By Christian Thibaudeau 

Joe came dragging into the gym like a dog that had just been kicked out of the butcher shop. He wasn’t beaten, not exactly — just puzzled, frustrated, and carrying the faint whiff of defeat. 

He plunked himself on the edge of the flat bench, wiped his forehead with a towel, and sighed. 

“Coach,” he said, “I don’t get it. I’m training hard. Real hard. Squats, deads, presses, rows — the whole routine. I’m pushing heavy, I’m doing my sets, I’m even leaving a couple of reps in the tank like you told me. But I’m not growing anymore. The weights feel heavy, the bar isn’t moving up like it used to, and I don’t look any different in the mirror. What’s wrong?” 

Before I could answer, the gym door creaked open and in came Big Charles. Charles was one of those mountains in human form. He moved slow, like the earth itself, but when he got under a bar the plates flew up like feathers. He carried a brown paper bag under his arm, the grease already soaking through the bottom. 

He set the bag down, tore it open, and pulled out a steak big enough to cover a hubcap. Cold, bloody, and wrapped in butcher paper. He didn’t bother with utensils — just tore into it with his hands like a caveman, juices dripping down his wrists. 

“That’s your problem, Joe,” Charles said between bites. “You train like a bull and eat like a bird.” 

Joe blinked. “But I am eating,” he protested. “I had oatmeal for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, and—” 

Charles slammed the steak bone down on the bench like a judge’s gavel. “A sandwich? A sandwich won’t put a pound on a flea.”  

The Missing Ingredient 

Big Mike wandered over from the squat rack, sweat pouring off him like rainwater. He was grinning the way only a man who’d just squatted five plates can grin. 

“Coach,” Mike said, “what’s the kid whining about this time?” 

“He says he’s training hard but not growing,” I said. 

Mike looked Joe up and down, then shook his head. “How many eggs you eat today, Joe?” 

Joe frowned. “Eggs? I don’t eat eggs… aren’t they bad for you?” 

“Bad for you?!” Mike roared. “When I was coming up, I ate six before lunch. And that was just to warm up!” 

Joe’s eyes went wide. “A dozen?” 

Mike grinned. “Yeah. And another six after. Eggs, meat, potatoes, rice. You gotta fuel the work. Every pound you add to the bar comes with pounds on the plate.” 

Charles licked his fingers and nodded solemnly. “Food is iron too, Joe. You can’t lift big if you don’t eat big.”  

The Salad Problem 

Skinny Pete chose that moment to drift past, carrying a salad bowl the size of a birdbath. He poked at it with his fork like a man gardening in the dark. 

“I think clean eating is the way to go,” Pete said. “You know, light meals, low calories. Keep it lean.” 

Charles stared at him like he was watching a man try to water plastic flowers. “That salad won’t grow you anything but rabbit ears.” 

Pete bristled. “Well, I don’t want to get fat.” 

Mike laughed so hard he almost fell into the squat rack. “Fat? Pete, you couldn’t get fat if we strapped a butter churn to your back.” 

Pete flushed red and scurried away with his salad. Nobody paid him any more mind.  

Training Without Eating 

“Joe,” I said, leaning forward, “listen close. Training is just half the equation. It’s the spark. But food? Food is the fire. You don’t feed the fire, you don’t get the blaze.” 

 Joe scratched his head. “But I don’t want to eat too much junk. I’m trying to stay lean.” 

Charles chuckled. “Lean? You’re lean already. Lean enough to disappear if you turn sideways. You need meat. Potatoes. Rice. Milk. Eggs. Real food. Training tears you down. Food builds you back up.” 

I nodded. “Every workout, you break down muscle. That’s how it works. But if you don’t give your body the raw material to rebuild — protein, calories, vitamins, minerals — you’re just spinning your wheels. The strength won’t come, and neither will the size. You can’t build a house without bricks. And Joe, you’re running out of bricks.”  

The Eating Lesson 

Mike threw a towel over his shoulder and leaned in. “When I was stuck at 180 pounds, I thought I was cursed. Trained like a maniac, but nothing. Then Charles told me to eat. I mean really eat. Three square meals wasn’t enough. I added milk — a quart at first, then a gallon a day. Eggs by the dozen. Steak when I could afford it, burgers when I couldn’t. Potatoes until I thought I’d turn into one. And you know what happened?” 

Joe’s eyes went wide. “What?” 

“I blew up to 220 in a year. My lifts went through the roof. Squat, bench, dead, all up by a hundred pounds or more. I was stronger, thicker, and looked like a different man. All because I stopped eating like a bird and started eating like a lifter.” 

Charles nodded. “You want to grow, Joe? You’ve got to shovel in the fuel.  

The Calorie Equation 

I grabbed a chalk stub and drew a rough sketch on the board. 

“Here’s the equation,” I said. “Your body burns calories just to exist. That’s your maintenance. If you eat that much, you’ll stay the same. Eat less, you lose weight. Eat more, you gain. But here’s the trick — those extra calories, they’ve got to come from the right sources. Protein for building muscle. Carbs for energy. Fats for hormones and recovery. You give your body what it needs, it’ll reward you. Starve it, and it’ll punish you.” 

Joe frowned. “So how much should I be eating?” 

Charles raised his empty steak bone like a preacher’s Bible. “More than you are now.”  

The Practical Plan 

“All right,” I said. “Here’s what you’ll do. Start simple. Three big meals a day, each with meat, eggs, or chicken. In between, add snacks — nuts, sandwiches, shakes. Aim for a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, or more. Wash it down with milk if you can stand it. Add potatoes, rice, some fruits— real carbs to fuel your lifts. And don’t fear fat. Butter your potatoes. Cook with oil. You need the calories.” 

Joe swallowed. “That’s a lot of food.” 

“Of course it is,” Charles said. “You think strength comes cheap?”  

Skinny Pete’s Protest 

Pete piped up again, this time waving his fork like a weapon. “But what about abs? Won’t all that food make him soft?” 

Charles shook his head. “Abs don’t lift weight. Strong muscles do. You build the foundation first, then worry about the trim. You can’t carve a statue out of nothing.” 

Mike grinned. “Besides, Pete, abs on a 150lbs guy are like big tits on a fat girl; it doesn’t count.” 

Pete sulked and went back to his salad.  

The Turning Point 

Joe looked from me to Charles, then to Mike. He wasn’t convinced yet, but the seed was planted. 

“So you’re saying,” he said slowly, “if I eat more, I’ll get stronger. And if I get stronger, I’ll get bigger.” 

“That’s exactly what we’re saying,” I said. 

Charles stood, towering over him, and wiped his greasy hands on a towel. “You’ve got the training. You’ve got the drive. All you’re missing is the fuel. Fill the tank, Joe. Food is iron too.” 

Joe nodded, hesitant but curious. He glanced down at his own lunch bag — an apple and a granola bar. He looked back at Charles’s steak bone. 

“All right,” he said. “I’ll eat.”  

The Lesson 

The gym went back to its usual rhythm — plates clanging, chalk dust floating, Pete chewing his lettuce like a goat in the corner. But Joe had taken the first step toward learning what all serious lifters know: that the iron in the bar is only half the battle. The iron on the plate matters just as much. 

Training tears you down. Eating builds you up. The two go hand in hand. 

Food is iron too. 

Key things about what Joe learned 

This story is obviously exaggerated both for amusement and to drive the point home. But what you need to take away from this story is that: 

1.        You need to fuel the muscle growth process. If you aren’t growing despite quality training, you are very likely short on nutrition (or rest). 

2.        Coach Thibs, Big Charles and Big Mike all recommend plenty of food but also emphasize the use of unprocessed foods. Consuming crap like fast food, pastries, candy and the likes just to get your calories in is not only unhealthy it is a lot less effective than consuming quality foods. 

3.        If you are not growing, it’s likely that you are not giving enough nutrients to your body. A lot of people stall their progress because they want to get lean and muscular at the same time. If you want to maximize growth you probably gonna have to accept some fat gain. But make sure that it’s not excessive; getting fat is not something that actually helps you. If you are gaining more than 5lbs per month, you are probably overdoing it.