Add captionsingle protein that will optimize
all growth, sometimes confusing.
Whey protein is the gold standard,
and one person might tell you that
the way that EAS does it is better
than the methods Designer Protein
uses, but the main thing is to try
the protein for yourself. Not only
is taste important, it is the single
reason you’ll either mix a glass of
protein up, or not. If you hate the
taste of a protein you bought in a
big 5 pound sack, it could be the
best protein in the world
and you won’t drink it
because you hate the
taste.
Also, you’ll notice
that you have a greater
sense of well-being
on one protein than
another. One of those
earmarks is whether
the protein produces
gas and bloat or not.
If it doesn’t, it’s obviously
a better choice for
your body than one that does.
Brand to brand, everyone reacts
differently. It’s just important that
you have protein supplementation
in your diet.
Now for post-workout shakes…
Probably the two most important
meals of the day are the first one,
and the one just following your
workout. So no matter when you
work out, you need to keep in
mind that having nutrition at the
ready is essential to your success.
Without that ready and waiting for
you once you finish your workout
– either in the form of a restaurant
down the block, chicken and rice
in a container in your locker or
car, or a shake that just needs water
added to it to feed your body
after a high intensity workout.
Food is never the wrong thing
to eat, but a lot of people can’t
force food down their throat
after a grueling, sickening workout.
Leg workouts, and to some
extent, arm workouts, are just
those types. I don’t know about
you, but I get physically sick with
biceps pain- and angry. It takes me
awhile to get over that physically
and food is the last thing I want.
Yet, I know if I don’t eat right
after, I’m not going to start
the repair process and that
window is a small one.
It’s one reason to recommend
a shake, rather than
a full meal. That shake
is then followed up by a
meal in about 1-2 hours
after when the appetite
returns and recuperation
begins. That’s the time
when you come home,
shower, and kick back on the
couch with things like chicken or
steak and a big fat yam. Carbs are
just as important post-workout
– even if you are counting carbs
– that’s one of the times to take
them in.
A good post-workout meal should
include around 50 grams of
protein, glutamine, 100+ grams
of simple carbs (ideally not sugar,
but that’s what some people use to
carry all of the nutrients quickly
into the muscle) – a good carb
choice might be a carbo powder
that comes from a stable source.
A good choice might be protein
powder, glutamine, a little creatine
to replenish, a tbsp of peanut butter
and a tbsp of low sugar jam,
blended with milk and water or
just water. You can buy one of
those individual blenders to keep
in your car or gym bag – they
make combining these ingredients
easy and fast.
5. Skull Crushers
We separate this out from a
general workout because skull
crushers are one of the best triceps
exercises you can do – not including
them in your workouts is like
going into a lion’s den, defenseless.
Biceps get 21’s and negative reps
as the variety that muscle group
needs to grow. But what of the triceps?
You cannot do negative reps
with triceps because of the injury
factor. You can, but you ought not
to. So what kinds of sets and repetitions
can you do to maximize
growth with the triceps? One good
method is always including skull
crushers as a part of your workout.
Always use a spotter with skull
crushers. That is key since as the
name implies, these are triceps extensions,
inverted, with the weight
poised closely over the face and
skull. Some go behind the head in
the lying position, but we prefer to
keep the elbows close to the body
and the hands gripping the EZ curl
bar just over the nose.
You can use either a short or
longer bar, one that is pre-loaded
or one you load. But no matter,
make sure you have a spotter, and
collars on the ends of your barbell
if you are using a short bar that is
loaded with plates by you.
For a challenge, use a decline
bench instead of a flat bench and
THE TWELVE STEPS TO GREAT GUNS
vary where you bring the weight
down…over nose, over chin, over
forehead and overhead.
6. Hydration
People often downplay water
intake until it counts in a cosmetic
sense. Bodybuilders are notorious
for only counting water intake as
important prior to a competition.
But, in fact, a steady pattern of
hydration is crucial for muscle
growth, pump, and overall well
being during a workout. Food is
what most people consider to be
the hinge pin of all energy, but
don’t look now, it’s also water.
Water is individual for all people.
Some do well on less water, some
need water constantly. Too much
water right before a workout can
mean running to the restroom
during an intense session. But
keeping a jug of water on hand is
a smart idea. Sweating, particularly
in the summer months, is foe
to good results, and can thwart attempts
to go heavier or maximize
pumps. Pumps – the muscle’s
feedback to you that you have
enough food and water stored
in the form of glycogen – and
whether you get them on a regular
basis, will tell you if you are
on the right track. Without them,
you cannot engorge the muscle
appropriately and cannot get the
maximum amount of growth out
of each rep and set.
If you weigh 200 pounds, you
should take in at least 1 quart of
water daily – more if it’s a heavy
workout day. Some mark the gallon
as the amount to which you
must aspire to have success, but
that’s overkill on a daily basis.
THE TWELVE STEPS TO GREAT GUNS
Look to weather, food, diet, workout
schedule, and other factors to
decide how much is enough.
Also consider that if you have
a competition upcoming, you
should leave a little room for
shocking the body. Some people
might disagree with that, but
getting the body to lose that last
little bit of water is dependent
upon being able to drink a little
more during that time, so that your
body thinks it has something to
relinquish. In other words, if you
are already at the gallon mark,
on a daily basis, you won’t have
any kind of leverage to force your
body into releasing more. Add a
little more water – like a gallon a
day – and deplete carbs for 2 days,
and you’ll release a lot of stored
water before you fill up with
glycogen from carbs added back
into the diet. So leave yourself the
room to do that.
If you have difficulty getting
water into your diet, remember
that you can count a lot of other
liquids you drink, such as tea or
coffee, though they can be slightly
dehydrating. But they still count
to some extent. You can also add
things like Crystal Light into your
gallon jug and carry it around with
you throughout the day to ensure
you get it. Rule of thumb? Whatever
works!
7. Sleep And
Recuperation
Some say that 90% of all growth
happens over the course of nightly
recuperation. Recuperation is key
to growth and cannot be pushed
aside in favor of things you think
are important, such as diet and
training. Sleep its recuperative
powers are equally important.
When the body rests, cell regeneration
occurs. Without rest, regeneration
does not occur or it occurs
in smaller amounts.
Keep in mind that once an opportunity
to repair cellular wasting
from a workout passes, that window
is forever closed. That means
you have to rebuild new cells at
another time and slow your progress.
It’s like starting from scratch.
No one wants to start from scratch
– it’s completely unnecessary.
Get at least 8 hours of sleep each
night – 7 if you can’t help it – and
you should repair whatever you
did that day. Remember that at
least 85% of all growth hormone
release happens in the hours of
slumber. Without sleep, this cannot
occur.
Growth hormone constitutes about
190 amino acids synethsized and
secreted by cells called somatotrophs
in the anterior pituitary. It
controls a great many physiologic
processes, including muscle
growth and metabolism in adults.
Fat cells also have growth hormone
receptors and when bound
to them, they encourage the emptying
of fat cells. So it isn’t just
muscle that makes GH release important.
And for every bit of GH
you release, your body responds
by manufacturing and releasing
IGF-1, which is what acts on
target cells, within muscle tissue,
with such great effect and result.
Recuperation between workouts
is also important though. If you
wonder whether you’re doing
too little or too much in the gym,
always err on the side of doing
“less”. I say that because while
your workouts individually should
be hard, intense, grueling and
tough, you need to back off once
you’re done, and not tinker around
in there or go in because you just
can’t stay away from the social
aspect or the concept that going
back in to do “something” is productive.
It isn’t.
Even if you trained 3-4 days a
week, but those days were intense
and grueling, you could feasibly
take the rest off and get better
growth than if you were doing 5
days a week. Some people will
do one body part a day, 5 days a
week, but hit that one body part so
hard they can’t move. They then
get 6 days to rest that body part
in between. Do it either in days
or in time between workouts for
a particular body part, and you’ll
benefit greatly.
8. Anabolic Agents
Now, obviously, the two most important
elements of getting hugely
muscular is the training and nutrition!
After all, if all you did was
take steroids and never lifted a
weight (and didn’t eat anything)…
you wouldn’t gain even an ounce
of muscle! However, once your
training and diet are perfect, then
anabolic agents become pure 24
carat gold.
That’s because they are awesome
facilitators of “protein synthesis”
or muscle growth… and they are
very, very powerful.
So, in order to get maximum muscle
growth, you must use anabolic
agents ofsome type, prescription
or some of the new, sophisticated