3 Strange Super Foods To Gain Weight Fast!

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Shawn Horwood

[Written by Jeff Anderson]

Some foods work better than others for people who are trying or even struggling to increase muscle mass. These types of food could be called “super food” to gain weight. You need to achieve a calorie surplus in order to put on some pounds.

However, you need to do it in a way that won’t add a lot of body fat or endanger your health. This is where these types of super food to gain weight come into the picture.

Weight Gain Super Food #1: Walnuts

Walnuts offer a variety of benefits, including their amazing combination of healthy monounsaturated fats, phytosterols and the amino acid l-arginine. Because of this combination, walnuts provide increased calories and high levels of nitric oxide, a natural substance in the body that helps stimulate muscle recovery and growth.

Walnuts even help in heart disease and cancer prevention because they cancel out the negative effects of the harmful saturated fats found in high-fat foods. If you’re eating this super food to gain weight, your target should be about 20 grams of walnuts daily.

Weight Gain Super Food #2: Oranges

Vitamin C is a powerful protector of the body’s levels of nitric oxide. Oranges contain a large amount of this vitamin, which helps keep the nitric oxide “bioavailable” so it can assist in building muscle mass. The effects of vitamin C work in combination with the walnuts added to your diet. If you eat an orange 30 to 45 minutes before your workout, it will help maintain your nitric oxide levels where they need to be while you’re training.

Weight Gain Super Food #3: Dried Fruit

Although it contains a fair bit of sugar, most dried fruit is also loaded with fiber. It also includes high amounts of the vitamins and minerals that are required to stay healthy and build muscle. Dried fruit decreases the amount of body fat that is stored and is full of calories, meaning that it helps you achieve the calorie surplus you need to gain weight.

Snack on dried fruit throughout the day, but be sure to also drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration. You should avoid commercial dried bananas that are full of fat and look for “unsulfured” dried fruit.

To gain weight, all you need to do is eat a lot of food. But to gain weight in a healthy way while increasing muscle mass, you should add these “super foods” to your diet. Also, if you want more scientifically advanced training for how to gain weight fast, then you must see the results from these “skinny guys” who used a unique 3-step “hardgainer workout” at www.HardgainerProjectXProgram.com.

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The Bodybuilding Diet: An Aisle By Aisle Guide

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Shawn Horwood

[Written by Jeff Anderson]

 In This Bodybuilding Nutrition Article:

  • Your local grocery store is laid out to actually SIDE TRACK you from choosing the right foods to build muscle! Here’s how to maneuver the obstacle course to avoid the mistakes most people make!
  • BONUS:  Your Bodybuilding Diet Shopping Guide (Download!)

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is the perfect body.

The weightlifting’s going great. You have a challenging, but not completely sadistic trainer.

You’ve carved time out of your schedule hit the gym. (You even remember to run your workout clothes through the wash…hopefully!)

You’ll grow huge, buff, and polished in no time… unless you eat junk.

Everyone’s got to eat. And if your goal is to build lean muscle without the fat, YOU have to eat wiser than the rest.

Get sloppy and you’ll be fighting on both sides in the battle of the bulge.

Restrict your diet too much and yeah, you’ll lose fat; but, you’ll also probably lose interest and head right for some greasy fries and a chocolate shake.

Let’s look at what you can get at your friendly neighborhood supermarket.

Frankly, there are a few aisles no self-respecting bodybuilder will be seen in. (And I don’t mean the adult diaper aisle.)

The bad news? Cross off your list the following aisles: sodas, chips, cookies, candy, pasta, and kiddie cereals.

The good news? Well, you can also cross off the catfood and dogfood aisle. Protein is great, but you don’t have to get crazy.

What’s left? Lean proteins, including fish, turkey, and chicken. Eggs are a great source of whole protein, as is skim milk and low-fat cottage cheese.

Tofu – the mystery “meat” of champions is another great option, especially for vegetarian bodybuilders.

These are all found around the perimeter of the store, which is great because you’ll get some walking in, too.

Now, head down the organic or health food aisle.

If you have a great store, you’ll find some products here that are mainstays of the ultimate bodybuilding diet: whey protein and soy protein products, nuts, whole grain cereals, and soy beans.

And here’s a little bonus for you…a great “shopping guide” to help you hit your grocery with a plan in hand:

http://www.musclenerdfitness.com/pdf/mealplanninggrocerylist.pdf

Stock up, eat up, and bulk up!

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Biceps Training Tip: Wrist Curl Mistake!

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Shawn Horwood

[Written by Jeff Anderson]

When beginning the “curl” movement from the bottom position (for this example, with a straight bar), MOST guys actually begin with a “wrist curl” motion where they bend the wrist toward the forearm.

This is something you’re probably not even aware of, but chances are, 95% of you begin the movement this way.

Unfortunately, all this does is take stress off of the BICEPS which is where you’re REALLY trying to target.

So your smaller forearms most likely give out before you’ve effectively hit your bi’s, leaving you with untapped muscle fibers.

The solution?

Bend your wrists DOWN through the whole curling movement!

Essentially this means keeping your wrist LOCKED in a position where your knuckles are tilted as far toward the ground as possible – the OPPOSITE direction of a wrist curl.

This places WAY more stress on the biceps as you lift the weight.

At the top, feel free to curl your wrists back in to get a more concentrated SQUEEEEEEEEEZE contraction before lowering the bar again with your wrists tilted back down.

Fix this mistake…and feel the burn!

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4 Mental Tricks To Increase Your Bench Press By 20%!

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Shawn Horwood

Been stuck at 185 on your bench press for what seems like DECADES and looking to FINALLY crack 200?

Well, no promises…

…but these 4 powerful little mental “tricks” COULD help you add an IMMEDIATE 20% more to your bench press and break a new personal record!

BENCH PRESS POWER TIP #1: Focus on your BODY…not the BAR!

When you’re benching, try to actually push your BODY away from the bar…NOT the bar away from your body.

This trick works for the same reason when doing pullups, you focus on pulling your elbows down.

Your brain sees the bar as an inanimate object OUTSIDE of your control and it understands that the bar may “win”.

But your brain sees your BODY as an “ally” and “WITHIN your control”…

…and is much more CONFIDENT in your strength when focusing on moving your BODY.

BENCH PRESS POWER TIP #2:  “Pull” The Bar Apart!

As you’re lifting the bar, try “pulling” it apart as if your hands were moving away from each other.

Your hands don’t actually move…you just want to grip hard and imagine “stretching” the bar longer.

This calls into play more “stabilizer muscles” to give you extra power in your upward movement.

BENCH PRESS POWER TIP #3:  Visualize The Bar Going UP!

Do you know this “spotter” trick?

Whenever you’re spotting someone on the bench press and they’ve hit a sticking point, most of the time all you have to do is place 2 FINGERS under the bar and it MAGICALLY seems to raise again.

No…you DON’T have the world’s strongest fingers!

It’s simply a total mental “mind f’er” where the lifter “thinks” he’s getting help with the rep…but is actually doing it all on his own.

You can do this by yourself (or with a partner) just by VISUALIZING the bar constantly moving upwards.

When you reach that sticking point, play a mental movie in your mind and vividly SEE the bar raising.

Your body will “believe” what you see and respond by making your “movie” a REALITY!

BENCH PRESS POWER TIP #4:  Look To Your Dominant Hand!

Another “sticking point” destroyer…

Once you reach the point where the bar stops its ascent and you think you’ve been defeated, look (WITHOUT turning your head) toward your dominant hand (the one you write with).

This is yet another mental “trigger” for your brain to associate strength and power with what it perceives as your strongest assetts in your “bench press battle”.

Well, there you go!

Bring your brain to your next chest workout and load up a few extra plates because you’re guaranteed t leave your wimpy old record in the dust once you try these easy tips!

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Pec-Poking Pain From This Chest Training Technique!

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Shawn Horwood

When was the last time you really had that “chest poke pain”?

You know…like when 24 hours after your chest workout, you can’t stop poking your pecs with your finger to marvel at how much it hurts?

Yeah, it’s a secret pleasure of mine too! (ha ha!)

If it’s been a while, then here’s a “Quick Chest Training Technique” I did last week that will have YOU pokin’ away by tomorrow evening:

(Warning to “skimmers”: This will LOOK like a simple, giant “tri-set”, but there are a few twists…so READ EACH STEP!)

1. First, you’re going to be using the bench press for this exercise (your favorite, right? ;-)

2. Choose a weight that you can do for about 12 reps before hitting failure BUT (and this is IMPORTANT!) load up the bar with either 10lb or 25lb plates so that you can quickly take off 50% of what you have loaded on each side.

(Sure, you’ll look like a whuss! But ARE you? Hell no…so “grab ‘em” like you got a pair and don’t give a damn what the other guys think! ;-)

3. Now, do a traditional set (8-12 reps) on the bench press until you reach full muscular failure.

4. As soon as you rack the weight, jump up and strip 50% off each side.

5. Now…with no rest, grab the bar with a WIDE, WIDE grip (up to 12 inches past your shoulders) and knock out your reps to failure.

Side Note: This works by really taking your burned out triceps out of the picture as much as possible and give you a WICKED PUMP in your chest!

Read on…

6. LASTLY…as soon as you hit failure on this second set and rack the weight, with no rest, grab a dumbbell (just about 30-50 lbs will do nicely) and do a set of Dumbbell Pullovers, keeping your arms VERY, VERY STRAIGHT (to take your triceps out of the movement even more) and feel a good stretch in your chest at the bottom.

This will allow you to really burn out your Type 1 muscle fibers for a serious Growth Hormone (GH) response and a massive pump!

Once you hit failure, give yourself a good 2-3 minute rest to recover and run through this giant set just one more time.

That will give you 6 total “chest sets” and the next day all your co-workers will be wondering why you keep poking your chest and wincing! ;-)

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Best Abs Exercises Technique For 3-D Abs!

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Shawn Horwood

Check out any local gym and you’ll see inexperienced members training their abs with endless sets of situps and crunches, right?

While the abs are predominantly made of Type 1 (endurance) muscle fibers and respond to slightly higher repetition ranges,your abs are made up of muscle just like any other part of your body. 

Therefore the best abs exercises to get that “cut” look are those that are resistance-based and treat them like any other muscle.

But there’s a special little trick you must know in order to maximize your abs training on your way to having a stacked 6-pack.

In fact, ignoring this principle, could force you to develop “lopsided” abs that are so common among beginner bodybuilders.

Let me share this secret with you now…

The main abdominal muscle you want to be working when training your abs is your “rectus abdominis”, that sheet of rippled muscle that goes from your rib cage all the way down the front of your body to your pelvis.

What’s unique about this abdominal muscle group is that the upper abs can work separately from the lower abs (to some extent)…BUT when you work your lower abs exercises, your upper abs are ALWAYS working as well.

This is why most people (including myself from years of military training focusing on upper abs) had overdeveloped upper abs but underdeveloped lower abs.

Here’s how to correct this…

Make sure you train your LOWER ABS first in your abs workout (ALWAYS!) which brings both upper and lower abs into the workload!

If you don’t work your lower abs first, you exhaust your upper abs too soon and when you DO target your lower abs, your upper abs will fatigue too fast and you’ll end up with under-targeted lower abs.

So the best exercises for lower abs are:

    * Incline Leg Raises
    * Incline Knee Ups
    * Hanging Leg Raises
    * Flat Bench Leg Raises

And then follow up with the best upper abs exercises:

    * Crunches
    * Weighted Crunches
    * Situps
    * Hanging Knee Raises

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4 Beginner Bodybuilding Wake Up Calls

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Shawn Horwood

[Written by Jeff Anderson]

In This Beginner Bodybuilding Article:

  • Riiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnngggggg!  This is your friendly “wake up call” to STOP making these common training mistakes!
  • Why Letterman and Leno are out to sabbotage your muscle growth…and the simple rule you must follow if you’re really dedicated to building muscle.
  • Are they laughing at you behind your back at the gym?  Here’s how to stop it in its tracks!

 

So you’ve seen one too many Men’s Health fitness models and decided that it was time to start your own quest for a ripped six-pack, eh? 

Well being a beginner bodybuilder requires a conscious step back to build the proper foundation to your training program before following the more advanced tricks you’ll find floating around the muscle mags and web.

So where does one turn without the steroid-driven wisdom of the super giants of the stage?

Relax. I have got just the advice for you to start packing some serious muscle on your frame…

Beginner Bodybuilding Wake-Up Call #1:  Reality Check

First let’s start with a reality check…

Do NOT expect to miraculously start looking ripped after a week. 

Even with great genetics, you can’t change Mother Nature and your body is only capable of building so much muscle at a time…despite what the supplement ads may say.

Bodybuilding, especially beginner bodybuilding, requires time, discipline and consistency. 

However, the good news is that the first couple of months will be the most exciting for you because this will be the time when you make the most visual gains to your body. 

Shoot for .5 to 1 lb of lean muscle growth per week and you’ll be doing just fine.

Beginner Bodybuilding Wake-Up Call #2:  Rest, Relax, Recover…and GROW!

Contrary to what most beginner bodybuilders believe, your muscles don’t grow while you’re ripping them apart in the gym. 

The muscle fibers you’ve spent so much time pulverizing on the bench only get bigger when you’ve given them time to recover and grow in anticipation for the next “attack”.

Getting plenty of rest and a good 7-8 hours of sleep will help your body make the changes you’re looking for…especially since this is when you have your greatest release of natural growth hormones to help with the bulking up!

Beginner Bodybuilding Wake-Up Call #3:  Check Your Ego At The Gym Door

Look, everyone started out somewhere. 

So don’t feel you have to impress any of the no-necks at your local sweatbox simply because you think they’re constantly watching you and giggling under their breath. 

They’re not.

But I’ll tell you what IS funny…

Watching beginner bodybuilders (and yes…even so called “experienced” lifters) flopping around like a hooked bass lifting too much weight on the bar and having to “cheat” on correct form to get the weight up.

Start at a low enough weight to get a full range of your muscle’s motion and use perfect form. 

You’ll be rewarded with respect from the other guys around you…and consistent muscle growth the other “fish” won’t see.

Beginner Bodybuilding Wake-Up Call #4:  The BASICS Still Work The Best!

Don’t get caught up in trying out some of the complicated exercises you see as filler in some of the muscle mags. 

Standing on your head while balancing a dumbbell with one hand and a yoga instructor with the other while whistling the them to Rocky isn’t some ancient secret for massive muscle growth.

Beginner bodybuilders should stick with basic compound exercises (exercises that use more than one joint movement) to build the most muscle in the least amount of time.

Here are a few to get you started:

Curls
Bench Press
Squats
Pull Ups
Chin Ups

There are variations on all of these exercises so feel free to experiment with them as you gain experience. 

Just be careful not to get too carried away in your beginner bodybuilding workout at first. 

Start slow and listen to your body and how it’s responding. 

In no time, you’ll be the expert everyone else will turn to when their routines stop bringing them the gains they were expecting.

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Hardgainer Supplement Tip To Build More Muscle

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Shawn Horwood

You’ve probably heard the term “you are what you eat”, right?

But it’s not exactly what you EAT that counts, but what you USE from what you eat.

And this couldn’t be more true for skinny “hardgainers’ who have a hard time growing muscle!

Why?

Because you can eat all the protein you want, but unless it makes it to your muscles to help them rebuild, you’ll continue to look more like Olive Oil than Popeye!

You see, “skinny” men and women tend to have an overabundance of the “stress hormone”, cortisol.

Cortisol actually plays a useful role in our bodies but for hardgainers, its catabolic effects are a real hassle as it inhibits important protein synthesis.

That means less protein available for repair of muscle tissue…less size…and MORE frustration!

Add to this that the digestion of proteins actually burns more calories than any other nutrient and you can see why you CAN’T follow the same “protein plan” as others who can gain muscle more easily.

What’s the solution?

This is actually one of my best kept secrets within my hardgainer bodybuilding program, “Hardgainer Project X Bodybuilding Program“…

Try adding DIGESTIVE ENZYMES to your meals!

Now you may think that digestive enzymes (that include either pepsin, papain, or papaya) are just for sandal-wearing hippies who smell like patchouli…but you’d be mistaken!

In fact, digestive enzymes help to breakd down nutrients from the food you eat into usable energy.

But another finding dug deeper and found that enzymes improved the absorption of amino acids and increased nitrogen retention.

In a recent clinical study, respondents who consumed digestive enzymes with their meals showed an increase in protein synthesis with free amino acid levels up by 100%…branched chain amino acids (BCAA’s) by 250%…and nitrogen retention by 32%!

In short…MUCH better support for muscle repair and growth.

And enzymes can be especially useful for hardgainers in yet one more way…

Since protein uses up more calories in digestion, enzymes can speed up the process, reducing the “thermic effect” of ingested proteins and help you better maintain a caloric surplus for weight gain!

Look for a good digestive enzyme at your local supplement store or order online.

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Strange “Blood Flow” Experiment Reveals Mass Building Secret!

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Shawn Horwood

One of the strangest studies done in recent history in the sports sciences arena was a study done using “tourniquet training” where trainees trained their arms with a pressure cuff on for 2 minutes to restrict blood flow and then again without the cuff.

Trainees were 20% STRONGER after the cuff was taken off and the study revealed that increased blood flow allowed a muscle to contract a maximum force.

Therefore, the more blood you can push through a muscle, the more “contraction potential” and microscopic fiber damage to initiate hypertrophy (muscle gaining).

One way to mimic this end result is to do a proper warmup to effectively increase blood flow to your target muscle so you can train at MAX INTENSITY and jumpstart your anabolic results!

A few sets of an “isolation” exercise of your target muscle group done at SUB-FAILURE (stopping just short of exhaustion) will do very well for this goal.

But I have a better way…

In my “Hardgainer Project X” program, I use a unique 3-stage workout structure that essentially takes the genetic limitations of true “hardgainers” and obliterates them to force new muscle growth.

One of the methods used is a variation of the “Rest-Pause” technique that uses shorter sets of lighter weights.

(Note: For step-by-step instructions on the “Rest-Pause” technique posted on my website, go to www.HardgainerProjectXProgram.com)

These short sets are initially done using sub-failure training to better target Type 2 muscle fibers in the last sets when you go to full exhaustion.

But they ALSO slowly ratchet up the blood supply so your last “rounds” of short reps force a ton of blood through the muscle and MAX OUT your peak contraction!

The result is a massive PUMP and a muscle fiber dead-zone that can’t be achieved with normal sets and reps!

Go and copy down the notes at www.HardgainerProjectX.com and try this training method in your next workout and you’ll be amazed at the difference you’ll feel!

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How To LOVE Training Your Legs!

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Shawn Horwood

[Written by Jeff Anderson]

Hate training legs?

Don’t worry – you’re not alone.

Training legs is tough – the most grueling of all specialized muscle training – and let’s face it…who the hell stands in front of the bathroom mirror flexing their quadriceps?

Look, we’d all LOVE to work on those muscles we know will show off the best on the beach this summer.

And that’s EXACTLY why you should be putting a renewed interest in your leg development.

Let me explain…While you may think you can build your chest and arms up so big no one will ever notice the toothpicks you’re carrying them around on, what people are REALLY thinking is “Man, big upper body but look how skinny his legs look!”.

It’s unfortunate that the bigger you get in one area of your body, the smaller it can make other areas look, and that’s where people will focus their attention.

Therefore, building your legs will actually draw MORE attention to your bulging biceps!

Ok, so now that I’ve appealed to your “ego” on the benefit of training your legs, how about a few pointers on making the most of this “necessary evil”?
 

How To LOVE Training Your Legs!

Whether you like or dislike something…ANYTHING…is really all in your head.

And since we look forward to doing things we enjoy, it’s worth it to reevaluate your “attitude” on exercising your legs.

As soon as you get out of bed in the morning, instead of saying to yourself “Damn…I don’t feel like working my legs today.”, replace it with “YES!  It’s leg day!”.

You may not mean it when you first say it, but I promise you that repeated affirmation of your leg exercises as being something you long for, will “program” your brain to actually look forward to this day!
 

It’s NOT “Leg Day”…It’s “TESTOSTERONE Day”!

Remember, since your legs are such a large muscle group, training them has a MUCH larger effect on anabolic (muscle-building) hormones.

In fact, the Barbell Squat, while being one of the “hardest” and most excruciating exercises, is actually the best overall exercise for skyrocketing testosterone levels in the body.

This is one of the reason why I had my “Hardgainer Lab Rats” train with squats every other workout…

…the hormone boost they got helped skyrocket their mass gains to build muscle when all other training programs had FAILED!

(BTW…you can see their amazing “before & after” pictures at www.HardgainerProjectX.com)

Bottom line…

DON’T think about the pain of doing squats or other leg exercises…think of the PLEASURE of what all that testosterone gushing through your body is going to bring in the way of overall muscle growth, fat loss, and sexual desire!

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