After reading my top 20 fat loss secrets, a somewhat disgruntled reader asked for ways to get beefier. Since I aim to please, here they are. Use 'em!
1. Strength train intensely. Put your all into every set of every exercise. Choose the proper resistance level and move the weights slowly and carefully. Train to muscular success - where you cannot lift the weight again even if your life was on the line. If you are stopping an exercise because it is uncomfortable or because you're getting bored, your body will not change.
2. Eat fat and protein at every meal and eat at least 5 times a day. Make sure you are eating at least 1 gram of protein (eggs, fish, meat) per pound of body weight. If you are getting fatter you are eating too much food (calories). Get a calorie counting book and use it.
3. Drink at least 1 gallon of cool water everyday. I said every day. If you don't, don't complain to me that your struggles in the gym are getting you nowhere. Muscle is 80% water. Where do you think your added mass is going to come from? Last I checked none of us have little reservoirs embedded in our bellies.
4. Eat a meal (chicken and salad, eggs and veggies, etc.) directly after your workout. Do not let more than an hour go by before you eat, preferably only one half hour.
5. Get sound sleep every night and especially the nights before you go to the gym to train. If you can't sleep at night, I'm not suggesting that you to read up on and try melatonin.
6. Stop drinking alcohol completely.
7. Stop eating refined sugar completely.
8. Stop doing formal aerobics completely.
9. Stop smoking completely
10. Find a qualified instructor (email me for details), hire her and give her 6 months of your dedicated efforts. Don't complain. Don't whine. Don't late cancel on her because your toe hurts. And give her this list and my phone number.
One last thing, call it #'11,' genetics rule the day. Some of us cannot build much muscle in the same way some of us barely got by in calculus 1 and cal 2 seemed like our brain would hemorrhage.
It sucks.
But let me say that strength gains precede size gains always. A muscle fiber
has many little teeny myofibrils within.
As these little myofibrils increase in number it fills up the fiber making the fiber denser without increasing the fibers size.
This is one reason why you get a lot stronger when starting a weight training program without seeing much change in size.
Some folks require a heck of a lot of filling before they see any size change. And the amount of fibers one has is genetically determined. You can't increase the total fibers - only the myofibrils. So if you're born with less fibers, well, becoming a hunk of beef ain't in the cards.
But you can still enhance your physique for the better.
Time, patience and persistence are natures best physicians.
