It sounds like an invitation to the biggest of all cheatdays and like a guarantee to gain weight. But 10.000 kilocalories per day are the secret tip for muscle building for many strength athletes. In this hardcore mass phase, gaining weight is the primary goal of the diet plan, in order to give the body the energy for the ultimate training in "Beast Mode" to give. The diet with 10.000 energy units per day, however, is not only one of the most extreme forms to build, but also a treacherous challenge for your body. In order to actually build muscle with the right and healthy mix of protein, fats and carbohydrates and not start in the wrong places, it is important to choose the optimal strategy.
Your individual calorie requirement
- 2.500 kilocalories in healthy men between 20 and 30 years and
- 1.900 for women of the same age
Depending on the destination, the right calorie extra
As an orientation value of the daily supply about 500 kcal extra are considered, but also here many factors take influence on your reference value: If your mass phase extends only over a short period, for example for the preparation for a competition, your supply may amount to the double of the requirement value. For a long-term strategy, it is advisable to refrain from such extreme measures, as your body fat percentage will follow suit in case of doubt and unwanted weight gain will be imminent.
10.000-Challenge: Massive muscle gain
One of the most famous examples is Hafþor JúlIus Bjornsson, who is a fan of "Game of Thrones" as "The mountain should be known. To live up to his series name, he maintains his weight with lots of muscle training and 10.000 kcal a day.
So in addition to a hard training schedule, there is also a lot to be done in the kitchen. For strength athletes who want to reach such an extreme value, ten meals quickly add up, each of which is 1.000 kcal must be strong.
How many calories are useful?
To gain weight and build muscle, most professionals are guided by values of about 5.000 to 7.000 kcal. To do this, numerous servings of high carbohydrate and protein concentrations are spread throughout the day. But even this energy intake is only useful if the training keeps up with the kitchen action.
For most amateur athletes, much less is sufficient to build muscle. How to make your day healthy with 6.000 clean kilocalories could fill, shows for example the bodybuilder Tobias Hahne in this video:
Protein and Co.: Best buddies of bodybuilding
Despite the extra work involved in eating six to eight meals a day, you should focus on variety, and as always, even in the high-calorie gain phase, clean calories do more for you than junk food. So if you want to gain weight in a healthy way, stay away from chocolate, potato chips and the like. and rely on healthy fat, complex carbohydrates and protein to keep you full.
Conclusion: Last but not Beast
The question is not only ‘How can I burn 10.000 calories a day?’, but also ‘How can I get 10.000 calories burned per day?’. Because even professionals burn in their mass phase at most 1.000 kilocalories per hour in training. Orientate yourself to your personal needs – not to calorie extremes. In addition to hard training, sufficient sleep and enough recovery time, it is above all your diet that makes the most important contribution to desired results. For this are usually not 10.000 kilocalories, but rather an extra amount of high-quality energy tailored to your basal metabolic rate and training. Then nothing more stands in the way of muscle building and your way to the dream body.