Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Stop Struggling To Build Muscle

By Russ Howe


As a fitness instructor, one of the most popular questions I hear in the gym is people wondering how to build muscle fast and retain it. This is second only to people asking how to lose weight. Today I'm going to share a few proven factors with you.

The two rules in this article will help you get some results fast.

If you have been struggling for progress in the gym or perhaps you are just starting out and not sure what to do, today's article will help you get the basics down.

* Your diet is vital to your success

* Supplements are useful but not essential

The fact is most people neglect the basics in favor of searching for a miracle solution to their problems. By failing to nail down the basic, proven foundations of building a better body, however, you ruin your potential and actually hold yourself back considerably.

The first port of call is to correct your eating habits. Even if you think your diet is okay right now, if you're not getting results you need to accept that it isn't okay. Building muscle isn't just about piling on weight by eating whatever you want.

There is no one 'best' way to diet. Despite all the trainers out there trying to sell their 'best ever plan' to you, there are numerous ways to get results in the gym. You simply have to get the basics right and that's what we're going to show you today. One of the best diets around is known as the 3-5-2 plan. To work out how many calories per day you need to pack on some size, multiply your target weight (in pounds) by fifteen. So a 180 pound guy would require around 2700 kcals in total.

The 3-5-2 system gets it's name because it means 30% protein, 50% carbohydrates and 20% fats. It's good knowing what total calorie target to aim for, but it's even better knowing exactly how many grams of each macro nutrient to look for.

Take your 2700 calories and work out 30 percent to see how many calories need to come from protein. In this case, a 180lb man would require 810 calories per day from protein sources. You can use the 3-5-2 system to then establish your carb and fat intake, too.

To convert your protein calories into grams so you know how much to eat, just divide that 810 by four. This gives you 202g. For carbohydrates, take your carb calories and divide by four. When it comes to your daily fats, take your fat calories and divide it by nine. This will give you a complete breakdown of how many calories to eat per day and how much of it needs to come from protein, carbohydrates and fats respectively.

Next we need to talk about supplements. It is very easy to get lost in the supplement market, with every product telling you that it's better than anything else. If you get your diet sorted out first, you will realize that you don't need most of the products you might be wasting your money on right now.

Two very valuable, proven supplements when engaging in a muscle building diet and program are creatine monohydrate and whey protein. Both are proven and both do their job. The protein is especially useful as it allows you to reach your calorie target easier throughout the day, too.

Having now got the basics of both supplements and diet, you are now in a much better position than most when it comes to knowing how to build muscle in the gym. In fact, the next time you hear somebody at your local fitness center complaining at their own lack of results you could probably lend them a helping hand.




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