Jason Statham

[bud_2005]

If you don't already know he is the "Transporter". Anyways he is ripped with a low body fat percentage but no one would consider him big. His diet and workout has a simplified approach: His main lift is the deadlift doing about 8 sets working his way from 10 reps to his max. He said this about his diet: No bread, pasta, refined flours, sweets, fruit juice, or midweek alcohol. His diet mostly consists of vegetables, egg whites, lean meat, fish, nuts, and protein shakes. He tried to keep his intake around 2,000 calories

His diet seems easy to follow and I maybe want to give it a try. But I get confused on this site about carbohydrates and how much you should take in. He pretty much cuts out all carbs. What is your opinion of his diet? Will it not work?

 

[Warboss Alex]

I've posted on more than one occasion that guys who are just interested in being and staying ripped should follow a strict protein/fat/fruit/vegetable diet - essentially what he's doing (I think I made a post when everyone went crazy over the 300 Spartans as well saying the exact same thing).

of course this approach is not conducive to significant size or strength gains unless you are a total beginner. but if you're not interested in a 400lb bench this should work for you (at the expense of muscle/strength). if you're young though try higher calories - Statham is in his late 30's and his metabolism will be a lot slower than someone in their teens or 20's.

warning: for many guys, the diet will be rough at first if you've been on a higher carb diet previously.

 

[Drum&Bass]

Alex, I live on a protein, fat, fruit/vegetable diet, and I catch hell from alot of my co-workers(personal trainers) for being light or looking puny.

I'm a consistent unflinching 170lbs.

Yet in terms of strength I am making progress in my bigger lifts i/e squat/bench/deadlift/pull up/Jerk/ Row.

I'm only throwing numbers around to paint a more accurate description..but I'm on my way to 315 ATG squat, 500 deadlift and 225 bench, 205 jerk, 100lb pull up, 315lb pendalay row, I've only been weightlifting for 4 years and started from a body weight of 140lbs.

Are you saying my progress would be better if I just lightened up on my diet and just thought more about calories than clean calories ?

(granted, we all agree a majority of protein should be coming from meat, but your saying adding a pizza somewhere in the day and some chicken burritos should be encouraged ?)

 

[Warboss Alex]

Your strength potential is restricted by your size but it doesn't mean you've reached it yet (hence why your numbers are increasing - after a point hypertrophy and leverages will play a role).

If you want to grow, eat more in general and add in carbs at timed intervals. Protein and fat will put muscle on you if calories are high enough AND you do carb refeeds, but if you eat like you do chronically and calories are fairly low, you won't get anywhere fast.

like I said, the protein/fat/fruit/vegetable diet is GREAT for becoming and staying ripped, but at the expense of muscle and strength gains.

 

[bud_2005]

First off thanks Warboss you always seem to have great advice. By carb refeeds do you mean something like go low-carb 6 days of the week and then load up on carbs that one day?

 

[Warboss Alex]

something along those lines yes, but how often you have carbs and how many carbs you have and what type of carbs (junk vs clean) will vary enormously from person to person and also change depending on your training, current bodyfat levels..

 

[Muerte]

Hey WBA,

I have a question regarding my diet and I'm sure you can give a good answer on it My question fits this topic quite well, so I didn't start a new one.

I'm 6'2 and weigh 186lbs, bodyfat is probably 15% (wild guess ). I'm doing optoin B from "where to start" (prior to that I did Rippetoe's).

diet is:
0.5 cup oatmeal (with some sugar) + 4 scrambled eggs in the morning
6 raw eggs + 2 scoops ON whey (sipp on it during the day)
1lb of ground beef), cooked with olive oil and butter + green veggies (most of the time broccoli)
fruit + 2 scoops on whey (after training)
~5g fish oil

adds up to about 130gr of fat, 125gr of carbs and 255gr of protein, ~2600cals

How does my diet look? I believe it's too little calories. Should I just add more raw eggs or even carbs (the only carbs I eat most of the time are oatmeal in the morning, fruit after training or on non-training days also in the morning, and veggies). I'm looking to lose some bodyfat and build up some more muscle (hence why I asked this question in this topic, Jason Statham has a nice physique imo) and also get stronger (plan on getting back into martial arts someday).


Thanks for your (or anybody's else) help!

 

[Warboss Alex]

Hi Muerte,

first I'm gonna say something which isn't necessarily directed at you but applies to you as well - people take things WAY out of context on these boards. you're not the first guy I've seen drinking raw eggs with protein powder over a day, when your goals are just to look good. raw eggs are a weight gain aid when you are pushing the envelope for size and strength and are taken in between solid meals and only when you're eating 4-6 whole food meals a day..

the average guy who just wants to look good and have maybe a bit of muscle does NOT need to be megaloading eggs. want to gain 40-60lbs? sure, 1-3 dozen raw eggs a day IN ADDITION to your solid food will help you out bigtime and not make you fat as the equivalent extra calories from carbs likely would. but if you just want to be lean and 'aesthetic', you're much better off just practising sensible nutrition habits which will get you there given enough time and consistency.

there's a lot of stuff taken out of context and I guess it's why lots of trainers don't talk openly about their methods because every guy thinks those exact methods apply to them and everyone.. no, it applies to a certain guy in a certain situation.

anyway, regarding your question:
if you just want to look like Jason Statham (low bodyfat, low muscle mass) then simply eating several meals a day each containing protein, fat, fruit and vegetables, and eating some carbs around your workouts and/or in the morning (depending on your age and unique metabolism), combined with appropriate training and cardio (a mix of slow and intense) will get you there easily, especially if you're young, in a matter of a few months IF you stick with it.

in your case I'd increase your meals to 5-6 a day, and make them ALL whole foods. if you are young you should be able to tolerate a few carbs around your workout and likely in the morning as well - if you're not leaning out then reduce or remove these.
likewise have one day a week when you eat more carbs and possibly some junk food as well - experiment with this. basically the less carbs you eat the faster you lose fat, but at the expense of strength/muscle (and the less carbs you eat, the more fat you need in your diet).

if, as I suspect, you are young then your natural metabolism should get you ripped if you stick at it long enough. if you're not losing fat then reduce some carbs somewhere and/or reduce calories in the later part of the day and/or increase your cardio.

lastly if you just want to get ripped then Option B might not be for you. it's a workout intended to put muscle mass on people and must be fuelled appropriately (20 rep squats + hard deadlifts + Jason Statham's diet = burn out). if you simply want to look good there are better options. if you want to carry some decent mass then stick with it (and accept fat loss will be slower). you won't look like him in a hurry if you try to gain muscle as you lean out - you must decide what your priorities are.

hope this helps.

 

[Muerte]

Thank you very much for your answer WBA. I hope you don't mind some follow-up questions

First of, I forgot to add that im 22 years old.

I've read on this forum (and I believe it was a post by you) that getting "ripped"/lower body fat and then putting on some muscle (and staying a lower bodyfat) is easier then getting "big" and then trying to cut down. So I'd prefer to go the former route.

Regarding the 4-6 meals a day, for how many cals, prot/carbs/fat should I shoot? Is having my normal beef/veggies meal just more often during the day ok and can I stick with fruit as my post-workout carbs or should I also have carbs in my first solid meal after working out?
Regarding cardio, is slow (3mph, 5incline) cardio for 20-30 min after my workout good or do I need to do it on non training days?

And what different kind of routine would you recommend? I like Option B so far, but if there's something better suited for my goals I would change it. Would option B be a good routine to get back after i've lost some bodyfat/gotten leaner?
Also, you don't have to be afraid that your time put into giving me advice is wasted, I will definately stick to it, I'm kind of pedantic/bullheaded when it comes to training


Thanks again for your great help, I really appreciate it (and all articles/post you've made - they helped me out a lot)

 

[Warboss Alex]

I've read on this forum (and I believe it was a post by you) that getting "ripped"/lower body fat and then putting on some muscle (and staying a lower bodyfat) is easier then getting "big" and then trying to cut down. So I'd prefer to go the former route.

well, I probably did say that but check the context of the thread it was posted in. it really is situational, and depends on several things: for example, if you are not as lean as you'd like to be, would the thought of this make you halfass your gains by not eating enough for fear of getting 'fatter'? cause if you're not happy with your bf% level, gaining 20lbs or whatever isn't going to make you necessarily happier, you'll still be unhappy with your bf% level because THAT is what is making you unhappy.

in your case, you are 186 at 6'2" and 14% bodyfat - there's no point in you trying to get ripped because there isn't enough muscle there to give you the ripped appearance, it'd just make you look scrawny. if you were 250lbs and fat at 6'2" then yeah, for the sake of your own happiness, cut down before you gain mass.

(It would be so much easier if people could live with not having abs for a couple of years and just concentrated on heavy training and huge volumes of food - it'd save SO much time in the long run - course you'd be at least chubby for that time but it's the absolute fastest way to gain muscle)

I see some conflicting goals in your post though. Statham is very lean but has a low bodyweight and isn't particularly big or muscular; if you want to look like him then you won't be benching 400lbs unless you're some kind of bench freak, nor will people see you out in the street and think "wow, that guy really works out" if you're wearing clothes.

so, the question you need to ask yourself is, where do you want to be in 5 years' time? do you want to have gained a significant amount of muscle by then so that no-one can mistake you train, put up some damn good numbers lift-wise and finding it a nightmare to find jeans that fit your legs? or do you want to have a smaller, Statham-like physique conducive to martial arts/etc performance?

these two goals are to a large degree mutually exclusive for a large majority of guys. so, what do you want to do?

 

[Muerte]

I would like to have a body like Statham, imo he has a decent amount of muscle (I don't want to be 250lbs or something -even if it would be mostly muscle- in 5 or more years) that will also be strong (however, not nearly 400lbs benchpress strong) and functional for martial arts (and look good if you take your shirt off )

 

[Warboss Alex]

well as long as you understand and have realistic expectations about your strength/size potential if you stay around his leanness and bodyweight then go for it.

- eat several times a day
- base your diet around protein, fat, fruit and vegetables
- do not count calories, eat as much as you want
- eat protein every meal: meat, eggs, fish, chicken.. no veggie burgers please
- do some sort of training every day whether cardio or weights
- incorporate both low intensity and high intensity cardio
- eat starchy carbs only after a weights workout - favour 'ground' carbs such as potatoes or yams, or wholegrain rice - avoid grains
- you may also experiment with smaller amounts of starches during the day
- have one cheat meal a week regardless of how many carbs you eat during the week
- if you are not losing weight then experiment with your carb amounts

but really, at 22 years old, if you follow this diet consistently you should get ripped unless there are some hormonal problems.

training wise I'd base your workouts around moderate volume compounds as these have a higher metabolic demand.

 

[Muerte]

Alright, will do. Thank you very much.

Moderate volume compound training would be something like Rippetoe's? Or does this have to many Squats?

 

[Warboss Alex]

no, Rippetoe's is a fairly low volume routine.

in your case I'd say something like performance athletes do, training the whole body 2x a week or something similar: 2 days upper and 2 days lower or 1 day upper, 1 day lower and 1 fullbody (or a similar combo), a mix of strength-based and speed/power-based training with higher repetition stuff. this won't get you benching 400 of course but for body composition, stamina and performance it works.