Blogging About The Truth To Gain Weight & Build Muscle Mass!

If I had a penny for every time I’ve written that when it comes down to eating to gain weight fast, build muscle mass naturally, or lose weight in the form of body fat, that it isn’t about macronutrient ratios or special “percentages”….that it’s about the overall calories, I’d be richer than Donald Trump.

And, I’m seeing that I’m not the only one. Bill Dobbins, in a recent article he penned in Planet Muscle, says “…nutrients…once broken down by the digestive system, all food is made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, with protein also containing nitrogen. While the three macronutrients are used differently by the body, at a fundamental level, a calorie of energy is a calorie of energy, regardless of the source from which it comes. This statement challenges a lot of widely held assumptions. For example, that carbohydrate makes you fat. That ingesting fat in the diet will cause you to store body fat at a disproportionately high rate.”.

I know this is going to cause a lot of readers to get all crazy and red faced, but honestly, there are millions of REAL WORLD examples that clearly prove and demonstrate that your overall calories is what most affects how much muscle you build, how much weight you gain, and how much strength and power you’ll be able to develop. Plain and simple.

That’s right, you’re beloved low-moderate carb diet you’ve been following, thinking that it will keep your body fat levels low while you focus on muscle building and gaining weight, is stabbing you in the back, chest, shoulders, arms, legs, etc., as you read this post. Avoiding sugars is one of the dumbest things you could do when trying to up your muscle growth.

An Australian published just examined this very dilemma, and you’ll want to read what they found Check my latest article:

Carbohydrates Are Important For Muscle Growth

A long shot connection between consuming calcium and burning fat, which you’ll always want since lower body fat levels helps show off and reveal more of the hard earned muscle mass and weight you’ve gained and built, has been debunked by Amy Joy Lanou. According to Muscular Development, she “reviewed 49 clinical trials and concluded that increasing consumption of dairy products or calcium did not help people lose weight. In studies finding a link, weight loss was probably die to increased exercise, reduced intake of high of high calorie foods, lifestyle changes, or increased intake of fiber, fruits and vegetables. Overconsumption of dairy products will probably make you fatter, not thinner”.

Finally, a researcher of studies that is able to sift through all the incorrect interpretations and see that it isn’t necessarily the ingredient of compound in question that is leading to the lower levels of body fat, and as a result higher levels of muscular definition, but in fact the good old fashion hard work that is put into intense workout routines.

Sure, more muscle mass and lower body fat is usually the top reasons why most engage in intense workout bouts. But that’s not the only advantage. As a matter of fact there are several health raising, potentially life-saving reasons why anyone and everyone should be working out with weights on a regular basis. A column written in Men’s Health emphasizes some of them. I realize that your main, and possibly only focus is to just grow bigger muscles naturally and safely, but those more to the picture than that. Hey, how many old time bodybuilders have we not seen in recent years die fairly young, or, if still alive, look years older and in poor health, when they should have been the epitome of health and longevity?

Check out the latest article to read about four of them:
Working Out Isn’t Just For Muscle Building

No, I’m not referring to drinking enough “alcohol”. Sorry. I’m talking about drinking enough fluids, especially water. Not drinking enough and keep yourself properly hydrated will no doubt cause a negative impact on your workouts designed to help you gain weight and build muscle mass naturally.

According to the Journal Strength Conditioning Research, something as low-to-moderate intensity inducing exercise as walking on a treadmill at 70 percent in heat will result in dehydration and will lower your upper body strength and power by 7 percent and your lower body’s by 19 percent. Imagine how much faster you’ll lose out if you are performing high intensity weight workouts, which are much more demanding on the body than just walking briskly on a treadmill.

Now, you don’t have to go out and spend a ton of money on all of these fancy little flavored waters or sports drinks. Good old water is enough, as long as you drink lots of it and have a balanced approach to eating as well.

Water is very important, as can be demonstrated at this time of year when professional football teams in the NFL are going through their drills, preseason training and conditioning, etc. How many unfortunate deaths have already occurred to some of these massive athletes that have died on the practice field from heat strokes suffered because of lack of adequate hydration under such extreme conditions?

If you’re someone that is primarily looking to build muscle naturally and gain weight fast, you may be wondering why you need to know a fact about calorie burning, since as you may know by my other writings that regardless of what kind of calories you’re eating you have to eat more than what your body burns to be able to gain mass.

Well, you still want to have an efficient metabolism, since you’ll want the majority of the calories you eat to go towards lean muscle tissue, and not body fat…..that’s why you want to know.

One pound of muscle burns, or uses up, 50 calories. That means that the more muscle mass you have on your body the more calories you’ll be able to properly use and handle. That’s why you can have a heavily muscled individual that can eat all kinds of so-called of forbidden foods, such as pizza, ice cream, and fries, without gaining any body fat.

It doesn’t matter how much weight you lift or how consistent you are with your workout training sessiones, if you suffer a back injury your muscle building efforts are going to come to a screeching halt.

Low back injuries in bodybuilders are usually sprains or strains in the lunbar area, according to Guillermo Escalante.  Pressure on the low back can come from exercises such as squats, deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, and the like.  When you push beyond failure, your spine often takes up an increasing amount of stress which may put you at risk, so don’t let momentum take over.  Also, be sure to avoid performing these types of exercises in a flexed or rounded out position, since this increases stress on the discs.

In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition a recent study claims that those in the group that drank more skim milk actually gained more muscular weight than two other groups. However, does that mean that is all you need to do build more muscle mass…..add skim milk? Or is there more to the puzzle that is being overlooked by many that may read about this finding on the internet or in some bodybuilding magazine?

Read the latest article I’ve written concerning this as I pose a few questions that should get you thinking beyond the few facts this study reveals if you’re on a quest to build more muscle mass naturally and without having to rely on worthless, expensive supplements.

Can Milk Assist Your Workout Program?

Sadly, for most bodybuilders in everyday life the road to building muscle and gaining weight is through a dietary supplement bottle, or so they honestly believe. Hey, the nutritional supplement business isn’t a multi-billion dollar industry for no reason. A study in Ipsos Reid Survey 2007 reveals that 52 percent of Americans claim to take nutritional supplements on a regular basis. A big percentage of those are for the purposes of building muscle and gaining muscular weight.

My question is if over half of exercise enthusiasts take some form of supplement, why don’t we see way more people walking around the streets and in the gym that have a body to show off???

Stop wasting your money on supplements and worry about getting the correct workout routine and eating regimen to help you in your muscle building efforts.

If you’re after pure strength (not necessarily pure muscle size), then using free weights are the better route because of the destabilization factors.  However, machines can help boost muscular strength and assist you in your muscle building and weight gain efforts.

Bodybuilders who weight trained for ten weeks using a machine bench press gained about the same amount of strength on that particular exercise as those that used the barbell bench press, according to the study found in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

In my latest article, ” ‘Bulgarian’ Doesn’t Mean More Muscle Mass”, make a couple of comments and observations as to why this obsession with Bulgarian routines has got to stop.

” ‘Bulgarian’ Doesn’t Mean More Muscle Mass”

Men’s Health reports on how a French study claims that eating fat may help burn belly fat (which in turn would help reveal your hard earned muscle building and weight gain efforts). The study reports that when obese people ate a high fat meal before a 45 minute cardio workout, they broke down more body fat than people who fasted. Men’s Health goes on to report that scientists believe fatty acids released into your blood after digestion mix with exercise-related hormones to kickstart your metabolism.

This just goes to show even more how the long believed conventional form of nutrition, about fasting, etc., to build muscle, gain weight, and burn body fat is so skewed. Who would have thought that now a study actually shows that eating a high fat meal would help burn fat.

IronMan magazine reports how IFBB professional bodybuilder Mark Dugdale had to be brought down to earth in regards to the exercise technique he was using in his muscle building workouts…..and by none other than multi-Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates.

The magazine goes on to mention how Dugdale had traveled to England to train with Dorian during the filming of Mark’s workout DVD “A Week In The Dungeon” (which is what they refer to Dorian’s muscle building quarters). Mark is one to be known to like to use super loose form and throw the weights around, but Dorian pointed out to him, “If you can’t hold the static contraction then you weren’t really lifting the weight with pure muscle power”. This was to point out Mark’s weakness in the contracted position of all rowing movements, used to build muscles in the lats and overall lat region.

This just goes to show that muscle building doesn’t come down to throwing around heavy weight!

Well, not work, per say, but not provide any advantage in building muscle mass. We’re talking about IGF-1 here. This hormone happens to be used by many to gain more muscle tissue, but a study in Maryland may prove otherwise.

Raising IGF-1 Doesn’t Build Muscle

The big problem with anabolic / androgenic steroids is that not only do they help to gain weight and build muscle mass, but they affect in one way or another, positively or negatively just about every organ in the body……and that’s not good. In addition to working on muscular tissue, they also place a strain on organs like your livers and kidneys (dosage, frequency, time on, time off, etc…..of course, all affect to what degree the effects are).

Well, presently, labs are working on SARMs, which stands for Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators. The humongous upside to this is that these chemicals are designed to work on “selective” or specific areas of the body, not overall like regular steroids. So, they can literally designed a chemical that will work on increasing your muscle tissue, yet not affect other organs.

Pharmaceutical company Merk & Company signed a $500 million deal with another company GTx to produce, develop, test, and market SARMs. They are the only ones that have the rights to this, so ignore any shady bodybuilding supplement company that begins to claim that they are releasing any kind of “SARMs-like” muscle building / weight gaining supplement!

Getting in fiber, preferably via vegetables, is one of the biggest things you hear about maintaining and / or improving your health and overall muscle building efforts. Well, eating raw vegetables at least three times a month can reduce your risk of contracting cancer in the bladder by 40%, according to a column by Beck Holman.

My take: Again, fiber nor veggies, whether they be raw or cooked, have anything “magical” about them in regards to gaining weight and building muscle mass, however, getting in some fiber here and there does help keep your digestive system in tract, which is directly responsible for having to process all of those calories you’re supposed to be eating to gain weight and build muscle.

Yeah, yeah. More good news about red wine. It has now been shown to be a good thing for your teeth. It has now been discovered that it is great at reducing dental plaque. So what’s that got to do with building muscle mass? Well, you’ll have a prettier smile while you’re posing for your pictures showing off your hard earned muscle!

Yes, when you get your blood drawn at the doctor to get a full panel check-up, some of those liver and kidney function tests can be thrown of if you workout to gain weight and build lean muscle mass.

Find out why:
Gain Weight – Weight Lifting & Liver Tests

According to Becky Holman, fish in your diet may cut Alzheimer’s risk in half. Just three servings a week will do it….salmon, herring, or even mackerel will get the job done.

My Take: Hey, anything that MAY help prevent any type of illness is a good thing to keep in mind, just don’t become obsessed about it.

The very popular bike-building show, American Chopper, which airs on TLC, will be airing an episode that features the supplement company BSN, the same company that endorses ex-Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman, on April 24th, 9:00 pm, eastern time zone.

For anyone that’s a big bodybuilding fan, and fan of Ronnie Coleman, this will be an interesting episode to watch, whether you’re chopper fan or not.

That’s right, all of those pro bodybuilders from the 60′s and 70′s may have been right all along, with their massive eating of foods high in saturated fat. Even though for decades this fat has been considered a huge enemy against gaining weight and lean muscle mass, my latest articles states the opposite.

Read my latest gain weight and build muscle article.

Did you know that you can raise your natural growth hormone levels 3 – 5 times higher from an intense weight lifting session than you can from any expensive HGH muscle building / weight gain supplement?

Read my latest article to find out why you shouldn’t burn your cash on any of them:
Growth Hormone Bodybuilding Supplement Article

Growth hormone, aka HGH, is found naturally within the body. Some of its roles are the increase of using fat as fuel, which leads to more muscular definition, as well as increased muscle building and quality weight gain.

Researchers at Loughborough University, which is located in England, found that growth hormone levels in sprint-trained athletes reached 25 times their resting levels around 30 minutes after they completed, get this, a 30 second all-out, super-high intensity sprint. Pretty interesting.

I remember reading about this same finding, perhaps by some other university, many years ago in a bodybuilding magazine. Interesting indeed, but I honestly don’t know if an all-out 30 second sprint is actually going to make a significant difference in the amount of weight you gain or muscle you build. Sure, the sprint was found to raise your growth hormone levels 25 times higher than normal……BUT is this still enough to cause a visible change. Is 25 times more than normal enough, or does the body require 100′s of times above normal.

Test and see.

Alli is the latest body fat lowering drug, aka Xenical, that many are placing the hearts and souls on to keep their fat levels at bay while they try to gain weight and build muscle mass. Well, check out my latest article to discover the truth about this over the counter medication:

Alli – Does It Help Keep Your Muscles Visible?

According to GetBig, there have been some new, major signings of two of the most popular competitive bodybuilders joining new muscle building magazines.

First off, Dexter Jackson, who’s on a hot streak of winning the last 3 professional shows, has left Muscular Development, where he was at for several years, and has gone over to Flex magazine. This is somewhat surprising to some, knowing the immense popularity of Muscular Development, but I wonder, just wonder, him leaving MD has anything to do with the rumor going around that Muscle Tech supplements will no longer have an ad relationship with MD. We all know that Dexter is sponsored by Muscle Tech. Could the two have correlation???

Second, Lee Priest will be apparently leaving MuscleMag International and will be going back to Muscular Development. Very interesting, seeing as how that ended pretty ugly the last time around.

Regardless, us muscle building fans are simply happy that they will be somewhere, regardless of what magazine. Keep up the good work, gents!

MH has written in a recent column some very interesting information regarding good old butter. It mentions that most of the fat is composed of palmitic and stearic acids. Research shows these saturated fatty acids either have no effect on your cholesterol or actually improve it.

Well, take a further look at some of these facts and figures:

1 pat of butter contains just 36 calories, and the fat it provides helps you feel full longer

Butter is one of the top sources of CLA, a natural fat that’s been shown to fight cancer

Studies show the fat in butter improves your body’s ability to absorb vitamins A, E, D, and K.

All’s I got to say is “Can ya please pass the butter?!”

Now a days, anything that’s “white” or “refined” is instantly labeled as being bad for muscular definition and quality weight gain, when it comes to bodybuilding / fitness nutrition. For example, white bread, white potatoes, etc. One of the main reasons for this is because they feel that anything white and refined causes huge spikes in your insulin levels, which many feel helps store body fat.

Well, according to a column in Men’s Health, white potatoes and sweet potatoes have complementary nutritional differences; one isn’t necessarily better than the other. For instance, sweet potatoes have more fiber and vitamin A, but white potatoes are higher in essential minerals, such as iron, magnesium, and potassiu.

As for the scam known as the Glycemic Index, sweet potatoes are lower on the scale, but baked white potatoes typically aren’t eaten without cheese, sour cream, or butter. These toppings contain fat, which lowers the glycemic index of a meal.

The form in which you consume a potato, continues to report the column, for instance, a whole baked potato versus a processed potato that’s used to make chips, is more important than if it’s a white potato or sweet potato.

So much for the whole “white / refined” bashing!

One of the biggest selling muscle building supplements known as ZMA is nothing but a good way to burn a deep hole in your wallet. If you are using it thinking it’s helping you build muscle mass and gain weight by raising your natural testosterone levels, you need to read my latest article:

ZMA Won’t Help You Build Muscle!

Dexter Jackson, fresh off of a third Arnold Classic win, has taken the crown once again at this year’s Australian Pro. Dex once again brought his incredible display of sinew, muscular definition, and mass…..all with awesome symmetry. The rest of the results are as follows:

Melvin Anthony finished second, while Moe Elmoussawi (third), Toney Freeman (fourth), Troy Alves (fifth) and Ronnie Rockel (sixth) rounded out the top six.

Sun exposure increases levels of hormones called melanocortins, which cause the skin to darken, otherwise known as tanning. These hormones work with leptin to control appetite while helping to increase the signals that stimulate fat burning in your cells. There is plenty of evidence from animal studies and laboratory work that supports these effects.

Now, just because building muscle mass or gaining weight is your primary goal, that doesn’t mean that you are going to throw muscle definition, aka “cuts”, to the wind. Although right now you may be focusing on getting physically bigger in mass / size, you don’t want to turn into a “chubykins” either. So, building muscle while maintaining low levels of body fat are a must.

According to the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, the key to which exercise, between the bench press or the pushups, is better for isolating the chest, lies in your hand position. A recent study revealed that for both exercises the triceps are more active with a narrow hand position. The pectoralis major, on the other hand, is more active with a narrow hand position for pushups only. During a bench press the pectoralis major is more active with a wide grip. By changing your grip on the bench press you’ll change the emphasis from one muscle to the other.

I feel that the more you isolate a particular muscle that you’re trying to build, the more likely you are to develop it. So if muscle building and weight gain is what you’re after, isolate, isolate, isolate!

According to Allergy and Asthma Solution by Dr. Dean Mitchell if you leave your gym sneezing, wheezing, or feeling congested, the facility could be making you sick….literally. A lot of weight lifting gyms are humid, enclosed environments that aggrevate allergies because of subpar ventilation systems (HVAC). If you symptoms aren’t the result of a cold, consider checking it out with your doctor for an allergy test to determine the cause of your symptoms. Gyms full of dust and / or mold may force you to change the gym you currently workout at.

I remember when I used to be a member of a certain weight lifting gym. The place was fairly old, so their ventilation system was down right horrible. I used to always end up feeling sick to my stomach, and almost light headed when working out. I used to have to go outside once or twice just to get some fresh air. And that was by far the only location that I would get that way when training to building muscle and gain weight. So the physical environment does have an impact on your muscular performance.

As reported in a column in MuscleMag International, the average cutting board has 370 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. When you purchase a cutting board, go with pine, which has been proven to harbor 20% fewer E. coli colonies than plastic and beech wood. Cut down your risk of food poisoning by ditching that old cutting board and starting fresh with a new pine board. You should also use different cutting boards for vegetables and meat to avoid cross contamination. Soak boards after use in hot soapy water to kill bacteria.

As I’ve always written, calories from regular food is what will really make a difference with your weight gain / muscle building goals…..so you’ve got to make sure that you aren’t pushing contaminated food into your stomach.

According to a report released by Reuters, researchers have concluded that energy drinks may give you not only a but of energy but also an elevated heart rate (pulse) and high blood pressure. If you suffer from high blood pressure or heart disease, you should avoid energy drinks because they could interfere with your prescriptions meds.

I’d also like to add that you shouldn’t be wasting any of your hard earned cash on energy drinks to begin with. They are one of the biggest scams going around. Take a look at what the main ingredient is in all of them and you’ll be surprised to find out that it is caffeine. So basically you’re over-paying for sugar flavored coffee when you buy these things. I understand that in order for muscle building to take effect and to set the weight gain wheels in motion intense weight training is a must, and getting psyched up for these training sessions are important. I agree, caffeine is excellent and cheap………..just don’t get it in the form of an “energy drink”.

This week on Pro Bodybuilding Weekly they speak to Phil Heath, the newly crowned IronMan Pro champion, and the hosts go into a detailed observation of the contest overall.

Over at MD Radio, in addition to speaking about the contest, they also talk to Flex Wheeler and Shawn Ray. Also, they speak to IFBB professional Kenny Jones. In addition, they also touch briefly the very sad death of Shellie Beatty.

Yet another dietary supplement aimed at helping you building muscle, or burn fat, has allegedly been found to be laced with an illegal prescription drug…..Clenbuterol.

Read about it in my latest weight gaining / truth-exposing article:
Latest muscle building / gain weight article

During the process of growing and shipping fruits and vegetables, pesticide residue and pathogens can be picked up, including trace amounts of salmonella and E. coli. If you can, purchase locally grown produce from a farmers market. The fewer people produce has been in contact with, the better. Wash all produce in water for at least 20 seconds just before eating. Don’t wash everything at once because washing speeds up spoilage; wash only what you’re about to prepare. Rinse prepackaged salads, even when they are labeled prewashed, to be on the safe side.

SOURCE: MuscleMag column

My take: being that a high calorie diet is crucial when trying to build muscle mass and gain weight naturally, you must be careful with the safety of what you put in your mouth. Trust me, knowing from personal experience, food poisoning is no fun activity!

Former American Gladiator Shelly Beatie, aka “Siren”, died on February 13th, according to Dave Palumbo. The actual cause of death has not been made public yet. She was married to in the past to Muscular Development’s John Romano.

She was an accomplished competitor in bodybuilding and fitness. She will be sorely missed not only in the muscle building world, but all over.

Recently, researchers conducted a study in which they had several individuals drink half a quart of cold water, to which then afterwards they measured how many extra calories were burned off. (Just so you’ll know, when you drink cold water, as opposed to warm or hot water, it takes energy to “heat up” a little that water when it enters the body. This “energy” that it takes to heat the water up is technically calories being used to heat the water, since calories are a form of energy).

The study was done on 7 men and 7 women. They found that their metabolism increased by 30% within 10 minutes of drinking the cold water. This metabolism increase lasted for about an hour or so.

How many extra calories were burned off?

The equivalent of 100 extra calories.

Now, my take: I don’t really feel like an extra 100 calories being burned off is a big deal in the grand scheme of things. However, if you are drinking a lot more than a quart of cold water per day, then instead of burning an extra 100 calories just from drinking that, you may be burning an extra 200 or 300 calories, which then, in my opinion, will definitely help you get into the oh-so-important calorie deficit that’s needed to burn off body fat and show off your muscle building efforts by enhanced muscular definition.

Hey, it’s free, so give it a try!

Becky Holman reports in her column that oil taken with meals, whether as fish oil capsules or salad dressing, has been shown to boost absorption of some antioxidants and phytochemicals in vegetables by as much as 10%. She recommends to take a few capsules with every meal.

My take: I’m all about increasing the absorption of the foods you are already eating, especially when you are trying to gain weight fast. I, personally, recommend going the olive oil route, since it is cheaper and a great way to get an extra amount of calories into your daily total.

That’s right, according to Becky Holman in a recent column she penned, seaweed can make junk food healthier by increasing the fiber content of whatever it is you’re eating to gain muscle weight and build muscle fast.

In a study done at the University of Newcastle in the United Kingdom, continues to write Holman, scientists added seaweed to white bread for the health-boosting effect. Hey, whatever it takes, right.

Now, I do want to add that yes, fiber is good to a certain extent, but if you are person that does not have the biggest of appetites, which is more than likely one of the main reasons why you can’t seem to build muscle and gain quality weight because it’s very difficult for you to eat enough calories, then you really don’t want to be eating too much fiber.

The thing to consider about fiber is the fact that it takes a long time for your body to digest it, thus making you feel slightly bloated in the stomach, and, as a result, can kill your appetite…..wonderful if you are trying to cut calories to burn fat and lose weight…..but bad if you are skinny and are trying to gain muscle mass naturally.

In a column written by Becky Holman, she mentions how onions have lots of quercetin, a bioflavonoid that reduces inflammation in the same manner as aspirin. That means onions can do good things for healing joint pain, that could be brought on by intense workout routines, as well as cardiovascular health, which will help in increasing the pump so important for muscle building and weight gaining purposes.

Probiotics are good bacteria that balance out the naturally occurring bad bacteria in your digestive tract, according to a column in MuscleMag. The majority of your immune system is located in your digestive tract, so if you keep it healthy, your entire body can stay healthy.

According to Dr. Alan Logan, continues the same column, several studies have shown that the use of probiotic supplements improves nasal congestion, sinus infections, and other allergies. One of the easiest and cheapest way to obtain probiotics in your every day eating is through yogurt, which contains a lot of these little guys.

Remember, the healthier you are the more likely you are to be able to engage in intense workout routines that will help you gain weight and build muscle mass fast!

The message boards have been lighting up in the last couple of days due to the fact that in one of the latest muscle building magazines IFBB rookie Ben White, who has long been challenging Johnny Jackson to a powerlifting contest, is said to now be claiming that he won’t do the competition because JOJ wants it to be a “3 lift” contest, meaning that they would be competing in the bench press, the squat, and deadlift.

Well, Ben White has long been stating that what he wants to go head to head with JOJ is in benching, since he feels that the deadlift and the squat are dangerous (which I completely agree with. I have always felt that those 2 movements have got to be 2 of the most over-rated exercises for muscle building ever!).

According to “Ask The Dietitian”, at www.dietitian.com, amino acids in the real world don’t offer any significant advantages to muscle building than does regular foods that contain protein.

According to the site, “There is no research to support any benefit to taking amino acid supplements for persons who exercise…Weightlifting will increase muscle size and the average U.S. diet and the RDA contains enough protein (females 50 grams and males 63 grams per day) to promote an increase in muscle mass.”.

Interesting quote. However, we always have to be cautious whenever we read any scientific or medical study, being that what may happen in a lab doesn’t always come out the same in the real world.

Saying that, however, I personally agree that amino acid supplements are a waste of money and don’t offer any visible benefits in gaining weight and building muscle mass naturally than does simply ensuring that you are eating enough calories for your particular body. There are plenty of real world proofs of this. Look at IFBB legend Danny Padilla, who back in the day, when preparing for a competition, practically ate only 60 grams of protein per day, according to what he himself has said. Also, take a look at prisoners, who get big and strong, yet they don’t get anywhere near the amount of protein suggested in the bodybuilding magazines or internet sites, yet they manage to build more muscle and gain more weight than your average gym rat / supplement user

According to GetBig, the new Ironman Pro Competitor list has officially been released. It is as follows:

Phil Heath, Toney Freeman, Gustavo Badell, David Henry, Silvio Samuel, Johnnie Jackson, Troy Alves, Desmond Miller, King Kamali, Paco Bautista, Omar Deckard, Moe El Moussawi, Deshaun Grimez, Ray Arde, Will Harris and many others.

This lineup looks to be one of the better lineups for this competition in a while. Definitely tough!!!! They will all need to be bring their A-Game.

In the latest article I’ve just posted, you’ll read what I have to say about whether it’s more important to try to lift more weight and take longer rest breaks in between sets, or if you should not worry about how much you’re lifting, but maintain rest periods constant and short…..if muscle building and gaining quality weight is what you’re after.

Check out the article:
Continuous Sets or More Rest For Muscle Building Purposes?

BCAAs, also known as “branched-chain amino acids”, are what protein are made of. Recently, online and in magazines, some have began to recommend taking higher dosages of BCAAs, even suggesting that you can substitute a dosage for a meal and / or protein shake. The reasoning being that BCAAs don’t contain calories, technically, yet you get all of the benefits of protein. So, as a result, they say you can gain muscle on less overall calories, which would also benefit fat burning.

Well, I like how Dave Palumbo sees this matter. According to him he’s not a big believer in branched-chain amino acids. As he states, “The truth is that if you take in 6 solid meals (spaced every 2-3 hours) that contain high-quality protein, your blood amino acid levels should always be sufficient to support muscle growth and repair…..it’s probably a waste of money!”.

Dave, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The University of Edinburgh, located in the country of Scotland, found that a low carbohydrate form of eating the breaking down of the hormone cortisol. Now, first off, to remind you, a high level of cortisol is not good if your after muscle building. This hormone directly breaks down muscle mass. So, the higher the amount of cortisol you have in the blood, the lower the amount of muscle tissue you’ll possess.

Now, if your body isn’t breaking down cortisol, that means that there will be higher amount of this hormone in the body. This study showed that eating a low carb diet keeps cortisol elevated…..which again, can wreak havoc on your muscle building goals.

Energy drinks have got to be one of the biggest rip-offs around. Why do I say that? Well, in all reality, the ingredient in these drinks that actually provide any type of “pick me up” is good old caffeine. I don’t know about you, but I rather brew my own or buy a large cup of coffee for $1.50 than pay $3.00 for some sugary drink that simply laced with caffeine…..same effect.

However, a heads up if you still decide to use them:
Wayne State University researchers have discovered that these energy drinks raised blood pressure and heart rate. If you have any type of history of hear disease, or already suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure), you need to be careful. In this research they found that those that consumed 2 cans of a particular energy drink (they didn’t specify the serving size, which would have been nice!) for 7 days noticed a 9.6% raise in systolic blood pressure (the top number of a blood pressure reading), and a 7.8% increase in diastolic pressure (the bottom number of the blood pressure reading)……let’s just say that ain’t necessarily that good!