The Shocking Truth about Dietary Fats and Saturated Fats

by Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

You've been deceived into thinking that saturated fats are bad for you, but let's look at some facts below...

I’ll preface this article by saying that it will help if you have an open mind and accept that some of these facts are a slap in the face to politically correct nutrition in this day and age where fats are admonished by many doctors, health "experts", and the mass media.

To start, eating an adequate supply of healthy dietary fats is vitally important to your overall health. Fats are one of the main components in all of the cell membranes throughout your entire body. If you eat enough healthy natural fats, your cellular processes will proceed normally.

Find Out If You Too Are At Risk For A Heart Attack

[ Editor's Note:  Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]


Want to know what your real odds are of having a heart attack?

How about a stroke? Diabetes?

Okay, this isn't sounding like a positive letter... but hang in there. It gets a lot better and more positive.

I was having lunch today with my CPA and my good friend Sherry Strong. Sherry's upcoming book is a must-read. I will let you know when she's ready to release it. Since Sherry has been here visiting me in Dallas I have learned SO much about natural food preparation and what really causes disease.

Our conversation took a turn to "doctor's tests." I think most of them are worthless. Some are vital. It's important to know the difference. I'm going to give you the three tests you absolutely must take if you want to help ensure your future health in a moment.

Vegetarian Bodybuilding Diet

By Jeff Anderson

“Vegetarian bodybuilding diet”?!  Are you CRAZY?!

You can’t build muscle without meat! (Can you?)

Well not many people know that I was a lacto-vegetarian bodybuilder for 8 years before I bit into a Big Mac during one of my wife’s pregnancy cravings and was brought to the “Dark Side”.

But while I’m still a carnivore today, I have a friend who is a full-on vegan vegetarian bodybuilding fanatic…

…and stacked with muscle!

High Protein Pancakes

Makes 1 Serving (6 pancakes)

Ingredients

* - 1/4 cup oatmeal
* - 6 egg whites
* - 1 tbsp ground flax
* - 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
* - 1/4 teaspoon of Baking Soda
* - 1 teaspoon of Splenda

Directions

1. First heat a frying pan until hot and then reduce to medium temperature.
2. After mixing together all the ingredients in a blender, spray some pam (or other cooking spray), drop by spoonful onto the plan, flipping when bubbles start to form.
3. Make about 6 pancakes.

Top 10 Tips To Successful Teen Bodybuilding

By Vince DelMonte

Teen bodybuilding is growing at an alarming rate, as enthusiastic teens hit the gym every night of the week. I don't blame them. Teen bodybuilding is one of the most effective ways to boost a skinny guys self-confidence and self-image. Did I also mention lots of attention and admiration from the ladies and respect from the guys. Teen bodybuilding does not just help out with vanity but promotes a nutritious diet, disciplined lifestyle, and strong work ethic.

So the question is, how is teen bodybuilding done right? Should teen bodybuilders read the latest bodybuilding magazines? Learn from their friends or a professional? Train every day or every other day? Rely on supplements? Start when they are done growing or earlier? Focus on endurance training heavy lifting? Teen bodybuilding has dozens of questions and many different opinions on each. Here is my top 10 tips to successful teen bodybuilding in no particular order:

How an Entire Year Could Go By With No Results

By Tom Venuto

QUESTION: Dear Tom: I’ve been going to the gym for the past year now, but I have only lost 2 pounds. I eat about 1800 calories a day and I do 3 cardio and 3 weight training sessions a week. I am 5 feet 5 inches and 128 lbs. I would like to be at 120 lbs.

To lose 8 more lbs isn’t a lot to ask, but I’m really frustrated. I’ve been VERY persistent, and I rarely cheat except once each weekend, but at this rate, it will take me another 4 years for me to reach my goal! Please help!

Vicky

The Importance of Physical Variability in Cardio Exercise

By Mike Geary
Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist

Your Cardio Workouts may not be helping you unless you incorporate a high range of heart rate shifts in your training.

Are you a cardio junkie? Everyone seems to think that "cardio" is the best way to get in shape and lose body fat.  I'm going to show you with this article why I disagree!

It is quite common to hear fitness pros, doctors, and other health professionals prescribe low to moderate intensity aerobic training (cardio) to people who are trying to prevent heart disease or lose weight. Most often, the recommendations go something like this:

Pro Bodybuilder Workouts Are a Waste of Time

By Sean Nalewanyj

Here’s a news flash for you—most bodybuilders workouts that you see in magazines, even those promoted by IFBB pros, are a total waste of time.

In spite of their ripped and muscular physiques, these guys don’t always give you the best muscle building advice; in fact, their bodybuilders workouts aren’t that great either.

Unfortunately, the truth is that the world of professional bodybuilding is very corrupt and shady, not one that you should get into. Most of these people have the sort of genes that ensure that their bodies respond to even the most minimal training. They intensify the results from their bodybuilders workouts through the injudicious use of hormones and steroids. Steroid use is a matter of choice, but by positively swimming in growth hormones and anabolic steroids, these guys employ a very risky approach.

How To Get Rid Of Arm Flab

[ Editor's Note:  Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]


Got arm flab?

Know someone who does?

Some women I know with a healthy sense of humor refer to it as "their wings" because their arm flab flaps when they walk or jog.

It's time to get rid of your wings ladies...

... and guys, listen up:  You are not immune to arm flab. Even if you don't have any, the tips I'm about to give will help you build stronger arms.

Before I go any further, I have to tell you about Marty Web.

Add 1 Inch To Your Biceps In 6 Weeks

By Jeff Anderson

Having trouble adding more size to your arms?

Cursed with biceps that look more like golf balls than softballs?

Want to know the truth behind how you can transform twinkie arms into thick, meaty guns that women can’t help but wrap their hands around to “feel all that muscle”?
3 Reasons You DON’T Have “Awesome Arms”…And What To Do About It NOW!

Basically, there are 3 genetic factors that determine how much mass you can add to your arms:

Dave's Famous Turkey Meat Loaf

Makes 6 Servings

Ingredients

* - 2 lbs of ground Turkey
* - 1 teaspoon of olive oil
* - 1 diced Onion
* - 1 teaspoon of Garlic (optional)
* - 1/3 cup Dried Tomatoes
* - 1 cup of Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs
* - 1 Whole Eggs
* - 1/2 cup of Parsley
* - 1/4 cup of Low Fat Parmesan
* - 1/4 cup Skim Milk
* - Salt and Pepper
* - 1 teaspoon of Oregano

5 Weight Training Tips

By Vince DelMonte

Weight training properly is known by few. If it was easy then you would see a lot more muscular and lean physiques on the streets. Before you learn how to weight train properly, it is critical that you learn these five weight training tips before you even step foot in the gym.

1. Write down a realistic short term and long term goal.

2. Make a commitment to stick to one program for at least 12 weeks.

3. Educate yourself prior to starting.

4. Hire a trainer to teach you proper technique.

5. Focus on gradual progression.

Whole Eggs: Dietary Evil or the New Superfood

By Tom Venuto

QUESTION: Tom, I’m really confused about eggs. I’m not even sure if you're going to be able to answer this or not, but to me and I’m sure others, it’s a very confusing and important topic. I only use egg whites because I did believe that the yolks are bad because of cholesterol and saturated fat. But with the studies coming out saying we are missing all of the best nutrients by throwing the yolks out it is very confusing. Could you please help clarify this issue? I have attached an article I got from another e-book author for your reference about what I’ve been reading, which spurred my frustration to contact you.

ANSWER: It’s overly simplistic to say that the saturated or animal fats cause heart disease. It’s even more simplistic and incorrect to say that foods high in dietary cholesterol such as egg yolks, will always lead to an increase in cholesterol in the blood.
Many other factors are involved, including the type of saturated fat, individual genetics, current health status, exercise and the big picture of what else is consumed in the rest of the diet.

Best Time Of Day for Muscle Gain Workouts

By Sean Nalewanyj

When is the best time to schedule your muscle gain workouts during the day?

A lot of people say that you should workout as soon as you wake up because you’re still fresh from a long night’s rest.  Some people say that you should workout later during the day because your body is more awake.

The truth is that it’s entirely a matter of personal preference, and the best time for your muscle gain workouts is up to you.  Everyone’s body clock works differently.  Some people like to train early in the morning, and yet others prefer to schedule their training towards the evening.  The good news is that you should base your workout on your preferences.

The fact is that by scheduling your muscle gain workouts based on your personal body clock, you stand to reap the maximum benefits.  Personally, I train at around 7 pm because I’m just not a morning person; besides, I find it almost impossible to exert so much of effort early in the morning.  I become nauseated when I train too early, and I think my strength levels are higher in the evening than in the morning.

Top Foods to Build Muscle and Lose Body Fat

By Mike Geary
Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist

In most of my Lean-Body Secrets Newsletters, I like to provide a healthy snack or meal recipe that not only is delicious and healthy, but also helps to get you closer to that hard-body appearance that everyone is looking for, while also more importantly, improving your health for life. In this article, I'd like to give you healthy food ideas in a different way. This time, I figured I'd just give you some ideas of what I stock my fridge and cabinets with.

Remember, if you don't have junk around the house, you're less likely to eat junk. If all you have is healthy food around the house, you're forced to make smart choices. Basically, it all starts with making smart choices and avoiding temptations when you make your grocery store trip. Now these are just some of my personal preferences, but perhaps they will give you some good ideas that you'll enjoy.

Alright, so let's start with the fridge. Each week, I try to make sure I'm loaded up with lots of varieties of fresh vegetables. During the growing season, I only get local produce, but obviously in winter, I have to resort to the produce at the grocery store. Most of the time, I make sure I have plenty of vegetables like onions, zucchini,  spinach, fresh mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli, etc. to use in my morning eggs.  I also like to dice up some lean chicken or turkey sausage into the eggs, along with some swiss, jack, or goat cheeses (preferably raw grass-fed cheeses when I can find them).

By the way I'm talking about whole eggs, NOT egg whites.  Always remember that the yolk is the most nutritious and nutrient dense part of the egg, so only eating egg whites is like throwing away the best part... and no, it's NOT bad for you because of the cholesterol... eggs actually raise your GOOD cholesterol.  Try to get free range organic eggs for the best quality. Here's an entire article I did on the topic of whole eggs vs egg whites.

Coconut milk is another staple in my fridge. I like to use it to mix in with smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste. Not only does coconut milk add a rich, creamy taste to lots of dishes, but it's also full of healthy saturated fats. Yeah, you heard me...I said healthy saturated fats! Healthy saturated fats like medium chain triglycerides, specifically an MCT called lauric acid. If the idea of healthy saturated fats is foreign to you, check out my healthy fats article

Back to the fridge, some other staples:

• Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds - delicious and great sources of healthy fats.
• Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt - I like to mix cottage or ricotta cheese and yogurt together with chopped nuts and berries for a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal.
• Whole flax seeds or chia seeds - I grind these in a mini coffee grinder and add to yogurt or salads. Always grind them fresh because the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and prone to oxidation, creating high levels of free radicals in pre-ground flax.
• Whole eggs - one of natures richest sources of nutrients (and remember, they increase your GOOD cholesterol so stop fearing them).
• Salsa - I try to get creative and try some of the exotic varieties of salsas.
• Avocados - love them...plus a great source of healthy fats, fiber, and other nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads, or sandwiches.
• Butter - don't believe the naysayers; butter adds great flavor to anything and can be part of a healthy diet (just keep the quantity small because it is calorie dense...and NEVER use margarine, unless you want to assure yourself a heart attack).
• Nut butters - Plain old peanut butter has gotten a little old for me, so I get creative and mix together almond butter with sesame seed butter, or even cashew butter with macadamia butter...delicious and unbeatable nutrition!
• Leaf lettuce and spinach along with shredded carrots - for salads with dinner.
• Home-made salad dressing - using balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and Udo's Choice oil blend. This is much better than store bought salad dressing which mostly use highly refined soybean oil (full of inflammation-causing free radicals).
• Whole grain wraps and whole grain bread (look for wraps and bread with at least 3-4 grams of fiber per 20 grams of total carbs).
• Rice bran and wheat germ - these may sound way too healthy for some, but they actually add a nice little nutty, crunchy taste to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added when baking muffins or breads to add nutrients and fiber.

Some of the staples in the freezer:

• Frozen berries - during the local growing season, I only get fresh berries, but during the other 10 months of the year, I always keep a supply of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. to add to high fiber cereal, oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies
• Frozen fish - I like to try a couple different kinds of fish each week. There are so many varieties out there, you never have to get bored.
• Frozen chicken breasts - very convenient for a quick addition to wraps or chicken sandwiches for quick meals.
• Grass-fed steaks, burgers, and ground beef - Grassfed meats have been shown to have as high as, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than salmon (without the mercury). Also, grass-fed meats have much higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to typical grain-fed beef.  I recently found an excellent on-line store where I buy all of my grass-fed meats now (they even deliver right to your door in a sealed cooler) - www.healthygrassfed.2ya.com
• Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and other "exotic" lean meats - Yeah, I know...I'm weird, but I can tell you that these are some of the healthiest meats around, and if you're serious about a lean healthy body, these types of meats are much better for you than the mass produced, hormone-pumped beef and pork that's sold at most grocery stores.
• Frozen veggies - again, when the growing season is over and I can no longer get local fresh produce, frozen veggies are the best option, since they often have higher nutrient contents compared to the fresh produce that has been shipped thousands of miles, sitting around for weeks before making it to your dinner table.

Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:

• Various antioxidant rich teas - green, oolong, white, rooibos are some of the best.
• Whole wheat or whole grain spelt pasta - much higher fiber than normal pastas
• Oat bran and steel cut oats - higher fiber than those little packs of instant oats.
• Cans of coconut milk - to be transferred to a container in the fridge after opening.
• Brown rice and other higher fiber rice - NEVER white rice
• Tomato sauces - delicious, and as I'm sure you've heard a million times, they are a great source of lycopene. Just watch out for the brands that are loaded with nasty high fructose corn syrup.
• Stevia - a natural non-caloric sweetener, which is an excellent alternative to the nasty chemical-laden artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.
• Raw honey - better than processed honey... higher quantities of beneficial nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been proven in studies to improve glucose metabolism (how you process carbs). I use a teaspoon or so every morning in my teas. Yes, it is pure sugar, but at least it has some nutritional benefits... and let's be real, a teaspoon of healthier raw honey is only 5 grams of carbs... certainly nothing to worry about.
• Organic maple syrup - none of that high fructose corn syrup Aunt Jemima crap...only real maple syrup can be considered real food. The only time I really use this (because of the high sugar load) is added to my post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up and also elicit an insulin surge to push nutrients into your muscles.
• Organic unsweetened cocoa powder - I like to mix this into my smoothies for an extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder into hot milk with stevia and a couple melted dark chocolate chunks.
• Cans of black or kidney beans - I like to add a couple scoops to my Mexican wraps for the fiber and high nutrition content. Also, beans are surprisingly one of the best sources of youth promoting antioxidants!
• Dark chocolate (as dark as possible) - This is one of my treats that satisfies my sweet tooth, plus provides loads of antioxidants at the same time. It's still calorie dense, so I keep it to just a couple squares; but that is enough to do the trick, so I don't feel like I need to go out and get cake and ice cream to satisfy my dessert urges.

Lastly, another thing that's hard to go wrong with is a good variety of fresh fruits and berries. The staples such as bananas, apples, oranges, pears, peaches are good, but I like to also be a little more adventurous and include things like yellow (aka - mexican or champagne) mangoes, pomegranates, kumquats, papaya, star fruit, pineapples, and others. Also, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries are some of the most nutrient and antioxidant-dense fruits you can eat.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this special look into my favorite lean body meals and how I stock my cabinets and fridge. Your tastes are probably quite different than mine, but hopefully this gave you some good ideas you can use next time you're at the grocery store looking to stock up a healthy and delicious pile of groceries.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Author – The Truth about Six Pack Abs

 

New Research - Fat Is Contagious

[ Editor's Note:  Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]

It's like a dream come true.

"Gaining bodyfat is the result  of a virus."

Wouldn't that be great news?

Well...

Let me tell you about the AD-36 adenovirus. Adenoviruses are the same nasty bugs that cause the common cold. We all have these viruses in various forms in our body all the time.

That last bit is a critical distinction.

Remember that.

The Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana has been doing some really ground-breaking research on AD-36. AD-36 affects stem cells... more specifically fat cells, both pre-formed and post-formed.

This means AD-36 can make MORE fat cells if contracted as an infant and make your fat cells larger if contracted as an adult.

Or so the theory goes.

To quote the study:

"Earlier researchers have concluded that Ad-36 may be contributors to obesity by super-charging fat cells to grow and store more fat. Until now, though, those researchers thought the viruses targeted pre-fat cells (called pre-adipocytes), causing them to convert in higher numbers to fat cells and causing those fat cells to be larger. Those studies were in mice. Pasaricas work determines the virus targets stem cells in humans."

The result?

"In one test, a third of obese people had the rare and highly contagious virus compared to just 11 percent of thinner people. Weight gain can last three months until the body has built up resistance to the bug."

Wow. Sounds like we have a winner here. A virus that you can catch that literally makes you gain bodyfat!  All we need is...

a vaccine!

Right?

Wrong.

First of all, notice that 11% of LEAN people have AD-36. And at any given time, just like a cold or a flu virus, you could contract AD-36. If your body has 'never' been exposed to it, you may require about 3 months to build up antibodies to ward it off.

Now, you can gain a lot of weight in 3 months... but come on. You cannot become obese in three months unless you are really, REALLY working at it.

Plus, like most viruses, you build up immunity to AD-36. Researchers do not know how long the immunity lasts, but some theorize it could last years... some even decades.

And let's not forget those 11% who are lean and have the virus.

Why did they not all of a sudden get "sick" with bodyfat?

Because they are not EATING or LIVING in a way that allows them to gain bodyfat no matter what nasty freakin' viruses may be floating about, that's why.

That's right folks:  It is always going to come down to the food we put in our body and the way we move.

Here's another hypothesis presented by Sherry Strong, food philosopher and nutritionist:  "This could very well be the result of nature creating a mutation to encourage us to eat more due to the fact our consumption of natural, whole and organic foods is so low."

Brilliant observation... and one tha makes complete sense.

Even if a "virus" is responsible for 20% of our weightgain, what about the other 80%?

We do not need a vaccine other than good food and a common sense workout plan.

Here's the best ---->  The "vaccine" for bodyfat

Here's why I love this workout:

1. It's fast. 7-14 minutes 3-5 days per week. Anyone on earth can do this.

2. The Basic Upgrade (you will see it) still comes with a copy of my book "The Every Other Day Diet." Put the two together and you have an absolute winner of a plan that's practical and enjoyable.

3. Plus, anyone who owns "Every Other Day Diet" gets my upcoming "Radical Fatloss Blueprint" book freee. It comes out March 1st.

That's 3 good reasons to go here and check out 7 Minute Muscle...The "vaccine" for bodyfat

Here's one more:

You know better.

You know that there's never going to be a magic pill for health, vitality, energy and looking your best.

We can keep hoping... or you can take action and get what you want now.

To me, that makes more sense than AD-36 "Super-Retro Fat-burning Vaccine" to hit the marketplace in 2021.

 

Bench Press Secrets To Lift More Weight

By Jeff Anderson

Powerlifting “insiders” have learned several tricks of the trade to help them bench press more weight in the gym.  Some of these sneaky moves can even instantly help you add some more pounds to the bar.

One of the ways these guys are able to max out their bench stats may even seem like “cheating” to you…

…but the result is more weight being pushed up and those added pounds can quickly transfer to more muscle mass – not just for your chest, but for you entire body!

How do you do it?

Simple! You…

DECREASE Your Bench Press Range Of Motion To Build Strength Fast!

Now usually, I’m a big fan of making sure you go through a full range of motion.  However, for the bench press, workout plans can quickly exaust your triceps and shoulders, right?  This is especially difficult for tall, skinny “hardgainers” with longer arms.

By DECREASING your range of motion, you’re able to transfer more of the weight to your pecs while pushing more weight.

Here Are 3 Easy Ways To Use This Trick

To Bench Press More Weight:

• First, widen your grip on the bar.

This is common sense – the wider your grip the less distance you’re pressing.  If your pinkie finger is on the knurling of the bar, than move it out to your ring finger.  Eventually you’ll want to move your grip out so that your pointer finger is on the rings.

Don’t make too big of a jump at once, because while this does decrease your range of motion, it’s also going to transfer more weight to your shoulders as well.  Take a month or two to move out one finger at a time.

• Next you’re going to want to retract your shoulder blades.

Picture yourself doing a cable row.  At the end of the movement you pull your shoulders back, squeeze your back and bring your scapulas together, right?  (That is, IF you’re doing it right!)

This should be how your start the bench press.  It removes several inches from the range of motion and keeps your body tight.

• Finally, arch your back.

Your butt, shoulder blades, and head should always be in contact with the bench, but it’s okay to arch your lower back.  If this isn’t natural for you, you can place a foam roller under your lower back for practice.

Once again this brings your chest closer to the bar during the eccentric movement, decreasing the path the bar travels.

Again, these are just simple changes anyone can make to their bench press workout plan but give them a try and you’ll soon see your max stats going up, up, UP!

 

Baked Crispy Chicken Nuggets

Makes 6 Servings

Ingredients

• - 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts weighing about 6 oz. / 170 g each
• - 1/4 cup / 60 ml of oat bran
• - 1/4 cup / 60 ml of wheat germ
• - 1 Tbsp / 15 ml coarsely ground flaxseed
• - 1/4 cup / 60 ml coarsely ground almonds
• - 1/2 tsp / 2 1/2 ml sea salt
• - 1/2 tsp / 2 1/2 ml white pepper
• - Pinch garlic powder
• - 1/2 cup / 120 ml water or low-sodium chicken broth
• - 1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare baking sheet by lining with parchment paper or coating lightly with best-quality olive oil.
2. Cut chicken breasts into nugget-sized pieces, about 1.5 inches square. set aside.
3. Next, combine all dry ingredients in a large container with a tightly fitting lid. Shake well. This is your coating mixture.
4. Combine water and egg in a medium bowl. Dip each piece in the water/egg-white mixture. Then dip each piece in the coating mixture. Make sure each piece is well coated.
5. Place on the baking sheet. When all of your chicken has been coated and your baking sheet is full, place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden.

Nutritional Facts

(Per Serving - 4 Nuggets)

• Calories: 100
• Protein: 12g
• Carbohydrates: 7g
• Fat: 3.5g

 

Get more healthy and delicious recipies like this at Anabolic Cooking.

How To Gain Weight – Even If You Are Under Weight

By Vince DelMonte

Here are four 'little known' how-to-action-steps that will force you to GAIN WEIGHT – musle mass that is, even if you are underweight!

Are you sick and tired of people telling you how to gain weight. It probably sounds like this:

“All you have to do is eat, eat and eat some more to gain weight...”

“Weight gain is just a matter of eating...”

“You just gotta overload your metabolism to gain weight fast...”

“You can't build a house without the bricks and mortar for gaining weight...”

Don't throw me to the wolves quite yet. There is certainly truth to these statements and some of these analogies can prove quite powerful, I think I'm even guilty of preaching a few! But the problem with this advice is that it's usually followed up with the same old reguritated blah, blah blah advice that only tells you what to do and does not reveal real world practical how-to-action-steps.

If you are someone who has struggled their entire life, trying to pack on extra muscle mass and still consider yourself underweight than you are not alone. I was once skinny and underweight myself...

People, predispositioned to skinniness, are commonly referred to as “hard gainers.” This is the cool way to label your scrawny frame despite the fact that your body turns into a Number 2 pencil when you wear yellow!

It's not totally your fault you are skinny...

In the skinny guys defence, the reality is that you have been cursed with traits like Lamborghini type metabolisms, giraffe like limbs, and the strength of a senior citizen. You have to fight with every bone in your body to do something about your small frame and to keep up to your male buddies who seem to grow muscle just by sneezing – those muscle freaks tee me off just as much you!

Even though you might think your genetic deficiencies have sentenced you to a life of frailty and surprised looks when you tell others you lift weights; I am living proof that hard gainers with very ‘muscle-unfriendly genes’ can fight back against their genetics and gain muscle weight. I defeated my skinny genetics just after college and I am about to show you four tips that helped me climb from a 149 pound weakling to a rock hard 190 pounds in six months.

Trust me, no body has worse genetics, for building muscle and gaining weight, than a ex long distance runner who abused his body with 60-80 miles of running a week (for over 10 years)!

Skinny guys must play by a different set of rules.

If you are underweight than your first step to gaining weight is to understand that you must play by a different set up rules. I have said this before and will say it again,

“Taking advice from someone who can gain muscle weight easily, is like taking money advice from somone who inherited a fortune or is making money illegally.”

You must think outside the box and give up the excuse of being a “hardgainer.” It is time to stop listening to all the naysayers who have told you that is impossible to gain weight because of your genetics. Regardless of what you have been lead to believe, you do have the potential to build an impressive physique that turns heads and even intimidates!

If you have read this far, I am guessing you are ready to longer resemble a micorphone stand! You are prepared to overload your metabolism for muscle growth, to ensure you are never referred to as 'undeweight' or 'skinny' ever again. Start following these simple steps and don't be surprised if you gain an extra ten pounds of muscle weight in the next four weeks.

Four simple how to gain weight action steps to start growing like a skyscraper!

1. Double it up.

One of the most practical steps you can take is to double whatever you are currently eating in the kitchen right now. If you are eating one chicken breast per meal than cook up two. If you are only eating two slices of bread than make it four. If you are eating one handful of nuts than make it two. If you are using only two scoops of protein powder than make it four.

Most likely you are only a few dozen meals short of filling out your underdeveloped body parts and attracting the attention of that sexy girl at your gym. I assume you are already in the kitchen and have the food out. So would you agree, you really have no good excuse not to shovel down a greater percentage of calories by doubling it up!

2. Live your life around food.

Sure you know that you must eat every 2-3 hours but how well do you execute? Set your clock on a countdown timer to go off every 2 and ½ hours so that you reinforce the habit of eating literally not a second late for each meal! Don't turn off the damn beeper until you start chowing down.

Ensure you are eating your first meal within 15-30 minutes of waking up - absolutely no later. This first meal of the day should always consist of REAL food to flood your body will quality nutrients. I question anybodies comittment to gaining weight if they are too lazy to wake up 15 minutes earlier to eat a real meal.

Lastly, don’t be surprised if you are not gaining weight if you do not find yourself spending more time preparing food, more time eating food and more time cleaning your kitchen. You should notice you are spending more time in the grocery store and you should also notice a larger grocery bill each week!

3. Use BIG eating equipment.

If you want to bulk than you have to eat like Hulk. Do you think Hulk eats out of small plate, or a small bowel or a small cup? If you are aiming to get big and huge, you are going to require large amounts of food most likely close to double of what you are currently eating.

So get BIG eating equipment! Get a BIG cup, get a BIG bowel and get a BIG plate. Surround yourself with BIG. Most of the time hard gainers are nothing more than “under eaters.” If you struggle to complete a meal than a bigger serving on a bigger plate will look small!

4. Never train hungry.

How many times have you waken up, whipped up a protein shake and than headed off to the gym? Or maybe you had a long afternoon and missed a few meals and than attempted a weight training workout after work?

I thought this was common sense to avoid, until a few of my skinny clients confessed that they were showing up for their workouts having only eaten a piece of fruit and some crackers within the entire day!

After dropping the 45 pound plate on my foot out of shock they reassured me, they were not hungry. I sometimes screamed back, “Yeah, that's because your metabolism is in starvation mode and shut right down you skinny pencil neck!”

I understand that training in the morning is the only time for some however I recommend to aim for a minimum of at least three solid meals in your system prior to eating. Or else the biggest meal of your day immedately after your AM workout. Would you take your car out on a long trip with a half empty fuel tank? Not unless you wanted the car to die and push it the rest of the way. So why would you take your body through a grueling training session on a empty stomach?

Here is my promise to you. You have the ability to gain at least another ten pounds of solid weight in the next four weeks by simply applying the advice above. If you are truly committed to your goals of gaining muscle weight and no longer being known as underweight than I believe you will rise to the challenge and take action! Are you with me?

———————————-

Vince DelMonte
Author, No-Nonsense Muscle Building
Author, Your Six Pack Quest
Contributor To Men’s Fitness Mag
Advisory Team, Maximum Fitness Mag
Honors Kinesiology (Health Sciences) Degree

———————————-
About the Author:

Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at MuscleGrowthTips.com.

He specializes in teaching skinny guys how to build muscle and gain weight quickly without drugs, supplements and training less than before.  You can read my review of his product in my post here.

How to Gain Lean Muscle Without Turning into a Tub of Lard

By Tom Venuto

QUESTION:Hi Tom. I have your BURN THE FAT ebook; it’s great thanks, but now that I’m lean enough my aim is bodybuilding and muscle gain. I read your information on body types in chapter 5 of your book and it was very interesting. I am definitely an ectomorph body type. I am getting good results gaining about a pound and sometimes 2 pounds a week, but I’m pretty skinny so it’s going to take a while to get where I really want to be, but that’s fine, I’m patient and determined. My question is, can I use all the guidelines in your BURN THE FAT ebook for gaining muscle mass?

ANSWER: It’s true that BURN THE FAT, FEED THE MUSCLE is primarily a fat burning program and as you’re reading through the book, you’ll see that the entire manual is written with references to getting leaner.

However, with a few simple tweaks, the program can definitely be used for gaining muscle. The primary adjustment would be an increase in the calories.

To gain lean body mass, you need a calorie surplus. The biggest dietary reason most people fail to gain lean muscle is that they’re simply not eating enough. Many times when they come off a fat loss program, they are completely paranoid about “losing their abs.”

Of course, that’s a legitimate concern because it’s VERY easy to lose your abs if you get lazy with your diet or you think that a muscle gaining diet means eating everything in sight. To gain muscle and stay lean it takes continued discipline and dietary restraint, but the fact is, you just can’t gain any muscle if you’re afraid to eat more.

The trick in gaining lean muscle without fat gain is to select a small calorie surplus. Overeating, even on clean, bodybuilding foods is going to make you gain fat along with the muscle.

Gaining fat and muscle weight at the same time is commonly known as “bulking up” and that’s the old school approach to building muscle. We don’t want to do that. The whole idea is to Feed The Muscle and build lean body mass only.

Although BFFM is written with a fat loss slant, all the calorie formulas are included in chapter 6, so you can figure out exactly how many you need to lose, maintain, OR gain weight.

A typical male maintains on about 2700 calories per day and a typical female at about 2100 calories, but it’s good to plug your stats into the formulas to individualize, and you need to recalibrate calories anyways, after you come off a long fat loss phase.

What I would recommend for lean gains is to add a 10-15% calorie surplus on top of your maintenance level as your starting point. You will probably need a second increase in calories after a few months or after you’ve begun to add some lean mass in order to keep the lean gains coming.

The only other major adjustments for gaining lean mass would be the protein-carb-fat ratios (covered in detail in chapter 8) and of course, the amount of cardio.

Weight gain programs require more carbs in the macronutrient mix and less cardio. Endomorph types may need to keep 3 days of cardio in the mix to avoid losing their abs. In some cases for ectomorph “hard-gainer” body types, they should cut the cardio completely during the muscle gain phase.

For the endomorph body type who tends to gain fat easily, I recommend continuing to use a carb or calorie cycling method even for the muscle gaining phase. The difference is in the number of calories.

For fat loss, I typically recommend a carb cycle with a 20-30% caloric deficit for 3 days, followed by one full day at maintenance or even maintenance + 5-10%, with ALL the caloric increase coming from carbs.

For lean muscle gain without fat gain, I’d recommend a cycle with 3 days at a 15% surplus, followed by 3 days at maintenance or a small caloric deficit of 5-10% below maintenance.

These are just guidelines. They are not written in stone. I have seen all types of calorie cycling variations work for different people. Any non-linear calorie approach is superior, in my opinion, for keeping the gains lean.

All the other principles in BFFM, such as eating the “foods that burn fat" and avoiding the “foods that turn to fat” apply as equally to weight gain programs as they do to fat loss programs.

In fact, many BFFM “graduates” quickly reached their fat loss goal using these techniques, and then with a few simple adjustments, shifted into a “muscle-gaining phase.” Same program, but one change in calorie levels.

Using the BFFM techniques for muscle mass gains, most people can expect to gain 1/2 pound to 1 pound per week of lean body mass with no increase in body fat, (1/2 to 3/4 of that for women).

It’s not that hard to put on the first 10-12 pounds of lean muscle. After that, gains tend to slow down a bit.

These types of gains can be achieved completely natural - and in fact, natural is the only way I’d ever recommend you do muscle gaining programs.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle

Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com or Burn The Fat Inner Circle

 

Gain 10 Pounds Of Muscle In 3 Days

By Sean Nalewanyj

“Gain 10 pounds of muscle in 3 days” the large advert in that muscle building magazine promises you.

A model with massive muscles, grinning at you, and a couple of before and after pictures have you hooked.

Strategically placed phrases like “scientifically proven” and “the secret professionals use” will make you reach for your telephone and credit card.

Stop!

Gaining 10 pounds of muscle in 3 days is impossible.  There, I’ve put the truth out there for you.  Unless some space-age surgical procedure can artificially graft on additional muscles, it just isn’t possible.  Whatever the ads promise you; you shouldn’t believe them.

The supplement industry regularly commits a multi-billion dollar scam in the form of these ads, magazines, and websites.  Here’s what this multi-billion dollar industry does: On a daily basis, it puts out these advertisements, complete with fake testimonials and flimsy research showing how their supplements are the best and how they can help you gain 10 pounds of muscle in a relatively short time.

In reality, it’s all a big scam.

While some of the supplements on the market are good, even those won’t allow you to gain 10 pounds of muscle in a few days.  The truth is that nothing can replace hard work in the gym, not even the best supplements.

You need utilize sound research, not phony testimonials, to decide if a supplement delivers, be it a promise to gain 10 pounds of muscle or burn fat at thrice the natural rate.  If such a supplement did exist, wouldn’t everyone know about it and trainers everywhere recommend it?

You CAN gain 10 pounds of muscle, but it won’t happen in 3 days.  Follow this regimen: Go to the gym regularly, train all parts of your body scientifically, overload your workouts progressively, eat right, and rest well; pretty soon you won’t just gain 10 pounds of muscle, but much more.

While not in the manner described in the ads, supplementation can also help you in your path.  Honestly, only a few supplements available in the market can help you improve your results.  When looking at these advertisements and testimonials, use common sense and take them with a pinch of salt, because most of the testimonials are inaccurate or scripted.

“Research” stating that you can gain 10 pounds of muscle in a short period of time cleverly leads you to believe that the tests were performed on humans, but it is mostly faked or altered.  In reality, though, the tests were probably performed on lab animals like rats and mice, and you can’t relate the data from this trumped-up research to humans.

Look for a reference from the research material, and cross check it on PubMed.
You’ll probably find that the research is horribly skewed or just doesn’t exist.

If you want to naturally gain 10 pounds of muscle in the fastest possible way, I can tell you the honest truth about how.  For more information on gaining muscle in a healthy manner, visit the link below….

————————————————————-

About the author:

Sean Nalewanyj is the best-selling fitness author of the Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System.

He specializes in sharing the honest truth about how you can burn fat, build muscle, gain strength, improve your health and live your best life. You can read my review of his product in my post here.

Sculpt a Better Body with Proper Post-Workout Nutrition

By Mike Geary
Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist

Ideas for healthy post-workout shakes to help build muscle and enhance fat loss

As you’ve probably heard before, your post-workout meal may very well be your most important meal of the day.

The reason is that when you’re finished with an intense workout, you’re entering a catabolic state where your muscle glycogen is depleted and increased cortisol levels are beginning to excessively break down muscle tissue. These conditions are not good and the only way to reverse this catabolic state (and promote an anabolic state) is to consume a quickly digestible post-workout meal (can be a shake or smoothie) as soon as you can after training.

The goal is to choose a meal with easily digestible quick carbs to replenish muscle glycogen as well as quickly digestible protein to provide the amino acids needed to jump start muscular repair.  The surge of carbohydrates and amino acids from this quickly digested meal promotes an insulin spike from the pancreas, which shuttles nutrients into the muscle cells.

The post-workout meal should generally contain between 300-500 calories to get the best response. For example, a 120-lb female may only need a 300-calorie meal, whereas a 200-lb male may need a 500-calorie post-workout meal. Your post-workout meal should also contain anywhere from a 2:1 ratio of carbs:protein to a 4:1 ratio of carbs:protein. While most of your other daily meals should contain a source of healthy fats, keep the fat content of your post-workout meal to a bare minimum, since fat slows the absorption of the meal, which is the opposite of what you want after a workout.

When choosing what to make for your post-workout meal, the first thing to realize is that you DON’T need any of these expensive post-workout supplement formulations that all of the fancy ads you see everywhere will tell you that you absolutely NEED!  I tend to prefer to make my own post-workout shakes from natural ingredients instead of using a commercial mixture, since many of them are low quality.

However, one that I've found that I particularly like (and from a brand that I trust) is at this page:  http://natural.getprograde.com/workout -- they have just the right ratio of carbs to protein and use quality ingredients.

For the shakes that I make myself, here are some things to keep in mind if you try it...

A good source of quickly digestible natural carbs such as frozen bananas, pineapples, honey, or organic maple syrup are perfect to elicit an insulin response that will promote muscle glycogen replenishment and a general anabolic (muscle building) effect. The more you can assist the muscle repair process, the more you increase your metabolic rate and can help your fat loss as well.

The best source of quickly digestible protein is a quality non-denatured whey protein isolate and/or some fat-free or low-fat yogurt. Here are a couple ideas for delicious post-workout smoothies that will kick start your recovery process:

Chocolate Banana – blend together 1 cup water, ½ cup skim milk, one and a half frozen bananas, 2 tbsp organic maple syrup, and 30 grams chocolate whey protein powder – 38 g prot, 72 g carb, 0.5 g fat, 440 calories.

Pineapple Vanilla - blend together 1 cup water, ½ cup vanilla yogurt, one cup frozen pineapples, 2 tbsp honey (preferably raw), and 30 grams vanilla whey protein powder – 35 g prot, 71 g carb, 0.5 g fat, 425 calories.

When looking to lose body fat, keep in mind that post-workout meals should have the opposite characteristics of all of your other meals throughout each day. While post-workout meals should have quick high glycemic index carbs and quickly digested proteins, all of your other meals throughout the day should be comprised of low glycemic index, slowly digested carbs and slow release proteins.

These are powerful strategies towards developing a lean muscular body with a low body fat percentage.  Another great thing about post-workout meals is that you can satisfy even the worst sweet tooth, since this is the one time of the day where you can get away with eating extra sugars without adding to your gut. Instead, it all goes straight to the muscles! But ONLY if your workout was super-high intensity and involved resistance training for large portions of the body.  If all you did was some low intensity cardio, forget about doing this type of post-workout shake.

Enjoy!

A more detailed and comprehensive nutritional analysis with more of these various powerful dietary strategies are found in our best-selling #1 rated fitness ebook in the world, The Truth About Six Pack Abs

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Author – The Truth about Six Pack Abs

 

The Secret To A Better Lovelife

[ Editor's Note:  Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]

Today we need to chat about your hormones.

Yeah, I chat a lot about hormones. That's because I have been to Hormone Hell and back. Twice.

I've lived to tell the tale.

It's scary... and it's one of those hidden illnesses that you might not even know you have.

I had it at 27. It did not affect my lovelife, but that was probably due to my youth. If I did not treat it then, I would have no lovelife or drive at ALL right now.

I treated it with drugs. That is all we had back then.

Today I use a combination of therapies, many of which are natural....

1. I train with weights to increase testosterone-levels naturally.

2. I train and do cardio before eating in the morning do increase gH levels naturally without drugs.

3. I cycle my calories to increase my thyroid levels naturally.

As you can see there are many ways to increase your hormone levels naturally.

But it's not all exercise and nutrition. Now we have several "botanical" supplements:  Herbs and other natural helpers to help the fight.

I wish I would have known about Dr. Lucille when I was 27.

She's the expert in that field. Herbs, nutrition for hormone help, and how to protect your body IF you have to take drugs to help the problem like I do.

I listen to her. So should you.

Here's her site: Naturapause - natural energy help

The best thing about having your hormones optimized is energy.

Yes, you will burn more bodyfat.

Yes, you will increase your lovelife and your desire to have intimacy.

Yes, you will increase your resistance to disease and common illnesses.

But I think MORE ENERGY is the best.

I have the energy to do anything I want at just about any time I want.

Here's an example:

Today I had to go to the funeral of a dear friend. She passed away after struggling with a lifetime of various illnesses, many of which were made worse by lifestyle choices. Some she had no control over.

We all loved her dearly.

We drove until 1:00AM this morning. I got up early for the funeral but not early enough to eat breakfast.

I had a large lunch afterwards and then we headed back -- another 3 hour boring drive in traffic.

Even with all of this emotional stress, my body only needed a 2-hour nap to pop right back into high gear. I could literally go and workout now at almost 11:00pm if I had to.

I'm glad I don't because I have a night of packing ahead of me for a business trip!

Still, the point is simple:

Hormone Health = Greater Energy

Most people do not exercise because... get this....

They do not FEEL like it.

I don't mean "feel like it" as in they would rather do something else, although that is the case sometimes.

I mean "feel like it" in the sense that they have NO energy to do it.

They are tired, run-down after a 9 to 5 day, and feel zonked.

You too?

If so, you need the info at Naturapause - natural energy help

Remember:  More energy, more lovelife. More workouts that burn fat. More done in the day.

More living... in the best way possible.

 

Discovered - Secret Muscle Unlocks Mass Building Key

By Jeff Anderson

That’s right! I’m about to reveal to you a “SECRET” MUSCLE that when exercised, will actually trigger your entire body to grow like never before!

In fact, chances are that although you use this muscle all the time, you’ve probably never fully realized just how important it is to developing the other muscles of your body.

As a result, it lay under-developed and ignored in each of your workouts, just waiting for the chance to flex and show you its true potential!

But before I let you in on this critical part of your anatomy, I must first swear you to secrecy! (Alas…all secrets have their price!)

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there and if everyone knew the top secret location of one of the most devastating weapons in your arsenal for packing on muscle and burning ab-hiding flab, then I’m sure supplement sales would plummet, leaving me as the most hated fitness consultant in the biz.

So please…I’m a family man and don’t want to keep looking over my shoulder for a vengeful Joe Weider, drool oozing from the side of his mouth and a 20 lb dumbbell poised at my head!

OK, so now that you’re sworn to secrecy, here’s my secret anatomy lesson…

The most effective muscle you have for building muscle all over your body is…
…Your Brain!

Disappointed?! You won’t be…

OK, so maybe the brain isn’t really a muscle, but it almost qualifies. You see, you DO exercise your brain like a muscle…it DOES get weak with lack of use…and it DRASTICALLY AFFECTS how your body builds muscle and burns fat.

And since THIS is the secret you were looking for anyway, here are 4 ways you can capitalize on its secret powers:

Power #1: Visualization builds muscle!

I remember an old interview with Lee Haney, 8-time Mr. Olympia winner, asking him what factor he attributed most to his success.

His answer? Visualization!

Now this is NOT just some “new age” concept we’re talking about here.

By “picturing”, in your mind, the muscle group you’re working, expanding more and more with each repetition, ready to pop out of your skin at any moment, you force your body to focus specifically on that muscle group, allowing you to better target all of the muscle fibers for maximum stimulation.

In fact, this is one of the most powerful tips I include in my Optimum Anabolics program (www.OptimumAnabolics.com) to greatly increase natural testosterone production!

How does it work?

The visualization process can actually increase adrenal output which in turn increases the raw stimuli needed in the “hormone enhancement chain”.

More testosterone = more muscle and that’s exactly what Optimum Anabolics is all about.

Power #2: Your brain spurs you to action…or LACK of action!

Following your initial excitement of beginning your “Look Like Arnold in 12 Days” bodybuilding program, you’re bound to lose some of your motivation for going to the gym.

This is why most people drop out of their gym memberships within only 6 months of beginning!

After a while, your brain is actually holding its own conversation in your head, trying to talk you out of exercising.

You may be familiar with these conversations. They go something like this…

* “I’m too tired!”

* “I have too much to do today!”

* “I’m not gaining any more anyway!”

Consider this a debate…one YOU will win! By consciously “programming” your brain to respond with a statement that is geared toward success, you can reverse this negative thought process.

Here are some example responses from the statements above…

* “But when I start exercising, I’ll feel more energized!”

* “Nothing is more important than my health!”

* “My workout today will make the difference!”

Power #3: Ego Slayer!

Your ego is constantly trying to tell you to “look” better…heck, that’s one of the main reasons we took up bodybuilding in the first place, isn’t it?

The question is WHERE do you want to look better? IN the gym…or OUT of the gym?

Here’s what I mean…

If you want to look better IN the gym, then disregard proper exercise form and continue to load up the bar with as much weight as you can flop around. Since most guys in your local sweatbox don’t know what they’re doing anyway, you’ll probably impress them as they mentally add up the weight on the plates you’re lifting.

The problem is that OUT of the gym, you won’t be all that impressive since you won’t be growing from your ineffective workout program!

Let your brain tell your ego to “shut up” and drop some of the weight on the bar. The extra inch or so you’ll be able to add to each repetition’s range of motion will make a HUGE difference in the amount of muscle you pack on!

Power #4: Virtual Training Partner!

One of the greatest benefits of having a training partner is having someone screaming and spitting in your face to…

“C’mon…PUSH IT!”

In essence, this allows you to focus only on that set, pushing it to its outer limits and stimulate more muscle growth.

Even if you don’t have a training partner, your brain can still help set you up for a powerfully motivated lift.

Train your brain to claim each and every set its own entire world!

“NOTHING exists but THIS SET!”

Clear your mind of any distractions – work, family, friends – and seize this opportunity to concentrate ONLY on your form and effort.

You’ll NEED this level of focus for those tough final reps where the real growth is!

Ok, so hopefully now you realized that all things spring from thought.

If you don’t exercise your brain, it will get weak…and if your brain gets weak, your body will follow.

Follow these tips and I promise you’ll be rewarded many times over by the “other” muscles in your body!

Roasted Chicken Breast with Spinach and Walnuts Stuffing

Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients

• 4 large fresh chicken breasts, boneless and skinless (average 8oz per breast)
• 4 cups fresh spinach
• 2 Tbsp of garlic
• 1/4 cup walnuts crushed
• Salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Olive oil (not extra virgin)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Butterfly Chicken Breasts (cut along side and lay out flat leaving attached at one end like a book) and lay out flat on cutting board. You can pound it slightly to flatten a bit if you want.
2. Rub both sides with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.
3. Lightly wilt spinach in non-stick pan, or if using frozen just thaw.
4. Spread roasted garlic paste onto one half on inside of chicken breasts.
5. Sprinkle with crushed walnuts.
6. Place spinach on top of walnuts.
7. Fold top over and place on a rack fitted inside a sheet pan or roasting pan.
8. Place chicken in oven and bake for 20 minutes on 400. Then reduce heat to 325 and roast for an additional 30 minutes, or until inside stuffing reaches 145 degrees.
9. Let rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

Nutritional Facts

(Per Serving)

• Calories: 407
• Protein: 55g
• Carbohydrates: 4g
• Fat: 19g

 

Get more healthy and delicious recipies like this at Anabolic Cooking.

How To Build Muscle And Gain Weight Quickly

By Vince DelMonte

Do you truly know how to build muscle and gain weight quickly?

If you knew how to build muscle then the skinny jokes would have ended long ago. If you knew how to gain weight quickly then the blank stares would stop when you tell someone you work out with weights. And if you knew how to build muscle and gain weight quickly you would no longer frustrated that the scale has not budged upwards since you first started lifting.

I know from first hand experience what it feels like to train for hours in the gym, slug back protein shake after protein shake, spend your hard earned money on over-priced and over-hyped supplements, with little or nothing to show for it! If this is you than you're not alone and are probably missing a few key ingredients that you're executing effectively.

If you're a naturally skinny person than you must play by a different set of rules. If you were not gifted with muscle friendly genes than does it make sense to follow a program by someone who builds muscle even when they sneeze? If you're training drug free than does it make sense to take advice from a guy who’s spending a few thousand dollars a month on steroids?

Or maybe you're taking advice from someone with great genetics? That’s like taking money advice from someone who inherited a fortune! You must accept the fact if you have muscle 'unfriendly' genes you must be prepared to play by a different set of rules if you want to build muscle and turn heads!

Here are a few simple tips to show you - the skinny guy - how to build muscle and gain weight quickly :

Train like a barbarian!

Do people stop and watch you work out? Do you reach the point in a workout where you question your ability to finish? If you treat working out more like a hobby than a job than it’s no surprise that you do not stand out in a crowd and are still spinning your wheels.

The majority of people that work out in a gym barely sweat and spend more time starring in the mirror and trying to impress the new front desk girl than getting into the ‘zone’ and crashing through previous training limits.

Here are some tips on how to 'train like a barbarian':

1. Treat every single set like it is your last set.

2. Treat every single rep like your life depends on it.

3. Wear a stop watch and ensure that you keep the rest period honest.

4. Wear a sweater so you can’t stare at yourself in the mirror.

5. Wear a head set on that tells others ‘do not disturb.’

6. No girl friends allowed or wimpy guy friends who are going to compromise the intensity of your workout.

7. Train with an intensity that scares the gym shorts off of every person in your path.

Are you starting to get the picture? There is a philosophy that simply states, “You get what you focus on.” Focus on training like a barbarian and you will soon start looking like a barbarian!

Give your muscles a reason to grow!

Guess what happens when you train at the same intensity as you did in a previous workout? Your muscles laugh back at you and say, “Nice try, we did this workout before and can handle this stress! Is that your attempt on getting us to grow?”

Don’t get caught up in the latest hype of bodybuilding and fitness magazines. Most of it is rehashed and just packaged sleeker to sell magazines. There are two forms of training that must be cycled in a successful weight training program:

1. HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY! Put everything into lifting heavier weights and getting as strong as possible. Use only one compound exercise per major muscle group and focus on a 5% increase in strength from week to week. This will ensure neuromuscular development and targeting the fast twitch muscle fibers which have the greatest opportunity for growth.

2. VOLUME VOLUME VOLUME! Expose your body to as much work possible in the shortest period of time. Placing your muscles under more tension will result in more tapped and untrained muscle fiber being recruited therefore more muscle growth! The key here is to find the correct balance in time and work. Volume training does not mean 2 hour gym workouts lifting light weights. Instead lift heavy weights close to your max threshold but with shorter rest periods, slower tempos and more exercise selection per muscle group.

No more program hopping!

Sure, it’s easier to test drive a program for a few weeks and than say it does not work and move on to the next latest ‘breakthrough’ program. This is called the blame game and neglecting responsibility! Do you think you will become rich if you test out a new job for a few weeks and than call it quits when your first paycheck does not meet your expectations? No way! But if you stay with the company and exploit the companies benefits and opportunities to the fullest than you will succeed.

The reality is that virtually every program will work for a certain period of time if it is done at the right intensity and as the author has written.

Find a program and study the details of it’s full entirety. Ensure that the program goals of the author are in alignment with yours and study all the fine details. Do not ask a million questions and try and find holes or flaws or attempt to make it ‘perfect.’ The perfect program does not exist. Trust the program, follow it honestly and monitor the progress. The experience and results you gain from following one program for a consistent period of time will be priceless.

Do you mind if I be frank and ask you a honest question? If you had to transform your body which required you to know how to build muscle and gain weight quickly, and you only had a few weeks, could you step up to the challenge?

Let's say your wanted to enter a fitness model or beginner bodybuilding competition? Perhaps you want to be considered he 'buffest' guy in your gym? If you get starred at because your physique stands out in the crowd than click away because your probably already know how to build muscle and gain weight quickly.

However if you are the guy on the other extreme and receive surprised looks when you tell people you work out with weights, don't look any different than any body else in your gym and have never been approached for advice than please read this article carefully because this is your next step to building muscle and gaining weight quickly!

'Hardgainer' - Dump the title!

As soon as you start labeling yourself as a 'hard gainer' don't be surprised when your results come to a screeching halt.

This single word has more power to sabotage your potential for a muscular physique before you even begin training. Keep calling yourself a 'hard gainer' and don't be surprised if you continue to waste your time, effort, and money.

If you're lucky maybe you will build 3 - 5 pounds of muscle a year...

I have no problem with the term 'hard gainer' except for what happens when people label themselves to be so-called 'hard gainers.' Sure you might be a 'hard gainer' but I think most skinny guys believe they are actually 'no gainers.'

'Hard gainers' do exist but THERE IS NO SUCH THING as a 'NO GAINER!'

You might think you are a 'hard gainer' because you have trained your butt off for a few years, you eat the right foods, take all the latest supplements and yet still get a surprised look when you tell people you work out!

I don't know anybody that does not have the ability to put on slabs of muscle in record time. I have proven every client dead wrong who perceived themselves as a 'hard gainer.' This term is just a poor excuse.

Plain and simple: excuses are for the weak. It's easy to point the blame when your workouts are inconsistent, your training is sub-maximal and you indulge in a undisciplined social lifestyle. How convenient to shift the blame from yourself to a convenient label.

But it's easier telling everyone that you are a 'hard gainer.' Right?

This term is a great disguise for skinny guys who will never reach their true genetic potential. Instead of taking responsibility for your actions, it's a lot easier to pull out the 'hard gainer' card and flash it to everyone. It sits by your driver's license and has become a part of your identity.

The deadliest mindset in the world.

Consider this. It’s like saying, “I can’t afford it.” This should be considered a deadly statement because it forces your brain to stop working and reinforces a false perception of your true abilities. Instead you should say, “How can I afford it?” By constantly saying, “How can I afford it” or “I can afford it,” you will reinforce a new perception of yourself - you will no longer think of yourself as poor, but as a rich person.

If you examine these two statements, you will see that “How can I afford it?” opens your mind to examining the possibilities of accumulating wealth. “I can’t afford it,” on the other hand, closes your mind to any possibility of attaining what you desire.

Let’s make this example practical now. By simply being aware of the words you use, you can self-detect your self-perceptions. By changing your words, you can begin to change your self-perceptions - if you choose. So by simply reminding yourself to say, “There is no such thing as a 'hard gainer'” you will be able to bring out the muscular person inside of you. By saying, “I am a hard gainer” you are reinforcing the small and weak person who was already there.

Do you truly think that you can casually or unintentionally build muscle and gain weight quickly?

No way! Do you really think deep down that if you believe you are a hard gainer and a muscular physique is out of your limits, that you will ever achieve any significant results? I’m not talking 3 or 5 pounds of muscle a year. I’m talking about 20-50 pounds of massive muscle. Of course not. Every trip to the gym, every set, every meal, every shake you gulp down will be snuffed out because the beliefs in your mind have sentenced you to a life of smallness.

The very first step you must take before you read any of the training or nutrition content of this book is DITCH THE TITLE. Stop labeling yourself and start thinking of yourself as a ‘untapped reservoir with explosive muscular strength.’

Many personal development coaches stress the principle, ‘you get what you focus on.’ Therefore if you focus on being small, you will be small. Focus on being big and muscular and this will direct your mind and actions to the things you must do to become just that. All actions come from your beliefs and if you truly don’t believe that you can succeed then what chance do you have?

Focus on believing in yourself and your abilities and re-classify yourself as a ‘consistent gainer’ or an ‘unstoppable gainer’ or whatever title suits your motivation best. If you focus on being successful you will be and you are already one step closer to becoming the person you really want to be!

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Vince DelMonte
Author, No-Nonsense Muscle Building
Author, Your Six Pack Quest
Contributor To Men’s Fitness Mag
Advisory Team, Maximum Fitness Mag
Honors Kinesiology (Health Sciences) Degree

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About the Author:

Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at MuscleGrowthTips.com.

He specializes in teaching skinny guys how to build muscle and gain weight quickly without drugs, supplements and training less than before.  You can read my review of his product in my post here.

Basketball for Fat Loss?

By Tom Venuto

QUESTION: Hi Tom. I have asked several other experts about this and so far no one seems to give me an EXACT answer. Some trainers tell me I have to go steady and nonstop for 30 minutes straight or more to burn fat. Others tell me I have to do intervals and they have to be in a certain ratio of sprint to recovery. I’m getting tired of my cardio ritual and would like a change. I love basketball. I could play for an hour and enjoy every minute of it, and I FEEL like I’m getting a good workout doing it. But is it really the same as something like a good run?

ANSWER: I just plugged basketball into my calories burned calculator and it says that if you weigh 185 pounds, moderate basketball (full court game play) burns 839 calories per hour. Moderate basketball (non-game) is 528 calories per hour. I’m guessing “non-game” means either half court or just casual play with your buddies.

Either way, 528-839 calories burned per hour sounds like a good fat burner to me - especially the all-out, full court basketball. Don’t you agree?

Basketball also gives you a wide variety of different physical challenges and intensity levels - running down the court, jumping, pivoting, shooting - and you said you enjoy it.
If you feel guilty when you finish your game, as if you didn’t burn enough, when the game is over, just run intervals up and down the court… do about 6-10 of them or until you yak. (just kidding).

If I were to clarify my position on cardio training in my fat loss book today, I don’t think I would change my recommendations much. I'm a very strong proponent of exercise and becoming more active to burn fat rather than just cutting calories. However, I might change some of the language to make it clearer that fat loss is about BURNING calories and that your choices for HOW to burn them are virtually infinite.
The problem, in my opinion?

The word “aerobics” sets people off… especially the macho guys. There’s an instant emotional connotation carried in the word “aerobics, and it’s negative for many people. “Aerobics” is also usually a very narrow definition making for a fairly small list of choices.

I like the word “cardio” a little better, because it’s a little broader, but even “cardio” carries with it some pre-conceived notions and it’s unclear whether various types of “cardio” exercise are good fat burners.

Is basketball cardio? I suppose it depends on your definition.
Is basketball a good fat burner? Sure. But you might not think so if you were inflexible about how you define exercise and training.

What I would do if I wanted to most clearly define what makes a good fat burner, I’d recommend that you focus on:

“INCREASING ENERGY EXPENDITURE” (BURN MORE!)

This description leaves the choice of activity up to your own personal interpretation and personal preference.

Is 500 to 800 calories per hour a lot of energy to expend? You bet. Better still is the fact that you enjoy it. I know, I know, everyone wants to be told EXACTLY what to do; how many minutes, what intensity, what type, what heart rate, blah, blah, blah, and gurus are infamous for being dogmatic about their systems as the “best way” or “only way.”

But what if Dan loves basketball and Tom loves the Stepmill and Joe loves to jog and Kyle likes calisthenics and John likes kettlebells and Suzy likes kickboxing? Then what?

By changing your language and focusing on increasing “energy expenditure” (Burning more), that should change your conception of what efficient fat burning exercise is.

DEFINITION OF GOOD FAT BURNING EXERCISE =
High # of total calories burned/expended

DEFINITION OF GREAT FAT BURNING EXERCISE =
High # of total calories burned/expended and high # expended per unit of time

DEFINITION OF WHOOP-ASS FAT BURNING EXERCISE =
High # of total calories burned and high # burned in a short period of time and you love doing it! It’s play time!

Fat oxidation and excess post exercise energy expenditure and all that other scientific stuff (that I could bore you to death talking about) does matter, but your primary focus should be on:

1) Burning as many calories as you can in the time you have.
2) Finding something you like to do.
3) Focusing on RESULTS above all else… Is your body fat decreasing or not?

Last, but not least, don’t forget that optimal fat loss is achieved with a three-part approch including nutrition, weight training and “cardio” training. I’m not saying that basketball should replace your strength training. I’m suggesting that basketball or other sports can be a perfectly viable alternative to traditional aerobics or cardio if they’re high energy cost activities.

Using my new definition for fat burning exercise should help lift the fog of confusion that has been created by only defining fat burning exercise as”aerobics” or “cardio.”
The word “Aerobics” is somewhat restrictive in scope and definition. The possibilites for “expending energy” are endless.

So now, go forth and BURN THE FAT… however you choose to do it… just do it!
Train hard and expect success,
Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle

PS. By the way, you don’t see a lot of fat jiggling around the court in the NBA do you?
About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com or Burn The Fat Inner Circle

How do Muscles Grow?

By Sean Nalewanyj

If you don’t have any knowledge of carpentry, can you build a house?  Of course, you can’t.

More powerful than any weapon you will have is simple knowledge, and to accomplish anything satisfactorily, you need to have at least some rudimentary know-how of the task in question.

Your new mantra should be “Work smart; not hard.”.

Yet, even as thousands of bodybuilding devotees flock to gyms all over the country everyday, trying to build muscle and lose fat, they all ignore this simple mantra.

To verify my statement, just ask any of them a simple question: “How do muscles grow?” All you’ll get in response is a blank stare.  They will look back at you with a blank stare.

Bodybuilding isn’t an art, it’s a science.  You don’t need to complete a Ph.D. in biology to build big, strong muscles, but a basic idea of the muscle building process will help you to efficiently meet your muscle building goals.

How do muscles grow, then?

Well, the process of muscle growth is complex and involves a large number of biological steps.  You don’t need to know it all as a bodybuilder, just the basic steps of muscle building.

So, how do muscles grow? Let’s take a look at the science behind the art. Let us find out.

Keep this in mind as you train: Keeping you alive and healthy is the single most important function of every process and action that goes on within your body.  When it comes to Mother Nature, in fact, we humans have just one purpose: to pass on our DNA and procreate.

It’s as simple as that.

So exactly how do muscles grow?

The human body as we know it is the result of millions of years of evolution, and to be able to ensure survival, it has created natural alarm systems that sound as a response to stress.  Think about how you feel hungry if you don't eat, how you feel thirsty if you don't drink, how you feel pain when something hurts you, and how you tan when you are exposed to the sun; these are all instances of the natural alarms going off.

Muscle building should be viewed similarly.  “Hypertrophy” is the scientific term for muscle building.

When you work out at the gym, what you’re doing is placing your muscles under stress by lifting weights.  With every repetition you perform, your muscle comes closer to failure, which is the point when your muscles will “give out,” and you won’t be able to do any more repetitions, however hard you try.

As they come towards failure, these reps create deeper and deeper inroads through the muscle fiber, resulting in what we call “micro-tears”.  In simple terms, what you’re doing is actually breaking down muscle fibers by causing damage to the muscle.  When the body is damaged, the survival system will kick in, and the body will react by repairing the muscles.

The repair process starts when the stress ceases, or when you stop working out.
Since the body is trying to keep you alive and healthy, it will rebuild the muscles bigger and stronger, to be able to protect itself against the same threat again.

Resistance training causes micro-tears, and the body’s natural evolutionary response is to repair the damaged tissue, which leads to increased size and strength.  For success in muscle building, this concept is essential to grasp, even though it may seem simple.

Muscle building happens in the same way that the body forms calluses on the skin when it is overused.  Muscle tissue is the equivalent of a callus for the body, and it keeps growing with constant use.

Finally, how do muscles grow?

For the process of muscle building to kick in, your body must perceive the weight you lift in the gym as a threat to survival, as a result of which it will initiate a process of adaptation designed to help it cope with this stress.

Let me say this once more: Your workout must be hard enough for your body to see it as a threat to its survival and ability to cope.  This is exactly the reason why an easygoing attitude in the gym will not get you any results.  The body will only perceive a threat when your workout is high in intensity.

How do muscles grow?

Now that you know the basics of the science, check out the website below to find out how you can use your knowledge to fuel massive muscular growth.
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About the author:
Sean Nalewanyj is the best-selling fitness author of the Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System.
He specializes in sharing the honest truth about how you can burn fat, build muscle, gain strength, improve your health and live your best life. You can read my review of his product in my post here.

Barbell, Kettlebell, and Dumbbell Training Complexes

by Mike Geary

Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer Author

If you've been looking for a different training technique to break out of a rut, eliminate the boredom, and bring on new results, "complexes" may be just what you've been looking for.

If you've never heard of "complexes" before, the basic concept is that instead of repeating the same exercise for multiple reps to complete a "set", you sequence one rep of several different exercises right after one another and repeat the sequence several times to complete a "set". It's basically like performing a routine, instead of just mindlessly performing a typical "set".

This type of training is excellent to work a huge amount of musculature in a short amount of time, and definitely takes your workouts to a whole new level of intensity. The conditioning aspect of this type of training is amazing, as you'll find yourself huffing and puffing after repeating a sequence a mere two or three times.

If I had to venture a guess, I'd have to say that this type of training probably elicits a good growth hormone response as well, due to the large amount of full body work completed in a given time period. But that's just my guess.

I like to incorporate about 5 exercises into my complexes. Any more than that and you might start to forget what's next in the sequence. Here's an example of a killer barbell complex that really gets me fired up:

Example Barbell Complex

1. high pull from floor (explosive deadlift right into upright row in one motion);
2. barbell back to thighs, then hang clean (explosively pull bar from knees and "catch" the bar at shoulders);
3. barbell back to floor, then clean & jerk;
4. barbell back to thighs, bend over, then bent over row;
5. barbell back to thighs, then finish with Romanian deadlift

Use a weight that you can still handle for your weakest lift of the bunch, but keep it heavy enough to challenge you. Try to repeat the sequence 2-3 times without resting... That's 1 set. You could progress over time on this routine by increasing the amount of times you repeat the sequence in each set, or by adding sets on subsequent workouts before eventually increasing the weight.

For example, say you completed the above complex with 155-lbs for 3 sequences per set for 3 sets in today's workout. Next time you perform the workout, try to do 155-lbs for 3 sequences per set for 4 sets. Once you successfully complete 5 sets with 155, increase the weight 5 or 10 lbs next time, and drop back to 3 sets. This is a great way to make improvements over time, while cycling your training volume.

Now I'm going to show you a great kettlebell complex that really kicks my butt. If you don't have a kettlebell, you can use a dumbbell, but I'd highly recommend picking yourself up a kettlebell... very convenient to have around when you want to bang out a quick intense workout at home without going to the gym.

I've been training with kettlebells for a little over a year now, and can definitely say that they've dramatically improved my strength, body composition, and overall physical capabilities. If you're not familiar with kettlebells, they are an old eastern European training secret that has just started to take the US by storm over the last few years. Many elite athletes are using kettlebells as their preferred training tool for serious results. Learn more info and pick up one of your own body-hardening kettlebells here.

I'd recommend just starting off with one bell and learn all of the single kettlebell drills first, before delving into the double-bell drills. Just one kettlebell coupled with some bodyweight exercises can literally be enough to comprise your own home gym, without any other equipment necessary. Or a kettlebell can just be a great alternative workout to incorporate into your routines once or twice a week. Either way, it opens up a whole new world of training for you.

Example Kettlebell Complex

1. one arm swing
2. one arm snatch, keep the bell over head;
3. one arm overhead squat;
4. bell back down to bottom, then one arm high pull;
5. bell back down to bottom, then one arm clean & press

As with the barbell complex, repeat the sequence (without rest) 2-3 times with each arm. That's one set...and one hell of a killer set at that! Try increasing from 3 to 4 to 5 sets on subsequent workouts with a given weight before increasing your sequence reps. If you're not drenched in sweat with your heart beating out of your chest after that complex, you either went too light, or you are a mutant freak!

Since dumbbells are more accessible to most people than kettlebells, now I'll show you how to put together a good dumbbell complex.

Example Dumbbell Complex

1. upright row with each arm separately then both together
2. front lunge with one leg, then the other
3. back lunge with one leg, then the other
4. curl to overhead press
5. keep dumbbells at shoulders and squat

Again, the same type of sequencing and progressions explained with the barbell complexes work great with the dumbbell complexes. I think a great strategy is to alternate barbell complexes on one day with kettlebell or dumbbell complexes on alternative training days.

For example, you could do barbell complexes Monday, K-bell or D-bell complexes Wednesday, and back to barbell complexes on Friday. Maybe hit some sprints and bodyweight drills on Saturday; then Monday would be K-bell or D-bell complexes again, Wednesday would be barbells again, and so on. Give this program a try for a month (if you dare), and you will be one hardened individual!

For more killer full body training routines and a fully comprehensive nutritional analysis for developing the lean chiseled body that you've always wanted, don't miss out on my internationally best selling program with over 250,000 users in over 155 countries -- The Truth about Six Pack Abs.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Author – The Truth about Six Pack Abs