Posts Tagged ‘gain muscle’

The 5 Best Carbohydrate Foods To Gain Muscle

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Gain Muscle

When looking to gain muscle, it is important that you know that diet is the most important factor and what you include in the diet will bring about the results of your work out. Carbohydrates or carbs are one of the most important components of food that will help you to develop your muscles. Carbs are the energy source for your body. Without carbs your body will not have the energy to work out. Therefore you should make sure that you take in the right amount of carbs before you work out. Blow listed are some of the most important and basic food products that can be considered the best carbohydrate sources.

Fruit juices:

This is one of the easiest ways to get carbs in your body. The fruit juices are essential part of your diet when you are trying to gain muscle. Not only will these supply you with carbs but also these will hydrate your body and give you the energy to work out. Keep juices in a bottle near you when you work out so that you can take a sip as you keep working out. You will find better results with the aid of juices.

Potatoes:

With all the vegetables, the potatoes are one of the most common sources of carbohydrates.French fries are not helpful because of the way they are cooked. Therefore do not think that if you grab a bad of fries you would gain loads of carbs to workout with. Avoid fried items when you are looking to gain muscle. There are many preparations with the potatoes that will help you make a delicious meal without having to fry it. You can boil then and mash them and also eat these with conjunction with other vegetables so that you can reap better benefits.

Pasta:

When trying to gain muscle and eat good food at the same time, pasta is your ideal choice of food. This is because pasta is a rich source of carbohydrates by itself. However do not fry the pasta. Instead try to boil and add flavour to it to make your meal more interesting. Throw in vegetables like cabbage lettuce spinach carrots and boiled meat if you must to make you meal more interesting and better tasting. You can add flavouring to shake things up a bit and make your diet more enjoyable without adding fat.

Sugar:

Perhaps the simplest source of carbohydrates that you can obtain is sugar. Sugar will help you to get your daily dose of energy. The insulin spike that is created by the sugar in the normal human body will help you to deliver the other nutrients that will help you to gain muscle in your body.

Dietary fibre:

The Dietary fibres have no fat in them. Also these are slowly assimilated by the body so they ensure that you are satisfied with the food and you don’t grow hungry too often. Getting enough carbohydrate in your diet is key to having enough energy to perform your workouts.

The Truth About Protein Bioavailability

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Gain Muscle

Everyone knows about protein or at least you should if you are serious about getting results to gain muscle or even to lose fat.

Nutrition plays a vital role in both goals and protein’s are the building blocks and should be included in everyone’s meal plan on a daily basis. No getting around it.

If there was one nutrient you should focus on getting, it is protein.

Protein’s are used to build and repair muscle tissue. When we workout and breakdown our muscle’s, protein is generally the foundation for repair.

Weight training requires fats and carbs to be supplied for energy. Carbs also transport glycogen to your muscle cells as well.

That is just to give you a little background on each of these macro-nutrients, but now it’s time to talk about protein more in depth and the different influential factors when choosing your sources.

Many people, including myself when I first started, are under the impression that a protein is a protein, period.

Some people think they are getting enough protein from foods such as nuts, oats, rice and potatoes.

However, even though there are protein’s in these foods I mentioned above, they should not be considered a primary protein source especially not when trying to gain muscle.

Now let me explain.

For one, you would need to eat a massive intake of those food sources to obtain your daily protein requirements and even if you could, you would over-consume in total calories which will inevitably lead to fat gain.

Second, protein’s are made up of essential amino’s and non-essential amino acids but most of the protein that can be found within those foods I listed above are not ‘complete’ protein and are lacking one or more essential amino acids that your body requires.

Essential amino acids are protein’s that cannot be manufactured by our bodies and therefore creates a requirement for them in our diet, while non-essential amino acids can be manufactured by our bodies.

To gain muscle our bodies require these essential amino acids to repair fully and have optimal potential for muscle gain. Failing to give our bodies the proper protein sources can lead to lack of results for our efforts in the gym.

bio-availability is the key factor when choosing your protein sources.

i can just hear the echo now…bio availa-what?!?

Bio-availability:  this represents the percentage or scale rating of just how much our bodies can make use of certain protein sources.

You need to know that our bodies and digestive systems absorb some protein’s better than others and also certain sources will provide a higher amino acid profile.

These are the main proteins you should include in your diet.

Here is a quick chart to give you an idea of the bio-availability index rating of some protein sources:

Protein Source

Bio-Availability Index

Whey Protein Isolate Blends

100-159

Whey Concentrate

104

Whole Egg

100

Cow’s Milk

91

Egg White

88

Fish

83

Beef

80

Chicken

79

Casein

77

Rice

74

Soy

59

Wheat

54

Beans

49

Peanuts

43

Basically, as a rule of thumb, I don’t even count the proteins from foods that I consider primarily part of another macronutrient such as my carbs and fats. I only count proteins found from sources that are highly bio-available to our bodies.

Focusing on getting your proteins from the sources listed high in the table will really go a long way when it comes gaining muscle and fat loss.

If you have any question about this article, let me know and I would be happy to help

Joey

Foods To Avoid When Attempting To Gain Muscle

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Gain Muscle

When attempting to gain muscle, it is not enough that you exercise. Diet is an important factor to every exercise schedule. Without the proper diet, your body will not get the nourishment that it requires to convert into muscles. Similarly, there are some food items that you must avoid if you want to gain muscle. We can list down 7 food times that you must avoid at all costs if you are planning to build your body.

1. Doughnuts:

When you see these round sweet treats you would hardly be able to avoid the smell of these sweet treats. However you should know that these doughnuts barely consider other nutrients than fat. The fastest to get fat is on doughnuts. Each doughnut contains about 400+ calories. So think about that before you take a bite in to the next one when you are working so hard to gain muscles.

2. Cheeseburger with fries:

Another very common dish that has been your favorite every since your child hood perhaps, and a dish that you just can’t resist. However it is important to consider that all this is doing is adding more calories to your diet. The entire dish has about 720 calories. This is excluding the mayonnaise that just adds on to the fat.

3. Fried chicken:

How can you ever give up fried chicken? It’s a part of your life. However you should remember that this piece of your life adds on around 420 calories with every piece. Deep frying chicken adds fat and also removes a lot of the nutritional value. Therefore you are not really gaining anything out of the meal except more cholesterol in your body.

4. Oscar Mayer’s Lunchables:

You might love them because they are easy and convenient, but you should remember that they are also unhealthy. About two thirds of this contains only calories. They contain no fruits or vegetables and provide absolutely no nutrition. Therefore you need to make sure that you are away from them when you are on your mission to gain muscle.

5. Sugary Cereal:

The kids love it. You depend on it. It will never help you gain muscle. These cereals are sweetened and dyed and puffed. This is why the professionals will never have these as a part of their diet.

6. Processed meat:

Things that fall under the category are bacon, jerky beef and hot dogs. You should make sure that you stay away from these the minute you plan on going on a diet to gain muscle. If you are planning to build muscle then these are your worst enemies.

7. Canned soup:

You though it was healthy? Many other did too. However, contrary to popular belief canned soup is very unhealthy. This is because canned soup contains trans fats in high amounts. Also artificial preservations and quantities of sodium make it all the unhealthier. Hence if you are trying to gain muscle, this is one thing that you should clearly avoid.

The Importance Of A Plan To Gain Muscle

Saturday, October 30th, 2010

Gain Muscle

Exercising and bodybuilding to gain muscle isn’t just something that you start doing out of the blue, it takes a lot of planning and preparation to be able to design an exercise program that will perfectly fit your needs.

If you want to achieve your aims in a healthy controlled way you need a proper plan to stay on track and avoid injury.

Importance of Planning to Gain Muscle

Muscles make up a great part of our bodies and if we do not care for them well they will be in a state that may not be ready for extreme exercises that a bodybuilding regime will require. This is why it is important for any beginning bodybuilder, or person who wants to gain muscle effectively, to talk to a professional trainer.

A professional trainer will be able to give you advice on what exercise to start out with and what to progress to whenever you reach certain milestones. If you try to over do it with extreme body workouts you will only react negatively with injury and fatigue.

Gradual build up of strengthening exercises and weight lifting techniques and reps will prepare the body slowly for more strenuous exercises.

With a proper exercise plan, you can effectively gain muscle exactly where you want it and in the proper way.

Proven Methodologies

The importance of getting a professional trainer is that he can help in planning and applying proven exercises and methodologies to your exercise program to gain muscle.

With a trainer he can gauge you and your body and give appropriate exercises and the proper weight training you need, and will teach you how to progress.

The main advantage of getting a trainer is that he will be accountable for the kind of training that you undergo since he is the professional.

Anything that goes wrong, he should be able to fix immediately and appropriately.

The Science and Theory of Muscle Gain

With a professional trainer you will be able to get great advice on the science behind all the training you will undergo and on what supplements and nutrients to take to enhance your body.

You can easily read up on certain things that you are interested in, but a dedicated trainer who is passionate about body building and weight training will always have the best advice for you in terms of theories and methods that are proven through his own personal experiences.

Often what inspires personal trainers is the act of going through the planning and implementation process for them self, who knows once you complete your plan you might be able to become a trainer. All it takes is discipline, research, learning, and a lot of experience to know what works and what doesn’t. In the end, not only will you be able to gain the muscles you want, you will be able to share your lessons and secrets to other guys who want to get a great body like yours!

Learning to gain muscle and sharing this useful information only enhances others in their goals and builds up a great foundation in the world of body building and health.

Athlean-X – Is It Fake Or Can It Produce Real Results?

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Another fitness program has emerged on the market — the Athlean-X aims to help you burn fat, lose weight, and gain muscle.  But right along with all the others begs the question, “Will it really work?”  That’s what everyone wants to know, so we went on a mission to find out from real people what they thought when they tried the system. This was created by Jeff Cavaliere, trainer to many celebrities and professional athletes. It is often compared to the P90X system that’s gained a huge response in the popularity for its effectiveness.  Let’s see what this program is promising.

The good news is that while those celebrities and professional athletes paid Jeff Cavaliere thousands upon thousands of dollars for his knowledge, you can get it for much less.  You’ll be able to gain access to the same ideas, recommendations and suggestions that these clients are getting, albeit none of the personal attention from a trainer.  Therefore, you will have to impose on yourself the same discipline that Jeff implements on his wealthy clientele.  You can immediately start the 90-day program that comes with Athlean-X, which includes an eating plan and workout strategies.  It outlines each and every day’s workout and tells you how to do each one.

To know what you’re getting for your money, here’s a brief comparison with the P90X program.  For $139, you get the P90X program that includes DVDs of 60 to 90 minutes of workout each day that you will follow for 90 days.  For only $67, you can purchase the 90-day Athlean-X e-book which will guide you through 20 to 30 minutes of exercise per day, 3 to 5 days a week.  Can you see the difference?  Compared to the P90X, the Athlean-X is less expensive and requires less equipment, less days per week, and less time per day.  You really don’t need a gym membership to use this program either.  Jeff Cavaliere designed the Athlean-X for everyone to use. The program will produce results for anyone who is determined to lose weight.

Training under Jeff Cavaliere can cost you an arm and a leg, but with the Athlean-X you have the rare opportunity to work out in similar fashion but for less money with each and every exercise routine outlined for you.  The road to losing weight takes one step at a time; commitment and accountability are most important.  As long as you have the right discipline, you can achieve great results with this program. Start looking and feeling like you never have before — try the Athlean-X program today.

 

7 Mistakes To Avoid If Trying To Gain Muscle

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

Gain Muscle

When body building and weight training to gain the muscle you want, it is only effective if the weight training is done correctly. Lots of people who have corrected these mistakes and now are weight training properly are seeing their results improve drastically.

Not Eating Enough

First, some body builders completely forget the importance of a healthy and correct diet to help them make it through their weight training. Eating the right foods and in adequate amounts to help maintain your body’s fitness and to allow it to gain muscle is important for you to follow while you do the proper weight training alongside it. You are not dieting to lose fat and build muscle only. Know the difference.

Not Getting your Magic 8 hours of Sleep

Second, they also underestimate the power of getting your required eight hours of sleep to get you through the day and some hours of weight training. Not getting enough sleep will definitely affect your performance in weight training to gain muscle as well as your performance in your daily activities at work or school.

Too Many Reps

Third, doing too many reps and will only make your muscles and body fatigued. The recommended number of reps is eight per set. Going beyond that may just cause you injury or overwork muscles.

Too Many Sets

Fourth, doing too many rep sets will only make you tired and will hinder you from being able to gain muscle that you expect to. Prevent yourself from overdoing the rep sets. Doing three rep sets per exercise may be enough for you to build the muscle that you need to without causing fatigue in your body

Overtraining – Training Seven Days a Week

Fifth, over-exercising is yet another sin that many body builders and weight trainers succumb their bodies to. Doing too much exercise, more than what your body can take will only cause it injury and fatigue and you will not see the results in muscle mass immediately because of it.

Training One Body Part Too Often

Sixth, you may enjoy doing a particular exercise, like bench presses for instance. Although you like it, refrain from only doing that exercise and only working on your chest muscles. A Good body building to gain muscles requires a balanced variety of exercises that should cover all body parts. If you tire out one body part through over working it won’t only badly affect that part but can actually make other parts come out weaker aswell.

Relying on hype supplements

Seventh, relying too much on hype supplements instead of getting a proper meal may be a big mistake in body building to enhance muscle. Always get a balanced diet of real food. Nutritional supplements are just supposed to supplement what you are already eating. Supplements alone will not help give you the energy you need for a good workout.

Now you know what not to do it may be time to get proper advice from a trainer. Doing a workout to gain muscle should be a serious process to make your results a successful one.

The Top Three Protein Powders To Gain Muscle

Saturday, October 16th, 2010

Gain Muscle

When you are body building to gain muscle, you need the proper nutrition to help you maintain your body and to enhance muscle development. One of the most important supplements for body building is protein.

With proteins, which is an important macro-nutrient, the body will be able to build muscle mass that is lean and healthy. This differs from fats and carbohydrates that are broken down to provide the body energy.

Our usual source of protein can come from chicken and lean red meat that make up our daily diet. However, for body builders there are alternative and supplemental sources of protein that they can use to fuel their body’s to gain muscle.

Here are just a few protein powders on the market today that can help them do that.

 

Whey Protein

 

It is one powder with the most protein per gram serving of powder as compared to other protein sources.

This is because it uses purer sources of protein thus creating protein isolates that are used in the supplement.

The best part about this whey powder is that it is easy to digest and can be taken any time during the day to supplement a bodybuilder’s diet and is often referred to as a ‘day-time’ protein.

 

Casein Protein

This particular protein powder is made up of a slow-digesting powder for bodybuilders.

Casein powder is best taken at night before a person goes to sleep to get the maximum effects from it since the body is at rest and can slowly, but surely digest the powder effectively to help a person gain muscle.

It is also called a ‘night-time’ protein. Basically it works to maintain high levels of amino acids in a person’s system while they sleep.

The advantage of this protein is it provides long lasting, slow burn protein release.

 

Whey Hydrolysate

 

This particular protein is of a higher quality than regular whey concentrate and whey isolate. It is quicker to digest and has a better nutrient uptake. This is perfect for post-workout or during your workout for fast and effective amino acid absorption. Products such as whey hydrolysate are more expensive but also better quality than some of the cheaper alternatives. The choice is yours. If you can afford this it is worth considering as part of your program. Otherwise, simply consume whey concentrate or isolate.

All of these powders are available to buy and are often cheaper when bought in large amounts. At the moment whey hydrolysate is probably the most expensive protein powder on the market. All protein powders are available in health and body building stores as well as through online sources that can deliver the products straight to your door. However, even with the high investment in product prices, many bodybuilders have found these to be the top three protein powders to gain muscle mass easily and quickly.

 

Pick the one that fits your lifestyle and your budget.

 

 

 

 

7 Minute Muscle – Can It Really Work?

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Many people are skeptical of the new 7 Minute Muscle — another “under 10 minutes” fitness program.  They should be skeptical.  After all, the old cliché “no pain, no gain” would let most people know that a tiny figure of time in a day isn’t going to do much for you.  However, let’s examine the system, what it includes, and what people are saying about it before writing this one off.  To start out, this program receives an overall rating from consumers of 3 out of 5 stars.  Not bad but not at all great.

Jon Benson created the 7 Minute Muscle program with both men and women in mind. Included in the program is a 7-minute training video, an instructional e-book, and several workout videos that focus on your arms, shoulders, chest, back, butt, and legs.  User review indicates that this program can enhance your current workout routine and improve the way you look but that it shouldn’t be the only exercise program you should rely on.  Sign up for Jon’s free email subscription for great tips and advice on how to boost your physique.

Priced around $75-100, the 7 Minute Muscle program seems a little pricey if it’s not an all inclusive system, for most people.  The program can be downloaded off the Internet so you don’t have to wait for it to be delivered to you.  Not a unique advantage, though, as most programs of this kind can also be found online.  Jon Benson’s program is offering an 8-week guarantee, which is pretty standard for these online muscle building and training products. This speed-lifting program has achieved a 3 out of 5 stars overall, so although it’s a helpful program, it’s not rated as extremely well as some of the other programs that are out there.

The rating of the 7 Minute Muscle is broken down as follows: 5 stars on length of time, 3.5 stars on workout routine, 2 stars on fat loss, 4.5 stars on exercise technique and customer support, 4 stars on muscle gain and strength boost, 1 star on meal plan, and only 3 stars on price value.  So you can see, depending on your goals with the program, if this program will be good for you.  If strength and muscle are important factors for you, then you may want to consider this program given its money back guarantee.

4 Essential Nutrition Tips To Gain Muscle

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Gain Muscle

There is a misconception that to be healthy, no fatty foods should ever be consumed when you want to gain muscle. However, there are such things as good fats and bad fats and fats that should be taken in moderation. It is important for anyone to have fats in their body to help in storing energy as well as keeping the body insulated.

Essential fats come from essential fatty acids which come in the form of conjugated linoleic acid, linoleic acid, and oleic acids. These kinds of essential fatty acids are usually found in healthy foods like olive oil, salmon, and nuts, respectively. Just remember that these fatty acids are needed in your diet to make up the balanced diet that you aim to gain muscle muscles to become fit and healthy.

Adequate Number of Meals Daily

There are several ways that you can make sure that you gain muscle you need to keep yourself fit. Firstly you need to ensure you have an adequate number of meals per day.

If you want to build muscle mass, you may want to break up your three main meals into five to six smaller meals during the day.

This essentially will help you better control your metabolism and lessen the body fat that will build up between meals, as they would do if you only ate three meals a day.

Eating the Right Kind of Foods

Second, make sure that you are eating the right foods. Now that you have the quantity of foods under control, it is best to pick the right foods to eat. These kinds of food will consist of fruits and vegetables and other foods that may contain complex carbohydrates (such as bread), as well as lean protein that can be found in chicken or fish. Eating the quality foods that will give you the quality nutrients, energy, and essential fats will surely help you quickly gain muscle.

Adequate Amounts of the Right Quality Foods

Third, eat adequate amounts of quality foods. Make sure that the food that you take in is adequate enough to maintain your energy levels and enough so that it covers the recommended daily allowance of different foods and nutrients that nutritionists require. Don’t eat too much of something and scrimp on another kind of food. You need to focus on maintaining a balanced diet and knowing exactly which food you are eating and when. Making a written schedule will make your nutritional goals easier to attain.

Some Foods to Focus On

To focus on muscle growth, eat food that will provide you with essential proteins and nutrients, outside of the essential oils that you need to build muscles. Try and add to your diet foods high in protein and essential fats such as fish, nuts, avocados, and olive oil. Ultimately, you should completely avoid fast food restaurants and stick to more organic foods and oil-free cooking such as grilling, baking and roasting.

By being conscious about what you eat, you can start making your way to having a leaner and healthier body with much stronger muscles. All it takes is a little self-discipline and motivation for you to be able to gain muscle and the body that you desire.

The 6 Exercises Most Effecive To Gain Muscle

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

When you are bodybuilding to gain muscle, it is important that you know exactly what exercises you should be doing to build the muscles in the right places. This list of exercises is most beneficial to hitting all the different muscle groups throughout the body.

Bench Press

This is one exercise that was popularized in the military and focuses on upper body muscle building. You need to have a bench to do the pressing movements and the appropriate weights to perform the exercises.

A spotter should always be used to ensure safety.

Squat

The squat can be done with or without weights, depending on your exercise program. Body builders who want to gain muscle in their thighs and legs can use this particular exercise to strengthen their muscles there and keep them taut.

Focusing mainly on the lower body, it takes a lot of control to do this exercise well and effectively. When done correctly, it can be one of the most powerful exercises to develop lower body strength.

Deadlift

This basically involves a person bending down and being able to lift weights or a barbell from the standing position only. When done properly, this is one exercise that can strengthen the back, abs, forearms, biceps, quads, hamstrings, glutes, traps, and neck all at the same time.

This exercises has to be done with the correct form to prevent any kind of injury from happening to the bodybuilder, which is why it is vital to ask a trainer how to best implement this exercise to be most effective in strengthening the body.

Military Press

Also known as the front press, this exercise will strengthen the upper body appropriately and thoroughly. People who do this will gain muscle in their shoulder and arms. Developed further by the military from the bench press, the front press is a great exercise that minimizes any injury to shoulders like a regular bench press can cause.

Bent Over Rows

If you want to work on developing muscles in your lats and upper back, then bent over rows are the way to go. There are a variety of ways that you can do this particular exercise that may involve different positions with the sternum, abs, gripping, and palms.

Many body builders attest to the effectiveness of this exercise to gain muscle and strengthen it, especially on the back.

Clean and Push Press

This is an exercise that focuses on building and strengthening muscles in the forearms, triceps, biceps, shoulders, traps, back, quads, glutes, hamstrings, and the calves. This exercise will be most beneficial to the shoulder muscle groups.

Ultimately, with these mentioned exercises you can be sure that you will have the body of a professional bodybuilder in no time. Consult a trainer on the proper form of each exercise to gain muscle first before simply trying it out to lessen injury and make the exercise more effective on your body.