Category: Bodybuilding Articles

Cortisol and Building Mass

Cortisol and Building Mass

There are many reasons why your muscles won’t grow or why your muscle growth is lacking. One main culprit for your muscle tissue to in a catabolic and not in an anabolic state is the stress hormone called cortisol. This stress hormone, cortisol, is produced by your body when you are under stressful situations.

Yes, any type of stress, whether they are mental stress, physical stress or just emotional stress will trigger off an increased in the production of cortisol hormones. A high level of cortisol is always a bane for bodybuilders and that in itself, is creating more stress.

When you exercise or especially weightlifting body building exercises, you are placing a tremendous stress on your body. This in turn will cause the cortisol hormone in your body to rise to unacceptable level which may destroy your muscle tissues, bone density and causes weight gain especially abdominal fat. Ohhh…that abdominal fat that would not go away.

This hormone hates your muscles and wants you to grow fat. It takes away protein from the muscles. However to be fair to this hormone, the cortisol hormone has its positive functions.

Cortisol is produced by the adrenal cortex and is commonly known as a stress hormone because the level of cortisol in your body rises sharply when you are under stress. This hormone plays an important role in your body’s metabolic function, it facilitates cardiovascular function, carbohydrate metabolism and controls inflammation. After all, it is a steroid hormone.

As more cortisol is being produced, your muscle tissue breaks down further since the amino acids from your muscle protein is being converted into glucose for energy. This hormone also blocks new muscle tissues from growing because it interferes in protein synthesis in your muscles.

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How to lower cortisol level?

  • Get enough sleep – Let your body recuperate from the day’s stress and let the body rebuild its wears and tears. A lack of sleep will put your body under further stress and thus increasing cortisol levels.
  •  Avoid stress – Take up yoga, read a book, take a break from whatever you are doing. Learn meditation and breathing techniques to reduce everyday stress. Take a week or so break from your exercise routine after 6-8 weeks of regular training. As your body learns how to relax, the level of cortisol hormone will fall correspondingly.
  • Do not over train – Over training is a common issue amongst athletes of all types. This is especially so in bodybuilding and weight lifting. You are already damaging your muscles when you lift weights, don’t let cortisol hormones rob your muscles of the much needed proteins and preventing muscle repair and growth.

Once your body and mind is free from stress, your cortisol production will be at a healthy level and you will once again see your muscles growing, provided that you are doing other things that are conducive to getting your muscles to grow.

How To Manipulate Your Training Variables

How To Manipulate Your Training Variables

Everyone will inadvertently hit a frustrating plateau in their training at one time or another. You’re cruising along for a while, gaining strength, losing fat, looking better, and then all of the sudden it hits. Suddenly, you find yourself even weaker than before on your lifts, or you find that you’ve gained back a couple of pounds. It happens to everyone. Most of the time, these plateaus occur because people rarely change their training variables over time. Many people stick to the same types of exercises for the same basic sets and reps and rest periods with the same boring cardio routine. Well, I hope to open your mind and bring some creativity to your workouts with this article!

There are many ways that you can strategically manipulate your training variables to assure that you maximize your fat loss and/or muscle building response to exercise. Most people only think about changing their sets and reps performed, if they even think about changing their routine at all.

However, other variables that can dramatically affect your results are changing the order of exercises (sequence), exercise grouping (super-setting, circuit training, tri-sets, etc.), exercise type (multi-joint or single joint, free-weight or machine based), the number of exercises per workout, the amount of resistance, the time under tension, the base of stability (standing, seated, on stability ball, one-legged, etc.), the volume of work (sets x reps x distance moved), rest periods between sets, repetition speed, range of motion, exercise angle (inclined, flat, declined, bent over, upright, etc), training duration per workout, and training frequency per week. Sounds like a lot of different training aspects to consider in order to obtain the best results from your workouts, doesn’t it?

Well, that’s where a knowledgeable personal trainer can make sense of all of this for you to make sure that your training doesn’t get stale. Below are a few examples to get your mind working to come up with more creative and result producing workouts.

Most people stick to workouts where they do something along the lines of 3 sets of 10-12 reps per exercise, with 2-3 minutes rest between sets. Booooorrrrring! Here are a few examples of different methods to spice up your routine.

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  • Try 10 sets of 3, with only 20 seconds rest between sets.

 

  • Try using a moderately heavy weight and complete 6 sets of 6 reps, doing a 3 minute treadmill sprint between each weight lifting set.

 

  • Try using a near maximum weight and do 10 sets of 1 rep, with 30 seconds rest between sets.

 

  • Try using a lighter than normal weight and do 1 set of 50 reps for each exercise

 

  • Try a workout based on only one full body exercise, such as barbell clean & presses or dumbbell squat & presses, and do nothing but that exercise for an intense 20 minutes. With this example, you could try sets of 5 reps at a moderately heavy weight every 2 minutes until you reach 20 minutes.

 

  • Try a workout based on all bodyweight exercises such as pushups, pull-ups, chin-ups, dips, bodyweight squats, lunges, step-ups, etc.

 

  • Try a circuit of 12 different exercises covering the entire body without any rest between exercises.

 

  • Try that same 12 exercise circuit on your subsequent workout, but do the entire circuit in the reverse order.

 

  • Try your usual exercises at a faster repetition speed on one workout and then at a super-slow speed on your next workout.

 

  • Try completing five 30 minute workouts one week, followed by three 1-hr workouts the next week.

 

  • Try doing drop sets of all of your exercises, where you drop the weight between each set and keep doing repetitions without any rest until complete muscular fatigue (usually about 5-6 sets in a row).

There are many more ways to continue to change your training variables. I hope this article gave you some ideas on methods for you to take your body to the next level.  Keep in mind that no matter what style of training you are using at any given time, progression on subsequent workouts should be your goal. Work hard and train smart and watch your body change!

 

5 Steps To A Better Fitness Mindset

5 STEPS TO A BETTER FITNESS MINDSET

It can happen all too often when you step into the gym, and you’re feeling a lack of motivation. We’ve all had this happen one time or another and it’s extremely deflating for your workout. You think, Man! I was feeling so good this morning but now the drive just isn’t there. Although this problem can easily be fixed through some sort of energy source or pre-workout stimulant, I believe the best fix for this is in the mind. The following is 5 things that I like to do before my workouts to ensure that I’m focused, determined, and most importantly, deserving of stepping foot into the “fitness sanctuary”.

Stretch

Whether it’s before you get to the gym, or right when you walk in, the first thing you should do is stretch. Stretching is definitely important for preparing your muscles for the thrashing you’re about to give to them, but I also view this time as a moment to mentally prepare yourself for what is ahead. As you stretch out your muscles, visualize what workouts you’re going to be doing next. See it in your mind and apply this as part of your motivation in what you hope to accomplish.

Music

One of the biggest philosophies I like to live by is FIND SOMETHING THAT MOVES YOU. Music is a great tool for building and creating that passion, determination and motivation to power through your workouts. The best way to ensure you feel this motivation throughout your entire workout is creating playlists. I personally have many different playlists, and each one is dedicated to whichever type of mood I may be in. As an example, screamo/hardcore rock for when I’m feeling strong, hip-hop/rap for when I have a slight chip on my shoulder, and a much slower, steady mix of rock for when I’m doing cardio to help me focus. Whichever the case for you, have your music ready for a strong fitness mindset!

Pre-Workout Meditation

Whether you’re new to working out or an experienced veteran, the benefits of meditation are exponential on many different levels. Where the gym is concerned, I view meditation as a time to focus all of my thoughts strictly on the gym and my fitness goals, as well as creating a time to pray and thank God for giving me the time to make myself better, mentally, physically, and spiritually. I strongly recommend practicing some sort of meditation at some point during your day to enhance your overall health!

Motivational Videos/Images

One thing I personally like to do before workouts, especially if I’m not feeling quite 100% is find something to get me pumped up. Nothing works better than visiting YouTube and looking up some insane bodybuilding/fitness videos. This may not suit everyone, but it certainly aids in giving you the strong motivational push to get through your workout and to succeed with all your goals. We also have the Motivation link here at MindsetFitness.Net if you’re looking to find more motivational music and videos!

Gym Apparel

I’ve saved the most important one for last. You may not think that what you wear to the gym has anything to do with how your workout will turn out but take a minute and think about it. Why do most gyms have mirrors on the walls? First, mirrors help you see what you’re doing and second, to ensure you’re using correct form. This may be the case but they also can be very distracting to some people. I think I can speak for most of us when I say it’s great seeing your fitness progression but if you really want progress, wear apparel that doesn’t allow you to become distracted in the mirror at the gym! I’ve found that since I’ve switched to a wearing a long-sleeve hoodie during my workouts, my focus is taken off of how big and ripped I may look and placed where it is most important: the workout itself! Focus for your fitness mindset is key.

Now that I have shared my 5 steps to a better fitness mindset, it’s time for you to apply what you think may help you on your road to fitness success. Stay focused, stay driven, have faith and hit the weights!

Matt Muller

CTO – MindsetFitness.Net

 

Related Articles:

5 Steps To A Better Workout Mentality

The Top 8 Keys To Intensity

Using Visualization To Increase Mass

Is Your Muscle Building Potential Limited By Your Genes?

Is your muscle building potential limited by your genes?

So Is Your Muscle Building Potential Limited By Your Genes?

It is clear that certain traits are handed down to us by our parents and unfortunately our ability to grow muscles beyond certain limits is no exception. That doesn’t mean to say hard work and carefully planned training won’t have a positive effect on your physique – it just means that some people will inherit a greater abundance of the favored physical characteristics than others.

Not everyone possesses the physical traits to become a champion, but you can work wonders with the raw material you do possess.

How responsive you will be to physical stimulation can be predicted to a certain extent by examining your somatype or natural body shape. Basically, there are three recognized body types:

1. Endomorphs

– these individuals tend to be squat with a round torso, thick neck and short limbs.

2. Mesomorphs

– these individuals tend to be muscular with broad shoulders, powerful chest and limbs and little body fat.

3. Ectomorphs

– these individuals tend to be slim and are usually tall with little muscle and body fat.

The ideal bodybuilding physique tends more towards the mesomorph with broad shoulders, narrow hips with arms and legs of medium length. Two further inherited features have a role to play in determining muscle building potential, and these are muscle fiber density and neurological efficiency. Fiber density determines the size potential of a muscle while neurological efficiency refers to the relationship between the nervous system and muscles. This is relevant because, in all out effort genetically blessed individuals have the ability to activate up to 50% of the fibers in a given muscle compared to the average person’s 30%. This allows greater scope for stimulating growth.

The fact that there is no easy way to measure fiber density or neurological efficiency is actually a blessing because the incentive remains for all of us to train hard and strive for improvement. Only a tiny minority of people have the genetic tools to become champions but the rest of us can go a long way to fulfilling our own personal goals.

Strong Chest Muscles Command Respect And Confidence

Strong Chest Muscle Command Respect And Confidence

So you want to build big and powerful chest muscles? Big pecs or chest muscles that command respect and adoration? You can be the proud owner of a big and powerful chest if you set your mind to it.

Many people actually think that there are 2 separate chest muscles, well there aren’t. The chest muscle or pecs that you see on each side of your chest is a fan shaped one continuous muscle although they may be called by different names such as pectoralis major, minor and clavicle head to differentiate the different parts of the same muscle.

All chest exercises work your chest muscle but from different angles which places different stress on your chest. You need to use a variety of chest muscle exercises to hit your pecs at various angles to stimulate massive muscle growth.

Each different angle you use with any chest muscle exercises will reach into various different fibers in your chest muscles for effective stimulation of different areas of your pecs so that your entire chest will grow muscles fast and symmetrically giving you that broad and powerful chest that threatens to rip through your t-shirt.

For best results building your chest muscles, use free weights, especially dumb bells instead of machines. Chest muscle workout that use any chest machines should be avoided as it has many disadvantages like it will not only produce the desired results may also cause injuries because of its narrow range of movements. Your chest muscles will also not grow fast because machine exercises lack the involvement of synergistic muscles or supporting muscles. As with any weightlifting workout, proper lifting form and techniques are of paramount importance.

Many people typically use only 1 or 2 types of chest exercises and almost invariably, it’s the flat bench press and flys. Well, to build a powerfully big and well chiseled chest muscles, that is a fatal mistake as you do not adequately hit the pecs from all angles so as to stimulate muscle growth in your entire chest muscle.

All chest muscle exercises will not only work your chest but also your delts, biceps and triceps to a lesser extent. So you need to focus, visualize and to concentrate the force on the chest. Mind and your chest muscle connection is vital here so as to make your chest work harder instead of using your triceps, delts or biceps to power your chest workout. Also work on the full range of motion and squeeze your chest muscles hard at every top of each movement. Always lower your weight slowly and deliberately fighting gravity to provide more resistance to your chest muscles and therefore elicit more muscle fibers for more muscle growth.

A word of caution though. You will need a spotter or a personal trainer for safety reasons because you must lift heavy for excellent muscle gain especially so for chest muscle development. Your spotter or personal trainer will also be able to correct your mistakes and help you with forced reps to reach into the deep tissues to elicit maximum muscle fiber stimulation.

The Top 8 Keys To Intensity

the top 8 keys to intensity

One of the biggest difficulties facing bodybuilders is how can they be sure that all muscle fibers have been recruited and exhausted during a given exercise and it is only by achieving this that muscle gains can be maximized.

The simple answer is, you have work beyond failure and experience a higher level of training intensity than before. This also ensures that workouts remain challenging and continue to engender progress over time thus reducing the likelihood of regression.

But how do you go about intensifying your training? Fortunately there is a tried and tested path to follow as outlined below: The top 8 keys to intensity.

Keys To Intensity #1. Increase resistance

Increasing the weight lifted in meaningful increments ensures the muscle is pushed beyond its previous point of failure thus maintaining the muscle building process. Aim to increase the weight when you reach six to eight reps and failure does not occur.

Keys To Intensity #2. Change the exercise

To achieve maximal gains all muscle fibers in a body part must be trained. Changing the angle (e.g to incline bench press) or introducing a new exercise will stimulate growth.

Keys To Intensity #3. Reduce rest intervals

Giving the muscles less time to recover before exposing them to further work has the effect of increasing intensity.

Keys To Intensity #4. Pre-exhaustion

When an exercise involves two or more muscles the weakest will prevent you from working the primary muscle to failure. The answer is to first isolate and tire the primary muscle before immediately moving to another exercise that works the set of muscles to failure.

Keys To Intensity #5. Introduce Supersets

This involves performing two exercises for the same muscle group without a rest interval. This means you have to utilize different muscle fibers which stimulate greater growth.

Keys To Intensity #6. Use partial reps

At the point of failure you will not be able to complete the full range of movement for a given exercise. Completing a partial rep that uses only a segment of the lift will still work your muscles beyond the point of failure. This technique is especially useful to advanced bodybuilders as it allows them to increase intensity without adding extra routines that could cause overtraining.

Keys To Intensity #7. Use isometric contractions

This involves holding the weight still at the point of failure to stimulate a static contraction in the muscle.

Keys To Intensity #8. Employ forced reps

This involves completing one or more final reps after the point of failure has been reached. You will need the assistance of an experienced helper to attempt this.

Once you have added these techniques to your training regimen you’ll know you’ve done your best to maximize muscle growth.

 

3 Simple Ideas To Mix Up Your Routine

3 simple ideas to mix up your routine

3 Simple Ideas To Mix Up Your Routine

Every now and then I catch myself stuck in the same routine and my workout starts to get a little boring.  I know this is starting to happen when it gets easy to miss my regular workout.  Recently, I noticed this had happened when I easily talked myself out of going to the gym for almost 2 weeks straight.  Obviously, something needed to change.  So here are 3 simple ideas to mix up your routine from time to time that will add some spice to your workout.  Give them a try, and I’m sure you’ll find some new excitement to your workout as well.

Change your Grip!

This is a small change compared to most of the others you can do, but one way to spice up your workout from time to time is to change the way you’re gripping the bar when doing barbell or machine exercises.  One of my favorite grips is the palm grip.  In fact, I’ve read several articles from fitness trainers and other professional athletes that suggest that on exercises like the bench press, you should only be using a palm grip.

So what is a palm grip?  Let’s use the bench press as an example for the palm grip.  Many of us have been guilty of using a standard grip on this exercise, myself included.  A standard grip would be where you wrap your hand around bar as if you were holding a baseball bat.

If you want a more effective bench press, try not wrapping your thumb around the bar.  You might think that you’ll lose some stability by doing this, but I’ve never had that problem.  You might have to bend your wrist a little more to compensate, or lower the weight just a little bit.  The main benefit to using a palm grip on this type of exercise is that by putting your thumb in this position, you are reducing the amount of effort that your forearms will put into the exercise.  Therefore, your chest and tricep muscles will have to work even harder to do the lift.  Try this, and I’m sure you’ll notice a difference the next time you perform a bench press.

Try Tri-sets!

You’ve probably heard of super sets, where you do two exercise consecutively without resting in between.  Have you ever tried doing three different exercises?  This works extremely well with bicep exercises.  The benefit to doing a triset with a bicep workout, is it allows you to hit the bicep really hard in three different ways.

Here’s an example of a bicep triset: standing barbell curls, hammer curls, reverse barbell curls.  You’ll also notice in this sequence that you have to change your grip with each set of the triset.  This is the best way to utilize a triset.  Here’s an example of a triset with triceps: straight bar cable push downs, rope cable push downs, reverse cable pushdowns.  Again, the key here is to change the grip on each exercise.  Give these a try, and I’m sure you’ll feel a new pump in whatever body part you utilize them with!

Change your Split!

Have you been following the same split routine for two long?  Has your split routine consisted of chest and triceps, back and biceps, or something similar for several months?  Try reversing your split or doing a 5 day split instead of a 3 day split.  Do chest and biceps, back and triceps just to mix it up a little.

These are just a few basic ideas, but its always a good idea to mix up your routine on a continual basis.  That way you can keep your body guessing and growing to adapt to the changes in stress that you place on your muscles.

 

Why Can’t You Gain Weight? (Part 2)

why can't you gain weight?

In part 1, I touched on general weight gain rules and reasons why you can’t gain weight. Now it’s time to get into workout specifics…

Here’s the link to Part 1 if you haven’t read it yet!

Why Can’t You Gain Weight? Continued…

4. Stop listening to every ridiculous piece of advice you hear in the gym or read on a message board.

Recently a client of mine informed me that someone in the gym stated that he was training all wrong and he needed to train 5-6 days a week, and aim for more reps during his workout. Somewhere in the range of 15-20 reps per set.

The person giving the advice was quite confident about his recommendations, and he had an impressive physique that typically elevates him to the elusive “listen to me if you want to look like me” level in the gym. He was bigger than my client, so even though my client’s “intellectual” mind knows that advice is absurd; his “unrealistic dreamer” mind took this information very seriously. So seriously that he changed his program and didn’t inform me until a week or so later. This particular person had been making great progress on his current program, yet he allowed this one person’s comment to overshadow that progress and convince him that his program was inadequate. This is a mistake and it showed in his lack of further progress.

In addition, don’t judge the validity of what a person says by how they look. Just because the guy is huge doesn’t mean he is spewing pertinent advice for you. Many people that have big physiques are big despite of their training, not because of it. I know some huge guys that know very little about training and dieting correctly. They can do whatever and still gain muscle; unfortunately we are not that way, so we much approach things in a more intelligent way.

5. Workout Infrequently

This is the most difficult concept for many to grasp simply because it involves less action, instead of more. When we get motivated and start a new program, it’s natural to want to do something. We want to train and train and train. Thinking all along that the more you train, the more muscle you will build. Unfortunately, this could not be farther from the truth.

More training does not equal more muscle growth. Understand that the purpose of weight training is to stimulate muscle growth. That takes very little time. Once that has been done, the muscle needs to be repaired and new muscle needs to be built. That only happens when you are resting. You do not build muscle in the gym, you build muscle when resting! If you never give your body any essential “non active” time, when will it have a chance to build muscle? Think about that.

Now, add in the fact that you have a difficult time gaining weight and the importance of rest increases. Individuals who are naturally thin and have difficulty building muscle tend to require less training and more rest.

6. Focus on Multi-Jointed Lifts

Multi-jointed exercises are those that stimulate the most amounts of muscle fibers. Unlike isolation exercises which only work individual muscles, multi-jointed lifts work many different muscle groups simultaneously. For those needing to gain weight, this is ideal because these lifts put your body under the most amount of stress. This is the stress that will shock your nervous system and cause the greatest release of muscle building hormones. This results in increased muscle gain all over the body.

You can still do some isolation work; however it should not be the focus of your workouts, and should only come after your multi-jointed lifting is complete.

7. Focus on Using Free Weights

Free weights are preferred over machines for many reasons, but most importantly because they allow the stimulation of certain supporting muscle groups when training. Stimulating these stabilizer and synergistic muscles will allow you go get stronger, and ultimately build more muscle faster. Yes, some can most likely still build large amounts of muscle using machines, but why make it more difficult if you already have a difficult time gaining weight?

8. Lift a weight that is challenging for you

Building mass involves lifting relatively heavy weight. This is necessary because the muscle fibers that cause the most amount of muscle size growth (called Type IIB) are best stimulated by the lifting of heavy weight. A heavy weight as one that only allows you to perform 4-8 reps before your muscles fail.

Using a lighter weight and doing more reps can stimulate some Type IIB fibers, but again if you have a difficult time gaining weight, why make it more difficult? You need to try and stimulate as many as you can with the use of heavy weights.

9. Focus more on the eccentric portion of the exercise.

When you lift a weight, it can be divided into three distinct periods. The positive, the negative and midpoint. The concentric or “positive” motion usually involves the initial push or effort when you begin the rep. The midpoint is signaled by a short pause before reversing and returning to the starting position. The eccentric, or “negative” portion of each lift is characterized by your resistance against then natural pull of the weight.

For example, when doing push-ups, the positive motion is the actual pushing up motion. Once you have pushed all the way up, you hit the mid point. The negative motion begins when you start to lower yourself back down. Most would simply lower themselves as fast as they pushed up, but I recommend extending and slowing down this portion. Slowing down the eccentric part of the lift will help to stimulate more muscle growth. It actually activates more of the Type IIB fibers mentioned about in Rule 7.

10. Keep your workout short but intense.

Your goal should be to get in, stimulate your muscles and then get out as quickly as possible. It is not necessary to do large amounts of exercisers per body part trying to target every muscle and hit every “angle”. This should only be a concern of someone with an already developed, mature physique who is trying to improve weak areas.

If you have no pecs, don’t concern yourself with trying to target inner, outer, upper, lower or whatever. Just work your chest. You should do no more than 2-3 exercises per body part. That’s it. Doing more than that won’t build more muscle, faster. In fact it could possibly lead to muscle loss. Long training sessions cause catabolic hormone levels to rise dramatically. Catabolic hormones are responsible for breaking down muscle tissue resulting in MUSCLE LOSS. While at the same time, long training sessions suppress the hormones that actually build muscle.

If you don’t want to lose muscle during your workouts, I suggest limiting your sessions to no more than 60-75 minutes MAXIMUM. Less if you can.

11. Limit your aerobic activity and training

Honestly, I do not do any aerobic activity when I am trying to gain weight. This is mainly because it interferes with the important “non-active” time my body needs for muscle building and recovery. I do understand that people have lives and other activities that they don’t want to give up, so it must be kept to a minimum. It won’t hurt your progress as long as you don’t over do it. If you find that you are doing more aerobic activity weight training, that’s overdoing it.

I also don’t recommend it because people tend do it for the wrong reasons. Many start aerobic activity because they believe it will help them to lose fat. While that is true, it won’t do so on a high calorie mass diet. To lose fat, you need to be eating fewer calories.

12. Don’t program hop

Here’s how it usually happens. You’ve just read about a new exercise or workout that is supposed to pack on the mass. Now, even though you had already started another training program a few weeks ago, you are tired of it and really want to start this routine instead because it sounds better.

I call these people, “program hoppers”. They are very enthusiastic when starting a new program, but they never follow it long enough to actually see any results. They are easily distracted and love to drop whatever they may be doing to follow the latest “hot” workout or exercise.

My advice is don’t do it. This is a bad habit that never leads to a positive outcome. Understand that it takes time for any program to work. To be successful, you must follow your program consistently. Yes, there are many different training methods and interesting routines out there, but you can’t do them all at the same time and jumping around won’t allow enough time for any of them to actually be effective for you. Pick one that is focused on your current goal and stick with it. There will be plenty of time to try the others later, but NOT NOW.

Article attributed to Anthony Ellis, fastmusclegain.com

 

 

Why Can’t You Gain Weight? (Part 1)

why can't you gain weight

Why Can’t You Gain Weight? (Part 1)

Though there may be many reasons why you may be thin, the most apparent reason is because of your genetics. If your parents are naturally thin or have a small body frame, then you will most likely have the same small body type. So why can’t you gain weight even with genetic setbacks?

To some degree, your size can also be controlled by your metabolism. If you have a difficult time gaining weight of any kind (fat or muscle) then you most likely have a fast metabolism. That simply means that your body burns calories at a faster than normal rate. You must take this into account whenever you are considering a particular diet or training program. Is it geared towards someone with your metabolism and goal?

Now as you know, there are many ways to train. Hundreds, thousands even. Some work and some do not, but for the specific goal of gaining weight, there are a few UNIVERSAL things that all skinny guys must do.

Though much of the information I cover here is not as “magical” as you may like, I consider these rules to be the basics with regard to weight gain. These are not all of the answers, but they are definite elements that MUST be addressed in any successful weight gain program.

You should be able to easily integrate these rules into your current program to make it more suitable for your particular body and goals.

GENERAL RULES

1. Get the proper information that pertains to your SPECIFIC condition and goals.

The first big problem I find in most people is the lack of correct information. Yes you are motivated and doing things, but your effort is wasted on incorrect dieting and training information. Basically, skinny guys are taking advice from people who have never had a weight gain problem. Want to know how to gain weight? Then find someone who has walked your shoes; someone who has been where you are.

2. Set a specific goal and create a plan of attack.

If you were to drive cross country to another city, would you just start driving randomly, or would you plan a route that would get you quickly and efficiently?

Think of your plan as a road map and your goal as your destination. Without a plan and a specific goal you will be without focus and can easily get lost or side tracked. This happens more often than you know. I see many people in the gym just doing whatever, or just eating whatever — no plan or specific goal. They wonder why they don’t make progress. They have no focus.

Having a specific program to follow allows you to take action each day. This action is focused on specifically getting you to your destination quickly. There is no thinking, debating or guessing. You just do it. A specific plan provides necessary daily structure that not only keeps you on the road moving forward, it also helps to develop good eating and training habits that will benefit you long after you have reached your destination.

3. Have confidence in yourself and belief in what you are doing.

Let’s face it; we live in a cruel world. Hate and jealously are everywhere. For most people who begin a fitness program to improve themselves, getting started will be half the battle. The other half will be staying motivated throughout the constant onslaught of negativity from others. A few negative words can do serious damage if you allow it.

The most insulting things you hear may be from friends, co-workers and acquaintances at the gym. People hate change. It makes them insecure, because they suddenly discover there’s more to you than they were probably willing to admit. They fear that you may actually achieve your goal. It makes them look less “superior”.

Once you have begun your plan, you must have faith and believe in what you are doing. Stay focused and avoid overly critical or negative people. If you have to, keep your business to yourself. When I first began my program, I stopped talking about what I was doing because I got tired of hearing things like “you can’t do that”, “that’s impossible”, “you’re wasting your time and money”. Funny thing is, now those people are constantly bugging me for advice.

It’s your life. It’s your body. It’s your dream. Don’t allow your success or failure to rest in the hands of others.

In Part 2 of this article, I will cover your workout rules and guidelines to MAKE SURE you gain muscle.

The Christmas Tree Workout!

The Christmas Tree Workout!

In light of this fun and festive Christmas season, I figured I’d write an article on a unique shape that many bodybuilders strive to get within their lower back region. When the lower medial portions of the lats meet, they form a “Christmas tree-like” shape due to the muscle fiber striations of the lats. The Christmas tree can be seen extremely well in those people with well developed lower lats and erector muscles, as well as a low body fat percentage!

This workout is designed to target the two major muscles that form this Christmas tree shape: the Erector Spinae and Latissimus Dorsi.

***It’s important to note that unlike the smaller muscles that make up the upper body like the biceps and triceps, the lats and lower back can take heavier loads and therefore require more discipline and control to correctly stimulate them into growth. Don’t be afraid to train them HARD! This isn’t planet fitness people…you might let out a few grunts here and there***

 

CHRISTMAS TREE LATS!

This workout is composed of 3 main exercises and 1 bi-set to finish up.

Exercise 1:

Sternum Pull-Ups (5 sets – 8 to 15 reps)

Explanation: For those of you who aren’t quite sure what this exercise is then let me explain a little. In a typical pull up the body will remain in a relatively straight line up and down perpendicular to the floor; with sternum pull ups your weight is shifted slightly backwards almost into a “rowing” position. This allows a tight contraction of the majority of the lower fibers of the lats. If you cannot use your own body weight, try elevating your feet with a box of some sort and pull yourself into the same position using the bar on the smith machine.

 

Exercise 2:

Overhand Barbell Rows (4 sets – 10 to 12 reps)

Explanation: This exercise can easily be done incorrectly if you don’t pay attention. The arms are part of this movement however they should not be responsible for the weight moving back and forth; and the reason I say “back and forth” is because the bar shouldn’t just be moving straight up and straight down. On the descent, the arms will slightly lengthen forward and on the return the elbows will drive backward AND up as far as they can. Just picture the bar coming up to your belly button, no higher. You should feel a strong contraction in the lower lats (Christmas Tree).

 

Exercise 3:

Seated Row Machine (4 sets – 10 to 15 reps)

Explanation: This exercise can be done with a variety of different grips however your focus will still remain on the lower part of your lats. This means that your grip will stay in a more narrow position instead of a wide row. The key to this exercise is to not elevate your shoulders during the movement whatsoever. This movement consists of RETRACTION of the shoulder girdle NOT elevation and depression. Try placing your thumbs around with your other fingers to grip the handle. This will take tension out of the arms and place it onto the lats where you want it.

 

 

Exercises 4 + 5 (Bi-set):

Deadlifts + Straight Arm Cable Pulldown (4 sets of both exercises back to back – 10 to 15 reps each)

Explanation: Deadlifts should be your bread and butter. Nothing fancy about doing this exercise. My advice is to always learn proper form before trying heavier weights. Since this is a bi-set, the weight will not need to be as heavy as if you were performing it by itself. To place more emphasis onto your back and not your legs, bring the bar down just below your knees but NOT to the floor, and return to the starting position squeezing your lats and lower back muscles.

The straight arm cable pulldown will be your “finishing move.” To perform this correctly, the tension should STAY in your lats the entire time, nothing in the shoulders. The triceps will be in partial static contraction during this movement so if you feel in on the back side of the arms then don’t worry. Remember to lead with your elbows and not your hands. The contraction is happening in your BACK not the arms. Feel free to use a rope or a bar attachment!

 

 

***ARE YOU LOOKING FOR MORE WORKOUTS LIKE THIS ONE? TRY THE EXTREME BENCH PRESS WORKOUT!***