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In This Issue
1. Keep It Basic For Growth
2. New Food - Omega Eggs
3. Midnight Snack
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1. Keep It Basic For Growth
As many of you noticed, there was no newsletter in February. I was in the process of purchasing my first home and didn't have enough time to put together a quality newsletter for all of you. During this time, I was also unable to concentrate on my workouts, which proved to be a good thing. Plus, I was receiving quite a few e-mails from beginner bodybuilders asking me "How do I get big?". This all brought me back to one idea: KEEP IT BASIC. This applies to both exercises and supplements.
At the end of this article, you will find a list of basic exercises and supplements.
I have found that if you want to grow, you must keep your exercises basic. The good ol' core, compound exercises build muscle mass. Let's face it, people like Arnold didn't start out doing machine curls and working on a pec deck. They started out with nothing more than barbells and dumbbells. They performed exercises at the most basic level, exercises that involve many muscle groups throughout each repetition. These exercises also allow you to use maximum weight because of the fact you are using so many different muscles. Using compound exercises with heavy weights will damage your muscles completely (remember, this is a good thing). The subsequent repair of these muscle fibers will result in the thickening of your muscles overall.
Stay away from defining exercises until you start to cut down. This is when you want your muscles to start to look nice and shapely. However, I never completely stop doing compound exercises. Even when cutting down, I still do compound exercises for half of each muscle group's workout. Defining exercises (such as chest flyes or leg extensions) are designed to define your muscles as the name portrays. They will help you get down to the nitty gritty of the muscle fibers when trying to shape them up for competitions or even just looking good for summer time. They will not help you add overall muscle mass. It drives me nuts to watch some little guy try to get huge by doing nothing but endless sets of machine chest presses and work on the pec deck. People like this just need to get to the basics, no fancy stuff, just good ol' proven bench presses.
Using nutritional supplements should also be kept basic, especially when trying to gain overall muscle mass. The best procedure for getting big is eating big. Again, nothing fancy, just lots of protein and plenty of calories to give your body ALL the energy it requires for pounding the weights and recovering. Don't take me wrong, you don't have to become overly obese (though I come close!), but you must consume more calories than your body needs. This way you are never going to be lacking nutrients that are used to build muscle tissue. My best gains have come from when I was using nothing more than protein and vitamins along
with big meals (especially lean beef). In my experience, it is absolutely worthless to take a thermogenic stimulator (fat burner) when trying to get big. It defeats the whole purpose, by taking thermogenics, you are making your body burn more calories which are better used as energy and fuel for recuperation.
Basic, basic, basic. That's all it takes to get big. Don't waste your time trying to remember what fancy exercise Mr. Olympia did, just hit the barbells with all you got. Use your time wisely to get in at least 6 meals per day. Use your money wisely by not buying unnecessary supplements. Just concentrate on growing.
Basic Exercises:
Squats
Deadlifts
Stiff-legged Dead Lifts
Pull-ups, Rows (barbell or dumbbell)
Bench Presses (barbell & dumbbell)
Military Presses (barbell & dumbbell)
Barbell Curls
Dips (great for triceps)
Basic Supplements:
Whey Protein
Multivitamins
Creatine Monohydrate Powder or
L-Glutamine Powder
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2. New Food - Omega Eggs
I recently found this new type of egg in my area (southeast Iowa) called Omega Eggs. Maybe they have been around a while elsewhere, but they have just started selling them here.
The principle behind this is fairly simple. Chickens are given feed that has flax seed mixed into it. This is the same as the
flax seed oil supplement sold to bodybuilders. The chickens then lay eggs which are higher in Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats. The eggs cost around $1.25 per dozen, which is obviously higher than normal eggs. However, they taste and cook normally. You cannot tell any difference.
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3. Midnight Snack
Here is a tip I was reminded of while reading the TrulyHuge.com newsletter. Mix up a protein drink before going to bed. Get up sometime during the night and drink it. This could help people who have fast metabolism or people who have hit some training plateau.
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Need some more bodybuilding knowledge? Check out my "Books" page where you can order bodybuilding books from Amazon.com. I even have t-shirts! The profits will only go towards the Massivemuscle.net website and newsletter.
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Books -
T-shirts
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Keep reminding yourself to not get too fancy. Just concentrate on the basics. You can make better gains this way than by using all the latest fad supplements and workouts. You will be glad you did.
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Jon Miller
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DISCLAIMER:
The suggestions and opinions in this newsletter are based on my personal experiences. Obviously, not all diets, supplements or training routines work the same for everyone. The objective of this newsletter is to provide you with the knowledge that will help you find what works best for you. You should always check with your personal physician before starting any exercise programs. All of the companies, products and websites I suggested are also from my own findings only.