1

Building Muscle and Drinking Soda?

andizzle asked: I am a pretty small 16 year old guy and I am really wanting to gain some weight and some muscle. I don’t have an exercise machine just a bench press. I have been working out with push ups and curls for awhile now and it doesn’t seem to be doing much good. I do drink a lot of soda and was wondering if it could be doing more damage than I think it is. I’m looking for some exercises that are really effective without a machine and was wondering if the soda i drink can be doing more damage than I think. Also what kinds of foods to eat and what to replace the soda with.

My answer: Read up, man! Go to the home page (Build Muscle, Lose Fat) and just start reading. There’s a wealth of information there.

And cut the soda – it’s nothing but empty calories. There is zero nutritional value in soda. And the high fructose corn syrup will kill you, your metabolism, your kidneys, and your gains. Plus, it will make you fat-skinny.

NOBODY wants that!

1

Building Muscle is the Name of the Bodybuilding Game

Or Is It?

Everybody knows that bodybuilding is all about building muscle, right? Getting ripped is only done so that spectators and fans alike can see the muscle beneath the skin.

There are a lot of ripped guys and gals in the world. Just look at so-called “fitness models.” They’re very lean and sport very muscular bodies.

However, they’re not bodybuilders. Nor do they want to be.

When I was growing up, guys like Franco, Arnold, and Louie dominated the bodybuilding scene. Building the biggest muscles possible is what they wanted to do and they did it. However, they built their massive size to go along with the other, more aesthetic appeal of bodybuilding, which was symmetry, balance, proportion, striations, and a relatively healthful appearance.

However, times have changed and today’s champions are truly comic book here HUGE. Guys like Cutler and Coleman are bigger than what most of the super heroes of my time could ever dream. If Arnold imagined his biceps to be mountains, then Coleman must imagine his arms as Mt Everest on HGH, steroids, and TNT.

I’m not knocking these guys (and gals). They are pursuing the near-impossible and succeeding. They are not trying to impress anyone but themselves. To take your body from “normal” to “para-normal” is a feat in and of itself. They are truly giants of the sport and deserve at least kudos for blazing a trail that most of us would never even try to undertake.

But I’m also not saying that I like the look. I don’t. I like the rugged look, where the bodybuilder not only looks strong and tough, but also athletic.

I don’t know for sure, but I doubt any of these guys could beat Franco Columbu in a WSM competition. But I could be wrong. I remember thinking – when I first saw him – that there was no way Tom Platz could touch his toes, but then I saw not only that but he could touch his elbows to the ground.

What a flexible specimen. And have you seen those legs? Out of this world, even by today’s standards.

Nope, when people talk about competitive bodybuilding, they’re talking extreme cases where the individuals involved are not typical human beings. These folks are into building muscle on an extreme basis. They don’t want to be better than the old-timers; they want to be HUGELY BIGGER than these guys and for the most part, they’ve been wildly successful.

I won’t get into the drug aspect of all of this. It’s hard for me to believe that any of the top professional bodybuilders in the world are drug-free. But I don’t know for sure. And I certainly blew it when making predictions about flexibility and tremendously huge thighs!

No, I won’t travel that path again! Undoubtedly some do, some don’t. I have no idea who’s who though. I do know this:

Building muscle is what bodybuilding is all about. Always has been. Always will.

If you want to learn more about building muscle, then look no further than Muscle-Build.com!

0

5 Muscle Building Tips That Always Work

All I wanna do is build muscle.

So does everyone else it seems because if you type in “how to build muscle” into Google you get millions of sites.

With all this information at your finger tips you can see how easy it can be to get confused.

You see, back in the day, Arnold and those guys weren’t bombarded with a shitload of info.

They just went into the gym and worked really hard.

The Old School bodybuilders entered the gym with mental clarity.

Guys today enter the gym today not knowing if they should do a high volume program or do a 5/3/1 program.

Too much info.

I’m here to give you 5 muscle building tips that will always work.

When in doubt, just come back to this list and you can’t go wrong.

1.  Intensity Trumps Program Design.

Train like you are about to go to prison.

If you knew you had a few months until you served some serious time in prison how hard do you think you’d train?

Pretty damn hard.

Well, that’s how you should be training.

Train like your life depends on it.

If you look around your gym you will see that most guys are simply going through the motions.

You can have the best program on paper, but if you aren’t lifting with intensity you won’t get any results.

On the other hand, you can have a crappy program on paper, but if you lift with balls-out intensity you will get good results.

So, instead of trying to find the “perfect” program, start working out with 100% intensity.

2.  Frequency is Better Than Volume.

Most programs followed today have you hitting each muscle group once-a-week with a ton of volume.

This is far from optimal.

It is far better to break up that massive session into multiple smaller sessions.

For example, lets say that you perform 120 reps for your Back every Monday.

Instead, you will build more muscle faster, if you split that up into 2 weekly sessions of 60 reps per session or 3 weekly sessions of 40 reps per session.

The idea is to stimulate a muscle as often as possible without exceeding your recovery abilities.

3.  Double Progression Works.

To keep building muscle over time you must progress.

There are many ways to measure progression.

You can add reps with the same weight, add weight with the same reps, increase the number of sets, or decrease the amount of time it takes to complete the same amount of work.

A sure-fire progression system to keep packing on slabs of muscle is the double progression system.

Pick a rep range that’s separated by 2 or 3 reps.

So, rep ranges like 6-8, 9-12, 12-14.

Those are just 3 rep range examples.

Perform your sets using your selected rep range.

Once you hit all your sets in the top of that rep range, add weight.

For example, let’s use lat pulldowns.

Let’s also use the 6-8 rep range and let’s use 4 sets.

Set 1 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 2 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 3 – 120 lbs x 7 reps

Set 4 – 120 lbs x 6 reps

You hit your 8 reps on the first 2 sets, but failed to hit your 8 reps on your second 2 sets.

Your next session might look like this:

Set 1 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 2 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 3 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 4 – 120 lbs x 7 reps

You hit your 8 reps on all but the last set.

Your next session might look like this:

Set 1 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 2 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 3 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 4 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Here, you hit all 8 reps on all your sets.

Congrats.

Now, it’s time to add weight.

So, next time you would use 130 lbs for all your sets for the 6-8 rep range and try to hit 8 reps for all your sets.

This progression system works every time for building muscle.

4.  Get Lean and Stay Lean.

You are more anabolic the leaner you are.

The leaner you are the more likely it is for your body to use excess calories to build muscle.

Conversely, the fatter you are, the more likely it is that your body will store excess calories as fat.

With all things being equal, you will always build more muscle if you are leaner.

5.  Perform at Least 90% of Your Work in the 8-12 Rep Range.

Most rep ranges are effective for muscle building.

I have found that the 8-12 rep range is the sweet spot.

Perform most of your work in this 8-12 rep range.

Add weight when you can.

The confusion ends now.

And the muscle building begins.

---

 

photo credit:  Anton Mukhametchin

1

5 Reasons Why Your Muscle Building Program Sucks

 

Building muscle has always been a passion of mine.

The #1 goal of the majority of my clients is to build as much muscle as possible.

If you want to build significant muscle, you need to start taking it seriously. Below are 5 reasons why you’re not making the gains you should be making.

1. You wing it.

You need a plan.

Do you think Washington just yelled “Charge!” during the Revolutionary War?

Hell no.

Do you think Tiger won the 2000 US Open by 15 shots by simply “Grippin & Rippin” it?

Hell no.

Do you think Dorian Yates won 6 consecutive Mr. Olympia’s without a plan?

Hell no.

So, what makes you think you can build large slabs of muscle without a plan?

You can’t.

So pick a muscle-building split and stick with it for the next 3 months.

2.  You are focusing too much on isolation exercises.

To get big you need to lift big.

You wanna know how Arnold got huge?

He picked up heavy shit and moved it.

What a genius, right?

Relying mostly on curling 20 pound dumbbells and doing leg extensions ain’t gonna do anything for you.

Try doing 50 pull ups, 50 dips, and 50 squats a week and see what that does for you.

3.  You are trying to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

Look, unless you can re-write the universal laws of thermodynamics, you cannot build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

You know who can do that?

Those that take steroids and/0r are genetic freaks.

I’m talking the top 1%.

That is not you.

You need to gain weight.

Gain weight, but don’t get fat.

There is a difference.

When dudes try to gain muscle they eat anything and everything.

The result is that they gain muscle and a ton of fat.

Don’t do this.

You cannot force feed a muscle to grow.

4.  Your form blows.

Your form when performing exercises doesn’t need to be perfect, but it can’t be terrible.

Strive for “solid” form.

Whenever possible, lift in front of a mirror so you can see what you are doing.

5.  Your recovery blows.

The key to building muscle fast is frequency.

That is to say, the more often you can stimulate a muscle, the more a muscle will grow.

But, frequency depends on recovery.

You can train a muscle whenever it has fully recovered from its previous stimulation.

Increased Recovery —–> Increased Frequency —–> Increased Muscle Growth

Things that affect recovery ability

• nutrition
• sleep
• stress
• booze
• smoke

What can you do to enhance your recovery?

• Make sure you are eating healthy.
• Make sure you sleep about 8 hours a night.
• Try to limit stress.
• Limit your boozing.
• Dont’ smoke, dummy.

So, there you have it — 5 reasons why your muscle building program sucks and what you can do about it.

Which do you fall victim to? Tell us in the Comments.

---

 

photo credit:  PUMPING IRON – TWO

0

Build Mass Without Side Effects

by Anonymous

Question: I am very lean and my body weight is very low compared to my height. So please guide me to increase my body mass safely without any side effects.

Answer: You are certainly not the first – nor will you be the last – person to experience this issue!

My standard answer is if you are not gaining weight, then you aren’t eating enough. It is a simple math problem.

Building muscle is a little different. You have to actually exercise by overloading your muscles and then letting them rebuild so that they are bigger and stronger than before.

But putting on weight is simply a math problem:

Eat more calories than you burn.

It really is that simple. Now, I know. It’s extremely difficult to eat a lot of food for a lot of people; I used to be the same way. I used to eat so much that I literally puked it all out. It was absolutely horrible!

You will need a good protein supplement, preferably made of whey concentrate. Prograde makes the best on the market, so you may as well pick some up right now.

Eat 6 or more times a day, including plenty of protein and fat from eggs, milk, beef, fish, fowl, and nuts. Make sure you eat a lot of green vegetables and fresh fruits, too.

For short periods of time (3 to 6 weeks), you can eat up to a dozen eggs and a gallon of milk per day. Don’t start off with this volume, though — build up to it!

Get in the gym no more than 3 days a week and exercise using only compound movements like squats, deadlifts, chinups, bench presses, rows, and overhead presses. 3 sets of 6-10 reps.

Don’t do any abdominal work and rest as much as possible. Sleep at least 8 hours a night. More if you can. Take a nap after lunch, too.

The trick is getting your metabolism to slow down, stimulating muscle growth, and eating as much as you can to effect the weight and muscle gains that you so desperately desire.

It IS do-able. I put on over 60 pounds in one year using those methods above.

You can get more details by getting my Hardgainer Manifesto course.

---

Image credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Ronnie_Coleman_8_x_Mr_Olympia_-_2009_-_7.png