The Story of Carbs and Energy 19 Jan 2008

By Fitness Expert Nash Jocic

It was late 1982. My new friend, dedicated bodybuilder Dusko Popovski, and I were spending hours trying to discover the secret of muscle growth and increased strength. We would sit in my room during winter, with the heat all the way up, reading and translating bodybuilding magazines from all around the world. The dominant information and “undisputed truth” that was being broadcast in those magazines back then regarding nutrition was that energy equals carbohydrates. The message was clear: if you want to become stronger you have to eat lot of carbohydrates! And if you want to become even stronger, you will have to really get serious and try to stuff yourself with carbohydrates until they start pouring out of your nose!  Since every one in those days, and probably now as well, wanted to get as strong as possible, the outcome was easily predictable. At the end of the day, carbohydrate rich food was and still is very cheap, and if it gives you so much energy and strength, bingo! The magic answer was there, available for every one!

After countless hours of research and many months of discussion back then, we had concluded that carbohydrates were the way forward. Complex and simple carbs, rice, potatoes, bread, sweets, cakes, ice cream; these would build more strength and ultimately more muscles. Once we had theoretically accepted this concept though, it had to also be proven in practice. And thus began our ordeal. Five slices of brown bread in the morning, a big portion of rice for lunch, 20 scoops of ice cream after training, cereals with nuts and raisins in the afternoon, potatoes in the evening and more cakes late at night. There were a lot of eggs, meat, fish and chicken too. Add the time factor on top of that and try to guess what the results after 6 months were. My bench press went from 80 kg to 120 kg, shoulder press from 35 kg to 50 kg, squats from 100 kg to 150 kg; biceps curls from 35 kg to 50 kg. That was great! Strength went up!  What about my body weight? From a starting weight of 85 kg I ended up weighing an astonishing 112 kg in 6 months! I was gaining an average of 4,5 kg per month. And all of this would have been absolutely perfect aside from the major reason for getting involved in bodybuilding: getting bigger, stronger and LEANER (and not to mention proportionate, which is only evident once your body fat level becomes very low)!

With this approach, I had achieved everything planned, apart from getting leaner. For the first time in my life, I gained fat tissue around my waist, my buttocks were beyond recognition, and I had no trousers left that would fit me. After reaching a weight of 112 kg and my new questionable shape, I became suspicious about the whole energy myth. To us in those days the carbohydrate myth was an undisputable truth! Carbohydrates were energy. More carbohydrates meant more energy, more energy meant more strength, more strength meant more muscles; so what did I do wrong? At that stage and point in time I couldn’t find an answer. I thought that getting “bigger” was the first stage in a bodybuilder’s career and that through time, while still indulging in tasty carbohydrate foods, I’d develop in the shape and proportions that I wanted. Full of optimism and conviction, I continued with this stage for the next 3 years.

Then came March of 1985. There was a bodybuilding competition in a nearby town that was expected to attract top competitive athletes from all around the country. My friends and I decided to go and watch it. For me it was my first time seeing a bodybuilding competition, I hadn’t seen anything like that ever before. My expectations were huge, I was expecting a lot of big guys, lots of big muscles and I already had a picture in my mind of how they would look. Funny enough, this picture in my mind wasn’t that different from my own physique at the time. Though I was big, my massive 18 stone physique wasn’t really perfect, and I knew it. Still, my expectations were that these top bodybuilders wouldn’t look much different than I did.

The beginning of the show was a complete shock for me! All of the competitors were in amazing shape, extremely defined, and every one of them had a hard, chiselled six-pack. The most striking discovery for me though was that all of them seemed to know how to exercise properly and how to eat properly! Otherwise, I thought then, it would be impossible for them to end up with such a great look. But, still, the heavy weight category was the one that I was anxiously expecting. Those were the guys of my weight and height; this was the class that I wanted to compete in eventually. It seemed to me then that I would have to wait for that at least another 3 to 4 years…

The host announced the most popular, heavyweight class, with some 15 competitors. Since the moment the guys started walking out on the stage, I had my eyes wide open. I don’t even think that I blinked for the next 20 minutes. The biggest guys in the show were at the same time the most chiselled and refined, their waistlines were tiny, while their shoulders were so wide and big! The physical condition of these guys shocked me, they looked totally unreal to me and most shocking or all, they didn’t look anything close to how I did! If I considered myself big, then these guys were all giants. Being big and sharply defined with very little body fat on them, those guys looked out-of-this world compared to my poorly-defined, carbohydrate-loaded body!

So now what became of that blind belief that mighty carbohydrates are, according to the medical and sports establishments, responsible for our energy and strength, and what became of the most devoted follower of this belief - me?  I was lucky enough to speak to a few of the top guys after the show. In terms of training intensity, frequency and selection of exercises, I wasn’t far off from most of them. So then, I still couldn’t understand why on earth I didn’t look like them? It didn’t take long for the conversation to switch to nutrition however. And it wasn’t me who initiated it, it was the big and hard guys who started asking each other about the most difficult, exciting and challenging issue of sports in general: food. It was the competitive diets that stole the show. And when they started talking about all those protein-loaded foods, fresh vegetables, fruit, and lots of water I almost exploded with anxiety just to hear a single word about rice, pasta, porridge, and potatoes. I needed to hear it badly to justify my world of carbohydrates, my realm of energy and strength.  And guess what, none of them mentioned any of those foods! Then I started asking them about the great benefits of starchy foods that I was sure of, and the high levels of strength and energy that are unattainable without that type of food. The answer to my religious obsession came in the form of friendly laughter from my new friends. They all had one thing in common - none of them was eating starchy carbs. Instead they had a diet high in protein and vegetables, with a bit of fruit in combination along with a high intensity daily weight-training regime. This was their recipe for top condition. The ultimate shape only comes from ultimate approaches in diet and training.  

Although not the happiest person after that experience, I managed to get myself together and decided to strip off my old, ignorant and single-minded skin and try something new, something different! At the end of the day, you can criticize theories but you cannot deny results that you can see with your own eyes, the ultimate swayer of opinion. And especially when this visual reality was in the form of the physique that I wanted – so big, so defined and so beautifully proportionate.

Once I started on the right path, eating more fresh vegetables then ever, making fish, chicken and lean steaks my priority protein food, I ended up on the stage within 8 months!  Some 4 stones lighter, with the 6-pack that I could never have even dreamt about before, a waistline narrower than in my wildest dreams, I started my competitive carrier that culminated with 17 victories in 46 shows. Time and consistency, along with the correct diet and correct training regime brought my competitive body weight to 17 stone with extremely low body fat levels.  

So if you are ready to shed some fat, reconsider your understanding of healthy eating. They may be tasty, but foods rich in carbohydrates are not the best choice for giving you a consistent level of energy throughout the day, and definitely the worst when it comes to achieving a lean, well-shaped and defined body.  Ultimateshape.com is welcoming every one who cares about the quality of life. And don’t forget, every body can!