How To Gain Muscle Fast

The biggest tool you have in your muscle building arsenal is knowledge and experience. Sadly most trainers just learn by trial and error. But you can speed up your progress by educating yourself too. So here are my top 5 tips on how to get muscles…

1. Stick to heavy compound lifts if you’re a beginner you have no business doing bicep curls, tricep kickbacks or any other isolation exercises. As for all trainers the most benefit is gained from lifts where the heaviest weight is moved using as many muscle groups as possible. This means exercises such as bench presses, chin ups, rows, squats and deadlifts are what your program should be made up of.

2. Train your damn legs! For one you’re a jackass if you just go to the gym to train you ‘gunz’ and have legs like a 12 year old girl. But more importantly heavy squat and deadlift variations create the greatest anabolic effect on your whole body. You use more muscles and more weight doing these exercises than any others and therefore your body releases tons of growth hormone and testosterone which benefit your whole body and will cause your upper body to grow considerably more.

t

4. Don’t neglect peri-workout nutrition. Peri means the stuff you drink/take before during and after a workout. It’s important to use a fast absorbing protein like whey/casein hydrolysate and a blend of fast and slow absorbing carbohydrates. This will give you a huge insulin spike as well as sustained energy allowing you to train a lot harder and recover quicker. This is by far the most important supplement you can take.

5. Eat your damn protein. The latest research says that a strength-training athlete needs 1.6-1.8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to gain muscle optimally. Just going to the gym isn’t enough if you want to get massive!

So now you know some of the basics of how to get muscles.

Technorati Tags: How To Get Muscles

It seems that every guy that hits the gym wants to know how to get big arms! Every guy that goes to the gym wants bigger arms but not many do the right things to achieve big guns.

When you are a beginner your best gains for your arms will still come from heavy compound lifts. That means presses, chin ups, pull downs and rows. Working hard at these with heavy weights and good form and increasing the weights used over time will ensure the greatest arm growth for those relatively new to lifting.

However after a few months or even years of training an intermediate lifter will need to specialise his arm training if he wants to continue to increase his arm size.

Before we get into specifics lets think about the muscles we need to train. The first one that I bet springs to your mind are the biceps. Those bulging (hopefully) muscles on the front of your upper arms are normally the first trained, everyone knows how to do a bicep curl and has probably done their fair share.

But what most people don’t realise is that real arm size largely comes from the triceps. Roughly 2/3rds of your arm girth will be your triceps so lets make sure we don’t neglect our triceps!

Finally most people don’t really think about their forearms but they are of course the most visible muscles of the arms through a t-shirt. The brachialis muscle, which runs from the front of the upper-arm, down to the upper-area of the forearms, has a lot of potential for growth. So do the other muscles of the forearm however for beginners and intermediate trainers these are best trained with heavy deadlifting, pullups and rows etc rather than wrist curls or any other low weight exercises.

So here’s a great arm routine to add inches fast…

A1: Close grip, palms up pull down

nbsp;                       3 sets of 6-8 reps 40X0

A2: Standing barbell curl                                     3 sets of 12-15 reps 40X0

B1: Close grip bench press                                     3 sets of 6-8 reps 40X0

B2: Scull Crushers                                                3 sets of 12-15 reps 40X0

For those a little confused let me explain. A1 and A2 are a superset, you must complete the first exercise to failure then move to the next exercise without resting and complete to failure. The same applies to B1 and B2. 40X0 means 4 seconds negative no pause explosive concentric no pause. The negative is the easier half of the movement ie the lowering phase in a barbell curl or bench press and the opposite for pull downs as your are pulling the weight down rather than lifting it.

So there you have it you wanted to know how to get big arms and now you have a brutal workout to do just that!

 

Technorati Tags: How To Get Big Arms

What’s the ideal diet to gain weight?

It’s been a long time since anybody in the know would recommend the old fashioned buik up eating crap then diet down approach. It was a 2 steps forward 1 step back system that was unhealthy and inefficient and probably stemmed from the drug using bodybuilders that could get away with doing it and still make decent improvements.

The bulking/cutting approach is wrong for one main reason when you are around 10% bodyfat or less your body’s insulin sensitivity is improved. This means that your body will utilize the powerful hormone insulin more effectively to drive amino acids and other nutrients into the muscle cells to build new muscle.

Not to mention the fact that you look bigger and better the leaner you are. Also that if all you had to do was stay on a lean-mass gaining plan where you maintained or even decreased your bodyfat levels then your gains would be greater. This would be due to the fact you’re not taking weeks or months out to get rid of all that fat you put on bulking.

So if there is this amazing diet to gain weight where you can gain as much muscle as you would ‘bulking’ but without all the fat what is it and how does it work.

The main problem with the old fashioned bulking diet is far too much carbs. Without being too generalized as different people respond in different ways to carbs most people get fat because they eat too much carbs. It’s also been thought in the past that you needed a considerable excess of calories to gain muscle but that just isn’t so.

The key to gaining muscle while staying lean is to maintain a high protein intake and a healthy quantity of fats but keeps the times and amounts of carbs under close control.

What I’m talking about is 1-1.5g or protein per pound of bodyweight and 80-100g of fat a day. That’s the easy part.

For carbs it’s best to keeps these relatively low compared to the average western diet and eat only in the morning and around workout times.

This means the first meal of the day should be made up of carbs and protein (every meal should have an even dose of protein). Subsequent meals should mainly consist of protein and fat except the meal before and after working out which can be similar to breakfast and contain carbs and protein.

It’s best to avoid mixing fat and carbs in the same meal as they cause a greater insulin spike and you generally tend to consume too many calories. I know I mentioned earlier that insulin is a good thing but that is around a workout when you have stimulated the muscles to uptake nutrients. The rest of the time most of those nutrients will go to creating fat cells.

So how much total carbs should we eat. This depends on your individual body type as some people get fat very easily eating carbs and others can eat a box of doughnuts and never gain a pound of fat. It also depends on your goals:

Do you need to get leaner while gaining muscle? Then eat very few carb containing meals.

Are you interested in putting on as much muscle as possible even if small amounts of fat are gained? Then consume more carb containing meals but still avoid carbs in the evening.

In general a carb containing meal should have roughly 30-50g of carbs in it and these should of course be from healthy sources such as fruit and vegetables or at least wholemeal breads and pasta etc.

So there you have it a basic outline of the ideal diet to gain weight. What you need to do is experiment with it to find what works best for you but you will find that if you control your carbs in the manner described above you will gain muscle at a much faster rate and never have to worry about getting fat again.

Technorati Tags: diet to gain weight

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

I receive emails every single day from aspiring muscle-builders all over the world, and one of the most common questions I’m asked is…

“Does drinking really affect the muscle growth process?”

I’m sorry to say it, but yes, too much alcohol will almost definitely have a significant negative impact on your muscle-building results. Alcohol is far more harmful than most people think, and it’s very important that you understand how this drug (yes, alcohol is a drug) is affecting your progress.

This is not an anti-drug speech, but if you’re serious about achieving a truly impressive physique, you should definitely be aware of the 5 main ways that alcohol is slowing down your gains…

1) It negatively affects protein synthesis.

Protein synthesis is the process where amino acids are joined together to form complete proteins. Excessive alcohol consumption slows this process down by up to 20%, and since your muscles are made up of protein, you can see how this is a problem.

2) It lowers testosterone levels and increases estrogen.

Testosterone is the most important muscle-building hormone in your body. One of the limiting factors that determines how much muscle a person can gain is their level of free-flowing testosterone.

3) It causes dehydration.

The kidneys must filter very large amounts of water in order to break down the alcohol, and this can result in severe dehydration within the body. Water plays an absolutely crucial role in the muscle-building process, and being even slightly dehydrated is a recipe for disaster. The muscles alone are comprised of 70% water.

4) It depletes the body of vitamins and minerals.

Alcohol consumption causes vitamins A, C, the B’s, calcium, zinc and phosphorus to all be drained at rapid rates. Vitamins and minerals keep every little process in your body functioning properly, and many of these processes involve muscle growth and maintenance.

5) It increases fat storage.

With 7 empty calories per gram, alcohol can actually be quite fattening. Alcohol also disrupts the Kreb’s Cycle, which plays an important role in fat burning.

It’s important to have fun in life, but too much fun can lead to problems. If you’re serious about achieving significant muscle-building results, you definitely need to monitor your intake of alcohol and make sure that you are consuming it in moderation.

A few drinks here and there shouldn’t be a problem, but if you find yourself drinking every weekend you can almost certainly kiss your muscle gains goodbye.

If you do decide to go out and party, make sure to drink plenty of water and to properly nourish yourself with vitamins/minerals and a protein rich meal.

I don’t recommend revolving your entire life around your muscle-building program, so don’t be afraid to go out and have a good time once in a while. Just make sure to keep your drinking nights infrequent (no more than once a month) and properly nourish yourself to lessen its effects.

As long as you monitor what you’re doing you can achieve an impressive physique and have a social life at the same time.

Learn how to avoid other common, counterproductive mistakes both in and out of the gym by visiting www.MuscleGainTruth.com. You can sign up for my free 8-part muscle building email course to help get you on the path to the powerful, head-turning body you deserve.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: alcohol, muscle gain truth, muscle gains

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

The post-workout period is without a doubt the most critical time to take advantage of proper muscle-building nutrition.

We’ll define the post workout period as the 3 hours that immediately follows an intense workout. It is during this time when the body is most primed for nutrient absorption and the muscles will literally act like a sponge, soaking up everything you present them with.

By feeding your body with the proper nutrients from both whole foods and supplements during this all-too important time frame you will greatly increase your muscle gains and improve your recovery time.

Let’s take a quick look at what needs to be accomplished after an intense workout:

1) Muscle breakdown must be minimized and the body must be put back into an anabolic, muscle-building state.

2) Blood sugar and glycogen levels must be restored.

3) Free radicals must be neutralized.

4) The muscles must be fed with proper nutrients to facilitate recovery and growth.

This can be accomplished by consuming 2 special “post-workout meals”.

The first meal should be consumed entirely in liquid form. Your body is in a high state of stress, literally starving for nutrients, and you need to replenish this imbalance in the fastest way possible. A liquid meal will be digested quicker than any other and will allow your body to start rebuilding itself immediately.

This post-workout shake should ideally contain the following:

1) 30-40 grams of whey protein.
2) 70-80 grams of simple sugar. (Dextrose is a great sugar to use)
3) 5 grams of creatine.
4) 5-10 grams of glutamine. (Optional)

All of these ingredients should be mixed in water and consumed within half an hour of completing your workout. I would also suggest taking a high-potency multivitamin along with the shake. This simple liquid meal will go a long way in accelerating the muscle growth process and helping you to recover.

About 45 minutes to an hour after your post-workout shake, you should consume your second post-workout meal, which should come from whole foods. This meal should be rich in protein and high glycemic carbohydrates.

High glycemic carbohydrates are those that are broken down rapidly into the bloodstream. Some examples include, potatoes, white rice or rice cakes. Here are a couple of examples of what your second post-workout meal might look like:

1) 6oz steak, 1 potato, 1 glass of orange juice
2) 1 can of tuna, 100g rice cakes, 1 glass of grapefruit juice

This meal will continue to provide your starving muscles with the nutrients they require in order to synthesize new muscle tissue and restore glycogen levels.

After this second meal there is still about 2 hours or so to take advantage of as best you can. Your goal in this 3-hour window is to consume as much high quality protein and high glycemic carbohydrates as you can.

Most lifters highly underestimate the value of the post-workout period and hinder their gains as a result. One of the biggest mistakes you could possibly make would be to ignore the value of this 3-hour period and to slack off on your protein and carb intake.

Treat the post-workout period with respect and prepare for a noticeable boost in your muscle size and strength gains.

There are also 3 other highly important times throughout the day to pay special attention to the foods and supplements that you consume. Visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com to find out what they are, and how to properly approach these periods for the best possible results.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: muscle gain truth, muscle gains, post-workout nutrition

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

To supplement or not to supplement? That is the question, and an important one at that.

“Do bodybuilders really need supplements?”

Let’s examine that question.

The first thing to look at when trying to answer the million-dollar question about supplements (with the ever-increasing revenues of the supplement industry I should more accurately call it a “billion-dollar question”) is what do we define as “need”?

The question seems to be, “do we really need supplements”? But the answer to that completely depends upon what it is that we do or do not need them for. Let’s examine a couple of different definitions.

“Do bodybuilders need supplements to become bigger and stronger?”

The answer to this question? No!

Regardless of what the million-dollar supplement companies would have you believe, supplementation is not mandatory in the pursuit of increased muscle mass and strength.

Anyone who trains hard and focuses on consuming adequate amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats from whole foods can and will see a significant increase in muscle size and strength.

If you want to become bigger and stronger, supplements are not mandatory. Period.

So given this fact, bodybuilders shouldn’t use any supplements, right?

Wrong.

Let’s examine the second definition.

“Do bodybuilders need supplements to become as big and strong as they possibly can?”

The answer to this question? Yes!

Although supplements are not mandatory to become bigger and stronger, they ARE mandatory if your goal is to become as big and strong as you possibly can. By investing in the right products and using the proper amounts, you can definitely gain an extra edge and see superior gains than a person who has chosen not to go the supplement route.

With the endless hours of hard work and dedication that you put in at the gym and at home on your quest to achieving the physique you desire, it only seems logical that a few extra bucks should be spent each month on a few reputable products in order to maximize your gains.

The question you simply have to ask yourself is, “how much are my muscle gains worth to me?”

If an extra boost in strength at the gym is worth the price of that bottle of creatine, then it makes sense to purchase it. If improving the convenience of your eating plan is worth the price of that tub of whey protein, then it makes sense to purchase it.

“Do bodybuilders really need supplements?”

If you’re serious about achieving the most significant muscle size and strength gains that you possibly can, then I definitely would recommend a basic and straightforward supplement plan to maximize your results.

Here are the 4 most basic supplements that I would recommend:

1) Whey Protein
2) Creatine
3) High-Potency Multivitamin
4) Essential Fatty Acids

This is a great place to start and will go a long way in increasing your lean muscle mass, strength and fat burning capabilities. There are definitely a lot of worthless, ineffective supplements out there, but these 4 basic products have been shown time and time again to be both effective and worth the cost.

If you’re looking to gain an extra edge and are serious about reaching your muscle-building goals, they are definitely worth looking into.

To learn the details of these 4 supplements including proper dosages and product recommendations, visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

You can also access my honest and unbiased reviews of over 20 of the most popular muscle building supplements on the market today. This could potentially save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars, so I would strongly urge you to check it out.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: bodybuilders, muscle gain truth, supplements

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

Most people understand that fiber plays an important role in the overall health and wellness of the body, but this form of carbohydrate is actually quite beneficial to bodybuilders as well.

Fiber is found in the cell walls of plants and can be obtained from food sources such as fruits, vegetables, oat bran, beans, grains and psyllium.

Because of its chemical structure, fiber is indigestible to humans and remains completely intact as it travels through the body. It is actually a carbohydrate, but acts differently since it cannot be broken down into its basic glucose building blocks.

If fiber can’t even be digested, what could possibly make it so important to bodybuilders? Well, even though fiber is considered a “nonessential” nutrient, it still plays an important role in building muscle, gaining strength and maintaining your overall health.

Fiber is most well known for its ability to induce regular bowel movements.

Why is this so important to bodybuilders?

Well, since you are trying to build as much muscle as possible, you will probably be consuming at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight each day. One of the main sources of this protein will come from animal meat such as chicken and beef.

The problem with this is that if meat stays in the digestive tract for too long it can produce toxins that pose long-term negative health consequences. An adequate amount of fiber each day will ensure that foods are moving along smoothly through your digestive system.

Fiber is also beneficial in its effect on slowing down the rate of gastric emptying. Gastric emptying is the process where foods are moved from the stomach to the small intestine.

When you consume foods containing fiber, they become “gelled” in your stomach and slow down this process. The small intestine is where most nutrients are absorbed and pumped into the bloodstream.

By slowing down the transfer of food to the small intestine your body will be able to extract the nutrients much more efficiently. This “timed-release” effect will also keep your body in an anabolic state for longer and decrease the chances of muscle catabolism setting in.

Along with its digestive benefits, fiber has also been known to regulate blood sugar levels. This will result in a more gradual release of sugars into the bloodstream and will decrease the chances of unnecessary insulin spikes and unwanted fat storage.

This will also allow your body to increase its natural production of this powerful anabolic hormone without having to increase the consumption of simple carbohydrates.

As you can see, fiber is a fairly important carbohydrate form to incorporate into your diet. I would highly recommend that you focus on consuming around 25-35 grams of fiber each day for maximum benefits.

To learn the complete inside scoop on proper muscle-building nutrition, go ahead and visitwww.MuscleGainTruth.com. You’ll learn everything you need to know to structure the most effective nutrition plan possible in order to maximize your muscle and strength gains. You can also download my “Empowered Nutrition Mass-Building Meal Plans” to take all of the guesswork out of your diet.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: bodybuilders, fiber, muscle gain truth

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

One of the most currently debated issues in the supplement industry is in relation to the consumption of multivitamins and the role that they play in enhancing overall health both in and out of the gym.

Can bodybuilders benefit by supplementing with extra vitamins and minerals? Let’s review some basic biology as well as the function of each specific vitamin in order to find the answer…

In the grand scheme of things, your body is basically one giant mass of chemical reactions. Each of these individual reactions is fueled by small proteins called enzymes, which work by lowering the amount of energy that is needed for a specific reaction to occur.

Enzymes require the use of a “co-enzyme” which alters its shape and allows it to perform its job properly. Co-enzymes are also referred to as vitamins.

So when it all comes down it, vitamins are needed to fuel the thousands of chemical reactions going on within your body at all times. Not only does this play an important role in overall metabolism and body health, but it also plays a vital part in the muscle-building process.

Here is a list of the major vitamins and the ways in which they will aid you both in and out of the gym…

Vitamin A - Is crucial to the process of protein synthesis where individual amino acids are combined to form new muscle tissue. It also helps the body to produce glycogen, the stored form of carbohydrates within the body.

Vitamin B1 - Also known as “thiamine” and is heavily involved in protein metabolism as well as the production of hemoglobin which helps to carry oxygen around the body.

Vitamin B2 - Also known as “riboflavin” and aids in the fat burning process as well as helping the body to produce energy from carbohydrates.

Vitamin B3 - Also known as “niacin” and increases vasodilation within the muscle tissue, helping you to appear fuller and more vascular.

Vitamin B6 - Also known as “pyridoxine” and is very important because of its effect on protein digestion. Muscle-building diets require larger than normal amounts of protein, and this means that your body needs a higher amount of vitamin B6 than the average Joe.

Vitamin B12 - Also known as “cobalamin”, vitamin b12 ensures that the brain and muscle tissue are communicating efficiently and this has a direct effect on muscle growth and coordination.

Biotin - Helps the body metabolize amino acids and produce energy during workouts.

Vitamin C - Heavily involved in amino acid metabolism and the formation of collagen. Collagen is found in your connective tissue and keeps your joints strong and healthy. Vitamin C also plays a role in the production of steroid hormones in the body and also enhances the absorption of iron. On top of all of this, vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant which flushes out free radicals and prevents damage to your body cells.

Vitamin D - Helps the body to absorb calcium and phosphorus more efficiently. Calcium is very important during muscle contractions and also helps to maintain strong bones and joints. Phosphorus is involved in the synthesis of ATP, the usable form of energy within the body.

Vitamin E - A very powerful antioxidant which helps to hunt out and neutralize free radicals. This will help to flush out many of the natural metabolic waste products your body produces and maintain the health of your cell membranes.

As you can clearly see above, vitamins play a very important role when it comes to building muscle and gaining strength. Hard training bodybuilders certainly require higher amounts of these vitamins than the average sedentary Joe, as these vitamins are depleted during intense sessions in the gym.

In addition, a calorie-dense diet requires a higher intake of vitamins to aid in the digestion process. In fact, being deficient in just one vitamin can literally affect thousands of small process within the body.

So, are multivitamins necessary for bodybuilders?

Absolutely!

From protein synthesis to energy metabolism to digestion to vasodilation, multivitamins should be an important part of any effective supplementation plan.

For an honest, unbiased review of over 20 of the most popular muscle-building supplements on the market today, visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com. You’ll learn which supplements are worth your money and which ones are nothing more than pure marketing hype.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: multivitamins, muscle gain truth, muscle-building supplement

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

If there was ever one thing that I wanted to change about myself, it was my body…

At a mere 125 pounds I felt insecure, weak, and would do just about anything to pack some muscle onto my skinny frame. I would look at other guys and think, “why can’t I just feel average?”

Forget being strong and muscular, I just wanted to feel like I wasn’t a toothpick compared to everyone else!

I probably took things too far, and maybe I wasn’t as thin as I imagined, but it didn’t matter. In my eyes I was nothing. Afraid to show my arms, or take my shirt off, my confidence was down in the dumps.

…But then it happened.

One day when I was looking in the mirror, I realized just how unhappy I was with the way I looked. I realized that I could never be truly happy on the inside until I was happy with myself on the outside. Something inside of head just sort of “snapped”.

It was as if my mind had taken a 180 degree turn.

It was on that very day that I decided it was time to change. This time I meant business. No more sitting around whining to myself and complaining about my small frame; it was time to put all the talk aside and get to work.

Talking builds no muscles.

No matter how difficult it was, how long it took, or how many obstacles came my way, I was going to change. I was going to get huge, and there was nothing that would stop me. It was there that my journey from point A to point B began.

After filling my head with every possible piece of bodybuilding literature I could get my hands on, I started putting the techniques to use. After several months of trial and error experimention, I was finally able to narrow it down and figure out what worked and what didn’t.

It was really hard at first, but I stuck with it. There were many times when working out would be the last thing I felt like doing, but it didn’t matter; I dragged my ass to the gym and lifted. I remembered the promise that I had made to myself, and that was all I needed to keep going.

I started gaining weight. After the first few months I’d put on a solid, muscular 15 pounds. My hard work and persistence was already paying off.

So I pressed on.

I kept on training and I kept on eating. I refused to be defeated; to give up and go back to the way I was. Workout after workout, week after week, month after month, and I was still training.

Sure, I experienced bumps in the road. Inevitably there were obstacles, but I rose above them. When I felt like it was time to pack it in, I dug down deep and kept going. I wasn’t going to quit no matter how tough it was.

I did the things that I hated doing the most in order to reach my goals.

Training when I wanted to sleep, eating when I wanted to rest, going to bed when I wanted to stay awake. I watched as months went by, and my size continued to improve. I was finally walking around with my head up high. I kept on training and I kept on improving.

There was no letting up.

Even to this day, I’m still training, and I’m still improving. I can truly say that bodybuilding has been the greatest choice I’ve ever made in my entire life. It has changed me from the inside out.

I am now confident with the way I look. I don’t hide behind baggy clothes anymore, nor am I reluctant to take my shirt off. I feel strong, powerful and healthy.

My life has completely changed for the better. Words cannot describe the feeling of being in great shape. I now know that I am able to set a goal and reach it.

If you’re thinking about getting into bodybuilding or if you’re just starting out, one piece of advice I can give you is do not quit. No matter what happens, do NOT quit.

Bodybuilding will do so much for you, and you will be eternally grateful if you continue.

There is nothing like it.

It teaches self-discipline, builds character and pushes you to your utmost limits. There is just so much you will get in return, I can’t even tell you.

If you’re ready to take a stand and finally achieve the powerful, muscular body you desire, go ahead and visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com. I’ll show you exactly how I did it, and how you can follow the same path.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: bodybuilding journey, muscle gain truth, skinny to muscular

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

Let’s face it; intense weight training is no easy task.

It’s no secret that if you want to see dramatic results in both muscle size and strength, you must be willing to push yourself to the limit every time you enter the gym.

This is one of the biggest reasons why most people don’t see the muscle-building results they desire; they just plain don’t train hard enough. And why don’t they? Here’s why…

It’s painful. It’s uncomfortable. It’s downright gut wrenching.

Too bad, so sad, my friend, because if you want real muscle gains then you’ll have to rise above and conquer the natural feeling of pain that is associated with intense sessions in the gym.

Luckily there are a few special techniques you can use to “mentally numb” these feelings and to blast through the pain barriers that separate you from the gains you deserve. Give some of the following methods a try and I think you’ll be pleased with the results…

1) Life-Threatening Situations

In the middle of your set, transport yourself to a life-or-death situation where your life or someone else’s life depends on your ability to move the weight. For example, when performing chin-ups you could pretend that you are hanging from a cliff, or while deadlifting you could imagine that you are rescuing someone who is trapped underneath a car.

2) Magnetic Force

Pretend that the weights you are using are powerful magnets that are being attracted in the opposite direction. If you’re performing a bench press, imagine that the bar is a magnet being attracted to the ceiling.

3) Envision Your Muscles

Remember that your purpose in the gym is to break down your muscle fibers in order to trigger an adaptive response from your body. While performing your sets, visualize what is happening inside of your muscle tissue. Imagine the fibers tearing and being engorged with blood and nutrients and realize that these processes will equate to muscular growth.

4) Have Someone Watch You

I’m not talking about using a spotter here, I’m simply talking about having a friend or training partner watch you perform your set. We usually tend to push ourselves harder when we know that someone is watching.

5) Positive/Negative Force

For pushing exercises, imagine that you are moving something negative away from yourself. You can associate anything with this: someone you don’t like, a negative emotion or something material. For pulling exercises, imagine that you are bringing something positive towards yourself. It could be money, someone you love or a positive feeling.

6) Set Ridiculous Goals

If you need to perform 7 reps on a given set, imagine that your goal is to perform 100. Don’t just tell yourself this; believe it. As you begin to perform your set, truly convince yourself that you will perform 100 reps.

7) Close Your Eyes

This should only be applied on certain exercises that are very simple to perform. You definitely wouldn’t want to employ this technique when squatting or deadlifting. On other, simpler exercises, try closing your eyes. This will block out all of your visual stimuli and will allow you to focus 100% on performing the exercise.

Pretend It’s Someone Else’s Pain

Training to failure is physically discomforting. While you are approaching muscular failure, pretend that the pain you are experiencing is also being felt by someone that you dislike. The harder you push, the more pain you will transfer to them. It may seem like a cold-blooded technique, but it works.

If you’re ready to put these techniques to use in the gym, visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com. I’ll teach you several more of these psychological strategies and will provide you with a step-by-step workout plan that you can follow.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: mental techniques, muscle gain truth, training discomfort