Top 3 lessons to bust through plateaus and build your biggest body this year.

Master Coach Craig
January 13, 2025

I’m going to share the top three lessons I learned going from 150 pounds to 300 pounds over the first five years of my lifting journey. Whether you’re looking to become a 300+ pound pro strongman, or add another 20 pounds to your frame this year, here’s is what works:

#1: Carbs > Protein

Protein is important, but one of the biggest mistakes I see when people are trying to build muscle and put on weight is trying to push their protein intake sky-high. When you’re focusing on building muscle, .7 to 1g of protein per pound of body weight is PLENTY. More than that and not only will you not see any additional benefit, but you’ll find it increasingly difficult to get enough calories to grow. 

Personally, and with hundreds of clients, I’ve seen the best results around .8-.9g of protein per pound of body weight, combined with 80 to 100g of fat and carbs to fill in the rest of the calories you need to bulk up. 

#2: Recovery is King

When you’re in a rush to grow, it seems like the more you train, the better. I’ve seen people go from training 4x per week to 7, then to two-a-days, all while their results steadily slowed to a dead stop. 

You want to train hard, you want to push yourself—and when hypertrophy is your goal, you want to get as strong as possible. Between 6 and 10 reps is key. But it’s just as critical to give yourself time to recover and grow. 

My advice? Four workouts per week.

From the legendary lifters at Westside Barbell to many of the modern titans of strength, four training days, with two upper and two lower body workouts, seems to be the magic combination for maximum growth. If that’s not cutting it, more workouts is rarely (if ever) the answer. 

#3: Cheaters Sometimes Prosper

One of the toughest aspects of gaining substantial size is getting in enough calories. Now, progressively increasing your calories should be done slowly (unless you want to look like a sumo wrestler). But at a certain point, it starts to feel like adding even a single extra gram of food is impossible. 

At times like this, I’ve found the best option is to add something “fun”—or what you might call cheat foods. 

As I was approaching 280 pounds, I was eating about 6,500 calories a day and couldn’t seem to get past that for more than a few days without feeling absolutely terrible. To help, one of the OGs at the gym gave me some advice that changed the game for me and helped me push past my plateau. 

His advice was to eat 4,000 clean calories per day of typical “bodybuilding” foods, then fill in the rest with whatever I wanted. 

This was such a relief, both to my brain and my stomach, and allowed me to push into the 300s and all the way to my biggest weight in the low 320s. 

Your “clean” number might not need to be 4,000, but once you’re hitting at least 3,000 in clean calories per day, this might just be the trick you need to keep growing. 

Give these a shot, and hit me up on the BBCOM app to let me know how your “new year, bigger you” progress is coming!