Pro Gained '20 Pounds of Muscle' Using This Diet

Will Zalatoris wanted to say that was funny, and then he almost immediately added two letters.

“It's not fun,” he said.

To be clear, the results yes. After adding what he calls “20 pounds of muscle” to his 163-pound body over the past four months, Zalatoris believes he's ready to play golf at the highest level. He said his body will now be less susceptible to injury than it has been on numerous occasions since turning pro in 2018, and he will be able to swing at top speed with less effort.

“I think the best way I can describe how I feel compared to before I put on weight is I think I'm at 100 percent, but I still don't feel great,” Zalatoris said Thursday in the first round. Said later.

“I have to take a few days off and give my back a break or go through a series of treatments. Not anymore. It's difficult when you limit your practice and then go out and play against the best players in the world. So now I think the beauty of it is I'm trying to do it for longevity, not distance. If you look at my numbers, they're the same, but it feels better.

So how did he gain weight?

He started a workout program with performance expert Damon Goddard and followed a specific diet that he recently detailed to the tour's social media team. Below is the video and below we will provide some ideas.

“It's a lot of protein, a lot of exercise,” Zalatoris says in the video. “Eat until you feel full, then eat some more.

“I need to do that. I need to get my back more stable. It feels like this whole year I've been reactive and not proactive. Now, you know, if you think about it, in my last four to five years Here, I don't have an offseason – I'm either rehabbing my back injury or I've been playing so, you know, I've only played two games this fall so I can build muscle at home and, most importantly, improve. level of competition.

Here's how the diet breaks down, he says:

— “Eat 200 grams of protein a day,” Zalatoris says in the video.

—”Caloric intake varies between 3,000 and 4,500 calories per day,” he said. “I need $4,500 at least three times a week. When you don't have any money, you just have to find a way to gain weight. So it starts with looking at food and eating food.

— “The biggest thing,” he said, “is just trying to find a way to get 200 grams of protein in no more than 40 grams at a time.”

What would that look like? Think high-protein foods like chicken and turkey. (If you're interested in trying something similar, we'd like to remind you to consult your own nutritionist first.)

“You know, I really want to make sure I'm ready for the next seven or eight years,” Zalatoris says in the film. “Because now, at 28 years old, it’s time to go.”

Editor's Note: GOLF.com recently published another story about Zalatoris titled “Will Zalatoris Gained 19 Pounds in 4 Months. But Not for the Reason You Think” – that article can be found Click here Or scroll below now.

***

Will Zalatoris' season ended last year in mid-August at Colorado. That week, he tipped the scales at 163 pounds, a lean 6-foot-2 frame, fully aware that he would get even thinner. It's something he's gotten used to, losing 5 to 10 pounds in the fall's offseason.

It's just that he doesn't want to lose weight. In fact, he wanted to gain weight.

There are many more.

“I'm tired of people telling me my waist is 22 inches and stuff like that,” he said Thursday at the season-opening Sentinel event in Maui.

But it's not just his lower back that's a problem. Zalatoris needs to create better operating weight for himself to be able to compete at a high level and at a high pace for three to four weeks in a row. The past few years have taught him that he doesn't have the stamina to survive the intense season on the PGA Tour.

“If you look at my weeks in the year, my best weeks are always the first week in a period, I always like to play one week, two weeks, three weeks and build with the rhythm,” he said explain. “The tournament I won as a pro was probably around week three or four. It was just, by week three or four, my swing speed dropped a couple of miles an hour, and I really didn't feel good. , I didn't drive well and it's hard to play like this. It's not about speed, it's about speed. I need stability to make sure. To be able to do what I'm doing.

What he means is swing hard and don't hurt yourself, which is a story that Zalatoris has played out in recent years. The 28-year-old, who burst onto the scene with six top-10s in his first nine majors, battled a herniated disc in late 2022, ultimately withdrawing from the 2023 Masters and quickly underwent microdisc surgery Excision surgery. He spent several months recuperating before returning at the end of 2023.

Which brings us to the end of his season in Colorado, where he decided enough was enough. Zalatoris joined an exercise program with acting expert Damon Goddard and has been building muscle over the past four months, he first told reporters during an appearance in South Africa in December This was mentioned. When he stepped on the scale in Dallas before competing in this week's Sentry event, he weighed in at 182 pounds: a gain of 19 pounds in just four months.

After starting the new season at 8 under, he said the benefit of adding weight is that he feels like he's maintaining the distance he's looking for without having to swing “110 percent,” thereby reducing the weight. physical stress.

“I think the best way I can describe how I feel compared to before I gained weight is I think I'm at 100 percent, but I still don't feel great,” Zalatoris said. “I have to take a few days off and give my back a break or go through a series of treatments. Not anymore. It's difficult when you limit your practice and then go out and play against the best players in the world. So now I think the beauty of it is I'm trying to do it for longevity, not distance. If you look at my numbers, they're the same, but it feels better.

It was a long process for Zalatoris to get into a better mood. He admitted Thursday that he felt as good as if he hadn't even had surgery. While it remains to be seen how those changes will play out on the charts, the fact that he hasn't had a cortisone shot – the pain-killing shot he's relied on in recent years – since August is another sign that a quick fix is ​​expected to be Reality.

“I want to keep raising the ceiling,” Zalatoris said, “because I know if I try to hit the ball 300 yards here at 160 pounds, that's not a recipe for longevity.”

” >