The Bloggers Corner

If you have ever spent any time researching various muscle workouts, you probably notice many contradictions. Most of these muscle workouts DO have one similar “ingredient,” though – they all tend to advocate for consuming enormous amount of calories while building muscle, then drastically reduce calories while burning bodyfat. This is called a “bulking and cutting” approach. The problem with bulking up and cutting down is that you are fatter than normal during the bulking phase. But you CAN perform muscle workouts that do NOT involve packing on pounds of bodyfat!

Of course, we all want to know the secret to that!

Contrary to what mainstream fitness experts would have you believe, it is possible to add muscle without eating an excess of calories. It’s even possible to gain muscle mass on a low-calorie diet. You may wonder how. First of all, adding muscle is mainly caused by UTILIZING that particular muscle. Caloric intake is what regulates the amount of your bodyfat. So train more to add muscle and eat less to lose body fat. For an amazing physique in less time, THIS is the approach to take!

So How Little Can You Eat While Still Adding Muscle?

This will vary from person to person, but the idea is to figure out how many calories it takes for you to maintain your body weight and eat a little under that amount. A good starting point is to multiply your body weight in pounds times 10. For example, a man weighing 165 pounds should consume a little less than 1,650 calories each day. Then, as you continue this for two weeks, you’ll want to keep a record of your bodyfat percentage. If you body fat stayed stable, this would be a good starting point of calories to consume during your muscle building workouts.

How Much Protein is Necessary While Performing Muscle Workouts?

Again, you want to be careful who you’re listening to. “Experts” can get a little crazy on the subject. Regarding protein consumption, we could literally fill an entire book with information on this touchy topic! Luckily, Brad Pilon already did this in his recent book “How Much Protein”. He was formerly the lead executive in the research and development dept. of a major supplement manufacturing company known the world over. His conclusion was that we really only need 1/2 a gram of protein per pound of body weight. Therefore, the 165 pound man really needs only a daily protein intake of about 83 grams. To be safe you could round up to 100 grams, but there isn’t really any reason to be obsessed with protein. Although proper nutrition is important, it’s the muscle workouts that determine how much muscle you’ll gain. Lower caloric intake is used for losing the bodyfat.

“Are there supplements I should be taking to enhance my muscle workouts?”

Creatine is the ONE supplement while training with muscle workouts that I would recommend above any others. It’s really the ONLY supplement on the market today that has been shown in studies to actually increase muscle strength and size past eating solid foods alone. All other supplements effects can be duplicated with whole foods. So right after any of your muscle building workouts, make sure and take 3-5 grams of creatine.