The Top 10 Ways to Pack on Muscle Mass (Part One)

In this post I will be introducing a three part series from another guest author, Anthony Ricciuto. Anthony is a sports nutritionist working with a variety of professional athletes including bodybuilders, powerlifters, weightlifters, strongmen, arm-wrestlers, football and hockey players, among others.

I asked him to share his expertise on how to gain lean muscle tissue while maintaining one's current body fat percentage. Well, we are in luck, because he has provided us with his article, The Top 10 Ways to Pack on Muscle Mass. For any strength athletes out there looking to go up a class, or anyone who wants to gain some serous muscle without putting on fat, this series is for you!

In fact, most of the information in his article relates to healthy nutrition guidelines for just about any active person.

Here is part one of his three part article:

Tip #1: Eat 5-6 Times per Day

Did you just say eat 6 times per day? Yes, that’s right! Don’t think that you are going to gain quality size eating 3 square meals per day. The only type of mass you will put on eating only 3 times daily will be the fat type, and this is not our objective. There is no way that you can reach your caloric or your macronutrient needs eating 3 meals per day.

If by some magical method you manage to eat enough calories in only 3 meals, than you will be so full and bloated, you won’t be able tie up your own shoes let alone pound out some heavy deadlifts. It’s scientifically impossible to optimize your performance on three meals per day.

When trying to put on size, you just can’t eat when you get hungry, otherwise it will take you a lot longer to get up to your next weight class. You have to eat by the clock, otherwise you will not meet your caloric and macronutrient needs by the time the day is over. With this in mind set a schedule that you will follow and have a meal or protein shake every 2.5- 3 hours. Not 4 or 5 hours but every 3! This is very important in your quest for size. This will make sure that you get at least 5 quality meals in per day.

I know that this sounds a little compulsive but in no time this will just become part of your lifestyle. This will mean that you will need to have all your food prepared the night before so that you will have it ready when you need it. Don’t just think that you will just cook something when the time comes as most likely you will get lazy and you will just skip the meal. You must prepare your meals ahead of time.

Eating every three hours has many benefits. First, it will keep your metabolism elevated. Second it will keep your blood sugar levels stable throughout the day and will prevent you from getting those after lunch energy lows that so many people complain of. Next it will keep you in a positive nitrogen balance and will supply a constant stream of amino acids to your muscles, thereby keeping you in an anabolic state. As you can see eating by the clock is definitely worth it!

Also remember to increase your calories gradually; don’t just jack them up like a maniac after reading this article. Each week try to increase your daily caloric intake by 250-750 calories depending on your weight, energy expenditure, metabolic rate, and level of insulin sensitivity. You have to slowly increase your calories or your digestive system will just get overloaded and will not be able to process and absorb the nutrients from the massive increase in food volume.

Tip #2: Drink Plenty of Water

Water is very important for many reasons. It has many health and performance benefits. It keeps your organs functioning properly, clears toxins, reduces excess sodium from your body, and it hydrates your muscle cells. It even liberates fat stores on your body so they are burned off as an energy source. Dehydration will cause a major decrement in performance. Even a 2% state of dehydration will cause your performance to go out the window.

Water plays a major role in cell volumization. This is where nutrients are pulled inside of the muscle cell causing a multitude of reactions that leads to muscle growth. Water is very important in many processes including digestion, transportation and the absorption of nutrients. So how much water should you drink on a daily basis? You should drink on average at least 1oz of water per kilogram of bodyweight. This is a figure that can be increased depending on many factors that affect your hydration level. This amount will start as your baseline from which you can build upon.

A 220 pound (100kg) powerlifter would need to drink 100 ounces or slightly over 3 quarts of water per day as his minimum daily water intake. There are also many benefits to drinking water. They include lowering your chances for high blood pressure and kidney stones. Both of these nice little health problems can really cause havoc on your training. Try banging out some box squats when you’re passing kidney stones the size of jawbreakers. It’s not going to happen.

Tip #3: Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is not considered a food group so why am I talking about it in my nutritional column you ask? The reason why sleep is going to be discussed here is that it is essential in gaining lean mass. Your body repairs and recovers from your workout as you sleep. During this time, your muscles grow! Remember this, if you aren’t sleeping you aren’t growing and getting stronger. Think back to a time when you couldn’t get optimal sleep either during university exam time, or another time when sleep was of the essence. Think back how your strength level was, or how you were actually losing size. So how much sleep do you need per day? You should be getting at least 8 full hours of sleep per day. If you can get a 1-2 hour nap per day on top of this it would be even better. Getting proper sleep is a must for muscle growth. Without it, you can kiss gains in strength and size goodbye!

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Watch for Part Two in my next post, and please leave your comments and feedback below!

Josh Hewett

Pulling For The Hungry

A good friend of mine, Conor Kelly of Evolution Fitness, dropped by for a workout. Check out www.pullingforthehungry.com ... He is training for a charity event where he will pull a school bus to raise money for hungry children. He wanted a workout... I GAVE him a workout! This is a short sample of our training session... we were at it for an hour and a half.

This is in support of a good cause and I'd really appreciate you taking a minute to check out http://pullingforthehungry.com

Keep it real,

Josh

Tribute to Women of Strength

Here is a short video with several of my friends, colleagues, team mates, and clients training for competition or just to stay in shape.

Regardless of whether I am training male or female clients, I approach their strength training program with a similar intensity. Of course there will be small variations in each individuals workout, but to get results both men and women need to participate in a serious strength training program as part of their overall exercise plan.

Unfortunately, there is still a stigma attached to serious strength training for women. Many women mistakenly believe that resistance training will create large, unattractive muscles. Some women think they have to lose their body fat before starting to weight train, or the fat will “turn into muscle”. The truth is that the vast majority of women do not have the genetics to build large muscles. It is also impossible to turn fat into muscle, or muscle into fat, as each cell is completely different from one another.

Strength training has been proven to benefit all populations, both male and female, from young athletes to older adults. In fact, intense resistance training provides tremendous benefits to women, in particular. Traditionally, women depended on a low calorie diet and cardiovascular activity to “get in shape”. Unfortunately, low calorie diets simply depress your metabolism and, without including resistance training, make it nearly impossible to attain long term results. It has now been demonstrated that strength training is essential if you want to get leaner and reshape your body. But the benefits of strength training go far beyond physical appearance:

1) Increased Metabolic Rate – This is a very important benefit of strength training for women. A good strength training program will increase your resting metabolism by increasing the calories you burn every day! This helps you reduce body fat much more quickly! This becomes especially significant for middle age women, because strength training can help them avoid the typical metabolic ‘slump’ that often occurs at that stage in life. Therefore, the secret to staying lean as we age is not to eat less, but to do more strength training!

2) Increasing Bone Density - Strength training prevents and combats osteoporosis by maintaining or increasing bone density. This reduces risk of fractures and other health issues. Once again, this becomes even more important as we age.

3) Lean Muscle Gain - Note: You will NOT get big and bulky by strength training! Women do not produce enough testosterone to develop excessively large muscles. You would need to train with very heavy weights, eat significantly more, and dedicate yourself for years to becoming a bodybuilder in order to “bulk up”, and even then most women would not become overly muscular. Simply lifting weights as part of a regular strength training program will make you leaner, stronger, and more “shapely” or toned. Keep in mind, for every pound of lean muscle you have you will burn about 50 calories each day! This is a good reason to maintain or gain that lean tissue!

4) Injury Prevention - Strength training strengthens our muscles and tendons, as well as bones, as already mentioned. Once again, this is important as we get older. Strength training for women and men is highly recommended for injury prevention.

5) Better Balance - Stronger legs and core muscles, as well as greater neural muscular control, means an increase in overall balance and coordination.

6) Decrease Risk of Coronary Disease - Strength training can reduce your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Heart disease is one of the highest causes of death for women each year.

7) Rehabilitation and Recovery – Building stronger muscles and more stable joints is one of the best ways to recover from an injury. By ensuring the muscles surrounding a joint are trained in a balanced manner, and strong on both sides, you speed the rehabilitation process.

8) Enhanced Performance in Physical Activity – This results in a better quality of life. Regular daily activities are performed with less effort.

9) Aging Gracefully – Strength training can help you maintain stable hormone levels, prevent “sagging” bodyparts, keep a more youthful figure, and improve your posture.

10) Look and Feel Better – Strength training can improve your self image by keeping your body looking younger, healthier and leaner. Strength training will reduce body fat, increase muscle tone, regulate blood sugar levels, and help you build strength and confidence. The physical results alone are a great reason to start strength training, but the mental benefits are awesome as well.

Quite often women will avoid using heavy weights while strength training because they are afraid of “bulking up”. Unfortunately, if not enough resistance is used the muscle will not be challenged enough to become more "toned" or "shaped". Consistent hard work is necessary to become more toned and to reshape your physique! You need to lift weights that are heavy enough to cause muscle fatigue.

To achieve safe results quickly, you should follow an effective program designed by a certified fitness professional. As always, consult with your physician before beginning any new exercise routine. I hope this article has inspired you to take your strength training program seriously and I wish you the best in reaching your fitness and performance goals!

Stay Fit,

Josh Hewett

The Importance of SLEEP!

Today I want to talk about an important topic that many people (including myself) often neglect: SLEEP!

Getting sufficient quality sleep is integral to your physical and mental wellbeing, but in today's fast paced culture more and more busy people don't get enough of it. My hope is that sharing some of the benefits of sleep will convince you to make it one of your priorities.

First of all, getting at least 7 to 9 hours of restful sleep each night will stimulate your body to produce higher levels of Human Growth Hormone. Among its many health benefits, HGH aids in fat loss while maintaining lean muscle tissue.

Another important benefit of sleeping more is improved memory and concentration. Your physical performance will also improve noticeably, as well as your productivity at work or school.

Studies show that those who get more sleep are less likely to have accidents or suffer injuries. In addition, sleep accelerates your recovery from physical activity and speeds healing of injuries if they do occur.
Finally, sleep helps reduce the negative effects of stress on your body. This is significant because so many chronic diseases develop as a result of cumulative stress. These are just a few of the many benefits of sleeping well.

To ensure you get a good quality sleep each night, follow these tips:

•Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Develop a routine.
•Aim to get 7 to 9 hours nightly, getting to bed before midnight if possible.
•Keep the room you sleep in as dark and quiet as possible.
•Avoid any physical or mental stimulation right before going to sleep. Try not to watch TV or study at bedtime as it may make it harder for your brain to "turn off".
•Avoid using sleeping pills or drinking more than one serving of alcohol at night.
•Do not drink excessive amounts of coffee or caffeinated beverages during the day.

Wishing you a good night's sleep!

Josh Hewett

Get Strong: Tribute to the Liquid Scream

I was inspired to put this video together from watching Joe Defranco's Strong movie promo; watch it on YouTube HERE.

It's done as a bit of a spoof, (with a ridiculous number of fake up-chucks) but we're all huge fans of Defranco's work, so this is all in good fun. You definitely have to check out his movie at http://strongmovie.com ... it will jack you up! His athletes train with some crazy intensity, and now our guys are going to 'bring it' as well!

We took some real training footage, then added a couple of cans of chicken soup for a laugh (obviously all those "technicolor yawns" are NOT real!), and I edited a video montage similar to Joe's. OK, only one puking scene in our video is actually real... can you guess which one?

Also, keep an eye out for our new Barbarian Strength program, coming soon at http://barbarianstrength.com!

Enjoy... and train like a BEAST!!

How to Exercise Your Baby

I learned alot from this... just wish I had seen it a few months ago!