The straight truth and nothing but the truth about gaining muscle part 1

So often run into other guys who want to put on muscle. They express their frustration about lack of progress and use lame phrases like "I'm a hard gainer" , "I have bad genetics" or my favorite "I've tried everything and am about ready to get on steroids.

After listening to them rant on why they can't gain weight I usually ask two things:

1. Give me an overview of your training program
2. Give an overview of how you are eating

100 percent of the time when they lay these things out for me there are more holes in their methods than swiss cheese.  Their methodology for gaining muscle just plain sucks and here is why:

They aren't willing to put in the work with their eating and training necessary to add lean mass.

So I'm going to lay it on the line here. What makes me such an expert? You might say. Back when I first started lifting weights I was 150 pounds soaking wet at 6 feet tall.  Basically a pencil neck you might say.

Anyway through proper eating and training I went from that as a sophomore in high school to a 270 pound offensive lineman in college.  Now I wasn't ripped not too many offensive lineman are but I did put on a lot of lean mass in the process.  And when I peeled off the bulk after football for bodybuilding there was a lot of muscle there.

So no I'm not a physiology professor and I don't have PHD in exercise science but I do have real life experience combined with the science of the human body.  I also made enough mistakes to tell you what doesn't work too. 


So here are some fundamental concepts needed to truly add muscle. This week I'm going to cover nutrition and next week I will cover training.


#1 -Eat enough to gain mass. Too many guys want to stay really lean and aren't willing to gain a some bodyfat. Higher calories help your body stay in a positive nitrogen balance, raises anabolic hormone levels(insulin, IGf-1, testosterone).  Generally you want to shoot for around 30% more calories than your maintenance level. So if you need 2,000 calories to maintain you need 2,600 to get this effect.  You cannot I repeat cannot be worried about gaining a little fat. It goes with the territory.  Generally about 60-65% of the weight you gain will be lean mass and you can peel the fat off by adjusting your diet and cardio.  So if you gain 10 pounds after a mass building phase 6-6.5 pounds will be solid lean mass. 

As with cutting you do not wan to skip meals. You have to keep your body in an anabolic state at all times to maximize recovery which equals more muscle gain.


As far as food goes I love to eat things like pancakes/waffles, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, beef, and throw in some fat as well(butter, nuts).   By doing this you will create a great anabolic environment fore growth.   This doesn't mean eat fast food all the time. Focus on eating quality with your quantity. 

Once again don't worry about maintaining washboard abs. That isn't the focus of this phase. The focus is adding lean mass so stick to the focus. We'll talk about the abs later.

Here is an example of what I do

Breakfast: 4:30am
8 eggs 4 whole 4 whites
1-2 large bowls of cereal or oatmeal
1 piece of fruit

Post-Workout 7:30am :  Recovery shake from advocare

Snack  9:30am
2 Meal Replacement Bars

Lunch  12:30pm

Omelet with cheese
3-4 pancakes with butter and syrup
Potatoes or hash browns

Snack  3pm

Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich
1 Protein Bar

Dinner  6:30pm
8 oz beef
pasta
salad
nuts


Evening snack  9pm

Greek yogurt
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich


#1- Take a good post-workout recover shake within 30 minutes of finishing your workout-
After giving your body the beat down it is screaming for nutrients and is in a primed state to absorb them. Kind of like a dry sponge in the middle of a bath tub.  So you need to take full advantage of this short window of time which is essential for your body to switch from catabolic(breaking down) to anabolic(building up).  You should take in a good post workout shake which contains high quality whey protein which has a full spectrum of amino acids as well as carbohydrates to refill taxed glycogen stores and prevent your body from breaking down protein(muscle) for energy.   The protein provides branch chain amino acids leucine, valine and isoleucine as well as glutamine to help enhance growth and repair of muscles damage from intense training.     Carbohydrates can be higher on the glycemic index to spike insulin which will increase of nutrients into the muscles cells an enhance absorption.   

A few products I recommend are Max ARM from max muscle or Adovcare's post recover mix.  You can also throw together your own mix using whey protein powder with fruit and juice or yogurt blended up.  I choose liquid because it gets into the system faster.  Timing is crucial when it comes to nutrition.

Take protein in just before bed
At night it essential to get quality sleep as well as stay in an anabolic environment where muscles grow and recover so it just makes sense to take in protein before turning in for the night.  This is for two reasons.

1. Give your body something to digest throughout the night which will prevent it from going into a catabolic state. If you don't eat after 6pm like a lot of "experts" preach and you get up at 6 am then you have gone 12 hours without feeding your body forcing it into a starvation mode which will cause it to break down protein and is counter productive to muscle growth.

2. Keep blood sugar stable so you stay in deep REM sleep cycles where growth and repair occurs.  One of the big reasons people wake up is low blood sugar which can interrupt sleep patterns that are essential to you recovering from training.  Carbs tend to break down quickly(20-45 minutes) but protein takes much longer(1-4 hours) thus holding blood sugar stable for much longer than carbs would.


There are three solid eating tips that will put you on the way to gaining muscle. Whether you are eating to gain muscle or lean out 70-80% of the battle is eating to match your goals so take this part seriously and you will see serious results.



Next week I will discuss training concepts for putting on muscle mass.

 So your first assignment is to stockpile your fridge with food an you will need a lot of it as well as get yourself a good protein supplement for night time and post workout formula for optimize recovery.

Three exercises you should never do.

To me going to the gym many times is like watching a car accident about to happen. I see so many people doing exercises that put themselves at risk for injury.  I have to admit I used to o these exercises but haven't for years because I  know train smarter than I did back then. 

So here are three of the biggest offenders in my opinion.

#1-Smith Squats
People think by doing squats on this machine that they are safer from back injuries which can't be further from the truth. The smith machine creates more compression on the spine by limiting your ability to flex your hips back and adjust your body underneath the bar. You're better off doing regular bar squats which allow you to adjust your hips and spine to take on the stress from the weights much like shock absorption system. Plus regular squats force you to fire up your core and balance which is something you don't get from smith squats. I had a friend who tore a disc in his back doing these a couple of summers ago.

                                                                         

 #2-Upright Rows

People use this exercise all the time to build up their shoulders.  This exercise is puts your shoulder in an impinged position that basically cranks on the glenohumeral joint which is your ball and socket joint of the shoulder.  By throwing your shoulder into impingement you are asking for shoulder problems down the road. Impingement many times leads to rotator cuff problems.  If you want to build up your shoulders stick to overhead presses(to the front) front and lateral raises with dumbbells.  Always weigh out risk to benefit. The risk of doing these far outweighs the benefit. One quick side note.  They are useful as a progression to Olympic lifts like cleans but these type of upright row don't require you to pull so high which is where the joint impingement occurs.

#3- Behind the neck military press

This is another popular exercise for shoulders. Here are the two reasons why they make the list. Number one this exercise forces the neck forward into a protracted position which places undo strain on the cervical spine and neck. Number two it places the shoulders in a close pack position which puts a ton of strain on your glenohumeral joint which can lead to an AC joint sprain on the shoulder.  Also by sitting straight up you compress the discs in the spine.  You are better off doing presses to the front on a slightly angled back bench which will greatly reduce the stress on the spine and shoulder joints.  Standing in a stride stance and pressing to the front is also a better option. These variations allow you to blast the shoulders without putting your spine, neck , and shoulder joint at great risk.

Juan Carlso Santana a popular presenter in the fitness field once said something years ago that stuck with me.  Always weigh out risk to benefit. Does the risk of doing this exercise outweigh the benefit. Ask yourself this question. Many times you will find yourself saying it does not. We all get emotionally attached to certain exercises but reality is we can't really justify why we do them other than we think they are the necessary when really there are other safer exercises that will get the job done just as well without the added risk.

10 Reasons Why Most Exercise Programs Fail

Has this ever happened to you?



Every year around this time millions flock to the

health club, join a diet center, or make a pledge to

get fit this year.



Yet by February 1, 90% have failed in their resolution

and have returned to their old ways.



Sure they're frustrated, discouraged, and miserable

with their current condition... but feeling that way

about your health and your body does not determine

whether or not you will be successful this year in

making a real change.



Why?



Well, there are many reasons for fitness failure. And

as a fitness professional I see them all the time.



Here's my Top 10 list of why fitness programs fail:



1. Incomplete programs- starting a strength training

program, with no attention paid to nutrition. Or

beginning a cardio program without addressing strength

training, etc. I could go on and on. But chances are

you can identify with one of these scenarios.



2. Failure to address nutrition first- starting an

exercise program, and failing to address nutrition

FIRST is just plain dumb. You've got to feed your body

the right "fuel" to exercise, have energy, keep up with

the increase in activity, and furthermore really get

your metabolism movin'.



3. Incomplete nutrition- with all the wacko diets and

'well-meaning' but 'uneducated' friends giving you

advice in this area, it's no wonder there is so much

confusion. All protein. No protein. All organic. Low

glycemic. High glycemic. Good fats. Bad fats. If you're

confused when it comes to how to really put together a

nutrition program that will get you to your goals,

you're not alone.



4. Avoiding endurance- mostly a mistake made by men.

You know the guys I'm talkin about. They're over 40+

and get back to the gym to work on their "big arms"

when they really need to be working on gettin' rid of

their "big gut". That means making cardio a priority!



5. Push too hard, too soon- this one is really sad, and

it happens because most folks begin exercising with no

instruction. And also because most folks are IMPATIENT,

and they have nobody to help them establish realistic

goals on a timetable, with a plan to accomplish them.

So they workout like an animal for a week, then can't

move their body for three, and lose all the motivation

they had when they started. Totally unnecessary.



6. No warm-up, cool down- Whether you haven't worked

out in a while. Or you've been exercising regularly.

MOST folks do not put anytime into preparing their body

for exercise. And this is essential... especially as

you get older! You've got to warm up the car, before

you put the 'petal to the metal'. Otherwise you're just

asking to break somethin' and be in the repair shop...

and trust me, you DON'T want to go there.



7. No stretching- not stretching is asking for injury.

And it's not "if", it's "when." Stretching and

attention to flexibility must be part of your warm-up

and cool-down routine. And the more you exercise, the

more you have to stretch. I preach this all the time,

but some folks just don't listen until it's too late.

Don't let this happen to you.



8. No post workout nutrition- why is it important to

feed your body a certain way after exercise? Because

the right nutrition after exercise will accelerate your

recovery dramatically, refuel glycogen (gas in your

tank) and reduce soreness dramatically. Anytime you

perform intense exercise, or strength training,

attention MUST be paid to nutrition after the workout.

And there is a VERY specific formula for maximizing

this. Use it and succeed, ignore it and suffer.



9. Lack of professional guidance- go into any health

club this week and you'll see it all over the place.

The "blind leading the blind." Often well-meaning and

intentioned, but incredibly misinformed and uneducated

folks will sink your fitness ship faster than you can

say "Titanic." You wouldn't ask just anybody to give

you financial advice, nor would you have just anybody

just you legal advice. You invest in experts to get

expert guidance. That's why anyone serious about

getting results from a fitness program should invest in

working with a professional coach. As the saying goes,

"you get what you pay for."



10. Lack of accountability- you cannot be accountable

to yourself. Read that statement again. No matter how

good your intentions are, if left to your own devices

you will almost always revert to old lifestyle

patterns. I call it the "rubber band effect." You start

to stretch out, make changes, then before you know it

you're pulled right back to your old form. And that

ain't where you want to be. You've got to work hard to

break free and adopt new lifestyle patterns. Having a

coach hold you accountable to your plan and

IMPLEMENTATION is essential. Without somebody to hold

you accountable, you results will almost always be

little to nil.

Are you not eating enough to lose weight??

Are You Eating Enough To Lose Weight?

Posted By Lu Herbeck, Puravida Fitness Nutrition Coach

In my experience, as a weight management consultant, working with predominantly female clients, I find that weight loss is an elusive goal for many. I hear the same issues raised time and again; “I watch my calories or my fats or my carbohydrates and I still can’t lose weight.” Does this sound familiar?



You may not have considered that some of these clients, and maybe even you, are not eating enough! Your body needs a consistent level of healthy, adequate nutrition. Cutting calories to less than about 1500 for women and about 1800 calories for men per day may actually discourage weight loss in favor of retaining body fat. Prisoners in concentration camps were emaciated due to chronic lack of calories and nutrients, but actually maintained a relatively high body fat. It’s a survival of the fittest principle that encourages our bodies to consume its own muscle mass in order to maintain enough body fat for emergencies. That is not a healthy lifestyle.

Just like a camp fire needs to be stoked periodically, your body needs fuel (food) about every 2-3 hours. Going too long without eating encourages your metabolism to slow down to conserve energy. Eating large amounts of food at one sitting encourages some of the excess calories to be stored as fat. Both of these scenarios are your body’s normal physiological response to food intake or lack thereof.

To break the chain you need to be conscious of eating every 2-3 hours and eat protein with each meal or snack. The protein slows down the breakdown and absorption of carbohydrates, which keeps your blood sugar on a more even keel. Following this one principle will help you reduce (carbohydrate) cravings, increase your satiety and encourage muscle tissue growth and maintenance. Making sure you are consuming enough calories throughout the day will encourage your body to run like a well oiled machine and provide you with increased energy and vitality. Consider the fact that it takes at least 800 calories to support life functions in a 50 year-old woman to just lie in bed. Once you add the energy it takes to carry out daily activities, exercise, digesting etc., it takes an absolute minimum of 1200 calories just to keep your body functioning. If you chronically consume too few calories your body will have to adjust to fewer calories just like we have to adjust our budgets to cover a decrease in income.

I know it’s counterintuitive to consume more calories (within reason) to lose weight but it’s been demonstrated time and again to be true. Plus, eating an adequate amount of calories is a healthier and longer term lifestyle change that will ultimately result in slow, permanent weight loss/management.