Cheap Protein: Get Ripped on a Budget
Protein is extremely trendy right now, and for good reason.
Lean-protein filled foods tend to be more filling with less calories, and this protein helps support a lea Katienicholl
n, muscular physique. Most of the popular diets right now strongly emphasize a fairly high protein intake
Unfortunately, protein is EXPENSIVE. Cheap foods that you will find lining the aisles of the grocery store tend to
be high in fat and carbs, but low in protein. If you head over to the meat section, you will find that fatty meats are
cheap while lean meats are much more expensive. Fortunately, there are ways to get plenty of protein on a fairly
tight budget! With excellent planning and proper use of sales, most people can eat a high protein diet without
breaking the bank. Read on to find out money saving strategies, the TOP 10 cheapest protein sources and the
best cheap protein powders!
The Strategies
There are a few strategies to eating a healthy, protein-packed diet on the cheap:
1. Eating (slightly) Less Protein:
A simple strategy may be limiting yourself to no more than about 1g of protein per pound of body weight.
In fact, many experts think that eating more than about 1.5g of protein per KILOGRAM is excessive
(to convert your weight in pounds to weight in kilograms, divide your weight by 2.2).
Since protein is significantly more expensive than carbohydrates and fat,
dieting on a budget should not be done with extremely high intake of protein. In all likelihood,
eating more than 1g protein/lb bodyweight will slim your wallet more than your body
. While the research indicates that there may be SOME slight benefits to eating more protein than this
, you can probably get the exact same results by substituting some protein with some complex
carbohydrates or healthy fats.
2. Avoid Buying Expensive, Unhealthy Processed Foods
Processed foods offer a great convenience, but the reality is that the majority of these foods
are expensive for what you get and/or are not constructive for your diet. Foods like beef jerky,
deli meats, etc are good sources of protein and may fit well into your diet, but are VERY
expensive for how many calories and protein you get. On a budget, you should avoid paying
more just for the sake of convenience. On the other hand, some processed foods are very cheap
but absolutely junk for you. Healthy carbs and fats are relatively cheap,
so avoid deceptively unhealthy processed “snacks” as often as you can.
3. Shop Along the Edges, Avoid the Aisles
This tip goes hand-in-hand with the previous one. Grocery stores are almost always
set up with the healthy, fresh foods along the edges and the processed food in the aisles.
By sticking to the edges, you can avoid most processed foods and save money at the same time.
4. Shop the deals, especially for protein
This should be obvious for anyone trying to diet on a budget, but unfortunately this concept is not so easy.
Some foods that should be a stable of most diets are almost always cheap; things like eggs, oatmeal, rice,
etc can be bought almost anywhere and without a sale and still not break the bank.
Most proteins, however, are different. With meat, you should stick to the sales and the clearance section
to save a significant amount of money. Importantly though, you should be selecting CHEAP protein sources when they are ON SALE. This combination will really help you save significant money. So what exactly are the cheapest protein sources? Read on to part 2 to find t
The Bent Arm Pullover
If you want to gain mass, one of the most simple and effective programs you will see out there is the so called “squats and milk” program. It goes exactly how it sounds: you do heavy, high rep (usually 20 rep) squatting and drink lots of milk, preferably whole milk. Tons of people have followed this exact program and put on muscle ridiculously fast, but what few people realize is that this program is incomplete. In fact, this program started as the squats, pullovers and milk program. Old school bodybuilders made pullovers a staple of their mass gaining phases. Heavy bent-arm pullovers might just be the single best upper body exercise you aren’t doing! Read on!To perform a pullover, take a weight (either a barbell or a dumbbell) and lie on your back on an exercise bench. Then, lower this weight behind your head to your comfort. This can be done with straight arms or bent arms (which I recommend — this makes it a bent-arm pullover). Raise your arms, keeping the angle constant (same amount of bend or straight) the whole time, and continue this motion until the weight is above your chest.
Here’s the great thing about pullovers: they work both the back AND the chest at the same time, which is very unusual considering these are generally considered antagonistic muscle groups. At the end of an upper body workout or a chest workout, the bent arm pullover can give you a huge pump and stretch the lats nicely.
Here is a nice chest/arms routine I have done in the past that incorporates bent-arm pullovers and always gave me a massive pump:
Speed Bench Press*: 3-4 warm up sets, then 8 sets of 3 approximately 50% of 1RM
Dips (weighted if needed): 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Dumbbell Bench: 3 sets of 5-8 reps
Close-Grip Bench Press: 2-3 warm up sets, then 3 sets of 4-6 reps
Bent Arm Pullovers: 3 sets of 10-12 reps
A1 Standing Barbell Curls**: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
A2 Triceps Pushdowns**: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
* A speed bench should be done by pressing with good form but accelerating the bar up as fast as possible. Rest between sets should be kept to 30-60 seconds. These 8 sets should only take 6-7 minutes to complete.
** The A1, A2 designation signifies that these exercises are performed in a super set (do a set of exercise A1, then immediately do a set of exercise A2, then rest for a minute and repeat until the sets for both exercises are completed.
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