SuperHero NutritionGuide
SuperHero NutritionGuide
SuperHero NutritionGuide
DISCLAIMER
The information presented herein is in no way intended as medical advice or to serve as
a substitute for medical counseling. The information should be used in conjunction with
the guidance and care of your physician. Consult your physician before beginning this
program as you would with any exercise and nutrition program. If you choose not to obtain
the consent of your physician and/or work with your physician throughout the course of
The Super Hero Workout, you are agreeing to accept full responsibility for your actions. By
beginning the Super Hero Workout, you recognize that despite all precautions on the part of
Roman Fitness Systems, Inc, and Matt McGorry Training, there are risks of injury or illness
which can occur because of your use of the aforementioned information and you expressly
assume such risks and waive, relinquish and release any claim which you may have against
Roman Fitness Systems, Inc, and Matt McGorry Training or their respective affiliates as a
result of any future physical injury or illness incurred in connection with, or as a result of, the
use or misuse of your program.
Batman, Robin, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Cat Woman, Nightwing, the Joker, the Green
Lantern, The Green Arrow, Oliver Queen, The Justice League, and Superman are trademark
properties of DC Comics.
Put another way, if you dont fuel your body properly you will NOT get the
results you want (or, in many cases, any results at all)regardless of how
you train.
These people are very careful when scheduling their workouts, always making
sure that theyre doing a precise number of exercises, sets, and reps for each
muscle group.
And all of that, of course, is excellent and will lead to better results.
Heres the problem, though: more often than not, a good number of these
people simply DO NOT have the same discipline when it comes to nutrition
and THIS is going to stop you dead in your tracks on your way to the body you
Given the truth of that, statement we think a good way to begin our discussion
of nutrition is with another great (and true) saying: you want to look like a
SUPER HERO, you need to eat like a SUPER HERO.
Which, of course, is our clever way of reaffirming one of the primary truths in
the fitness world: your diet is as importantif not more importantthan your
trainingand that there will be special considerations during the course of the
program.
As you most certainly know, the document you are reading, used in conjunction
with the training methods of the SUPER HERO workout will take you out of
your current body and past whatever barriers and obstacles have been keeping
you from the SUPER HERO body you deserve.
Now, while Ive established that I may not have actual superpowers, I do have
the knowledge to take your body to the next levelby using an unconventional
nutrition strategy that will allow you accomplish all of the goals of the respective
phases of the SUPER HERO workout. And so during Phase One, youre the
nutritional information contained in this guide with help you to maximize power
and strength, while getting leaner and building muscle.
During Phase Two, youll be able to take in the necessary calories and
nutrients to fuel the grueling workouts, while at the same time entering into
During Phase Three, youll ingest enough calories to recover from intense
muscle building workouts and build mass rapidly WITHOUT gaining the fat that
normally accompanies extend periods of over-feeding.
Phase Four will see an even more detailed approach, as each day (and TYPE
of training) will be specifically paired with a corresponding diet designed to
enhance your results.
As you may have guessed by now, this all means that for each phase, you have
different type of dietary breakdown.
The SUPER HERO Nutrition plan you are about to embark on is going to be
totally different than anything you have ever tried so I recommend two things
and two things only:
Now, you may be wondering why Im quoting a general in a SUPER HERO manual
of all places? Simply, because our philosophy matches Pattons pretty closely: if you
want results...you must often go the opposite of the herd.
Ive seen it with training: if everyone is hitting the cardio machines to lose weight, you
pick up weights. Not surprisingly, everyone around you is gaining weight, and you
should lose it; which means, that its a pretty small logical step to see that everyone
around you follows the same advice that doesnt work...do something different.
Following this unconventional type of nutritional program will actually help you lose a
lot of fat fast and still feel fully satiated from your meal.
This will be explained in detail below. However, before we go forward, I think its
important to list and explain some of the main benefits of Intermittent Fasting, and
why Ive selected it as the primary nutrition model.
9. Its the easiest and possible most effective way to gat lean and gain
muscle It will take a slight adjustment, but once your body and mind
become accustomed to used to IF it will become the easiest nutrition plan to
use towards your physique goals. The less thought you have to put into your
diet then easier it will be for you to follow. It will be so easy that after you are
done all of the phases, you may choose to implement this style of eating into
your lifestyle permanently.
10. IF the Easiest way to build muscle without the ugly fat gain...PERIOD
If you want to build muscle, lose fat and you want to do it as fast as possible
then combining both methods of IF is the way to go. Not only is it fast (no pun
intended)its EASY.
Once you apply the principles of IF into your lifestyle, it will turn into a very easy way
to eat and maintain your SUPERHERO body once you are done each phase of the
workout program.
I normally recommend having your last meal at around 8-10 pm, which would
place your first meal at 12-2 pm.
2. Eat 3 meals within an 8-hour time period, known as your feeding window.
3. Try to only eat Whole Foods that can be cooked for the majority of your meals.
Your post workout meal should come from a dedicated post-workout shake, as
detailed in the Supplementation Guide. That should be the only meal where
a powder makes up the majority of the meal. All other meals should have
a whole food source (if desired, you may add a powder to increase protein
content).
4. All meals MUST have a protein source; protein should be at least 30-40% of
each meal. As noted above, you may add a protein powder like Iso-Pure to
your meals to meet macronutrient requirements,
5. On non-workout days you will have free veggies and protein at every meal, but
8. Include a high quality Essential Fatty Acid in your meal plan. This is provided
in the supplement guide.
9. Always start the day with Athletic Greens as your daily source of multivitamins.
You can find this in our supplement guide as well.
This means, of course, that there are FOUR formulae in all one for each of the four
phases. But, you wont have to learn any of them. You were told there would be no
math, so I promise there will be no math. Again, Ive done the work for you.
Operating the calculator is incredibly simple: all you need to do select which phase
of the program youre on, then input your weight and body fat percentage. If you like,
you can even select the number of meals youd like to eat.
From there, the calculator will use the formulas on the back end to figure out and
display EVERYTHING from your total calories, to how much protein, carbohydrate
and fat you should take in with each meal. The calculators will give you breakdowns
for two types of daystraining days, and rest days. Each calculator works on a
slightly different formula, so the breakdowns will be specific to YOUR body for the
duration of the particular phase that youre on.
Its expected that you do this, and so has been added to your total caloric
intake for all calculators.
One caveat Id like to offer, though, is to avoid getting too far ahead of yourself and
planning out your nutrition weeks in advance.
As the old saying goes, make haste slowly. If you try to plan it all at once, then you
may wind up overwhelmed with a bit of information overload and find yourself unable
to follow ANY recommendations. This is what I call analysis paralysis, and its one
very common reason people struggle with their diet.
Rather than excessive advanced planning, I recommend that you go through each
phase one by one and plan only for a week or two in advance. Youll get more out of
it and be able to apply its principles whole-heartedly into your life.
Finally, with regard to dietary set up and meal scheduling, one final thing I should
Therefore, for each phase, Ive given you TWO sample schedules: one which allows
for Early Morning training (before work) and one which allows for evening training
(after work). Both of these will specify a recommended first and last mealtime. Keep
in mind these are SAMPES. You have to make the plan fit YOUR lifejust do the
best you can.
Phase One
Sample Meal Schedules
Our main goals in this workout phase are to build strength, explosivity and pack
on a bit of muscle while burning fat; the help you accomplish this, were going to
be cycling calories; that is, taking in calories on workout days that is at a level of
several hundred above maintenance. For non-workout days, youll dip just below
maintenance.
Meal Frequency
On workout days, you will be eating a total of 5 times4 solid meals, and also your
post workout shake. These meals will be structured in the 16/8 IF model. On your
non-workout days, you will have 4 solid meals within an 8-hour window, as per the
16/8 IF model.
Below, you will find two schedulesone factoring in AM training, and one factoring
PM Training.
Meal Frequency
On workout days, you will be eating a total of 3 times3 solid meals, and also your
post workout shake. These meals will be structured in the 16/8 IF model. On your
non-workout days, you will have 4 solid meals within an 8-hour window, as per the
16/8 IF model.
Meal Frequency
On workout days, you will be eating a total of 6 times5 solid meals, and also your
post workout shake. These meals will be structured in the frequent feeding model
(one meal every 2-4 hours). On your non-workout days, you will have 6 solid
meals within an 8-hour window, as per the 16/8 IF model.
Meal Frequency
On both types workout days, you will be eating a total of 5 times4 solid meals,
and also your post workout shake. On your non-workout days, you will have 5 solid
meals within an 8-hour window, as per the 16/8 IF model.
To that end, we have created the guide on the following pages, which will fully
detail each type of food (macronutrients) as well as how much energy (in the
form of calories) each contains. Finally, well provide you with a guide for food
selection.
FOODWhat it Really IS
This section contains some information that is extremely important if you want
to be successful with your nutrition.
What you put in your stomach is directly responsible for the results youll have
in the gymyou are, after all, what you eat, right? While were not going to
get into a crazy complicated dissection of things that youre eating, a general
breakdown is important.
In the nutrition world, we talk about macronutrients. These are the three
main types of food; the sources from which youll actually derive energy in
the form of calories. Were going to have a comprehensive look at the three
Protein
Carbohydrates
Fats
Well go through each of these macronutrients one at a time, break down the
sources of each, discuss calorie content, and learn how to incorporate these in
your nutritional programming for the best possible results.
Carbohydrates
Carbs seem to be the focus of my diets (especially fat loss diets), so it makes
sense to start here. This essential nutrient has taken a real beating in the
media ever since Dr. Atkins decided we werent allowed to eat donuts anymore.
All joking aside, carbs do get kind of a bad rap; or, at least, a worse one than
they deserve. Carbs come in a variety of forms. Some are good for you, and
some are bad. The bad ones are usually highly processed and broken down
so completely that they are no longer recognizable.
Of course, if you process the crap out of anything, it isnt going to be healthy
after a point. This doesnt mean carbs are evil and to blame for all the ills of
the world from the Nazis to the obesity epidemic it just means processed food
is great at making people fat.
Well, here is where it gets a bit trickier, although were going to try and make
this as simple as possible.
NOTE: We could also mention Fibrous Carbs that you can find in foods like
green veggies, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, sprouts, spinach, cauliflower,
peppers, cucumbers, zucchinibuuuut we wont. For the purposes of this
discussion of carbs I only want to touch on stuff that counts. We usually dont
recommend counting calories (or carbs) coming from fibrous carbs.
For a long time, people believed that complex carbohydrates were far better for
You see, your body takes both complex and simple carbohydrates, and tries to
break them down into useable sugar energy to fuel your muscles and organs.
Its not the type of carbohydrate that really matters, but how fast your
body can break it down, and how much it will spike your blood glucose
levels.
Instead of using the simple method of dividing complex carbs from simple ones, a
slightly more sophisticated way to rate carbohydrate quality is something called
the Glycemic Index (GI for short). The Glycemic Index attempts to classify
foods by how quickly and how high foods boost blood sugar levels. For a while,
the GI was all the rage, and people argued that by following a get low GI diet,
youd keep insulin levels in check even while eating higher carbs overall.
However, neither low carb diets nor low GI diets are a cure all for fat loss; the
main thing is to eat the right amounts of healthy foods that fuel metabolism,
which in turn will help you burn fat.
The important thing to remember is that your body needs carbs, even if some
of the fad diets tell you otherwise. Without carbohydrates, your body will begin
to break down your muscle tissue to fuel your body, which will sabotage your
efforts.
Carb lovers lament low carb diets and anti-carb crusaders posit that you
can avoid them for the most part and still do well. The truth is a bit of middle
ground. So, yes, speaking generally you should avoid simple carbs and
high-GI foods, but that doesnt mean you can eat complex carbs or LOW GI
foods all day, either.
Protein
Protein is used by your body in a number of ways; to repair damaged muscle,
bone, skin, teeth and hair, among other things. Think of it as the mortar
between the bricks, if you will; without it, the entire structure of your body
begins to break down.
Before we get into a discussion of protein sources (the tastiest bit), we should
go over protein types and their composition.
You see, protein is comprised of smaller molecules called amino acids. There
The nine amino acids that can only be obtained from the food you eat are
called essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are called tryptophan,
lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, valine, leucine, histidine and
isoleucine.
These amino acids also help your body create hormones that help regulate
things like blood pressure and blood sugar levels, which are directly
responsible for your metabolic rate and muscular growth.
Eggs are one of the best complete protein sources on the planet. Just one
large egg contains 6 grams of complete protein.
Fish is an excellent source of complete protein. The type of fish does matter.
While all fish is relatively good for you, haddock, salmon, sardines and
tuna are better than catfish. For example, 6 ounces of salmon can deliver
As mentioned above, nearly all fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds contain a bit
of protein; however, these foods are generally lacking one or more of the amino
acids necessary for your body to rebuild new muscle. Keep in mind, though;
you can combine these foods with any of the foods listed above to make a
great tasting meal that will meet all of your bodys protein requirements.
Fats
Fats have since a nice surge in popularity over the past few years. After being
vilified in the 80s and 90s as the cause of weight gain (fat makes you fat!), fat
caught a break when the blame shifted to carbohydrates. Following that, the
trend towards healthy fats and omega-3s (which, if I recall, began with flax oil)
Still, some of the old hate remainsfor a lot of people, fat is not generally
thought of as a nice word, especially if one is trying to drop some extra pounds.
However, your body needs fat to function properly, just as it needs protein. Any
person who neglects their intake of fat will not go very far in fitness. If you want
to see maximum results, you have to include the good fats in your diet plan.
The trick is picking out the good fats from the bad.
The important thing to remember is that good fats (especially sources high
in Omega-3s, like krill oil) are needed by your body to remain healthy and to
function at optimal levels.
First well have a look at the good fats, and then the bad. If youre reading
the ingredients on something youre planning on buying at the grocery store,
make sure that the foods youre buying have the good fats as opposed to the
bad.
Monounsaturated Fat
Monounsaturated fats are found mostly in nuts, such as avocados, pistachios,
almonds, walnuts, and cashews. This type of fat can also be found in olive oil.
Monounsaturated fats help lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol,
which is a very good thing. Its also been proven to help fight weight gain, and
may even help reduce body fat levels.
There are studies that have shown we dont consume nearly enough Omega-3
in our diets, and since its part of the complete protein family, our bodies cant
produce it on its own. Therefore, it is very important to incorporate a good
Polyunsaturated Fat source in your diet.
Saturated Fat
We have the most to say about sat-fat, so get ready to read! Saturated fat is
what wed call a middle ground fat.
Its not really the best, but there are positive aspects to it. Similarly, its not
the worst fat on the planet, but it gets some bad press because of a few
studies. You see, there have been studies linking high intake of saturated fats
to heart disease.
However, we must mention that these studies were done in the 70s and
none of the subjects were at all fit. Eating a bunch of cheeseburgers and not
exercising leads to heart disease, sure. Weve yet to see compelling evidence
that demonstrates that saturated fat would be truly damaging to people who
lead a lifestyle that includes exercise and a generally good diet. While were not
convinced, research is research and we wouldnt be doing our job if I didnt give
Saturated fat also gets a bit of a bad rap because it has also been shown to
elicit and increase in cholesterol in the blood stream. Again, this is not as scary
as the media makes it seemcholesterol concerns are a highly overblown.
The truth is, cholesterol actually acts as an antioxidant against dangerous free
radicals within the blood and is also necessary for the production of certain
hormones that help to fight against heart disease.
When there are high levels of undesirable substances in the blood (caused
by the dietary intake of damaged fats, highly processed unhealthy foods,
and large quantities of sugars), cholesterol levels rise in order to combat
these substances. Having said that, fact of the matter is that foods containing
saturated fats are usually pretty calorically dense, as well. Overeating anything
isnt going to lead to fat loss, obviously.
You can find saturated fats in foods such as dairy, eggs, red meat and some
seafood.
While saturated fat cant be put on our good fat list, if consumed in reasonable
doses its completely fin. However, you can limit your intake by selecting
the foods you favor most and avoiding others.
Trans Fat
And here is the black sheep of the fat family. Trans fats are the worst fatsand
in truth, one of the worst foodsthat you could possibly consume. Its found
While some trace amounts of trans fats are naturally occurring in meats and
other food, by and large most are not naturally occurring. Instead, they are
generally man made.
If your food is pre-packaged, its a pretty safe bet it has its fair share of Trans
fats. You should try to avoid Trans fats at all costs if you are serious about your
goals. Or if you just dont want to be eating plastic garbage.
Said a little more plainly, we subscribe to the belief that for most people, its
almost never a good idea to combine fast digesting carbohydrates and
fats in excess in the same meal.
Certainly, this dietary principle is not graven in stone, but weve found that
by adhering to it, you wind up creating meals that fall in line to a significantly
higher degree than most.
Well give you outlines and good choices, and armed with that you should be
able to hit the mark far more often than you miss itwhich is usually what
happens if you dont follow this principle.
With that explained, each meal should fit into one of two categories:
Anyway, as some of my readers may already know, I basically stole this from
Dr. John Berardi. (Its okay, thoughone time I bought him ice cream after a
seminar, so I figure that evens us up).
In all seriousness, though I should mention that Dr. Berardi has been one of
the biggest influences on my nutritional philosophies, so for those who havent
Of course, its not NECESSARY to eat this way to get resultswe just like this
recommendation because it makes sense and creates a system thats hard to
screw up, and our belief is that by dividing macronutrients in this manner (or
attempting to as much as possible), you are much more likely to hit the mark
than to miss it in terms of your diet.
This is a simple rule you can follow which, by its very nature, will force you to
think about your food more critically, and become a lot more accustomed to
making correct dietary decisions. Its a rule I follow, one my coaching clients
follow, and if you follow it, we promise youll find that results come a LOT
easier.
As they say, if you fail to plan, you can plan to fail. That in mind, the best
way to stick to your diet is to plan your meal preparations. For example, you
can cook up a bunch of chicken breasts, make up a pot of rice and some
vegetables, and make microwavable meals that are very convenient. That way,
when youre feeling a tad lazy, all you have to do is open your freezer, reheat
and eat!
Once youve cooked the food, you should definitely pack it by portion size
and weight. I use Tupperware to store much of my food. The important thing
to keep in mind is that your food should be vacuum-sealed in order to lock
in the freshness, as well as avoid freezer burn, which can make any meal
unappetizing.
Last but not least, you should always carry an extra protein shake. A protein
shake is your contingency plan. If you run into a traffic jam or have to work
some overtime at work, you still have your protein shake to rely on.
Not only does your body need water, but it also helps to cut down on hunger
pains. Even though you shouldnt be hungry if youre eating a large variety of
foods often, if youre dehydrated, your body will signal to your brain that youre
hungry in an attempt to fill the need.
Heres a fun fact: in over 60% of Americans, the thirst response is so weak
that its often mistaken for hunger. This means that we are so good at an
accustomed to being hungry and so BAD at drinking water, that we just have no
idea which way is up.
So when you read in the fitness magazines that you should drink more water
to lose weight, its NOT because water fills you up so you dont eat. Its simply
because if youre hydrated, youll probably just eat less.