October 1, 2015

5 Simple ways to build muscle and crazy strength

Building muscle can be as frustrating as trying to play defense against Tom Brady. You try almost everything and nothing seems to work.

For some of us, anyway. I’m sure you all know that one guy who pack on lean muscle by doing nothing but bench and biceps curls — filling his calories with pop-tarts and pizza…

Let me see if I can settle your frustration and teach you 5 simple ideas to help you build muscle and build crazy strength.

Most people don’t put anything into action on a consistent basis. A lot stuff works, but if you don’t do it with effort on a regular basis, sorry bro, it’s just not going happen for you.

Commit to actually taking action on this stuff, have an open mind and then go get your hands dirty.

1. Progressive overload is king

Progressive overload; you might have heard of this one.

Over time if we want to get bigger, stronger and more developed muscles we have to do more work as time passes . There are few ways to do this

Use more weight

Example: add 20lbs to your squat this week.

Do more total reps or sets. Also, increase how long your muscle is working

Example: use the same weight but more reps or add an extra set. Slow down the temp, so the set takes longer.

Do more work in a shorter period of time

Example: instead of resting for 2 minute in between sets, just rest for 45 seconds instead.

These concepts are the foundation of all lifting programs. If you’re not doing this, you’re not going build and gain — period.

2. Train like a powerlifter, MMA fighter or a body builder

In fitness, we can get stuck in the same routine doing the same exercises over and over. I’m going lay down an argument as to why you should apply some of the work from these categories:

Powerlifter

They are the strongest people in the world and even some of the biggest.

Learn from them: They use big compound movements for lower reps to get strong as hell. Use these lifts, with great form and push the weight. This will be the foundation for not just strength, but make the muscle building exercise more effective.

Example: squat, deadlift, press and heavy rows.

What to throw out: Powerlifters usually end up with a torn apart body by sacrificing weight for form. Be smart, train within your limits and always do it with great form. You’ll be strong without feeling like a 90-year old man.

MMA Fighter

I’ve been training and engaged in MMA-type workouts for a while now.

Learn from them: Do 1 – 2 high-intensity conditioning programs that will make you faster, more explosive and have a ton energy. With those attributes, it will make your lifting days that more effective. This will also keep you leaner as you get stronger and build mass.

What to throw out: MMA fighters are notorious for over-training and sense you’re not going fight anymore. Balancing high-intensity days or low intensity-days are crucial to build muscle and build strength. Stick to 1 – 3 of these days — no more.

Bodybuilders

It seems since the emergence of CrossFit, functional gyms and the $10 gym commercial bodybuilders have gotten a bad rap. While those might be fads, bodybuilding has some great lessons to offer:

Learn from them: Tension is huge for building muscle size and development. So many people rush through the movement without ever feeling the sensation of firing the target muscle. Next time you work out, try lowering all of your weight for 2 seconds and explode up on the lift. Focus on feeling each muscle you work and squeezing the crap out of each contraction.

Example: If you’re curling, grab the weight — crushing it, then lift. When you get to the top, think like your trying pop your bicep by squeezing as hard as you can. Than take two seconds to lower and repeat. No swinging, with really good form, even if that means lowering the weight. The effect you’ll get is completely different.

What to throw out: Beginners might not be able to keep up with the sheer volume that these pro bodybuilders can pump out. They’ve been training for years and some even use anabolic supplements — not us. You can copy some of their workouts, but start with less sets and reps to keep it manageable.

3. Sleep like a baby

Sleeping and recovery.

They are two of the most underrated areas when it comes to building gains. The truth is, some guys will get away with not sleeping well or not taking days off. Good luck if you have just average genetics. Sleeping a good 7-8 hours each night and training hard 3-4x week will be plenty to see the gains you want.

Simple tips to recover better:

Sleep 7-8 hours a night.
Don’t train intensely for more than two days in a row.
Do light cardio on your off day to increase recovery.
Learn how to do soft tissue work and do it often.

Remember the workout is just the stimulus, sleep and nutrition will let you grow.

4. Carbs are more important than protein

Protein has gotten a lot of credit for health, fat loss, and building muscle. While carbs have been villainized for the past few decades. Getting strong, building muscle and better performance with low carbs just do not mix. Don’t skip the carbs!You need them for recovering and building size and strength

The mistakes people make with carbs are:

They eat very refined or very sugary.
They don’t work hard enough to eat them.
They eat them at the wrong time.
They eat way too much of them

Very simple tips:

After each training session eat 1-2 hand scoops of carbs and 1 hand scoop of carbs before training.
Say you eat at 12 PM and you’re going train at 4. A great idea would be to have some fruit or eat a very clean bread or rice with lunch and then after you train add a sweet potato and/or 1-2 cup of jasmine rice with dinner.
On days you don’t train, just have 1 hand scoop of carbs with dinner.
2-3 pieces of fruit each day is ok to if you want to.

Observation: Bodybuilders are the leanest and biggest people on the planet. Their diet is usually 40-60% in favor of carbs.

5. Release your inner warrior

A lot of us grew up being challenged and doing challenging things that pushed us both physically and mentally. It could have been a sport like martial arts or something recreational like dirt biking or skateboarding. That was our outlet to release frustration, aggression and competitiveness.

As we grow up and have more responsibility, we tend to shut down this outlet and replace it with beer, food and other crap. In the long run, that’s not ourselves.

Channel this down side into being you’re very best by lifting weights, doing intense intervals like sprints and competing in an activity you used love with your buddies.

In doing this, I believe you will see huge progress not just by ridding your beer belly and building your pectorals but, you feel a lot better about life.

You may not feel the need to fill your body with junk all the time and probably get bigger and leaner for it.

You will allow yourself to release your aggression that maybe you put into an area that could do harm.

A lot of times we say we want things easy. However, if we go back to when we loved competition and applied that feeling again, we might find we love training and pushing the limits again.

Find a buddy and start lifting, sprinting together and competing and you’ll be making gain in no time.