Bodybuilding on a Budget
The other day I was working out with a friend. His dilemma was budgetary restrictions and his overall lack of “gains” due to his financial restrictions. I asked him, well, “what’re you eating and what supplements are you taking?” You can imagine the cookie cutter- GNC-bullshit answer I received “Well, I am eating my whey protein 3 times a day, a frozen lean cuisine; I’m taking my branched chains, creatine, multi vitamin, digestive enzymes, intra workout shake blah blah blah.” Oh, is that so?
Let’s break down what you REALLY need to grow:
- Food
- A gym
- Rest
- And, if you’re so inclined, PEDs
All of these GNC/Hi Health BULLSHIT products drive me up the wall. If you were a natural Olympic qualified athlete, sure, maybe these supplements will give you that extra 1% you need to become a champion. However, for me, you and most other people, they’re largely worthless and eclipsed by the basics. For supplements, keep that shit BASIC:
- A good whey isolate (If, you’re more fortunate than myself and tolerate whey, that is)
- Creatine Monohydrate (fuck off with the newest creatine ethylesterpolyunsaturatedgofuckyourself)
- Fiber supplement. I recommend Metamucil sugar free, but there are plenty of other options. This shit is surprisingly expensive, but worth every penny. You will feel like complete dog shit if you’re blocked up, good luck eating and training if you are.
- Multi Vitamin (Optional, but I’ll tell you what, I think it actually goes a long way. Buy gel caps, not the pressed tabs. NOW makes a great one)
Don’t believe food is expensive, and you need to get crazy to grow. All you need is a Sams Club/Costco/some other bulk food warehouse, Trader Joes and a basic grocery for random things like seasonings. You can build a god like chiseled physique off of these very cheap basics:
- 93% lean ground beef
- Whole Eggs
- White Rice
- Sweet potatoes
- Chicken breast
- Veggies of choice, I find green beans and spinach to be the cheapest bang for your buck.
- Egg Whites
- Peanut Butter
- If it’s within your budget, Protein Pasta. It’s an excellent carb source, high-ish in protein and tastes downright delicious.
Put it all together:
Wake up
6 Whole Eggs w/ 1 cup white rice
1 Shake 50 grams of whey isolate & 1 TBSP all natty PB
1/2lb lean ground beef. Spice it up! A few options are the McCormick Low Sodium Taco Seasnoning, a mixture of A1 sauce & Sugar Free Ketchup (tastes like sloppy joe), marinara sauce or just some salt and pepper.
1 Shake 50 grams of whey isolate & 1 TBSP all natty PB
1 Chicken breast, your veggies and 1 sweet potato
1 fiber supplement
1 Shake time, again. Now, this is where I would use the egg whites sometimes if you can afford them. 1 carton is 50g of CLEAN protein and is an excellent change from powdered whey. I mix mine with 1 or 2 frozen bananas (mixed frozen berries are good too, but a lot of $$$), stevia, unsweetened almond milk (use real milk if you tolerate it) and some PB or almond butter. It’s fucking delicious, and it’ll really start packing in that protein. The shit’s pasteurized, so it’s safe. Man up, pussy.
1/2 lb of ground beef again. Let’s eat it rice or the protein pasta if it was in your budget.
4-6 hard boiled eggs. Make them yourself, don’t be a doofus and buy them premade. They taste WAY better homemade. You should know how to fucking cook for yourself anyway.
1 Chicken breast, your veggies and 1 sweet potato
1 Pre bed shake. It should have some fats in it, especially if you’re in an offseason and 50g of protein. Natty PB, banana and egg whites is my go to.
All right you penny pinching cheap fucks, what’re we looking at for a week of this UNBELIEVABLY simple plan (these are estimates based off of my recent shopping trips)?
72 whole eggs: $9.50
7lbs ground beef: $28
14 cartons of egg whites: $22.5
White Rice: So cheap in bulk, call it $5 a week
Sweet Potatoes: $15
Chicken Breast: $40
Veggies: $10
I’m at $130 bucks a week. If you can’t do that, quite frankly, you should consider a new hobby. My gut instinct tells me you're paying more for all your fancy supplements and shitty anabolics than you are for your food, and you've got it all wrong, trust me.
Protein will vary a ton. Seems like $35 bucks or so a tub right now, so we’ll exclude that from the total.
For a gym, you don't need this fancy ass country club bullshit, unless you want to get a reach around by some 60 year old dude in the sauna. If you do, go for it. If not, you shouldn't be spending more than $35 a month, give or take. I've found most of the time the more you spend, the lamer the gym in terms of motivation and knowledge within the gym. You're there to work and to become a savage, not to meet your future ex wife or have some 14 y/o kid ask you about how you got so huge.
Drugs are simple. Don't get lured in by all the fancy shit like primo, anavar and GH. Those things have their places, and truly are great. However, bang for your buck stick to test, deca, tren, dbol, winstrol and drol. That's all you need, really, to become a freak. Don't use them all together you assholes, be smart with your drug stacks and have a goal in mind. Learn about drug synergies, SHBG, become a fucking expert not an experiment. NEVER, I repeat god dammit, NEVER go cheap on your PCT or ancillaries, this is PHARMA only, no UGL or research chems EVER. Don't waste your money on Chinese GH or peptides, it's just NOT going to give you the most bang for your hard earned dollar, I promise.
Wanna get stupid huge? Take test, deca and dbol. Eat the diet above. Sleep 8 hours a night and train like a fucking savage 5-6 days a week. I promise it will work.
There you go. Laid it out for you. No longer can you use the excuse of “I can’t afford it!” or “I don’t know what to eat?!” Now, stop looking for your gains like Helen Keller at a fucking Easter egg hunt and put on some mass.
Let's hear your thoughts, as I'm sick of reading/hearing about people who are "hard gainers" or just "can't do it bro." Yes, yes you fucking can.
