Here we will be discussing the best old school bodybuilding diet. The game of bodybuilding is 70% nutrition and 30% training. If your diet is not on point and you are not taking in the correct foods, you will not yield the results you are looking for. It is imperative that you are fine tuning your diet according to your goals. For example, if you’re bulking yet eating at a caloric deficit, you will not gain the mass you are looking to. The nutritional aspect requires a strategic approach, you must know what your goals are and plan accordingly. There are some genetic marvels, for example like Sergio Oliva who was known to be eating hot dogs and drinking Coca-cola 5 weeks out from a show, however for the most part everyone must be 100% on their diet in order to get to the level of leanness and conditioning they are looking for. In this section we will go over calories, macros, types of food you should be eating, etc. I am a firm believer in making the process of dieting as simple as possible, if you are not competing in a show then we will be following the principle of 90/10 that I created. For the most part, I’d say at least 90% of you reading this right now are lifestyle bodybuilders which means that you enjoy the process of lifting and building a physique but you are never planning to actually step on stage. You enjoy the lifestyle and that’s fine, it’s a beautiful life to live.

A calorie is a unit of energy. Human beings need energy to survive in order to get tasks done such as breathing and pumping blood throughout the body. Typically you must gauge whether you are going to cut or bulk by figuring out your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) which is the total amount of calories you burn each day. There are 3 different levels of caloric intake: maintenance, surplus, and deficit. When we are eating at maintenance, we are eating the exact amount of calories necessary to maintain our bodyweight. This is not used much in bodybuilding since there is always a goal for the bodybuilder. If we are looking to gain weight, we will be eating at a caloric surplus. This means if our maintenance is 2,000 calories, we will be looking to eat 300-500 extra calories putting us at 2,300 or 2,500 calories total for the day. When cutting, we will be looking to eat at a caloric deficit, 300-500 typically or within that region. However, as a bodybuilder, when losing weight we are looking to lose fat before we lose the muscle. That is the most important aspect. This applies to bulking as well, we want to maximize muscle gain and minimize fat gain. The best old school bodybuilding diet has high proteins, high carbs, and low fats.

First calculate your TDEE. Once you get this number, setting your goal calories becomes easy. If we are looking to bulk our calories are going to be 300-500 over our maintenance. This number will vary depending on how fast you want to put on weight which will correlate with increased fat gain. Do the opposite for cutting, find your TDEE then subtract 300-500 calories. The harsher the cut the more muscle you will lose during this process. I always preach slow bulks & cuts because you will maximize muscle and minimize fat. The old school bodybuilding diet will help you build the best old school physique you are looking for.