Muscle Building.

I get asked a lot about how to build muscle in a short period of time. "How much size can I put on in a month?", "I want to put on a Stone before my holiday's" "What's the best way to get big fast?", If I do this and this type of exercise can I put on mass quick?"

It isn't easy to answer these questions and quieries because there are so many factors involved in muscle growth, regeneration, and training. "It depends" I always say...and it does. Truly gaining size is not as easy as just do this exercise and eat this amount of food. However, saying that I do believe there are things you can do that can help your chances of gaining size quickly. I always look at what skinny/weak/small people ARE NOT doing to gain muscle and keep a log of it. I'm going to outline a few things I have observed in my years as a trainer and put them in as points that Skinny/weak/small guys should add to their training and nutrition to help them along the road to getting some respectable gains in a small time frame.

1) Not enough clean water intake. Aim for 1.5-2.0 litres a day.
2) Inadequate Protein intake. Get on Fitday.com and open a free account/nutrition log there. Monitor your Protein intake and aim for 1gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.
3) No essential oils. Get udo's or cod liver with EPA and take the recommended dosage every day.
4) Not enough sleep. Get 8-9 hours a night consistently.
5) Not enough overall calories. Get on fitday again and keep track. Whatever you're eating add 500 cals to it a day.
6) Awful routines of isolation exercises and crunches. Do the below routine for a month, it's simple and better.

Monday: 1) Front Squat 10-3 reps 80-85% 1RM 2) Bench press the same
Tuesday: 1) Pullups 6x5 Bodyweight or 10-3 reps if you're weak 2) Barbell pullovers 6x5 75-80% 1RM. If you can't do pullups you should be ashamed..get a bungee cord to use as assistance over the chin/dip handles to help.
Thursday: 1) Back Squat 10-3 reps 80-85% 1RM 2) Military press 10-3 reps 80-85% 1RM
Friday: Mobility work (Z-Health or super joints) massage, relaxation and stretch. Foam roller.

7) No recovery drink after training. Buy them and use them or get a tub of protein and some maltodextrin or a carb drink and make them up yourself.
8) No commitment. It's no good training consistently for 4 or 5 days and then taking a week off or only dropping into the gym for some lat pulldowns and tricep kickbacks twice a week thereafter. You got to do the work in the timeframe and eat the right foods and get the rest and recovery in place. Then, maybe, ...You'll put on a bit of mass in time for the holiday.

Scott

Started using ZMA yesterday...

and i've just had almost 10.5 hours sleep!

It has been reported in some circles that between 30-50% 0f american men are deficient in Magnesium. A study done on 250 NFL players reported that 70% of them were depleted/deficient in both Zinc and Magnesium, there are many other studies too that have been published. It is a combination of two minerals (Zinc and Magnesium) and vitamin B6.

ZMA is designed to support the production and increase the amount of natural anabolic hormones produced. It has an effect on free testosterone and IGF 1 according to the studies done and I will be taking it now for the next 8 weeks. I certainly slept well last night and should I notice any other physical changes and strength increases I will report them right here.

Scottie

Interesting from Dr Greg Ellis

Below are 9 points proposed by Dr Ellis as an overview to his Anti Aging strategy. He is a controversial character but they are worth reading and thinking about. I agree with some of the points.

1) Exercise, including both weight training and aerobics
2) An absolute reduction in calorie intake, but not to the degree that’s recommended by current-day CR proponents
3)A “relative calorie” reduction, arising from a large output of energy, but not “eating-up” in order to meet the increased energy demand
4)A diet composition that’s low in carbohydrates; high in animal products; but very limited in sugars, grains, fruits, and vegetables
5)The use of homeopathic remedies
6)The daily consumption of several glasses of alcohol (wine preferably)
7)Mind treatments using visualization and affirmations
8)The avoidance of modern medical doctors, except for emergencies
9)No use of prescription drugs or over-the-counter medications (my last prescription drug was taken when I was 22, 34 years ago), and no use of non-prescription medications (I have no idea when I took my last dose of these, but it was probably before the last prescription drug, above).