Archive for the ‘Muscle building’ Category

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The Number 1 Reason People Fail to Build Muscle…

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

So many people try and fail to build muscle, the most common reason why is so simple to correct. More often than not if someone isn’t putting any muscle, or in fact any weight of any kind, it is simply because they aren’t eating enough.

If you are not consuming enough calories (or energy to put it another way), you will not build any new muscle. You need to be in a state of overfeeding for your body to produce new muscle growth. The amount you need to overfeed by varies from person to person, and can vary anywhere from just over your maintenance level (this is the amount of calories you consume to stay at the same weight) to over 500 calories. It really is something that you need to experiment with to find out where you threshold lies.

If you are failing to gain muscle, this is the first thing you need to look at, are you eating enough calories?! No?! then eat more!After that if you are still struggling, then you should start to look at your nutrition, workout and if you are giving you muscles enough rest (this is when they grow, not in the gym!).

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Posted in Muscle Building Diet, Muscle Building Training, Muscle building | 2 Comments »

Taking Your Bodyfat Measurement to Monitor Your Progress…

Monday, June 16th, 2008

If you are a keen follower of my blog, I’m sure that you have heard me countless times going on and on about the importance of taking your measurements to monitor your progress. Just to recap the most vital measurements that you should be taking on a weekly basis are your weight and your bodyfat percentage. This is so important whether you are training to burn fat or to build muscle. From these measurements you can work out your body composition (i.e. how much of your weight is from fat and how much is from lean weight, then depending on what your goals are, you can make adjustments to your diet to improve them the next week. For example, if you are trying to burn fat and you find from your measurements that you have lost some muscle that week. That means that you are not getting enough calories so will need to increase your calorie intake, or that you are not getting enough protein to sustain your muscle. On the other side if you are trying to gain muscle and your measurements reveal that you haven’t put on any weight at all, again you will need to increase your calorie intake.

Now as we know weighing yourself is very easy. Whether you weigh yourself at the gym or at home on your own scales, so long as you use the same scales each time and weigh yourself at the same time each day, that is fine. Now when it comes to measuring your bodyfat there are several different methods available. Under water weighing, bioelectric impedance, bodyfat calipers to name just a few.

In my opinion the best method, because of it’s convenience and also because it is quite accurate, is the use of a set bodyfat calipers. They are also fairly cheap to buy, you can pick up a good set for between $20-$80. For the most accurate reading you should be taking measurements at multi points on your body. A good set of calipers will give detailed instructions on how to take the most accurate bodyfat measurement, measuring points may include chest, abdomen, tricep and thigh.

As with anything practice is required to become good at taking a good accurate bodyfat reading. You need to aim to pinch the same amount of skin at the same points, this will then give you a good representation on your bodyfat levels, and more importantly whether they are going up or down. Repeating your measurements a few times, to make sure that they are the sameeach time isalso a good way tomakesureyou are getting a good reading. 

I’m not going to recommend a certain make of bodyfat caliper to you, as i’m not trying to make money off you. What I will say though is that I recommend that you do a bit of research for yourself before you spend your money. Look for calipers that are made by a reputable company, and see if they are endorsed by an official governing body, such as the World NaturalBodybuilding Foundation, this should ensure that you get a good set.

P.S don’t forget about my Fat loss and muscle building Q & A follow the link for details.

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Fat Loss and Muscle Building Q & A

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

I try and vary my blogs and cover as much information as I can on fat loss, muscle building and exercise and fitness in general. I have decided to add a chance for you to get some Q & A on my blog from now on. Hopefully this will allow me to help individuals with any questions or problems they may have with fat loss, muscle building and any exercise and fitness related questions. Anything from diet and supplementation to training advice, just send me your questions and I will try and get as many answered as possible. I post the replies on my blog pages so keep watching!

Send your questions to me at jallmark@fatlossandmusclebuilding.com I’ll do my best to answer as many questions as possible.

All the best,

Jon Allmark.

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Posted in Abs, Fat Loss Diet, Fat Loss Training, General, Muscle Building Diet, Muscle Building Training, Muscle building, fat loss | 3 Comments »

A Quick Tip for Fat Loss and Muscle Building

Monday, June 9th, 2008

Just a quick tip for you today…

For Success in both burning fat and building muscle there something that you must be doing. That something is body monitoring. By this I mean taking your bodyfat and weighing yourself on a weekly basis.

My advice to you is to weigh yourself at the same time of day each week, preferably first thing in the morning before you eat, to give the most accurate results. You should also weigh on the same day each week, so that you can follow your progress on a week by week basis. The same goes for taking bodyfat measurement, take it on the same time, the same day each week.

There are many methods for taking your bodyfat, some more accurate than others. The important thing is that you use the same method each time, this allows you to monitor your progress more accurately. Having an exact precise measurement is less important than having a consistant one. My preferred method is by using a set calipers. They are cheap and convient to use, and give a fairly accurate reading when used properly.

By taking your measurements every week you can then see if you are putting on muscle or just fat, or if you are losing muscle rather than fat. If you are staying the same weight, if you are lucky you may see that you are actually losing fat and gaining muscle rather than having no results (If this were the case I would be very jealous! It is only certain lucky people that achieve this.)

If you have a fat loss or muscle building goal, body monitoring is a must for success. Also keep a diary of your results, so you can reflect back and see how far you have come.  

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Food Planning for Fat Loss and Muscle Building

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Are you trying to burn fat or put of some muscle? Are you happy that your workouts are good and you are getting enough rest, and yet frustratingly you are still not getting the results you are after? I guarantee that with most people the problem comes is in your diet.

Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia, remarked in 1965 “Bodybuilding is 90% nutrition”, and he was right! Nutrition is the key to success not just for bodybuilders, but for anyone trying to get in shape. To see great results, you really need to tighten up on your nutrition.

With alot of people it doesn’t come down to the fact that they don’t know what they should be eating, it is more that they are guessing what they do actually eat, I can hold my hand up and admit that I have done this in this past.  If you try to estimate your calories, you can find yourself eating far more or less than you actually need. As for your nutiriton ratios, you stand no chance if you are trying to guess them.

The key is to plan. I find that the best way is to spend a little bit of time sitting down and working out a few days worth of menus. If you have a full day’s worth of food written in front of you , it will make things alot easier.

Another good method is to split up your daily allowances into your six meals equally, and then sit down and write out a number of different meals that you could have throughthe day. If you make sure each meal has the same calories and nutrition ratios, you could pick from various meal combinations through the day to keep variation in your diet, and to stop you getting bored eating the same things day in day out. Also prepare your meals as much as possible the day before, this will ensure that you are making sure the next days eating is as easy as possible.

It is also a good idea to keep a food diary. I know it sounds a bit daft, but if you write down what you eat each day you will eventually be able to what works well for you and what doesn’t.

Remember nutrition willbe the difference between little or no results, and great results. So try and get in the habit of planning your meals, and keep a food diary each day, it really is worth the extra effort. 

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Posted in Fat Loss Diet, Muscle Building Diet, Muscle building, fat loss | No Comments »

Compound Exercises for Muscle Building

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

If you are trying to pack on some serious muscle you need to concentrate on compound or multi-joint lifts. These are exercises that unlike isolation exercises, involve a number of muscle groups to perform. Exercises include the squat, bench press and deadlift, are examples of some of the best.

These compound movements put a lot of stress on the body and shocks the nervous system into releasing the largest amount of muscle building hormones. Also stimulating growth all over the body, so you will pack on size everywhere!

Compound exercises also allow you to shift a lot of weight which is what you need to develop new muscle. I must however stress the importance of proper technique with all of these exercises, as there is a high risk of injury if you try to shift a heavy weight with the wrong technique. I know I always go on about this in my posts, but it really is ever so important and i’ll continue to nag you with it in the future…sorry!

So base your workouts around compound exercises, but don’t completely dismiss isolation exercises. Exercises such as bicep curls are still great to throw in there, just perform them after your compound exercises.

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Posted in Muscle Building Training, Muscle building | 3 Comments »

Cardio and Muscle Building

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

It is a much debated question, should you do cardio when you are trying to build muscle?

Some people claim that you should stay completely away from cardio if you are trying to gain muscle, some say that doing cardio whilst trying to gain muscle, but who is right?!

I think that firstly the following points must be considered:-

  1. Are your cardio sessions planned around your resistance training, so as to still allow adequate rest for your muscle groups. For example if you train your legs on a Monday, you shouldn’t be running on a Tuesday. Your legs won’t be getting enough rest, and this may lead to over training.
  2. To build muscle you must be overfeed, in other words consuming more calories than you are using up. You will have to allow for the fact that cardio burns up calories (energy), so allowance must be made in your diet to make up the burnt off calories.
  3. Do you struggle to put on muscle? If you are someone who finds it hard to put on muscle, then it may pay to leave out the cardio and concentrate on the resistance training aspect of training. Cardio will not build up muscle, it is the resistance training that will do that.

So in short my answer would be if you can fit in cardio without overtraining, and you are able to consume the amount of calories that you need to build muscle then it is fine to carry on with cardio training. If you are finding it hard to gain weight, then it is a good idea to reduce or even eliminate your cardio training while in a muscle building phase. When you have reached your target weight, or have reached the end of your muscle building phase, you can add back in your cardio as normal.  

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Should You Stretch If You Are Trying to Build Muscle?

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

For most bodybuilders, only interested in building muscle, stretching is the last thing on their mind. It has even been said that stretching before a weight lifting session actually leads to a reduction of strength during the session. There has been no definate answers to this come from research, but it has become a rule among bodybuilders that pre session stretching should be avoided. There is also the argument that stretching a cold muscle has the danger of causing an injury.

So what about stretching after a workout? This has been proven to increase flexibility, and unknown or ignored by most bodybuilders can actual lead to an increase in muscle strength. Spending an extra ten or fifteen minutes stretching after weights session, can really have a positive affect on your muscles. Concentrate on holding your stretches for at least twenty seconds or more, gradually increasing the stretch.

Not enough people stretch after they exercise there muscles, it is something that I highly recommend you give a try.

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Five Points for Muscle Growth…

Friday, May 16th, 2008

Here are the five things that you should pay attention to if you want to build muscle… 

1.  Progressive Resistance Training.

2.  Workout Techniques.

3.  Calories.

4.  Nutrient Ratios.

5.  Rest. 

Still need to know more? I’ll be explaining each in detail over the next few weeks, so keep checking for more!

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Nutrition Ratios: A Good Starting Point

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

If you are trying to lose some body fat or gain muscle, your nutrition ratios can have a huge effect on your success. What I mean by nutrition ratios is basically how much protein, carbohydrates and fat make up the calories that you are eating.

Unfortunately there are many different views on this and many different ratios that you can use. For example you could use a 40:40:20 which means 50% of your total calorie intake would be from carbohydrates, 30% from protein and 20% from fat. The ideal ratio to use depends  on your goal, be it fat loss or muscle building, and it also varies from person to person.

You should remember that each of these nutrients don’t have the same amount of calories, they are as follows:-

  • 1 gram of protein = 4 calories
  • 1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories
  • 1 gram of fat = 9 calories

As a beginner trying to achieve fat loss or muscle gain, rather than trying to work out your requirements exactly you should just try and get roughly in the right area. My advice is to spread your calorie intake over six meals a day, and to make sure that you eat both carbohydrates and protein with each meal. This will give you a good starting point, and as you get more experienced you can adjust as you feel necessary. If you are trying to lose fat you might find that you need to drop your carb intake, or if you are trying to gain muscle you may need to increase your protein intake. A good figure to aim for with protein if you are trying tolose fat or build muscle is about 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.

You should also make sure that you are getting at least 15-20% of your calories from good fat, the unsaturated fats, avoiding saturated fat and especially trans fatty acids.

Give that a try and you should start to see some good results!

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