Sorry I didnt get to this yesterday. I had to run to town and get my car looked at before I head out on a 1700 mile round trip road trip tonight! LOL! Then we got running around as I was finding a ton of Penn State stuff for my man cave, so it turned into an all day event.
Let's first touch on supplements. I think 99% of what is out there is just a waste of your hard earned cash, but there are some supps that are worth it and are effective. My list is short, but sweet.
#1- Amino acids. If you look at the labels of most aminos, they do not contain the proper amounts of L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, and L-Valine. The amounts are usually small, so you have to mega dose like crazy. There are a lot of different recommendations out there for the optimum amounts of these aminos, but I think you need to at least look to get 10-20 grams a day. The best amino supplement I have found for the price is this: NOW Foods.
I use aminos the following way: 1 teaspoon at breakfast, 1 teaspoon with my shake at 0730, 2 teaspoons with my shake at 1600 (pre-workout), and 2 post workout.
#2- Whey protein. With everything that is out there on protein, I dont think I need to say much about it. You should be drinking a shake a couple times a day to increase your protein intake.
#3- Creatine. 5 grams pre workout, 5 grams post. If money is an issue, straight up pure creatine is cheap as dirt anymore. You will pay extra for the special creatines out there, but my best gains always game from pure creatine.
Aside from an energy drink, I never got much out of anything else. You can experiment with other things, but I think the above 3 are a must for gaining quality mass.
Now let's EAT!
The single best eating plan I have found for gaining mass in the 22 years I have spent under the bar is the carb back loading. Let me explain carb backing loading to those who have not heard of it. The idea behind it is that you eat nothing but protein and greens from the time you get up until after you workout. Post workout, you back load with carbs for your last 2-3 meals. John Kiefer has a good article on Elite Fitness about carb back loading, and he explains the theory behind it better then I could:
Ingesting carbs—most types of carbs—releases insulin, the body’s utmost signaler of growth. Insulin sensitivity is highest in the morning and, as it’s often understood, this means that cells of the body absorb carbs better in the morning than the evening. Thought of in this way, only skeletal muscle and fat cells matter, as most other tissue—nervous system cells, kidneys, the liver, the small intestines, etc—can use carbs with or without insulin. Fat and muscle respond stronger to insulin levels in the morning than the evening.
It is true that eating carbs in the morning allows both fat and muscle to grow more than eating carbs at night. But exercise changes this. Exercise changes everything, even the way skeletal muscle responds to insulin and blood sugar. Resistance training triggers two important changes in muscle tissue regarding carb metabolism. First, heavy resistance training increases sensitivity to insulin in muscle for up to 48 hours post-workout. Second, for a few hours post-workout, muscle cells can use carbs without insulin.
Resistance training, therefore, dissects the day into pre- and post-workout, expanding these concepts from the hour before and after training to the part of the day before training and the part of the day after.
Imagine waiting until 3 or 4 in the evening to lift. Not eating carbs up to this point, neither fat nor muscle has had much of a signal to grow. After training, the consumption of carbs begins en masse, starting with the post-workout shake containing copious amounts of a simple carbohydrate powder. A massive growth signal ensues, but in the evening after lifting, only muscle can take advantage of the signal and not body fat. This effect continues on through the night until bedtime. No more back-fat growth; no more beer-belly expansion; no more second chin. Back-loading carbs in the day tunes the body to grow primarily muscle.
Pretty damn good explanation as to why it works. So this is how you set it up.
Meal 1: 2 whole eggs, 4 whites with cheese, 2 strips of bacon.
Meal 2: 2 scoops whey protein, 1 scoop aminos.
Meal 3: chicken/steak/turkey just SOME MEAT! I also have a big PLAIN salad here with lots of greens.
Meal 4: 2 scoops whey protein, 2 scoops aminos, 5 grams creatine.
Meal 5: POST WORKOUT, 2 scoops whey, 2 scoops aminos, 5 grams creatine, 2 whole bananas, 1/2 cup ice cream.
Meal 6: meat, carbs, greens. Carbs come from white rice, potatoes, white bread, something simple.
Meal 7: 2 scoops whey protein, simple carbs. Or, you can eat again. Add some greens!
That is it. You may seem to lose some energy at first until your body levels out, but once you get used to it (a week at most) you will have energy to spare and your strength will jump up. Increase strength means more weight lifted which means more muscle, and that is what we are talking about here!
So there it is. A complete training/diet plan to add muscle to your frame, regardless of experience. Throw in a good night's rest and eliminate the partying and you will gain, I guarantee.
I will be back next week. Then we will talk strength.
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