Tag Archives: Muscle

Recommended Reading (8/5/12)

Posted by Tim on

Competition is the force which drives improvement. In some ways its very obvious – competition in the automobile market pushes manufacturers to provide better products at lower prices. In other ways its not so obvious. If the Russians hadn’t competed with the Americans in the Olympics during the Cold War, they never would have invented steroids, which today are used by countless American athletes – hitting home runs and scoring touchdowns – keeping us entertained all year round. Yes, competition is the key.

Speaking of Russians and those ultra-competitive Olympics of the Cold War era, much of what they pioneered in weight training we are still using today. The most common training templates used today by America’s top powerlifters were written about decades ago by Soviet trainers. In more recent times, Vladimir M Zatsiorsky has written Science and Practice of Strength Training.

Zatsiorsky worked with the Soviets for 26 years, training literally hundreds of top-level athletes. Currently he teaches kinesiology at Penn State (let’s just avoid the Sandusky conversation, shall we?), but he also holds honorary degrees from universities in Poland and Russia. He’s authored over a dozen books, and his works have been published in English, Russian, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, and other languages.

In Strength Training, Zatsiorsky delivers a complex analysis of the actual science of training. The book is full of charts and graphs, showing the effects of various training intensities, timings, and muscle recruitment. No matter the goal, whether it be strength, size, endurance, or speed, Zatsiorsky and, more importantly, science have the answers. Instead of just giving the reader a mindless training schedule, he gives you the knowledge needed to create your own – the right way. Along with the science, Zatsiorsky gives specific recommendations for certain populations – women, the elderly, and young athletes – and he also includes some tips for injury prevention.

If every trainee, or just every ignorant personal “trainer”, read this book there would be a lot less confusion about how to train for any desired effect. Too often young people go searching the internet forums for an answer to their troubles and all too often they get a bunch of hogwash, and end up just wasting time, if not money as well. Instead of that – buy this book, read it, and apply it. It’ll change the way you look at strength training forever.

On another note, I haven’t had a ton of time to sit down and watch this year’s Olympics, but I did manage to catch some women’s weight lifting last week. A 17 year old girl from Kazakistan weighing 116 lbs lifted 270 lbs over her head like it was nothing. I died a little inside. Really? She’s younger than me, smaller than me, a girl, and she’s way stronger than me. How’d that happen?

More Tips For Gaining

Posted by Tim on

We live in the age of instant gratification. We want it all and we want it now. Forget about saving up for a new TV or computer – just put it on the credit card and pay it off $50 a month for the next 2 years. Forget about learning how to cook, buying healthy tasteful ingredients – just go down the street to Burger King and stuff your face. I’m hungry NOW! And when it comes time to lose the weight you’ve gained by eating junk food and watching that expensive TV – lyposuction to the rescue!

The same mentality goes for the muscle gaining, weight lifting, meat-head community. Instead of studying the best way to train, learning about diet, and understanding rest and rehabilitation cycles, let’s just find the newest coolest supplement that the bodybuilding magazines are pushing this month. It has your favorite athlete endorsing it so it must be legit, right? Wrong! The supplements that have been proven to work have been around for decades, and unless you plan on switching to the “dark side” (steroids), there isn’t much else out there besides your basic whey protein and creatine.

There are other options available to help gain muscle, though. And you’re in luck. Since you’ve just spent all of your money on that new TV you couldn’t afford, you’ll be happy to know that these ways to increase muscle gains are free. That’s right! FREE! Here’s a couple tips that might not be on your radar, but could really help speed up gains.

1. Carb loading. There are plenty of new supplements out there that promise to give you the energy to get through your toughest workout. Most of the time these are just simple carbohydrates and/or caffeine, which gets you about halfway through a tough workout until you crash. Hard. And you don’t want to crash when you’re trying to go for a new PR. Instead you’ll need to load up your muscles with glycogen, giving your muscles enough energy to last a long workout. An hour or so before you plan on working out, eat some pasta, potatoes, or rice.

2. Spike your insulin. Insulin is what moves nutrients into your muscles. The way to spike your insulin is to eat simple sugars – fruit juice, for example. Your body’s blood sugar will go up, and to even out the ratio your pancreas will spit out a bunch of insulin. Along with the simple sugars you consume, drink your whey protein shake and follow it with a good meal about an hour later. Just consuming protein won’t do your body any good if it can’t use it. Spike your insulin after your workouts to get the most of your post-workout shake.

3. Rest. A lot. Too many young trainees think that they’re invincible. They don’t need to rest or sleep, and they can workout multiple times a day. This will work for a while, but your body’s central nervous system will begin to shut down after a few weeks of this. Your muscle gains will stall, and your strength gains will disappear. That’s right – you’ll start getting weaker. Time your workouts. A heavy deadlift workout can easily take a week to fully recover from, and you don’t want to deadlift again until after that point. Its for this reason that I only deadlift once a week, sometimes only once every 10 days or so.

4. Red meat. As much as we all love our chicken and fish, its important to eat plenty of red meat too. Beef has been show to increase testosterone levels in men, and its also a natural source of creatine. Because it takes your body so long to digest, you can actually go a while after eating it without worrying. Your body won’t shrink – it’ll have plenty of cow to live off of. A huge meal of steak, salad, potatoes, and cheesecake can be enough to boost your gains. Sometimes it just takes a huge meal to get off that plateau.

Tips for Hard Gainers

Posted by Tim on

It seems that most people are never happy about where they are in life. Being content is completely alien to most people. Its sad, really, but this is the way it is. If we were content we wouldn’t be where we are. Think about it – if we were content being hunters and gatherers, we wouldn’t have come up with domesticated animals and farming. Its true - not being content has improved our way of life greatly. So has greed. Altruism is phony. (See Ayn Rand for details.) But I’m getting away from what I want to talk about.

No one is happy. If you’re skinny, you want to be muscular. If you’re fat, you want to be skinny. Well, being that I’m just so pleased with myself (physically, at least) I thought it’d be nice of me to give all the skinny guys some easy ways to pack on a few pounds. These are simple ways to add some calories to your diet each day. Before we get started, however, its important to understand the basics of how to gain weight. In the end, you’re going to need to eat more. Get over it. Everyone says they eat a lot, but really – you’re going to need to eat more if you want to put on weight.

TIP 1 – Gas stations are the place to go. We live in a day and age where gas stations show up on nearly every street corner, and most of them have a few relatively healthy food choices for the average wannabe meat head. Get yourself over to the fridges at the back of the store and buy 1 quart of chocolate milk. Get the highest calorie version you can. I’ve managed to find one that’s 200 calories per serving – 4 servings in a quart – tada! There’s 800 calories right there! Combine it with a Kind granola bar and you have over 1000 calories.

TIP 2 – A common problem people have is that they’re too busy at work to eat anything throughout the day. I call bulls**t. You just need to be more creative and resourceful. Most employers offer their employees a lunch break or a short 15 minute break every 6 hours or so. Most employers also have a break room with a refrigerator in it. Mix yourself a shake at home, take it to work, put it in the fridge, and halfway through your day find 2 minutes to chug it. Its simple, fast, and gives your body the extra nutrients it needs to stave off muscular atrophy.

TIP 3 – Buy in bulk. Instead of buying a protein bar here and there for $3 at your gas station, buy a box of them. I’m lucky enough to have Supplement Warehouse based not too far from my home here in Wisconsin, so I can buy bulk easily. Some of you may need to buy online instead. Either way, it helps to have a box of protein bars around the house when you’re in a rush. Grab a bar as you walk out the door. Most of them taste like crap, but I’ve found the Supreme Protein bars to be tolerable.

TIP 4 – I’m going to go ahead and NOT recommend doing a dirty bulk. I’ve talked about it before – the dangers of it. So let’s not even go down that route. Instead of fast food, opt for Subway or Q’doba. When you’re at Subway, double up on the meat. Subway isn’t the healthiest option, but its good enough. The problem is that the sandwiches don’t always have enough calories to help you bulk up. With that in mind – double the meat, get as much mustard and mayonnaise as you like, and throw in a bag of chips.

Well, that’s all I can think of right off the top of my head. Enough with the excuses. Find the time to reach your goals. Plan ahead, spend a little extra money, and be aware of the cheap and easy ways to fill your stomach when you’re on the go.

Back to Gaining Weight

Posted by Tim on

I have a confession to make. I’ve been cutting. No, I’m not some kind of mental midget who cuts himself with a razor blade. I’ve been cutting weight. I honestly don’t really know why. I suppose its just out of sheer boredom. Last year around the time I weighed right around 220 lbs. Most of it was muscle, although I admit I hadn’t been doing much cardio and my diet sucked – there was a little fat too. I then dropped to around 210. In the last week I’ve lost another 15 lbs or so – weighing 198. Not bad, ey?

When I tell people this they assume that it was hard to do, or that I had to go on some extreme diet to lose that much weight that quickly. Its really pretty simple. Work long days at work, don’t eat lunch, and don’t eat before bed. Eat a small breakfast, drink a lot of water, and have a poor sleep schedule. Its easy to lose weight if you just don’t eat, guys. Anorexic people do it all the time, and they’re skinny as hell!

But all that is behind me. I heard a story today about a friend who got in a near fight. I thought to myself, “If I was there…” but I had to rethink. I’m not quite as big as I used to be. At 220 I was a beast. Now I just look “in shape”. Not nearly as intimidating. What was I thinking, losing all this weight. It wasn’t just weight – it was muscle! Well, I guess its time to get back to where I used to be, maybe go a little further.

No timeline this time. I was an impatient teenager before, and I don’t want to do all that again. Disgusting weight gain protein shakes, 5-10 different supplements, huge triple Whoppers from Burger King. Nah. I’m going to take it a little slower this time. But watch out. Soon enough I’ll be back at 220 lbs. Stronger than before.

Stay tuned for a lot more posts pertaining to diet, and exercise…

Survey – Male Body Types

Posted by Tim on

So many young, single guys are constantly asking themselves the question – what do women want? The real phrasing of the question (at least as it pertains to immature males) is “what are women looking for?” That’s the thing – we assume they “look” for something. There’s an age old saying – men choose with their eyes, women choose with their ears. But let’s be realistic here, women choose with their eyes too. And with that in mind – I’ve got a question for girls.

Let’s assume for the moment that there are only two male body types out there. Of course there are countless shapes of guys, but I’m only going to focus on two. Let’s also assume that each type has the same face, hair, height, and skin tone.

Type A is thin. Narrow shoulders, skinny legs. I know, doesn’t sound good so far. BUT – he’s got a six pack. He may be skinny, but he’s lean.

Type B is bigger. Broad shoulders, adult-esk body. Better? Maybe. He doesn’t have the six pack of Type A. In fact, he’s actually a little pudgy around the stomach. Not a beer belly, but not even close to a six pack.

So, ladies, which would you chose? Does the six pack make up for the smaller body? Does the bit of fat ruin the more masculine physique?

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