Supplements For Building Muscle

If you were to walk into your local health and nutrition store looking for supplements that build muscle, you’ll probably find yourself confused and amazed at just how many products there are to choose from. With so many supplements available, it can be a little on the tricky side to decide which ones will help you with your goals. There are a lot of supplements out there to help you build muscle, although some may not be ideal for your goals.

The first thing to keep in mind, is the fact that you don’t always need muscle building supplements to build muscle, although will help you speed up the process. These types of supplements can help you increase muscular development, providing you work out. They can aid you in both muscle growth and the recovery of your muscles. Among the many products available, the most popular are protein, creatine, and multi-vitamins.

Protein is a preferred supplement among bodybuilders and those who exercise. It contains many amino acids which help you to build muscle. No matter what type of diet you are or on or supplement you select, you should always pick one that contains a lot of protein. The ideal way to take protein, is 2 grams per pound of body weight. You can get protein in pill form, powder, or even bars. When you select your protein supplement, you should also make sure that the supplement contains whey, soy, and eggs. Whey protein is the ideal supplement, as it contains everything you need to start building muscle.

Creatine is another beneficial supplement, as it will help you increase your muscle mass and improve the recovery time for your muscles. Creatine also helps you to increase your muscle pumps as well, allowing you to do more repetitions with more weight. Normally, you will need to go through a loading period of creatine, which is usually a week. Once you have loaded it, you should use in cycles, a few weeks using it and a few weeks off. To get the most from creatine, you should always follow the instructions the manufacturer has provided on the label.

Micro-vitamins are another great supplement, as they work great for those who aren’t getting enough minerals and vitamins with their normal diet. Although you may have the best of intentions, a busy or hectic schedule can make it very hard to get a healthy meal. If you use vitamin supplements in your diet, you can get the vitamins and minerals your body needs. If you are looking to build muscle, you should always take the proper supplements, and use protein bars and shakes if you aren’t able to eat a healthy meal.

Building muscle is something we would all like to do. Even though it requires a lot of exercise and commitment on your behalf, you should also have the necessary supplements as well. If you use the right supplements, you’ll notice the muscle growth in a matter of weeks. Supplements will help you to build muscle, by speeding up the process.

There are a lot of brands and manufacturers to choose from, including Weider and MuscleTech. You can find these supplements locally or online, giving you plenty of great deals to take advantage of. If you exercise and are looking to add more muscle mass to your body, you should give muscle building supplements a try. They work extremely well, they taste great, and they will greatly assist you in your quest to build muscle and live a healthier life.

How To Unleash An EARTHQUAKE In Your Muscle Fibers!

When an earthquake unleashes its fury, there's also a series of "aftershocks" that roar through an affected area and can hit within a few hours...or even DAYS later!

When it comes to building muscle, you can use a similar "aftershock" technique that will not only increase muscle fiber activation...

...but GREATLY increase your mass-building capacity!

I'm currently in a "mass building" cycle and this technique comes straight out of my "Advanced Mass Building" program (though you've probably never heard it explained this way before).

Here's how it works:

First, you're going to be supersetting two exercises (performed back-to-back), both targeting the SAME muscle group. For this example, we're going to use everyone's favorite...the CHEST!

Your first exercise is going to be an isolation exercise that uses a "super stretch" movement. An example of this would be incline dumbbell flyes where, at the bottom position, your arms are below the body and you can feel a "stretch" in the targeted area.

Your second exercise is going to be a compound "power mover" where you can push a lot of weight. For this example, we're going to work the incline barbell bench press.

By first performing your isolation exercise and getting a deep stretch at the bottom of the movement, your muscle fibers get extremely elongated. Your body, as it's programmed to do, senses this extreme stretch position as a potential "crisis" and triggers what's known as a "myotatic reflex" - a hyperstimulation of the central nervous system to ward off injury by calling in more muscle fibers around the targeted area to help out.

(Note: I'm not talking about "ultra-stretching" the muscle to the point of injury. Just lower the dumbbells in a controlled fashion until you feel a deep - but safe - stretch in your pecs, then raise the weight to the top position)

This initial hyper-stimulation of your muscle fibers is the perfect setup for your next exercise that uses the "aftershock" of the myotatic reflex to activate even more muscle fibers. Compound exercises like the incline bench press are ideal for this type of training because your first set isolated your targeted muscle group first and now you can get help from your other supporting muscles (like your shoulders and triceps) to push more weight and hit your Type II muscle fibers even HARDER!

Not to be confused with simple "pre-exhaust" training, this myotatic reflex training looks deceptively similar and simple...but the effects are felt deep in the epicenter of your muscles where real growth begins!

The Great Protein Lie!

Protein supplements are a staple in any bodybuilder's supplement arsenal.

Depending upon who you listen to, you'll get different answers for "how much protein" you should consume in order to build muscle.

Bodybuilding magazines and supplement manufacturers tell you you should consume at least "2 grams of protein per pound of body weight" because you need all that protein to recover from your workouts and increase muscle mass.

But are they blowing these dosages way out of proportion?

I mean, supplement companies who promote massive dosages (I've seen up to 5g/lb of body weight!) couldn't POSSIBLY be trying to get you to consume more of their product so you'll go and buy another tub, right?

Fact is, I've caught a LOT of hell over the years from so called "experts" for my statements in my Optimum Anabolics (www.OptimumAnabolics.com) program where I've said that the body CAN'T use more than 20-30g per meal.

Well a recent study looked at just how much protein is "enough" and how much is "too much".

Protein Study: How Much Protein Should You Consume?

A group of highly trained athletes consumed one of five different doses following a bout of resistance exercise.

* Og: The "control" group
* 5g
* 10g
* 20g
* or 40g

Following exercise, ALL groups increased muscle-protein synthesis, but the 20g dose produced nearly DOUBLE the amount of muscle-protein synthesis than the control group!

The 40g dose was even higher, but not by all that much. Therefore, it appears that even after resistance training, your body can only USE so much protein (somewhere between 20g and 40g) and then the rest gets burned up as fuel.

Even in Optimum Anabolics, I recommend way less protein than most people take in (1.17g/lb of LEAN body weight) with about 25% of your daily protein requirement taken IMMEDIATELY after training.

By not consuming "too much" protein, your body can focus on burning FAT for fuel instead of the excess protein which is why OA is considered more of a "build and burn" bodybuilding program.

So stop overdosing on protein, will you?

Consume about 20g in 5 meals throughout the day and add a separate 30-40g serving immediately after your workouts to ensure full muscle-protein synthesis when you need it the most.

Building Muscle: The T.U.T Factor Of Mass Building Techniques

If you want to build muscle fast, should you train with higher reps with lower weights or lower reps with heavier weights?

Knuckle-dragging guru's from every corner of the bodybuilding planet most often chant in unison the "Lift heavy or go home!" mantra.

But is this really the best way to build more muscle mass?

Building muscle is a result of several different training elements including muscle contraction, anabolic hormones, amino acid availability, calories, recovery, and a factor called "time under tension".

Time under tension basically refers to the amount of time during your working sets that your muscle is actually exerting force against the weight and according to one study, is greatly impacted by the amount of weight your lifting...and HOW you're lifting it.

A group of untrained young men were divided into groups with one using LOW WEIGHTS (only 50% of their 1 Rep Max) but using a slow lifting tempo to increase the amount of time it took to raise and lower the weight. All sets were performed to the point of muscular exhaustion.

Another group went "heavy" with 80% of their 1 Rep Max but used a faster repetition tempo to exhaustion.

The Results Of The Study?

Both groups experienced significant muscle gains but the surprising revelation was that Group 1, using lighter weights with higher reps and slower tempo, had the greatest degree of impact from "time under tension" factor in the trained muscles.

This resulted in a higher degree of hormone-signaling factors (largely from build up of lactic acid) that triggered a greater release of growth hormone and insulinlike growth factor-1 (IGF-1).

Also, because there was a greater constriction of the trained muscles' blood vessels and "pump" from the increased time under tension, the body responded by increasing the production of nitric oxide in order to expand blood pathways and increase oxygen to the muscle.

But one of nitric oxide's other roles is to generate satellite muscle cells, already primed for adding to your overall muscle mass through proper training.

How To Apply This To Your Training...

Does this mean that you should abandon all other training methods and switch over to lower weights?

Absolutely not!

Any type of training performed the same way for too long only creates adaptation by the body and leads to frustrating "no growth" plateaus. There's incredible value in mixing up "heavy" training into your bodybuilding routine. You may want to train one day with lighter weights and then a few days later with heavier weights to mix things up but one of the important factors from this study shows that when lifting lighter weights for mass-building, you should use a slower tempo, around a combined 5-7 seconds between concentric and eccentric movements.

But There's An Even Better Way!

I actually use what I humbly consider a much more effective variation of this technique in my "Advanced Mass Building" program (http://tinyurl.com/yjbvm86). My technique doesn't just increase the "time under tension" factor...it sends it through the roof!

My method focuses on targeting two complimentary actions of a specific muscle group to work together in ramping up tension. For example, incline flyes followed by cable crossovers to target different areas of the chest. Sets are performed back-to-back in rapid succession with no rest until the prescribed number of sets are reached. You may do even this for 10 sets or more, depending upon your own abilities.

The result is an extreme time under tenstion factor that triggers massive release of growth hormone and IGF-1 hormones as well as the biggest pumps of your life. In turn, this naturally stimulates the production of nitric oxide and an increase in muscle satellite cells.

This method is then supported by follow up weekly cycles specifically building upon this mass-building momentum with the goal of targeting all seven muscle fiber variants and greatly enhanced muscle mass.

For more information on this unique training method, please see my website at http://tinyurl.com/yjbvm86.