Determining the proper balance of macronutrients for an individual depends greatly on what primary metabolic pathway is being used to derive energy from substrates. A powerlifter or shot putter predominately uses their ATP/CP pathway to derive energy for short burst, explosiveness and ballistic-style movements. A 200 meter sprinter would use their glycolytic pathway, while a long-distance runner uses mainly their oxidative pathway (using fatty acids as an energy source. Many other athletic activities use various combinations of the aforementioned energy pathways.

Protein

Protein is essential for building and maintaining lean muscle. For a bodybuilder this is the primary macronutrient since you need to be taking protein in with every single meal throughout the day. How much protein you should take in depends on certain variables. Example, your bodytype: Ectomorphs generally require and can get away with taking in a lot more protein without experiencing a spillover.

Competitive bodybuilders take anywhere from 1-2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. You must realize, however, that contrary to popular belief, protein can be stored as fat. This doesn’t happen as readily as when you take in excess carbohydrates or fat, but every gram of protein has four calories and if your caloric intake exceeds your caloric expenditure, your body is going to store the excess regardless of where it came from.

Protein is responsible and required for the synthesis of new muscle. Protein is made up of amino acids (its building blocks), which are categorized as being essential, conditionally-essential and non-essential. Essential aminos are those that the body cannot produce on it’s own in sufficient amounts. They must therefore be supplied by an external source (food or supplements). The best sources of protein (based on the fact that they have complete amino acid profiles and higher bioavailability) are whey, eggs, casein, 96% lean beef, chicken, fish, and turkey.

Protein intake should be spaced rather evenly throughout the day (about every 2-3 hours). Start by determining the ratio of protein for your bodyweight. Then determine the number of meals you’re going to take in a day (you should be eating a minimum of 6 meals a day). Divide your total daily protein intake by the number of meals and that is your average protein intake per meal. Now figure out how much you need to eat in each meal to get that amount of protein.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are a necessity for providing energy to the muscles and enabling recovery. Carbohydrates provide the primary energy source for anaerobic/resistance training via the glycolytic pathway. Bodybuilders often have a fear of carbohydrates, because this macronutrient has gotten a bad rap in recent times. With respect to carbohydrates, in my eyes there are three very important issues to consider … quality, quantity and timing. First, not all carbohydratess are equal. When it comes to carbohydrates I suggest sticking to whole foods (oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice, etc.) and avoid the processed garbage (bread, bagels or anything made from enriched flour).

Second, you need to determine the exact amount of carbohydrates that is going to allow you to have adequate energy to get through your workout, prevent your body from breaking down it’s own muscle tissue for energy and allow you to recover from workouts without spilling over. This can be tricky, because there are a lot of things to consider. Again bodytype plays a large important role here as an ectomorph is going to require a high carbohydrate diet, whereas an endomorph will need to drop complex and simple carbohydrates much, much lower for more extended periods of time in order to shed the bodyfat. Lastly, timing is a big issue with carbohydrates.

As you get closer to a show that you’re preparing for you’ll need to cut out more of the complex carbohydrates, but there are certain times of the day that you need to have them and should not cut them (there are exceptions to this for some who have slower metabolisms). First thing in the morning when you get up carbohydrates should be consumed. Your body has gone the longest period of time without any food and is naturally in a more catabolic state. Glycogen stores in the muscle are low (especially when contest dieting), so you need to help prepare your body for the day by giving it some fuel. By not eating carbs with your meal, you’ll likely feel awful and also provide an opportunity for your body to burn muscle since there no glycogen in the muscle to burn. The meal prior to your workout should also have carbohydrates (the amount depends a lot on the workout you’re doing that day). Again you need to make sure the muscles have a supplied source of energy or else the body will be forced to break down muscle for energy, which is very counterproductive. Lastly, in order to enable proper recovery from a workout, carbohydrates should be consumed immediately after your workout. When you are contest dieting, this is the only time of day when it is ok to ingest simple carbohydrates as part of a post-workout shake. The insulin response will help shuttle more nutrients into the muscle cells for a quicker recovery.

FATs

Fat is another important source of energy. While the importance of fatty acids are more emphasized for an endurance athlete, they should not be overlooked by the competitive bodybuilder. In addition to providing another fuel source for the body, fat also is necessary for the absorption of fat soluble vitamins, maintenance of healthy metabolism, overall growth and recovery and many other key bodily functions. If you do not ingest any fat you’re body will not continue to burn it off … it will hold on to what it has!

Some good fat sources are almonds, avocado, flaxseed meal, natural peanut butter, and hummus.