The workout plan and how it is executed is the other half of the work. The workout program only accounts for a small percentage of the work, however, it could be argued that without knowing what to do, it would be incredibly hard to achieve your goals. When it comes to what you should be eating and how much, it all depends on what your goals are.

If you are wanting to lose weight, it is advised that you eat 300-500 calories less than your maintenance calories, to gain weight is 300-500 calories more than your maintenance calories, however it all depends on your lifestyle and eating habits, as well as your health.

Here at FlexVitality, we’re not too keen on counting calories to an exact amount as there are many factors that can determine how many calories you burn daily or whilst exercising, so instead, we recommend that you just alter your lifestyle choices. Whether you’re bulking or cutting, you should try to reduce the amount of processed foods you eat throughout the day, but if you are cutting, it is very highly recommended you cut out as many non-foods as possible.

By non-foods, we mean anything that doesn’t grow from the ground or come from an animal. Some of these so-called “healthy” foods and snacks readily available in the supermarkets have many ingredients that are not good for the body, such as sweeteners, colourings, syrups, flavourings and preservatives. Needless to say, these chemical, artificial products can greatly hinder your body’s ability to lose fat or gain muscle.

However, if you are attempting to bulk and gain muscle mass, sometimes it is important to feed your muscles after heavy workouts such as leg days to increase your body’s repairing ability and ability to gain weight. It is important to not overconsume these foods though, because you are attempting to gain muscle weight, not to gain fat weight.

Personally, when I go on my bulking seasons, I typically have a pizza or burger or lasagne etc once a week on leg day, because when you train legs, it gives your body a massive testosterone boost which boosts muscle growth, so afterwards I treat myself to feed up my muscles, so they have the energy needed to design the body I want.