Thoughts are not shortcuts

I read an excellent column today from a Nevada Paper entitled the surefire way to curb overeating. There were some excellent points about the many ways in which Americans look for shortcuts when it comes to health and fitness. Looking for the latest diet pill instead of focusing on the basics is a sure recipe for failure and disappointment.

The conclusion of the article stated that we should always think when we are eating. Ask yourself what your goal is and whether your current actions are leading towards your goal goals or away from it. The same can be said about muscle building. If you are thinking to yourself how to gain weight quickly follow the basics of a weight gain diet and strength training exercises.

Muscle building may require a little fat

Why must you accept a little fat when you begin a weight gain program? Because if you don't, it'll be difficult to accomplish your muscle building program. You see, gaining muscle and losing fat are essentially contradictory goals. One requires you to increase your calories, while the other requires that you decrease them. A good comprehensive program on how to gain weight will teach you how to maximize your muscle gains while minimizing your fat increase.

The Vegan bodybuilder

I read an article recently about a vegan bodybuilder (veganbodybuilding.com). His premise was that you can become an active athlete and even a bodybuilder while eating only plant based foods. It's an interesting idea, and one that should make meat eaters think twice about dismissing their vegetarian friends. On the other hand, I think the jury's still out on just how healthy a vegan diet really is. There is much controversy about soy food, and I think both sides have to admit that it'll be awhile before the debate is settled. Here is a comprehensive program on how to gain weight for both vegetarians and omnivores.

Take a break from Bodybuilding on Thanksgiving

What do thanksgiving and basic bodybuilding workouts have in common? Not much. So be sure to take full advantage of Thanksgiving Day and relax! It's important to let the body rest and recover from your muscle building efforts. After all, this is when muscle rebuilds. Of course, it's also the perfect time to spend with your family and think of everything you have to be thankful for. So relax and enjoy thanksgiving!

Strength training routines and fat loss

Lately I've been noticing more emphasis on strength training routines for weight loss. I wonder if this is a growing trend, or maybe I'm just now becoming aware of it. In any case I have to say it's a good thing for anyone trying to get in shape.

Why are strength training exercises important for fat loss? Simply put, muscle burns more calories, and strength training builds more muscle. Remember that the emphasis should be on losing fat, not just losing weight. This is an important consideration when you begin any so called weight loss program.

Skip the fast food

Recently an acquaintance told me how he planned to gain weight. He began by telling me how tired he was of being skinny, and he ended the conversation by explaining how grateful he was to have a McDonald's nearby. Apparently his weight gain plan consisted of French fries and apple pies, with a little ice cream on the side. Needless to say I tried to explain the importance of a healthy diet that would help him gain muscle instead of fat. Hopefully, he now has a better understanding of how to gain healthy weight .

Don't look for shortcuts

In a previous post, I commented on the need to focus on the basics of bodybuilding -namely proper weight gain diet with more calories and protein and progressive resistance training. I also stated that supplements were not necessary, and many in fact are useless. With that in mind, you may wonder why supplements seem to do so well.

Why do bodybuilding supplements sell so well? They so well simply because so many bodybuilders are looking for the magic pill that will instantly deliver incredible results. Unfortunately, so many people in our society have become accustomed to looking for shortcuts and short term gratification. It's particularly sad when you consider that learning how to gain weight quickly is not as difficult as it may seem. The real magic pill is combining the right knowledge (weight gain diet plus proper workout routines) with determination. The beginner must understand that weight gain, like most worthwhile goals, requires diligence over the long term.

This may not be the most attractive proposition, but it is one that will serve you well in bodybuilding and in any other goal you choose.

What's your favorite exercise method?

You hear a lot about different workout methods, and I wanted to ask what your favorite method is.

So, what's your favorite workout? Is it free weights? Isometric exercises? Or maybe you prefer machines at the gym. While there are advantages to each of these methods, free weights are a great way to start if you want to know how to lose weight and gain muscle because they're inexpensive and allow a great range of motion.

Free weights like dumbbells also allow you to isolate one side of the body, and they don't generally require assistance or spotting. After all, if they get too heavy you can let them drop without much risk of harming yourself.

Gain muscle fast with the recovery recovery phase

I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard too much about the recovery phase in bodybuilding. After all, if you were to visit your local bookstore and browse through the bodybuilding magazines, you would most likely find little mention about recovery. Sure, there'd be plenty of ads to try and sell you the latest supplements and maybe even some useful advice on improving your training techniques. If you're having trouble making progress despite spending all of your time in the gym, however, you should take a moment to learn the importance of a recovery plan.

What exactly is the recovery phase? Well, let's review how muscle is built in the first place. In order for your body to build muscle, you first have to give your body a reason to build it. You see, on a basic biological level muscle is an expensive asset to have, and the body would rather not have to maintain it. The only way to stimulate new muscle growth is to give the body a reason to build it, and the way to do this is to take advantage of our basic biological need to survive.

Muscle fibers are damaged when we lift a heavier weight than we're used to. As long as there are enough nutrients, the muscle will be rebuilt bigger and stronger so the body can prevent a similar stress in the future. So how does this tie in to the importance of resting during the recovery phase? Muscles must be given time to repair before they're stressed again. This means that we must limit the frequency of our workouts in order to maximize their effect, and this is why many bodybuilding experts recommend only a few hours of training per week. You may have heard them referred to this concept with the motto Less is More.

In addition to carefully planning your workouts to avoid over training, you must make sure that you're getting plenty of sleep in order to experience the best possible muscle gains. Sleep is when your body repairs itself, and, as you learned above, the body has to repair and enlarge your muscle after a heavy workout. If you choose to ignore this advice, you may find yourself limiting your muscle growth potential. If you want to gain muscle naturally , don't forget recovery!

Should I take protein supplements to help build muscle?

While it's true that many supplements that claim to build muscle are not necessary or even useless, some supplements can be really helpful in achieving your goals. One such supplement is the most critical element in a muscle building diet. What is this supplement? It's protein, of course.

The truth is that protein powders can help you fill the gaps when it comes to getting enough calories and protein. You should try to get most of your protein from solid foods when trying to gain muscle mass, but protein powders can really help especially when you're on the go.

Try these foods to boost your muscle building

A recent article in NewsMax mentions eight common foods help boost your muscle building efforts. Especially noteworthy is the fact that water makes up 80% of your muscles, and dehydrated muscles will have more difficulty growing bigger. I'm not sure I would recommend caffeine, however, since I've heard of studies that link caffeine with heart disease. One such study from the British Medical journal lancet
Specifically mentioned that drinking a few cups of coffee daily increased your risk of heart disease by about 50%. If you're trying to gain muscle mass fast most of the recommendations in this article should help, however.

Don't believe everything you read

One of the places that a beginner bodybuilder might go to learn about the fundamentals might be the local bookstore, and one of the first stops in the bookstore would probably be the magazine rack. Looking to bodybuilding magazines can inspire a new bodybuilder by demonstrating what others have accomplished before. Though the pictures can be intimidating sometimes, many novice bodybuilders find the magazines exciting and take much of the information to heart. This can cause a major problem when it comes to choosing supplements to help build muscle. Did you know that many magazines actually own or are owned by supplement companies? Even when there is no direct affiliation between the magazine and the companies advertising their supplement products, there still seems to be a conflict of interest since the magazines rely on these advertisers. Advertisements, along with subscription fees, are how magazine companies make their money after all. This wouldn’t be such a problem if most readers realized this and had a healthy dose of skepticism when reading such ads. It also doesn’t help that many of the claims made by the supplement industry are questionable at best.

This brings us back to a critical concept of bodybuilding which tells us that supplements should not be the basis for a muscle building program. A few supplements can be useful for the advanced trainer who is trying to maximize his gains and has already developed a solid weightlifting and diet program. Most supplements, however, are either useless or are simply not necessary. The essential components of any bodybuilding workouts program will always be progressive resistance training and increasing one’s daily calories. Looking for shortcuts when you have not even mastered the basics will simply lead to disappointment and a lot of wasted money.

Bodybuilding tips for the beginner

In the beginning of a new bodybuilding program, the trainee is understandably enthusiastic and wants to see as much progress as possible as quickly as possible. This is a good thing of course, and it is important to take action while there is plenty of excitement and motivation to get going. However, this would be a good time to gain a little knowledge and do a little planning before getting started. Even though a person might be eager to get started, rushing ahead with misinformation can lead to major problems down the road. Not only can this impede your progress in a strength training program, but it can also lead to injury and illness if care is not taken in the beginning. Here are a few tips to help gain muscle safely and avoid pain in the future.

First, be sure to correct any weaknesses before tackling a more difficult program. If you have any lingering injuries, such as sports injuries or repetitive strain injuries, now is the time to correct these before they turn into something more serious. Check with your doctor to obtain a proper diagnosis, but you should also consider working with alternative healthcare professionals such as chiropractors and massage therapists. This so called alternative therapy is becoming more common and can offer recovery options that simply are not available in a doctor’s office. The important point to keep in mind is that these injuries should be dealt with before they become a more severe problem. Remember that an injury like tendonitis can hamper your ability to train and delay your progress significantly.

Another valuable tip to keep in mind, and one that is so often neglected by beginner bodybuilders, is the importance of a solid recovery program. Many beginners try to spend all of their time in the gym and think this extra effort will pay off in the long run. When they don’t experience any gains, or if they stop making progress shortly after some initial muscle-growth, the temptation is to increase the intensity or frequency of their strength training routines. Their logic is simple: more is better. While this may be a simple concept, it is inherently flawed because it ignores the basic principles of muscle-growth. The goal of a strength training workout in the gym is to challenge the muscle beyond its previous limits and create small tears in the muscle. The body will adapt to this new stress by rebuilding the muscle in a larger size (hypertrophy). However, the growth of the muscle itself will occur during the recovery phase, not during the actual workout in the gym. Allowing the body to heal before the next workout is critical to long-term success, and many experts only recommend as few as 3 hours of training per week! With this in mind, fewer workouts and a good night’s sleep are important tools in your body building arsenal. Remember that your muscles are not the only parts of your body that need to recover. Your central nervous system and immune system can be heavily taxed during a stressful work out and need plenty of time to recover. While the exact amount may vary from person to person, 8 hours of quality sleep is recommended for most folks. Note the word quality –growth hormone levels increase after an hour of deep sleep, so it is important to get the best sleep possible.

Finally, a word should be said about listening to bodybuilding advice at your local gym. If you hear some information that contradicts anything in this article, you may want to think twice before succumbing to peer pressure. If you want to be one of the guys that gains huge amounts of muscle in the shortest time possible, you would be wise to take these tips to heart and ignore the bodybuilding masses. Your goal should not be to copy everyone else; rather, you should aim to be extraordinary and achieve the most spectacular results possible. This doesn’t just mean gaining the most amount of muscle and becoming incredibly huge. What it really means in this case is that you should accomplish whatever muscle building goal you’ve set for yourself as safely and efficiently as possible.

Why supplements can give beginning bodybuilders false hope

So you’ve decided to start a new bodybuilding program to transform your body into a more muscular physique. What should be your first step to reach your new goal? If you’re thinking of buying the latest supplement fad, I would caution you to take a step back and think about the long-term consequences of such an approach. You may be looking for shortcuts that will transform your body quickly and easily without a lot of effort on your part. That’s quite understandable – you’re eager to obtain results as quickly as possible. That’s why many people begin to consider buying a host of supplements before they have even settled on their exact weight training program or a diet plan. However, these quick fixes rarely help you achieve your goals in the long run.

Take a deep breath and get ready for this: I believe that few if any supplements are necessary to gain muscle. I refer specifically to steroid alternatives and other supplements meant to enhance muscle growth without any further action from the consumer. (A careful distinction must be made here between these kinds of supplements which may not be necessary or even safe in the long term, and other supplements which promote general health such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and the like. I would also exclude protein supplements that simply provide food in a convenient manner.) At best, steroid alternatives may provide muscle growth that could have been achieved naturally and safely. At worst, they may cause the user long-term harm, either in health hazards or in their finances.
Everyone can experience huge muscle growth by following progressive strength training and increasing calorie consumption. Simply put, you need to gradually lift heavier weights and eat more food. Repeat until you achieve the desired results. You don't need to consider questionable steroid alternatives, or even more reliable substances such as creatine, until you have practiced basic principles and achieved as much success as you can. You can then consider something like creatine to give you an extra little boost for advanced progress. Be careful not to believe all the hype when you begin a new strength training or bodybuilding program. You have to commit to long-term learning and long-term training. Learning to rely on supplements first can put a heavy load on your bank account and ingrain some pretty unhealthy habits like choosing quick fixes instead of learning discipline and commitment.
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Jon Cardozo (Jcardozium) provides beginning bodybuilders with tips to gain muscle naturally. Visit his website for more information on how to gain muscle at http://maximum-muscle-gain.com