In a rush to get results? Here’s the ultimate way to build mass ASAP!
Preparation
The best training routine won’t do you much help if you don’t have the best muscle-building diet, and I mean muscle-building diet. Forget getting it all cut up to get shredded abs and getting ripped. Getting lean is a different article. This is not the time for that. Besides, you can not get maximum muscle gains at the same time you’re trying to get lean. I don’t care who tells you otherwise. Science will work against you, and you’ll end up burning muscle, and getting……wait for it……..smaller! So get your body-building grocery list ready. Let’s dig in.
Muscle Building Foods
Planning your bodybuilding grocery list is the first thing you will need to do before you even think about hitting the weights.
Bodybuilding Grocery List
- Chicken Breasts (trimmed)
- Sweet Potatoes or Regular Potatoes
- Spinach Leafs (salad)
- Bananas
- Eggs
- Skim Milk
- Tuna
- Peanut Butter
- Whole Wheat Bread
- Weight Gainer / Protein Powder
- Glutamine
- Creatine
- Nitric Oxide (NO2)
- Lean steak
Muscle Building Diet Routine
Building muscle will not happen unless your diet is in order. It’s an off-season diet designed for bulking and packing on serious muscle mass. Again, forget about getting shredded right now. Eat big, eat healthily, and focus on cutting up after your muscle-building period.
Okay, now you’ve stuck to your bodybuilding grocery list, and you’re ready to get on your muscle-building diet. Here is what our muscle-building diet looks like. Once you learn how many grams of protein are in the protein-rich foods, and how many calories are in each food, then you can replace certain foods with others to your liking. This is my bulking (off-season) diet.
Meal 1: (Breakfast)
- Fruit (banana, strawberries);
- Raw oatmeal with skimmed milk (large portion) with fruit for taste;
- Scrambled egg whites (6-12);
- Supplements (5g creatine, 5g glutamine, multivitamin);
- Weight Gainer (powder skimmed milk).
Meal 2: (Snack – 2 hrs after meal)
- Weight gainer in skim milk (one serving);
- Tuna sandwich or peanut butter sandwich with banana.
Meal 3: (Lunch)
- Spinach Leaf Salad with vegetables, fat-free dressing, 8-12 ounces of sliced grilled chicken.
Meal 4: (Calorie Load – 2-3 hours before workout)
- 2 chicken sandwiches with cheese or cheeseburgers. Home-prepared preferred but fast food is okay.
Meal 5: (Pre-Workout)
- Nitric Oxide;
- 5 grams creatine;
- Fat burner/thermogenic stack like Animal Cuts.
Meal 6: (Post-Workout)
- Amino complex in grape or apple juice;
- Weight Gainer (one serving) in water (no skim milk);
- 5g creatine, 5g glutamine in high carbohydrate drink.
Meal 7: (Dinner)
- Steak (8-12 ounces) and baked potato;
- Spinach leaf salad with fresh veggies. Fat-free salad dressing.
Meal 8: (Before Bed)
- Weight Gainer (one serving) in skim milk;
- 5g glutamine.
Strength Training
So you’ve got the diet down and you’re ready to hit the weights. If you’re a serious bodybuilder, or at least serious about putting on muscle, at some point, you have sought out “the best training program or routine” during your quest for knowledge. So, what is the best muscle-building workout routine? P90X? Nope. CrossFit? Nope. Group Training in the park with some trainers in polo and windbreakers? Hell no.
There is only one answer, and one answer only. Strength training. To gain muscle fast, a person MUST participate in a well-structured strength training regimen. Trash the gimmicky BS video tapes. It’s bodybuilding, not Richard Simmons workouts. And to get bigger, you need to get strong. This is an extremely important component of muscle growth. You need to get out there and lift some “heavy ass weight” as Ronnie Coleman would say. Let’s take a look at what strength training is.
Strength Training (Training for Serious Mass)
2 – 6 reps at 80% – 90% of the “1 rep max” activates myofibrillated hypertrophy.
Beginner’s Gains (If Inactive)
Within the first 12 or so days of training, an inactive person can attain noticeable strength gains during the muscular “learning” phase.
Gaining Weight
As muscle requests increase and demand amplifies with increased weight, the body must accommodate or adapt to the increased load. The body senses this load and responds with increased muscle fiber production or hypertrophy.
How It All Works
Muscle hypertrophy is simply the enlargement of the size or strength of the muscle. There are two types of hypertrophy:
- Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (size of the muscle)
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is when the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid (thick liquid between cell membranes) increases in muscular strength. - Myofibrillar hypertrophy (strength of muscle)
Myofibrillar hypertrophy occurs when actin and myosin contractile proteins increase in number and contribute to muscular strength and a minuscule increase in muscle size.
What Not to Do: Endurance Training
12 or more reps of sub-maximal load predominantly activate sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. While endurance training may grant you some muscular gain, this is not the “Fastest Way to Build Muscle.” Endurance training is exactly what it is; for endurance. P90X and CrossFit both fall in this category, and these are NOT for you.
When you run into someone who is ripped from doing P90X or CrossFit, it’s most likely because they were fat, or some type of mesomorph or endomorph, and they have toned up from engaging in those programs. These programs are just a combination of maximum intensity cardio, mixed in with endurance training. I’m still not sure why people pay for that. Maybe for motivation?
