Sunday, November 27, 2011
Gain Weight Quick
Hey all, I've just got my new site up and running GainWeightQuick.com. It covers everything you need to know on how to gain weight and build muscle Thanks for all your support. The ebook will be out January 2012
Monday, November 21, 2011
How to Loose Weight
Loosing weight is really just a numbers game. Loosing weight is simply about burning more calories than you consume. Let's say that you consumed 2000 calories today and you burned 3500. This means you lost weight. How much weight? Well, 3500 calories is equal to one pound. So if you consumed 2000 calories but burned 3500 (2000-3500 = -1500). You lost 1/2 a pound. It really is that simple. There are of course other variables such has water weight, metabolism, and muscle gain/muscle loss but those are not things to worry too much about for now.
If you want to loose weight consistently and can have the discipline to track your calories and properly estimate the amount of calories you burn each day then you will have no problems meeting your goals. Using this approach you could even loose weight without working out or by eating only junk food. Of course I don't recommend either of these because it makes the process harder and it isn't healthy.
The sensible approach here is to make tracking calorie intake the priority along with eating primarily healthy foods and exercising at least 3 times per week. This will not only allow you loose weight easier but also cause you to get healthier than you are now.
Ok, so how do you track calories? You start by reading labels. You must correctly read the calories from labels on the food that you eat. Start a daily log of what you eat and how many calories you consume. Food that does not have a label can be estimated by using a calorie counter.
How do you know how many calories you burn each day? First I suggest you use a BMR calculator. This will calculate the number of calories you would burn if you stayed in bed all day. You can then either add your daily activities with a calorie burner calculator or apply the Harris Benedict Equation. Either method will give you a fairly accurate measure of the total calories you burn. Once you know this number you can make sure you don't consume more than that number. If you do you will gain weight. If you always make sure you're below that number you will loose weight. A good goal would be to have a calorie deficit of 500 calories/day. This would add up to 3500 calories in a week which is 1 pound. Keep in mind you can eat more if you burn more calories or you can speed up the weight loss by creating a larger deficit in calories burned versus calories consumed.
A few recommendations to follow when using this method:
Always consume at least 1300 calories per day. Anything less can deplete energy and overall health. It will also cause your body to try to store fat because it goes into "famine" mode. If you want to loose weight faster increase your activity level.
Eat 5-6 small meals each day. This keeps your digestion going all day long and keeps a consistent flow of nutrients to your muscles and body.
Stop eating 2 hours prior to bed. You don't want to go to bed with a stomach full of food since you don't burn a lot of calories at night.
Add weight lifting to your activity list. The more muscle your body has the more calories you will burn throughout the day. Thus creating an even bigger calorie deficit.
Drink plenty of water. Water is important to the digestive process. Don't worry about water weight. It's important to be well hydrated especially when you increase your activity level.
Don't cheat. By this I mean don't allow yourself to consume more calories than you burn on any day. If you want to have a piece of pie go ahead just don't let it put you over the amount of calories you burn. If it's going to then you need to figure out a way to burn more calories for that day.
Eat more protein and less carbs. Your muscles need protein to grow as mentioned above muscle is our friend in weight loss. Simple carbs cause insulin spikes which do not promote weight loss.
Get some fat in your diet. Eliminating fat completely from your diet will hurt your fat loss. Fat is a vital part of our bodies and depriving the body will cause it to store what it has.
If you want to loose weight consistently and can have the discipline to track your calories and properly estimate the amount of calories you burn each day then you will have no problems meeting your goals. Using this approach you could even loose weight without working out or by eating only junk food. Of course I don't recommend either of these because it makes the process harder and it isn't healthy.
The sensible approach here is to make tracking calorie intake the priority along with eating primarily healthy foods and exercising at least 3 times per week. This will not only allow you loose weight easier but also cause you to get healthier than you are now.
Ok, so how do you track calories? You start by reading labels. You must correctly read the calories from labels on the food that you eat. Start a daily log of what you eat and how many calories you consume. Food that does not have a label can be estimated by using a calorie counter.
How do you know how many calories you burn each day? First I suggest you use a BMR calculator. This will calculate the number of calories you would burn if you stayed in bed all day. You can then either add your daily activities with a calorie burner calculator or apply the Harris Benedict Equation. Either method will give you a fairly accurate measure of the total calories you burn. Once you know this number you can make sure you don't consume more than that number. If you do you will gain weight. If you always make sure you're below that number you will loose weight. A good goal would be to have a calorie deficit of 500 calories/day. This would add up to 3500 calories in a week which is 1 pound. Keep in mind you can eat more if you burn more calories or you can speed up the weight loss by creating a larger deficit in calories burned versus calories consumed.
A few recommendations to follow when using this method:
Always consume at least 1300 calories per day. Anything less can deplete energy and overall health. It will also cause your body to try to store fat because it goes into "famine" mode. If you want to loose weight faster increase your activity level.
Eat 5-6 small meals each day. This keeps your digestion going all day long and keeps a consistent flow of nutrients to your muscles and body.
Stop eating 2 hours prior to bed. You don't want to go to bed with a stomach full of food since you don't burn a lot of calories at night.
Add weight lifting to your activity list. The more muscle your body has the more calories you will burn throughout the day. Thus creating an even bigger calorie deficit.
Drink plenty of water. Water is important to the digestive process. Don't worry about water weight. It's important to be well hydrated especially when you increase your activity level.
Don't cheat. By this I mean don't allow yourself to consume more calories than you burn on any day. If you want to have a piece of pie go ahead just don't let it put you over the amount of calories you burn. If it's going to then you need to figure out a way to burn more calories for that day.
Eat more protein and less carbs. Your muscles need protein to grow as mentioned above muscle is our friend in weight loss. Simple carbs cause insulin spikes which do not promote weight loss.
Get some fat in your diet. Eliminating fat completely from your diet will hurt your fat loss. Fat is a vital part of our bodies and depriving the body will cause it to store what it has.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
How to get big
It's all about consistency, diet, sleep and exercise. If you've read my recent posts then this is nothing new. Focus on these four areas and you will absolutely gain weight. Let me break them down so you can make sure you are hitting each of these.
Consistency: Work out 3-5 times per week every week! Don't skip workouts unless your body absolutely needs the rest. (If your getting the rest I recommend this shouldn't be an issue.) I suggest you work each body part 1-3 times per week. Some bodybuilders will tell you once per week but some strength trainers will tell you 3 times per week so you need to think about your goals on that one.
Diet: You must be consuming at least one gram of protein per pound of body weight. Shoot for 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Spread this throughout the day. (You can get this from chicken, eggs, milk, protein shakes, steak, fish, etc.)
Calculate how many calories you burn on an average day then add 1000 calories to that. This will allow you to put on 2lbs a week which is a good pace. Spread it this out and eat every 2-3 hours. (keep in mind the amount of calories you burn each day can vary. If your more active you will burn more calories. As you gain muscle you will burn more calories.) If your not consistent on the calories and the protein then you wont make gains.
Sleep: Get that sleep! You need the rest to recover from your workouts. Aim for 8 hours or more. This is when your muscles will grow.
Exercise: Don't forget to squat. They are very important especially for gaining weight. Stick with compound exercises. Don't worry too much about doing isolation exercises. Your focus should be squats, bench press, shoulder press, bent over rows, dead lifts and pull ups. Use free weights. Don't mess with the machines. Start with a weight that is fairly easy to you then keep adding weight to the bar slowly but continuously. Keep track of the weight you used then add 5lbs to it each time you workout. Not only will you gain size this way but you will also gain strength.
Consistency: Work out 3-5 times per week every week! Don't skip workouts unless your body absolutely needs the rest. (If your getting the rest I recommend this shouldn't be an issue.) I suggest you work each body part 1-3 times per week. Some bodybuilders will tell you once per week but some strength trainers will tell you 3 times per week so you need to think about your goals on that one.
Diet: You must be consuming at least one gram of protein per pound of body weight. Shoot for 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Spread this throughout the day. (You can get this from chicken, eggs, milk, protein shakes, steak, fish, etc.)
Calculate how many calories you burn on an average day then add 1000 calories to that. This will allow you to put on 2lbs a week which is a good pace. Spread it this out and eat every 2-3 hours. (keep in mind the amount of calories you burn each day can vary. If your more active you will burn more calories. As you gain muscle you will burn more calories.) If your not consistent on the calories and the protein then you wont make gains.
Sleep: Get that sleep! You need the rest to recover from your workouts. Aim for 8 hours or more. This is when your muscles will grow.
Exercise: Don't forget to squat. They are very important especially for gaining weight. Stick with compound exercises. Don't worry too much about doing isolation exercises. Your focus should be squats, bench press, shoulder press, bent over rows, dead lifts and pull ups. Use free weights. Don't mess with the machines. Start with a weight that is fairly easy to you then keep adding weight to the bar slowly but continuously. Keep track of the weight you used then add 5lbs to it each time you workout. Not only will you gain size this way but you will also gain strength.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Best Exercise
If I had to tell you one exercise that is better than all the rest it would be squats. Many people don't like to squat. I think this is for several reasons. Lets face it, they are hard to do, they don't seem to work your upper body, women don't go nuts about nice legs, there has been a lot of incorrect info about them hurting your knees or back, etc. I'm sure you can think of a few more reasons why you shouldn't squat.
The truth is though that as long as squats are done correctly they are great! No other exercise will give you the benefits that squats give you. Squatting actually causes your body to produce more testosterone which in turn helps you build more muscle which in turn burns fat. You also use your upper body when you squat much more than most people realize. Not only does is work your core muscles to support the weight but you also work your arms and back. As you increase the weight on your squats your upper body will adapt to help support the extra weight.
Bottom line if your not squatting you need to start. You must follow proper form or you can get injured. I recommend starting off extremely light to work on technique then start adding weight very very slowly, but consistently. Start out by doing 5 sets of 5-6 reps. (after you have done 2 warm up sets) Don't over do it to start with. Remember this is about consistency so you don't want to injure yourself or make yourself so sore that you can't work out for a week.
Check out this video. It shows proper technique for squatting. Safety bars in place, clamps on the bar, straight back, knees stay behind the toes, thighs come down to parallel position, looking straight forward.
The truth is though that as long as squats are done correctly they are great! No other exercise will give you the benefits that squats give you. Squatting actually causes your body to produce more testosterone which in turn helps you build more muscle which in turn burns fat. You also use your upper body when you squat much more than most people realize. Not only does is work your core muscles to support the weight but you also work your arms and back. As you increase the weight on your squats your upper body will adapt to help support the extra weight.
Bottom line if your not squatting you need to start. You must follow proper form or you can get injured. I recommend starting off extremely light to work on technique then start adding weight very very slowly, but consistently. Start out by doing 5 sets of 5-6 reps. (after you have done 2 warm up sets) Don't over do it to start with. Remember this is about consistency so you don't want to injure yourself or make yourself so sore that you can't work out for a week.
Check out this video. It shows proper technique for squatting. Safety bars in place, clamps on the bar, straight back, knees stay behind the toes, thighs come down to parallel position, looking straight forward.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Sleep
Sleep is absolutely vital to your success in gaining muscle. You actually grow when you sleep, not when you are in the gym. I recommend getting 8-9 hours a night if possible. At a minimum you should get 7 and at most 10. Some people still think you can still catch up on your sleep. It really doesn't work that way. This is where consistency come in. You need to make it a priority to get a minimum of 7 hrs each night. Anything less and you are cheating your gains.
Getting enough sleep will obviously not only help you achieve your fitness goals but it will also help in every other part of your life.
Remember you have to follow all of the rules I gave you in order to reach your goals. You can't pick and choose the ones you want. You also have to be consistent about each one. (Yes, I'm going to talk about consistency in every article) Hopefully this will force you to see how important it is.
Getting enough sleep will obviously not only help you achieve your fitness goals but it will also help in every other part of your life.
Remember you have to follow all of the rules I gave you in order to reach your goals. You can't pick and choose the ones you want. You also have to be consistent about each one. (Yes, I'm going to talk about consistency in every article) Hopefully this will force you to see how important it is.
Friday, November 11, 2011
How to Gain Weight
Ok so in the last article I gave you the rules for gaining weight. In this article I want to elaborate on the diet rule. Some people will tell you that you just need to eat everything in sight to gain weight. While that is one way to do it I would recommend that you take a better approach. Mind you I said better approach, not easier. This approach involves some effort on your part in that you need to keep track of how many calories you are eating and how much protein you are getting.
I recommend along with many others that you take in at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. If you weigh 150lbs you should take in at least 150 grams of protein each day CONSISTENTLY. As you gain weight you must increase this number. You must spread your protein intake throughout the day and try to keep any single serving less than 40 grams. Your body can only digest so much protein at a given time.
If you don't take in this minimum amount of protein consistently each day you will not gain the muscle you desire. I know this can be difficult but if you plan ahead of time and make it a priority it can be done. I will post some tips on how to make this easier soon.
Now lets talk about calories. As you probably know you burn calories throughout the day. Even when you sleep you burn calories. To maintain your current weight you have to take in a certain amount of calories each day (this varies from person to person) but lets say you need 2000 to maintain your current weight. So if you ate more than 2000 calories you will start to gain weight. How much weight? Well 3500 calories is equal to 1 lb. This is something you want to remember. If you were eating 2500 calories a day instead of 2000 calories that gives you an extra 500 calories per day. If you did this for seven days (7 x 500) this equals 3500 calories which equals 1lb. Seems pretty simple huh? That really is the basis for gaining weight.
There are however a few tricky things to this simple concept. One of those being that most of us do not know how many calories we need to eat to maintain our current body weight. This is where keeping track of our calories comes into play. It's impossible to know how many calories your taking in if you don't keep track of it. This is why I feel that this is very important. Another tricky part here is that your body will burn more calories the more active you are. The amount of calories you burn each day will vary depending on your activity for that day. This makes it impossible to know exactly how many calories you would need to take in to get your extra 500 calories.
Here is what you can do to overcome this challenge. First you need to weigh yourself then start tracking your calories without making any changes to your diet. Do this for 3 or 4 days then weigh yourself again. If you haven't gained or lost any weight then average those days out. This will be an estimate of how many calories your body needs each day to maintain your current weight. If you lost or gained weight during those days you will need to make some slight adjustments. Once you have a rough idea of how many calories your body needs to maintain your weight you need to add calories to that number in order to gain weight. How much should you add? I recommend a goal of adding 1-3 lbs per week. Any more and you will start to add more fat than muscle. Any less and you will likely get frustrated at the slow progress and give up. Let's again say you need 2000 calories to maintain your weight. If your goal is to gain 2 lbs a week then you need to add an extra 1000 calories on top of this (3500 x 2 = 7000 calories. Divide this by 7 days equals 1000 calories per day) This mean you would need to eat a total of 3000 calories each day to gain your 2 lbs at the end of the week.
It is also important to eat these 3000 calories throughout the day. You need to eat more than 3 times per day. I prefer that you eat 6-8 meals a day. You should be eating every 2-3 hours. This gives your body a consistent flow of calories, protein and nutrients throughout the day. It's also easier on your digestive system.
I will be writing more on specific foods you should be eating. This should give you a basic understanding of what you need to do to get started though. Remember you must stay consistent on this. If you eat 3000 calories one day then go back to 2000 the next your not going to see any results.
I recommend along with many others that you take in at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. If you weigh 150lbs you should take in at least 150 grams of protein each day CONSISTENTLY. As you gain weight you must increase this number. You must spread your protein intake throughout the day and try to keep any single serving less than 40 grams. Your body can only digest so much protein at a given time.
If you don't take in this minimum amount of protein consistently each day you will not gain the muscle you desire. I know this can be difficult but if you plan ahead of time and make it a priority it can be done. I will post some tips on how to make this easier soon.
Now lets talk about calories. As you probably know you burn calories throughout the day. Even when you sleep you burn calories. To maintain your current weight you have to take in a certain amount of calories each day (this varies from person to person) but lets say you need 2000 to maintain your current weight. So if you ate more than 2000 calories you will start to gain weight. How much weight? Well 3500 calories is equal to 1 lb. This is something you want to remember. If you were eating 2500 calories a day instead of 2000 calories that gives you an extra 500 calories per day. If you did this for seven days (7 x 500) this equals 3500 calories which equals 1lb. Seems pretty simple huh? That really is the basis for gaining weight.
There are however a few tricky things to this simple concept. One of those being that most of us do not know how many calories we need to eat to maintain our current body weight. This is where keeping track of our calories comes into play. It's impossible to know how many calories your taking in if you don't keep track of it. This is why I feel that this is very important. Another tricky part here is that your body will burn more calories the more active you are. The amount of calories you burn each day will vary depending on your activity for that day. This makes it impossible to know exactly how many calories you would need to take in to get your extra 500 calories.
Here is what you can do to overcome this challenge. First you need to weigh yourself then start tracking your calories without making any changes to your diet. Do this for 3 or 4 days then weigh yourself again. If you haven't gained or lost any weight then average those days out. This will be an estimate of how many calories your body needs each day to maintain your current weight. If you lost or gained weight during those days you will need to make some slight adjustments. Once you have a rough idea of how many calories your body needs to maintain your weight you need to add calories to that number in order to gain weight. How much should you add? I recommend a goal of adding 1-3 lbs per week. Any more and you will start to add more fat than muscle. Any less and you will likely get frustrated at the slow progress and give up. Let's again say you need 2000 calories to maintain your weight. If your goal is to gain 2 lbs a week then you need to add an extra 1000 calories on top of this (3500 x 2 = 7000 calories. Divide this by 7 days equals 1000 calories per day) This mean you would need to eat a total of 3000 calories each day to gain your 2 lbs at the end of the week.
It is also important to eat these 3000 calories throughout the day. You need to eat more than 3 times per day. I prefer that you eat 6-8 meals a day. You should be eating every 2-3 hours. This gives your body a consistent flow of calories, protein and nutrients throughout the day. It's also easier on your digestive system.
I will be writing more on specific foods you should be eating. This should give you a basic understanding of what you need to do to get started though. Remember you must stay consistent on this. If you eat 3000 calories one day then go back to 2000 the next your not going to see any results.
Gain Weight
The focus of this article is about gaining weight. Not gaining weight because of poor diet and lack of working out but gaining weight intentionally. For the skinny guys out there you know what I am talking about. Gaining weight can be just as difficult a challenge for some as loosing weight is for others. It's difficult if not impossible to gain weight if you don't understand the rules and stick to them consistently. By following the basic rules anyone can gain weight. You can even do this without any supplements what so ever.
So what are the rules? Ok, here they are. Keep in mind I will go into each of these in more detail later..
1. CONSISTENCY - Consistency is absolutely the number 1 rule. What I mean by this is you must be consistent in everything you do when trying to reach your goals. You must work out consistently, you must eat consistently and you must rest consistently. This doesn't mean you can't cheat or even have cheat days but it does mean that you can't continuously allow yourself to skip workouts and meals.
2. DIET - Diet is absolutely crucial if your goal is to gain weight. Work out all you want, you still won't gain weight if your not eating the right foods in the right amount at the right time.
3. EXERCISE - It's is crucial that you focus your time doing the right exercises and using proper technique when you work out. This is the catalyst your body needs to build muscle rather than fat.
4. SLEEP - Sleep is when you recover from your workouts. It's when your body rebuilds and repairs itself. Lack of sleep will result in lack of recovery and lack of gains.
Ok, so I've given you the rules and you may think you understand but I really haven't given you the substance behind these rules that really force your body to grow. The next few articles will be about elaborating on these 4 rules. They'll be coming soon so stay tuned....
So what are the rules? Ok, here they are. Keep in mind I will go into each of these in more detail later..
1. CONSISTENCY - Consistency is absolutely the number 1 rule. What I mean by this is you must be consistent in everything you do when trying to reach your goals. You must work out consistently, you must eat consistently and you must rest consistently. This doesn't mean you can't cheat or even have cheat days but it does mean that you can't continuously allow yourself to skip workouts and meals.
2. DIET - Diet is absolutely crucial if your goal is to gain weight. Work out all you want, you still won't gain weight if your not eating the right foods in the right amount at the right time.
3. EXERCISE - It's is crucial that you focus your time doing the right exercises and using proper technique when you work out. This is the catalyst your body needs to build muscle rather than fat.
4. SLEEP - Sleep is when you recover from your workouts. It's when your body rebuilds and repairs itself. Lack of sleep will result in lack of recovery and lack of gains.
Ok, so I've given you the rules and you may think you understand but I really haven't given you the substance behind these rules that really force your body to grow. The next few articles will be about elaborating on these 4 rules. They'll be coming soon so stay tuned....
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