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Dusty Hanshaw
Moderator
46 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 5:52:57 PM
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How Did You Get So Big?
How did you get so big? It’s a simple question asked everyday to bodybuilders around the world. What surprises many is the fact that it only takes four things to get big: eating, training, recovering, and being consistent with each. The sad thing is that many people strive to build big powerful physiques but fail to pay adequate attention to the basic principals of muscle growth.
I always start any discussion pertaining to putting on muscle with what I feel to be the most important element…FOOD. Without adequate amounts of food it doesn’t matter how hard you work in the gym you will not grow. Nutrition is the foundation of any bodybuilding program and without it you are bound to fail. In order to grow a person needs to consume more calories than they are burning, so if you burn 3000 calories in a given day you need to eat more than 3000 calories if you want to put on weight/muscle. The only way you are going to know if you are eating enough quality food is if you write down what you are consuming and do the math based on protein, carbohydrates, and fats consumed per day. I suggest eating 1.5 times your bodyweight in protein each day split between 6-8 meals. Once you have figured out how many grams of protein you should be eating per day multiply that number by 4 and you will know that calories that you should be consuming from protein per day. Subtract that number from the total amount of calories that you have determined that you need per day and you will have the amount of calories that remain to be split up between carbohydrates and fats. Remember that one gram of carbohydrates yields four calories while one gram of fat yields nine calories. Because everyone’s body responds to macro nutrients differently you will have to play with what percentages of your diet should be from fat and carbs to ensure that you have high energy levels and that you are putting on quality muscle without the addition of to much body fat. As you can see putting together a sound nutritional program can be tedious but once you do I guarantee the results will be extraordinary.
The next thing we need to look at when trying to build lean muscle mA$$ is training. I think it is safe to say that almost every athlete understands that in order to build a muscular physique resistance training is a must. That being said I think it is important that you take the time to plan out your training to ensure that you are getting the best possible results as quickly as possible. Now obviously everybody is different but I think it is safe to say that beginners and even intermediate level trainers need to focus on basic compound movements to build a good base. I suggest training each body part every sixth day to ensure adequate time for muscular recovery. When it comes to building muscle there are many different training philosophies. I believe in keeping things simple by moving as much weight as possible through a complete range of motion in a completely controlled manner. I also suggest that athletes pay extra attention to the negative portion of each movement because in my opinion that is where the majority of muscle stress and therefore growth occurs. If you need proof look no further than the physique built by a high level gymnast from controlled negative movements on the rings. I think most people who are trying to put on size are training but hopefully after reading this will make a better effort to be organized in how and even how often they train.
The easiest part of building muscle is rest but it never ceases to amaze me how many athletes don’t get adequate rest. I suggest getting at least six to eight hours of sleep per night to ensure that your body has time to recover from the rigors of resistance training. Another thing that I like to touch on when discussing sleep for athletes is the importance of being regimented not only with how much you sleep but also when you sleep. Our bodies are adaptive machines so the more consistent you are with the hours of your sleep the better your body will take advantage of the time you give it to recover. A common mistake by many is to have drastic changes in sleeping patterns between the weekdays and the weekends which causes confusion for the body and results in poor recovery. To put it simply if you are serious about growth you need to be serious about sleep.
The final piece of the size puzzle comes by way of consistency. To build a muscular physique takes time and the only way to be successful is to be consistent with all three things from the previous paragraphs over time. If you are regimented in your eating, training, and sleeping for 70% of the year you will be rewarded with 70% of the muscle gains you could have achieved. I’m sure nobody wants 70% of the muscle gains that they are capable of but very few are truly consistent.
To sum up all that you read above I came up with a simple equation that anyone can use to build muscle and it is: Nutrition + Training + Sleeping + Consistency = MUSCLE. So if you ever find that your gains aren’t what you had hoped for compare this simple equation with what you are doing and I’m positive you will find the solution to your problem.
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Iforce Joe
Average Member
USA
79 Posts |
Posted - Dec 18 2007 : 02:12:43 AM
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| awesome info i own a supplement store in houston and i love when the 19 year boys come in and ask me what it takes to get swole and my first answer is FOOD and i say it stern 90% of the time i'm eating when they come in lol and the sad part is i'm 5'5 160 and can't gain weight but i'm sure i just need to count my calories but i eat clean and i don't plan to compete i just want to look like know what i'm talking about i'll see if i can't get some pics up in the near future i'm also about 11% body fat but i'm getting lower and a good rate so hopefully i can see single digits in a month or so |
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hotfigure
New Member
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - Dec 18 2007 : 5:13:25 PM
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No question nutrition is the only magic when it comes to getting in shape and adding quality muscle. I am only 5' tall and 105lbs and I probably eat more food and protein than most guys who are trying to get HUGE
When you are training just know that there is a 105lb girl training harder in Scottsdale Arizona |
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Iforce Joe
Average Member
USA
79 Posts |
Posted - Dec 19 2007 : 03:01:27 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hotfigure
No question nutrition is the only magic when it comes to getting in shape and adding quality muscle. I am only 5' tall and 105lbs and I probably eat more food and protein than most guys who are trying to get HUGE
When you are training just know that there is a 105lb girl training harder in Scottsdale Arizona
sounds like i need to move to scottsdale lol all the girls here at the gyms i train at irratate the hell outta me i'm 5'5 160 and i eat like a 250 guy and still 160 is were i stay lol |
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dalvare1
Moderator
108 Posts |
Posted - Dec 19 2007 : 3:10:40 PM
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Right on the money Dusty.
I can honestly say that I thought that I was just not built for bodybuilding. And then I just started researching and researching and realized that I just wasnt eating enough food. I have a high metabolism, I have always been very thin, low BF%, so gains come on lean but slowly.
But at 185lbs I hit a plateau and no supplement or training could break it. Then I just decided to start putting away as much food as I possibly can, all day long. Needless to say I have been growing since, and am now happy at a solid 215 pounds!
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How did you get so big???
