Rule 1: EAT!
I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked
by others on how to gain muscle. I always answer back with a question;
what are your eating habits? Nine times out of ten they are poor.
They either eat a ton of junk food or not nearly enough food, period.
In your mission to gain weight, you must EAT! You must eat enough all
day every day and create a calorie surplus. This does not mean eat
everything in sight, but just enough for your body to utilize for your
rigorous workouts.
Rule 2: Eat Right
Make sure the food you intake is of healthy
choices. Get in good carbohydrates such as cereals, oatmeal, rice,
potatoes, pasta, wheat bread, and plenty of fruits and vegetables.
Choose healthy proteins such as turkey, chicken, beef, fish, skim
milk, egg whites, and light cheeses. I would not worry too much about
fats. If most of your diet is of the healthy variety and your goal is
to gain weight, the fat content will take care of itself.
Rule 3: Eat Often
Looking back at my old habits, I was guilty of not
eating often enough. I would many times skip breakfast and then eat a
massive lunch and dinner. Two meals a day was not the best approach.
When I began weight training I started eating three solid meals per
day with two homemade supplement shakes in between. Talk about crazy! I
would mix about three or four heaping spoonfuls of non-fat yogurt,
about 5 egg whites, three or four cups of milk and then two scoops of
cement-tasting protein powder. Blend it all up and I had myself a super
mass 3000 muscle shake! Now, I do not recommend that in particular,
whereas now there are so many great products on the market. But the
point is to eat frequently with most meals being actual food and
possibly a shake or two added to the mix. A sample daily menu could look as simple as this:
Breakfast:
1 bowl of oatmeal or healthy whole grain cereal with milk, banana, 1 glass of orange juice or milk
Midmorning:
Protein shake
Lunch:
One or two turkey sandwiches on wheat bread, piece of fruit or granola bar
Afternoon:
1 Bowl of oatmeal or whole grain cereal or sandwich with natural peanut butter, glass of skim milk.
Post workout:
Protein shake
Dinner:
Chicken, beef or fish with pasta, rice, or potatoes
Rule 4: TRAIN!
You will not gain muscle if you do not train. Not
only that, but you will not gain muscle if you do not train hard! I
cannot tell you how many times I look around the gym and see so many
people playing on their cell phone and/or their MP3 player. So much
time is wasted fooling with these devices that precious time is lost.
These are the same individuals that tell me that they have tried
everything and just cannot gain any muscle weight. Others simply are
there to mingle, socialize, or just plain hang out. When you get to
the gym show up with a goal, show up to train, show up to train hard!
Love going to the gym, love training, have fun training, but train! I
used to think to myself: the longer I waited between sets after a
certain amount of time my muscles would start to shrink. True or not
it fired me up to lift hard and heavy on my next set.
Rule 5: Train smart
Do not train just to train, train smart. When I
started I was doing 30 plus sets per body part sometimes up to 40
while spending 3 to 3 ½ hours per day in the gym. I was grossly
overtraining, but that is how we all did it back then. My training
partner would do 40 plus sets for triceps alone! In this case more is
definitely not better; however, I see a lot of guys barely do much in
the gym worth anything. Not enough work, not enough intensity, and not
enough attention to form and function. Do just enough to work the
muscle properly and then leave. Too much of anything is bad for you so
adjust your volume, reps, movements, and splits according to your
specific needs.I am a big believer of using your fast metabolism to your advantage. Whereas many have written before regarding “hardgainers” needing to train less often, rest a lot and so forth I am quite the opposite. I feel someone with a fast metabolism can workout more frequently due to there quick turn around to repair muscle tissue. If your nutrition is sound and consistent, there is no reason not to work every body part twice per week.
A good split can look like this:
1. Chest/Back
2. Shoulders/Arms
3. Thighs/Calves
Or
1. Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
2. Thighs/Calves
3. Back/Biceps
Rule 6: Leave your ego at the door
How much ya bench? Who cares! If your goals are not
sport-specific then do not worry too much about being able to bench a
lot of weight. Your goal should be to be strong all over. I was never
a big bencher, but I could always curl a ton of weight. However I was
never worried about what others thought of my strength. My goals were
to always push myself past my own limits, to challenge myself with
every set and rep and to work toward realizing my own potential. Sure,
push yourself, and sometimes max out and see where your strengths lie,
but not at the expense of safety. Egos can sometimes get you hurt and
cause an injury, taking months to repair.
Rule 7: Supplement wisely
You see them everywhere: supplement ads. A
supplement is just that: items in addition to your already
well-rounded eating plan of solid food. Do not go overboard with
powders, pills, and potions. They have their place in a program, but
as a teen you may want to see how your body reacts first to good
nutrition and hard training. After several years you may want to
experiment to see which supplements will work for you. Rule of thumb:
if you do decide to try a supplement do so one at a time, read the
labels and take accordingly. If you have any questions ask a
healthcare professional.
Rule 8: Rest
You grow when you are adequately rested. This means
getting the recommended eight hours of sleep per night if not more.
When your body is asleep it has the opportunity to repair and grow
from that intense training session you did earlier. Lack of sleep
equals less growth and improvement. Also, try getting in a 15 to 20
minute power nap before hitting the gym. It will recharge you and do
wonders for your performance in the gym.
Rule 9: Seek knowledge
Read about training, do your research and
scrutinize everything. Just because it is written or said does not
mean it is golden fact. Read articles on About-Muscle.com and ask
questions in the forums. While ingesting all of this information you
will form your own opinions, ideals and programs to fit your body and
goals. Always seek to learn more.
Rule 10: Have fun
Do not be a prisoner to the gym. Have fun. If you
find yourself dreading the gym then back off a little, cut back on
days per week you train for a while, relax a little more, and do
whatever it takes to get that fire back. Your teen years should be
great years to be spent being with your friends and being involved
with school not living in the gym. Find a balance. Rely on your friends
for support and invite them to train with you, but by all means have
fun with it!For more information on training, nutrition and supplementation simply click on my profile.
No comments:
Post a Comment