‘Eat big to get big,’ ‘Abs are made in the kitchen,’ or ‘The diet is the hardest part,’ are some phrases every bodybuilding fan is familiar with. Bodybuilders at every level pay a lot of attention to what they eat. Since eating in a calorie surplus helps with weight and muscle gain, most people dial up their calorie intake. Many people end up eating too many calories for better results.

However, bodybuilding coach John Jewett has a word of caution for people pushing up their calories. The competitive bodybuilder explained in his latest post how planning, consistency, and a measured approach are far more important than blindly consuming excess calories.

The bodybuilding coach sets the record straight

John Jewett wrote that people don’t need to “Get food as high as possible.” The bodybuilder explained that consuming excessive calories to grow muscle is a flawed approach. Jewett wrote that it’s the same as “aiming to get gear or training volume as high as possible.” However, none of those two approaches are viable in the long run.

It’s possible to ramp up performance-enhancing d***s or perform “30 working sets for a muscle group,” and eat “6000 calories.” However, all these will have adverse consequences. Increasing PEDs will jeopardize health. Meanwhile, excessively high training volume will hamper recovery and improve muscle endurance instead of muscle mass.

Instead, John Jewett recommended a measured approach to bodybuilding. “You want to gain the most progress out of the smallest input and then increase that input when you need to,” said Jewett. The bodybuilder gave his own example. Coach Jewett uploaded a transformation picture with his post. “The pics above are the past 7 weeks of my push phase. 232lbs to 245lbs,” he wrote.

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Although John Jewett gained 13 lbs, he only added 40 gm of carbs to his diet, “4 weeks into the push phase… 3940kcal to 4100kcal.” The bodybuilding coach showed that many people overestimate how much they need to heat to put on muscle while trying to emulate elite bodybuilders.

Everyone is not an elite bodybuilder

Those who pursue bodybuilding as a profession or hobby often take inspiration from legends of the sport. However, many forget that simply emulating parts of a legendary bodybuilder’s routine isn’t enough. The popularity of the ‘Eat big to get big’ approach came from legendary mass monsters like Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, and others.

Yet, the former multiple-time Mr. Olympia winners who spent millions on diet weaved their life around bodybuilding. An average person may find it impossible to emulate the training intensity or volume of a former Mr. Olympia. Hence, John Jewett explained that trying to eat like a 300-mass monster might not be the best approach, even for the average competitive bodybuilder.

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