Building REAL Muscle. The Secrets to Get You YOKED! Part 2

If you've read Part 1 of this article then you know by now that for muscle growth to occur you have to first break the muscle down. In Part 1, I listed some ancient techniques for achieving this goal. Now that you've learned some ways of placing your muscles in an optimal state for growth, let's take a look at how we can cause this growth to occur. Part 1 was only half of the puzzle. Part 2 is all about recovery, so don't hesitate to use that scroll button! Just grab yourself a pen and paper, and get ready for some note worthy knowledge that will get you YOKED!

As I stated above, the first step to gaining muscle is to break the muscle down. Their are however, some guidelines which must be followed to prevent both injury and... loss of muscle! Training to the limit is the only way a person can discover their greatest potential in the weight room, and many lifters will say that the key to making gains is intensity, intensity, intensity. While I do agree that there must be pain if we wish to gain, I also believe that our human bodies are just as fragile as they are strong. As weightlifters we must learn to listen to our bodies if we wish to reach our greatest goals. Lee Haney said this, "we train to stimulate, not to annihilate".

The definition of over-training is entirely implied. If you continue training when your body says, "stop", then you could be over-training. The problem here is that many people tend to use over-training as an excuse to give only minimal effort. There is a difference between your body telling you to stop and your mind telling you to stop. Just because you don't want to do anymore reps doesn't mean you can't. That's why you have to get in touch with your body as well as your mind. I know from experience that it's hard to find the right balance between over-training and under-training. A good rule of thumb is this; If your body remains sore for more than three days after a workout, then your probably over-training. If soreness persists for about a day or two, then your most likely right on your mark. Just remember that you have to listen to your body. If you are sore for only a day or so between workouts, but you can't seem to lift with the same intensity the next time your in the gym, then your body simply needs more time to recover. Learn to find the signs of chronic fatigue and know the difference between pain do to injury, and pain do to training.

As humans we all love to eat food. We eat food to survive, we eat food for pleasure, food is even a staple at most social gatherings. It suffices to say that as humans we tend to eat more than our fair share of food on a daily basis. And more often than not, overeating tends to be frowned upon in most cultures. However, when it comes to getting yoked, overeating is without a doubt the number one key ingredient.

Muscle is a very expendable tissue, it only stays on your body as long as you have a use for it. Believe it or not, your muscles can be used for more than just moving things around. Not only can your muscles be used for movement, they also act as your body's very own fuel reserve. What this means is, if your body feels in need of fuel or nutrients it begins to go into something we call "starvation mode". This starvation mode is more formally known as "catabolism", and for bodybuilders and weightlifting fanatics, this state is strictly taboo.

When your body believes that it is not getting the correct amount of calories from your daily diet, it's first response is to tap into muscle tissue, which can be broken down and used as a fuel source for the body. If this seems like a bad thing, it's because it is! In your search for muscle mass, your ultimate goal is to keep your body in a state of "anabolism", which is the complete opposite of catabolism. In this state your body has a positive nitrogen balance and feels as if it has calories to spare. This is great for muscular growth because calories are what sustain muscle mass. It takes around 13 calories to sustain one pound of muscle, and if these caloric needs are not met, then any attempts to gain muscle are futile. The problem with our modern physiology is that for the most part, are bodies are pretty stupid. Go to long without eating and your body says, "hey I'm starving", even if you know that a meal is just around the corner. So to keep your system in check, you have to constantly force feed your muscles with high calorie, high protein foods, if you wish to keep them. Always remember to keep your input higher than your output when creating a structured, mass gaining diet.

For those new to the idea of overeating, we have already established that a high calorie diet is beneficial. However, many weightlifters still fail to grasp the idea of a proper diet. Just because the previous subheading says stuff yourself, does not mean go directly to your nearest McDonalds and have a free for all! Throwing food into the back of your throat willy-nilly is not at all proper.

The fact of the matter is that your going to gain some fat in your attempts to gain muscle. If mediocre gains are what your after, then this article is not for you. The key to balancing your diet is to have the right amount of caloric surplus. Go to far under the line and your gains are, at best, slow. Go to far over the line and an entire host of bad things can happen to your physique.

The easiest way to calculate your calorie requirements is to find out how many grams of protein your body is going to need, per day. This can be done by taking your body weight and multiplying it by 1.5. Yes, this number seems high, but bare with me, it's not as bad as it may seem. The next step is to divide this number in half, there's your fat requirement. Carbs are simple too, keep them around the same number as your protein, maybe more depending on your metabolic rates and skeletal structure. Just remember that this is simply a start. Feel free to fiddle with the numbers if your gains are not desirable. If you are gaining fat to quickly then knock off some carbs. If muscle gains are static then increase your carb intake, but always listen to your body.

If you wish to find some high protein foods to meet these requirements, then a quick google search will surely bring results. Milk, cottage cheese, and lean meats are all great sources for adding protein to your diet in a healthy manner. Certainly supplements can be added, but that's a different article. This should help get you started, just make sure to remember that healthy foods are better foods.

Sleep. It's been around since the beginning of time and it still does wonders. A good night sleep is quite often the difference between a bad day and a great one. In the fitness community sleep can never be stressed enough, get your eight hours in and feel the benefits. As we close our eyes at night an entire host of things begin to happen in our bodies that prepare us for the day ahead. Let me be the first to say that without these processes, the world would not function. Even though our minds may be asleep, our bodies are still hard at work to make sure everything is in order. During sleep, our bodies do everything from repairing muscle tissue and increasing hormone levels, to unconsciously solving the problems of the previous day.

For anyone with a fitness oriented lifestyle, a solid night's rest is a must, but just sleeping isn't enough. If you fall asleep easily but tend to wake up constantly throughout the night, then you are not getting all the great benefits that you could be. There's a little thing called REM sleep where REM stands for rapid eye movement. In this state our bodies are hardest at work. And in this state is where the most major processes occur. However, when someone is constantly waking up throughout the night then the benefits of REM sleep are minimal. It takes time for the body to reach the REM cycle and when the body wakes up, the process is disrupted. More simply put, every time you wake up your body must start over before it can enter REM sleep again. This can be hazardous to our recovery efforts, because most of our muscle recovery is done during the REM state. So it is important in our fitness efforts that we get all the quality sleep we can. I could go on and on about the benefits of sleep, but why? Just get your eight hours in and all is well. However, if you would like to delve more deeply into the benefits of sleep then just click on the link below. Nighty-night!

Now that we have just about finished the final part of this article, let me leave you with this. Knowledge is the key to making gains in any aspect of life. Understand that you can never learn enough, the more you learn the greater your successes will be. Learn to see yourself as incomplete no matter how far up the ladder you have climbed. Everyone can be a teacher, no matter how young or old. Without knowledge you can never grow.

-Ben Ohling