In the world of bodybuilding, there is one thing that everybody wants, and that is muscle, more and more muscle.

Sure, shape and proportion are nice, but at the end of the day, it always comes down to muscle.

In fact, I don’t think there is young man out there who went to the gym for the first time wanting a better shape.

Nope, they go to the gym for one reason, to get massive.

With that thought in mind, I give you three tips that will help you build muscle.

POST WORKOUT NUTRTION

First on our list is post workout nutrition, and it is first for a reason, because it is very important.

Can you add muscle without paying attention to your post workout nutrition, sure, but who wants to grow slowly, when you can help speed up the process?

Contrary to popular opinion you do not need to go out and by one of those fancy post workout mixes, a simple whey protein isolate shake will get the job done, especially if you are looking to gain mostly muscle.

If you don’t care if you can some fat along with the muscle, you can mix your whey protein isolate shake in some juice and if you have the funds you can toss in some creatine as well.

STRENGTH LEADS SIZE

In my opinion, most young bodybuilders miss the mark when it comes to getting stronger.

I know that bodybuilding is not power lifting, however, when you get stronger on the basic lifts, like squats, dead lifts, overhead presses with dumbbells, and the like this translates into being able to use more weight when you transition back into a more traditional bodybuilding style routine.

And it is for this reason, that I recommend bodybuilders go on a mini power cycle every year for six to eight weeks where the sole focus is to get stronger on the basic lifts.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO EAT

Most bodybuilders looking to gain muscle are young, usually in there late teens or early twenties, and this is the ideal time for people to gain muscle because hormone levels as well as metabolism is high, which is the ideal time to gain some muscle.

How so?

Simple.

By eating, yes eating, too many young bodybuilders are scared of getting fat, when at this point that is the last thing they should worry about.

With their metabolisms raging combined with heavy training, most if not all of the food they take in, will either be burned off, or used to build muscle.

So if you are a young man looking to pack on some serious size, eat.

By eating I am not referring to stuffing your face with junk food, no, I mean you should eat six to seven meals per day.

Meals loaded with protein, healthy carbs, and healthy fats.

Foods like lean beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, should make up the bulk of your protein choices and things like, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and plenty of fruits and vegetables of all kinds should make up the bulk of your carbohydrates.

For fats, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish like sardines, should make up your healthy fat sources.

And of course, a few stops at your favorite fast food place are O.K., but just don’t over-do-it.

CONCLUSION

Gaining muscle, even when you do everything right, is not easy, but I know if you follow the above three tips, you will gain muscle faster and easier than every before.

TAKE CARE

It doesn’t matter the reason, we all go through it, schedules get busy, time starts to get short, but one thing that doesn’t change is the desire we have to train.

Trouble is, you wanted to do a whole bunch of exercises today, but you don’t have the time.

You could skip the workout, but really this is not an option.

So instead of skipping the workout, try this.

Pick two exercises and work them hard and that is it.

However, you must pick two exercises that work the major muscle groups of the body.

Something like squats and bent over rows would be good.

Again, the key here is because you know you are only going to be doing two exercises, you can (and should) give them all you have.

Give yourself enough rest between sets so you can use maximum weight.

You might be thinking,

This does not sound like much.

Trust me; if you give two major exercises everything you have, it will be enough.

For me I always like to add-in some ab work, like steep incline sit ups, when I have finished the two exercises, or ANY workout for that matter, but you can end the workout right there, or add in your own special exercise.

Something like farmers walk’s (which is basically walking for a specific time or distance while carrying a heavy object in each hand, and dumbbells work well for this) would end the workout nicely.

And then the next time you are going to train pick two completely different exercises and give them all-you’ve got.

SOME COMMENTS

I know some people won’t like this idea, but to me it works and here is why.

Most of us spend way too much time doing exercise that give very little bang for the buck.

Like barbell curs, triceps kickbacks, and some funky routine we picked up in a muscle magazine.

When, really, all along what we should be doing is working hard on the basics.

Things like overhead presses with dumbbells, dead lifts, squats, bent over rows, chins, and pull ups.

The above exercises, plus more, as this is only a short list, are the ones that will help us add muscle to our fames.

Yes, they are demanding, but nothing good comes easy.

The second reason I like this method is because when you are only going to be doing exercises, you don’t have to save anything for later.

You can really give both exercises all you have, and need not worry about the tenth exercise of the day.

CONCLUSION

Yes, only doing two exercises per workout might be a change, but give the above idea an honest chance, and I know, if you do that and work the two exercise that you pick hard, very hard, you will see results.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

WORK HARD

You see these workouts in the magazines, where they have you work through your heavy sets, say sets of eight to twelve reps, and then they have you finish up with some kind of pump out sets of twenty reps to help end the workout with a pump.

On paper this sounds like a great concept.

After all you are hitting everything in one shot, but to my mind that is exactly the problem with this style of training.

Where is the variety?

You can’t say, go out and do sets of twenty, because you already did those.

You could do sets of five, but still.

I think you would be better served to mix things up.

For example, do a six week cycle of 10×3, that’s ten sets of three reps per set.

Followed by and six week cycle, of the popular 5 x 5 method, that’s five sets of five reps per set, followed by a more traditional bodybuilding style rep range or eight to twelve reps per set, for four sets.

Then you can do a cycle of twenty rep sets.

Everything you would do above would hit the muscles a bit differently and by my count you would have twenty-four weeks before you would go back to the 10 x 3 method.

Of course, you could also add super-sets to the mix.

A super set for those of you who are new to bodybuilding is basically doing two exercises back to back with little to no rest, think just as long as it takes you to start the second exercise.

A typical super set would be barbell curls super setted with triceps push downs.

You would do one super set and then rest for say one minute and repeat for your desired number of sets.

A COUPLE OF POINTS

I know some of you might take issue with the sets of twenty reps.

But to me one of the things that separates a muscle that grows well, from one that does not, is the ability to get a good pump in the muscle.

By doing sets of twenty you will help to really pump up the muscle you’re working, and to me this is never a bad thing.

The other thing about doing cycles like these is that you will never get bored, because just when you are looking to try something different your six week cycle will be up and you will be able to move on to another style of training.

I realize that you do not have to switch it up at strictly six weeks, you can use whatever timetable you want.

If you get bored easily, switch up every two weeks, if you don’t get bored that easy, you can stick with one style until your gains stall out, if that is two months or three or even longer that’s cool.

CONCLUSION

They say variety is the spice of life, and I see no reason why it cannot be the spice of your training as well.

So why do everything in one workout?

When you can switch back-and-forth between styles, to not only keep your body guessing, but your mind fresh as well.

Until Next Time

THINK VARIETY

With Friday comes another random thoughts of the week post, where I am going to cover what has gone on this past week in bodybuilding.

Enjoy!

Up first I want to go back to something I touched on before, Dennis Wolf at the just past Mr. Olympia.

Reason being, is that, there is a big thread on what happened to Dennis at the Olympia, on one of the more popular bodybuilding sites on the web.

A Lot of people are saying that he should dump Chad Nicholas and switch to someone else.

Personally, I was not aware of all the people Chad has trained, but after reading the posts, I agree, I think he should get rid of Chad and try Pit Trenz or Charles Glass.

But again this is just my opinion.

Another thing that was pointed out on the thread was words to the effect that since he placed so low he will have less pressure, I agree with this, he can go back home, get his head together and just train and grow.

However, one point that Dennis needs to deal with now is qualifying for the Mr. O, as last year he was already in based on him placing in the top ten.

This means he will have to do at least one show, but maybe more, to qualify for the O.

But, in fairness to Dennis, this could be EXACLTY what he needs, because if something happens at the first show he enters, say he comes in flat, he can learn for this mistake and try and fix it for his next show.

Which can help him come prep time for the O.

I touched on this before, but Dennis has, according to what I’ve read, an extremely fast metabolism, so this can be a factor in why he just can’t get is condition spot on.

Another factor with Dennis, could be that his metabolism while still fast, it has started to slow, and since it was always very fast, he did not know how to deal with this.

Dennis is still young, as noted in a prior post I believe he is still in his twenties or just thirty, so he has plenty of time.

With another year of solid training under his belt Dennis can come back next year and really surprise a lot of people.

HANEY OR CUTLER

I saw this poll question and wanted to comment on it.

They are asking who has the better physique, Lee Haney or Jay Cutler

For those who don’t know Lee started his run of eight consecutive Olympia’s in nineteen eighty four.

To me it is no contest, Lee Haney all the way.

Better shape, small waist, to me he just looks better.

I realize Jay Cutler is big than Lee, but to me, again Lee just looks better.

O.K.

That’s all for this week.

HOPE YOUR WEEKEND GOES GREAT.

Until Next Week

WORK SMART

One sports figure that I really admire is Tiger Woods, to be honest I don’t admire him because he is a golfer I admire him because of the way he plays.

Let me explain.

I think Tiger has pretty much nailed it down so that even if he were to retire today he would go down as one of the greatest golfers in history.

Plus he has enough money to live the rest of his life the way he wants to.

But, he still wants to win more tournaments, get more trophies.

Wouldn’t you think it would be easy for him to wake up and say, well, I’ve done enough I really don’t need to do much more.

But he doesn’t, and that is what separates him for all the others.

Same goes for training, yes, you just gained ten pounds—six months ago.

Of course after an all out training blitz you do need a break, but not six months.

Or are you simply living off you past gains, and not really motivated anymore to train as hard as you need in order to make another ten pound weight gain.

To illustrate what I am talking about, I want to bring something up that I read by Ron Harris in the current issue of Iron Man Magazine.

He said that he got put through a biceps workout by six time Mr. O Dorian Yates and he realized that he really wasn’t putting out as much effort as he thought he was, in his own training.

Sorry Mr. Harris if I missed quoted you a bit, but I was writing the above from memory.

SOME POINTS

The thing to remember is, are you really putting in a great workout, or are you satisfied with just going through the motions.

Another thing to consider is your eating and sleeping habits.

What I mean by this is, if you are chronically tired from lack of sleep or really do not take in enough quality calories to make gains, you may think you are training hard, but the reality of the situation is that you probably are not.
So make sure you have all your bases covered, as it is easy especially for veteran lifters to think that they have it all under control, when if fact they have been slipping up little by little, like staying up later than they used to, or missing meals.

All the while thinking that they are doing everything right, but wondering why their gains have slowed.

CONCLUSION

The next time you find yourself loafing between sets; re commit yourself to working at a quicker pace and really giving it your all—on every rep and every set.

Same goes for your eating habits.

Examine them and make sure you are really getting in six to eight quality meals per day or have you been slipping up and have been too tired to get those last couple of meals in.

Over time those kinds of things can make the difference between making gains and making none or losing fat and losing none.

It doesn’t take much to get into the groove again, and one other thing you can try is sitting back one day and thinking back to why you got into this sport of bodybuilding in the first place—not to mention flipping through an old muscle magazine as this can bring the memories flooding back, and along with it your old zeal and excitement for training.

Until Next Time

KEEP WORKING

Just like well developed shoulders, I feel that one reason a well developed set of upper pecs is so impressive is that, well you really do not see too many people that have upper pecs that are well developed.

To me this can be attributed to one thing, the flat bench press.

While it is true that some genetically gifted bodybuilders can develop very balanced (meaning all areas of the chest, from lower to inner to outer to upper to all areas in between) chest development from just doing flat benches, most of us, myself included, see more in the way of middle and lower pec development from doing flat benches.

Of course, some people see very little growth at all in their pecs from benching, with most of the growth coming in the form of well developed triceps and front delts—and while muscle growth is muscle growth, most people want chest growth for their benching efforts, not growth in the aforementioned body parts.

ENTER THE INCLINE PRESS

Do you know what exercise was the number one choice for most people looking to build up their upper bodies’ back-in-the-day? (the 50’s and 60’s)

If you guessed the flat bench press—you must step to the back of the line.

However, if you guessed the over head press with a barbell—go to the front of the class you are correct.

O.K.

You might be thinking, what does the over head press have to do with building a massive chest, after all I thought it was primarily a shoulder exercise.

You are correct, it is, however, just like the over head press fell out of favor, another exercise, that never quite reached a high level of use—ranks as a better over-all upper body—and chest builder than the flat bench.

The exercise I am referring to is the incline press done with a barbell or dumbbells.

Why?

Truthfully it comes down to a number of things: First, unlike the flat bench, the incline press requires stricter form which helps prevent injuries. Second, it works those all important upper pecs, which ranks up there with the most neglected of body parts. Third, the incline press carries over far greater on the athletic field than does the flat bench press.

SOME POINTS

The incline press done with either a barbell or dumbbells is a great way to build your upper chest—however please don’t be overly concerned with how much weight you can lift, especially if you haven’t tried this exercise before.

Always remember, your goal as a bodybuilder is to work your muscles (in this case the upper pecs) hard enough so that they must grow—NOT to see how much weight you can get from point A to point B.

Also, if you have any shoulder discomfort from using a barbell, try giving dumbbells a go.

THE ROUTINE

In the beginning stick with the tried-and-true 5 x 5 program (that’s five sets of five reps per set, for a total of twenty five reps) and really learn or re learn how to do the lift properly.

After you’ve got the form down—then you can worry about changing rep schemes and adding weight.

One point, the incline press requires stricter form that the flat bench, so you might have to swallow your ego a bit and go down in weight more than you’d like—but remember your muscles don’t know how much weight is on the bar.

A TIP

Lower the barbell or dumbbells slowly to your chest and then pause for a couple of seconds before pressing the bar or dumbbells back up.

You want your upper chest taking the brunt of the work, not other muscles.

NUTRITION BASICS

As good as the incline barbell or dumbbell press is for building the upper pecs not much will come from all your hard work if you are not eating correctly.

If you are looking to gain mass—combine the above exercise with other big lifts like squats, dead lifts, and bent over rows, etc.—make sure your are getting one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (so if you weigh one hundred and fifty pounds you would take in one hundred and fifty grams of protein) from sources like, lean beef, chicken, turkey, and eggs.

Up next are plenty of high quality carbs like oatmeal (preferably steel cut oats) brown rice, yams, and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Along with this take in good fats from fatty fish like sardines, nuts, seeds and a good quality fish oil supplement.

A WORD ON POST WORKOUT NUTRITION

You see ads all over the magazines touting amazing sounding products.

However, lets cut the baloney, while some of those products are great, tons of quality muscle has been built over the years with nothing but good old fashioned hard work and good quality food.

No secret ingredients, no hype.

So please if you can’t afford those expensive post-workout (or any supplements for that matter) supplements don’t worry about it, just take in a good quality meal like white meat chicken and white rice after your workout (as you don’t want to much fat and fiber in your post workout meal as this will slow absorption) and you will be fine.

CONCLUSION

Honestly, I know if you give the incline barbell or dumbbell press an honest try, not only will you be well on your way to building another part of your X Frame Physique—

You might have to buy new shirts to make room for all of your new chest size!

Until Next Time

NEVER QUIT

For my money the best thing you can be when you go out to drop your hard earned money on something is—educated.

And that is EXACTLY what you will be—if you buy Bodybuilding Revealed—the next time you go out to drop big bucks on a supplement.

Why?

Simple.

In Bodybuilding Revealed Will Brink lays out everything you need to know about supplements—everything from Whey Protein to HMB.

Plus if you have a question all you have to do is visit Will’s private members only forum—which you get access to when you purchase Bodybuilding Revealed—and ask a question and either Will himself or one of his very educated moderators will answer your question.

And you know what—this feature alone will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year on supplements because you’ll KNOW which ones are worth the money and which ones are pure garbage.

Honesty, if Will only provided this feature the book would be worth its weight in gold, but no, Will covers training with just as much zest and zeal as he did supplements.

Will hits it straight on covering everything from whole body programs to the classic three day split to four day splits as well.

Honestly, there is one section during the training chapter that I am glad Will talks about and this is—keeping detailed records—doing so is vital and really can make a difference in your progress.

Another thing that separates Bodybuilding Revealed from the amateur books out there written by so-called experts is the way Will put Bodybuilding Revealed together.

I’ve read hundreds of e-books and I can’t remember very many that were set up the way Will’s book is.

The side bar on the left gives you quick one click access to any chapter of the book—want to re-read that section on nutrition—simply click—saves you time by putting the information you want right at your finger tips.

Plus throughout the book there are links to Will’s forum—so for example if you are reading about whey protein ( Will’s information on whey protein is excellent I might add) you can simply click the link provided and it will take you directly to the members area so you can discuss this topic with other members of Will’s forum—or ask a question.

Again, this is just another little extra that sets Will’s book apart from the rest.

Will Brink’s Bodybuilding Revealed is a soup to nuts affair—everything and anything YOU need to improve your body is here.

From nutrition to cardio—Will covers everything you need to not only make informed buying decisions but, to also make informed choices about how to train and eat to make your body the best it can be.

Bodybuilding Revealed gets my highest recommendation for anyone who wants to learn how to burn fat, build muscle, and totally reshape their body using the power of solid nutrition, training and good honest supplements.

Note: Please if you do nothing else if you know anyone (but young men and women in particular) who want to start bodybuilding please buy them a copy of this book—so they can get started the right way—

Before they get brainwashed by all of the fancy ads and goofball information that is out there.

I wish I had access to this when I started training over twenty years ago!

Great job Will!

For more information on Will’s

Fantastic book—CLICK HERE.

There has been a lot of talk on the forums and in one of the major muscle magazines about which diet is better, the low or no carb diet, or dieting with carbs.

For me, personally I have always been a low carb guy.

Why?

Simple.

I gave the carb thing a try and it did not work for me.

And this is the main point of this post—regardless of if you are into low carbs no carbs or carbs—the best thing you can do is try everything and see how it works for you.

Reading about the benefits of low carbs is great, but if you never try it, how can you really know for sure if it works—for you.

Heck, you might feel wonderful on low carbs—but then again you might feel terrible—but you would have never known this fact if you didn’t try it.

Same goes for different methods of training, some people can gain doing singles and while this approach might look goofy or appear to be without merit—the only thing that counts is that this method works for that particular person.

So even though it might go against all you thought you knew about building muscle—lets say the next time you go stale on a routine—you think back to that guy you saw doing singles—and give them a shot.

Hey the worst thing that can happen is that they don’t work for you—no big deal—lesson learned and you move on.

SOME POINTS

One thing most people forget is that the body is always changing, so you know that super mass gaining routine that you did when you were eighteen—well now that you are thirty five it just might not work anymore.

Same goes for your nutrition—you know that all day pig-out fest you’ve been having for years on Tuesday—worked great up until six months ago—again your body could have changed.

A WORD ON LOW CARBS

As long as I brought up the low carb, no carb, and carb debate, I might as well chime in with my two cents.

Honestly, I feel that most people eat way too many carbs—for the reason being that most people’s lifestyles are VERY sedentary.

Even if you lift weights hard for an hour four days per week, the rest of the time you might be sitting at a desk somewhere eight or more hours per day.

There are exceptions of course, the guy who busts-his-but in the gym four days per week and has a physical job eight hours per day will obviously need more carbs (and calories) than the rest of us.

However, for the most part, I think people (after getting the O.K. from their doctor or health care provider) would do better on a lower carb diet.

To me though, there is a limit, the whole no carb or trace carb diet, where the only carbs that are found in the diet are the ones found in nuts and seeds and vegetables—for example—is pushing it WAY too far.

People will only stick to something that they can live with and I don’t think too many people can live with the no carb thing—for very long anyway.

O.K.

That ends my rant on the carb debate.

CONCLUSION

Trying new things can be hard, but if you don’t try you will never know.

So the next time you are at a loss for a new way to train—how about having the courage to try something out-of-the-ordinary.

Who knows, you might just discover a new favorite way to train.

Until Next Time

KEEP AN OPEN MIND

Setting goals is a great way to motivate your self to make progress, however, as with everything; there is a right way and a WRONG way to go about it.

Say for example, you are one hundred and ten pounds soaking wet (and maybe just maybe your pet elephants big toe was on the scale).

Plus your arms are only eleven inches.

Now, of course, you want to be two hundred and fifty pounds ripped-to-the-bone with twenty-two inch arms.

Plus you wanted it yesterday.

As lofty of a goal as the above is, a better way to go about making progress, is to focus on mini (or short term) goals.

For example in instead of saying I want to gain thirty pounds in six weeks.

Say, I am going to gain a half pound to one pound of bodyweight per week.

I know the later does not sound like much, but if you slowly but surely gain weight (good solid weight) every week or every-other-week, you will over time reach your main goal of putting on thirty pounds.

Same goes for losing weight, if you want to lose thirty pounds by next summer, break it up into mini goals.

For example, tell yourself I am going to walk an extra three miles this week.

When you accomplish that goal set another, like I am going to walk more hills this week.

Little, by little as you achieve your mini goals you will as a result, be achieving your main goal as well.

CONCLUSION

Goal setting is a great way to achieve whatever it is you want, be it a better body, more money, or a better job.

However, looking at a goal that may take you a year or more to achieve can really be hard to handle.

But by breaking your main goal up into a set of easier to reach (say week long mini goals) not only will you have something to strive for every week—you will slowly but surely be getting closer and closer to achieving your main goal.

One last point—

Don’t get so caught up in achieving your goal—that you forget to enjoy the journey.

Until Next Time

STAY FOCUSED

In the last post we talked about building wide shoulders, by building up the side delt head using the overhead press, either done with a barbell or dumbbells.

To reiterate what I said in the last post—to me wide shoulders—tell the world I am strong and in shape—and yes building up your shoulders is a terrific way to start building YOUR X Frame physique.

YOUR SECOND EXERCISE

While I truly believe that anyone can build cannon ball sized delts with the overhead press alone I also know that I would be cheating you out of growth if I did not include this next exercise.

LEAN AWAY LATERALS

Lean away laterals are a fantastic exercise for adding plenty of meat to your side delt head (the one that will truly make you look like you won’t be able to fit through a doorway).

To do them grab a moderately heavy dumbbell and with your free hand grab hold of something sturdy and lean until your body is at approximately a forty-five degree angle.

Raise the dumbbell until it is just about at head height.

The reason this exercise is so good at packing muscle on the side head of the delts is because a greater load is placed on the side delt at the top of the movement.

SOME POINTS

To get the most out of the above movements I would hit the overhead press hard using the tried and true 5×5 program (that’s five sets of five reps per set for a total of 25 reps).

Gradually trying to increase the amount of weight you use on this exercise.

For the lean-away-laterals I would not go as heavy (relatively speaking of course) and aim for a more traditional 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps per set.

Of course, the above are just guides and should not be thought of as the only way to do these exercises—once you get comfortable with them feel free to shake-it-up as you see fit.

DON’T FORGET QUALITY NUTRITION

Lots of people blast it at the gym and then wonder, why they are not seeing the results they want.

Plenty of times it is because of their nutrition or I should say lack of nutrition.

The above exercises are fantastic but to make optimal progress you need to treat your eating habits just like you treat your workouts—to important to miss.

Focus on eating every two to three hours and make sure you are getting one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, so for example if you weigh two hundred pounds then you would need to shoot for two hundred grams of protein per day divided up into six meals.

Protein should come from lean beef, chicken, turkey, fatty fish, whole eggs, etc.

Carbs sources should be things like oatmeal (preferably steel cut oats) whole wheat breads (the kind that have at least five grams of fiber per slice), yams, sweet potatoes, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables.

Fats should come from fatty fish like sardines and salmon (for the omega 3 fatty acids) natural peanut butter (read labels to make sure the peanut butter you choose does not include extra sugar) and all kinds of nuts and seeds.

And yes, if you are young and your metabolism is running along, a couple of trips (every now-and-then) to your favorite fast food place won’t hurt.

A WORD ON POST WORKOUT NUTRITION

A lot has been made lately of post workout nutrition, but don’t let it be the determining factor in whether or not you make gains.

By this I mean, if you have the money and can afford a good post workout product or just a high quality whey product shake for that matter, great.

If not, just eat a high quality, highly nutritious meal after your workout—although you don’t want too much fat or fiber in this meal, so something like white meat chicken and white rice would be good.

Trust me on this point, plenty of world class gains have been made, on nothing but good quality food and hard work, so don’t let your lack of fancy supplements hold you back.

CONCLUSION

Overhead presses and lean away laterals give you the perfect one-two punch for building massive and wide shoulders.

Always remember to warm up first, and then hit it hard, but sensibly.

If you do this, maybe one day, someone will mistake your shoulders for boulders!

Until Next Time

WORK HARD BUT SMART