Home » Weight Gain Diets » Post-Workout Meal For Building Muscle Mass By John Blackwood, NSCA CPT | Comments
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In This Article: If the first step in packing on muscle mass is having a solid muscle building workout plan, the second step is putting together a smart post-workout meal. Don’t ever let yourself think that you’ve finished your job the minute you step foot out of the gym.
If the truth is told, you’re far from finished. At that very minute, you’ve just caused yourself to lose muscle. Yes, that’s right – lose muscle. Not making much sense?
Let me explain. Each time you step foot in the gym and lift heavy weights, you’re tearing your muscle tissues down. You’re exposing them to an overloading stress that they aren’t able to handle. As such, they tear and become broken.
So in order to build more muscle now, since getting stronger and larger, not weaker and smaller is your goal, you need to provide the second element in the equation – food.
Without food, your muscles stay in that broken down state and you will find you’re getting weaker over time.
So now that you hopefully realize the importance of the post workout meal, let’s look at what it must consist of in order for you to gain as much muscle as possible.
The very first thing that you’ll want to consider is the calorie and macronutrient make-up of that post workout meal. This refers to how much energy you’re supplying your body and what mix of nutrients.
This is going to vary slightly depending on your current body weight, how quickly you want to build muscle, how high your daily calorie intake is, and how long your workout session is.
The longer the workout, the faster you want to gain weight, and the higher your daily calorie requirement is, the more food you’ll want to consume.
For most guys who are training intensely, anywhere from 400-600 calories tends to work well. Keep in mind that about an hour after your post-workout meal, you’ll want to follow it with another solid meal to really consolidate the nutritional process during this post-workout period.
For the first post-workout meal, you want to aim for high protein, high carb selections. Avoid fat at all costs. Fat during this time is only going to slow the delivery of the nutrients into the muscle cells and is certainly not what you want.
On average you should be taking anywhere from 30-50 grams of protein and then the remainder should come from carbs. This will work out to around 50-100 grams depending on your total calorie requirement of that meal.
Looking at the food choices that should make up your post-workout meal, choose a fast digesting protein along with a fast digesting carb.
While the goal throughout the day is to keep blood sugar levels stable, immediately after your workout you actually want to spike your blood sugar levels up.
Why?
Simply because by doing so, you’ll create a high release of the hormone insulin, which will drive both the amino acids and glucose straight into the muscle cells. This is an ideal situation for muscle growth.
So smart food choices would include whey isolate protein powder, white fish, or egg whites for protein. Smart carb choices would include foods such as white bread, white bagels, sugary cereals, dextrose, or maltodextrin.
Some people often use fruit for their post-workout meal and while this will contain some simple sugars, it also contains fructose which won’t go into the muscle cells. So all in all it’s not most ideal. The best case scenario is 100% pure glucose since that is what will re-saturate muscle glycogen levels the fastest.
Most guys do find that using a protein/carb shake works slightly better for their post-workout meal as opposed to whole food sources, so they’ll choose to combine whey protein powder with a powdered form of carb such as dextrose, waxy maize, or maltodextrin. If you can’t get a hold of those, Gatorade powder will also work great.
Now we must talk about timing. Some guys do get very caught up in thinking that if they don’t consume their post-workout shake within 2 seconds of being out of the gym, they’re going to really hinder their results.
While timing is definitely important, there’s no need to take it to this extreme. Generally speaking, the sooner you can get that shake in the better. But, if you need to have a quick 5-minute shower first, that’s fine.
As long as you get your post-workout meal in within 15-30 minutes, you’ll be on top of the game. Don’t stress yourself out over this as that stress is likely to cause more harm than the delayed interval of the meal.
Finally, the last thing that you might want to think about when looking at your post-workout meal is additional supplements that you can add to take your muscle-building progress one step further.
It’s no secret that many guys will see slightly better muscle building results when certain supplements are added, so by making the most of this, you can accelerate your mass gains.
Two very smart supplements to add during the post-workout meal or shake is creatine and glutamine. These are both recovery-oriented supplements that will help prepare you for the next time you enter the gym.
Always remember that the main mission of that post workout meal is to speed up the recovery process so that you can get back into the gym again and train sooner.
Creatine will restore the higher energy precursor that will help fuel every single muscle contraction you perform and glutamine will ensure that your immune system is strong and ready to carry out the muscle tissue regeneration process.
Both of these can easily be added to your shake, or if you’re having solid food, you can just take these with some water or juice.
So there you have the in’s and out’s of a smart post-workout meal. If you want to see the best results from your training program, getting this in order will be vital to success.
Right now, the athletes, bodybuilders and health enthusiasts are more aware of the supplements that are healthy and unhealthy. They know that using of steroids as muscle mass grower is prohibited. They prefer healthy foods and hard work in order to achieve their most aimed body, which are stronger, leaner and well-formed muscles.
These supplements contain nutrients that are good for building muscles. These types of supplements are better because they not treated with chemicals that may cause harm to your body later on.
Some of the natural bodybuilding supplements are:
Protein - it is important in our cell in the body. Protein is used for making and repairing the damaged tissues due to intense activities. It is also a building block of cartilages, skin, bones and blood. Protein is a macronutrient that means a huge amount is needed in the body daily. High amount of protein intake daily is necessary because the body cannot store protein unlike fats and carbohydrates. When the body needs protein, the only way to intervene with it is to take enough protein. Good quantity of protein will more likely shed off your fats while feeling full because protein are the most time consuming during digestion process. The good sources of protein are brown rice, meats, eggs, nuts, legumes, and tofu.
Carnitine - is produced by the liver and kidneys. Their main purpose is the transportation of fats in the cell for the metabolism of fats, the product would be energy. This energy will help the bodybuilder to prolong the training because there is enough energy supplementation. It helps you to decrease fats and at the same time gain muscles. Red meats, asparagus, poultry, avocados and peanuts are some foods rich in carnitine.
Glutamine- works as a natural bodybuilding supplements by maintaining the muscle mass by preventing the muscle from breaking down, prevent infections by boosting the immune system, maintains cell volume and hydration, it the most needed nutrient for intestines because it maintains the structural integrity of the colon. It also helps in recovering from a draining workout and stress of the body builder. The good source of glutamine includes beef, chicken, fish, dairy products and legumes.
Creatine - are found in tunas, salmon and red meats. The foods rich in protein are more likely rich in creatine as well. This is a very good natural bodybuilding supplements because it produces an extra energy for workouts, decreases the feeling of having fatigue and promote gaining of muscle weight.
Food is the primary source of having a good and healthy body. Although there are times that, the food we eat cannot sustain the energy needed by the body during workout that is why it is recommended that you, as a bodybuilder, will take natural bodybuilding supplements.
Wanna find out more about natural Body building products? then visit our site for know also best Muscle builder supplements.
Home » Weight Gain Programs » Building Muscle In Your Sleep (Importance Of Proper Rest) By Sean Nalewanyj | Comments
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The benefits of a proper sleep for building muscle, burning fat, and gaining strength...
It doesn't sound super exciting at first, but I promise, after you understand why sleep and rest is a key component to your muscle building and weight gain program you'll be glad you know.
If you want to experience the most explosive muscle gains in the shortest time possible, then a good nights sleep really is an important factor. What makes sleep so important? Well, lets look at what happens when you don't get a good nights sleep each night.
One of the biggest problems with sleep deprivation is the effect it will have on your mental state. Studies show that even a single night of insufficient rest will have a negative effect on your mental sharpness and on your willingness to perform difficult tasks.
Putting fourth a good hard effort every time you enter the gym is very important when it comes to transforming your body so you must remain mentally sharp at all times.
Your bottom line muscle gains are ultimately determined by the small steady increases you're able to make in all of your major exercises from week to week and keeping your strength at top level is critical to achieving this as quickly as possible. As you probably already know, your muscles don't grow in the gym... They grow while you're out of the gym resting and eating. The time you spend sleeping is one of the critical periods where the repair of damaged muscle tissue takes place. If you deprive your body of sleep, you'll deprive the recovery process as well. Depriving your body of sleep actually has a negative impact on some of the most important muscle building hormones circulating through your body. Specifically, testosterone, growth hormone, and cortisol. Simply put, sleep deprivation has a negative impact on every single one of them.
It will lower testosterone levels which is going to decrease muscle growth. It will decrease growth hormone levels which is going to decrease fat loss. And it's going to increase cortisol levels which will increase fat storage and encourage muscle breakdown.
So how much sleep is enough to maximize your results? You should aim to get at least 8 hours of high-quality sleep each night. And if you need more sleep then by all means, take it!
The most important topic when it comes to changing the shape of your body is nutrition. You've probably heard cheesy sayings like "A little on the lips, forever on the hips" and "You are what you eat." Well, that's because it's true. No matter how hard you work out, if you're diet is wrong, you're not going to get the results you want. If you ask any professional bodybuilder or fitness model, they're going to tell you the same thing. So the topic I'm going to discuss here is nutrabolism.
Nutrabolism means optimizing nutrition to increase muscle growth without adding fat. You've probably heard a lot of talk about the importance of protein, and it's true that protein is very important. But it's easy to make sure you're getting enough protein. What people don't talk about enough is carbohydrate intake. So keeping that in mind, here are three of the most advanced muscle building techniques.
1. Carbohydrate Capitalization. What this means is that you need to eat your carbohydrates at the right time of day so they're not wasted. Extra carbohydrates turn into fat, but if you eat the majority of them around your workout, you can use the energy the provide immediately and not have them going to waste the rest of the day. In fact, you should probably consume about 70% of your daily carbohydrates pre and post workout. The other 30% of your carbohydrates are best eaten at breakfast.
2. Somatofy Your Nutrition. This means changing your nutrition based on your body type. You've probably heard that there are three basic body types: ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. There are actually many more body types that fall between these on the spectrum, and nutritionists are only now beginning to understand how these body types react to nutrients and carbohydrates. But for simplicity's sake, we'll focus on the three main body types.
The Ectomorph. People with this body type are long, lanky and skinny. They typically have thin bones and have a very hard time putting muscle. If that sounds like you, you'll need to take advantage of high-glycemic carbohydrates not just during your workout window, but throughout the day. Doing this will help you to fill out your clothes and change your body faster. The Endomorph. People with this body type tend to be shorter and thicker and put on fat very easily. If this is you, then you need to do the opposite and avoid high-glycemic carbohydrates and instead focus on complex carbohydrates and eat the vast majority of them before and after your workout. The Mesomorph. These people tend to be of average height and thickness. If that's you, count yourself lucky because it will be much easier to build a great physique. Your main focus should be on protein and having 70% of your carbs (both simple and complex) around your workout.
3. Change Your Nutrition Based On Your Weight Training Program. This is one of the most common mistakes. Many people follow a meal plan that doesn't take into account the time of day they workout. There are some people who get most of their carbs in the morning and do their workout at night. This type of behavior is going to make muscle growth a slow and frustrating process. It's important to have meals prepared for right before and after you workout, no matter what time of day it is.
Hopefully these three tips will help you out. For now, you should start measuring your results. Take a pen and an index card to the gym so you can keep track of how much weight and how many reps you're able to do on each machine. It's not exact, but over time it will give you an idea of whether your plan is working. And if it's not, make adjustments. Good luck!
To learn more about proper bodybuilding nutrition, visit The Muscle Maximizer.
Body building or going to the train at any gym can be an intimidating experience for any beginner. Mostly, men are into this sport than women. Nonetheless, body building has been widely popular in all parts of the world as it now only enhances the physical appearance of the body but it also improves internal build. For beginners, here are some tips that you must know before going into building your bodies by gym training.
Seeking advice When you are still starting out, it does not make any sense for you to do things by yourself and reject any help from the experts in body building. Instead, take time to talk to professionals and trusted people who have experience in building muscles. See what can be learned from them that you can apply to yourself. Never hesitate to ask for assistance when using equipment that you do not know of. This further ensures lesser chances of getting injured.
Enough sleep If you are working out, it is very important to have a good rest. Exercising to build body muscles is harder than people think. And getting enough sleep than usual is crucial in making sure that the body has sufficient energy to take on the body building challenge.
Proper diet Just like sleep, proper diet is also important in making certain that your diet will be able to sustain your exercise. This strictly does not mean adding more things to it. Instead, proper diet means eating healthier foods. Think of the body as a car; the longer the mileage it travels, the greater the fuel it uses up. The body functions like that. If you are going to build muscles for your body, packing yourself with enough healthy meals will ensure that you will function properly and consistently.
Setting goals Keep your objectives realistic. Although it is not bad to dream big, aspiring greater heights than possible is. Goals that are, in reality, too difficult to reach will only end you up in a failure. Take things one at a time while enjoying every bit of success you accomplish in body building. No matter how little the progress is, appreciate oneself for a job well done.
Thinking positively Failures happen. But worrying about what has already been done will do you no good. As an alternative, think positively and visualize success even before beginning your body building training. Having this mindset will help your drive and training as you try to reach higher levels to build better body muscles.
Try to learn more about bodybuilding for beginners. There certainly are several bodybuilding tips that can help you achieve success.
Have you ever seen some pictures of muscle-bound studs with huge chests and rippling abs and thought to yourself; "Yes this is impressive but something isn't right, I can't put my finger on it - what's wrong?". The human eye is naturally good at spotting proportion and chances are, that particular person has neglected certain body parts which results in a lopsided physique.
The forearms are one of those muscle groups that few people pay particular attention to. Trainees always assume that since a lot of bodybuilding exercises involve gripping heavy weights, the forearms get adequately exercised and therefore, there isn't a need to target them specifically. Unfortunately, for most people who don't possess a natural capacity for large forearms, this is not true.
The reality is that most of us will have to work pretty hard to get impressive forearms. In my experience, you need to target the forearms with a mixture of low weight high reps exercise alongside heavy weights and low reps. You'll also need a lot of patience as you will need to do multiple sets, hitting them from multiple angles. We will look at some of these exercises.
1. Plate Pinch - The plate pinch is primarily a gripping forearm exercise. It works best with the smaller, thick metal plates. Olympic plates are far too big and will slip from your hands. The plate pinch is simple. You simply pinch two plates together with your fingers and then pick them up and drop them as many times as you can or for a set number of repetitions.
2. Wrist curls - There are multiple variations of the wrist curl. It's almost always best to do this exercise with barbell. You can do them with your palms facing up or facing down. You can do them using a bench or your knees as a support and you can also do them while standing with your hands behind your back. I recommend performing 3 sets of 10-15 reps. Volume is key with these.
3. Hammer curls - Very few exercises are as effective at inducing the burn in your forearms as the hammer curls. The advantage is that you can work with more weight as large muscle groups are involved in the movement. Another variation of the hammer curl is the cross-body hammer curl. Both of these exercises are effective at adding size to your forearms if performed consistently.
4. Reverse curls - These are an awesome way to target the upper part of your forearms. An excellent way to take this exercise to the next level is to combine a reverse wrist curl in this movement. As you reach the top part of the reverse curl, you do the concentric part of a wrist curl and as you reach the bottom phase, you do the eccentric part. This is a great way to make the exercise a tiny bit more beneficial.
Home » Weight Gain Supplements » Prohormones and Their Effects on Building Muscle By Jared Hawthorne | Comments
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What if you could acquire a muscle building supplement that provided some of the same benefit as anabolic steroids but was cheaper, safer, AND legal? Well, for quite a few years, you COULD.
Prohormones are a category of synthetic products that basically force the body to make more testosterone, or produce bi-products that then encourage the body to do so.
Prohormone basically means that the substance is not the hormone itself but causes a reaction in the body to make the substance. Anabolic steroids are actually synthetic versions of the hormone itself so if you take steroids, you are basically increasing the amount of testosterone in the body. By taking prohormones, you are taking something that CAUSES the body to make testosterone. Confused yet?
It can be confusing at first but if you look at it this way it is easily understood: Steroids basically act as testosterone. Prohormones cause the body to MAKE testosterone.
Because prohormones do not act as the hormone itself, they were legal for quite some time. It was legal because in the end, it is actually the body making the increased testosterone.
After some further research and investigation in their effects, prohormones were eventually banned from professional sports (the Mark Mcguire, Andro incident should come to mind) and most were eventually made illegal by a law based in 2004 by President George Bush. There are still some supplements that can be considered prohormones, such as DHEA that are legal, but if you are in doubt, make sure to do your research before attempting to acquire the product as possessing one of the illegal substances can surely land you in jail.
As far as their effects on muscle building, the proof was never 100% that all worked as they were touted to be effective anabolic steroid replacements, especially considering their relatively high price in the marketplace. They did increase the production of testosterone in the body, but the amounts were often thought to be quite a bit less than would be experienced with the use of regular steroids.
Because of the fact that they DID have an effect on your hormones, some of the same positive AND negative side effects were often experienced by users. This included skin disorders including acne cysts, increase hair grown in certain areas and hair loss in others, and even the growth of breasts in men. The usage was never properly regulated, as the products were not on the market long enough for consistent and effective usage to be demonstrated.
The fact is most prohormones are illegal so when in doubt, simply stay away from them. There are still plenty of natural substances, such as creatine and protein that can have extremely positive effects on muscle growth without the serious side effects or threat of jail time.
Because of the passive lifestyles we lead, more people are constantly starting a new workout routine in order to get in shape and build muscle. However, not everybody knows exactly what they are doing, and they could be missing out on important information that could really help them get in shape easily and really build muscle fast. In this article, I'm going to share with you some tips on how to really kick-start your exercise routine to help you get in shape. These are tips that many people have never known before, but can be very effective in helping you with working out and building muscle more easily and efficiently.
1. Exercise Your Mind Before Your Body
One of the most effective ways to prepare your body and really build muscle fast is to use a technique known as 'visualization'. All you need to do is to sit down before you actually do the physical exercise, close your eyes, and imagine yourself working out. The more detail, the better. Not only will this lead to better performance when during your exercise and weightlifting routine, but your muscles will also benefit. While you're visualizing, your muscles will also be contracting, and you can actually start working out your muscles and getting in shape before you even lift a finger! If you get nothing from this article, at least remember this highly effective building muscle tip.
2. Do the Weightlifting First
If you're combining an aerobics and strength training program, make sure that you're hitting the weights before you start your jog. Doing it in this order can help you burn 30-40% more fat calories than if you started running before lifting weights. You will be maximizing your workout by ensuring that you burn more fat, and you will really be able to get in shape and build muscle fast.
3. Shorter is Actually Better!
Rather than having one long workout session, splitting it up into two shorter sessions can really help you burn more calories. When you work out, you stimulate the body to increase its metabolism and burn many more calories than usual. When you're done exercising, your body experiences the 'afterburn effect'. Your body will continue to burn calories at an enhanced rate, many hours after you've already stopped exercising. If you split your muscle building workouts into two sessions, for example 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening instead of a 1 hour long workout, you will be able to burn twice as many calories using the "afterburn effect". It's as close to natural, healthy, automatic fat loss as you can get!
If you keep these simple but highly effective secrets in mind while you plan your exercises, you will be able to get in shape and build muscle two or three times as fast as the poor saps who hit the gym every day and see slow or few results. Many more tips on exercising, getting in shape, and building muscle can be found on my website.
Max Cipher is an internet author and the owner of WeightLossProductsReports.com [http://WeightLossProductsReports.com/] If you're serious about weight loss and body building, you will want to make sure you're on the right program. But which program is right for you? Find out the truth behind weight loss and body building programs at WeightLossProductsReports.com [http://WeightLossProductsReports.com/]
Home » Weight Gain Programs » Weight Gain Plan For Building Muscle By Jeff Masterson | Comments
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Designing a weight gain plan to build muscle is easy when you've got all the pieces to the puzzle. The problem is, most people don't know what all those pieces are. So today we'll talk about how to put together a solid weight gain plan that will have you gaining about 2 pounds a week or more.
If 2 pounds a week doesn't sound like a lot to you, consider this: Your body can only naturally manufacture 2 pounds of muscle per week without using steroids. So if you're gaining more than 2 pounds a week, chances are the rest of that body weight is fat.
And we're trying put a weight gain plan together that allows us to gain healthy weight right? And that means building lean muscle, not adding fat. The truth is, with any weight gain program you will gain some additional body fat. But the goal is to make sure you're always gaining more muscle than fat.
So lets get into the different parts of your weight gain plan...
It's important to figure this out first so you have a goal to shoot for and you can set milestones. Say weigh 130 pounds right now and your ideal bodyweight would be 170 pounds. Well then you'll want to gain a total of 40 pounds.
That sounds like a lot of weight to gain but you can do it in a matter of months. If you follow your weight gain plan and you start gaining 2 pounds a week like we talked about, you'll be at 170 lbs. in just 5 months.
Imagine 5 months down the road... Being 40 pounds heavier than you are now. What would you look like more muscular... Not feeling so skinny... Filling out your t-shirts... 5 months isn't that far away. So get to work!
The second thing you'll need to include in your weight gain plan is a diet to follow. You probably already figured you'll be eating more calories to gain weight. But how many calories? What should you eat to gain weight? I'm sure you're asking yourself these questions.
Well, to figure out how many calories to eat to gain weight, simply multiply your current bodyweight by 20. This will give you the number of calories you need to eat on a daily basis in order to gain weight and build muscle. So the formula would look like this:
(Bodyweight x 20) = # Daily Calories
Pretty simple right? Now remember this is just a starting point. You may need more calories and you may need less. That is where tracking comes in. But we'll get to that later. Just know that this is your starting point.
Now that you know how many calories you need to eat to gain healthy weight and muscle, you need to know what food to eat to gain weight.
You'll want to eat a certain ratio of carbs protein and fats. This is called a macronutrient ratio, but that's just a technical term. Generally, a good macronutrient ratio to gain weight and muscle is 30% protein, 40% carbs, and 30% fat.
So 30% of your calories would come from protein, 40% from carbohydrates, and 30% from fat. Lets talk about the specific food you'll want to eat. I'll list out some of the best food to gain weight...
Sources of carbohydrates to gain weight: RicePotatoesBananasWhole wheat pastaWhole wheat breadBeansOatmealSources of protein to gain weight: Lean beefChickenTurkeyCottage cheeseEggsWhey proteinFishSources of fat to gain weight: Flax seed oilAvocadosWalnutsPeanutsSalmonSoybeansNow that you have a list of foods to gain weight you can put together a solid weight gain diet.
One other important point about a muscle building diet is you'll want to increase your meal frequency. You'll want to eat 6 small meals a day instead of the regular 3 meals a day.
Eating 3 meals is okay if you're an average person who isn't trying to gain weight. But if you want your weight gain plan to work you need to eat MORE and eat MORE OFTEN.
This will ensure that your body always has enough nutrients to build new muscle tissue and make sure your body isn't breaking down your precious muscle tissue to use for energy.
When you don't eat often enough your body can break down muscle tissue for energy. Imagine a school of piranhas eating away at your muscles every time your stomach growls. This is basically what's happening. Your body is feeding off itself. This is NOT productive to adding new muscle and gaining weight.
Your weight gain plan should include working out 3 days a week. Why 3 days a week? Because that's all you need to put on new muscle mass. Any more and it's overkill for you. You're not a pro bodybuilder on steroids so training more than this is actually counter productive.
This is a mistake most newbies make when going to the gym. They do 2 hour weight lifting marathons 5 days a week and wonder why they're not growing.
Your body grows while you rest... NOT when you're in the gym lifting weights. Lifting weights actually causes micro-tears in your muscle tissue which makes your muscles grow back larger and stronger when you rest. So taking days off to rest between workouts is essential.
keeping your workouts under 60 minutes is another important factor. After heavy intense exercise for 45 - 60 minutes your body releases cortisol which is a catabolic hormone that breaks down muscle tissue.
Your goal in the gym is to get in, lift heavy weights, and get out quick so you can have your post-workout meal and get nutrients in your body to repair your muscles and recover from your workout.
Your weight gain plan should require you to lift heavy weights in the gym. You should be using a weight that makes your muscles fail in 8 - 12 reps. So if you can take two 35 pound dumbbells and crank out 20 reps, the weight is too light and you need to bump it up to 50 lb. dumbbells and see how many reps you can do with that.
The best weight lifting exercises to gain weight are compound exercises. Things like... Bench press Pull-ups Military press Barbell squats Barbell dead-lifts DipsAnd don't think you need to perform 10 heavy sets of each. For the most part, 3-4 sets is plenty for each exercise.
Of course you won't perform each exercise on each workout session. If you do full body workouts you'll always be sore for your next workout and that will throw off your weight gain plan because you won't be able to train 3 days a week that way.
Sometimes you could be sore for up to 3-4 days after your workout when you're lifting heavy weights like this. So you'll want to split up your weight training routine into different body parts.
For instance your weight lifting split might look like this: Monday: Chest, triceps, shoulders Wednesday: Legs Friday: Arms, back, bicepsWhen you split up your workouts like this you can be sure you aren't training the same muscle group more than once per week. This allows your muscles to repair and grow for your next workout. The last part of your weight gain plan is tracking your progress. You need to track a few things on a weekly basis to make sure you're getting the results you're looking for. This way you can tweak things if you need to.
The 3 things you need to track are: Body fat: You can track your body fat from week to week using a set of calipers you can pick up for 5 bucks on Amazon.com. All you do is use it to pinch your fat and take down measurements. You can follow a formula like the Jackson/Pollock 3 point method to calculate your body fat percentage. This way you can make sure you're not gaining more fat than muscle. Body weight: Of course this is what you're probably most concerned about. This means simply stepping on a scale once a week and checking your weight. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning on an empty stomach to get your true weight. Don't fool yourself by weighing yourself at 5:30 at night after you've had a big dinner. Your weight could fluctuate by 5 o 8 pounds during the day and you'll never get an accurate reading that way. Weigh yourself only once a week. Again your weight could fluctuate from day-to-day so you'll want to make sure you don't overanalyze everything by being too obsessive about this. Pictures: Take before and after pictures so you can really see your results down the road. It may be hard to tell from day to day how effective your weight gain plan is but once you compare those pictures after just a month you'll see a difference.This mini-guide should give you a good jump-start to putting together a good weight gain plan that has you packing on the pounds. Remember not to leave out any of the steps mentioned. You need each piece of the puzzle to gain weight and build muscle as fast as possible.
If you're serious about gaining weight and building muscle and you want to do it in the fastest way possible, you should consider checking out the Weight Gain Blueprint program here: www.WeightGainBlueprint.com.
It reveals the exact methods I used to pack on 38 pounds of muscle in just 19 weeks. You can have a look at it here.
Home » Weight Gain Supplements By Jeff Masterson | Comments
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Do you really need weight gain supplements to gain muscle? Perhaps one of the most confusing places to be in the entire world is the weight training supplement aisle in your local health food store. Well, I said aisle, but the fact is, there are supplements all over the place that are supposed to do this and do that, how can you even choose? Let's start out by making one thing clear: weight gain supplements are designed to make supplement companies money, not just build muscle. Remember, the supplement industry is a business after all.
Now, I am not saying some weight gain supplements don't work, but many of them are more hype than help. They are loaded with calories, and vitamins, and amino acids, and blends called “supermusclemaxiumformula5” and other “stuff” that is highly suspect at best. Many people who are looking to add muscle start with picking supplements FIRST, and this is a huge mistake...
The word supplement means IN ADDITION TO, and that thing they are supposed to be added to is a complete diet. If your diet is no good in the first place, popping some pills or powders probably won't make the difference. You need to first focus on eating a well-rounded muscle building diet that includes all the vitamins and minerals you need from a variety of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Once you have gotten down the basics of eating a well-rounded weight gain diet, then you can look at possibly adding a supplement or two to help speed up the process of building muscle.
One of the first things to look at when choosing a weight gain supplement is a high quality protein powder. These powders, scooped into water or milk, can help you get the nutrients you need to replace a meal or simply add quality protein and vitamins to your existing diet. Building muscle requires ingesting a significant amount of additional protein and these powders can help you get the amount you need.
Another weight training supplement that has shown promise is creatine. Creatine is a substance that is naturally found in red meat and when taken in concentrated form such as in creatine powder, it can help the body increase the production of Adenosine Tri-Phosphate or ATP. ATP is basically the energy source for your muscles and increasing it can help your muscles work out longer before they fatigue. This can mean working out longer which in turn will build additional muscle.
Glutamine is another weight training supplement that seems to be effective. This substance actually helps speed up the repair process your muscles go through after an intense workout. The sooner your muscles repair themselves, the sooner you can workout again and therefore speed up the time it takes to build significant muscle. Glutamine also helps prevent muscle catabolism so you can hang on to more of that hard-earned muscle. It's great to take at night before bed and after your workouts.
The bottom line is, you should always start with a high quality diet before even thinking about adding weight gain supplements of any kind. Supplements cost money and without a high quality diet, they will be virtually worthless. But, used in conjunction with a healthy diet, weight gain supplements such as the ones listed above can be extremely effective in helping you achieve your muscle building and weight gain goals.
If you're serious about gaining weight and you want to do it as fast as possible, then take a look at the Weight Gain Blueprint program.
This is a complete 26-week muscle-building program designed specifically for hardgainers who have trouble gaining muscle weight. If you follow this program you WILL gain muscle... period.
Whey protein is a milk protein that is the liquid by-product of cheese production. In supplement form, whey protein comes in three main forms:
1. Whey Protein Concentrate: Contains some fat and lactose and between 29% - 89% protein depending on the specific product. Whey protein concentrates often have more bioactive compounds.
2. Whey Protein Isolates: Contains minimal fat, cholesterol and lactose and 90% or more protein.
3. Whey Protein Hydrolysates: Are often used in clinical nutrition applications because they are predigested and partially broken and therefore easier to absorb.
Whey protein has the highest protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAA) - a measure of both how well a protein is digested and how well it supplies the amino acids needed by an adult. In addition, it is a complete protein meaning it contains all essential amino acids. Whey also contains more branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) than any other source of protein and more leucine than other types of protein.
Several studies indicate that whey protein is beneficial for increasing muscle protein synthesis. Consume whey pre- or post-training and you'll tip the scale in favor of muscle growth and strength gains over time. But, there are a number of other benefits associated with whey protein.
How Bodybuilding Supplement Whey Protein Can Help You Shed Body Fat:
Add whey and drop weight? It sounds too good to be true but it may work.
* Whey Protein Is Rich in Leucine: Leucine plays a key role in protein synthesis, a process that burns through quite a few calories. In addition, it stimulates fatty acid oxidation.
* Whey Satiates Your Appetite: Studies show that whey may satiate your appetite better than some other types of protein. Milk proteins contain glycomacropeptide - a peptide that stimulates the cholecystokinin (CCK). CCK is an intestinal hormone that is released after eating a meal and it signals satiety.
* Studies Show Supplemental Whey Helps People Drop Body Fat: There are at least two studies where scientists examined whey protein supplementation and weight loss. In one study at the University of Oklahoma, scientists told both groups of participants not to change their diet. However, one group was given a nutrition supplement containing whey (300 calories, 40 grams of protein) once per day for two weeks and twice a day for the remaining eight weeks of the study. Both groups engaged in a supervised resistance and endurance-training program for 10 weeks.
After the 10-week study, both groups decreased fat mass but the exercise + food supplement group showed a significantly greater decrease in fat mass (-9.3% versus -4.6% in the exercise-only group). The supplemented group also showed significant gains from pre- to post-test in muscle mass and significant decreases in total and LDL cholesterol.
A 2006 study found that adding 60 grams of whey protein per day, in comparison to 60 grams of soy protein or 60 grams of carbohydrate, led to significant decreases in body fat and weight after 6 months.
Adding Whey Protein Led To Significant Decreases In Body Fat Compared To Soy Protein And Carbohydrate. Adding Whey Protein Led To Significant Decreases In Body Fat Compared To Soy Protein And Carbohydrate.
Additional Tips To Help Shed Body Fat:
* Use a food journal and write down everything you eat. Studies show that people who log their food intake every day are more likely to lose weight than those who do not.
* Seek the advice of a sports nutrition expert who has the education (a degree in nutrition or nutrition biochemistry) and experience in nutrition to help you.
* If you are having problems losing weight yet you feel you are doing everything right, talk to your physician. Low levels of certain hormones, hypothyroidism and other conditions can make weight loss more difficult. Additional studies have been done on animals regarding cancer-causing chemicals to see what effects whey protein concentrate would have on cancer prevention or treatment. Scientists fed rats various proteins and then subjected them to the powerful carcinogen dimethylhydrazine.
As with the previous research, the rats fed whey protein concentrate showed fewer tumors and a reduced pooled area of tumors (tumor mass index). The researchers found whey protein offered "considerable protection to the host" over that of other proteins, including soy. 1
Even more exciting, in vivo research on cancer and whey showed whey protein concentrate inhibited the growth of breast cancer cells at low concentrations (Baruchel S. and Vaiu G., Anti Cancer Research, 1996). Finally, and most importantly, a fairly recent clinical study with cancer patients showed a regression in some patient's tumors when fed whey protein concentrate at 30 grams per day. 2
Whey and Glutathione
This new research using whey protein concentrate led researchers to an amazing discovery regarding the relationship between cancerous cells, glutathione (GSH) and whey protein concentrate. It was found that whey protein concentrate selectively depletes cancer cells of their glutathione, thus making them more susceptible to cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy.
It has been found that cancer cells and normal cells will respond differently to nutrients and drugs that affect glutathione status. What is most interesting to note is the fact that the concentration of glutathione in tumor cells is higher than that of the normal cells that surround it. This difference in glutathione status between normal cells and cancer cells is believed to be an important factor in cancer cells' resistance to chemotherapy.
As the researchers put it, "Tumor cell GSH concentration may be among the determinants of the cytotoxicity [poisonous to cells] of many chemotherapeutic agents and of radiation, and an increase in GSH concentration appears to be at least one of the mechanisms of acquired drug resistance to chemotherapy."
They further state, "It is well-known that rapid GSH synthesis in tumor cells is associated with high rates of cellular proliferation. Depletion of tumor GSH in vivo decreases the rate of cellular proliferation and inhibits cancer growth."
The problem is, it's difficult to reduce glutathione sufficiently in tumor cells without placing healthy tissue at risk and putting the cancer patient in a worse condition. What is needed is a compound that can selectively deplete the cancer cells of their glutathione, while increasing, or at least maintaining, the levels of glutathione in healthy cells.
This is exactly what whey protein appears to do. In this new research it was found that cancer cells subjected to whey proteins were depleted of their glutathione, and their growth was inhibited, while normal cells had an increase in GSH and increased cellular growth.
These effects were not seen with other proteins. Not surprisingly, the researchers concluded, "Selective depletion of tumor GSH may in fact render cancer cells more vulnerable to the action of chemotherapy and eventually protect normal tissue against the deleterious effects of chemotherapy." The exact mechanism by which whey protein achieves this is not fully understood, but it appears that it interferes with the normal feedback mechanism and regulation of glutathione in cancer cells.
It is known that glutathione production is negatively inhibited by its own synthesis. Being that baseline glutathione levels in cancer cells are higher than that of normal cells, it is probably easier to reach the level of negative-feedback inhibition in the cancer cells' glutathione levels than in the normal cells' glutathione levels.
Whey and LDL Cholesterol
The positive health benefits of whey protein concentrate does not end with its effects on immunity and cancer prevention and treatment. Whey protein concentrate also was found to be a potent inhibitor of oxidized low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Current research suggests that the conversion of LDL to oxidized LDL is the trigger that leads to atherogenesis... the formation of the plaque and lesions associated with atherosclerosis.
Therefore, any substance that prevents the oxidation of LDL is thought to be anti-atherogenic. Though animal-based proteins have traditionally been implicated as being pro-atherogenic, whey proteins appear to be an exception to the rule. whey protein is made up of several minor and major fractions, such as beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, albumin, lactoferrin and immunoglobulin. It was discovered that the minor constituent responsible for the ability of whey protein concentrate to prevent the oxidation of LDL appears to be the lactoferrin fraction of the protein. 3
Lactoferrin In Whey
When the lactoferrin was removed from the protein, the ability of the whey-protein concentrate to prevent LDL oxidation was greatly reduced, leading the researchers to speculate, "Our results suggest that LF (lactoferrin) is the main factor responsible for the inhibitory effect of whey protein (on LDL) and it may function synergistically together with other factors in the whey protein, for example, alpha-lactalbumin."
Another study using rats examined the effects of whey protein concentrate and casein on cholesterol and the risk factors of heart disease. Though casein (another milk-based protein commonly used in research) is known to raise cholesterol in humans and animals, whey protein has the opposite effect, leading the researchers to note, "At the high dietary protein level [300 gram per kilogram of feed] , whey protein significantly lowered plasma and liver cholesterol and also plasma triacylglycerols." 4
The cholesterol-lowering effects of whey protein concentrate in this study also was associated with a reduction in LDL cholesterol. Most interesting was the fact that this effect on cholesterol was not seen when the animals were fed amino acid mixtures that simulated whey protein, so it is clear that there are properties within the whey that have these effects beyond that of its amino acid profile.
Whey and Bone Growth
Finally, whey protein appears to play a direct role in bone growth. Researchers found that rats fed whey protein concentrate showed increased bone strength and bone protein such as collagen. This discovery led researches to test whether or not whey protein directly stimulated osteoblast (bone cell) growth in vitro.
Whey protein was found to stimulate, dose dependently, total protein synthesis, DNA content, and increased hydroxyproline contents of bone cells. 5
It should be noted that not all whey protein concentrates are created equal. Processing whey protein to remove the lactose and fats without losing its biological activity takes special care by the manufacturer. The protein must be processed under low temperature and low acid conditions so as not to "denature" the protein. Maintaining the natural state of the protein is essential to its biological activity.
These research findings, combined with the previous decade of study on whey protein, should convince anyone that whey protein concentrate is truly the life-extension protein.
Higher Glutathione Levels and Whey
A decade-and-a-half of findings on the benefits of whey protein are far-reaching.
Previous Studies Include The Following:
* Whey protein concentrate dramatically raises glutathione levels. Glutathione is an essential water-soluble antioxidant in the body that protects cells and serves as a primary detoxifier of harmful compounds such as peroxides, heavy metals, carcinogens and other toxins.
* Glutathione also is intimately tied to immunity, and reduced glutathione levels have been associated with disease such as AIDS, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, to name only a few. In fact, glutathione levels appear to be one way of modulating immunity. 6
* Whey protein concentrate was found to consistently raise this extremely important immune stimulating antioxidant beyond that of any protein studied (including soy) to higher than normal levels in multiple animal studies. 7
A small pilot study with HIV-positive men who were fed whey protein concentrate found dramatic increases in glutathione levels of all the study participants, with two out of three men reaching their ideal body weight. 8
In fact, there have been several U.S. and international patents granted for the treatment of AIDS and improving immunity with whey protein concentrates.
* Whey protein improves immune function and fights infections. Animals fed whey protein concentrate consistently showed dramatic enhancement of both the humoral and cellular immune response to a variety of immune challenges, such as salmonella, streptococcus pneumonia 9 and extreme cancer-causing chemicals. This effect on immunity was not seen with other proteins.
* Whey protein concentrate fights cancer. Animals fed whey protein.
Weight training increases lean body mass via several factors. One being microscopic tears in muscle fibers. Once we consume the ideal post workout meal (containing carbohydrates and protein) insulin levels rises. Once this hormone is elevated it's extremely effective at shuttling nutrients into cells, in this case nutrients will be shuttled off to repair the microscopic tears. This results in enlarging of the muscle (hypertrophy) and strengthening the fibers in order to prevent this tears from reoccurring.
Since whey protein has a fast absorption rate and a high biological value. It makes perfect sense to use whey protein post workout. Its' high amino acid content, makes it an ideal supplement to increase protein synthesis and aid in hypertrophy.Whey protein is a relatively safe supplement but no more than 30 grams of protein should be taken at one sitting as excessive single doses could overload the liver. The safety of whey protein has been well documented in many scientific studies and there is clear proof that taken consistently, coupled with regular exercise, it will result in meaningful muscle gain.
Home » Weight Gain Programs » Building Muscle In Your Sleep (Importance Of Proper Rest) By Sean Nalewanyj | Comments
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The benefits of a proper sleep for building muscle, burning fat, and gaining strength...
It doesn't sound super exciting at first, but I promise, after you understand why sleep and rest is a key component to your muscle building and weight gain program you'll be glad you know.
If you want to experience the most explosive muscle gains in the shortest time possible, then a good nights sleep really is an important factor. What makes sleep so important? Well, lets look at what happens when you don't get a good nights sleep each night.
One of the biggest problems with sleep deprivation is the effect it will have on your mental state. Studies show that even a single night of insufficient rest will have a negative effect on your mental sharpness and on your willingness to perform difficult tasks.
Putting fourth a good hard effort every time you enter the gym is very important when it comes to transforming your body so you must remain mentally sharp at all times.
Your bottom line muscle gains are ultimately determined by the small steady increases you're able to make in all of your major exercises from week to week and keeping your strength at top level is critical to achieving this as quickly as possible. As you probably already know, your muscles don't grow in the gym... They grow while you're out of the gym resting and eating. The time you spend sleeping is one of the critical periods where the repair of damaged muscle tissue takes place. If you deprive your body of sleep, you'll deprive the recovery process as well. Depriving your body of sleep actually has a negative impact on some of the most important muscle building hormones circulating through your body. Specifically, testosterone, growth hormone, and cortisol. Simply put, sleep deprivation has a negative impact on every single one of them.
It will lower testosterone levels which is going to decrease muscle growth. It will decrease growth hormone levels which is going to decrease fat loss. And it's going to increase cortisol levels which will increase fat storage and encourage muscle breakdown.
So how much sleep is enough to maximize your results? You should aim to get at least 8 hours of high-quality sleep each night. And if you need more sleep then by all means, take it!
Body Building is the ways to sculpt or modify your body by transforming the fats in your body into large muscles. Building muscle is achieved through comprehensive muscle hypertrophy, or the scientific term that means the boost of muscle cells. There are a lot of ways to build your muscles; probably one of the most common and effective forms of body building is weight training. Weight training is one of the ways to improve the size and strength of the skeletal muscles by using assorted kinds of gym equipments such as barbells, weight machines, and dumbbells among others. Some of the popular body builders are Arnold Schwarzenegger(my fav), Jay Cutler(2nd on my list), Ronnie Coleman(8 times winner) etc. On left-Jay Cutler-he proved that if you work hard enough, and put enough laboratory-enhanced substances into your system, you too could own a limb that's freakishly bigger than your head.
Eugen Sandow - The father of modern bodybuilding, was the first who displayed his physique to a large number of audience. In those days bodies were displayed to communicate their strength. The audience response was so great that there was a musical film made inspired by Eugen Sandow. Whose role was played y Nat Pendleton. The New York City - Madison Square Garden witnessed large scale bodybuilding competition on 16 Jan 1904. Al Treloar was declared the winner and was given $1000 as the cash prize. Two weeks later, a film was made on him by Thomas Edison. World Bodybuilding Federation, in 1990 was created by Vince McMahon. Many of the IIFB stars were employed, but the venture never made it large. Due to the less money generated by it, McMahon was forced to put an end to it after two years, in 1992. The reason for their failure was also that due to the less number of people, repeated competitions took place, and soon interest was lost. Most of the times, it was won by Gary Strydom. The IIFB in the early 2000's tried to make bodybuilding an Olympic sport. However it did not succeed as bodybuilding is not considered as a sport by some.
Left-Ronnie Coleman-8 times Mr. Olympia-known for his upper back and very developed pectorals-uses BSN supplements.
A person who has qualified in bodybuilding competitions and has earned a pro- card from IIFB. Professional bodybuilders stand a chance to compete at high level competitions such as Arnold Classic and New York Pro. Winner of these also the other good bodybuilders get a chance to compete for Mr. Olympia which is the highest title to be won in the entire field of bodybuilding. Natural bodybuilding is another form of bodybuilding where the participants are regularly tested for the use of any illegal substances. It is mostly done by urine testing. Natural bodybuilding organizations banned the use of Anabolic steroids, Prohormone etc which is largely used by the professional bodybuilders. NANBF and NPA are a part of Natural bodybuilding organization. Female Bodybuilding- the first true female bodybuilding competition was held in Ohio, in the year 1978. Basis of judgment was their muscularity. In 1980 the winner of the first Miss Olympia was Rachel McLish. This inspired many women and also a movie, in the year 1985 called Pumping Iron II. Most body builders don't participate in any contest, common people just build around a good physique to have good confidence which is a very positive aspect and in fact the vast majority of bodybuilders also never compete, but body build for their own personal reasons. Body building nowadays have become a common trend for either show business, personal reasons, gain confidence, attract opposite sex or etc. So for better confidence having a better body is always a win-win situation. What would be your reason?
Most of you know he is a US actor. I admire him a lot for his body and looks. The face is God Gifted but the body build up is on his own. Known to have one of the most sought after bodies of all time. Matthew McConaughey was named People magazine's “Sexiest Man Alive” for 2005. While in high school, he was voted most handsome in the Longview Lobo Yearbook. While most stars spend hours training when it comes time to getting in shape for the movies, since you are not under a deadline, you can create a similar body type by using sound workout principles and maintaining motivation to stick with it.
Develop A Good Muscular Base: While Matthew is not overly huge, he does still have a good amount of muscle tissue on his frame. Therefore, the first step you need to take if you hope to develop a body that resembles him is developing this muscle mass so when you get to tweaking how it looks, the basic shape is there. For most individuals, the best way to accomplish this is going to be through heavy lifting on a three or four day split. Don't make the mistake that too many people make, going into the gym for an 'arms' day, a 'chest' day, a 'back' day, and so on. Rather, group your muscles together and work them simultaneously in each workout. Studies have demonstrated that muscle tissues tends to respond the best in terms of growth when it's worked at a higher frequency, but in order to accomplish this, you'll have to be using this grouping principle.
This said then, aim for a full body workout three times a week or an upper/lower split, where you work the upper body on two days of the week and the lower on the other two (being sure to allow a day for rest in between similar body parts).
Additionally, as much as possible you should be incorporating in the exercises of bench press, bent over row, squats, deadlifts, and military presses.
These are the most compound exercises that will stimulate the greatest number of muscle fibers at once. Depending on where you are with your current training, this stage could take anywhere from six months to three years since developing a good amount of muscle is a timely process.
Also be sure you are eating more food during this phase so that your body has the nutrition to manufacture new muscle tissue. If you notice yourself putting on body fat too rapidly during this process, then simply cut back on food slightly or consider adding a small amount of cardio training to your program. Dialing In: The second stage of the training to achieve this type of body then is going to be dialing in on the muscle mass that's already been built and leaning it down, while bringing out the definition. In order to lean down, this will be accomplished in two ways - a lower calorie diet and more cardio added into the workouts. Note though that the diet component is going to play a much larger role in achieving the results you're looking for than the cardio, so this is really what you need to put a large amount of focus on. Try and focus the vast majority of your carbohydrates right around your workout, then eat more lean protein and small amounts of fat throughout the rest of the day. Play around with your calorie intake until you're starting to see weight loss moving at the rate you'd like it to be. For most people, this happens at an intake somewhere around 10-13 x your bodyweight in pounds. Usually it's best to start at the higher value and then work your way downwards. When it comes to your cardio training, Matthew McCaughney is known for his desert runs, so if you want to do your best to simulate his training, you are in your best interest to take yourself away from the cardio machines. He claims to have what he's named the 'Burn Hill', which is essentially a steep hill he'll run up to get his heart rate up and muscles working. While this run isn't going to be a sprint, it's definitely not performed at a walking pace either. The great thing about taking your cardio outdoors is that it will put a better test to your agility abilities, helping to develop speed and quickness better than if you would have performed it on the treadmill. Next up, to maintain the muscle mass that you've developed in phase one of this, you're going to perform resistance training. While weight training is one way to go about doing this, Matthew McCaughney typically performs a lot of bodyweight exercises that are inserted right into his run.In this way not only is he increasing his metabolism, but also continually changing the workouts so the body never really knows what will be coming next. Consider also throwing in core and abdominal exercises, along with bodyweight squats so you can work the vast majority of the muscles in the body. Keep in mind though that while this will be good for when you're away from the gym, ideally it's still smart to maintain some form of intense weight lifting program to keep your muscle mass as strong as possible. While in the previous stage you really focused on those main core lifts, in this stage you can expand a little and work on any body parts that you feel are lagging a bit, by performing isolation exercises to bring out their size and definition. Do keep total rest in mind still though, as when on a reduced calorie diet, your recovery abilities are even further compromised. Conclusion So, if you're looking to achieve a muscular, yet streamlined body, this is the approach you want to take. Rather than focusing long-term on building up as much muscle mass as possible, you'll build up as much as you feel you need, then switch gears and accentuate the looks of that muscle by lowering your body fat and ensuring all your body parts are complimenting each other.
Home » Weight Gain Diets » Post-Workout Meal For Building Muscle Mass By John Blackwood, NSCA CPT | Comments
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In This Article: If the first step in packing on muscle mass is having a solid muscle building workout plan, the second step is putting together a smart post-workout meal. Don’t ever let yourself think that you’ve finished your job the minute you step foot out of the gym.
If the truth is told, you’re far from finished. At that very minute, you’ve just caused yourself to lose muscle. Yes, that’s right – lose muscle. Not making much sense?
Let me explain. Each time you step foot in the gym and lift heavy weights, you’re tearing your muscle tissues down. You’re exposing them to an overloading stress that they aren’t able to handle. As such, they tear and become broken.
So in order to build more muscle now, since getting stronger and larger, not weaker and smaller is your goal, you need to provide the second element in the equation – food.
Without food, your muscles stay in that broken down state and you will find you’re getting weaker over time.
So now that you hopefully realize the importance of the post workout meal, let’s look at what it must consist of in order for you to gain as much muscle as possible.
The very first thing that you’ll want to consider is the calorie and macronutrient make-up of that post workout meal. This refers to how much energy you’re supplying your body and what mix of nutrients.
This is going to vary slightly depending on your current body weight, how quickly you want to build muscle, how high your daily calorie intake is, and how long your workout session is.
The longer the workout, the faster you want to gain weight, and the higher your daily calorie requirement is, the more food you’ll want to consume.
For most guys who are training intensely, anywhere from 400-600 calories tends to work well. Keep in mind that about an hour after your post-workout meal, you’ll want to follow it with another solid meal to really consolidate the nutritional process during this post-workout period.
For the first post-workout meal, you want to aim for high protein, high carb selections. Avoid fat at all costs. Fat during this time is only going to slow the delivery of the nutrients into the muscle cells and is certainly not what you want.
On average you should be taking anywhere from 30-50 grams of protein and then the remainder should come from carbs. This will work out to around 50-100 grams depending on your total calorie requirement of that meal.
Looking at the food choices that should make up your post-workout meal, choose a fast digesting protein along with a fast digesting carb.
While the goal throughout the day is to keep blood sugar levels stable, immediately after your workout you actually want to spike your blood sugar levels up.
Why?
Simply because by doing so, you’ll create a high release of the hormone insulin, which will drive both the amino acids and glucose straight into the muscle cells. This is an ideal situation for muscle growth.
So smart food choices would include whey isolate protein powder, white fish, or egg whites for protein. Smart carb choices would include foods such as white bread, white bagels, sugary cereals, dextrose, or maltodextrin.
Some people often use fruit for their post-workout meal and while this will contain some simple sugars, it also contains fructose which won’t go into the muscle cells. So all in all it’s not most ideal. The best case scenario is 100% pure glucose since that is what will re-saturate muscle glycogen levels the fastest.
Most guys do find that using a protein/carb shake works slightly better for their post-workout meal as opposed to whole food sources, so they’ll choose to combine whey protein powder with a powdered form of carb such as dextrose, waxy maize, or maltodextrin. If you can’t get a hold of those, Gatorade powder will also work great.
Now we must talk about timing. Some guys do get very caught up in thinking that if they don’t consume their post-workout shake within 2 seconds of being out of the gym, they’re going to really hinder their results.
While timing is definitely important, there’s no need to take it to this extreme. Generally speaking, the sooner you can get that shake in the better. But, if you need to have a quick 5-minute shower first, that’s fine.
As long as you get your post-workout meal in within 15-30 minutes, you’ll be on top of the game. Don’t stress yourself out over this as that stress is likely to cause more harm than the delayed interval of the meal.
Finally, the last thing that you might want to think about when looking at your post-workout meal is additional supplements that you can add to take your muscle-building progress one step further.
It’s no secret that many guys will see slightly better muscle building results when certain supplements are added, so by making the most of this, you can accelerate your mass gains.
Two very smart supplements to add during the post-workout meal or shake is creatine and glutamine. These are both recovery-oriented supplements that will help prepare you for the next time you enter the gym.
Always remember that the main mission of that post workout meal is to speed up the recovery process so that you can get back into the gym again and train sooner.
Creatine will restore the higher energy precursor that will help fuel every single muscle contraction you perform and glutamine will ensure that your immune system is strong and ready to carry out the muscle tissue regeneration process.
Both of these can easily be added to your shake, or if you’re having solid food, you can just take these with some water or juice.
So there you have the in’s and out’s of a smart post-workout meal. If you want to see the best results from your training program, getting this in order will be vital to success.
Well thought-out weight training programs are extremely important to anyone wanting to gain weight and build lean muscle mass. You can't just go into the gym and start tossing around weights with no real plan and expect to see results. Yet this is what 85% of people do when they walk into a gym. No plan = No results.
Right now, I'm going to show you the fundamentals of putting together a solid weight lifting program that forces your body to increase your muscle size and strength. No more wasting hours in the gym with little to no results to show for it. So lets get down to business...
I want to start off by reminding you that although weight training programs are important to your success, it's only one piece of the puzzle. There are other factors that are equally important to gaining weight and muscle mass. Following a proper weight gain diet, and getting enough rest are the other 2 key components that will bring you results.
Most beginners make the mistake of putting all their time and focus into their weight training, but then they completely blow their diet and they don't rest properly. This simply leads to overtraining, and a lack of nutrients for your muscles to grow. It's a complete waste, so don't be "that guy." Here's what we'll cover in this section:
In order to fully understand what you're doing in the gym it's important to understand WHY your muscles grow.
When you lift heavy weights and train to failure (to the point where you can no longer complete another rep) you are actually creating micro-tears in your muscle fibers. In other words you are breaking down your muscle fibers and inflicting damage to them. This is the first step to bigger, larger muscles.
When you leave the gym and feed your body the nutrients it needs (through the correct weight gain diet) your body will begin to repair the damaged muscle fibers and build them back up bigger and stronger than before to protect itself against future damage. This is called muscle hypertrophy. A fancy way to say muscle growth.
There are 2 main types of weight training exercises you can do in the gym: Compound Exercises: These are exercises that use multi-joint movements. These movements are responsible for the majority of muscle and strength increases. Examples include squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc. Isolation Exercises: These are exercises that use single-joint movements. Examples include leg extensions, bicep curls, and dumbbell lateral raises.If you want to build the most muscle possible you need to stimulate as much muscle fiber as you possibly can. Therefore you need to focus on compound exercises.
For example, when you're doing a bench press, you're not only working your pecs (chest muscles) you're also working your deltoids, triceps, forearms, and lats. That's the power of using compound exercises.
The core mass-building exercises you'll want to focus on that will stimulate the most muscle growth all over your body are:
Notice that none of the exercises involve any fancy machines or involve any complicated movements. You don't need to be a professional bodybuilder to figure these out. (Although these are the main exercises professional bodybuilders use anyway to pack on so much muscle weight.)
Everything you do in the gym should revolve around this law of intensity and progression. First let me define these 2 phrases for you: Intensity: The amount of effort your muscles exert on each set of any given exercise Progression: Consistently increasing the amount of weight lifted or the number of reps performed on each exerciseYour primary goal when you walk into the gym is to go above and beyond your last workout. Simply put, you need to lift more weight or perform more reps than you did the week before. Otherwise you will not grow.
Is that straightforward enough? This is why it's important that you carry a workout log into the gym with you. You need to know how much weight you lifted the week before, and how many reps you did, so you know what your goal is this week. You'll know how many reps you need to do and how much weight you need to lift in order to grow.
I can always spot the novice in the gym. He's the one walking around from exercise to exercise throwing weights around and not writing anything down. Guess what he'll be doing next week? The exact same thing. Guess how much he'll weigh? The exact same. And he'll wonder why. It's because he's not progressively overloading his muscles from week to week. Every time he goes into the gym his muscles are laughing at him saying, "Haha, we just did this same thing last week. Looks like we don't need to grow."
Get my point?
There is a lot of debate over how many sets and reps will stimulate the maximum muscle growth. But I'll present you with the most widely accepted guidelines, and the number of sets and reps I personally use that have gotten me great results. Below are the guidelines to keep in mind:
As you can see, the most efficient range of reps to perform for muscle size is 7–12 reps. But that doesn't mean you should train solely in this rep range and ignore the others. The only rep range I completely ignore is the Endurance rep range of 13 plus. I could care less about endurance. What I care about is muscle size and strength.
As you already know, in order to build muscle you must consistently lift more weight or perform more reps than your last workout. We already discussed this when we talked about intensity and progression. The only way to do this is if you get stronger from week to week. Therefore, I personally train within the rep range of 2 – 10 in order to promote both strength and size gains.
This brings us to the next question... "How many sets should I do to build muscle?"
It will differ for each exercise depending on what muscle groups you are training. Your larger muscles may respond better to 4 sets while some of your smaller muscle groups like your biceps may only require 2 sets.
An example weight gain workout for bench press might look something like this:
Now we come to the easiest, yet the most overlooked and underestimated part of weight and muscle gain. Getting plenty of rest.
Remember, all you are doing when you're in the gym is breaking your muscles down. You're muscles grow when you are out of the gym eating and resting.
So it's important that you get at least 8 hours of quality sleep each night in order to allow your muscles time to repair and grow larger. If you find yourself getting 5 – 6 hours of sleep a night like most people, you need to kick that habit.
I was one of those people. Personally, I'm a "night person" and I find that's when I have the most energy for some reason. So I find it helpful if I get into bed and start reading something for a half hour before I need to get to sleep. I'm usually passed out within 15 minutes.
Sleep deprivation has a negative effect on 4 of the most powerful hormones which play a key role in building muscle. Testosterone, cortisol, growth hormone, and insulin.
We don't have room to go into detail about all these hormones here, but just know that you're really setting yourself back if you're not getting enough rest.
When it comes to your weight training program, less is more. Each muscle group should be trained only once per week. This is to allow for the important recovery and growth period we just talked about.
Training 6 days per week may sound like a good idea because you're really "blasting your muscles" right? WRONG. You're breaking them down and not allowing them to recover. This is called overtraining.
In my opinion, (and many other experts) the optimal weight training frequency is 3 times per week. A 3-day training split will allow you to train certain muscle groups on the same day then give them a full week to recover.
Here is a good 3 day training split that I use to make sure I'm only hitting each muscle group once per week: Day 1: Back, biceps Day 2: Chest, shoulders, triceps Day 3: LegsKeep all these principals in mind when you're putting together your own weight training program. Know what your goal is when you get into the gym. To break down your muscles. Get in and out as quick as you can so you can get home to eat and rest. Follow these guidelines and you'll walk back into the gym next week bigger and stronger than ever before.
If you're serious about gaining weight and building muscle mass you should take a look at the weight training program I used to pack on 38 pounds of muscle in just 19 weeks: Weight Training Program For Skinny Guys. All Weight Training Program Articles:
What if you could acquire a muscle building supplement that provided some of the same benefit as anabolic steroids but was cheaper, safer, AND legal? Well, for quite a few years, you COULD. 
Designing a weight gain plan to build muscle is easy when you've got all the pieces to the puzzle. The problem is, most people don't know what all those pieces are. So today we'll talk about how to put together a solid weight gain plan that will have you gaining about 2 pounds a week or more.