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

Be honest. You know you used to love to watch the popular cartoon Popeye. Even if you never really got into it, you know exactly what I’m talking about. One of the things that Popeye is famous for (if not the most famous thing) was how by eating a can of spinach he would instantly acquire super human strength and muscle mass…all at Bluto’s expense. Now, yeah, it’s a cartoon. It’s made up. It’s pretend. But, was Popeye onto something with the correlation between spinach and gaining weight / muscle building?

Yes, and no. According to a recent column in Men’s Health magazine, “in a test tube study, Rutgers researchers discovered that treating human muscle cells with a…compound found in spinach increased protein synthesis by 120 percent….they allow muscle tissue to repair itself faster…What’s more, rats that consumed high amounts of the substance became stronger after just 28 days. Unfortunately, you’d have to eat Popeye-sized quantities-almost 2 pounds a day to reap similar benefits”.

First, I don’t place too much weight on any study that’s used for anything dealing with gaining weight and building muscle mass. That doesn’t always transfer over to real life. Second, some of these tests were conducted on rats. Rats don’t give the same mental energy and intensity in working out with resistance that a human bodybuilder would.

Third, and this is the good one, I like how it was pointed out that in order to get the effects that were achieved in the study involving the compound found in spinach you’d have to eat 2 pounds of it….which is practically impossible to do on a daily basis. Not to mention any gastrointestinal issues that may arise as a result.

Fourth, the study didn’t specify to what degree was protein synthesis and muscle repair enhanced. Was it enough to actually cause you to see an increase the size of muscle you build and the weight you gain? You have to consider these things into the picture.

You really shouldn’t worry much about getting in specific “compounds” or “chemicals” if you’re a hardgainer trying to build muscle mass and gain weight. What you should be worrying about is the amount of calories you’re eating day in and day out to reach your bodybuilding goals!