The 7 Jacked “Junk” Foods

How many articles have you seen with a title like:

• “The Best Muscle-Building Food”

• “7 of the Best Muscle-Building Foods Ever”

• “Build Muscle Fast with These Foods”

They are everywhere! The thing is, all of these articles contain the same exact foods.

In fact, when it comes to either bulking or cutting up, the same foods are mentioned time after time. You know exactly the type of foods, that I am talking about. Here are all the usual suspects:

• Chicken
• Turkey
• Lean ground beef (grass fed of course!)
• Eggs
• Salmon
• Oats, etc., etc!

Change the record, it’s getting boring! Yes these are all great foods for either fat loss or muscle gain. But we have heard about these types of foods time after time! They were ingrained in my head from an early age, and I have no doubt that you know that the foods above should be included in your diet if you’re looking to get shredded or get jacked. We don’t need a different article every week telling us. In this article we are going to put our spin on certain types of food that can really help you pack on the muscle and get jacked! We are going to give you some alternative foods that the majority of people will view as “junk” foods, but it is this sort of black and white thinking that can really stop you from building huge amounts of muscle. Yes, shock and horror! “Junk” foods can help you build muscle. Added bonus- all of these foods taste awesome!

Your usual suspects as part of a “clean” diet.

But first, what does it actually take to build muscle from a nutritional standpoint?

Your number ONE priority when it comes to gaining weight and building muscle is to make sure you are in a calorie surplus. This means that you need to be consuming more energy than you are burning in a day. You will get this energy via the calories you consume in a day. You see, building muscle and getting jacked is not high on the body’s priorities list. Your body is pretty happy staying the exact same way. We have to force it to grow muscle. Obviously, training with weights is a way we do this. But ensuring that you are in a calorie surplus for a sustained period of time is one of the most powerful weapons you have to make sure you can put on muscle. Eating in a calorie surplus will ensure that you give your body a constant supply of nutrients to grow and will keep muscle build hormones such as testosterone at a high level. It will ensure that your energy and performance levels stay high in the weights room, so you can lift some heavy weights and grow.

One of the main issues people have when it comes to building muscle is they simply do not eat enough. The reason they do not eat enough is that they have become obsessed with this idea of eating “clean” and eating healthy all of the time. They become fixated on this idea that you have to get all your calories from “clean” foods. If your main goal is to build muscle and this is your mentality all the time, you will find it increasingly hard to build a significant amount of muscle. Like I have mentioned, to build muscle you need to be in a surplus. This means you will probably be eating more calories than you are used to, which could be a fair amount. If you’re obsessed with getting all these calories from “clean” and healthy foods, it becomes a pain in the ass! It’s time consuming, it costs a fortune, and it can become extremely boring. Forcing yourself to eat chicken, brown rice and broccoli 6 times a day is not fun. Trying to eat bowl after bowl of oatmeal every day is just plain tedious. Making up a huge omelette with 20 egg whites every morning will get extremely repetitive and boring. Even worse is going out for a meal, with family and friends, and asking the poor waiter a series of questions about whether the food is gluten free, wheat free, soy free, dairy free etc. You might as well just sit there with a glass of tap water.

Pizza. Seemingly everyone’s favourite meal.

In this blog we will give you 7 foods that people will normally frown upon. But they all pack quite a punch when it comes to calories per serving. They all can help you build muscle and get jacked. Now before we move onto the “junk” food, we just want to reiterate that here at SJ Fitness we fully believe and promote the 80/20 rule. This means that 80% of your total food intake should come from good, whole food sources. This will ensure that you are getting adequate amounts of micronutrients into your diet. Plus it will also help with satiety levels, energy and mood. The other 20% can be made up of a mixture of foods that you really enjoy. These sorts of foods can help you reach your calorie targets, especially if you are looking to get jacked! So without further ado we bring to you 7 “junk” foods that can help you get jacked and build muscle.

1.Chocolate Milk

Chocolate milk is fast becoming one of the most cost effective post workout drinks out there.

Who needs all this hydrolyzed whey with 10g of fast acting BCAAs? All you need to do is pick up a cheap carton of chocolate milk and chug it down.

With a great carb to protein ratio, it also contains hefty amounts of B vitamins, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D. This cheap, tasty chocolate beverage could be the perfect recovery drink for us to get jacked, especially if you’re on a budget. This study showed the ingestion of chocolate milk, immediately after exercise and 2 hours after produced a reduction in muscular damage. Chocolate milk and science- there is a pairing you never thought you would hear! So if you’re on a budget and you cannot afford the latest whey protein supplement, opt for the chocolate milk. It contains a good amount of carbs, proteins and micronutrients, it’s cheap and it tastes good. What is not to love about that?

Got milk?

2. Bagels

For me, bagels are an extremely underrated food that are great for your muscle building goals.

They are one of the first foods I throw in my trolley if I am looking to pack some muscle on.

Why?

Well, straight away for pure convenience and taste they are a winner. They need hardly any preparation time. Pop them in the toaster for 2 minutes, smear some peanut butter on them, and you have a dream meal right there. Each bagel contains around roughly 200 calories, so one or two bagels a day will bring you closer to your calorie needs in order to get jacked. One of the most surprising things about bagels is their protein content. In an average bagel you can get an around 13g of protein! Right there is a reason to consume more bagels. Add to this a good amount of fibre in each bagel-  around 10g of fibre. If bagels are not on your shopping list and you’re looking to get jacked, put them on there right now. They are an all-round muscle building food if ever I saw one.

3. Pizza

Who doesn’t love a few slices of pizza on a Friday night?

I mean if you actually think about it, pizza is just a dough base with a rich creamy tomato sauce on top with cheese sprinkled over it. I mean what is so bad about that?

Not to mention there are countless different ways to customize your pizza to fit your current training goals. Want less carbs? Then go for an ultra-thin crust pizza. Want less fat in your pizza? Then maybe ask for a reduced fat mozzarella. Looking for more of a protein hit on your pizza? Just think of all of the rich protein toppings you can have on a pizza these days. By doing the 3 things above you can probably have pizza more than just once a week, especially if you’re looking to get jacked. For example, a few slices of thin crust cheese pizza is about 690 calories and packs 30g of protein! If you’re trying to eat over 3000 calories a day and looking to build muscle, you can easily factor in a few slices of pizza that will help with those gains.

4. Subway

Who says you can’t eat fast food and get big and strong?

Subway offers a fantastic alternative if you’re eating out and you’re watching your food intake and calories. They are not just an alternative but some of their subs can be extremely helpful with your muscle building goals.

They can help you hit your calories and get a decent amount of protein in at the same time. Take, for example, their classic turkey breast and ham sub. This is an awesome meal. This 6” inch sub contains 278 calories, over 20g of protein and only 3g of fat. I mean they are some great numbers right there. Again you can tweak and customize this depending on your goals and calorie targets. If you have really high calorie needs at the moment, then grab a foot long of this and bump the calories up to over 500. If you’re after more protein, then go for double meat. If you want more fibre opt for their 9 grain wheat bread which contains a decent amount of fibre.

This is not a plug for Subway believe me, but if you’re out and about and you’re looking for a decent muscle building food look no further than a Subway.

5. Burgers

Do you know what one of the most efficient and time saving ways to consume more calories is?

Get more of your total calories from fat. Remember, fat is the most calorie dense macronutrient with 9 calories per gram.

Now I am not talking about eating a whole tub of coconut oil. That would be stupid and taste dreadful! But what better way to get a good whack of calories than from a nice juicy burger. Burgers are a fantastic way to up your calories for the day, get a decent amount of protein at the same time, and they taste unreal. A hamburger from Five Guys will pack a whopping 700 calories, a great way to kickstart some gains. A huge added bonus of burgers is the protein intake and this burger will give you a hefty 39 grams!

6. Ice Cream

This one is my personal favourite.

If you want to get jacked and big you need carbs. Anyone who tells you that you can build a ton of muscle without carbs, do me a favour and throw a tub of Ben & Jerrys at them.

Actually don’t waste the ice cream on them! Now, I am not talking about all the lite/low fat versions or the frozen yoghurt types. I am talking about the original full fat version, not this watered down version of ice cream that you see everywhere. If you want to get big and jacked and you want some ice cream, do it properly with the full tubs of Ben & Jerry’s. You get a huge amount of calories per serving. Plus you get a decent amount of carbs per serving. Yes, carbs are crucial if you want to get jacked. Take, for example, a tub of Ben & Jerry Chocolate Fudge ice cream. Per serving, you get 260 calories, plus 34 grams of carbs. And that is just one serving. There are 4 servings in a tub. Gains in a tub right there!

7. Pop-Tarts

This particular food has its fair amount of stigma attached to it.

It is the food that is most associated with the whole IIFYM movement and people taking countless pictures of their ripped physiques saying “I got lean eating pop tarts!” That is just not the case!

With any processed “junk”, if you can fit it into your calories for the day and you’re eating it in MODERATION then it is not a huge problem. If you’re looking to build muscle and get jacked, Poptarts can help. One Pop-Tart contains 219 calories, takes no preparation time, and you can take it anywhere. With 32 grams of simple carbohydrates, these make a great pre workout snack before hitting the gym. Right now a pre-workout meal of my choice is a Pop-Tart with a black coffee. It is a perfect combination of everything you need before a workout- a decent amount of calories, a healthy dose of carbs, plus the caffeine to give you a kick in the right direction.

In Closing

There you have it- 7 “junk” foods that can help you get jacked.

One of the main things that held me back in my quest to get jacked was that I was obsessed with eating “clean” all of the time. This sort of mentality made it extremely hard for me to get the right amount of calories that my body needed in order to grow muscle and get strong.

In other words I was just not eating enough! I completely forgot that my number one goal was to ensure that I was in a calorie surplus and making sure that I was eating a decent amount of calories each day to support muscle growth. Being fixated with “clean” foods all the time made getting to my calorie targets extremely hard and challenging. You need to get out the habit of looking at foods as just good or bad. All foods in some way or form can help you with your goal. The goal here is to build muscle and get jacked. For that, you need calories! These 7 foods can be an extremely helpful way to ensure your body is getting sufficient calories in order to build muscle. Now stop reading and go eat!

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