how to build muscle

To be fair, bodybuilding routines have been VERY heavily modified by most sports since the 1980s, when they first became popular. Though almost everybody uses weight training these days.

With that being said, the bodybuilders are absolutely correct here.

 

:good

Bodybuilders (successful ones!) specialise in drug abuse not diet. :hi:

 

Don't worry so much about how much you weigh. Eat a healthy diet, keep your fat percentage down, and engage in a strenght building program.

A lot of people will tell you to do squats and deadlifts, but I disagree.

I believe in a strength and conditioning program built around kettlebells and bodyweight calisthenics.

For your legs, work your way to a pistol squat, then begin to add weight, but remember maximal strenght is not everything. Build up to a solid level of strength, but if you plan on boxing, strenght is not everything. You need to take a balanced approach.

You could also alternate between kettlebell front squats and perhaps, every two weeks, a TRAP bar deadlift.

For explosive ability, plus strenght/power conditioning, you can't go wrong with kettlebell swings. You can even do heavy kettlebell swings, once you learn the technique, as it's easier to learn than olympic lifts, and produces pretty much the same benefits, especially in horizontal power produced, but not quite so much vertical.

For boxing though, they are excellent. You will have plenty of explosiveness, especially if you combine this with some pylometrics, but just don't overdo it.

For your upperbody, you can do pushups, pull ups, headstand pushups, etc. You can switch between one arm, two arms, and two arms weighted vest.

There are more excercise to learn of course, but you should do some research.

I don't like the idea of putting so much weight on your back as people do in squatting. You'll find that as you get stronger, you'll start squatting very heavy loads, perhaps in the 400 or 500 range even.

The same goes for deadlifting, which is why I prefer the TRAP BAR if you're going to deadlift.

I feel like the ultimate goal of excercise is long term health and longevity. That doesn't mean you still can't reach peak performance, but that doesn't mean you need to take the traditional route.

 

Good post, and I especially agree with your last paragraph. :good

But I think he really does need to concentrate on gaining weight. I'd say he needs to put on 20lbs+.

 

A lot of bodybuilders are still ******ed when it comes to nutrition, yet they still succeed given how basic the concepts are:

"Eat in a calorie surplus with sufficient protein to gain muscle"

"Eat in a caloric deficit with sufficient protein to lose fat and maintain muscle"

Oh and for a lot of bodybuilders "If it isn't working... up the dose".

I am not saying all in the community are idiots, because they arent; but it's largely the natural competitors who have to focus more on their diets that are actually more knowledgable.

A few good starting places for learning the basics and more advanced aspects of nutrition are:

www.alanaragon.com
www.bodyrecomposition.com

As has already been stated, 1.5g protein per lb of bodyweight is way more than you need, but the government recommendations are on the other side of the spectrum.

In order of importance for the top bodybuilders I would honestly say it's like this:

Drugs/dosages
Drug quality







































Training & diet.

 

atsch

You do realize there's a difference between gaining muscle to look pretty for some judges at a bodybuilding contest and building muscle for the purpose of performance don't you?

 

The drugs are extremely powerful. A lot of folk don't realise quite how powerful.

They will allow you to gain muscle and lose fat without doing any training whatsoever, and to change shape dramatically while doing very little training compared to a totally natural bodybuilder.

I don't trust so called 'natural' bodybuilders though. Take a look at the simply shredded website and decide for yourself how 'real' some of them are.

The higher the level in bodybuilding, the more unhealthy the whole thing gets. It sounds like I'm trashing it but I'm not. Live and let live I say, but let's be clear on the facts. :good

 

Bodybuilders, whether on vitamin S or not, work extremely hard to build muscle, it doesn't just happen because they're injecting steroids.

 

No doubt. But steroids work with or without training. They aren't designed for bodybuilders, just abused by them.

I never said you're gonna look like an Olympia contender without training hard. :good

 

First thing, go get something like "Fitness Pal" which is a free app for your phone (or device like a kindle/ipad etc.) or even just type it in and do it free online.

The reason is that people WAY under estimate how much they eat vs. how much they burn off when exercising. This will allow you to track EXACTLY how much you need to be eating everyday to get the proper amount of calories to sustain your base metabolic needs and a slight calorie surplus to build extra muscle.

The newer protein estimate is about .8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. So, if you weigh 150 lbs. you should be getting around 120 grams of protein. This is not unreasonable nor very hard to do.

Next, you want a weight program that trains lifts that will be most comparable to what your body would be tasked to do in everyday type activities. This is going to mean basic lifts that involve lots of different muscle groups. I recommend a program like Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" as a basis to get you used to lifting heavy with the foundation lifts. The program revolves around Bench Press, Military Press, Deadlift, Squats and Power Cleans. These lifts will train all of your muscle groups. The reps are up to 5 for building strength and no more than 3 sets for an exercise.

The biggest thing though is taking in more calories than you are putting out so your body will use those extra calories to build up the muscle easier and faster. You don't need tons of extra calories like many BBer's say or you will just get alot of extra fat as well. That is why most BBer's go on massive crash diets and drugs to lean out before a contest. You should only need about 250-500 extra calories a day to build muscle efficintly and not just blow up with lots of fat. Remember though, that is 250-500 ON TOP OF whatever calories it takes for your base level (not doing any activity and maintaining a "zero effect") and whatever exercise and training you do.

So let's say that you need 1500 calories a day to neither gain weight or lose weight with no activity. If you burn 500 calories with your training/exercise, you now need 2000 calories to neither gain weight or lose weight. So you would shoot for 2250-2500 a day to give your body that excess. The problem is that there isn't an EXACT science that says if you eat X amount over that if will all go towards building muscle. So you will see some that think if a little is good than a lot is even better and they'll tell you that they are gaining 2 lbs a week. They probably are and at the end of the month their 10 lb gain will be MAYBE 1-2 lbs of muscle and 8-9 lbs of fat.

 

Lift weights 3-4 times a week.

Could be as follows:

Leg day/calves/abs
Back day/biceps
-rest-
chest/triceps
shoulders
-rest-
-rest-

rince and repeat.

Put a lot of your effort into fundamental exercises such as squats,deadlifts and bench press.
Try to eat a lot but also healthy, protein rich meat (chicken, fish).

Your breakfasts should be aimed towards giving you energy throughout your workout, oatmeal and eggs are good.

Also don't go in and jerk around with big weights, focus on getting your form down first, thats what's gonna help you build muscle, no matter what anyone says.

 

Well Beast Boxer you're certainly getting plenty of feedback here bud.

How are things going? I hope you've managed to put a pound or three on already... :good

 

any athlete is in danger of abusing steroids if they use them.

steroids will promote a change in your body if your a hard training athlete, but if your a bon bon eating, house shoe wearing, couching livin` muthafcuker they wont do ****...

any CT Fletch fans on here?:hi:

 

The Effects of Supraphysiologic Doses of Testosterone on Muscle Size and Strength in Normal Men.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199607043350101

 

"RESULTS
Among the men in the no-exercise groups, those given testosterone had greater increases than those given placebo in muscle size in their arms (mean [±SE] change in triceps area, 424±104 vs. -81±109 mm2; P<0.05) and legs (change in quadriceps area, 607±123 vs. -131±111 mm2; P<0.05) and greater increases in strength in the bench-press (9±4 vs. -1±1 kg, P<0.05) and squatting exercises (16±4 vs. 3±1 kg, P<0.05). The men assigned to testosterone and exercise had greater increases in fat-free mass (6.1±0.6 kg) and muscle size (triceps area, 501±104 mm2; quadriceps area, 1174±91 mm2) than those assigned to either no-exercise group, and greater increases in muscle strength (bench-press strength, 22±2 kg; squatting-exercise capacity, 38±4 kg) than either no-exercise group. Neither mood nor behavior was altered in any group."

well fcuk me, im wasting my time training clients when i should just stick em on gear and pat them on the head and say well done..

cmon dude its just statistical bs

feel free to use personal experience rather than shooting articles at me.

and yes i do condone gear use if warranted.