How To Bulk Up and Get Ripped

by Bill Davis

Building muscle fast (bulking up) requires really heavy lifting, but it also requires smart work-outs and meal plans. We'll go over each of these in the following paragraphs.

A muscle grows only when it has to. Muscles grow as a consequence of overloading them and then allowing them sufficient rest and providing them sufficient nutrition so that they can adapt to the stresses put on them. As a practical matter, this means that you should exercise each muscle group a maximum of twice per week.

When you really stress a muscle, you may even want to work out once per week.

Muscles need a lot of time to recover after High Intensity Training (HIT) of this nature.

Here's the work-out routine:

Day 1 * Squats, 4-5 sets, 10-12 reps. Slow and deliberate. Full squats. * Hamstring curls, 3 sets, 15 reps. * Calf presses, 3 sets, 20 reps. * Tricep extensions, 3 sets, 10 reps. * Barbell curls, 3 sets, 10 reps. That's it for Day 1. Day 2 is rest. Day 3 * Bench press, 4-5 sets, 6-10 reps. No bouncing (EVER). * Bent Rows, 4-5 sets, 6-10 reps. Feel the weight. Round the shoulders at the bottom, really squeeze the shoulder blades together at the top. * Shoulder press, 3 sets, 10 reps. Day 4 is rest. Day 5 * Repeat Day 1. You can substitute stiff-legged deadlifts for the hamstring curls and you can do variations on the arm exercises. Days 6 & 7 are for rest. Day 8 (Day 1 of the following week) * Repeat Day 3. You can substitute Lat pull-downs for the Bent Rows. Day 9 is for rest. Day 10 * Repeat Day 1. And so on. This routine is merely alternating “Arm and Leg day” with “Torso day,” with each getting in at least one work-out per week.

This program gives you the opportunity to really blast your torso in the first week, since you're only training it one day for the entire week. You can also train really heavy on your squats, which is the most important exercise you can do.

In fact, if you only did one exercise at all, it should be the squat. Squats stimulate not only the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, but they also stimulate muscle growth throughout the body. There are so many stabilizing muscles that are directly stressed by squats that you'd be hard-pressed to find a better overall exercise.

Additionally, it's been shown that heavy squats actually trigger a muscle-building response in the body. In short, you'll gain muscle all over simply by doing heavy squats. That's the exercise program. Each of these routines should take no more than 30-45 minutes to complete. Now, onto the nutrition program.

Vince Gironda, the “Iron Guru,” held the belief that bodybuilding was 85 percent nutrition. I won't go that far.

But I will say that training without good nutrition is pointless, just as good nutrition with no training is useless! You CAN, however, trigger an anabolic response with proper nutrition.

The key is keeping a positive nitrogen balance in the bloodstream. This means that you have to eat high-protein, low carb meals every 2-3 hours. DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE FAT.

You'll also need to take in a LOT of supplements. There are a whole host of supplements that you need to take to effect this anabolic response. Remember, your muscles only grow if they have to. You can help this along by supplying them with the nutrients they need.

Here's the program: Breakfast * Mix up 4-6 eggs * 8 oz half and half * 8 oz whole milk * 8 oz steak or other beef Snack * Mix up 4-6 eggs * 8 oz half and half * 8 oz whole milk * MetRx packet Lunch * 1 pound hamburger * Mixed green salad or raw veggies * 4 oz cheese Snack * Mix up 4-6 eggs * 8 oz half and half * 8 oz whole milk * MetRx packet Dinner * 1 pound steak or roast * Steamed veggies * 4 oz cheese Snack * Mix up 4-6 eggs * 8 oz half and half * 8 oz whole milk * MetRx packet Supplementation (with every meal and snack) * 10 dessicated liver tablets * 5 yeast tablets * 4 raw orchic-tissue tablets * 6 amino acid tablets (ariginine and ornithine)

As you can see, this is a super-high protein, low carb meal plan with a LOT of supplementation! All of this is geared toward putting your metabolism in an anabolic (muscle-building) state. You should follow the exercise and meal plans laid out above for no more than 4-6 weeks. You can see gains in as little as 2 weeks on this program!

Generally speaking, once you gain 2-5 pounds of muscle, you'll want to go on a less extreme diet plan and change up your exercise plan to do a few more sets per body part, with more reps per set. Why? Your body adapts to each type of stress you put upon it. Constantly changing things up “confuses” your body and, because it always seeks to adapt to the stress, continuously grows. Also, by switching up the exercise regimen, you'll be promoting different aspects of muscle growth (Muscles grow in various ways: The parts of the cells grow in number and in size, both require different training stresses).

In summary, then, you will constantly cycle through this extreme training and diet plan, you'll move off it after several weeks, then you'll go to higher volume but less intense work-outs for several months and a more traditional (“balanced”) diet, then you'll return to this muscle-building phase. It's a cyclical, or phased, approach. I call it the “Stair Step Method.” Here's to your bodybuilding success!

Bill Davis has been building muscle through bodybuilding since he was 12 years old. He has used his body as a lab, testing all sorts of muscle-building principles, and openly shares his methods at Muscle-Build.com. Mr Davis can be reached at billspaced@muscle-build.com. Originally published on SearchWarp.com for Bill Davis Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Article Source: How To Bulk Up and Get Ripped

Easy-To-Make Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Shake

I'm always on the lookout for great-tasting pre- and post-workout shakes, as well as meal replacement drinks. I'm always on the go so often have to drink my meal 🙂

Here's a great-tasting and simple-to-make meal replacement (think BREAKFAST) –

½ a ripe banana (use a very ripe banana for the best banana flavor),
1 tablespoon natural peanut butter,
¾ c. skim milk,
½ scoop Prograde Lean Chocolate Meal Replacement.

Blend.

Enjoy!

Calories:  304
Fat (grams): 9 grams
Protein (grams): 19 grams
Carbs (grams): 37 grams
Fiber (grams): 5 grams

If you want more protein and chocolate flavor then use a full scoop of Prograde Lean Meal Replacement.  The 9 grams of fat comes from the all-natural peanut butter and consists primarily of healthy polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

How Creatine Works

We're all looking for the best and fastest ways to reach our fitness goals. In that search, we often come across supplements that offer a lot of promise.

However, the promise is almost never realized with many supplements. There is one supplement, though, that's been through the proverbial ringer and has come out smelling like a rose. What is that supplement?

Creatine

How Does Creatine Work?

There may be 2 possible ways in which creatine works. The first has to do with how our bodies produce the energy that muscle cells need in order to contract. Muscular contractions give us the ability to move things.

For anaerobic work, there are two mechanisms by which the muscle cells derive energy, but both come from adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. For very short bursts of energy, like that needed for a shot-put or single maximum lift, ATP sheds a phosphate molecule, which releases energy in the muscle cell. ATP is stored in muscle cells, and under all-out effort, all muscular ATP can be depleted in less than 2 seconds!

Creatine phosphate, which is also stored in the muscles, can replenish ATP by “donating” a phosphate molecule to depleted ATP, aka ADP (adenosine diphosphate). Once the ATP is replenished, it's able to go back to work again by releasing another phosphate molecule and a burst of energy.

This cycle, also called the ATP/CP Energy Pathway, is good for between 10 and 60 seconds of energy production, or within the time boundaries of a typical weightlifting set.

The idea behind creatine supplementation is that you can raise your creatine phosphate levels inside the muscle cells, thus giving muscles a more potent and long-lasting source of replenishing phosphate.

Now that the muscles have more potential energy, you can lift weights for more reps. This also equates to a moderate increase in strength.

The other way that creatine may work is in the following way:

• Creatine pulls water from the space surrounding a muscle cell into the interior of the cell, causing it to swell like a giant water balloon
• The increased water content inside the muscle cell places a great strain on the muscle cell membrane
• This strain sends a message to increase muscle protein synthesis, triggering it to build more muscle protein and grow larger

The jury is still out on this second method, but the first is the most researched and plausible method. In any event, you should try creatine. It works for most people, on the order of around 70 percent and you'll know within days of its effectiveness for you.

If you want to learn more about creatine, grab a copy of the Creatine Report, written by Will Brink, author of Bodybuilding Revealed.

Need To Put On Some Weight, Badly?

Here's how I answered the question on Yahoo! Answers:

Question:
Hey.. I'm a 5'11 approx 190lb guy.. I wanna pack on some weight really badly because I'm thin and approaching feminine looking. Problem is that I have a very fast metabolism and nothing I do seems to add weight. I even found a term for it. Hardgainer. So, how do I overcome this? I work a full time job and have school.. so I really don't have time to just pig out all day long. I'm single.. no gf to cook tons of meas for me.. I can cookfor myself, but I don't know what's best for gaining weight. I know to stay away from junk food.. I never touch fast food. Any suggestions for me? Oh, I've tried those weight gain shakes from the health stores.. spent a fortune on that stuff and never gained a pound. This is really frustrating because i wanna start working out hardcore, but without anything to build off of what's the point?

Answer:
Your last line tells me you don't understand how to build muscle. It's all about synergy – if you lift heavy but don't eat right, then you will gain nothing. Same if you eat a lot and don't work out (well, except with this “method” you will get fat and turn into “skinny fat guy” or “fat skinny guy”).

You need to approach gaining weight (i.e., building muscle) from 3 angles:

• Eat right
  
• Train right
  
• Recover right
  

Attitude is the glue that sticks it all together.

Eat 6 to 8 times a day, concentrating on protein-rich sources like eggs, beef, milk, fish, pork, and chicken. Also eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Don't forget water!

Weight gain powders don't work well. Some people make gains, but these are the exceptions. They would have gained even without the supplementation.

Try a meal replacement powder mixed with whole milk like MetRx. Don't replace a meal, though, add it in.

Train 3 times a week. Do “limbs” one workout and “torso” the next workout. Stick to compound movements like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, overhead presses and rows. 6 to 8 reps for 1-3 sets, starting at 1 set and building to 3. Try to add weight every workout.

Get plenty of sleep, at least 7 hours a night. Try for 8 or 9; you're better off. If you cannot get 8 or 9, take a nap in the middle of the day.

Keep a positive attitude. It makes all the difference. I know it's difficult to stay positive; I used to be 120 pounds and couldn't gain an ounce. Then I figured it all out and put on 60 pounds in less than a year. Success came from simply following the program above and by staying positive about it all.

Best of luck. I know you can do this!