prevent deficiencies from creeping in, especially over the long term. But if you’re eating properly to put on mass, a multivitamin shouldn’t be necessary.

Three particular substances you might want to supplement are zinc, magnesium and vitamin D. Zinc and magnesium are lost through sweat and exercise and must be replenished via nutrition or supplementation. Zinc is important in regulating metabolism via enzyme activity, thyroid health, protein synthesis, recovery, and maintaining healthy testosterone levels. Magnesium supports muscle and nerve function as well as energy production. Chronically low levels of magnesium can be linked to a variety of serious health problems. Many people are deficient in zinc and magnesium, whether they know it or not.

Likewise vitamin D. Exposure to sunlight is an necessary for vitamin D synthesis in the body, so supplementation is most useful for those who live in places with poor overcast climates. Vitamin D is essential in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus, both of which are vital for healthy bones and teeth. Aside from its more commonly known function, vitamin D has been linked to testosterone levels and fat loss, and it also plays a role in regulating mood. People with low vitamin D levels are at greater risk of depression.

Otherwise, you can consider taking creatine as well. Creatine can help you boost your strength, muscle growth, and recovery as well as potentially enhancing cognitive functions.

Overall, though, as I say, you should focus on deriving your nutritional needs from the food you eat.