Every bodybuilder and muscle building enthusiast has certainly heard of human growth hormone.

This chemical messenger, secreted by the pituitary gland in the brain, instructs the body to grow—not just in height during the developmental years, but this chemical continues to be produced throughout adulthood, yielding various instructions to the body.

Growth hormone comes in different forms, about 100 variations (the result of the hormone’s molecules sometimes fragmenting to produce smaller pieces, and sometimes these smaller pieces then lump together to create a molecule that’s bigger than the original).

It’s composed of 191 amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein.

Most research on this chemical has focused on the 22kiladalton form, which is a unit of molecular size. The 22kiladalton form is released in a pulsating way from the pituitary.

Most of the release occurs after exercise (intense or heavy weight lifting, and highly intense cardio activity) and during sleep.

Growth hormone (i.e., the 22kiladalton size), promotes the growth of connective tissue (collagen), which has strong implications for muscle building.

This is why growth hormone from extraneous sources (e.g., injections) is much sought after by some athletes for whom muscle size and power are important for their sports or goals.

Growth hormone doesn’t have a direct effect on the size or power of muscles (as some believe); it has an indirect effect by strengthening the connective tissue of the musculoskeletal system.

One of the reasons for the myth that growth hormone outright increases muscle strength and size is that its effect can cause an increase in the diameter of the muscle belly, such as the biceps bellies.

This enlargement is from a growth of the connective tissue about the biceps, rather than an increase in the size or power of the contractile proteins within the biceps tissue, or an increase in volume of the “metabolic machinery” in the sarcoplasm of the muscle cell.

In short, growth hormone will not make a bodybuilder or power lifter stronger.

The increase is in the collagen or connective tissue only, but this result allows the athlete to train harder. Harder training begets greater results. The effects of growth hormone don’t stop there.

This compound is one of the most powerful fat burners known to natural science. It facilitates the mobilization of fat from fat cells—this fat is then used for the production of energy: fat burning.

This is crucial for people seeking physique development because more growth hormone means a lower body fat percentage.

It’s clear that to the muscle building athlete, elevating the circulating levels of growth hormone is a much desired goal. The big question then is: What is the best way to increase growth hormone levels naturally?

Bodybuilding

This is accomplished by exercise—a certain breed of exercise in particular: bodybuilding.

The classic scheme for bodybuilding is lifting loads for an 8-12 rep max (meaning, a ninth to 13th rep is not possible), with 45-60 seconds of rest in between sets (some schools of thought include rests up to 90 seconds).

This is why savvy fitness professionals prescribe this protocol to clients whose No. 1 goal is to slash body fat.

The boost in growth hormone with this training protocol is tremendous.

Anecdotal evidence of the power of growth hormone for burning fat is that, typically, the muscle building athlete has visibly far less fat in the waist and abdominal area than does the person who either concentrates more on power lifting (very heavy weight, low reps), or who focuses on long-distance running or lengthy and frequent aerobics sessions.

It also explains why women who bodybuild (and eat accordingly) have such tiny, tight waists, while a woman can do all the training in the world with light weights and still have a pudgy waistline—light weights will not boost growth hormone, the mighty fat burner.

Other Exercise That Increases Growth Hormone

High intensity interval training (HIIT) substantially elevates this hormone.

Long slow (steady state) cardio such as an hour-long jog at 5 mph does not unleash this fat burner.

The general rule in HIIT is to forcefully do cardio (sprinting, running up hills, fast and furious pedaling, jumping) enough to bring on exhaustion within 30 seconds, and alternate this with a few minutes of casual pacing, for eight cycles of work/casual pacing.

Sleep

The third way to expedite growth hormone release is through sleep. Though this chemical messenger is normally produced during sleep, one must not assume that any ‘ol sleep will release maximal amounts.

If eight hours of sound sleep are accomplished after midnight, less growth hormone will be released than if some of those eight hours occur prior to midnight.

For greater growth hormone release, sleep from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. rather than midnight to 8 a.m. and especially rather than from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m., whenever possible. Think of how primitive man slept; the absence of oil lamps meant he lived by sunlight and moonlight.

He pretty much had no choice but to go to sleep once it was pitch dark outside, which occurred hours before midnight, and he arose once daylight broke at dawn.

Modern man is up way past the time his body has been programmed by nature to start sleeping, living by the artificial light of light bulbs, the TV and the computer, and this disrupts the natural circadian rhythm.

If one falls asleep at around 10 p.m., growth hormone production will sharply rise and peak, then start dropping off at around 1 a.m., and sharply drop off by 3 a.m. Part of optimizing muscle building should be trying to fall asleep by 10 p.m.

Eating For Growth Hormone Release

Workouts should be at least 2-3 hours after eating a meal, since the presence of higher insulin levels (triggered by food) stunts growth hormone release. Optimal growth hormone secretion will occur if workouts are conducted in this fashion.

To unleash growth hormone, there is no need to rely upon extraneous sources; the proper exercise and sleeping habits will do the job wonderfully.

Just about every muscle building enthusiast has heard the term, “lactic acid burn.” The prevailing belief is that lactic acid, which also goes by the more accurate name of lactate, causes that burning sensation in the muscles as one approaches failure in a set with relatively high repetitions.

Lactic acid traditionally has gotten the bad rap of being this waste product of hard exercise that causes post-workout soreness, as well as that stinging burn during the workout.

Just What Is Lactic Acid?

As just mentioned, “lactate” is the more accurate terminology. The human metabolic process produces lactate, which acts like a hormone. A hormone is a chemical messenger that instructs things to happen in the body.

However, it is not this signaling molecule of lactate that’s responsible for the so-called lactic acid soreness. Instead, this chemical is simply associated with that burn; it is guilt by association!

Here Is What Happens During Hardcore Exercise:

When exercise is intense enough, aerobic capacity is maxed out. This causes hydrogen ions to accumulate in muscle cells. A hydrogen ion is a hydrogen atom that has lost its electron, making it positively charged.

So, the muscle cells have an accumulation of these ions. This increases the acidity of the muscle cells, causing them to “burn.” This increased acidity causes what many people refer to as the lactic acid burn.

Where Does Lactate Come In, Then?

Lactate scoops up these ions, thereby working against the shift in pH (increased acidity).

This is how lactate is associated with the muscle burn. This association, however, does not mean cause.

The formation of lactate helps fight the damage from the hydrogen ions. What happens to this formed lactate? One of several outcomes is possible:

• It remains in muscle cells to be reconverted to energy.

• It exits muscle cells to be utilized by other kinds of cells for fuel.

• It creates glucose (blood sugar) for the body to use for energy, a process called gluconeogenesis.

Lactate plays a strong role in energy metabolism. It’s important to understand a phenomenon called EPOC: excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, which occurs after intense cardio (such as high intensity interval training) as well as intense weight lifting.

In layman’s terms, EPOC is known as the after-burn of fat.

When lactate is formed (to combat those hydrogen ions that build up in muscle cells), heat is released. During intense exercise, the body’s aerobic system is not being used; the anaerobic (absence of oxygen) pathway instead is being used.

Thus, during anaerobic exercise, such as sprinting, heavy bench pressing or pull-ups to failure, the body is not relying upon oxygen like it does during a 5 mph jog. One can start out doing aerobic exercise, but then transition to anaerobic.

An example of transition would be high intensity interval training: going from a 3 mph walk to a brief 12 mph run and switching back and forth between these speeds; or going from warm-up deadlifts to the weight needed for a 6-rep max.

When the body switches over from aerobic to anaerobic energy metabolism, something happens. And that something is that pyruvate, a molecule, is converted to lactate.

This conversion process releases heat. Notice that it was previously mentioned that once lactate forms, one of three outcomes occurs, and the first possible outcome is that lactate can reconvert to energy.

However, before this stage takes place, lactate must be converted back to pyruvate.

Guess what: This conversion back to pyruvate also releases heat. There’s heat going on here, and this heat is very important for energy use; lactate improves one’s metabolic efficiency.

Lactate is considered to be virtually a hormone by researchers (such as Hashimoto et al) because it has cell signaling attributes.

As mentioned prior, when exercise is intense enough, it crosses the threshold into anaerobic metabolism—causing that accumulation of hydrogen ions, along with a buildup of pyruvate (which ultimately converts to lactate).

To recap, the “lactic acid muscle soreness” or burning is caused by the acidic changes that are caused by the ion buildup. Fatigue results. Lactate is formed. Lactate then heads down one or more of the three possible outcomes described earlier.

The signaling aspect of lactate is that it encourages the body to lay down metabolic processes in the name of better training performance. In this sense, lactate is called an adaptogen.

Two Main Signals Or Instructions Come Out Of Lactate’s Adaptogenic Properties:

1) Increase mitochondrial (cell energy) production, and

2) Increase production of human growth hormone and testosterone.

Hmmm, now we’re talking! Bodybuilders and other muscle building athletes love growth hormone and testosterone!

More mitochondria mean more energy and higher fatigue tolerance (and bigger muscles from the sarcoplasmic changes that more abundant mitochondria cause).

More anabolic hormones mean stronger connective tissue which leads to lifting heavier weights (which then leads to mass gains), and also mean faster recovery and more fat burning.

What we have here is a chemical chain reaction that all begins with intense exercise, and leads to an unleashing of growth promoting hormones.

The greater release of HGH and testosterone is preceded by the production of lactate; lactate is the precursor to these anabolic hormones.

The idea that lactate can actually be a hormone throws many people for a loop, but recent research has uncovered a receptor site for this signaling molecule. The receptor site is called GPR81, which means that, at a minimum, lactate behaves like a hormone.

Lactate’s Application To Building Muscle

Next time you experience “lactic acid muscle soreness,” welcome it with open arms, because you now know what it all means: lactate production—the startup of a chain reaction that culminates in a spike in anabolic hormones.

There are weight lifting techniques that spur this process, and, though not pretty as far as how they feel, keep in mind that the greater that grueling burn, the more HGH and testosterone will be released, meaning greater fat burning and muscle building.

Intensity Techniques For Driving Up Lactate:

1. Drop-sets

These are absolute killers. The first set is done to failure or near failure, and immediately after is another set of the same exercise with lighter weight, to failure, and then again a third set of still the same exercise, even lighter, to failure.

Some routines are impractical for this, such as deadlifts, free barbell squats and leg presses due to the longer load changing times, but other routines work divinely for drop-sets such as any kind of rows, lat pull-downs, chest presses and shoulder presses.

2. Compound sets

A set is immediately followed by a different exercise that works the same muscle group, such as pull-ups quickly followed by barbell rows, or parallel bar dips promptly followed by narrow grip bench presses.

3. Partial repetitions

A fine example is bringing the leg press sled down deeply rather than half-way (like most people do), then pushing back up only three-fourths way rather than all the way. Each rep goes up only three-fourths way, from the lowest position possible.

4. Negatives

Take five seconds to lower the weight, such as in a bench press or incline dumbbell press.

5. Stage reps

The lowering or release of the weight is not done in one fluid motion, but consists of pauses throughout.

An example would be a chin-up in which one lowers one-quarter way and holds; then lowers to half way and holds; lowers to three-fourths and holds, then comes to a dead hang before pulling up again.

Optimizing lactic acid for muscle building, or, more accurately put, optimizing lactate for muscle building, includes incorporating these intensity techniques into one’s muscle hypertrophy regimen.

However, don’t overdo it. Too many intensity sets in one session can become too exhausting. No more than half the exercises should utilize intensity techniques.

There are tons of supplements for bodybuilding on the market; no one person with a spectacular physique takes every one of these, though some muscle building enthusiasts do take a whopping amount of supps on a daily basis.

However, even taking fistfuls of tablets and gagging on many scoops a day of various powders aren’t necessary for building one’s best physique.

It’s hardly a giant leap of faith to conclude that the guys with the most awesome bodies would still have those same bodies if they cut their supplementing down to just four key supplements, while sticking to a clean diet with many sources of quality whole proteins, complex carbohydrates and energizing “good fats” like those found in fish.

Sometimes, supplementation is a matter of convenience, and this is the reason why many men and women use protein powders. In fact, some even like the taste, when these powders are blended up with juice or fruit, yogurt, milk, even peanut butter.

On the other hand, it’s not likely that most skinny guys who deal with gritty, expensive “weight gainer” shakes a few times every day do this because they prefer these over delicious food items that pack as many calories.

It’s not recommended that “hard-gainer” types make a habit out of choking down ultra-high calorie shake mixes to supplement their diets.

These will get tedious after a while, are full of synthetic additives, and quite frankly, don’t come close to the nutritional benefits of natural whole foods.

Top 4 Overall Bodybuilding Supplements

• Whey Protein/Branched Chain Amino Acids
• Creatine
• Glutamine
• Essential Fatty Acids

The Power Of Protein

Many nutritionists believe that people do not need protein supplements because people get plenty of protein just from everyday eating. However, nutritionists usually have the average person in mind when offering this recommendation. The muscle building enthusiast is not the average person.

The best way to ingest protein is via whole foods like fish, poultry, lean meats, dairy, eggs, beans and nuts/seeds.

This can create a few issues for someone trying to get in a lot of protein: the threat of calorie surplus in those trying to lose fat, and the inability to consume enough whole-food protein without feeling uncomfortably full.

Reasons For Taking Protein Supplements:

• Cut corners on calories

• Inability to eat the quantity of meat/poultry, eggs, beans and nuts to make the daily protein quota

• Taste; it’s easy to get tired of the same protein foods over and over; protein powders come in chocolate, strawberry and vanilla flavors.

How much protein should the bodybuilder get every day? Recommendations vary.

The American Dietetic Association suggests that those who strength train get up to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day. Other schools of thought recommend one gram/kg, and others 2 g/kg.

Any of these recommendations needs to be approached with caution, because they do not consider body composition. A 300 pound obese man, according to the ADA recommendation, should ingest 136 grams of protein a day if he decides to take up bodybuilding.

This recommendation certainly can’t be the same for the already-athletic, lean 180 pound man who’d like to pack on more muscle. More protein than for the average person is definitely necessary, but exactly how much is open to debate.

1. Best protein bodybuilding supplement: Whey Powder.

The strongest protein for muscle building, whey powder makes it to exhausted muscle fibers faster than do other protein sources.

Whey protein isolate is the best form of whey for absorption, and can be absorbed through the stomach and first section of the small intestine in under 30 minutes. Whey is unbeatable as part of a post-workout meal.

Other Reasons Whey Is Considered The Best Bodybuilding Supplement:

• Great source of amino acids (building blocks of protein)

• Facilitates muscle recovery post-workout and helps prevent catabolism (muscle breakdown)

• Immune system support

• Versatile for mixing up with water and other items for a flavorful drink or shake

Supplementation with whey powder is a must because muscle is protein. To make something that’s made of protein bigger, feed it quality protein: whey powder.

When eaten it’s broken down into amino acids, which worked-up muscles need for rebuilding and growing.

Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAS). What’s special about BCAAs is that they get transported to fatigued muscle cells very quickly after being ingested.

BCAAs promote a higher degree of circulating insulin, a hormone that delivers blood sugar (from ingested carbohydrates) to insulin receptor sites on muscle cells. These receptor sites uptake the delivered blood sugar (glucose) to feed the muscles.

Whey, with its BCAAs, gets this task done rapidly. A shortage of protein means a risk of catabolism: muscle breakdown. Supplementation protects against this and facilitates repair of damaged muscle tissue.

2. Creatine

The next prime bodybuilding supplement is creatine, a compound that’s produced in the liver as a result of one consuming protein from red meat and fish. Ninety-five percent of the body’s creatine is stored in skeletal muscle.

Supplementation with creatine is beneficial because this organic acid plays a key position in ATP restoration. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is an energy source produced by the mitochondria of muscle cells, and gets depleted during workouts.

Another boon of creatine is that it aids in prevention of muscle tissue damage by helping protect cell membranes.

Supplementing with creatine drives up the amount of this compound in muscle tissue, thus helping with the increase in lean mass by promoting a higher volume of water in muscle cells (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy).

3. Glutamine

A grueling workout takes a toll on the immune system. Glutamine, an amino acid, provides immune system support.

Glutamine also partakes in the resynthesizing of carbohydrates eaten post-workout, making recovery faster. A faster recovery creates a positive ripple effect into the next workout.

The third benefit of glutamine is that of raising levels of human growth hormone. HGH is important in the restructuring of fatigued muscle tissue, and glutamine will help optimize its presence in doing so.

4. Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs)

Just about every list of effective supplements for bodybuilding includes EFAs: namely the omega 3s.

The omega 3s counteract the inflammation in the musculoskeletal system that results from a searing workout.

Recovery is sped up when this inflammation is opposed by an anti-inflammatory agent, of which EFAs are.

EFAs are called “essential” because the body cannot manufacture them; they must come from food or supplement sources.

Though EFAs are abundant in certain foods like fish, oils and nuts/seeds, some trainees do not like or care for fish, oils and nuts/seeds; plus, some trainees have a concern over the calorie content of oils, nuts and seeds.

For them, EFAs in supplement form (e.g., fish oil capsules) are far easier to take. Additionally, even if one enjoys fish, nuts, seeds and regularly uses oils like olive or safflower, it can still be challenging to get plenty of omega 3s from dietary sources alone on a daily basis.

Another benefit of EFAs is that the membranes of muscle cells absorb these compounds, and this leads to more efficient uptake of glucose by the insulin receptor sites on muscle cells. This means faster and more efficient fueling up of starved muscle tissue.

Post-Workout Supplements

• Whey protein (though this can also be consumed any time of the day, but post-workout is the best time to take advantage of the BCAAs)

• Creatine

• Glutamine

• EFAs

1. Whey

The amount should be 25-30 grams. Whey cans come with scoopers that are sized to meet this quantity range.

The powder should be taken with a sweet juice, or milk, as these drinks quickly raise blood sugar levels, thus bringing on a potent insulin response. This metabolic effect from such a post-workout feeding is essential for driving nutrients as rapidly as possible into drained muscle cells.

So go ahead, add a scoop of whey to white or chocolate milk (8 ounces will do); 8 ounces of juice; or mix in a blender with berries, sliced peaches, a banana or yogurt, plus water. Add crushed ice for a smoothie effect.

Fancy weight gain powders in those mammoth cans are not necessary; as mentioned, these are full of chemical additives. For more calories, toss a tablespoon or two of peanut butter or olive oil into the shake (you won’t taste the olive oil).

The best whey powder has the fewest ingredients. Some brands, like the weight gain powders, are loaded with synthetic additives. The fewer the ingredients, the better.

2. Creatine

Add creatine to the whey shake. To get started on creatine supplementation, just take 5 grams of this white, tasteless powder every day; saturation of the muscle tissue will occur in a few weeks.

An alternative is to load the body by taking 20 grams a day (four times a day) for five days, to more quickly saturate muscles. The problem with this method is that one may forget a dose here and there.

Either way, include the daily dose, or one of the quick-saturating doses, in the post-workout whey protein drink. The muscles have plenty of creatine in them pre-workout, but post-workout, they need some replenishment.

3. Glutamine

Add 6-8 grams of glutamine powder to your protein beverage.

4. Essential Fatty Acids

EFAs post-workout are very important, for the reasons already covered in this article. The most practical way to ingest these with the post-workout shake is in the form of fish oil capsules. Take two fish oil capsules with a glass of water.

What About Pre-Workout Supplements?

This need not be complicated. In fact, simplicity reigns.

A scoop of whey protein powder mixed in water and only a few ounces all-natural juice (not something that’s marketed at kids or some “sports drink” that’s full of hard-to-pronounce ingredients) will be adequate. Better yet, have the powder in just water, even if this isn’t very palatable.

Take this 45-60 minutes before a workout because whey lowers the effects of the stress hormone cortisol. Levels of cortisol rise during a workout.

So do the levels of human growth hormone and testosterone, which oppose the cortisol. However, pre-workout whey protein will assist the HGH and testosterone in opposing cortisol.

This means a hardier workout and better recovery, plus a handy available source of important amino acids during the weight lifting.

What About A Bodybuilding Supplement During The Workout?

It’s not uncommon to see big brawny guys drinking from a bottle of orange, red or purple fluid in between sets. This isn’t why they have bristling muscles, but it may be why they can’t seem to crack past a certain body fat percentage goal.

Guzzling sweetened beverages during training means the body will take energy from the sugars in those drinks, rather than from stored body fat. These drinks, marketed as “fuel” needed during weight workouts, are not necessary; skip them and just drink plenty of water.

Supplementation for bodybuilders or muscle building athletes need not be complicated and wrought with confusion. Stick to these basic four supplements and you’ll be on your way to getting the best physique possible.

Putting on 15 pounds of muscle in just three months isn’t all that unrealistic, though at the same time, this is a goal that many make for themselves yet fail to achieve.

Chief Obstacles To Packing On 15 Pounds Of Lean Mass In Only 90 Days:

• Performing the wrong exercises
• Not using heavy enough weight
• No or minimal progressive overload
• Not eating enough
• Not eating at the right times

Proven Formula For Packing On Muscle In A Relatively Short Span Of Time:

• Major emphasis on compound exercises
• Using maximal weight loads for 8-12 repetitions
• Increasing daily food intake
• Eating 5-6 meals a day at specific times

As easy as this formula sounds, it goes unheeded by many trainees aspiring to put on muscle fast. There are additional methods for quick hypertrophy, which will be covered later in this article. It’s important to first cover the most common mistakes and the most effective strategies.

Mass Building Exercises

Many new trainees and even those who’ve been visiting the gym for a long time and still haven’t gained much muscle, believe that the secret to gaining mass is to exhaust themselves with weights; type of exercise doesn’t really matter.

So what happens is that a man will spend literally 45 minutes just on biceps curls, hitting the biceps from every kind of angle, using dumbbells, barbells and pulley systems. After 45 minutes, his biceps are killing him… but after three months, they’re not much bigger.

He sees a man with biceps three times his size doing the same exercises and wonders what’s going on. The second man indeed does isolation routines to refine the peak of his biceps, but he doesn’t spend too much time with this isolation routine because he’s busier performing the mass building compound moves.

A compound exercise works several joints, and therefore several muscle groups, simultaneously. An isolation move like biceps curls and leg extensions works only one joint at a time, and hence, one muscle group.

Isolation work is fine for additional shaping of muscles and bringing them out more, but the answer for solid muscle volume gain is in a regimen that’s concentrated on compound exercises, namely:

• Barbell Squat
• Deadlift
• Leg Press
• Bench Press
• Incline Press
• Lat Pull-Down
• Bent-over dumbbell row
• Dips

These exercises are the basics, though there are other compound moves such as chin-ups and T-bar rows that are valuable for gaining muscle. In order to put on muscle fast, one must lift as much weight as possible.

This doesn’t mean stretching out training sessions to two hours, or training every day. It means time under tension, and volume: moving the greatest loads within 45-60 minutes, no longer.

Longer than that is not necessary, as exhausted muscles won’t work efficiently. Plus, the psychology of knowing a training session will be two hours can backfire, in that a person may subconsciously hold back on effort to “preserve” strength for the second hour; or, he may hold back simply because facing a two hour workout can be dreadful.

Amount Of Weight Lifted

The trainee should lift as heavy a load as possible for 8-12 repetitions. This means that a ninth to thirteenth rep cannot be completed.

Failure training guarantees that the volume inside a muscle cell will grow, to accommodate the exertion; the result is a bigger muscle cell (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy) because the “machinery” such as capillaries within the cell has increased in number and density.

The best way to lift as heavy as possible is to do compound exercises. Which exercise can you lift a heavier barbell with? A biceps curl? Or a deadlift? Which routine can you lift more with? A leg extension, or a leg press? More weight lifted = more mass gained to accommodate the load.

The goal should be to lift as much weight as possible—with proper form—for 8-12 reps. The proof of this is everywhere. Next time you see a man performing a leg press with a humongous amount of weight, note the size of his legs. Every man with a massive chest and shoulders can bench press a lot of weight.

Every woman who can squat a significant weight load does not have the legs of a distance runner. A woman who looks like a fashion model cannot bench press 150 pounds.

There is a direct relationship between strength and muscle size (though it’s important to note that maximal overall body strength is achieved with power lifting protocols, which do not generate the greatest hypertrophy).

Progressive Overload

The trainee must continually strive to lift as much as he or she can within that 8-12 rep max.

If one can do a thirteenth rep, it’s time to add weight, even if it’s just a two and a half pound plate on either side of a barbell.

Do not wait till you can do 14 reps to increase the poundage. In fact, one school of thought sets the rep max at 8-10.

Don’t go overboard with progressive resistance in that you find yourself doing 5-7 rep maxes. This is more like power lifting, and though you’ll get very strong, there will be a sacrifice in some hypertrophy.

This is because shorter reps don’t fatigue the muscle cells as much as do longer sets (8-12 RM), and thus, there won’t be as much of an increase in the cells’ machinery that handles fatigue.

Less machinery = smaller increases in volume = less hypertrophy = less lean mass gain.

What To Eat?

It’s common for a skinny guy to take up muscle building without making a conscious effort to eat more. It’s a myth that every skinny person already eats a ton. This is false. Some people have small appetites, and as a result, are on the thin side.

Another point to consider is that many “skinny” people are thin because they have very low muscle volume. Their body fat percentage can actually be a lot higher than a bigger, heavier person who has much more muscle mass.

For “skinny” or even medium-framed people, a calorie surplus is a must. This is easily accomplished by eating more than what one normally eats, and by adding a few meals to the daily roster; the ideal total is five or six a day, though even seven can be worked in. These need not be heavy, five-course meals.

Often, there are only three items in most of these meals, sometimes only two. Meals should contain:

• 20-30 grams of quality protein (fish, poultry, lean meats, eggs, beans)

• A helping of complex carbohydrate that can fill a large palm (potatoes, yams, rice, barley, oats, or two slices of whole grain bread)

• A vegetable or fruit side such as steamed broccoli, a tossed salad or a bowl of berries. These are general recommendations for “clean” eating.

Another school of thought endorses the “bulking” approach, in which it’s a free-for-all: Trainees are encouraged to load up on fast food, chocolate milk, pancakes, ice cream, pizza and burritos. This is an unhealthy way to eat.

Just about every actor who goes on a training program to add 15-30 pounds of muscle for an action movie role, incorporates a clean eating plan into his regimen.

Another method is GOMAD: gallon of milk a day. This, too, is impractical, if for no other reason that many followers of this complain of diarrhea.

Six mini meals a day of quality proteins, carbohydrates and fats (nuts and seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, fish, grass-fed beef, wild game), plus supplementation with whey protein, are more than adequate for mass gain.

Another effective approach is that of either having one cheat day a week in which the trainee indulges (within reason) in pizza, French fries or other “junk” foods, or, only on weight training days he or she allows one or two palm-sized portions of cake, candy, sausage, etc. A calorie surplus will be used for building muscle volume.

For people wanting to lose body fat, they should cut way back on junk food and avoid eating to the point of fullness; this alone is often adequate enough to drop body fat.

Portions at each meal should be controlled to prevent fat gain or to lose excess fat, e.g., a cup or two of pasta with one chicken breast and a bowl of steamed broccoli, versus a full plate of pasta with two thick slabs of meat loaf drenched in gravy, and a bowl of steamed broccoli soaked in melted cheese.

When To Eat?

The general rule of thumb is every three hours, especially for skinny people, even if all they can get down is a handful of nuts or a tuna salad. Many people, even though trying to gain muscle, go long periods without eating. Fatigued muscles need a steady supply of nutrients to rebuild after workouts.

Breakfast is a must because after fasting overnight, muscles are starved for protein and carbohydrates. Within one hour of a workout, a meal should be completed. This means some planning, even if it’s ham and cheese on a bagel at the shop next door to the gym.

Over time the trainee will learn to better plan so that post-workout meals consist of healthier items, like a tuna sandwich on whole grain bread plus a fruit platter, or a vegetable omelet and big glass of juice.

Post-workout meals should include fast-acting carbohydrate sources like fruit, juice, dairy products, or even the day’s cheat treat. In other words, if one plans on eating cheesecake or a can of sugary soda on a training day, this type of food should be taken within one hour of the workout: soda with that tuna sandwich.

The sugars will be efficiently used to help shuttle protein to hungry muscle cells, rather than stored as fat.

Protein should be taken shortly before bedtime to help muscles recover overnight. For those wanting to lose fat, avoid carbs close to bedtime.

Whey protein powder is best taken as the post-workout meal, but this isn’t always possible for busy people. Whey should be eaten every day, though, and first thing in the morning is another ideal time: 25-30 grams mixed with milk or juice, or in a blender (e.g., milk, banana and peanut butter for a tasty shake).

How to gain muscle fast does not mean mindless eating, stuffing one’s self or “eating like a pig.” It means conscientious eating of cleaner foods at opportune times. A grueling workout will also increase appetite for many people.

How To Gain 15 Pounds Of Muscle In 3 Months: Additional Strategies

• Additional compound moves: dumbbell chest and shoulder press, seated row, barbell shoulder press, heavy-weight walking lunges.

• Train no longer than 60 minutes.

• Take 60-75 seconds in between sets to incur significant fatigue, which will boost fat burning as well as boost gain in muscle volume. Take a few to several minutes in between routines.

• Train each muscle group twice a week. Frequency is a major force in hypertrophy. Never train the same muscle group two days in an row.

• Work large muscle groups before smaller ones, e.g., work the back before the shoulders.

• Good isolation routines are biceps curls, dumbbell lateral raises, triceps push-downs, done with heavy weight, at the end of sessions. These comprise a minority of the routines.

• The biggest meal of the day should be the post-workout meal. If you’d like this to be the whey protein shake, the “bigness” of it can be in the form of total calories:

one scoop of whey powder plus 8 ounces chocolate milk, one tablespoon peanut butter and one whole banana—plus a tossed salad including nuts and an olive oil/vinegar dressing—total calories: about 700.

• If you’re having difficulty ingesting a calorie surplus, add two tablespoons of olive oil to your protein shake (you’ll never taste it); snack on nuts; add cheese and nuts to salads.

• Eat a “post-post workout meal” two hours after the post-workout meal.

• Drink a gallon of water a day.

• Supplement with creatine, 5 mg a day. Take the dose after workouts, and on non-training days, around the same time as your workouts. If workout time varies, just take the creatine at a fixed time on non-weight days.

• Take two fish oil capsules and 6-8 grams of the amino acid glutamine after every workout.

• Best sources of protein: whey protein isolate, egg whites, fish, poultry, grass-fed beef, wild game. Nuts/seeds and beans are also healthy sources of protein.

• Do cardio twice a week for no longer than 30 minutes, on non-weight days, in the form of high intensity interval training.

Beginners Vs. Experienced

Beginners can’t just dive into heavy weight training without risking injury. They need to spend several weeks honing proper form, especially in the deadlift and squat, as well as building up base conditioning in their joints and connective tissue.

This is accomplished by devoting several weeks to lighter training with 45-60 second rests in between sets. The short rests will bring on pronounced fatigue and stimulate human growth hormone.

HGH does not increase the size or number of contractile proteins in muscle, but it does increase connective tissue, which in turn, allows for heavier lifting. Beginners who train and eat properly experience the most notable progress.

Experienced trainees need to fight harder to add on another 15 pounds of muscle. In addition to doing everything they’re supposed to do, they may want to supplement with the amino acids L-arginine and L-ornithine, according to the following formula:

500 mg of L-arginine per 50 pounds of bodyweight, and 250 mg of L-ornithine per 50 pounds of bodyweight.

This will stimulate HGH and is best taken before bedtime on an empty stomach, to help facilitate better sleep and increased HGH release during sleep.

Speaking of sleep, this is a prime time for HGH release. Seven to eight hours of non-interrupted sleep are crucial for maximizing muscle growth.

Then awaken to a replenishing breakfast such as scrambled egg whites with bits of cheese, mushrooms and spinach; a bowl of oats; a banana with a little peanut butter on it, and a few glasses of water.

To put on muscle fast, one must have a solid plan in place, rather than lift and eat haphazardly. It will help immensely to make out a shopping list and prepare the week’s meals as much as possible so that the right foods are always on hand.

For example, buy a bunch of chicken breasts, cook them all at once, then store them in the freezer. Have other cuts of meat ready for cooking, cans of tuna on hand, plus a good supply of potatoes, oats, rice, pasta, vegetables, fruits, etc.

Gaining 15 pounds of muscle in three months is very possible when the right training regimen is in place, when the trainee sticks to every element of it and does not make excuses.

It’s been done many times before, because the human body responds in a predictable way to a specific training stimulus, and specific ways of fueling and refueling the body through food and important nutrients.

A much better physique is literally just 90 days away for men and women willing to make changes.

If you’re wondering how do muscles grow, there’s a good chance you’ve observed the following scenario a number of times:

A guy with a massive chest and shoulders bench presses 225 pounds for reps; pretty impressive. He works his way up to 275 for lower reps; even more impressive.

A few days later you spot a guy who looks like the average Joe, albeit stocky but with some muscle going on, chatting with some muscled-up guys at a bench press station.

Looks like he’s been doing some lifting, maybe to shed some of the belly.

You pay no mind until you hear some rather loud grunting 30 minutes later. The average looking man is cleanly bench pressing a bar with four plates on either side—405 pounds! Where is this strength coming from?

The bigger guy you saw the other day looks like he could easily body-slam this smaller man, but then…the smaller man is way stronger! How could this be? After all, doesn’t the amount of muscle mass correlate to the amount of weight lifted?

This is not the first time you’ve observed something like this, in which a person can lift considerably more than what he or she looks capable of, and usually, the type of lift involved is a bench press, deadlift or squat.

How Do Muscles Grow?

To understand what makes muscles grow, it helps to have some basic understanding of muscle cell anatomy.

If you slice cleanly through a muscle cell to view a cross-section of it, it looks like a tube with a bunch of skinnier tubes or tubules packed inside of it.

There’s “room” or space” between the “tubules.” This space is called sarcoplasm. Each “tubule” is called a myofribril. The myofibrils are made up of many filaments that contain actin and myosin, which are proteins responsible for muscle contraction.

There are two basic types of muscle fiber (muscle fiber is composed of muscle cells): slow twitch and fast twitch. It is the fast twitch type that muscle building exercises recruit.

There are then two classes of fast twitch fiber: type a and type b (IIa and IIb), or sometimes they are referred to as type II and type IIx. The “b” or “IIx” are the bigger of the two, and the most powerful.

In heavy weight lifting, they are recruited last. In a short weight lifting set, the type IIb fibers won’t get fatigued much. The longer a set, the more fatigued the IIb fibers will become. Failure sets guarantee that the IIb fibers will get hit hard.

When a fiber fatigues from going to failure in a set, it’s forced to adapt so that next time around, it could better handle the training stimulus.

Adaption to failure training partially comes in the form of an increased number of the contractile proteins, but not mostly in this form.

Adaption mostly occurs in the form of more “metabolic gear.” The increase in metabolic gear is largely responsible for what is known as muscle growth, i.e., hypertrophy or mass gain.

The ratio of added metabolic gear to added contractile proteins changes when the training protocol changes.

When a person lifts in the 8-12 rep range to failure, meaning, a ninth to thirteenth repetition is not possible, this triggers a big increase in the metabolic gear.

What Does This Metabolic Equipment Consist Of?

• Glycosomes, which are particles that contain glycogen (stored sugar), a muscle cell’s chief form of fuel

• Mitochondria, little “machines” inside every cell of the body, including muscle cells, that are headquarters for a cell’s energy

• Capillaries, microscopic blood vessels that training causes to increase in density, a process called capillarization

This metabolic apparatus is located within the sarcoplasm—the “space” between the “tubules” (myofribrils) inside the muscle cell. The increase in metabolic equipment attracts water to the cell.

The metabolic gear enables the muscle fibers to sustain an intense, relatively long set (8-12 reps).

This is easy to understand once you know that more glycosomes mean more sugar-fuel; more mitochondria mean more energy; and more capillaries mean more oxygen-carrying blood.

Sets to failure (or even near failure) involve a lot of time (relatively speaking) under tension. Fatigue to the muscle cells starts setting in after 10 seconds with this kind of training.

The result? Increased volume in the sarcoplasm within which the myofibrils reside. The muscle cell thus gets bigger (hypertrophy). In this case, the increase in size is called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.

The cell is bigger due to an expansion of the gel-like sarcoplasm, because this substance now contains more metabolic equipment.

From the outside when one views a bodybuilder, this appears to be a bigger biceps, bigger lats or bigger quads. However, though the muscle cell is bigger, it has not become denser.

There are more capillaries, more glycosomes, more mitochondria, more water and more non-contractile proteins, causing the sarcoplasmic area to enlarge, thereby enlarging the entire muscle fiber unit, therefore enlarging the muscle belly (which we see as the biceps or the hamstrings or the deltoids).

What about the contractile proteins inside the myofribrils? As mentioned already, those, too, increase in numbers from 8-12 RM workouts—but not enough to produce maximal strength in the trainee (e.g., benching 405 for reps).

This is why oiled-down bodybuilders can appear as though they can bench press 500 pounds, but often, work out with only half that much.

This isn’t to say that bodybuilders aren’t strong; heck, they’re mighty strong alright, but…there’s a reason they are called bodybuilders and not powerlifters.

All that sarcoplasmic hypertrophy has ballooned up and sculpted their muscles, and in combination with very low body fat, they look spectacular.

However, in the corner of the gym, a man minus bulging muscles and humongous “guns” is bench pressing 425 pounds for three reps. His sarcoplasm is not loaded up with metabolic gear because his training sets are relatively short.

To get as big and rippling as possible and as symmetrical as possible, one needs to execute sets that exceed the immediate energy that cells have available.

This immediate energy comes from the mitochondria, in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and creatine phosphate.

This short-term energy is gone after 10 seconds, after which, the stored glycogen will be used for energy.

The breakdown of this stored sugar produces lactic acid, which is the “burn” that one feels as the set nears failure; this burn is often what forces the muscle builder to quit the set. (In the case of a powerlifter, he’s forced to quit the set due to mechanical failure—the weight simply becomes too heavy to lift).

The set must exceed 10 seconds to cause sarcoplasm to swell. Failure training is also known as fatigue training.

However, this doesn’t mean that the fatigue that’s experienced while doing 40 repetitions of 30-pound barbell shoulder presses will produce the same result!

This kind of fatigue-inducing workout will tap mostly the slow twitch, type I fibers, which are designed for endurance and do not grow in size.

Let’s back-step to that lactic acid. The production of lactic acid causes more human growth hormone to be released, and more HGH means more muscle growth, in that HGH increases the size of connective tissue (to adapt to the training stimulus).

HGH does not increase contractile proteins, but does elevate fat burning, making muscle development more visible.

Thus, we have the entire process of maximizing muscle hypertrophy: the bodybuilder or “jacked” look, complete with big-peak biceps, towering traps, flexing pecs, and bulging quads, gigantic hamstrings and calves like cantaloupes.

You won’t see this kind of exquisite leg muscular development in men who compete in squatting competitions.

Time under tension can also be achieved by slowing the tempo of repetitions or by including supersets with the same muscle group.

Deceivingly Strong

The powerlifter or Olympic weight lifter uses a heavier weight load than does the bodybuilder, and performs fewer reps, ranging from one to seven reps.

These athletes are mighty strong, yet are less muscular, or, to put it another way, not nearly as jacked as Mr. Physique.

Now, the muscles do indeed experience hypertrophy, but not to the extent that bodybuilders develop. The smaller size is due to the sarcoplasm not being as loaded up with as much metabolic machinery that occurs in bodybuilders.

There are some sarcoplasmic changes, but not as much as in the bodybuilder because the time under tension in powerlifting or Olympic lifting ends in less than 7-10 seconds.

Not enough fatigue sets in to cause all the capillarization, increased glycosomes, increased water, etc., that occurs with the bodybuilding protocol.

However, something else happens that explains the whopping strength and power. The shorter sets, due to fewer reps, mean that the type IIb fibers don’t get hit with fatigue.

Furthermore, powerlifters and Olympic lifters usually do not train to failure.

So, the type IIb fibers do get used, but in a different way: to lift very heavy loads without having to sustain this long enough to use up all the ATP.

The result is improved firing rate of muscle cells, better synchronization of the motor units and motor recruitment, and improved galvanization of the contractile machinery.

In this case, strength can be viewed as more neurological; a complex skill that has been developed. This doesn’t mean that the type IIb fibers don’t experience any fatigue at all.

They do, which is why the powerlifter or Olympic lifter has visible muscle development, but certainly doesn’t rock the musculature that Mr. Universe contestants do, or even that of male fitness models.

The hypertrophy in power- and Olympic lifters comes mostly from an increase in contractile proteins, which are contained inside the myofibrils. This is called myofibrillar hypertrophy.

The myofibrils become denser, due to an increase in the number of filaments. These filaments are made up of the contractile proteins myosin and actin.

These filaments are called sarcomeres. With more sarcomeres and therefore denser myofibrils, a lot more strength and power results than that which occurs in “muscle building.”

The contractile unit of the muscle cell is more compact, meaning that more force and power can be generated.

What Is The Best Training Protocol?

This depends on one’s goals.

If one wants to look like a bodybuilder or have a physique like the men who star in today’s action films, then the regimen should be based upon fatigue training or failure training with 8-12 rep maxes.

Some fitness professionals insist that reaching failure is not necessary to promote a lot of hypertrophy (sarcoplasmic) or to develop muscles to maximal size, while others insist that going to failure makes a difference.

Another school of thought is to do failure training for 25 percent of the program. In general, here is how it all pans out:

• Greater than 15 reps: promotes endurance and toning with minimal hypertrophy (sarcoplasmic), minimal strength gains and no recruitment of type IIb fibers.

• 8-12 reps: maximal hypertrophy of the sarcoplasm, excellent strength grains, but not maximal; a candidate for physique and bodybuilding contests, or fitness modeling

• 6-7 reps: a happy medium between sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and myofibrillar hypertrophy—a muscular and very strong individual, the type seen in strongman events in which multiple reps within a limited time frame are judged (e.g., how many times heavy bucket-shaped weights can be tossed over a high bar within a set time) – these events do not consist of one-rep maxes.

Some of these athletes are huge (and some of that size is from body fat), but they still lack the “muscularity” of the competitive bodybuilder.

• 1-5 reps: greatest increase in the density of myofibrils (maximal increase in the contractile protein myosin-actin filaments), with less addition to the metabolic gear in the sarcoplasm; highest degree of strength/power development; these athletes can be seen in competitions deadlifting, squatting or clean-and-jerking enormous amounts of weight in which the event is judged on a one-rep max.

It should now be clear just how do muscles grow, in terms of what is visible from the outside looking in, and what happens from the inside looking out.

The tools of choice for men and women training to build muscle are dumbbells and barbells primarily, followed by machines with weight stacks, and cable-pulley systems.

Other implements that people train with are kettlebells and tension bands.

Why not also train with the actual weight plates themselves for a change?

This isn’t just a novelty. Muscle building workouts with just weight plates will provide a different pattern of neuromuscular recruitment, and the trainee will immediately feel this difference.

Furthermore, the way the plates must be held will strengthen the wrist and grip in a way that holding a dumbbell or grasping a machine’s or pulley system’s handle will not.

Another reason for plate workouts is as an alternative to waiting around for another person to finish with the dumbbells you want to use.

If you want to, for instance, perform warm-up chest presses with 25-pound dumbbells, and both of the gym’s two pairs are in use, then grab a few 25-pound metal plates and go to town.

Weight Plate Exercises That Are Already Popular

Training with weight plates isn’t new. It’s just that the commonplace exercises using only these tools are mostly limited to the farmer’s walk, walking lunge, overhead press, standing skull crusher, deadlift (plate in each hand) and weighted decline sit-up.

Sometimes people will use two and a half and five pound plates for side and front raises, or rotator cuff exercises. It’s time to think outside the box and include more weight plate exercises as part of a mass building program.

Benefits Of Adding Plate Workouts To One’s Regimen

➟ Different pattern of muscle fiber recruitment, which provides a new feel to the exercise and stimulates muscle fibers that remain dormant during the dumbbell, barbell or machine version of the exercise.

This is why, for example, a shoulder press with two 25-pound plates will be more difficult than with 25-pound dumbbells, regardless of how the plates are held.

➟ Eliminates waiting around for a desired dumbbell weight or machine that’s in use

➟ Strengthens wrist and grip

➟ Allows a longer resistance arm. What this means is that the length of the resistance can be made greater, than with dumbbells with the same routine.

The side raise is a good example. When one uses dumbbells, the length of the resistance begins from the shoulder joint and ends at the outer rim of the ends of the dumbbells.

If a weight plate is held so that it is parallel to the floor at the top movement of the side raise, the resistance length extends to the outer rim of the plate.

This will be a longer length than with a dumbbell, adding a unique spin on a common lift.

Holding the plates this way will also recruit more forearm action because the wrist will have to work harder to keep the plates in alignment with the arm.

Exercises For A Great Weight Plate Workout

1. Flat And Incline Chest Press

The plates can be held one of two ways. The first way is with that of keeping them parallel to the floor. Fingers go through the center hole, while the thumb curls around the outer edge.

Another way to hold the plate is by placing an open hand against it and then pushing up. The open-hand method ensures that the plate will stay parallel.

The second way to lift is to hold the plate vertical or almost vertical, which requires the grip with the fingers through the hole. The vertical position will lengthen the resistance arm, and the trainee will immediately feel the increased resistance.

The larger the plate, the more forearm-muscle engagement, because more gripping action is required.

2. Shoulder Press

The same principles apply as in the chest press.

3. Bent-Over Dumbbell Row

The trainee will automatically want to hold the plate vertical for the lifting and lowering. However, a new spin on this classic exercise would be to hold the plate parallel to the floor, gripping it in its hole.

This forces more forearm and finger action. Most men will not be challenged with a 25-pound plate, so they should try a 35- or 45-pounder.

Women will find the 25-pounder challenging, and if not, stronger women can use the heavier plates.

4. Side And Front Raise

The limit for most people will be with a 10-pounder stacked to a 5-pounder (fingers through both holes).

Unless a trainee has large hands, handling the 25-pounders with fingers through the hole will be difficult.

Grasping them without placing fingers through the hole, and letting them flop vertical to the floor while raising them, is a viable option. This will require finger strength and will also develop it.

5. Standing And Seated Curl

Suppose you’re used to curling 25-pound dumbbells. Curling 25-pound plates will not be the same experience.

In fact, you will probably need to use two 10-pound plates, and even then, this might be too taxing to complete your normal rep range. There are several ways to hold plates during curls.

The first way is with palms facing upward, fingers through the hole. As one curls all the way up, the plates should stay in alignment with the forearm.

This means don’t let them flop to parallel with the floor. Flopping them isn’t a bad thing, but keeping them aligned with forearms means more forearm and biceps recruitment.

The second way is hammer curl style. Palms face each other, and the plates remain vertical to floor, and parallel to each other throughout the movement.

The third way is reverse curl style. Plates should stay aligned with forearms; don’t let the wrists flop.

6. Clean And Push-Press

The limitation is amount of weights, but many male trainees will be challenged with 25-pound plates in each hand, fingers through holes.

Strong women should try the 25-pounders. Not-so-strong people can work with two 10-pounders in each hand, or a 10 and a five, or just a 10-pounder.

For the clean, one can pick the plates up with palms facing front or behind. At shoulder level, one can switch palm direction if the plates were picked up with palms facing front. For the pressing phase, palms can face forward or each other.

These are just some plates exercise options to experiment with. Others will come to mind once a person gets imaginative, such as using a 45-pound plate for goblet squats (holding rim of plate).

In fact, try goblet squats this way, and then add an overhead press at the top of the squat.

Drawbacks

Incremental increases are bigger with plates than with conventional uses of resistance.

This initially isn’t a problem when one is using the smallest plates, because when the 5-pounders become too light, but the 10-pounders are still too heavy, the trainee can stack a two and a half pound plate to a 5-pounder and lift both plates in one hand.

However, when a 50-pound chest press becomes too light (two 25-pound plates), and the 35-pound plates are too heavy, it will be unwieldy to attempt the pressing with 5-pound plates stacked against the 25-pounders.

This problem is even more pronounced for stronger individuals who find pressing the 35-pound plates way too easy, but the 45-pounders still out of range.

Nevertheless, strength for the next increment can still be achieved over time.

Pressing the 45-pounders may seem like cake-feed since the total weight is only 90 pounds, but the biomechanics will make this a lot more challenging than a 90-pound dumbbell or barbell press!

Other Considerations

Not all weight plates are made the same. Some models have more than a center hole; they have openings between the center and the rim, making them easier to hold onto, especially for side and front raises.

For these kinds of plates, a trainee can experiment with gripping them at one of these outer openings for chest and shoulder presses, keeping the plate vertical throughout the exercise.

Though keeping the plates vertical is a unique challenge, it will subtract from maximum hypertrophy efforts, since less weight is actually being used than what one can ultimately push.

Vertical positioning is recommended only as an adjunct to a conventional regimen.

For very strong trainees, many of the exercises described in this article will serve only as a warm-up rather than a muscle-building movement.

Nevertheless, even for a warm-up, plate workouts are a unique and cool way to begin or conclude a muscle building session.

Whether you are a beginner with muscle building, or intermediate or advanced, you will want to check out No-Nonsense Muscle Building Program by Vince DelMonte.

This very helpful guide will show you how to build lean mass with a variety of programs that change every week, plus strip off body fat, when to incorporate cardio and ab exercises, and which foods to eat and avoid for the best results.

Photo credit: www.bodybuilding.com

Even if you enjoy free-weight exercises with barbells and dumbbells, it’s important to know what the best all-machine workout for the legs is.

You probably have already read, and may even believe with all your heart, that the most effective leg routines must include the deadlift and free barbell squat. Some people even insist that weighted walking lunges are an absolute must.

This leads some individuals to believe that an all-machine workout is useless for shaping muscle in the lower body, building lower body strength and burning fat.

Use of free weights, and particularly the deadlift exercise, are consistently touted as the best of the best for working the quadriceps, hamstrings and buttocks muscles.

One reason is because free weights force engagement of the core: the lower back and abdominal muscles. Free weights also more mimic everyday movements.

For example, what are the odds that you’ll one day need to press your legs against resistance while in a seated position?

More likely, you’ll need to press your legs against the ground against resistance, such as in picking up a heavy item, or lifting a person off the ground.

On the other hand, who knows, maybe one day you’ll see a head-on car collision coming and will put your feet against the car’s dashboard to act as a shield between you and the dashboard!

Okay, maybe that’s getting a little far-fetched, but it’s a fact that a horizontal and even decline leg press motion can develop leg press strength in a vertical motion against the ground (which is actually a squat).

What Is The No. 1 Machine Workout For The Legs?

It is the Smith squat, or tracked barbell squat. Some might argue, however, that the decline leg press is better.

For people with lower back problems, yes, the leg press is highly preferable, because lower back pain during squatting prevents the trainee from using heavy-enough resistance to challenge the legs and buttocks.

Both of these tools are great for strength training the lower body and building mass, because a tremendous amount of weight can be used. People without back problems should still do leg pressing.

Thus, the top two machine exercises for the legs and gluteal muscles are the tracked barbell squat (“Smith machine”) and the decline leg press – which is the pressing equipment in which the trainee lies with back against a tilted pad that’s close to the floor, legs above him or her.

Next up is the hack squat. This, along with the first two exercises already mentioned, is a compound movement: more than one muscle group is recruited.

The caveat with this equipment is that for some trainees, it hurts the shoulders. The more weight that’s loaded on the equipment, the more pressure on the user’s shoulders from the shoulder pads.

Usually, there is a direct relationship between how much weight a person can squat, and how strong and durable their shoulders are. A man who can squat a ton of weight often has thick slabs of muscle in his shoulders.

However, some women can squat an awful lot of weight, yet do not have the deltoid and trapezius development to withstand the pressure from the shoulder pads that will correspond to all the weight loaded on the machine.

For these women, hack squats are not one of the better machine workouts for their legs.

There may be another caveat with the hack squat, in that some may find it uncomfortable for their lower back, even if they don’t have a “bad” back. This may be why it’s not common to see people waiting in line to use the hack squat.

In summary, the best machine workout for the legs using compound movements are:

➜ Tracked barbell squat

➜ Decline leg press (or horizontal, though decline is better due to ergonomics, subjective comfort, and greater range of motion).

➜ Hack squat

What About Lunges?

If you’re a firm believer that the most efficient leg routine must involve lunges, then you can still use the Smith machine for lunges. It’s just that they won’t be walking lunges.

Don’t let the stationary nature fool you. Tracked barbell lunges are a bear, and can be done with a wide stance or a more narrow stance (for more quadriceps recruitment).

With the right amount of resistance and enough deep repetitions, these absolutely kill, and can be done alternating legs after every rep, or sticking to one side for an entire set before switching legs.

What About Isolation Routines?

Machine workouts are necessary for isolation exercises. It’s impossible to do a hamstring curl or leg extension with a barbell.

Though hamstring curls can be done with a dumbbell between the lower legs, this has severe limitations in that the resistance load is quite compromised.

The leg extension equipment is superb at shaping the thighs, and help form “tear drops” in the quad muscles (which become more visible as body fat levels drop).

The leg extension also excels at strengthening the knee joint and making it more stable.

So though this joint motion is not seen in everyday life, this joint motion against resistance does wonders at reducing the risk of knee problems such as chondromalacia patella (wearing down of the cartilage beneath the kneecap or patella) and patellar femoral syndrome (abnormal tracking of the patella due to cartilage damage).

Cartilage helps absorb shock, and this function is impaired if there’s damage to this tissue. The leg extension is one isolation exercise not to be ridiculed by the “compound is everything” camp.

The hamstring curl is a great isolation exercise because it helps shape and mold a good group of hamstrings for those who want “bulging” or more pronounced hamstring muscles.

It is not true that the biggest guys in the gym do only squats and deadlifts. Men with massive hams are often seen cranking out reps with nearly the entire weight stack, or the entire stack even, on a hamstring curl machine.

For those who aren’t concerned about getting as big as possible, this equipment is beneficial simply because it strengthens this muscle group, which comes in handy for many activities like hiking, running and a number of sports.

Calves

Last up, to complete the picture as far as the best leg machine exercises, is the seated calve raise. This is better than the standing equipment because it makes cheating impossible.

The standing version encourages the user to bend his legs, and this shifts workload from the calves to the quadriceps. This can’t happen when the user is seated.

Next time the squat rack is occupied and the tracked barbell device is free, don’t fret and fume; give this equipment a try and you’ll see that it can be one of the best workout machines for the lower body.

There are many more ways to work the muscles of the legs and glutes, as described in No-Nonsense Muscle Building Program by Vince DelMonte.

This book contains all sorts of beginner/intermediate and advanced workout plans for the legs as well as upper body, plus a lot of easy-to-follow information on nutritional support for building lean muscle and slashing body fat.

When you hear “stability ball” and “abs,” what’s the first thing, and perhaps the only thing, you think of?

No doubt, it is the crunch.

However, crunches on this device aren’t as effective as people tend to believe they are.

There are ways one can use the “Swiss ball” to work the abs that they’d never even consider.

With that in mind, here are the top 4 stability ball ab exercises.

1. Hinge-Situp-Extension

This is perhaps the most versatile of stability ball exercises because it works all of the following muscles: the abdominals (rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis), lower back (erector spinae), hip flexors, quadriceps and inner thighs.

Yes, you’ll get all of that in just one floor exercise with this tool.

a. Sit on a mat, legs bent, ball between lower legs.

b. Place inner part of feet against ball, with half the ball above and half the ball beneath feet so that it’s stable.

c. Lift it off the floor, legs still bent. Keep hands off floor throughout entire exercise; they can be in the air, on head, or arms crossed at chest.

d. Keeping ball snug between feet and off the floor, extend legs (straighten knee joints). At no time does ball touch floor.

e. Bring legs back in (bend them) and lie on back, keeping legs bent.

f. As back makes contact with the mat, the thighs rotate to vertical, with calves forming a 90-degree angle with thighs.

g. Now, straighten legs so that the entire legs are vertical (knee extension). Your body is now in the shape of an “L.” More flexible trainees should pull their legs towards chest while keeping legs straight.

h. Now, bend only the knees, as much as possible. Remember, the entire time the ball is between feet. Keeping feet clasped to the ball to prevent it from slipping out requires engagement of the inner thigh muscles.

i. Legs still bent, rock back up into a seated upright position (your original position), legs bent, ball never touching floor. That was one repetition.

Repeat all these movements for up to 20 repetitions, all without letting the ball make contact with the floor, and without putting hands on floor.

This will be a difficult move for many people, including those who believe they’re very fit. A person with “strong abs” will not necessarily be able to do this exercise without dropping the ball or letting it touch the floor.

Other components of the exercise may prove quite challenging, such as rocking back up after lying down, or straightening the legs while lying down.

Though no weighty objects are used, the trainee will quickly realize just how tough this series of movements are without having to cheat. The hip, lower back and knee joints will get strengthened.

2. Handless Straight-Leg V Crunch

a. Sit on mat, ball between feet, legs straight, hands off mat.

b. Tilt back and raise legs, keeping them straight, so that your body forms a “V.”

c. Make the V as narrow as possible by folding up as tightly as possible, that is, bringing straight legs as close to chest as possible, all while keeping ball between feet and keeping hands off floor.

d. Upon reaching the limit of closeness, unfold (widen the V), bringing back closer to the matt and legs closer to the floor, but don’t unfold to the point where the ball touches the floor. Keep legs straight.

e. When ball is only inches from floor, fold back up again into a narrow V. See how many reps you can do. This engages the entire core and hip flexors.

3. V Pelvic Twists

a. Assume the V position as above, except you won’t be narrowing or widening the V.

Instead you’ll be swiveling at the hips to rotate the ball. This means as you rotate, one leg will be above the other, so if you rotate counterclockwise, the right leg will be above the left.

b. As you reverse the rotation to the other side, the left leg will be on top of the right. Note: Legs must remain straight! A common error is to bend the legs and “bicycle” through the movement.

c. At each final point of a rotation, the sole of one’s foot should be facing the wall ahead.

This exercise is very, very difficult when done properly. Try for eight reps. Remember, legs stay straight, and try to rotate the ball 45 degrees from the starting position.

4. V Hip Flexion

This may be the trickiest of ab exercises with stability ball. A person’s abs may be strong enough to carry him or her through a set of clapping or plyometric pushups, yet this very person can easily struggle with this exercise because it requires hip flexor range of motion.

a. Place ball near a parallel bar that’s about 40-50 inches, give or take, off the floor. This can be the height of a barbell in a bench press stand, or the height of a rack used to hold stability balls.

The distance that the ball is from the base of the bar will vary, depending on trainee’s height, core conditioning and hip flexor conditioning/strength.

b. The objective is to sit on the ball, without holding onto anything (including the ball) and tap both feet simultaneously to the bar, then release and tap the floor with both toes, then immediately raise feet back up to the bar—up to 20 reps.

This exercise is very, very advanced!

A partner should stand behind the trainee to prevent trainee from toppling backwards. However, trainee should not lean on partner or become reliant upon getting caught by the partner.

This movement can be modified by using a lower height bar to tap against, and/or by lifting one leg at a time while the other leg is coming down.

Another easier version is to do this sitting on a low stool or bench.

Once a person gets going with this, getting into a rhythm, he or she will really feel the abdominals working, as well as major work from the hip flexors. The lower back will also be engaged, even though one may not feel it working.

So there you have it, the top 4 stability ball exercises for abs, but also for the entire core and even hip flexors. Next time you hear “exercise ball abs,” don’t just think of the same ‘ol mundane crunches.

Try one of these super exercises!

The abs and core are highly versatile parts of the body and thus, are capable of so many different kinds of strength exercises.

If you’re serious about giving your abs the most dynamic and effective exercises, check out No-Nonsense Muscle Building Program by Vince DelMonte.

You will learn how to most effectively work the abdominals, including which non-ab-targeting exercises really bring out this muscle group, and how to eat to take off the fat that’s hiding your six-pack.

One of the biggest misunderstandings in the muscle building world is that of compound exercises vs. isolation exercises for strength & mass.

Despite all the literature on the superiority of multi-joint (compound) movements over body part training, many men and women continue to center their training sessions around single-joint (isolation) movements.

This isn’t just about getting as big as possible, piling on muscle and becoming roaring huge. It’s also about building fitness and strength in the musculoskeletal system, and developing an overall sculpted, defined or toned appearance.

Not every person, including men, wants to be bulging with muscle. However, even in this demographic, the issue of isolation vs. compound exercises still applies.

For instance, let’s take a woman who has no strength training background.

She’s a little bit chubby, not “fat,” and lacks muscle tone. She’s soft and not strong, not fit. One of her hot buttons is the flabbiness of her upper arms. She wants to look great in a sleeveless shirt.

Her trainer has her go through a litany of triceps-isolating exercises all throughout the session: one elbow extension move after another, and variations of triceps kickbacks.

When you think about it, the variety of elbow pressing motions is quite abundant.

This client believes she’s getting a thorough, effective workout that will change the shape of her arms and shoulders because of all the different body positions her trainer is having her take on, such as leaning her chest into an inclined bench, pulling dumbbells up to her chest, and then kicking the dumbbells behind herself.

Another exercise is facing her back to the cable machine stack, body lunging forward, and, hands above her head, doing elbow presses with both hands on the handle.

She believes this will work because it’s one rep after another, dozens and dozens of reps with just the triceps. What could work better, right?

Here’s the problem:

Because the routines involve only the elbow joint, only so much weight can be moved. The triceps by themselves are not major force producers.

However, add the chest and shoulder muscles to the mix, and the amount of weight that can be moved skyrockets.

Three muscle groups are now joining forces, and the sum of these three groups has a proportionately greater impact on the body than does just moving the triceps (or the shoulders).

Body part training is time consuming in order to generate results, especially that of building a lot of size. This isn’t to say that isolation work should be avoided. It’s actually a nice adjunct to a compound-centric program for refining muscle shape.

The woman in this case will get better, and faster, results by focusing the session on compound movements such as a seated chest press and an incline dumbbell press.

Using weights heavy enough for an 8-15 rep max, she will feel her triceps broiling, while at the same time, her chest and shoulders will get hit.

The result, over time, will be a proportionately sculpted or toned upper body, and a much stronger upper body, than if she did mostly single-joint routines.

So yes, compound and isolation exercises can coexist in the same program, even in the same session, but most of it should be multi-joint, with isolation work at the end of the session.

Compound training is done with heavier weights than is single-joint training, so thus, multi-joint moves should be done first. Snuffing out the triceps on a ton of isolation reps and then trying to execute one’s best sets of a bench press will be disastrous.

Another reason to focus on compound training is that these movements mirror everyday movements. For example, how often does one need to execute a leg extension in everyday life, or a hamstring curl, triceps kickback or inner thigh movement?

On the other hand, think of all the times you’ve had to squat to pick a heavy item off the floor, push against something heavy, or maintain a pulling resistance (holding a leash bent-arm on a large dog that wants to run when you want to walk is a perfect example of a rowing-type motion, involving multiple muscle groups including the core and legs!).

Great Compound Routines For Building Everyday, Functional Strength, That Will Also Build Sexy Lean Muscle

1. Clean & Press

A barbell or dumbbells can be used. Pick the weights from the floor as in doing a deadlift, bring them to shoulder height, then press overhead. Reverse the movements to the start position, then repeat for 8-15 reps.

2. Hang Clean & Press

Hold a barbell straight-armed in front of yourself, palms facing you and reverse curl it to shoulder level, then press overhead. Lower to start position and repeat for 8-15 reps.

3. Squat & Press

Holding dumbbells at your sides, squat deeply, stand, then press the weights overhead. Lower them, then squat deeply again; do 8-15 reps. A deep lunge position can be substituted for the squat.

4. Renegade Row

Do a pushup with both hands on dumbbells. While in the up position, row a dumbbell to your chest with the right arm, return to the floor, do another pushup, row with the other arm, do another pushup, and so on – pushups come after every single row, rather than after both arms have rowed.

Dumbbells should be heavy enough to make this feel difficult all the way through, for a total of 10-20 pushups.

5. Classics

Deadlift, barbell squat, farmer walk, bench press, lat pull-down, seated row, chin-up, pull-up, parallel bar dip, seated dip, all for 8-15 reps.

Compound Exercises Vs. Isolation Exercises For Fat Loss

Once again, multi-joint movements reign supreme.

The more muscles that are exercised, the higher the energy expenditure during the movement and also in the hours following the movement.

How many calories can just the triceps burn doing kickbacks with 20 pounds?

Now, how many calories can the triceps burn, when they are assisting the chest muscles with a bench press of 170 pounds? A lot more.

Compound lifts with heavy weights, even moderate loads, spur elevated production of human growth hormone and testosterone, which are powerful fat burners, and these hormones circulate at elevated levels for hours after the training session.

Compound and isolation exercises can coexist nicely in a training regimen, but emphasis should be on the multi-joint movements, even if the goal is just to tone up.

To learn more about how to make compound routines work their best for burning fat, building muscle and getting as fit as possible, you’ll want to check out No-Nonsense Muscle Building Program by Vince DelMonte, a former marathon runner who built his physique up to rippling muscle with proven techniques.

He also provides in-depth information about what foods to eat and avoid for building lean mass and slashing fat.

Many bodybuilders and people working at building muscle subsist on switching off between the so-called bulking phase and cutting phase.

What Is A Bulking Phase?

This is when the trainee is in a period of gaining muscle, and the trainee takes in a calorie surplus to ensure that the muscle cells are never short on performance fuel, and even more so, recovery fuel.

A calorie surplus guarantees that the muscles will be well-fed, and thus, responsive to the training stimulus. Oftentimes, a trainee during this period won’t have the cleanest diet.

A diet that’s not so “clean” means that it includes more than an occasional indulgence in junk food such as French fries, fast food sandwiches, pastries, candy, sausage, etc. In an attempt to stock up on calories, the athlete consumes fattening and high-sugar foods.

After all, it’s pretty tough to load up on only clean foods like tuna fish, steel cut oats, chicken breasts, barley, brown rice, apples, broccoli and green salads — typical fare of the serious trainee who’s trying to lean out.

During the bulk-up period, an individual may experience major muscle growth. However, there is a price to pay for this: fat growth, too.

The result is a thick or bloated appearance, and often, a gut; no six-pack whatsoever. Invisible are cuts, muscle insertion points, striations and much-coveted veins in the arms.

The bulking and cutting cycle for some trainees is a six months on, six months off program. For others, the bulk portion lasts until a goal lean mass weight or size is reached, or until the trainee realizes he or she has also gained a lot of fat.

The fat surplus that hides the new muscle necessitates the cutting phase. During this time, the athlete eats as “clean” as possible, and restricts calories to the extent that muscle growth is at risk for ceasing while he or she leans out.

Enough food is eaten, however, to maintain the muscle mass that was achieved during the calorie surplus period. So while the new muscle size is maintained, the fat that accumulated along with it gets stripped off.

As the individual progresses deeper into this phase, the cuts, definition, six-pack and vascularity start appearing. Wonderful, right?

Not so fast; there is a price to pay for all of this aesthetic glory: ongoing hunger! The trainee must battle urges to eat “normal” foods while socializing.

While everyone is enjoying lasagna dripping with cheese, the trainee tries to convince himself he’s enjoying that can of tuna and the tossed salad with only half a tablespoon of dressing in it.

Egg whites and oatmeal every morning are a drag. So is all the bland protein powder and steamed asparagus. People dread the cutting phase diet.

There Just Has To Be A Better Way–And There Is

It’s called the clean bulk. Bulking and cutting phases are not necessary. For some people, the two-phase approach works better than the clean bulk.

However, some trainees just don’t realize how effective the clean bulk can be. This is a year-round plan; it is the same plan every day throughout the year.

There are no phases, no calorie counting or keeping track of carbohydrates or fats. This plan is conducive to ongoing hypertrophy plus maintenance of a lean appearance.

Here Is How This System Works:

One enjoys a calorie surplus on weight training days, without going overboard, of course. This doesn’t mean that every lifting day is a pass for junk food eating.

It means that on lifting days, it’s okay to have a reasonable calorie surplus, and most of the food should be whole in form.

So instead of breaded cod, potatoes and broccoli that came from a frozen box that one microwaves, these foods are purchased in whole, fresh form and prepped at home.

On an extra hard training day, the athlete can have some pizza or a slice of pie with a little ice cream, but this doesn’t mean one-quarter of the pie or enough pizza for three adults, either.

Enjoying one’s favorite fattening or sugary foods remains on the fringe, but it can be done year-round. To offset the calorie surplus that occurs year-round on training days, one takes in negative calories on non-weight days.

This doesn’t mean one must count every calorie, but rather, one gets a feel or a sense of what would be a negative caloric intake — negative enough to offset surplus days and maintain leanness, but not so negative that it disrupts recovery from the last workout.

Because the surplus days occur on every training day, a bulk (hypertrophy) is always in progress. Because negative calories occur on every non-training day, this consistency will prevent fat gain.

The trainee thus appears buff every day of the year and never feels deprived of favorite foods. Due to this balance, there is no need for any cutting phase workout routine.

Anybody who is serious about building lean mass and slashing body fat should read No-Nonsense Muscle Building Program by Vince DelMonte: a complete training guide for building muscle.

In it are in-depth nutrition plans for all goals, and plenty of sample menus to take the guesswork out of what should, and should not, be eaten during a muscle building and fat loss program.