The Muscle Head

The information in this book should not be taken as medical advice.
Consult your medical practitioner before following the instructions laid out in this book. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are physically able to complete the instructions within this book. All rights reserved. Copyright 2007 TheMusclehead.com No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without prior permission from the author.
www.themusclehead.com
Introductory Chapter The History of The Musclehead The Sad but True Story of Muscle Building Chapter 2 The Mindset Necessary for Building Muscle Mindset Power Tip #1 Mindset Power Tip #2 Mindset Power Tip #3 Mindset Power Tip #4 Mindset Power Tip #5 Chapter 3 The Science of Building Muscle How Muscle Fibres Work Somatotypes and Why you need to know about them The 2 Hs of Muscle Building: Hypertrophy and Hyperplasia The Hormones of Muscle Building Testosterone Insulin Growth Hormone Cortisol How to Workout like The Musclehead and be the King of the Gym Progression Training for Strength vs. Size The Correct Way to Structure Your Workout How Often to Train Exercises for the Real Man How to Train Specific Parts of Your Body The Arms Abs The Chest Shoulders The Back Legs How you Should actually Move the Weights How to Use Your Breathing to Help With your Lifting My little secret muscle building weapon
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Resting Time Between Sets Dont become a Bicep Warrior Some tips on Gym Etiquette How to pick your training partner How to Setup a Home Gym Chapter 4 Muscle Building Nutrition Burning like a fire vs The Slave Cycle Protein Carbohydrates Fats Alcohol How Much to Eat The Muscleheads Simple Method for Calculating how Much You Need to Eat What to eat: The foods of Champions Good Sources of Protein Good Sources of Carbs Good Sources of Fat What to Drink Macronutrient Ratios and Carb Manipulation Meal timings: The forgotten Factor Chapter 5 Metrics: Time to Measure Up Chapter 6 The Truth about Muscle Building Supplements Creatine Multivitamins While EFAs Supplements to Watch out For BONUS Chapter Muscle Building Myths: The all too common myths of bodybuilding that someone needed to bust! Muscle Myth #1 Muscle Myth #2 Muscle Myth #3 Muscle Myth #4 Muscle Myth #5 Muscle Myth #6 Conclusion
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Introductory Chapter
Welcome, by buying this ebook, youve shown that you really are serious about building the body that youve previously only dreamt about. Youve also put your trust in myself and my team to help you achieve your goals. I want to firstly thank you for doing this and secondly to reassure you. Know that we are determined to help you succeed in this endeavour. We are constantly adding things to this ebook and improving the value of our overall package, to ensure that you are getting the latest in muscle building education. Its our goal to help as many guys (young and old) as possible achieve the body of their dreams, so you can be sure that we will do everything in our power to help you achieve yours. We are also confident that you wont find a better education on building muscle anywhere else. Its easy to say, but we hope you agree with us by the time youve applied whats taught in our entire package. But with that said, why dont I tell you a little bit about where I come from and why I wrote this ebook
The History of The Musclehead

This story will probably sound familiar to you. Perhaps youre in a similar situation, perhaps youre not. Either way, I imagine youll be able to identify where Im coming from and use it to motivate yourself to undergo a similar journey. I guess Im different to most muscle building gurus in that I have never had trouble gaining weight. In fact, when I was a little baby, my dad decided to nickname me Buddha. As a big baby with little hair and a big protruding gut (yes, even back then) its not hard to see how that name came about. Fortunately for me, it s not a name that ever took. The only reason Im revealing it to you now is because you dont know my true identity. God help you if you ever track me down and call me Buddha to my face It wasnt until when I hit about 16 that I decided to do something about my ever increasing midsection. I guess my motivation wasnt much different to most guys who decide to get this part of their life handled. I wasnt getting much attention from girls and noticed that the successful were the ones who certainly didnt have bigger boobs than the girls they were chasing, although I guess at 16, thats not all that hard to do So me and a couple of my also out of shape friends decided to hit the gym. I spent about a months salary (Thanks KFC) on a membership and we hit it hard. Or so we thought
You see, while we spent a fair bit of time in the gym, we really had no idea how to build muscle. It was almost as if we thought just being in the gym would suffice. After several months of spending quite a while inside the gym and not really any results to show, we all knew something was wrong. Most of my friends gave up at that point. They figured that it just wasnt meant to be. And so they went about their normal lives, still frustrated that they couldnt achieve their goal of having a truly head turning body. And to this day, nothing has really changed. You could take a look at just about any part of their life and see the same patterns emerging: They try, fail, and then give up. Doesnt matter if you look at their school life, social or even work. It all seems to have turned out the same for them. And so I want you to take notice of this. This applies to just about everything in life, not just the pursuit of a Godlike physique. Something I ought to mention about myself though, is that Im extremely stubborn and sometimes pig headed. I knew I had failed, but I didnt know why. I wasnt prepared to accept the others motto. Just wasnt mean to be is a load of crap. I dont care if you are building muscle, building a business or anything else. Talking like this is almost guaranteed to make you fail. So here I was, clueless but determined to figure the situation out. After all, it cant be that hard, right? How right I was My first step was to speak to the gym instructors. After all, these guys were supposed to be the experts, so surely they could help me out. But after speaking to 2 different guys, I felt a bit shocked. It seemed as if they didnt know as much as they should. And their bodies showed it, it felt like they were working there just because they couldnt think of anything better to do, not because they had a passion for it. So onto plan B. I then decided to do what you have probably tried to do at one stage or another. Use the internet! While the internet is a great resource for information, its not organized too well. Even these days it can be one big clutter of random information, scattered across hundreds of sites, some of which arent at all credible.
And even when you think youve found an expert you can trust, it turns out that they really have no idea what theyre talking about and then you end up back at square one. Sound familiar? So I had a ton of information in front of me. Expert A was telling me that 30 sets a workout was the key to building muscle. Great, Ill go do that, I thought to myself. Then I read an article by Expert B. He was saying that 5 sets a workout was perfect. Huh? How can it be that 2 experts are preaching completely different things? And this was just the start of it. It seemed that for every person saying one thing, there was another person saying something else. All it did was leave me scratching my head and wondering WTF? While there is a lot of good information out there, it takes far too long to sort the wheat from the chaff. So it was at this point I asked myself if it would be worth it. Whether it would be worth treating myself as a guinea pig, just to achieve what had always seemed out of reach. And it was at that moment that I thought about it. I really thought about what it would be like to walk around with my head held high, full of confidence, knowing that I was envied by guys and wanted by girls. Damn it felt good. But Ill tell you something that feels even better: achieving that goal! Its interesting looking back on it now. I always thought that creating the body Id only dreamt of would be great. I always thought that it would really make me more confident, more attractive and overall, a happier person. And I was right! Having confidence allows you to do just about everything. I like to think of it as a supercharger for all parts of your life. Whatever youre doing now, imagine being able to do it 5, 10 times better than you currently do. So, back to the story. I decided to use myself as a test subject. I tried high intensity training. I tried high volume training. I tried high volume, low weight. You name it, I probably tried it out at one stage or another. The books I own weigh about as much as me and as you know, Im no skinny runt.
It wasnt easy. But eventually I got there. It took me 3 years what you should be able to achieve in as little as 3 months. And I havent looked back since. Building a great body certainly wont rid you of problems altogether, but it certainly does remove the problems caused by having no muscles. But I must warn you, there are some things you are just going to have to deal with if you decide to take the plunge and build a fantastic physique. The biggest hassle I found was other people trying to get advice of me. I could see where they were coming from, I realized that they were going through a similar journey and decided that they would simply ask me as a shortcut. Nothing wrong with that, but I soon learnt an important lesson. People never take your advice seriously when its free. I would often show someone how to correctly perform an exercise, or help them with their diet, only to find that the next day they had gone back to their own ways and had wasted my time. So I decided if I was really going to help people, I was going to have to charge them. And thats when the idea of a book popped into my head. I didnt want to be running a personal training business, thats way too much work. I wanted to be able to just tell someone to go to my website, download my ebook and have their problems sorted out that way. There was also the annoyance of telling everyone the same stuff over and over again. I felt like a broken record, it was just too annoying to be constantly telling people the exact same stuff over and over. And so, TheMusclehead.com was born. I decided to remain anonymous because I dont want to become famous. I dont want to have people coming up and thanking me on the street. An email here and there is more than enough to stroke my ego. When you develop the type of confidence I have, thats all you really need. While I may come across as a real jerk, its only partially true. While I am a no bullshit, no excuses kind of guy, I do get a kick out of seeing someone come a long way on their journey. Some of the advice I give out may be seen as harsh, but I dont care, it gets results. Period. Just dont go giving me excuses for this and that and we will get along just fine. And that, my new friend, is where my story ends and where yours begins
The Sad but True Story of Muscle Building

The sad but true story of muscle building is that you have been lied to. Unfortunately, its the aim of many large corporations to intentionally mislead you into believing falsehoods about how to build muscle. Why they do this is pretty obvious. Money. As they are corporations, they are looking to make as much profit as they can. I have no problem with this, Im happy to be a capitalist. Its making money by selling lies that I do have a problem with. I dont think its right. But this book isnt about whats right or wrong, Im not going to lecture you on ethics. Its about how to build muscle. So I want you to know that what you are reading now is the truth about how to sculpt your body to your desire. Bodybuilding is not and should not be a complicated matter. All in all, its quite simple. I could probably write one page of notes and get across most of the main points. But I want to give you all the information I can, so Im going to explain every part stepby-step, so even a kindergarten kid could understand it. Even though Im sure youre quite intelligent (hey, you bought this book, you must have some sort of brain!) Im going to dumb it down at times to make sure that anyone reading it can understand whats going on the whole time.
So I want you to realize that there is no magic pill when it comes to building muscle. It requires time and hard work. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. As much as youd like to believe it, there is no magic book, no magic supplements. As much as youd prefer to think that way, it just isnt so. Nor will there ever be something that can do this. There are drugs that can help you, but I certainly wont be talking about those in this book, nor do I recommend you take them. Unless its your life long dream to become Mr Olympia, you shouldnt even be thinking about taking drugs to help your bodybuilding. Which brings me to my next point. Even though I believe this to be the most powerful pack of muscle building knowledge thats available anywhere, it does not have any magical powers. You will not grow muscular just by reading this book. If you did, Id be charging a helluva lot more for it than I currently am. And if you know of any way to write a book that has this effect on people, please get in touch with me. But until that day, youre going to have to face up to a couple of facts. Firstly, accept that its going to take effort on your behalf to achieve your goals. The information in this book will help you get to wherever you want to go quicker than any other method, but the work still has to be done by yourself. I cannot physically get you to the gym, force you to workout like a maniac and I certainly wont be cooking your food for you. This is YOUR responsibility and will be the deciding factor of whether you fail or succeed. Ive been studying why people fail in this area for some time now and Ive worked out a few commonalities. Both between the people who succeed and the people who fail. In the next chapter, youll be able to check out some of my strategies for ensuring that your brain is in peak condition for muscle building.
So without wasting anymore time, lets get into it!
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The Mindset Necessary for Building Muscle

When it comes to building muscle, its not very often that you hear about the mindset. Sure, there are tons and tons of articles written about which exercises to perform, how to do them with correct form, what foods to eat etc etc. You know the ones? Even most muscle building books neglect to mention the mind, even some of the really good ones! And this (as you will soon see) is a grave mistake. Sure, lifting the weights, eating the right foods and getting a good amount of rest is what actually causes your body to change, but how do you actually go from being a couch potato, to a lean mean muscle building machine? If it was as simple as saying go lift this, eat this and then rest, Id be out of business. Everyone would be at the gym, working hard and building awesome physiques. But have a look at the world around you. How many people do you think are successfully doing this? 1%? And once youre able to get off your backside and into the gym, how do you know youre actually performing at your peak? How do you know youre not just wasting your time, like I did long ago? In order to make sure that when you get to the gym, its important that you have the right mindset.
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Chapter 2
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The right mindset will guarantee you are performing efficiently, safely and most effectively. Without it, youre just spinning wheels. In this chapter, I want to mention 5 components of a successful mindset for building muscle that I use myself and I have used with other people with great success. Im sure youll see the power of them once you have gone through them.
Mindset Power Tip #1

Start with the end in mind. This is something that very few people actually do and yet it really is an essential piece of the puzzle. It follows that if you dont know where youre going, you cant know how to get there. Its not very often that I quote Alice in Wonderland, but I think its appropriate now. Taken from a chat between Alice and the Cheshire cat Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here? That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat. I dont much care where said Alice. Then it doesnt matter which way you walk, said the Cat. Have a think about that quote, dont write it off as just a silly quote from a silly book. Theres much more to it than meets the eye If you were to ask the average gym goer where he wants to go, do you think he would be able to answer you? Or, what about if I ask you this question now? Where do you want to go on this journey? And why do you want to go there? Do you want to become Mr Olympia? Do you want to just add 15 pounds of muscle and drop some fat, making you look good naked? It doesnt matter which goal you want to achieve, but it does matter that you acknowledge it. This way, you know what you need to do (or at least you will by the time you reach the end of this book), because you see, the
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aim of this book isnt to turn you into the next Ronnie Coleman, nor is it to turn you into a body double for Brad Pitt. Its aim is to enable you to achieve your goals, whatever they may be. This is important because to become Mr Olympia, youre going to need to train a lot differently to the guy who just wants to improve his overall condition. One requires 100% dedication; everything you do must be for the goal of becoming Mr Olympia. The other only requires a part time commitment. A few hours a week in the gym, a decent effort in the kitchen and of course, plenty of rest. Ok, so now I want you to stop reading this book for a moment and have a think. I need you to be completely honest with yourself. You dont need to tell anyone about this, so be as brutally honest as you can. Think about your true desires. Think about why you really want to build a great body. It doesnt matter if its only to look better for girls, or if you want to improve your self esteem. The important thing is that you acknowledge it. I know Im repeating myself here, but I need you to get this through your head. So once you have decided on exactly what you want, you then have to work out how youre going to get there. Perhaps youll be happy with just a few extra pounds of muscle and a lean physique. This goal would be relatively easy to achieve. Im sure that most people could achieve this without too much sacrifice and hardship. Just make some of the changes that I advise in this book and you will be on your way. On the other hand, perhaps you want to get the best physique you possibly can. This is going to take a lot more work. Youre going to need to eat perfect, no cheating involved. Youre going to need to workout hard and with discipline. No skipping workouts because you cant be bothered. So, the key is working out what you truly desire and then being honest with yourself about how to get there. I know a lot of guys who would love to have 6% body fat and a huge set of muscles, but deep down they dont really desire it, so they will never do the things that they need to in order to get it.
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Dont write this off as a silly woo-woo technique. Just give it a shot and I guarantee you it will do wonders for your progress.

Im sure youve heard it before. Rome wasnt built in a day. It gets thrown around a lot and as a result, I wonder how often people actually think about what it means. For those of you who never paid much attention in history class, Rome was a great empire that stretched from Egypt all the way to England. And it most certainly wasnt built in a day. In fact, it took several centuries to reach its peak. What I want to get across is that building anything worthwhile takes time. It doesnt matter if youre building an ancient empire or a great physique, the same thing applies. I also want you to know that its not always going to be easy. Just as the Romans had their bad days (ever heard of Spartacus?) so will you. You might not have 50,000 slaves turn up on your doorstep, but that doesnt mean your journey will be completely without troubles. Often youll find that those around you will try and hold you back. Try and keep you from getting too far ahead of them. Its going to take courage to ignore those people and keep going towards your goal. Do you have what it takes? If youve been honest with yourself and truly realize why you are doing what you are doing, then you should not lack for strength. So when you are going through a moment of hardship, remember back to this. Remember that Rome wasnt built in a day and neither were you. So if you find yourself looking into the mirror, dismayed at your results, rest assured that it will not always be like that, but the only person who can change that is you. And with the information you now possess, theres nothing that should hold you back
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Theres been a lot of buzz about a recent self help book and DVD called the Secret. Chances are youve either seen it yourself, or at least spoken to someone who has. Im not going to go into too much detail about what its all about, you can go buy the DVD if you are really interested. What I do want to mention is its main message. And that is, what you think about manifests itself in your life. While this may sound a bit farfetched, its spot on. Even if this sounds too out there for you, I want you to stop yourself from skipping this section and make sure you read it word for word. And while the Secret is a great program, I think it has one fundamental flaw, but more on that later. Right now I want to tell you a story. Perhaps youve heard it on the news before, maybe not. Either way, theres a lot to learn about how to build muscle from it. Just stay with me. I cant remember when exactly, but not all that long ago, a highly respected judge was convicted for molesting a little girl. Nearing the end of his near perfect career, what made him turn into a pedophile and end up spending the later years of his life in prison? According to him, it all started one day when he was watering his garden. It was a normal day, nothing special about it. Nothing unusual was going on in his life. But then he noticed a young girl walk by. And he admitted that for a split second, a thought crossed his mind. It was for the briefest moment, but it was then that the seed was planted A little while later, he saw another little girl and this time the thought crossed his mind for a little longer than before. Then another time the same thing happened and he actually thought about what it would be like for a while. Eventually, all he was thinking about what was molesting a little girl.
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And the next thing he knew, he had committed the unspeakable. The rest is history. Now while child molestation has nothing to do with building muscle, I shared this story with you to prove a point. That whatever occupies your thoughts will eventually manifest itself in your life. This is the basis of the law of attraction and brings me to my next point. The Secret is fundamentally flawed! While it is true that whatever occupies your thoughts will eventually appear in your life, there is one huge step missing and it is where I think the people promoting the law of attraction have gone wrong. Its all about taking ACTION. You can go sit on your bed, assume the lotus position and think about building muscle all you like. You can sit there imagining, visualizing, feeling muscular, but I can tell you right now, that alone is not going to do anything for you. All this thinking and feeling is supposed to make you want to go and take action. Thats right, actually go and do something! It doesnt matter if building muscle is your goal, or whether you want to get good marks in a test for school. No matter what your goal, you will stand a better chance of achieving it if you constantly remind yourself of it. Keep a little card inside your wallet that has your goals written on it. Keep a picture of your ideal physique stuck on your wall. Maybe even make a collage of your various goals and use it as your computer desktop. Yeh, if people see this, they are going to laugh at you. They will make jokes. Hey, look at John, he has a picture of a guy on his wall, he must be gay!. Screw those people, they will be coming to you for advice when you have achieved your goals, trust me on this one. Just make sure you do something that will ensure that you keep your goals in your thoughts. This will cause you to take massive action, which in turn will cause massive results! Its a simple but effective formula that is guaranteed to work 100% of the time!
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Mindset Power tip #4

A common reason for failure that I see is lack of commitment. This goes back to my first tip on working out what your goals should really be and then working backwards. Once you have worked out solid goals, commitment shouldnt be as big a problem, but I do have some tips for making sure you really stick to your battle plan. My first tip is to cough up some dough. Make a bet with someone that you can achieve your goals. Tell a friend that youll give him $100 if you cant reach your goals. Even better, give him $100 to start with and tell him to only give it back if you achieve your goals. Just make sure that you choose goals that are achievable if youre going to take this route! By already purchasing this course, youve shown a level of commitment far beyond most people. This isnt a cheap course for a reason. No, Im not a greedy bastard, its that if you paid $5 for this, then it would have no value and it would be easy to just throw away and forget about. Secondly, tell as many people as you can about your goals. If everyone knows what youre trying to do, not only will their pestering keep you on track, you just wont be able to face them if you fall off the rails. Once again its important to have reasonable goals. Saying you want to put on 10 pounds of muscle is a good goal. Saying youre going to win the Mr Olympia contest perhaps isnt If you can commit to the above two tips, I would be willing to bet money that you simply wont be able to fail!
Mindset Power tip #5

Leave your ego at the door! One of the best things I ever heard from a trainer was to leave your ego outside the gym. It has no place in there. The ego is responsible for most of the dumb behavior that Ive seen in the gym. From idiots trying to leg press 1000lbs on their first go (he ended up kneeing himself in the face) to young kids trying to bench press twice as much as they should (yes, the kid ended up with the bar across his neck).
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Not only can this result in injury of your body, not leaving your ego at home can also result in a serious ego injury. Imagine looking like an idiot in front of the whole gym. Its enough to make some people quit right there and then. But if they just used some common sense, it wouldnt have been an issue. Im going to show you how to choose your weights later on in this book. It wont be based on how hot the girl watching you is, let me tell you that right now. There are a few criterions, but who is watching you certainly isnt one of them. Bringing your ego into the gym will cause you to fail more often than not. It is like taking extra baggage with you wherever you go, it just makes your life harder. You will notice a huge difference in your workouts when you stop doing things because of what other people may think. Dont worry about them. Think about how good it will feel to have achieved your goals in just a few short months from now. So there you have it. A bunch of surefire tips to help you develop the mindset necessary to build muscle. You probably never gave the mind much thought before, but I hope you realize now how serious this is. If your head is in the right spot, then you will fail, simple as that. Whenever I hear about people failing, its usually because their head is in the wrong spot. So make sure you go over this chapter again and again, until you firmly understand all that has been written about.
I cant emphasize this strongly enough

Ill give you one final warning: Dont write this stuff off as woowoo and out there. Sure there is a lot of that sort of crap around, but you wont see me writing about it. Anything that you read in here is something that I know works.
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The Science of Building Muscle

While I consider excess muscle building science useless as far as youre concerned, there are a few things that I think will help you in your quest. Im not going to lecture you for pages and pages on boring biology, nor am I going to ask you to memorize what every single muscle is called. I remember years of physical education in high school. Sitting down, writing out pages and pages of notes from the board. It wasnt fun and it certainly wasnt a good way to learn about physical education. So Im not going to do that to you. I am just going to give you a taste of how it all works, give you an understanding of whats going on behind the scenes so to speak. While this information isnt going to be absolutely critical to your performance inside the gym, it will certainly help you in the long run. Not to mention you might actually find it interesting. But in saying that, you shouldnt completely disregard this chapter. There are a few things that could completely change the way you see yourself and the way you have been training. There is also some interesting information on the different types of bodies, which I highly recommend you take note of. If you are serious about building a Godlike physique, then I strongly recommend you understand the basics. You wont be able to get a degree after reading this chapter, but you will be able to understand WHY Im telling you to do the things I do.
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Chapter 3
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So lets get into it!
How Muscle Fibres Work

While you could probably go to college and do several degrees on how muscles work (and lots of people do), you definitely dont need to go that far when it comes to just learning how to build muscle. In fact, Id go as far as saying that a certified moron could read this section and have no troubles comprehending any part of it. Now, it might seem obvious to some, but Im going to say it anyway. Muscles are made up of tiny little fibers, funnily enough, theyre called muscle fibers. And like I said before, the physiology of how they work can be quite complicated, but Im not going into detail on that, I just want to get a few main points across. Firstly, you need to understand that not all muscle fibers are created equal. And while there are actually several types of muscle fibers, for all intents and purposes, lets assume there are only 2 main categories of muscle fibers. The first type, type 1, were going to call the endurance fibers. They are smaller and also dont have the ability to grow very much. They do have the advantage of being able to function for long periods of time without failing. Hence the nickname Ive given them above. The second type, type 2, were going to call the strength and size fibers. Can you guess that these guys are bigger, stronger and have the ability to grow larger, if put under the right conditions? These are the fibers that will give you explosive power, although they tend to fail after a short amount of time.
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Which one of the 2 muscle fiber groups do you think we will be focusing on building?
Now, a quick lesson on genetics. Youre not born with all Type 1 or Type 2 fibers. In fact, everyone on the planet has a combination of the two. But this isnt to say that everyone has the same percentage of fibers either. Also, if youre not happy with what youve got, theres not much you can do. You could always blame your parents, after all, they are responsible. But honestly, theres no reason to worry too much. Sure, having a predominance of type 1 fibers is going to mean more work, but it doesnt mean you cant succeed in achieving your goals. But how do you know if you have more of one than the other? Actually, finding out which way you lean isnt all that hard, you can often tell just by looking at someone. For example, lets look at people who have a predominance of type 1 fibers. Theyre going to be leaner and built for endurance events. A marathoner is a perfect example of someone who was born with lots of type 1 fibers. At the other end of the scale are the guys you would expect to see. Bodybuilders and sprinters are 2 examples of guys who were born with a ton of type 2 fibers. People with a large amount of type 2 fibers often end up gravitating towards sprinting/power type sports, for obvious reasons. These are the people for whom building muscle is a piece of cake. They can probably put on muscle and increase their strength just by looking at a barbell. Chances are, if youre reading this book, you arent at this end of the spectrum. Not to worry though, anyone, regardless of their placement on the spectrum of muscle fiber type dominance can learn how to build muscle. Although I wont lie to you, the less type 2 fibers you naturally have, the harder it is going to be. Thats it. Now, youll remember that I said that everyone is made up of a combination of the two, youre neither one or the other. There are some parts of the body that are made up of a higher number of one type than the other.
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Lets think about this for a minute. What parts of the body could use endurance fibers more than others? They would have to be parts of your body that dont require great strength, but are also used quite often. Some areas like this include your calves, abs and forearms, which is why its often very hard to build these 3 areas. Once again, Im not saying it cant be done, looking at my forearms as Im typing proves that, its just going to be more effort.
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Somatotypes and Why you need to know about them

Youre probably wondering, Why is The Musclehead using large words all of a sudden? What the hell is a somatotype? Does it have something to do with tomatoes? Well, let me put you out of your misery. Back in the 1940s, a guy named Sheldon came up with a way to classify people. He made a whole heap of other statements about these classifications which have since been proved wrong (all skinny guys arent suicidal?) but I think his basic method of classification is worth a look. Sheldons theory was that all people have a tendency to fall into one of three main categories. Of course, not everyone was 100% one or another, but they tended more towards one than another. His 3 categories were named the ectomorph, the mesomorph and the endomorph. Lets have a quick look at the ectomorph, or ecto for short. I imagine that the majority of people who read this book will fall into this category. If youve ever used the word hard gainer to describe yourself, or if your body resembles a bean pole, then theres a fair chance you are an ecto. Ectos are characterized by thin frames and fast metabolisms. While its very easy for these guys to burn fat, they often have a lot of trouble gaining weight. Sheldon also suggested that these people have under developed digestive systems, which is perhaps one of the reasons they find it so hard to gain weight.
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Building muscle is definitely not impossible for these guys. After all, this book has been written primarily for the people who fit this category. However, it will be harder than the other 2 categories. It will require more dedication and more hard work. Ectos will generally need to consume more calories than anyone else in order to gain weight. I would also advise avoiding cardio when wanting to gain weight as to not make the job any harder. The next group is the mesomorph, or meso for short. This is the guy youre jealous of. This is the guy who stays muscular and ripped while munching on Big Macs and swilling beers. He is broad shouldered, builds muscle easily and sheds fat like it was never even there. These people, while capable of some of the best physiques, often dont live up to their full potential, because theyve never really needed to work out all that hard. So I guess if you were going to look at the negative side of being a meso, that would be it. When he really wants to though, the meso is capable of shining. Because of his superior genetics, the meso is able to build a Godlike physique quicker and easier than any other body type. So if you are one of these guys, great, take advantage of it. If not, dont stress, its not gonna get you anywhere. Just focus on the principles that are taught later in this book and you will get there, it just will take a little more effort. And finally, we get to the endomorph, or endo. If your friends call you Fat Albert behind your back and people are always shouting babys got back! when you walk by, then there is a fair chance youre an endo. Endos are characterized by thick waists and an ability to gain weight whenever they drive past KFC. Sheldon claimed that these guys have over developed digestive systems, which means that they absorb more nutrients from their food, which results in easy weight gain. These guys also have slower metabolisms, meaning that its also harder to burn off those calories. Typically, these guys will be heavier in the thighs and bum than a lot of guys, which in some cases gives them a more feminine
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look. If youre an endo, you will already know that its very easy to gain both muscle and fat, although you will also know that you have a much harder time trying to get absolutely shredded. Even though it may seem like these guys have a rough deal, it doesnt have to be so. Since gaining muscle is easy for these guys, I often recommend that they first build some extra muscle, then spend a while on cutting the fat. This phase is going to be harder, but its the key to getting a great body. Of course, not many of us are either one or the other. Sure, there are some people who epitomize each category (Schwarzenegger is a perfect example of a mesomorph) but the vast majority of us are made up as a function of each three, although we usually tend to one end of the scale, rather than spread right through. For example, Im somewhere between a meso and an endo. I gain muscle easily, but find it harder to stay lean for long periods of time. If I stop with the cardio for too long, or start living at Pizza Hut, I certainly notice my jeans getting tighter. But that hasnt held me back and your body type should definitely not hold you back either. It doesnt matter if you dont have the genetics of a superhero, you can still achieve the body of a superhero, it just means you need to work hard and smart. The key is to recognize what you are and train and eat according to that. Theres no point thinking that youre a perfect meso, when youre most obviously not. Dont kid yourself, your body will thank you for it.
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The 2 Hs of Muscle Building: Hypertrophy and Hyperplasia

This section is going to cover a couple of big words. One is far more important to you and the other is a bit out there, but its important that you have a rudimentary understanding of both of them, as they are the functions through which muscle grows.
Lets start with the first and most important of the 2 Hs. Hypertrophy!
Hypertrophy is basically a fancy word for muscle growth. Im sure you realize how brilliant your body already is. On top of being great at healing itself, your body is also great at adapting to the situation you may find yourself in. I guess this comes from millions of years of evolution. Basically, if our ancestors werent able to adapt to varying conditions, we probably wouldnt be here now. And so it is this ability to adapt that holds the key to muscle growth. You see, when you go into the gym and work out your muscles, you place a great deal of stress on them. What actually happens is microscopic tears appear in your muscle fibers. Got that? You work out, stress your muscle out and you actually put little tears in your muscles. Its vital that you understand this process.
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Now, this is where your bodys ability to adapt plays its part. If you can stress your muscles out enough, your body realizes that its current level of muscularity is no longer sufficient. It then decides that to cope with this extra stress, you will need bigger muscles. And so, youve just built some muscle! And while there is more to it than that, thats the basic process. If you can understand that the more stress placed on the muscle, the more muscle you will build (within reason, you can go too far), you will go far. Of course, all the other chapters in this book will help you with how to do it as quickly as possible, but unless you understand how it truly comes about, you might as well run around in a spandex suit with 5 pound dumbbells. The second H, hyperplasia is another fancy word. Right now, there are a couple of schools of thought on the legitimacy of hyperplasia, but more on that in a second, lets actually define what hyperplasia is. If hypertrophy is the fancy word for muscle growth, can you guess what hyperplasia is? If you said it refers to the growth of new muscle cells, youd be right. Its been proved in animals, that if you stress their muscles enough, the number of muscle cells actually multiply. Some scientists have actually done experiments with this. In one of these, some scientists hung some weights from the wing of a bird for a long time. They then killed the bird (put it out of its misery) and did a biopsy of the muscle tissue. They compared the numbers after the experiment to those before and found that there was in fact an increase in the number of muscle fibers! Now, as you can imagine, scientists are no longer allowed to perform experiments like this on human subjects. However, if you think that this could be your way of advancing society, please do us all a favor and contact your local university. The dissection wont hurt at all, I swear. But anyway, as I said earlier, there are a couple of camps on this. One side say that since other animals have been shown to grow new muscle fibers when put under extreme stress, its logical to say that it is also possible in humans.
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The other side say that just because it has been proved in an animal, does not mean anything when it comes to humans. After all, there is no hard evidence, just hearsay and some nerdy scientists making all sorts of hypotheses. As for where I stand, I guess you could say Im standing in the middle with my mind wide open. I believe that it could be entirely possible for hyperplasia to occur in humans. On the other hand, I also believe that it might not be. I really have no idea. And I dont care that I have no clue. I certainly wont be hanging weights from my arms just to find out, thats for sure. You see, even if it is possible, we know nothing about it and therefore, its more effective to simply concentrate on what we do understand. If you can understand the process of hypertrophy, you will be fine. Keep hyperplasia at the back of your mind and keep an open mind, but dont become consumed by it and certainly dont believe anyone who has the secrets of hyperplasia at their fingertips
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The Hormones of Muscle Building

Believe it or not, hormones play a huge role in our lives and how our body functions. Im not a doctor, nor do I pretend to be (I like staying out of jail), but I am going to give you a little bit of information about some of the more important hormones when it comes to building muscle.
Testosterone
When it comes to building muscle, there is probably no hormone that as important to you as testosterone. While it is produced by both men and women, men typically have 10 times the amount of testosterone that women do. You could say that testosterone is what makes men, men. Its what is responsible for taking us from squeaky voiced 12 year olds, to booming voiced men. It is what triggers most of the things that occur at puberty, such as deepened voice, facial hair, growth of the chin etc and a bunch of other stuff. Its also the thing that makes you want to chase girls around all day and is also responsible for a higher level of aggression. This is why its easy to tell if a female bodybuilder is taking steroids (artificial testosterone) because she will look like a man. Im sure you know what Im talking about. If not, go and google
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some female bodybuilders to see what Im talking about. The testosterone actually causes her face to change, as well as some other parts of the female form to change quite extensively Its extremely important for anyone wanting to build muscle as testosterone is responsible for protein synthesis, which basically means muscle growth. So in order to build maximum muscle, you need testosterone. When you realize this, its easy to see why so many people turn to steroids in order to build muscle, but thats another story indeed So your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to increase the level of testosterone in your body, naturally, that is, without steroids or any other drugs. Testosterone will peak in a man at around 21 and begin slowly declining until later middle age, when levels drop off significantly. If youve ever heard the phrase grumpy old men, testosterone is one of the reasons. Having a low level of testosterone can often lead to grumpy old man syndrome, as I call it. Not to mention loss in muscle mass and an increase of body fat. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to boost your own levels of testosterone naturally. Your diet plays a large role in increasing levels of testosterone. I will go into more detail on this later in another chapter, but you should know that some fat is needed in order for testosterone to be produced. You should also know that activity level can affect your testosterone levels, but this will be discussed in detail in the next chapter too. Just remember that your current level of testosterone is something that can be changed with a few simple changes to diet and lifestyle.
Insulin
Insulin is a term that most people will recognize, if only because of the number of diabetics in our society. Its also widely misunderstood. Youll hear some people say its great, while others will be talking about how much of a negative effect it can have on your physique. Well, actually, theyre both right.
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You see, insulin is a real double edged sword. Used right, it can really help you achieve your goals, but a lack of knowledge could mean you soon look like the Michelin man! This is because of the role of insulin. I find it easiest to think about insulin as a transport system for your body. You probably realize that insulin has something to do with blood sugar levels. And thats correct, insulin acts like a transport system for the sugars in your blood, transporting them to your muscles among other places. Now, this is important for muscle building, its like trying to build a house without bricks. And the insulin is the delivery truck that takes the bricks to the construction site. But if your muscles are already full, then the insulin takes the energy some place else. Your fat cells! This is why you need to be careful about how you deal with insulin. This is also why people become diabetics. Its analogous to making a delivery truck work 24/7 all year round. Eventually the truck breaks down and stops delivering the bricks and you have to get them flown in from somewhere else. Only in your body, its your pancreas that stops producing the insulin and you are then forced to jab yourself whenever your blood sugar levels get too high. So you must be careful about insulin when considering diet timing and also your choice of foods, however, this will be discussed in greater detail in chapter 5.
Growth Hormone
Growth hormone is another super hormone as far as muscle building is concerned. Not only does it team up with testosterone to help you build muscle, but it also has great fat burning properties. This is the reason why it is also a very popular drug amongst some bodybuilders, although there is no need to inject it like those guys, you can increase it naturally without too much fuss.
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I will be going into some tips later in this book on things you can do to increase your natural levels of growth hormone (GH). Diet, training and rest all contribute to this, so youll eventually see why I tell you the things I do, later on in the following couple of chapters.
Cortisol
The final hormone I want to mention is Cortisol. While the other hormones Ive mentioned have been great for building muscle, this bad boy is one you will want to keep to a minimum. Cortisol actually breaks down muscle and is therefore known as catabolic. I had a friend who was on Cortisol for a while for medical reasons and went around telling everyone he was on steroids. He expected to grow huge muscles just by being on the drugs. What he didnt realize is that Cortisol is catabolic, which means it pretty much eats your muscles up. Wasnt he surprised when he eventually resembled a world vision kid One of the main causes of a high level of Cortisol is stress. Both mental and physical. If you are in a stressful job and theres not much you can do to relieve this stress, then building muscle is going to be a struggle for you. By the same token, its important your body isnt under too much physical stress. Yes, I know I told you stress is what causes your muscles to grow, but only in short doses. A state of constant stress will result in your body not being able to handle it and you will end up with Cortisol running through your body and eating away at your muscles. Having to be stretchered out of the gym after each workout is a good sign that youre going too far. There are limits
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How to Workout like The Musclehead and be the King of the Gym
Ok, now we get to the meat of the program. This is where I bring together a few things that weve talked about in theory in the previous chapters. This, along with the next two chapters are the most important in the book, so once again Im going to ask you to pay attention. This chapter is going to be all about what to do when you actually get down to the gym. Its going to show you how to spend your time wisely, so you get maximum results from minimal time. Doesnt that sound good?
Intensity = Immensity
This is the first thing I want to mention in here because its absolutely crucial to muscle building. It also builds on what you have already learnt about the bodys response to muscular stress. If you think back, youll remember that the body builds muscle due to increased periodic stress. So it makes sense that to build maximum muscle, you need to stress your muscles out as much as possible while youre in the gym. This means that you need to lift heavy. I dont care if youve heard that low weight, high reps is the way to go. Use your brain, think back to the reason why muscle grows in the first place. Im sure youll see the light.
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Now, heavy is a relative word. What is heavy to me may not be heavy to you. So what do I really mean when I say you need to life heavy? Well, basically, you need to lift a weight that you cant perform more than 8 or so repetitions with. Ill go into depth in a moment, but for the moment, just accept that if you can lift a weight more than 8 times, youre not lifting heavy enough. It should also mean that by the end of your last set, you should have lifted to failure. This means that no matter how hard you try, you simply cannot lift the weight again. If need be, use a spotter. This is someone who is there to help you with the final couple of reps. It is especially useful for exercises that could result in injury if you didnt have a spotter, such as the bench press. Just make sure the spotter only helps you when you really need it, hes not there to get a workout while youre lifting. I like to use 2-3 sets because I believe it gives your muscles enough time under stress. Some people say 1 set is enough and I think 1 set is definitely better than 10, but I still say 2-3 is the optimum amount of sets. By the last couple of reps of your last set, you should be really struggling to lift the weight on your own. Also, intensity means that you are lifting with high reps. I dont mean you grab a 2lb dumbbell and do 500 reps with it, thats not going to stress you out at all. It will make you tired and give you a great burn, but thats about it. What I mean by high (another relative term) is between 6-8 reps. Performing 1-4 reps of an exercise is a great way to increase your strength (more on that in a minute) but its not enough to stress your muscles out. 2-3 sets of 6-8 repetitions is just enough time under stress for your muscles to get stressed out completely, without going completely stupid and end up needing to be wheeled out of the gym on a trolley.
Progression
This is the next point I want to strongly get across to you. While intensity is extremely important, its easy to forget something else thats pretty simple. As you lift the weights and your body adapts itself to the new situation, youll find yourself becoming stronger.
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And youll really start to understand the relativity of intensity. As you become stronger, what was once an intense workout for you will become an easy workout for you. So it is key that you continually progress. If you want to hit a plateau and stay there, fine, dont lift any harder. But if you want to smash your plateau and build more muscle than ever before, you are going to need to focus on this word: progression. You need to be able to go into the gym and do more work than you did the last time. The definition of work (in the physics sense) is force multiplied by distance. So to perform more work per workout, you must either use greater force (i.e lifting heavier weights) or moving things a greater distance (i.e performing more reps). This doesnt mean you drop the weight and up the reps, it just means you either do 1 more rep using the same weight, or you increase the weight. You still have to keep everything intense. It doesnt matter how much you increase the weight by, over time, it will really begin to add up. This is also going to help you naturally build up your strength, while still keeping the goal of muscle size as a priority. Theres a popular Japanese word that gets around a lot in corporate circles, but I want to apply it to building muscle. The word Im talking about is kaizen. Basically, what this principle is all about is just improving each day. Proponents of kaizen say that if you can just improve a tiny little bit each day, the company will improve greatly over time. And so it is with building muscle. It doesnt matter if you cant increase your lifts by 5kg every day, as long as you just improve by the smallest of margins. This is how I usually tell people to do it. Start lifting a weight that causes you to fail on your 2nd or 3rd set of 6 reps. Eventually, you will be able to do 7 reps, then 8. When you get to this point, I suggest increasing the weight to a number that only allows you to lift for 6 reps again. Then you just repeat the cycle. When you hit 8 reps for the first time, up the weight the next time you perform the exercise. Pretty simple huh? While it is a simple concept, I cant stress its importance enough, so make sure you heed this advice.
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Training for Strength vs. Size

I just want to make a quick point here. Often, people get confused between training for strength, as opposed to training for size. While its true that training for size will make you stronger, and that training for strength will make you bigger, its important that you become clear on your goals and decide on one or the other. This is because they both require you to train a lot differently and obviously, the results will be far different. If youve ever looked at the difference between pro bodybuilders and pro powerlifters, youll know what Im talking about. I remember the first time I saw the distinction. I was in the gym one day and noticed two guys training together. One guy was huge. He had rippling muscles and looked like a machine. His training partner didnt look that different to most guys youd see out on the street. I then noticed the two guys get ready to hit the bench press. First up was the huge guy. I was only 16 at the time and wanted to see how much this huge guy could lift. So wasnt I shocked when I saw the guy only load up 80kg (180lbs). While 80kg was certainly more than I could lift at that time, it was far from a huge lift.
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Surely he wouldve been able to lift more than that? Then the ordinary looking guy began to load up the bar for this lifts. While I expected to see him remove the bigger plates and do something a bit lighter, I was wrong. On top of the 180lbs that was already loaded on, this guy whacked another 100lbs and began to lift. I sat there wondering what was going on. Arent bigger guys naturally stronger than smaller guys? Well, why its often true that bigger guys will be stronger than smaller guys, its not always the case. Especially when powerlifters (guys who train for strength) are concerned. Now while this book is about hypertrophy, Ill just list a couple of points for those of you who think that doing a little bit of strength training would be interesting. The main difference you will notice is the difference in rep range. While those of us looking to build size, you will remember that I recommended 6-8 reps. This is great for building muscle because it results in quite an intense workout for your muscles. However, when youre looking to increase your strength, you need to take a slightly different route. When looking to build strength as a priority, you must change your rep range. Instead of using 6-8 reps, you will need to use 1-4 reps. The reason for this has to do with the efficiency of your nerves. Also, since stressing your muscles out isnt what youre doing, your rest period should also be increased to however long you need to be able to lift at full strength again. Anyway, enough about strength, with the programs outlined in this ebook, you will certainly gain huge amounts of functional strength, so I dont think youll be lacking in that area at all.
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The Correct Way to Structure Your Workout

The topic of how to structure a workout is one thats been debated to death in internet forums and the like. Most people really have no idea about how to do it correctly, so they just go about doing it how everyone else does it, which Im sure you realize is a dumb move to make.
This is how I structure each of my workouts: Warm up Phase (5-10 minutes) War time (45-60 minutes) Cool Down Phase (10 minutes)
Now, lets take a look at each of these phases individually: First up is the warm up phase. It amazes me how many people completely forget about this phase and walk straight into the weights room. While my warm up phase is different to most peoples, I believe it to be the most effective way to warm up. First of all, forget stretching. In years gone by, people used to stretch extensively before any physical activity, in the hope that it would prevent an injury. Studies now show that this is essentially useless. While stretching is great for flexibility and things like that, youre just wasting your time if you think its going to help you prevent injuries.
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Let me get sidetracked here for a minute. Back when I was in the military, we took part in some pretty hardcore physical training exercises. Running up hills with truck tires tied to our waists was a really fun example of this. When we were told that stretching was a waste of time, I thought they were crazy. In all the sports Id participated in throughout my years, a good stretch was a part of the warm up. And so I expected a heap of injured guys at the end of the session. But I was surprised, in all the really physical sessions throughout the year, there was very few injuries. In fact, the most serious injuries came from a session designed around different stretching techniques. One of my friends snapped a tendon and was hobbling around on crutches for months afterwards. So much for that old theory So forget about stretching. The point of the warm up phase is to increase the blood flow to your muscles and warm yourself up. This will ensure better workouts and also help you from injuring stiff muscles. While I dont advise stretching, I do advise that you run your muscles through their full range of motion, this will prevent any stiffness and help your workouts when you begin the next phase. The next part of the warm up phase involves some light cardio. I recommend jumping on the treadmill or bike for 5 minutes at a leisurely pace. The idea isnt to tire you out, just warm your body up enough so that the blood begins to pump a little harder. Once youve successfully completed this part, its time to do the next step. After youve got some blood pumping through your veins, I want you to perform 2 warm up sets. This helps increase blood flow to your target muscles, while not tiring you out and taking away from your overall workout performance. Which exercise you choose to warm up with is going to depend on what you are working out for the day. For example, on the days that I am working out my chest, I will do 2 sets of bench press using only the bar. This is enough to put some blood through my muscles, but not so much that it tires me out for my actual workout.
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On leg day, the obvious choice for a warm up exercise is the squat. Ill go more into the importance of the squat later, but all you need to know right now is that its a great exercise to warm up your lower body. When I warm up with the squat, once again, the bar is usually enough weight. Do a quick 10-15 reps and youll begin to feel the blood pumping. Dont mistake this for a good way to build muscle, its just a way to help you more in War Time. This entire phase should only take 5-10 minutes. Its not much time to ensure a much better workout and your body will thank you in just a couple of months!
Up next is the most important phase of the workout: War Time.

This is the business end of the workout. This is where you get off the treadmill and go to war with the weights. What you do in here is going to make or break you, you need to realize this. Now, Im not going to go into huge detail about this section just here (thats what this entire chapter is about), but just know that you need to take this part serious. I know its obvious to 95% of the population, but I never know whos reading this, so I have to make sure. If youre wondering why I call this phase War Time, its because thats how I think about it. Some guys walk into the weights room like theyre going to church. I walk in there with the mindset that Im about to go into battle and so should you! Ever notice a team who is about to walk onto the playing field? All the players are silent, completely focus, preparing themselves for whats about to be. Thats what you need to be like. This part of the workout shouldnt go over an hour. Depending on your workout, it could take anywhere between 30-60 minutes. The total amount of time spent is not too important, but it is important that you dont go over an hour. This is because after an hour, your body
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senses that it is under too much stress, so it begins to release catabolic hormones like Cortisol, which will actually eat away at your muscles. Im sure I dont need to tell you that this isnt cool at all! If you find yourself taking longer than an hour to get through any of the workouts that are included with this program, then you are perhaps making a couple of crucial errors. First off, you could be resting far too long between sets (more on this in a minute). As youll soon find out, there is a certain time that you should be resting between sets. Secondly, there is a fair chance you have become too social! Being social is great, but there is a time and a place for everything. Remember that the time you spend lifting the weights is called war time for a reason. You dont go into battle to just stand around chatting to people, or staring at the hot girl working her buns on the stair master. Feel free to be social once youve finished your workout, but just remember what youre there for. Its a small sacrifice to pay really, when you consider the end result that youre after. The final phase of your workout is the cool down phase. This is only a short phase, but it can be effective for helping you with your gains. Once youve completed your war time phase, head over to somewhere quiet so you can begin. I like to head over to the stretching area of my gym. It doesnt really make any difference where you do it, but I like to have a separate area, so my mind knows exactly whats about to happen before it does. The aim of this phase is simply to help your body recover from the exhausting workout. When you complete a tough workout, all sorts of chemicals build up in your muscles. An example is lactic acid, the chemical that causes the burning sensation in your muscles. So, what you need to do is perform some stretches. You might remember me mentioning that stretching isnt really useful for preventing injury, but it is quite useful after a workout. Stretch-
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ing out your muscles is a great way to get rid of lactic acid and help put your muscles on the path to recovery. While I like to do a whole body stretch, thats not always necessary, so what I do recommend is at a minimum, stretch the muscles that youve just worked out. This is a key. Stretching out muscles you havent used at all wont really hurt, but its not going to make a huge difference in your recovery.
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How Often to Train

I have seen lots of guys fall by the way side with their training. They dont hit their goals and so they give up. I can understand this, but what I dont understand is why they dont seem to educate themselves properly. One of the main areas that the general population need to educate themselves in is how often to train. It is counter intuitive, but often training less is the way to go. This is hard to grasp for many new lifters because its unlike just about every other goal that they would have set previously. There is obviously a certain amount you need to train, but the problem is that most people dont realize where this point is for them and they exceed this limit and end up overtraining their bodies, at which point, the body does not build muscle. Normally, you decide what you want to achieve and then figure out how to get it. And in just about every case, working harder will usually get you to your goal quicker. In school, its often not the smartest kids who get the best grades, but the kids who work the hardest. And so when I tell people to only train half as much as they have been, they begin to wonder what is happening. Surely spending more time in the gym is better? Well, no it certainly isnt Training too often leads to overtraining, which is not the most productive way to build muscle. If anything, overtraining will
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leave you smaller and less muscular looking. Its certainly not a good way to try and build muscle. What Im about to tell you is the optimum amount of time to spend in a gym per week. Its not the lazy mans method for lifting; it really is the best way to gain maximum muscle. So once again, I ask you to take serious note and dont dismiss it as a random rant of mine. You should realize by now that ranting isnt me at all. Ok, so what is the optimum amount of time to spend in a gym per week? I say 3-4 hours. Now let me explain how I came to this number. Remember that each workout should go for no longer than 1 hour. When you work out, Im sure you already realize that you are putting a lot of stress on your muscles (if not, go and read chapter 1 again). Now, while this is what causes muscle growth, not much is going to happen unless you give your muscles a chance to recover. If you continually stress your muscles, day after day, then eventually they will shrink because they just are not able to repair themselves well enough. This means that to build maximum muscle, you need to give your muscles a decent enough rest. Imagine how you would go if you were forced to work 20 hour days. After a while you would just give up and not be able to work very hard. The same thing happens to your muscles, if they dont recover from the beating youre giving them in the gym, then they go on strike. But what size rest is decent enough? Is a few hours plenty? Or is a week too short a time span? Because, while we want to give our muscles enough time to rest, we certainly dont want to be giving them too much time off. While training once a year would lead to well recovered muscles, it probably wouldnt be the best way to build muscle. Another quick point I want to make is to take breaks. Im not talking between sets, Im not talking about in between workouts, Im talking about taking a break from working out completely. Once every couple of months, just take a week off.
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A lot of people would think this is bad and that taking a week off will just lead you to lose some muscle. Now this may be true in the short term. You might lose a couple of workouts worth of muscle, big deal. Someone once asked me if it has anything to do with shocking the body back into performance, but its not the case at all. The reason this is important is that your body can only take so much stress. After working out for a couple of months, taking a full week off is kind of like hitting the reset button on your computer. You dont really lose anything, but when you start it back up again, its running at full speed and peak performance. So heres what you need to do. When designing a workout, its important to give your muscles at least 48 hours to rebuild themselves. This is why you should never train the same muscles 2 days in a row. Now, does this mean you cannot go to the gym 2 days a row? Yes and no. It all depends on what youre working out. You will notice in the workout guide that comes included that some have your workouts split up by body groups. If you spend one day training only your legs, then its safe to say that your chest is not exhausted. And therefore it is safe to workout the day after, assuming you leave your legs alone that day. So, if youre training your entire body (and youll see why you should soon) then the best way to tackle this is to use 3-4 workouts per week. For beginners, I like to start people off with a whole body workout 3 times a week. This is a great way to start off and it also gives the body a good enough time to rest. Youll see a range of workouts within the workout guide and of course, you can create your own custom workouts, based on my strict criteria, using the software provided with this package. So if you need to train 3-4 times a week and youre only training for up to an hour each time, you can see how training 3-4 hours a week is the optimum amount of time that you need to spend in the gym each week. Piece of cake huh?
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Lets have a look at one of the splits I have outlined in the workout guide. Its a classic 4 day split and it has done wonders for me. It goes a little something like this:
Day 1: Legs Day 2: Chest and triceps Day 3: Back and biceps Day 4: Shoulders and abs
Now, dont get confused, youre not to do these workouts 4 days in a row, no no no, that would not be good. Overtraining remember? It usually goes like this. Perform day 1 on a Monday (for example). You would then do day 2 on the Tuesday. Wednesday you would have off, to give your body a much needed break. Thursday, youre back at the gym to do day 3. And finally Friday is for day 4. Let me show you why this works so well. Firstly, youre able to hit each muscle group intensely and the week between workouts means that you will be well rested in time for the next workout, if you only have 2 days between identical workouts, you wont be as well rested. Secondly, the muscle groups are set up in this order so that you dont overlap much. Look at how its done. First up are the legs. You could just as well swap day 1 and day 2, but not a big deal. So on day 2, while your chest and triceps are being worked out, your legs are going through the healing process. Chest and triceps are commonly grouped together because they are used in conjunction with each other. When you do bench press, for example, youre using your chest, your triceps and your shoulders. So it wouldnt be wise to have your chest day next to your shoulder day, which is why there is a gap. I hope that helps you understand the reasoning behind splits, while I have only shown you one example, the other splits work on the same principles.
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Exercises for the Real Man

I know that a lot of newbies get intimidated when they walk into the gym for the first time. At modern gyms, there are all sorts of equipment and to the uninitiated, it can all look pretty confusing. There are just so many options for exercises, it can be hard to work out which ones are worth your time and which ones should be left to the spandex brigade. For starters, Im going to break all exercises up into 2 main categories. One is going to be responsible for most of your muscle growth and is the back bone of any serious weight training program. The other will be used sparingly and only to complement the first category. But before I tell you anymore about each of these, lets go back a little bit. Think back to chapter 3, on the science of muscle building. Can you remember anything about testosterone and growth hormone? It doesnt matter if you cant remember everything (although it wouldnt hurt) but what you do need to know is that these two hormones are very important when it comes to building muscles. You might also be interested to know that exercise choice can help you raise your levels of these steroid like hormones naturally. And so its important to understand the difference between a good exercise and an average one, for more than just one reason. Ok, so now its time to get down to the nitty gritty. The first category I want to talk about is Compound Exercises. This is the
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most important category and so you will notice that most of the exercises mentioned in the archive fit into this category. This isnt a coincidence. A compound exercise is an exercise that involves several large muscle groups. Its this reason that they are the back bone of any serious weight training program. Im not sure if youve ever studied physics, but a couple hundred years ago, this guy called Newton came up with some laws. The most famous of his laws states that for each and every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Now, before you wonder what Im on about, this also applies when youre in the gym and looking to build muscle. When you apply a large stress on your body, your body must therefore react to the stress. When you perform difficult compound exercises, this means muscle. Performing compound exercises also have the added benefit of flooding your body with good muscle building hormones. The reason this is such a big secret and why you rarely see people performing these exercises in the gym is quite simple. These exercises are tough to perform. They are difficult, its going to be somewhat uncomfortable to perform these. But Im sure you already realize that building your ideal body is going to require a little bit of pain (but its a good kind of pain). If this was easy, everyone would have Godlike physiques. This is what is going to make your effort even more special, there are not going to be many people willing to do this. But anyway, I hope by now you realize that compound exercises are the way to go. The big 3 of compound exercises are: The bench press, the deadlift and the king of all exercises, the squat. Its quite common to see people performing the bench press, but
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you will rarely see people performing the deadlift or the squat. Once again, this is because these are two of the hardest exercises to perform. But if you can overcome this, your muscle gains will be out of this world. The other group of exercises is isolation exercises. Probably pretty obvious, but if compound exercises were those that involved large groups of muscles, then isolation exercises are going to isolate one or two smaller muscles. While these arent going to help you build a ton of muscle, they arent to be completely ignored. When you look at most of the exercises in the archive, you will notice that there are a couple of isolation exercises in there. This is because they are still of some use. As long as the majority of your workouts dont come from these exercises, youll be right. One or two of these per workout is actually a good way to bring up muscles that are falling behind in the muscle race. Bicep curls, wrist curls and calf raises are all examples of isolation exercises. While doing compound exercises like squats will turn your thighs into tree trunks, they dont have a huge effect on your calves, so this is a time when performing an isolation exercise is a good idea. Another thing that confuses newbies is that difference between free weights and machine weights. Im going to sound like a broken record here, but think back to why muscles grow in the first place. Hypertrophy, which is brought on by stressing your muscles out. So out of the two, which do you think stresses your muscles out the most? I really hope you said free weights. While some machines can be good (Hammer strength stuff is usually good), they are generally inferior to free weights. This is because not only do you have to move the weight through its motion, which will bring your target muscles into action, but with free weights, you also have to support the actual weights. This takes extra effort, which means that youre causing more stress which of course equals muscle growth.
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Of course, this is why you see most newbies jumping on every machine they can find. Its easier to use and its also easier to perform the exercise with correct form. Think about doing dumbbell bench presses compared to bench press on some machine that simulates the bench press. When youre using the machine, all you do is move your arms in a straight line. There is no room for any other type of movement and so your muscles are somewhat isolated. However, when youre using the dumbbells, things change a little. They are free to move wherever gravity takes them (hence the name free weights) and so keeping them in a straight line takes a lot more effort from the supporting cast. Not only are the major muscle groups involved, but so are lots of other smaller muscles. And while you may not think this is significant, it is. I really hope you understand this by now. If you can understand this simple philosophy, then you can work everything else out yourself. I always prefer barbell bench press to the machine that simulates the bench press. Barbell squats will always be better than leg press, even though the leg press is still a great exercise. The military press with a barbell will always be better than military press using the smith machine. Get the drift?
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How to Train Specific Parts of Your Body

While it is outlined in the other parts of this package, I want to go through my reasons for choosing the exercises I have. Some may seem obvious, especially after this last section, but I think it will still be helpful to go through the most effective ways to train each part of your body. The points I want to make are pretty much consistent with the whole theme of this chapter, so I hope none of them come as a surprise.
The Arms
If I had a dollar for every guy who just wanted to know how to build big guns, Id be so rich I would never have bothered writing this book. But thats not the case, so lets talk about how to best train your arms so that they resemble large mountains. In spite of what most gym goers think, there is more to your arms than just biceps. While a nice bicep is definitely on most guys wanted lists (including my own), if you truly want massive arms, then you must also realize that the tricep is actually a bigger portion of your arm than the bicep. This means that just as much effort should be placed on training the triceps as there is on the biceps. Its a simple concept, but since the triceps dont
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get as much attention as the biceps, its one thats easily forgotten. You might look at the training regimes provided with this package and wonder why there is not a huge emphasis on the arms. Sure I include some isolation exercises here and there, but not as many as most people. There is a reason for that. Think about some of the exercises you perform for the upper body. How many of them do not use the arms? You see, since youre already exercising your arms when you perform most upper body compound exercises (that are the back bone for my workouts) you really dont need to spend that much time on isolation exercises. One exercise is usually enough and sometimes even this isnt necessary. Some people have questioned why I tend to separate my arm workouts. Why I do my biceps one day and my triceps another. Its quite simple really and if youve read this chapter well, then you probably already realize why. The biceps and triceps are involved in different movements. The biceps are used for pulling stuff, like in rows or pull-ups. While the triceps are used for pushing things, like a barbell off your chest, or for keeping the ladies at bay. Some of the best exercises for the biceps are ones that you might not expect to see here. While most people think that doing bicep curls is the only way to create huge biceps, they would be wrong. I do throw in a couple of sets of some sort of curl (there are too many to list here) but they are to just complement the others. Doing compound exercises like pull-ups, bent over rows or chinups are the best ways to build your biceps. Dont believe me? Next time youre at the gym, take a look at the guy who only does bicep curls, does he have impressive biceps?
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And when it comes to triceps, my philosophy remains the same. My favorite exercise for triceps development has to be the dip. It works the chest well too, but it really hits the triceps hard. Another great exercise is the cable pulldown. It works well because it completely isolates the tricep and takes it through its full range of motion. When done properly, these two exercises combine to make your triceps grow like never before. Of course, there are a bunch of other good exercises, all of which you can find in the archive of exercises. The last thing I want to mention about arms is the forearms. I see far too many people specifically targeting these muscles. Newsflash: You dont need to! If youre performing heavy compound exercises, then just about every exercise you do is going to work your forearms. Think about it. Barbell bench press: forearms. Deadlift: forearms. Pullups: forearms. If anything your forearms are getting overtrained, but not to worry, they will develop in time. Whenever I think of powerful forearms, I think of my great uncle. Hes a man who has never been to a gym, in fact, he probably doesnt even know they exist. He is a tough old farmer whose arms have been conditioned over time. I remember when I was about 16. Me and my dad tried to rip a motorbike free that was tied on with a couple of plastic cable ties. Both of us tried and couldnt get it off. I wasnt that weak back then and neither was my dad. But old Uncle Jim just walked over and in one swoop, pulled the bike clean off, shaking his head and muttering a few words about soft city boys under his breath.
So if you dont have huge, powerful forearms yet, dont worry, they will come.
Abs
While I could write an entire book on how to improve your abs, let me tell you that abdominal muscles have more effort wasted on them than any other muscle group. This is because they just are not going to ever grow as much as your legs.
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And while I dont think you should ever neglect the abs, I also think that you should be careful about how much you train them. I know that everyone wants abs, but performing 1000s of crunches everyday is not the way to go about this. If you want to see your abs, you need to get your body fat levels right down. For 6 pack abs, diet and overall body conditioning are far more important than billions of crunches. This is why you will find this book has an emphasis on both diet and training methods. So do not feel like the workout programs have forgotten to put abs in there at all. Nothing in this package has been done so just because there is a reason behind everything. However, it is still important to train your abs. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, the reason that Im sure you will be more interested in. If you train your abs well and concentrate on getting your body fat down to a low level (10% is often the level that your abs will begin to show), then you will have much more impressive abs at the end. Secondly, training your abs will result in a stronger core. This will have a bigger overall effect, with a stronger core comes a stronger body, generally speaking. I guess I dont need to say this, but dont neglect your abs! There are a couple of main exercises that I want you to focus on. The first one is the crunch, Im sure you already know about it. Its very straightforward, yet effective. Its far more potent than the traditional situp, which also involves the hip flexors, so its not putting at much emphasis on the actual abs that you want to target.
The Chest
After a huge set of guns and rippled abs, a chest that tries to escape out of the front of your shirt is next on the list for most guys. And its fair enough. A huge chest can make you look bigger than you really are and it can give you a higher status from the moment you walk into a room.
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The problem is that most guys have no idea how to build this type of dream chest. They hit the gym expecting to walk out a few weeks later with a chest that Dolly Parton would be proud of. You mightve even seen guys like this. Their workouts usually consist of bicep curls, crunches, then about 3 hours worth of bench press. Im sure by now you realize how stupid this is. And even though it is counter intuitive, training the chest less is actually the only way to build a massive, broad chest. Im sure that by now I dont have to tell you this. The other crucial part of having a large chest is the type of exercises that you perform. When it comes to chest exercises, you can basically split them up into two main types. The first type is the fly type. You wouldve seen guys performing these for sure. The pec dec is a machine that is supposed to help you with this kind of movement. You can also use dumb bells and there are also people who use the cables to help them out. But I say dont bother. It comes back to that old principle about stress and whatever is difficult works. Generally speaking, this type of exercise doesnt really stress your muscles out. Try it one day and youll see what I mean. Youll finish your exercises and wont even feel like youre getting a sweat up. On the other side of the equation are. The pushing exercises. These are the real mans exercises for the chest. You wouldve seen the bench press and several variations of it. For building your chest, its these type of exercises that you really want to focus on. Of course, its not just the bench that can help your chest. Youll notice that in the workout archive that there are other exercises, such as the parallel bar dips, that are fantastic for building your chest, as well as your triceps. One of the other things that causes people to get unstuck is overtraining. While you will not be one of these people, it happens all too often. You mightve seen someone like this. They spend all of their workout doing different variations of bench press.
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This isnt a good way to build your chest muscles, but it is a good way to over train. But since you are smart enough to buy this book, we wont have to worry about that, will we? The chest is no different in that it responds to heavy compound exercises, so stick to the workout plan and youll be right.
Shoulders
Here is a muscle group that I dont think gets enough attention in the gym. While the shoulder muscles really arent that big (in the grand scheme of things) they have the ability to make you look like a wide shouldered superman. And while you might see people performing every shoulder exercise under the sun for their shoulders, I like to keep things simple. You see, as well as involving your arms, a lot of upper body exercises also use your shoulders. Bench press is a perfect example of one exercise that stresses your shoulders, especially the front part, which is obviously the area most people want to improve. So it shouldnt really surprise you that I like to use compound exercises to do most of the work, and then finish up with maybe 1-2 sets of an isolation exercise, such as side laterals. When youve been training for a while and gains start to slow down, I recommend throwing in a little more isolation exercises, especially for the middle and rear shoulder muscles, as these are harder to work out using only compound exercises, but that really shouldnt happen within a year, so you have plenty of work ahead of you. So all you newbies, realize that your shoulders will be getting plenty of work just from compound exercises like the bench press etc, so dont start wondering what drugs Im on when you see the workout guide. As for the advanced lifters, I still like to approach things the same way, only I will recommend some more direct shoulder work.
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The front shoulders are often worked hard enough, so generally, the isolation exercises I will give you will be focused around the middle and rear shoulder muscles. This is why you see the lateral raise listed in the archive. Its my favorite exercise for working the middle shoulder muscles (the deltoids) and once youve given it a go, youll see why. Youll probably feel like a bit of a girl using small dumbbells (you dont really have a choice unless youre already a unit) but dont let that worry you. As for the rear shoulder muscles, I dont think you can go past the bent over laterals. You dont see these being performed very often and I dont really understand why. Yes they are an advanced exercise, but they arent particularly difficult to do. And if youre after something just to work the front shoulder muscles, you cant help but get into the military press. This is a great compound exercise and a feature of many of the workouts that you will find in the workout guide.
The Back
The second last muscle group Im going to talk about and also the second least cared about body group in the entire body. I guess it makes sense why people dont care about an impressive back as much as they do 6 pack abs or a concrete chest. After all, its not really going to help you with the ladies or is it? If you arent training your back, then you are straight out nuts. The back is home to some huge muscles and its here that youre going to add a ton of muscle to your frame. You might not think it will immediately make you look more impressive, but youd be wrong. The back can help take an average looking physique and turn it into something extra special. Some bodybuilders refer to a wide back as having wings. Once you develop some serious lats, youll know what were talking about.
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It might come as no surprise to you that I dont consider the back to be any different to any other major muscle group. When it comes to the back, compound exercises rule. Bent over rows, pull ups and deadlifts are the keys to developing a wide, thick back and giving you that winged look. Not to mention that developing a strong lower back is vital to increasing your overall strength. Without a strong lower back, you are going to struggle to lift huge weights and as a result, struggle to achieve a level of muscularity that most only dream of. As far as specific exercises, the back is no different to any of the other groups Ive talked about. Heavy compound exercises are the best way to hit your back muscles. As I mentioned just above, bent over rows, pull-ups and deadlifts will pack more muscle onto your back than any other exercise. Something else that many people forget is to work the trapezius muscle. This is the muscle that runs from your neck down your back. Its also the muscle that when very well developed, gives you the no neck look. While some people are afraid of making their trapezius too big (and needing a givanecktomy) its not something that is going to happen, realistically. Unless youre on steroids, I really doubt youll ever be able to get traps that make you look like you have no neck. And the worst case scenario for anyone who does magically develop traps that are too huge? Just stop working them out and they will go down in size, couldnt be easier. The most common (and best) exercise to work your traps is the shrug. You can do this with either barbells or dumb bells, essentially its the same thing. One thing to note is that because your traps are a large muscle, you will be able to shrug huge weights. Often these weights are higher than what you will be able to hold with your hands, so buying a set of wrist straps might be necessary. This will allow you to take some of the weight off your grip, so youre free to build traps as you wish.
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Legs
And finally we come to legs. The forgotten muscles as far as Im concerned. Im not about to go into why you should train your legs (more on than later) but I will tell you a few handy hints for getting the most out of your leg training, which you will be doing, right? My training approach to legs is no different than the rest of the body, if anything, its more important that you follow my tactics for your legs. Its vitally important that you use heavy weights (these will be the heaviest weights you will ever use)in combination with compound exercises. Forget leg extensions and other useless exercises. If you want to develop thick, well defined legs, then youre going to have to suffer. Im afraid theres no point beating around the bush. To get muscular legs, you need to perform the king of compound exercises. And just as the lion is the king of the jungle, the squat is the king of the gym. If youre not doing squats, youre not squat, thats what an old gym buddy of mine used to say. And he was right. The squat will put more muscle mass on your body than any other exercise known to man. If you can find an exercise that does it better than the squat, please let me know... There arent too many good leg exercises that dont cause you to feel uncomfortable. Its because the leg muscles are such a large group, that to stress them out significantly, you really need to go to work. While squats are great for the quads, to get the most out of your leg training, its also advisable to throw some sort of dead lift in there as well. I like the Romanian dead lift because it really targets the hamstrings well, although normal dead lifts are great also, as long as you dont do them too often. I always throw in a couple of sets of my favorite calf exercises as well. While squats are great, they dont do a good enough of the calves in my opinion. So there you have it, a quick run down of how I like to train each different part of my body. It should help you have more of an idea of why certain exercises have been selected and why the workouts have been structured as they have.
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How you Should actually Move the Weights

The rate of movement of the weights is a topic that confuses many. And once again, its easy to see why. You only have to ask a couple of different people, or look at a couple of different websites to see that everyone is saying something different! So lets look at the reasons why you would want to move the weights in a certain way. Each exercise has two main phases. Lets call the work phase (i.e the one thats harder) the positive phase and the easier phase, lets call the negative phase. For example, lets take the bench press. Pushing the bar away from your body would be the positive phase and lowering it back down would be the negative. Remember that stress is the main priority for us and that we do so by lifting hard and heavy. What (off the top of your head) method would you think is the best:
Moving the weight upwards as slowly as possible Moving the weight upwards with as much explosive force as you can muster
If you read enough bodybuilding literature, youll see people voting for both. But only one is right. If you actually made a guess, I really hope you guessed the second one. Can you understand why? If your goal is to stress the muscle out, then wouldnt you want to use all the force you can?
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Some people get confused at this point and ask: Well, you dont want to be flinging the weight around like a ragdoll, do you? And no, you dont. If youre lifting a heavy enough weight, you certainly wont be able to move it around like it weighs nothing. The idea is to lift with maximum force, if you find yourself moving the bar way too quick, its probably time to up your weights. If you dont lift with the maximum effort that you can, its probably time you hang up your boots and go home, its just not worth it unless you can give your all. So thats the positive phase covered, can you guess what you should be doing for the negative phase of the lift? Its pretty straight forward really. You dont want to spend 30 minutes lowering the weight down again. The idea is to lower it at a steady and controlled pace. The actual pace itself isnt the main point, but what does matter is that you are in complete control and you can lower it at a reasonable pace.
How to Use Your Breathing to Help With your Lifting

When people think about methods that can help you increase your power for lifting, I bet breathing doesnt pop right into their head. It might seem funny to you, that a simple breathing technique can help you lift more weight each and every time you hit the gym. You already know about the positive and negative phases of the lift, so I wont go into detail on that again. If you have a memory like a goldfish and have already forgotten, go check that last section on the rate of movement. So, the key is to breathe in on the negative and force your breath out explosively on the positive phase. To get the most out of this, dont just breathe out like normal, you really have to force it out, like its a poisonous gas thats inside your lungs that you just have to get out of your body.
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Lets see how this would work with the good old bench press. So there you are on the bench, with your arms outstretched and the bar at its highest point. You begin to lower the bar and as you do so, slowly draw in your breath. Then you reach your lowest point and just as you are about to thrust upwards again, your breath explodes out of your mouth and you notice a small gain in power. Simple, but effective, make sure you make this a habit for every time you perform an exercise and you will want to thank me.
My little secret muscle building weapon

Water is pretty cool. If you didnt already know, water is pretty damn important for us humans. Without it, wed be in some serious trouble. Just about all the functions in our body depend on water for one reason or another. And so I really wonder why people dont drink more of it. Im not about to give you a lecture on why you should drink more water (thats coming in the next chapter) but I do want you to know about how drinking water while you workout should be a habit that you get into. Whenever I walk into the gym, I make sure I have my trusty old water bottle with me. Its never empty as long as Im in workout mode. While I dont sit there swilling like a tourist at Oktoberfest, I am constantly drinking throughout my workout. Every time I rest between sets (more on that in a minute) I just sip at the water bottle. This isnt going to turn you into Mr Olympia overnight, but consuming plenty of water while you workout is definitely a good thing to do. Being dehydrated is not a good way to build muscle.
Just another thing to add to your already growing list of muscle building habits!
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Resting Time Between Sets

Once again we come to a topic thats debated in all corners of the globe. Visit any internet forum and post a question about the correct time to rest between sets and youll get a ton of different answers. And I can understand this, because there is no Absolutely Correct 100% of the Time answer. People who are training for strength will want to rest for much longer than those of us who are looking to build muscle size. This is because the actual weight is very important to the powerlifters, while its the relative weight thats important to bodybuilders. It doesnt matter how much you lift, its how difficult it is for you. So while a break of 4 minutes might be usual for powerlifters, us bodybuilders have to take a slightly different approach. Youll notice that when you finish a set, your muscles will be really exhausted, this is normal. It would obviously be stupid to start your next set right away, you would have no strength left. So what you need to do is wait just long enough for your muscles to recover enough for you to begin your next set, but not so long that your muscles recover completely. For most people, this is around 1-2 minutes, so if youre after a strict number to follow, start with 1 minute rest between each set and experiment. As long as you can eventually learn to do it by feel, you will be right. While there is a fair bit of room for error
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here, its important that you dont use a time thats either too short or too long as both of these are not good for muscle growth. If the break is too short, then your muscles will still be too sore and therefore you wont be able to lift as much as you should. Now, dont get confused. When I said earlier that weight isnt as important for bodybuilders, what you need to understand is that the weight must be heavy. And since heavy is a relative term (i.e 50kg might be heavy for one person, but 150kg might be heavy for another) all that matters is that the weight is heavy for YOU. Also, waiting too long is bad for a couple of reasons, but the main one is the length of your workout. Earlier this chapter I wrote that stretching your workout to over an hour is a bad thing. Go back and read it again if you have already forgotten. And so if you spend 5 minutes resting between each set, its going to take far too long to workout and therefore your workout will suffer.
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Dont become a Bicep Warrior

Im sure you know what a bicep warrior is. Youve probably seen hundreds of them at the gym. Chances are you either are, or have been, a bicep warrior yourself. In case you dont know what a bicep warrior actually is, let me elaborate. I hope for your sake it doesnt sound familiar The bicep warrior will walk into the gym, straight past the cardio machines (hes too cool for warming up) and onto the weights floor. He then takes his place on the bench and does about 15 minutes worth of bench press. Once hes finished with this, he moves onto phase 2: The bicep curl. He grabs a bar of various shape and proceeds to spend another 15 or so minutes just on his biceps. So phase 2 is finished and its now onto phase 3. Phase 3 only consists of a few crunches for the abs. And by a few, I mean a few thousand. Once this strenuous part is done with, the bicep warrior walks out of the gym and feels like his job is done. He now waits around for a huge chest, huge biceps and a rock hard stomach, only to find that it never happens. You mightve got a laugh out of this, but its so common its scary. I know I cant change the world, but if I can stop a few people from working out like this, then I will be a happy man. You should realize by now that it really is important to train your whole body. I guess most of us arent too dissimilar from the bi-
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cep warrior in that we all want a great chest, bulging biceps and a washboard set of abs. The thing is, going about it like a bicep warrior isnt the way at all! Not that I need to tell you this, you are well on your way to becoming a muscle building expert. In order to get massive biceps, you have to work on your entire body. Have you ever seen a pro bodybuilder with huge arms, but tiny legs? It doesnt happen. Your body wont allow it to. I hate to say it, but if you want huge biceps, train your whole body (and yes, that includes your legs). If you want a huge chest, train your entire body. Its quite a simple concept and youll see how I implement it when you have a look at the workout plans that are provided with this package. There are no bicep warrior workouts here, not a single one. And dont you start thinking about skipping exercises. If I hear youre not following the workouts explicitly, Im gonna get angry. Theres also another reason that you need to be performing all the exercises laid out in the workout guides. Remember how I mentioned that performing heavy, difficult compound exercises was a great way to flood your body full of muscle building hormones? Well, I wasnt making stuff up there. And which workouts will bring about this effect more than any other? Leg workouts of course! If you arent training your legs, you are really missing out big time when it comes to building muscle. As some would say, youre leaving muscle on the table. Many people would think Im finished now. I can hear them now: Surely hes gone on enough about why you should really work out your entire body (including your legs). But nope, theyd be wrong. I have one more point to make about why you should never neglect any major muscle group, regardless of how much pain it takes, or how little attention it gets from the ladies. You see, building muscle is actually a key part of getting 6 pack abs. While doing squats wont make your abs any bigger, they will help to remove some of the fat surrounding your 6 pack.
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This is because muscle burns fat, regardless of what you do. If youre sitting on your bum, watching the idiot box, or running over to the fridge, your muscles are burning up calories. So if you can stack on another 5 pounds on your legs alone, then you are going to be able to shed the fat a lot easier than if you were still a skinny little runt. So there you have it, my rant is over. I hope Ive convinced you enough to not skip your legs, or back when you hit the gym. If you can stick to training your entire body, people will notice, believe me
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Some tips on Gym Etiquette

Its not hard to spot the newbie about the gym. Hes the guy walking around looking like a lost tourist, not only is he completely out of his depth, but the experienced gym goers can spot him a mile away. Like anything, there are a few things you need to know about what to do in the gym to avoid being ostracized by the rest of the gym. Often these things arent common knowledge, so its easy to get yourself into a bit of strife. Sometimes they are common knowledge and you just need a slap on the head to stop doing them, or perhaps change the way youre doing something. Either way, check out the following tips and avoid being the butt of all the jokes in the change rooms. Put your weights away after you use them. If all gym goers did this, our world would be a better place. This is one of my pet peeves and I know Im not alone with this. If you grab a set of dumb bells, or you load some plates up on a bar, do the right thing and put them away! It really doesnt take all that much effort to do and it makes everyones day easier. It will also make you look like one of the more noble members of the gym and you know ladies just love nobility. So next time you are whacking plates on the bar, preparing for a huge squat, remember to put them back where you got them from.
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My second tip is to ask for a spotter if the exercise requires it and you are going heavy (which you should be). I honestly cant count how many guys Ive had to rescue from the bench or some other apparatus. Its the same story every time. A guy comes in, forgets to leave his ego at the door, sets himself up on the bench and gets ready to rock n roll. The first couple of reps are fine, he thinks hes a hero and continues on. But then he gets to the last couple of reps and this is where he becomes unstuck. He goes for one rep too many and then the next thing he knows, he has a huge weight stuck across his throat. Some guys manage to wiggle out of it. And if you dont use collars on the bars, then you can just rock the weights to one side and let the plates fall off with a huge bang, proving to the gym that you are an idiot. But most guys at this stage just yell a simple help! Its at this stage that I run over and lift the weight off the guys neck, although I have to admit, sometimes I would rather just sit back and laugh. So I guess the lesson is suck up your ego and ask for a hand if you need one. Its not being weak if you need a spotter, training really hard is important, so its much better that you actually ask for a spotter than not train at your maximum potential. The third tip is to have regular showers. Now I know this isnt a book on hygiene 101, but its a disgrace how many guys forget about this. Its ok if you come out of the gym all sweaty and smelly, you are supposed to be working hard. What is not ok is turning up smelling like you just had a bath in your own sweat. It certainly isnt a way to win friends in the gym and Im not sure you realize this, but the ladies dont really go crazy over men who have incredible body odor problems. So if you have a physical job, or its been a hot day or whatever, just make sure you dont stink out the gym when you workout. Not cool at all. Another tip is to stay off the phone. No one likes the guy who spends 90% of his time in the gym chatting on the phone. It just
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makes you look like an idiot. Once you get outside the gym, talk your head off, but while youre in the gym, turn it off, Im sure you will be able to survive for 1 hour without chatting to your mom. Apart from looking stupid and annoying gym members, its not productive either. Youre in the gym for one thing and thats not to see how long you can chat on the phone for. So do everyone in the gym (and that includes you) a favor and just leave the phone in the car. Something else I want to let you know about is grave robbing. This happens when you finish a set, stand to the side of the machine or bench, or whatever and the next thing you know, some jerk has jumped on your equipment. Its ok to work in with someone, taking turns as you both rest is fine, just make sure you ask before you jump right in. This is one time where I think it is better to ask for permission rather than to beg for forgiveness. I could write a lot more about etiquette in the gym, but really, it all comes down to common sense. Try to get along with people and you will be much better off for it in the end. You never know, you might just meet someone who is a great training partner. Which brings me to my next point
How to pick your training partner

A training partner is a bit of a double edged sword. If you pick the right one, its going to make your workouts even better, its going to motivate you to get your ass to the gym and overall, your physique will be all the better for it. But pick the wrong training partner and things are going to start to go backwards for you. Your workouts will suffer, you might start skipping your workouts and generally, youre going to end up not much better off than when you first began. Unfortunately, most people dont seem to be able to pick the right training partners. I guess people just dont put much thought into it and thats where they go wrong. A few weeks later they
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dont feel as motivated to hit the gym and things start to come apart. So how do you find a training partner that will result in synergy, instead of failure? Lets look at some of the things to look for when thinking about a certain person for a training partner. Firstly, they must be as committed or (even better) more committed than you. Having someone who wants to go to the gym as much as you is very important. This will ensure that even on days when you dont feel too good, that you get to the gym. Back when I first started working out, I wasnt the most committed in our little group. Often Id decide not to hit the gym, then Id receive an abusive phone call from a friend telling me to get my ass to the gym, or thered be hell to pay. While it was all in good fun, it certainly helped get me to the gym more often, which in the beginning can be a make or break thing. Secondly, its important that youre both training for the same reasons. If your training partner wants to spend 90% of his workout on the treadmill, because hes training for a marathon, then hes probably not a very good candidate. If you can find someone you identify with, it will make your workouts a lot better. Not only do you both understand each others reasons for hitting the gym, but you will also be able to push each other a lot harder. When you need to get out the last rep on any exercise (and these ones are the most important) its a lot easier getting it done when you have someone screaming in your face, compared to some random spotter who doesnt care if you get it out or not. The final rule I want to mention is to find someone who trains as effectively as you. While its good if you can find someone who can get you to the gym and its great if they also have the same goals as you, its all a waste of time if they never do anything when they get to the gym. I used to have this one friend who was always saying to me I wish I had guns like you. It got so annoying that I eventually forced him to put down his beer and follow me to the gym. I got
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him workout out like a maniac, but I could tell he wasnt really into it. As soon as I would take a moment to rest, he would be off talking to people, walking around the gym, doing 1-2 reps on every machine that was there. He seemed to have the idea that his body would improve as long as he spent a fair bit of time inside the gym. And so I told him to shape up or ship out. I havent seen him in the gym since then, which really didnt surprise me. Theres nothing I couldve said to make him any more committed than he already was. This is something that has to be done by the individual. So when youre thinking about your training partner, try and workout in your head how hard they are going to work when you actually get to the gym. After all, the idea is to train with someone who will bring the best out of you, not to train with someone who you have to support all the way. So there you have it, the 3 rules for selecting a training partner that will bring the best out of you and will result in you getting your Godlike physique quicker than ever. Of course, its not necessary that you have a training partner. Ive done a lot of my training on my own, but Ive also noticed that when I train with someone that fits the 3 rules, my workouts become better than ever. So I want you to go looking for a great training partner. Have a think about who your choices are and whether or not they fit the 3 rules. If it is completely impossible for you to come up with one, then youre still not done for, you can always train on your own, or be a little creative. With the internet these days, its easier than ever to connect with people who have a similar interest. Go online, search around a little and see if you can find people in a similar situation. Chances are youll find a partner who lives around your area and also meets the requirements that you need. Of course, you dont even have to go to that length sometime. If you often see a guy in your gym who seems to have similar goals to you, works out hard and is there as often as you, ask him if hed be interested in training together. If he knows what hes doing, theres a fair chance hell say yes and youll be well on your way.
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How to Setup a Home Gym

While I recommend joining a real gym in order to get the most out of your workouts, I know that some people, for whatever reason, arent interested in joining the gym. Perhaps you already have some gym equipment, perhaps you dont like the idea of having to get in the car (or on your bike) in order to get to the gym. Regardless of what some people say, you can still have a great workout from a home gym. I personally prefer going to a real gym, because I like to have a specific place outside my own home where I can get into the zone and go nuts for a few hours a week. So lets talk about the essentials for a home gym. The sort of equipment youll need is the main concern for most people, but its actually pretty simple. To work out what you need, have a think about the exercises you perform in the gym. Now, when Im helping someone build a home gym, one of the common questions is whether they can use one of those all in one home gym machine thingos. Im sure you know what I mean. They have a pec dec, lat pulldown plus a few other things built in. Theyve sold well over the years, but as you already know, a lot of the exercises that really build serious muscle arent included with that system. Sure, its better than not having anything at all, but if you want to follow this guide to the letter, then youre gonna need to construct a REAL home gym. For starters, youre probably going to need a barbell. Some people would argue that a set of dumbbells would suffice (and they would be somewhat right) but I prefer to have the option of having both barbells and dumbbells at my disposal. The standard Olympic bar is a good choice. Youll also need some plates to load onto the bar. Unless youre already a strong guy, 2 large 20kg (45lbs) plates, 2 smaller 10kg (20lbs) and a bunch of smaller plates. A set of dumbbells is also very handy. If anything, I would advise you to buy the dumbbells first, if money is a problem. A handy tip to save you some money is to avoid buying a huge set of dumbbells like youd find at a gym.
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It works at a gym because people who start them usually have large amounts of capital to work with. But if youre not Donald Trump (and if you are, let me know) then youre gonna have to approach things a little differently. Fortunately, you dont have to purchase an entire set of dumbbells. You can buy sets that are almost like mini barbells, with collars on the ends so that the little weights dont fall off half way through the movements. This is a much cheaper option and will also allow you to change the weights for each exercise accordingly. As well as the actual weights, you will need some other equipment. A must is some sort of bench. If youre only going to buy one bench, make sure its an adjustable one. This way, you can use it for lots of different exercises. You can set it out flat, on an incline, or straight up. It gives you a lot more flexibility with the number of exercises youre able to do. Also, another must is a squat rack. Im not sure if you realize the power of squatting just yet, but you should soon enough. If youre not squatting, then youre not serious. This can be a little bit expensive, so its easy to not include it in your gym, but if youre serious about building a Godlike physique, then it has to be part of your home gym. Ok, so thats the musts done with, lets have a look at some of the maybes. If you have a bit of cash left over, you can either send it to me, or invest in some pull up bars. Often modern squat racks have these built in, but if they dont you can either rig some up yourself or buy some. If possible, buy a set of pull up bars that also have dip bars included, I dont think a triceps program is complete until it has dips in it, so I consider this pretty high on the want scale. If you can include all of this, you will have a gym that allows you to do most of the exercises that you see outlined in the archive of exercises.
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Muscle Building Nutrition

I was a bit hesitant about starting this chapter. When I was sitting down to write all the others, it wasnt that hard. I knew that you knew that all that stuff was important. You dont need to be a rocket scientist to realize that to build muscle you need to lift weights properly, or that your head needs to be in the right place. What I was worried about was not getting the importance of nutrition across to you. You see, while everyone knows the importance of lifting weights, what people dont realize is that what you eat is half the battle. Ever heard that old saying You are what you eat?, well its very important that you realize this. Im not going to apologize for sounding like a broken record in this chapter. I know Im going to repeat what I have to say and I dont care, because all I care about is getting the message through to you and making sure that you truly understand the gravity of this information. It took me several years to really understand the importance of muscle building nutrition. From the age of 16, until I was discharged from the military at 20, I had worked out quite a lot, but never had the gains I really wanted. While I was in high school it was basically something to do. We just wanted to get a little bigger, look good for the girls and perhaps increase our strength a little, after all, beating all the other kids at an arm wrestle was pretty cool and so was out benching 18 year olds at parties.
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Chapter 4
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But anyway, we werent completely serious. When I look back, we didnt work out too badly. We used to hit the gym enough and spend enough time in there. We worked out pretty hard when we were actually in the gym and we had a lot of fun. I guess at the time I just assumed that I wasnt meant to have a Godlike physique. While I had more muscle on me than ever before and I was definitely pretty strong, I still looked flabby. So I wondered what I was doing wrong And so it wasnt until I set my mind to finding out why I hadnt achieved my goals, that I finally discovered the important of nutrition. Im going to say it now and I dont care if anyone disagrees with me: Diet is as important (if not more) than training. Thats right, you read it right, there are no typos here. Diet is as important as lifting weights. It doesnt matter how well you lift weights, if you dont eat right, then you are just wasting your time and chances are you will never achieve your goals, just as I didnt. So I want you to take this chapter as serious as any other in this book. If you can get your training habits down pat and begin to eat well, there will be no stopping you. You will be like a charging rhino, nothing will be able to stop you. Ive seen a lot of people fail over the years and lack of knowledge when it comes to diet is one of the main contributors. There is both lack of knowledge of its importance, as well as lack of knowledge of how a bodybuilder needs to eat in order to build muscle and burn fat. I had another friend who wanted to get in shape. He was the typical hard gainer. He had always been skinny and had a hard time of putting on any muscle. On the upside, he had a 6 pack pretty much regardless of how he ate or worked out. For that, I was always envious of him. I originally thought he was really keen to change his body and put on some serious muscle. So I told him a few things (I got so sick of teaching people individually that I just had to write this book) and told him to come along to the gym with me and train for a while.
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And train he did. He was like a man on a mission. He was intense, he lifted like his life depended on it and I was sure that he was going to succeed. After a few weeks though, he was the same weight and he started to shake his head at me. Nearly in tears, he just couldnt work out what was wrong with him. And just when he was about to quit, just as he was about to say that he just wasnt meant to be muscular, I asked him a question. I asked him what his diet what like. Then he said to me Yeh, its really good, I only eat good food. Today I had a tin of tuna and a salad. Now while, he had been eating well, he had still made a huge flaw (which you will understand very soon). I spotted it straight away and set him straight. He then went on to make consistent gains for months, when he got to the point where he reached his size goals and now he just goes to the gym to maintain his physique. So you can see, perhaps its only one thing that youre doing wrong. And if you can correct this, then it will be smooth sailing here on in. Alright, I think thats enough of an introduction to this chapter, Im glad youve read it all the way down here. What youre about to read just could change your physique for good. Take notes if you have to and refer to it as often as you need to. I hope I have shown you just how important diet is! So lets get into the meat (pardon the pun) of this section.
Burning like a fire vs The Slave Cycle

In this section I want to talk about the difference between how the vast majority of people eat and how you should be eating instead. This is a very important concept and its something that will get you funny looks from regular people, since its a little bit out there for them. Believe it or not, eating 3 square meals a day isnt something that we humans have been doing forever. Somehow I dont think the
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cavemen of old were just waiting around for lunch and dinner time to come around before they would munch into some fresh wooly mammoth. In fact, the 3 meals a day thing came around with the industrial revolution. Employers realized that it wasnt very efficient for their workers to be eating at random times throughout the day, so a new plan was brought about, which is the one we all know today. And it makes sense when you think about it. Have one meal when you get up, another one during your 1 hour lunch break in the middle of the day, then a meal after you get home from work. As far as employers were concerned, it worked great and its been like that ever since. But it wasnt always like that. Back before there were cruel bosses and industrial revolutions, people ate whenever they liked. They woke up, probably had something to eat because they were hungry, then went about their business. A few hours later, when they felt a little hungry again, they stopped what they were doing and ate again. And so on and so forth. They didnt look up at the sun and think hey, its noon, better go have some lunch, so neither should you. While this style of eating works for employers and businesses, its not so great for us. Instead, if you are serious about wanting to build a Godlike physique, you need to do something different. And I like to take this further than just diet. In life, if you see a whole bunch of people doing something one way, chances are you will be more successful than them if you just do the opposite. Funny but true, have a think about that for a minute or two. Back to the diet, what I am talking about is eating more often than everyone else. Instead of eating 3 large meals per day, I want you to eat 6 smaller meals per day. This might sound strange to you and you might not even know how youre going to fit it into your schedule, but just stay with me, when you realize how important this is, youre going to do what you have to do. Eating 6 meals a day is essential for a couple of main reasons. The main reason has to do with our ancestors. Remember how they used to eat whenever they felt hungry? Well this only happened in semi recent times, think back to thousands of years ago and it was another story.
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If you were a simple old cave man, it just wasnt possible to eat whenever you wanted to. There were no 7-Elevens back in those days and they also didnt have fridges, so any food they did manage to catch was eaten up pretty quickly. For a lot of species, this would spell trouble, but not for the adaptable humans. No, no, no, our ancestors were able to survive because of our ability to adapt. Remember how in the first chapter, I taught you that the reason our bodies grow muscle is to adapt to new, stressful conditions. Well, the same applies when we dont have any food. If this wasnt the case, our ancestors wouldve died out a long time ago and I wouldnt be sitting here writing this book. So what happens when the body doesnt get any food is called catabolism. Anabolism is a term for building muscle and catabolism is a term for losing muscle. This probably comes as no surprise that your body begins to eat muscle when it has a lack of food. You only have to look at pictures of concentration camp victims to see this. The body can survive a long time without proper nutrients So enough about what happens if you dont eat enough food, lets talk about the best way to stop your body from eating its own muscle up! The best way to stop your body from thinking that its starving is of course, to eat all the time! This is why I am telling you to eat 6 meals a day, which means youll be eating every 2-3 hours, give or take a little. A constant supply of food to your body is like something constantly telling your body hey body, plenty of supplies today, go ahead and build muscle, youll be fine. It is for this reason that it is necessary to eat your six meals a day and steer clear of eating by the slave cycle. It is a bit strange to think about eating 6 times a day when for the rest of your life youve been eating regularly 3 times a day. I know when I first started doing it, it felt quite weird, but after a while, it felt like Id be doing it all my life.
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And so it will feel for you. People might begin to wonder if youve lost the plot Why is he eating 6 times a day, has he gone crazy? but dont spend any of your energy worrying about them, once you are well on your way to your Godlike physique, they will be asking for your advice, trust me on that. The best way to start out is to plan out your meals at the start of every day, or even the night before. I have a daily ritual and Im sure youll eventually develop your own and once you do, its a walk in the park. Each day you can get up and know that you have a set amount of food to eat. Also, you must remember that youre still eating a similar amount of food (well get to how much soon) but its broken up into 6 meals, so youre not going to be chowing down huge steaks 6 times a day. 1 meal might be a protein shake, another might be some chicken breast, or a tin of tuna, so dont get worried that you just wont be able to eat enough food. Alright, so now we have built a good foundation from which we can build on. Im now going to talk a little bit about each of the main types of macronutrients, these are the building blocks of food, so its important to understand their role in your diet and how they are going to affect your muscle building efforts.
Lets start with everyones favorite muscle building macronutrient, protein!
Protein
Once again, we find a topic that has been debated to death on the internet and in gyms around the world. Its another one of those things that everyone seems to be an expert on. Some people will tell you that you cant eat enough of it, other people will tell you that its stupid to eat that much. Fortunately, I know what the real deal is. When Im creating a diet for someone, I usually use the ratio of 40/40/20. This means that 40% of the daily calories will come from protein. And since we know that every gram of protein contains 4 calories, we can work
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back from this, to come up with the amount of protein that you need to eat. Ill go into detail on this in a minute, but this is just to give you a rough idea of how it all comes about. Dont believe any old idiot who comes along and claims that X amount of protein is the right amount for you. There are rules of thumbs and things like this, but to know how much protein you really need, you really need to know how much food you need total and we will be covering this in detail shortly. Now, onto why protein is so important for muscle building. Your muscles are actually made up of proteins. Not all, but a large enough portion for them to be considered damn important (water makes up the majority of your muscles), which is why you see so many sorts of protein powders, they think it has some sort of magical property. However, youll learn the truth in the coming chapters. I guess a good analogy is to think of protein as the building blocks for your muscles. Sure, you need to get them in the right place, but if you dont have any building material, then youre not going to be able to build big muscles, or houses. Another thing you should realize is that you certainly can eat too much protein. In fact, when you eat too much, its not going to end up on your muscles, youll just end up pissing it into the toilet. Its not going to do you much good, so dont go stupid.
Carbohydrates
The second macronutrient that were going to look at is carbohydrates. Im sure they really dont need much of an introduction, but since most people really dont know whats going on when it comes to carbs, Im going to tell you all you need to know. While its protein that provides the building blocks for your muscle, its carbohydrates that help the building blocks get there. I guess you could think of them as the brick layers. You see, its carbohydrates that provide the body with loads of en-
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ergy. Whenever a carbohydrate is eaten, it breaks down into sugars that end up in the blood stream. Eventually these sugars turn into glycogen, which is like the storage facility for the bodys energy. Whenever you perform some sort of exercise, your body grabs glycogen and burns that up. Only when there is no glycogen left will your body burn anything else. Also, its important to realize that all carbs are made differently. In past, people have classified them by their chemical structure, calling them either complex or simple carbs. These days, the new buzz word is GI, or glycemic index. This refers to how quickly carbs break down in your blood stream and turn to sugar. A food with a high GI number means that it will quickly break down and turn into sugar, while a low GI food is one that slowly releases its energy as sugar in your blood. Its important to understand this because of what happens when your blood sugar levels change. When your body realizes that your blood sugar levels have changed, the pancreas releases insulin (we spoke about this earlier in the book) which then takes this sugar to your muscles, or fat cells if the muscles are already full. You can reread the section on insulin if you need a more thorough explanation here. And as you might remember, insulin can be a friend or foe, depending on what you do with it. While high GI carbs have their place at certain times (more on this later in the chapter) you want most of the carbs that you eat to be low GI. Meal timings will be explained in further detail shortly, but for the moment, just accept that for most of your meals throughout the day, you will want to stick to low GI carbs that break up slowly to give you a constant supple of energy throughout the day. If you remember the 40/40/20 rule, you might already realize that 40% of your daily calories will also come from carbohydrates. There
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will be a more detailed explanation of this in a minute, so dont stress too much right now.
Fats
Poor old fats. Due to some stupid people in the diet industry, fats have been a very misunderstood part of our diets for some time now. Only recently (with the just as stupid low carb fad) have they begun to regain some ground. Even though they are slowly winning back their rightful place, fats are still widely misunderstood by the general population and I can see why this is the case. In the minds of most people, if youre fat, then surely its because youre eating too much fat? Well, while that can be a contributor, there is more to this than just that. Basically, if youre fat, its because youve been eating too much food, not just fat. Its just because that fat people tend to eat a lot of fatty junk food that we associate being fat with eating fat. Its simple not the case. In fact, I am going to recommend that 20% of your daily calories come from fat. Now, before you get too excited, let me explain the different sorts of fats. Just because you can eat some fat doesnt mean you can rejoin the VIP club at McDonalds You see, just as there are several types of carbs, there are also several types of fats, all with different properties and different meanings for building muscle and not getting fat, because while eating fat in moderation isnt going to make you fat, eating too much of the wrong sort is definitely a good way to get fat, if you didnt already realize this. The first one I want to mention are the saturates. Im not going to go into their chemical make up, my high school chemistry teacher put me to sleep talking about double bonds blah blah, but there are a few things you need to know. Saturated fats are the bad fats, although they arent to be completely avoided. Its saturated fat that clogs your arteries and is
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generally a no no. Having too much saturated fat in your diet isnt advised, so Im afraid youre going to have to cut back on the pizza and burgers. On the upside, a little bit of saturated fat has been shown to help boost testosterone levels, so while keeping it to a minimum, you definitely dont want to avoid it completely. You can find saturated fats in meats, so eating some steak is a good way to get your daily dose of saturated fat into you. In the other corner are the unsaturated fats. These are the fats that you will find as oils at room temperature, such as olive oil. These are the fats that you want to get in your diet. While you do need some saturated fats, you will want at least 2/3 of your fats to be unsaturated. Unsaturated fats can also help with the generation of testosterone as well as actually helping you burn fat, when taken in the right amount. Later in this chapter, Ill go into how you should be getting your fats into you, but dont skip ahead, we have a lot of ground to cover before then.
Alcohol
Ahh, whenever young guys come to me for training advice, alcohol is always a hot topic. And I certainly dont have one answer for each guy. Sometimes I say go for it, other times I tell people to stay well away. You see, whether to drink alcohol or not depends on your goals. If you came to me, wanting to become Mr Olympia and asked me if its ok to go out each Friday and Saturday and get absolutely blind drunk, Id tell you to stop wasting your time. If getting a Godlike physique is the highest thing on your list of priorities, if its the goal you want in life more than anything, then you should not touch alcohol. On the other hand, if you tell me that youre not that far off your goal physique and youre getting there slowly, yet you want to go have some fun, Id give you two thumbs up. After all, if your goal is to get a great body to show off at the clubs, then why not go and have a little fun every now and then? If ev-
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ery now and then turns out to be every second night (college guys take note) then you might have a problem. Alcohol is almost a bodybuilders worst nightmare, for reasons Ill go into in a minute, so have a think (I know that might be difficult) about where you want to go, how badly you want it and how far away you are from your goals. Alcohol is bad news for bodybuilders for several reasons, so lets have a look at some of the main ones. First up, alcohol actually lowers testosterone and raises estrogen in your body. This means that you become less of a man and more of a woman when you drink. Lower testosterone means lower muscle, which is not cool for bodybuilders at all. And almost as bad, a higher estrogen level can actually result in man boobs in some cases. If youve ever looked at a guy who drinks a lot, you may have noticed he has man boobs. Sometimes its just fat, but in some cases, heavy drinking will result in the actual growth of breast tissue. Not cool Secondly, alcohol will help you get fat. Yes, the beer gut is no myth, it actually happens. Just as protein, carbs and fat have energy associated with them (4/4/9 calories per gram), so does alcohol. 7 calories per gram actually. Its not a huge deal if you just have a beer or a glass of wine every now and then, but if you start downing 20 beers in a session, youre going to start looking like Homer Simpson. Thirdly, alcohol will deplete you of a whole heap of stuff. Alcohol is a diuretic, which means it makes your body get rid of water, which means you get dehydrated and as you know, water is an essential ingredient for muscle building. Alcohol will also deplete you of vitamins and minerals. Once again, this wont help you at all in your quest for muscle as your body needs to be in full working order. When I was in Germany not that long ago, I met some experienced drinkers who, before a big session, would consume enough vitamins and minerals to kill a horse. They claimed it helped with the hangover and they were right. Trust me on that one. So if you still decide to head out on the town and have a drink or twenty, dont worry too much, there are a few things that you can do to blunt the negative effects of alcohol on your bodybuilding. Firstly, drink plenty of water before, during and after you drink.
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I know it may not look cool, but if you can alternate between alcoholic drinks and water, you will be a lot better off for it, both the next morning and in the gym later on. Its also very important that if you are having a heap to drink, that you drink as much water as you can when you get home. This will help your body recover from the punishment youve put it through and it will make you feel a whole heap better when you get around to waking up. Next, make sure you have a hearty meal before the drinking session. This will help supply your body with nutrients, before you end up destroying some of it with grog. If you have them, some multivitamins will also help. Learn from the Germans and take a few more than usual, you will be surprised at the effect. But anyway, thats enough about what to do if youre going to have a big night with the boys. After all, this isnt a book on hangover cures. Next up were going to look at the all important topic of how much to eat. If you get one thing right with your diet, then it has to be this
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How Much to Eat

I feel like Im repeating myself here, but once again, we reach a topic that most people have no idea about. And this is a shame, because working out how much you need to eat is a fundamental part of building muscle, youll understand why in a second. Theres an old saying in bodybuilding that I think sums up muscle building nutrition in a nutshell. It goes something like this: How much you eat determines whether you gain or lose weight, but what you eat determines what you gain or lose. Dont just write this off as some fancy quote, have a think about it. Well be looking at what to eat in a little while, but for now, lets just focus on how much food you should be shoving in your mouth everyday. I find its often easier if I first explain what a calorie is, since most people really have no idea. If only 20% of Americans can find the US on a map of the world, Id hate to think about how many people truly understand the meaning of a calorie. A calorie is simply a measurement of energy. Just as we use metres (or yards, depending on where youre from) to talk about distance, we use the calorie to measure energy. 1 calorie is defined as being the amount of energy that will heat 1kg of water by 1 degree Celsius. So when you eat food, the amount of energy that it can deliver to your body is measured in calories. Now its time for a little physics. Im assuming you never studied thermodynamics at college, so Im going to make this dead simple. Dont worry, you wont have to pull out your old maths text book.
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Basically, there is a law that states that energy cannot be lost or destroyed. It can be transformed, transferred, shifted, whatever, but the overall amount of energy stays the same. Now lets look at it in terms of your body. The input of energy comes from food. Its like petrol for your car, if you didnt eat, youd have no energy to do anything and eventually you would die. The output of energy comes from many sources. Your body requires a certain amount of energy just to survive. Doing those simple things like beating your heart, breathing etc actually consumes energy. Even muscle requires energy just to survive, which is what I want you to really understand. If your body has more energy than it needs, then it is able to store that energy in your body. This is why people get fat. It is also the reason that people can put on tons of muscle. While you are always going to gain a little fat while you gain some muscle, you can minimize it using the techniques shown in this book, especially this chapter. Conversely, if your body doesnt have enough energy to do the things it needs to, you will lose weight. This happens because while the input of energy (food) isnt high enough for the bodys requirements, fat and muscle can be broken down again and used as muscle. This is how people lose weight. So, to sum up, if you want to gain weight, you need to eat more than you expend. If you want to lose weight, you need to eat less than you put out. Very simple and its this that we can now build on, to learn more about muscle building nutrition.
The Muscleheads Simple Method for Calculating how Much You Need to Eat
Alright, lets forget about the theory for a minute and look at some practical applications of what you learn in the last section. Im going to present a simple way to calculate how much you need to eat and of course, there is a calculator included in the software that came with this product, for those of you who are a bit mathematically challenged.
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The following method is quite a simple one. Its not the most accurate of all the methods, but it is perfect for what were trying to achieve. It doesnt matter if the numbers are a tiny bit off, because youll never be able to eat the exact amount anyway, so all you really need is a ballpark figure. First up, we need to know your weight. There is no magical way to do this, just find the nearest set of scales and jump on them. Ok, I dont actually mean jump on them, Im not going to be held responsible if you break your scales, just gently stand on them and find out how much you weigh. Step 2, multiply your weight in pounds by 11. If you are using metric, just multiply your weight in kg by 2.2 to get pounds. This is the amount of calories that your body burns just lazing around doing nothing, just trying to keep you alive and your body functional. Now, we take that number and multiply it by 0.35. This will give you your metabolic rate, which is a fancy term for the amount of energy thats consumed by your activities during the day. Doesnt matter if your activities consist of rolling out of bed, putting your clothes on and driving to work, or spending an hour working out like a mad man in the gym, this is only a rough estimate. You will see in the following chapter why a rough guide like this is the way to go. So by now you will have 2 numbers. The first is called your calorific needs and the second is called your metabolic rate. Add these two numbers together and you will come to the total amount of energy that your body will burn in a single day. So if you were to eat at exactly this number, then you would neither gain nor lose weight. So what about if you want to gain or lose weight? Ill go into that in a second, let me just show you how this first number is calculated. For simplicity sake, lets assume youre a 200 pound guy.
To calculate your calorific needs: 200 x 11 = 2200 To calculate your metabolic rate: 2200 x 0.35 = 770 Total calories burnt per day: 2200 + 700 = 2900
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Now remember, this is the amount of calories you are burning per day, not the amount of calories you need to eat. If you only ate at your maintenance level then your weight would remain the same and you just wouldnt be able to gain any muscle, regardless of how hard you were training in the gym. Now what Im about to say is absolutely crucial if you want to build muscle. If you want to put on some muscle, then you have to eat more than you burn up! Its as simple as that. For most people starting off, I usually recommend eating 500 calories more than you burn per day. This will help most people achieve their goals. However, if you are the type that has a high metabolism, then you are really going to need to eat a lot more than this. Perhaps 4500-5000 calories if necessary. In the next chapter Ill go into how to work this out, but for the moment, if you are new, just start with an extra 500 calories per day and see how you go. Now, I can already hear you thinking Does this mean I have to count calories?. Well, yes and no. You see, while its not that important that you count every calorie that enters your body, it is very important that you are eating quite close to the right amount. Being pedantic and counting the exact calories wont really make a worthwhile difference for the time its going to take to ensure that all your food is perfect. What is important is that you realize how to eat the right amount of food. So what I recommend you do is count the calories for a little while. For the first few days, write down everything that you eat and then look up values for it online, using a service like fitday.com. Once youve done that, you can workout what you are supposed to eat. After a few days of this, you will know just by looking at it if you are eating enough and your job will be complete. This is definitely more important for people looking to lose fat, rather than build muscle. If youre the type that cannot gain weight, then I give you
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permission to eat as much as you can. Chances are that even if you put on a little fat, that you can get rid of it quick smart anyway. As for the guy who has a slower metabolism, I would strongly advise you to keep count of calories until you know what youre eating. If you go nuts and eat everything in sight, not only will you gain some serious muscle, but youll also end up looking like a sumo wrestler. So stick to the 500 calories above maintenance level and monitor that. But more information on that in the following chapter. Now that you know how much to eat, its time to look at the other half of the equation: What to eat.
What to eat: The foods of Champions

Like Ive written previously, when it comes to muscle building nutrition, there are 3 main points to keep in mind. How much to eat, what to eat and when to eat. If you can get all three of these down pat, then you will be sure to build a ton of lean muscle and keep the fat at bay. Now, weve already covered how much to eat, lets take a look at what you should be eating, as this can often be as confusing as how much to eat and theres certainly more to it than when to eat. Im going to break this section up into the macronutrient categories, so its easier for you to refer back to this guide when youre looking to go shopping or whatever.
Good Sources of Protein

Since protein is the building blocks of muscle, its very important that you only eat the best sources of it. Lean, pure sources of protein are the ones youre after. Lets take a look at some of my favorite sources of protein: Youll find that a lot of the best sources of protein come from meat. It makes sense when you think about it, if you want to build mus-
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cle, eat the muscle of something else! My favorite and a popular choice among many bodybuilders is chicken breast. While the dark parts of the chicken arent too bad, you are better off sticking to the breast, as its almost pure protein. And it can get expensive, but if you can afford it, it is definitely worth it. Another favorite is turkey breast. Its even lower in fat than chicken breast and is once again, almost pure protein. Another great thing about chicken and turkey is that you can do so many things to it without making it too unhealthy. And just a disclaimer for all the idiots out there, no, just because KFC use chicken breasts, it doesnt mean you can go out and eat KFC every day. I hope you already knew this And for all of you red meat lovers, never fear, steak is a great food for building muscle. As long as you choose the leaner cuts of meat, you cant really go wrong. While these cuts are often the more expensive ones, you can get away with the cheaper cuts of beef if you take a little extra care and cut off all excess fat before consumption. Fish is also another great choice. Tuna and salmon have been staples of bodybuilders for years. While plain tuna can be quite boring, there are plenty of sauces and other ways to use it so it actually has some flavor. But you dont have to limit yourself to tuna and salmon, there are plenty of sorts of fish that are great for building muscle, far too many to list here, but chances are youve seen them at your local supermarket. Of course, dont discount minced meats. Mince chicken and turkey are two of my favorites, because theyre so easy to cook and you can do so many things with it. However, be careful when you cook mince beef, as its often higher in saturated fat than youd want. I buy the premium mince, then drain out the fat as its cooking. Egg whites are also used a lot by bodybuilders, especially the hard core ones. These days, it no longer requires you to separate the yolks from the whites, as you can buy whites in a separate box at
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the supermarket. This makes it a lot easier if egg whites are your thing. Personally, I hate omelets, but if you like them, then go right ahead, egg whites are probably the purest form of protein that you can get, so you certainly cant go wrong with them. It might take you putting on your thinking cap to find an interesting way to eat them, but if you can, then get into it. Another handy source of protein is milk. While even the low fat versions contain quite a lot of sugar, there is still a fair amount of protein to be had and when you mix it with some protein powder, it can lead to a big hit of protein. And when it comes to milk, I highly recommend sticking to the low fat or no fat versions. The fat you find in milk is mostly saturated, so its better to forget about the full fat versions and stick to getting your fat from other sources, as Ill explain in a minute. The final source of protein that I want to mention is whey protein. But since this is a supplement, Ill go into greater detail on this later, in the final chapter. Now, lets look at some sources of protein that you should steer clear of. Basically, this will mean anything thats highly processed and/or full of saturated fats. Obviously things like fast food burgers and fried chicken is out. You would be surprised at how many people think they can get away with stuff like that because it has protein in it. Also, stay away from really fatty cuts of meat like lamb chops, sausages, processed deli meats like kabana, salami, etc etc. When it comes to deciding on your protein sources, use a little common sense and an equal dose of discipline. If it contains too much fat and not enough quality protein, then its probably not a very good choice.
Good Sources of Carbs

When it comes to looking for types of carbs to eat, I generally split them up into two main groups. First, we have the starchy, grainy carbs like bread and rice. And secondly, we have the fibrous fruits and vegetables.
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Its important for muscle building that your diet includes both, but lets talk about some good sources of each. When it comes to starchy carbs, I like to follow a simple rule. The less human interference the better. Even though white, sugary bread might taste great, its not a very good choice for you. This is because, in the process of making it nice and white, a lot of the goodness is removed. The end result of this process is that the GI goes up, which as youll recall means that you end up with an insulin spike. Which is turn can lead to fat storage if youre not careful and unless its at a specific time (more on this later) you want to keep your blood sugars levels steady throughout the day. This means that white bread, white rice, any sugary breakfast cereals and any other carbs that you might eat with a high level of human interference are on the black list. To build quality muscle without gaining lots of fat as well, its important that you focus on the good quality, natural carbs. Instead of chowing down sugary bread, I want you to start eating the following foods. Whole wheat bread is a good choice, as long as it is also not pumped full of sugar, as they are in some countries. Its important to check the labels of some of these foods when you first buy them, as companies are adding all sorts of rubbish to them just to make them taste better. The same thing goes for pastas and any other sort of bread product, such as English muffins. Highly processed pasta isnt going to do you any favors, so stick to the whole meal stuff and the same goes for the muffins, which are a favorite of mine when you put some peanut butter on top. Brown rice is another good source and one where you are generally pretty safe from hidden dangers like added sugar. Its also good for filling you up as it generally doesnt take much rice to really satisfy you, this is especially helpful if youre a hard gainer who is trying to eat as much as you physically can. Brown rice is good from another point of view because you can eat it with just about anything and make it into an interesting meal.
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Grab your chicken breast, throw it on top of a bed of rice, add the sauce of your choice and away you go. Personally, I love a good, hot chili sauce, but each to their own. Another good choice is yams, or sweet potatoes. While I personally think these little guys taste like rubbish, they are very popular with bodybuilders and for good reason. If you can stomach these, then go right ahead, if youre like me, feel free to go with any of the other choices. Something that Im a fan of is wholemeal pita bread. Im not sure if theyre called this everywhere around the world, but they are these middle easten wraps. Theyre quite thin (much thinner than bread), theyre good to eat, you can put some meat in the middle and you have a healthy meal. Just make sure you dont buy the white ones as they suffer from the same problem as the breads. And finally, my favorite source of carbs: oats. Once again, another favorite of bodybuilders for many years. They have one of the lowest GI of all the starchy carbs are also pack a few grams of protein as well, so they are an ideal muscle building food. Oats on their own can be pretty bland, so I tend to add something to them in order to make them taste nicer. If you like porridge, get into it, but personally, I hate porridge, so I like to do something a little different. I dont claim to invent it, although I still call this meal the Muscleheads World Famous Oats. I take cup of oats, mix 1 scoop protein powder in with 150mL of milk and put the mix over the top of the oats. If you can get a nice tasting protein powder (I love optimum nutritions choc mint) then its just like eating a milkshake. I highly recommend you give this meal a shot. Its quick, easy and tasty. So thats it for the starchy carbs, just remember to steer clear of the white, processed junk and stick to the more natural carbs, like brown bread, oats and pita bread. Now, onto the other sort of carb, the fibrous fruit and veggie type.
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These are the ones you were forced to eat as a little kid and chances are that this group will be the hardest for you to eat in bulk. But it doesnt have to be like that, as youll soon see. Since most types of vegetables have very little calorific value, you can basically get away with eating as much of it as you like. You have permission from me to stuff yourself full of broccoli whenever you feel like it. Im not going to go into all the pros of why you should be eating vegetables, but I will mention the main couple. Firstly, vegetables are full of fiber, vitamins and minerals and can help your body get some of the extra stuff it needs, that it may not be getting from other sources. Secondly, because they have a small calorific value, you can eat as much as you want and this is a great way of making yourself feel satisfied. You are less likely to want to go and eat some junk food if you are full of good, wholesome veggies. Generally, a good rule to follow is that the greener the vegetable is, the better it is for you. Vegetables like spinach, broccoli, brussell sprouts are all excellent choices, although just about anything you find in the greens section at your local supermarket will do. Even veggies like corn, which are high in sugar, are ok, because they are low GI carbs, so they will not give you huge spikes of insulin like other sugars will. While its still preferable to stick to spinach or broccoli, theres no harm in eating corn or carrots or any other vegetables that are higher in sugar. As for fruits, you cant really go wrong with them either. Like corn, they tend to be higher in sugar than other green, leafy vegetables, but that doesnt mean you cant eat them. I still recommend a couple of pieces of fruit per day. Because of their low GI, you can afford to eat the sugars without the negative side effects of insulin spikes.
Good Sources of Fat

Since fat is so calorie dense (9 calories per gram, compared to 4/g for both protein and carbs) you really dont need to get that much
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into you in order to get your 20% worth. So when youre eating your fats, you need to be careful you dont over indulge. I had a friend who I got started on a good bodybuilding plan. His goal was to shed some fat before a European escapade, so I had him training hard and eating really well. The only problem was that he was still gaining weight, regardless of what he seemed to be doing. So I asked him to write everything that he ate down for a day and calculate the calories. Turns out that his small snack of walnuts was over 1000 calories per day, putting him well above his maintenance level. Once he fixed this problem, the fat just fell off him and he went over to Europe and had a ball. But anyway, the moral of the story is just to be extra careful when dealing with the fats, as a slight mistake can result in screwing your entire diet up. Anyway, as you should remember, there are good fats and there are bad fats. You need to make sure that you consume mostly good fats, while keeping the bad fats to a minimum. While some good foods, such as steak, are always going to contain some bad fats, its not a huge deal, as long as the majority of the fats are of the good sort. My favorite source of good fat is peanut butter. Natural peanut butter is better, because they dont add sugar or nasty, man-made trans fats, but depending on where you live, the regular peanut butter may not be that bad. I would definitely check the label beforehand and if you see too much sugar, then try and get a hold of some natural peanut butter. Its worth the extra dollar per tub. Another great source for fats are nuts. Walnuts and peanuts are great sources of the good fats, but be careful, dont end up like my friend. Make sure you realize how much fat you are actually eating before you gobble up an entire cup of walnuts and wonder why you arent ripped. On the plus side, if you are struggling to gain weight, then eating foods like nuts is a great way to squeeze some extra calories in.
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There are some other things, such as fish oil or flaxseed oil that are great sources of fat, but since they are supplements, I will be covering them in a later chapter. As for bad sources of fat, its basically common sense. Fatty, greasy fast foods are definitely on the bad list. Loaded with animal fats (the bad stuff), these guys will only help you if youre looking to become a sumo wrestler. Milk is something that also contains a fair portion of these bad fats, while I prefer the skim milk, going full fat isnt that bad, depending on how much milk you drink. If youre drinking a couple of liters a day, then definitely consider going skim. Now that were done with looking at which foods to eat and which to avoid, lets take a look at what you should be drinking.
What to Drink
If youve read any of what Ive already written in this book, Im sure youll be able to guess what Im going to tell you here. If you are really serious about building your body to its maximum potential, then youd be crazy to drink anything but water (with the odd exception of course). Ive already raved about the benefits of water in this book, so you wont get a double dose, but I really cant stress how important drinking water can be for a bodybuilder, whether youre looking to build muscle, lose fat, or both. A good number for most people to drink is about a gallon per day (or 4 liters for those non Americans). This might sound like a lot, but its not when you break it up throughout a day. I personally have a pint glass I borrowed from a trip to Ireland once. Every time I feel thirsty, I pull my pint glass out and fill it with water. If I do this at every meal, thats 6 pints worth, plus I always manage to drink a couple extra throughout the day. Not to mention the 1-2 liters I drink every workout.
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If you just make a conscious effort to continually hydrate yourself throughout the day, then getting your fair share of water shouldnt be a problem. Fruit juices should definitely not be on your list of things to drink. Remember what I said before about human interference? While fruits in their natural state are fine, fruit juice gets rid of all the good bits and leaves you with the bad bits, which is not a good combination. Obviously, soda should also be on your blacklist. I dont have to tell you about how much sugar is in a can of coke, let alone a couple of liters. If you find yourself drinking this amount of soda, then you have already found one area that you can instantly improve on. While I used to recommend to people who crave something sweet to drink sugar free soda, I am now saying the opposite. Firstly, there have been studies that show that while the sugar free drinks may not contain any calories, they actually trigger a hormonal response that mimics what your body would do if you actually did drink a really sugary drink. This is obviously bad, not only is it acting like a sugary drink, but since people dont realize that its actually doing them bad, they often drink more than they normally would. Secondly, there is a mental aspect to drinking sugar free drinks that I dont like. Its a bit like the studies that have shown that soft drug users are more likely to turn to hard drugs later on. If youre giving in and drinking sugar free soda, then it really doesnt take much for you to go the whole hog and start drinking full sugar soda, which is a path to failure. Milk, as you should already realize, gets my thumbs up. I dont recommend drinking liters of it per day, as it contains quite a lot of sugar, but drinking a small amount is fine and wont do you any harm. The only exception to this is if youre looking to get completely shredded and you are looking to go from an already lean state, to an extremely lean state.
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Ok, so there you have it, a short section on what to drink. If youre not drinking loads of water, then youre just not serious.
Macronutrient Ratios and Carb Manipulation

Macronutrient ratios is a bit of a buzzword in the fitness community. Once again, we find something that just about every expert claims to have a different opinion on. They all claim to know the exact ratio that will magically transform your body into the Godlike sculpture that youve always wanted. However, Im about to say something a little different. Something that you wont hear from many other muscle gurus. There is no magical ratio for everyone! Since every bodys body functions slightly differently, there will never be a single ratio that works perfectly for everyone. I can tell you to eat at a certain ratio and this will work for most people quite well. And even for the people its not perfect for, it will still be good to enough for you to get good results. However, I want to address the people for whom the normal ratios wont work as well. Generally, I tell people to shoot for 40/40/20 ratio. That is, 40% of your calories come from protein, 40% come from carbs and the remaining 20% comes from fats. Now, if you have an average metabolism, you can afford to skip this section as I am not addressing you, although its still some handy information. If your metabolism is slightly faster or slower, then you are going to have to make some adjustments in order to build enough muscle, without gaining lots of fat, or in the case of the hard gainer, gaining any muscle at all. You see, regardless of how much food youre eating overall, your body only needs so much protein. If you eat too much, your body disposes of it as a waste product. I dont care what youve heard, excess protein wont help you build excess muscle. A good rule of thumb is that you shouldnt eat more than 2 grams
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of protein per pound of body weight. So if youre a 150 pound guy, 300 grams of protein a day is enough for you. And since 300 grams of protein equals 1200 calories and since according to the 40/40/20 rule, you require the same amount of carbs, so theres another 1200 calories. Add in your required fats and you have 3000 calories total for a day. Now, if 3000 calories is enough for you to gain significant amounts of muscle, then great. Chances are that it will work for most people reading this book, but there are a small group of people for whom it wont necessarily work. What if youre a 150 pound guy who has a fast metabolism and therefore needs more calories, say, 3500 per day? Should you bump up the amount of protein, in this case to 350 grams of protein? You would be far better off not doing that and instead, getting your extra calories from high quality carbs. Keep the protein levels the same and just up your carbs. Eat some extra rice with your meals, shove some more oats into your mouth, if you are a hard gainer, you can get away with eating the extra calories.
Meal timings: The forgotten Factor

Most diet books do a decent job of talking about what foods to eat and how much food you should eat. What they often forget to mention is WHEN to eat. While this isnt as important as choosing the right foods to eat, eating in a certain way at certain times is something that will really transform your overall physique. If you think back to the first chapter and the building blocks analogy, you might remember that to build muscle, we need blocks to build the muscle with. Without this, you dont have any muscle and you wont be too happy. Now, you also need to remember that when you workout, you are breaking down your muscles. And so the period of time right after
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a workout is essential. Your muscles are screaming out for nutrients to help with the rebuild and if you give it to them, they will reward you with growth. So lets look at the two most important times to make sure you have a good meal in your stomach. The first one is pre-workout. For this meal, make sure you have a decent serve of protein, plus a serve of a high quality, low GI carbohydrate. This will ensure that your body is ready to work out and that you will have sufficient energy to workout hard. I always try and eat this meal within an hour of working out. I dont like working out on a full stomach, so I like to give the food some time to digest before hitting the gym. Often Ill just have a quick protein shake mixed in with cup of oats. But sometimes I just use one of my regular meals as the pre-workout meal, but it all depends on timing. The most important time of all is right after your workout. This is known in bodybuilding circles as the anabolic window. As soon as possible after your workout, you will want to get in your post-workout meal. I would recommend either having your workout meal as soon as you finish your workout, or just drive home and eat it there. The key is to not wait around too long. For this meal, you need to consume a large portion of protein (50 or so grams is good) and a large portion of high GI carbs. Now, I know I said that high GI carbs are usually bad, but this time is different. You normally dont want to eat high GI carbs because they cause a huge spike in insulin, which is like the transport system for your body. However, during your anabolic window, an insulin spike is a good thing. Because the insulin can actually take the protein to the muscles to help with the rebuild job. This is a key point to understand, so Ill put it another way. Imagine your local rail service. During the day, trains dont need to run too often because people are slowly coming and going. The demand just isnt that high right? Well, think about your anabolic window like peak hour. Suddenly there are thousands of people waiting for a train, so its in your best interest to transport those people as quickly as possible, which is exactly what insulin will do for your muscles.
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The drink that I use is one that I would also recommend for you, however, if youre a hard gainer, feel free to up the quantities as much as youd like. If youve been having trouble gaining up until now, this could very well be the fix youve been looking for.
2 Scoops whey protein (about 60g) 250mL Milk 30g dextrose (a common sugar)
If you are looking to get ripped, I would not add the dextrose, but just stick to the whey, milk and perhaps a low GI carb like oats. The final meal timing I want to talk about is breakfast. While a lot of people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, most people still dont take it seriously. And while Im not going to say its the most important meal of the day (post-workout meal wins that award) its certainly up there. Skipping breakfast is one of the worst moves you can make if youre looking to build muscle. There is a reason its called breakfast: youre breaking a fast. And if you remember what happens when your body senses a lack of nutrients, youll realize why this is important. If you dont supply your body with nutrients every few hours, your body goes into starvation mode and catabolism begins, which means your body will feed on its own muscle just to survive. This is why concentration camp victims were so skinny, yet alive. So when you wake up, your body is screaming out for food. Which is why its important to curb the catabolism right away and make sure that breakfast is one of the first things you do all day. Personally, I always get up, go eat my breakfast while watching some crap morning TV, then I hit the gym. Its good to get in a routine if you can as this will make it easier for you to stick to the plan.
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Metrics: Time to Measure Up

This is not a topic that you see enough of in bodybuilding literature as far as Im concerned. I know youre probably sitting there wondering why measuring stuff would be important, but by the end of this chapter, I know I wouldve convinced you of its importance. The main reason I consider measuring and recording data incredibly important is because every body is different. And while the information Ive given you here is excellent, there is only one way to tell if its actually working or not. And thats to get some evidence of it by measuring up. Even though the mirror is a good indicator, its hard to take notice of it if you look at it every day. Its easy for your eyes and brain to play tricks on you, so you can never be certain if what youre doing or not is working. The story I told earlier of my friend who thought he was doing everything perfectly, only to find out that he was eating more than he thought is a perfect example. Without the empirical data, its hard enough to work out whether youre on the right track, its also hard to solve any problems you might be having. Now, perhaps youre thinking that you dont like the sound of all this extra work, perhaps you wonder if its all worth it. And perhaps youre right. Once again, it all comes back to your goals. If your goal is to just improve your physique slightly, because youre almost at your ideal physique, then maybe all this measuring stuff is a bit over the top. However, if you are only a beginner, or if you are still a long way from your own Godlike physique, then measuring just about ev-
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erything is essential. I understand that this can be annoying and time consuming, so Ive included some software with this package to make everything as easy as possible, short of me coming and doing it all for you. So lets look at some of the more useful things to measure and record, starting with your diet. The diet is obviously very important and one particular area that people tend to get wrong, even with the right intentions. So if you are serious about getting your goal physique, its important that you know what youre eating. Please use the software that you got when you bought this package, it just could stop you from eating incorrectly, even when you think you are doing everything right, just like it did for my friend. Even if you only track your diets at the start of the program, thats fine, once you understand how much food you need to eat and what it looks like on your plate, you should be right from there, its just that when theres a major problem, the diet is often the culprit. The second thing I want you to track is your body. Now, this can be broken up into 2 further categories, so lets look at the first one first. If your goal is to build muscle, its important that you track the growth of your muscles. While this can be seen in the mirror, if youre doing that often, you might not notice a huge difference. So its important that you take regular measurements of the major body parts, so that you can see how youve really done over time. Weekly intervals is leaning towards too often, but over time will give you a great indication of how everything has gone for you. The best way to do this is obviously with the software provided with the package. Its also highly recommended that you take regular photos and add them to the slideshow maker, so you get a really good idea of how your physique has changed over time. As well as measuring your muscles, its important that you measure your body fat. This is especially important for endomorphs who gain fat too easily. Unless you track, you dont know the truth about your fat storage, so its important to track it using the software provided. Weekly is also a good interval to use, as your body
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fat will fluctuate throughout the day and the week, depending on your eating, training and other habits. There are tons of different methods to measure your body fat. They range from nice and simple (thats how youre going to be doing it) right up to hydrostatic weighing and stuff with lasers. But we arent going to get too high tech here. If you check out the tracking software thats provided with this package, youll see that we use a simple formula to check your body fat percentage. While it isnt the most accurate way to measure the exact percentage, its a great way to check on your progress. Because of the way men store fat, you will find that as your body fat decreases, so does the measurements around your waist. So while the actual number may be a little off, you will know for sure whether you are gaining fat or losing fat. If you are really keen on working out your body fat numbers, you might want to consider the hydrostatic method. You can do this at any normal university. I dont know the exact science behind how it works, but its seen as the most accurate way to get your body fat readings. However, unless youre really, really keen to know this number, Id just stick with the simple waist measurements, it works for what were trying to do. Dont get too bothered if you dont see results every week, the body works in mysterious ways, sometimes it takes a couple of weeks for things to really start moving along or change. Which brings me to my next point. Measuring your weight should also be something that you only do once a week. Overall weight isnt really a big issue (if you were ripped and muscular, would you care what the scales said?) but it is a handy figure to know, just to gauge how you are coming along. This is one area that can help find out if your diet is on track. If you are eating well, yet your weight isnt changing the way you want it to, its time to perhaps tighten it up, or eat more, depending on what your goal is.
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The final thing I want to mention is probably the most important of the bunch. Im talking about measuring your workouts! If youre not recording what you do in the gym each time you go, then youre really denying yourself of some serious muscle. This is because, regardless of how good you think your memory is, its not perfect, youre not going to be able to remember how much you lifted for each and every set you performed in the gym. So what you need to do is printout the workout sheets that come with this program (or from the software) and mark down what you lifted for every set of every exercise. This allows you to progress every workout. Remember from early on that this is one of the keys of muscle building? If youre not doing more each workout, then youll end up going backwards, so the only way to ensure that you will end up with your Godlike physique is to progress and the best way to do this is to write your workout down each time, then input it into the software that came with this product.
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The Truth about Muscle Building Supplements

Ahh, how the world of muscle building has changed. In the early days, when men were still men, there were no supplements. There was no latest steroid like supplement for them to take, yet some of the physiques of old are masterpieces. So surely, if these old dinosaurs could build muscle without supplements, then that means we can too right? Very good, in fact, the guys of old used the principles outlined in this book to achieve their own Godlike physiques and so can you. But first you need to know the truth about the supplement industry. The supplement industry is a massive profit machine for lots of different companies. You cant walk past a magazine stand these days without reading about the latest steroid like supplement that will literally force your muscles to explode! Well, at least thats what the ad says The truth is that just about all the muscle magazines are owned by supplement companies. All the big ones that millions of people read every week are awesome profit machines for the guys who own them. Its a smart business move, but its leaving thousands of guys across the world disappointed with their results and causing just as many to fall by the wayside and leave their dreams in the gutter.
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However, Im not completely against supplements. There are a handful of supplements that I use all the time myself and I certainly dont like wasting my hard earned money. What I want to try and get across to you is the understand of the role supplements play and realize that they are not magical. So to first understand this, I want to talk about the mindset of most people today. I call it the magic pill mindset. People arent willing to put in the hard yards and do things properly, they are always looking for the magic pill that they can take and solve all their problems. And this applies to more than just building muscle. Its in business, health, education, the list goes on. A great example of this is the margarine that lowers your cholesterol. People think its great because all they have to do is keep eating their margarine and their cholesterol will magically lower. Now, evidence shows that this can be the case, but it doesnt take a rocket scientist to work out that if that same person just changed their diet and became healthier, their cholesterol would be a lot better, compared to if they just took their daily dose of margarine. I know an overweight guy who is probably the epitome of this. He is always looking to lose fat and get into shape, but he doesnt go to the gym, exercise at all or eat well. Yet he is always reading up on the latest fat loss supplements, in the hope that he can continue his slovenly lifestyle and just take a pill each day to counter this. The same thing goes with supplements. People who havent had any success with muscle building before think it must be because they lack some magical ingredient that they can only get from an expensive supplement. Well, if you dont already realize it, there is no magic pill. Never has been, never will be. Anything that actually does work almost like magic will not be passed by the FDA as a supplement. Steroids are an example of this. The only way to achieve the body you truly want is to follow the principles outlined in this book. I wish I could tell you it was easy, but I cant. And you can believe me because I dont work for any
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supplement company and Im not going to try and sell you any supplements. I could make a lot more cash selling supplements that dont work and subscribing muscle building advice that doesnt work, so you continually buy my supplements, but integrity is important to me. I want my customers to achieve their dreams. So you need to realize that supplements might be able to make your life a little easier, they might be more convenient, but they wont make a mammoth difference to your overall physique. I remember when I bought a tub of protein powder a few years ago. I only bought it because I was sick of cooking up chicken breasts all the time and wanted an easier way to get some protein into me. But my friends immediately started asking so are you noticing the difference? as if I was taking steroids. Alright, so I hope I have instilled the right mindset about supplements into you. As long as you understand that they are only useful for convenience and to give you that extra 1%, you will be fine. Just forget about the magic pill and your body will thank you for it. So lets take a look at the supplements I use myself:
Whey Protein
This is a supplement that just about everybody in the bodybuilding world has used at one stage or another. The first thing you should know is that it has no magical properties! Think of it as powdered chicken breast if that will make it easier for you to understand. Its the most concentrated source of protein that you will find anywhere. Its made from milk (remember little Miss Muffet, eating her curds and whey?) but its lactose free, so you can consume it even if you are lactose intolerant. There are different sorts of whey protein, including isolates and concentrates, but the difference is not huge. At the end of the day, its all protein, so I recommend going for whatever brands you can afford and find tasty. You will find that isolates are usually more expensive and personally, I dont think the expense is justified. Just use bigger scoops
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of concentrate if you are concerned about not getting enough protein. One thing to watch out for is the Super duper mega weight gain packages you see about. These tubs are usually just whey protein with a bunch of low grade carb added in to increase the calories. You are much better off just using regular whey powder, plus adding your own source of carbohydrates. Most wheys are dessert flavored, so its advisable to drink them with milk, but if you dont want to drink any milk, then you can buy whey powder thats fruit flavored. These taste much better with water than the chocolate ones. All the wheys you will see in stores will be of high quality, so when choosing a protein powder, I usually recommend people just choose the ones that they can afford and enjoy eating. I personally love Optimum Nutritions choc mint flavor.
Creatine
This is a supplement that is well known to the bodybuilding community, but completely unknown to the rest of the world. Its been around for a while now and it is still one of the few supplements that I use myself and recommend for other lifters who want a slight edge. There is a complex process behind how it works, but all you need to know is that it helps fill your muscles with water, making them look bigger and making you stronger. Being stronger also means you can lift more weight, which in turn will help you build more muscle. Its not a steroid, so dont expect to look like a professional bodybuilder within 2 days of using it, but it can help you out. Creatine is found in some foods like beef, so if you eat a lot of red meat, you probably get a little Creatine already, but to get the full effect of Creatine, its much wiser to take 5-10 grams daily, depending on how much you weigh. A lot of people recommend cycling Creatine like its a drug, but thats rubbish. Theres no need to use a lot of it for the first few
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days either. Just take 5-10 grams a day and thats it. Very, very simple. It hasnt been proven, but word on the street is that about 10% of the population is a Creatine non responder. All this means is that the Creatine wont have any affect on you. You should be able to feel a slight difference after a couple of weeks use, so it will be easy to tell if you are getting your moneys worth. The last thing I want to mention about Creatine is that it is perfectly safe. Some naysayers out there rave on about how it can wreck your kidneys. Rubbish. Maybe Creatine wont help kidney disease, but it certainly doesnt cause it. There have been numerous studies done on this, so you can rest assured you wont die a week into your Creatine tub.
Multivitamins
Heres one you didnt expect to see in a bodybuilding book did you? Yes, the humble multivitamin is something that can definitely help you out, when youre looking to develop the body of your dreams. It wont help you directly put on some more muscle, but it will help you get your body in working order. Think of it like changing the oil on your car. It wont help you go any faster, but it will help the engine to run smoothly. There are as many types of multivitamins out there as people, so trying to find out which one to buy can be tricky work. This is because not all multivitamins are created equal. And when it comes down to it, the most important thing to consider is absorption rate.
While
Im not allowed to mention any specific brands (Im in enough trouble with supplement companies already), I can tell you some things to look out for when buying multivitamins. Generally speaking, the bigger brands that everyone knows have a lower absorption rate than some of the smaller, but unknown companies.
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But the multivitamins that I recommend the most are the ones designed with bodybuilders in mind. Its not because they will help you build more muscle, its just that they have a much higher absorption rate than the rest. So while they might be more expensive, they will be worth it if you are deadly serious about getting a god like body.
EFAs
Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are a great supplement and source of fat. I recommend that anyone who is really serious about building a Godlike physique gets a tub of these guys and takes a couple every meal. Studies are continually finding more benefits for this stuff, so you cant really go wrong. Its been shown to help you with your heart, its been shown to help burn fat and this is just the beginning. Its also quite cheap, so even if youre a poor college student, you should be able to keep yourself stocked up with EFAs for a while.
Supplements to Watch out For

By now you should already know how to spot a dodgy supplement. Remember that supplements are just that, supplements, they arent wonder drugs nor are they magical. So when you read an ad, or hear about a new supplement, have a think for a moment. Now, while I cant mention any names of supplements to watch out for (my lawyer has enough Mercedes as it is) I can tell you how to spot a dodgy supplement from a mile away. Just ask yourself these following questions whenever you want to purchase a new supplement and chances are youll save yourself a ton of cash in the future. Is this realistic? Does this new supplement sound a bit too good to be true? Does this seem a bit too hyped up to be real? If you can answer those questions honestly, you should be able to keep your wallet nice and full.
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So there you have it, supplements in a nutshell. And while I have recommended several supplements, the truth is that you dont NEED to use any of them. You can achieve your goal physique without using anything but the principles outlined in the rest of this book. Only use them when you are already doing everything you can, but want to improve your physique in every way possible.
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Muscle Building Myths: The all too common myths of bodybuilding that someone needed to bust!
Building muscle is an interesting thing. Unlike many other hobbies, there isnt really a governing body for people who just want to go to the gym, no official voice saying whats right and whats wrong. I guess the flux of bogus information is what drove you to buy this book. And while Ive already spent a lot of time outlining how you should go about doing everything, I thought it might be handy to outline a few things not to do. A few things to be aware of, especially when you and your friends start chatting about how to build muscle. Whenever this topic comes up in conversation, its always interesting to note that one guy is going on and on about the bullshit that youll see written below. At least youll be the guy in the know. Alright, enough talking, lets take a look at some of these muscle building myths!
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Muscle Myth #1
Following the routines of pro bodybuilders that you see in magazines is the best way to get huge and muscular, after all, pro bodybuilders are the epitome of muscularity.
Ahh, how often Ive heard this little one. A guy will read about the latest bicep routine of Ronnie Coleman in his favorite muscle mag and think finally, Ive hit the holy grail!. Well, at least you know thats not the case. Firstly, you have to realize that there are three main reasons why pro bodybuilders are actually pros. The first is that they have the best genetics on the planet. They were probably already the biggest and strongest kids in their class before they even picked up a weight. Once you add those genetics to a lifestyle that only revolves around bodybuilding, you begin to see why they are able to build the physiques that they do. And thirdly, to a pro bodybuilder, a chemist is just as important as a nutritionist. A lot of people dont realize that pros are on a whole cocktail of drugs to help them with their efforts. So when you add those three things together, it becomes obvious that most people will never look like them. It also means that they can train completely differently to us. They can hit the gym twice a day for 2 hours a session and not overtrain at all. The drugs help them to recover much quicker than we ever will naturally. Which is why when you see that Pro X is doing 20 sets of bicep curls, its best to say Good on him, but I know what works for me, so Im going to stick to it.
Muscle Myth #2
Eating lots of junk food is the best/only way to bulk up if youre skinny and have a hard time putting on a decent amount of weight.
Ahh, another gem. A lot of people who are muscle building experts will tell you to simply start eating loads and loads of crap
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if you are struggling to put on any weight. And to these people I say go right ahead. If you want to get really, really fat, go right ahead. Eating loads of junk food is a great way to put on fat, but I wouldnt say its a sound strategy for gaining muscle. There is a huge difference. And if youre one of the normal people who enjoy looking good and enjoy being able to show off their body, youll want to eat clean, as outlined in this ebook. On the other hand, if youre a big, solid power lifter who is proud to look like an unfit guy, then go right ahead, go get fat. Youll still be able to gain weight, but dont come crying to me when you no longer can fit into your favorite jeans and little babies begin to start latching themselves onto your nipples.
Muscle Myth #3
The best way to get toned is to do really high reps and low weights for all your exercises.
They just keep getting better and better. Of all the lies and misconceptions out there, this one has to be the most annoying. And even scarier is how many people buy into it. If youve ever spent anytime talking about fitness, Im sure you wouldve heard people mentioning how they dont want to be too big, so instead of lifting heavy, they just use a lighter weight and lots of reps. The misconception is that this will burn more fat and make you look toned. I say it like that because I think this word should be completely outlawed in a gym. There is no such thing as toning up. What most people call toning is actually a combination of two things. Fat loss and muscle gain. And of course, this comes down to diet and training. Thats right, hard work. I guess thats why most people would rather spend their time toning up in a gym, rather than going about it the right way. A few years ago, I bumped into my old physical education teacher. Everyone at school knew he was a lifter (You only had to look at him to realise this) and he had noticed that I was looking a lot bigger too. So we began talking about training. He mentioned
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that he was happy with his size, so now he is spending his time toning up. I looked at him for a second, waiting to see if he was joking, but he wasnt. Here was a person educated in the ways of physical training and he still had bought into the myth. I guess the moral of the story is, that if you have believed in this, there is no shame as it is so widespread. I know my PE teacher had spoken to a lot of students back in the day, about weight training. He was a teacher, he was a big guy, so naturally you would believe him, right?
Muscle Myth #4
Certain exercises are good for shaping muscles, while other exercises are only good for building muscles.
Yet ANOTHER lie spread throughout the muscle building world. Walk into any gym in any part of the world and youll see the same thing. People performing certain exercises because they believe that it will magically shape their muscle into what they want. The most common scenario is the young man who wants big arms. Instead of approaching his training in a sensible manner, this young man decides that the way to get those guns is to perform lots and lots of bicep curls. He does barbell curls for size and preacher dumbell curls for that elusive bicep peak. While I admire this persons enthusiasm, the plan has some major flaws. Let me clear this up once and for all. You cannot change the shape of your muscles by performing certain exercises. Certain people are known for the shape of their muscles because thats part of their genetic makeup. This means that no matter how many upside down, 45 degree angle whatever lifts, the shape will stay pretty much constant. I say pretty much because as your muscle grows in size, you might find that it does look a little different. Maybe your bicep will develop a peak. What you need to understand is that while muscles can change size with exercise, performing exercises to change the actual shape of a muscle is pointless. So next time you hear someone going on about it, ask them to put their money where their mouth is, if they will put some money on
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it, youve just about whatever money you put on. Its a sure thing as far as betting goes.
Muscle Myth #5
If you build some muscle, then stop training, the muscle you built will turn into fat.
Of all the myths I know of, this one really makes me shake my head in disgust. In a modern society with very good (or maybe not so good) educational systems, I really dont see how so many people believe this. I can understand where they come from. Im sure youve seen a guy who was once quite muscular turn into a ball of flab. But have a think about it for a second. Do you really believe muscle can actually turn into fat? If you do, congratulations, you are a modern day alchemist! They were the crazy guys a few hundred years ago who were sure they could turn lead into gold. Well, thinking that muscle can turn into fat is exactly the same thing! The reason why muscly guys sometimes turn fat is simple. At an advanced level of muscularity, you can afford to eat a lot more than usual. But when your muscle disappears and you continue to eat the same amount of food, its obvious that youre going to gain weight. People who work out regularly are also burning more calories throughout the day, which also helps them eat more without gaining weight. Simple wasnt it?
Muscle Myth #6
Leg training is only for hardcore gym freaks!

Ahh, again, how wrong this myth is. The main culprits of this myth are usually the bicep warriors. Not familiar with that term? Its a trademark of mine. You know what Im talking about, you do. Really. Theyre the guys who come into the gym and set themselves up on the bench.
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They do 15 sets of bench press then head over to the squat rack and pump out a good 10 sets of bicep curls. Now, youve already read this book in its entirety, so you know the importance of leg training, so Im not going to go into too much detail, but you get the picture. So there you have it, a few muscle building myths sorted out. I could go on and on, but as long as you understand the things I have written herein, you will have no problem being the most knowledgeable guy down at your gym. And yes, I am confident that you will know more than any of the trainers down at your gym.
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Conclusion
Ok, if youve actually read this ebook all the way through, I want to congratulate you. I know that a lot of people who actually buy this ebook will never even use it. I wish there was something I could do about that, but I cant help people who arent willing to help themselves. So well done. I know I come across as an arrogant jerk (and sometimes I am) but the truth is that I really do want to see you succeed. So now that youre armed with the knowledge that could just change your body for the good, are you going to use it? Are you going to grab the bull by the horns and hold on for the journey to come? Or are you going to let this package sit on your hard drive, gathering cyber dust? The choice is entirely yours. Remember, you have the power to change your body for good. All you have to do right now is make a conscious choice to do so and it will be so. If you need to read this book over and over, do it. If you need to constantly refer back to this book, do it. What I want you to do now is go open the checklist that came with this package. Print it out and stick it to your wall, or somewhere that you will see often. And then start checking things off as soon as possible. If you can manage to take action, you will be an unstoppable force, of this I have no doubt. Goodluck, hit the weights hard and now go build some muscle!
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Yours for building muscle, The Musclehead

The Muscle Head

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The information in this book should not be taken as medical advice.

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The History of The Musclehead

The Sad but True Story of Muscle Building

So without wasting anymore time, lets get into it!

The Mindset Necessary for Building Muscle

Mindset Power Tip #1

Mindset Power Tip #2

Mindset Power Tip #3

Mindset Power tip #4

Mindset Power tip #5

I cant emphasize this strongly enough

The Science of Building Muscle

So lets get into it!

How Muscle Fibres Work

Somatotypes and Why you need to know about them

The 2 Hs of Muscle Building: Hypertrophy and Hyperplasia

The Hormones of Muscle Building

Training for Strength vs. Size

The Correct Way to Structure Your Workout

Up next is the most important phase of the workout: War Time.

How Often to Train

Exercises for the Real Man

How to Train Specific Parts of Your Body

How you Should actually Move the Weights

How to Use Your Breathing to Help With your Lifting

My little secret muscle building weapon

Resting Time Between Sets

Dont become a Bicep Warrior

Some tips on Gym Etiquette

How to pick your training partner

How to Setup a Home Gym

Muscle Building Nutrition

Burning like a fire vs The Slave Cycle

Lets start with everyones favorite muscle building macronutrient, protein!

How Much to Eat

What to eat: The foods of Champions

Good Sources of Protein

Good Sources of Carbs

Good Sources of Fat

Macronutrient Ratios and Carb Manipulation

Meal timings: The forgotten Factor

Metrics: Time to Measure Up

The Truth about Muscle Building Supplements

Supplements to Watch out For

Leg training is only for hardcore gym freaks!

Yours for building muscle, The Musclehead

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