For Gaining Mass

Hi Dan
 
I saw in your gaining mass article, you concluded that you need 0.6-0.9 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. Recently, I read a study that said you only need half of your bodyweight in protein as a bodybuilder.
 
What could be said against that? I'm not sure how biology goes or protein synthesis but that stands against a lot the other things I've read from intelligent guys like yourself, Arnold, Milos, etc. have said in articles and such.

Let me try to make it simple.  The use of protein is not solely for building muscle.  As you increase protein intake, you upregulate use of protein for other sources...while you upregulate growth.  SO protein should be looking at as something you vary over time to take advantage of this.

When you are in a growth phase, you consume LESS protein and more carbs as a % of the total...as you move more toward a cutting phase, the protein % increases...and as you get bigger, the total protein increases...as you try to keep the gains going...you also gradually increase total protein to keep upregulating uptake...thought the gains decrease rapidly as you increase protein and more is broken down for other uses...so this last part is not a highly effective approach.  Finally, as you get to your cutting, you gradually  alter the protein %  upwards and lower the % carbs.

Post cut, you need to switch it up if you want to get the effect of the variation again...and thus cycling protein is te most ideal approach.  There is plenty of research on protein intake in bodybuilders.  But often the approach leaves out lean vs fat mass, diet changes over time, and other factors that we tend to include.

I hope that answers your question!

Dan

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Bump...

someone sticky this...

6'3"  @213

Squat 1x20x275

press:200, Deadlift:475, Bench:300, P.clean:235, Squat:385

"The only failure that is final is to stop trying to improve"

Done

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Good news is i might be getting a new job meaning an extra possible £90 a week, making me get around £170-200 per week which means i can start gym again and save up for my car, so yay, the main problems i have with are eating
 
I figured out why i wasnt gaining weight, i was eating ****loads but they were carbs that give you instant releases of energy or processed foods.

someone give him a medal lo

hey i dont noe if this is the right place to ask
but since you clearly know about everything
i was wondering:

i want to bulk up my arms very fast, and i read about a pure arm work out where you only work out your arms. It seemed reasonable to me, but i was wondering could u recommend a way to get big arms as fast as possible.

Not a good approach.

Train the whole body and you will grow faster.

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Yep. Train your whole body, that has adequate assistance in developing phenomenal arms anyway.

Biceps are synergists when you pull, triceps are synergists when you push < arm workout as well as the rest of the body. Although if a physique is your goal, you'd probably want to include some type (but not many) of isolation to your biceps and triceps.

It's a general rule of thumb (though not always accurate) that we add an inch or so to our arms every 15lbs we gain. So eat healthy and big and lift in the 8-12 rep range and you'll develop arms.

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

yeah i recently read that
hahah guess i should've done a little research before asking questions hahahah

thanks guys

I would rate this article 10/10. This works perfectly. This is a good work. I shall print out a copy and paste it in my wall. Shall follow it seriously.

Anything written by Dan deserves at least a 10 out of 10.

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

danmirage

#3 Cardio
The body adapts very quickly to cardio, even faster than it does to lifting.  For this reason it is important to vary an aspect of your Cardio about every 2-3 weeks, or as needed to maintain the results you are looking for.

If you want mass then your cardio can be at a minimum to keep your caloric needs down!
3x a week at the most.  Keep in mind the pre-post workout cardio you do IS cardio!  Excessive cardio will increase your caloric requirements.  If you need it to keep the fat off, keep the intetnsity low or use intervals for a short cardio workout!
 
Many bodybuilders, however, typically shy away from aerobic exercise, particularly in the growth season, fearing that it will cause a loss of muscle mass. 

If you do the same things every day, you get less and less caloric expenditure from them.  Additionally, as you lose weight, the number of calories expended from an activity declines the reverse is true as you gain weight!!

The solution?  Vary your training to keep your body from getting accustomed to it. 

I don't understand this.. someone explain please:)
 

He either meant "as you lose weight, you'll need to continue to decrease the calories in order to continue to lose weight. Same philosophy applies to gaining weight, you'll need to increase calories as you gain weight in order to continue the process of gaining weight."

Or he may have meant "you burn less calories per activity as you lose weight and you burn more calories per activity as you gain weight".

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

Not exactly....

If everything stays the same (calories in, lean mass, fat mass, weight, etc) and I do 20 minutes of, say, biking at a given pace each session, then the calories expended to do THAT exercise will decrease significantly after the second week.  That is due to many types of adaptation in the body.

If I change exercise or modes of exercise, I can keep the caloric expenditure high.

So, this is what I mean by The body adapts very quickly to cardio. 

When I say,
If you want mass then your cardio can be at a minimum to keep your caloric needs low.
AND
Excessive cardio will increase your caloric requirements.

I am letting you know that if you are trying to gain mass you need to make sure you have enough carb calories going IN TO MUSCLE to GAIN and MAINTAIN muscle...and aerobic work burns calories...most of those from carbs at the onset of steady state!  Once you deplete carbs sufficiently...you stop growing muscle and start to catabolize muscle.

When I say...
Many bodybuilders, however, typically shy away from aerobic exercise, particularly in the growth season, fearing that it will cause a loss of muscle mass. 

This is referring to the chemistry in the body changing.  We have found in research that duration aerobic training has an INHIBITING effect on muscle growth!  However weight training does not inhibit fat loss so it is a one-way effect.

When I say,
If you do the same things every day, you get less and less caloric expenditure from them. 

That is what I mean.  Do the same thing every day, you get less and less caloric expenditure from it.

When I say,
As you lose weight, the number of calories expended from an activity declines the reverse is true as you gain weight!!

I mean, as your weight drops, the calories expended to do an activity declines.  This is for two reasons we have observed...
1)  Resistance to burning calories during a weight loss cycle.
2)  Lighter overall amount of body mass leads to lower overall power needed to do an activity and thus lower calories expended to accomplish a given task.
  

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That makes sense.

So that is why HIIT is generally an effective form of cardio? Because you can go from 30 second jog / 30 second sprint to 45 second jog / 15 second sprint, etc.?

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

Yes, that is just one reason!

HIIT uses a multi-faceted approach to avoiding adaptation and maintaining the pace of your results.

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Hm, that makes sense.. but the ACE manual says have clients do lower intensity cardio instead of something like HIIT, because they say when you do high intensity cardio you train mainly your anaerobic metabolism instead of aerobic?

But if you were to do something like HIIT (it's what I've been doing), mix up the 45 second / 15 second to something like 30 / 30 to something like 50 / 10 , etc.?

Thanks.

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

What I can tell you is that during HIIT you work BOTH anaerobic and aerobic energy systems.

However, your primary reliance is on anaerobic energy. 

Per unit of time during training, you burn MORE calories.

Overall, you burn MORE fat.

Why?  First, the hormonal response to high intensity is to release Epinephrine and Norepinephrine...this means your fat burning can be PRIMED and in high gear.

Second the movement of fat through the system is VERY high and this facilitates higher uptake and use by cells.

Third...

Well, lets stop there and just say the list goes on and on.

Now, what is one energy source for aerobic glycolysis?
Glucose.

So during aerobic states you can use glucose/glycogen AND fat for energy.  However at low intensity, your hormone state does not favor high fat utilization.

Variations in HIIt should be
1) gradual
2) progressive
3) vary in intensity principle applied

so that means that when you start
Week 1
M-W you do HIIT on a bike starting with a total time of 4 minutes.
30s /30 seconds

Week 2
M-W you do HIIT on a bike starting with a total time of 5 minutes.
30s /30 seconds

Week 3
M-W you do HIIT on a bike starting with a total time of 6 minutes.
30s /30 seconds

Week 4
M-W you do HIIT on a bike starting with a total time of 7 minutes.
30s /30 seconds

Up to week 8 where you are doing 15 minutes M-W...30s/20/s

THen week 9
M-W-F you do HIIT on a bike starting with a total time of 7 minutes.
30s /30 seconds

...manipulate Up to week 12.

Take a week off

start again at week 1
M-W-F you do HIIT running starting with a total time of 4 minutes.
30s /30 seconds

On to week 8 again

then
THen week 9
M-W-F you do HIIT jogging starting with a total time of 9 minutes.
45s /45 seconds

...manipulate On to week 12

Take a week off...

Etc...

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Recall that by intensity principle appliedI refer primarily to

Frequency, Intensity, Type (bike, run, swim...), Duration...

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Dang Dan, excellent response! Thanks.

The way the book was gearing towards, the aerobic system is better for fat burn because it according to them utilizes glucose/fat in relation to just glucose.

I can see why HIIT though would involve both the aerobic and anaerobic system.

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

This is how it works:

Jog say 30 minutes 150 pounds body weight
Burn 333 calories
60-70% from fat = 200
40-30% from glycogen = 133

It becomes more from fat as you go past 20 minutes.
Calories expended drops significantly after cool down.

Compare the same for HIIT
Burn 520 calories
40% from fat = 210
60% from glycogen = 320

Post exercise your metabolism is still burning energy (fat) for about 4 hours.

Total calories for most people will matter significantly.  Intensity engaged has a HUGE effect on fat burning.  Anaerobic energy expenditure with high intensity = more fat overall burned.

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Wait, isn't glycogen the muscle's energy source, so won't this take away from your workout?

If you did lots of cardio before your training...you could deplete carbs and then yes.

If you do a long bout of cardio after your lifting...if the goal is maximal muscle gain...then you can see how that is not optimal.

However, keep in mind, if the goal is to maximize fat loss, then cardio after your lifting has a slight advantage...as you are already slightly carb depleted.

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