Category: weight gain

First I’m gonna make it

…then I’m gonna break it

Increasing muscle mass and or strength is not magic by any means, it is science. Which is great because sometimes it seems that way like we need some magical potion.  The good news is once you have an understanding of the science you can then apply it and start making the gains you are looking for, ‘these are the gains you are looking for’. Just like the title of this post (credit to Echo and the Bunnymen) first you are gonna make it and then you’re gonna break it.

How

Ok, yes, genetics do play a role. But we can’t change that so let’s not worry about it.

Weights
Heavy lifting

Stress: Our muscles respond to stress, stress that causes damage (breaking down) to our muscle fibers. You have probably felt this the next day after a workout when trying to use your legs after a hard leg workout and you do all you can to avoid stairs. Now, excessive muscle pain the next day or 4 days later is not good as you might have seriously damaged muscle tissue but some uncomfortableness is what you want. This then causes the body to respond and put into process different mechanisms to facilitate muscle growth if the environment is right (more on that in a bit).

Tension: Without putting a load onto your muscles you won’t see growth. And, it has to be an increasing load. If your body has already adapted to the load you are using the load is not enough. The load needs to be greater than what your body is used to. Now, this doesn’t mean that if you squatted 250lbs last time that you need to do at least the same amount the next workout, especially if that amount is new for you to squat, it means the load should be great enough that you are challenged.

Also, try to switch up how the load is applied. Your body will adapt to the same load over time and growth will not happen. This is why we increase loads. But, other things can help too such as number of sets, type of exercise, decreasing the duration of your break between sets, switching from free weights to a machine, pyramids, etc. One more thing, the amount of time the muscle is under stress also plays a role in muscle growth. People tend to rush through their routines. My god if I see one more person bouncing through their pushups I’m going to lose it, ugh. Slow down and keep clean technique and also reduce the risk of injury.

Diet: The more food you consume that is whole food and not processed the more growth you should see. Our body needs the nutrients it requires to rebuild itself from the damage we inflicted on it. Whole Foods plant based will provide your body all that it needs to repair the damage and as an added benefit you’ll feel better and have more energy. Trust me, I know. A colleague of mine switched to eating more whole foods that are plant based and he can’t believe the energy he has.

Rest: You need it although it’s not always there. Let’s talk about 2 types of rest, muscle rest and physical rest. Muscle rest refers to that you need at least 48 hours of rest after working out that muscle group. Did legs today, give your legs 48 hours off. Muscles need time to recover which means time to grow. And let’s talk about you. You need rest too. Without adequate rest you will put your body into a state of being over trained which leads to being tired, feeling run down, lack of focus, getting sick and your friends avoiding you.

Finally

Change up your workouts frequently, eat well, properly stress your muscles and rest. Science. No magic. Then sit back and watch the gains happen.

Yours in health,

Darryl

What it don’t get, I can’t use

I want money.

We live, have been living in a word of excess. Buy, buy, buy is the daily message albeit delivered in a more subtle way. People’s heroes are those who disparage their character for the sake of making more money. It’s cool to post images of your ‘worth’ on social media. It seems to be perfectly alright, perfectly justifiable  to fly thousands of miles to Brooklyn to throw a hand dolly into a bus all for the purpose of selling more pay per views. What was the quote from this person during the fight: ‘It’s only business’. Money at all costs.

Things like this unfortunately can influence people to become like these people who do these things. But, it can also be the antithesis for others. The ugliness of acts such as this can move people closer to the understanding that money isn’t everything, and money at any cost is wrong.

More isn’t always better but sometimes more is what we need.

When it comes to our body and what we feel is the body we want all the focus is on losing weight. When has there even been a product, a program, an infomercial on how to gain weight? NEVER that’s when. Yes, there are weight gain protein powders but the main message is to lose weight. Trying to find out how to gain weight in a healthy way could take some research and it can be really confusing and also disappointing. And I think too just like there is fat shaming, skinny shaming is also happening. Guys for years have felt the pressure to be muscular all the way back to the 50’s classic add of the skinny guy getting sand kicked on them buy the muscular guy at the beach all while the girl is laughing at the skinny dude. And the same with girls and women. You need to be thicc. The focus is never health and fitness but instead on no matter what it takes, you need to look like this. Don’t buy into this lie. Focusing on health and wellness instead of appearance will give you the things you need to stay healthy, be sick less, be less susceptible to disease, slow down aging, and ultimately if you do these things correctly you can mold your body like an artist molds clay and do it in a healthy way.

How

As simple as this solution seems I believe it is all that is needed. It’s not complicated because it doesn’t need to be. So if you are in doubt because it’s so simple, try not to discount it.

  • Eat a whole foods plant based diet whenever you are hungry

That’s it. Eating a whole foods plant based diet does not require you to worry if you are getting too much fat, too much protein, too many carbs, too much sugar, too much salt. A whole foods plant based diet followed properly means you are not eating processed foods, it means you are eating all the foods you need and you are getting nutrient dense foods, the foods your body wants and needs to repair and grow muscle tissue. If you feel you have been eating enough but aren’t adding the weight than you may need to evaluate what you are eating. Are you eating foods that are processed? These foods will make you feel full but they are not providing the nutrients you body needs to repair and grow. If you are already eating a whole foods plant based diet and aren’t gaining weight, then are you eating enough? Broken down to a basic principle, calories in cannot be less than calories out. If they are you will never gain weight. As an example a professional body builder may consume upwards of 4,000 calories a day.

If you have been working out hard and correctly and aren’t adding weight, this may be what you are missing. I want to keep this simple so I’m not going to get into formulas having to do with resting metabolic rate, caloric requirements based on sex and age. Keep it simple.

If you are not gaining weight and want to, then you have to eat more. 

Not many of us have the time, or the patience to count calories for everything we eat. That requires measuring every meal you eat. Keep it simple and always eat when you are hungry. That may mean eating 6 to 8 times a day. Don’t snack on worthless foods such as processed crackers, chips, things like that. If you are doing that switch those foods out for nutrient dense foods, the foods your body will use to make muscle. Besides, these foods that are nutrient dense taste awesome and who doesn’t want that? Substitute a nutrient/taste dense food such as a black bean avocado dip with pita chips for those potato chips you were going to have. Both will fill your craving for food but one gives you lots of fat which doesn’t provide muscle growth where as the other does provide the protein and carbs needed.

Again, keeping it simple follow the rule that your food needs to be whole foods plant based. Avoid processed foods as processing removes nutrients the body needs to grow. Replace this with foods that the body needs and the body will grow.

Finally

Whole foods plant based; Calories in > Calories out; Eat when Hungry = Weight gain.

Yours in health,

Darryl