| CELEBRITY GOSSIP AND TRENDS IN WEIGHT LOSS... |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| ONE OF THE BEST WAYS FOR INCREASING MUSCLE MASS IS HIGH PROTEIN DIET, AND OF COURSE LIFTING WEIGHTS. CLICK HERE FOR DIET INDEX.. CLICK HERE FOR EXERCISE INDEX. CLICK HERE FOR SUPPLEMENT TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR WORKOUTS. |
| The tools and information on the this site are intended as an aid to weight loss and weight maintenance, and do not offer medical advice. If you suffer from, or think you may suffer from, a medical condition you should consult your doctor before starting a weight loss and/or exercise regime. If you decide to start exercising after a period of relative inactivity you should start very slowly and consult your doctor if you experience any discomfort, distress or any other symptoms. If you feel any discomfort or pain when you exercise, do not continue. The tools and information on the this site are not intended for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding, or for any person under the age of 18. © 2010 to date Prothinspo llc, Pro-Thinspo.com, Prothinspo.com and Prothinsposhop.com All rights reserved. "PROTHINSPO" is a trademark of Prothinspo Incorporated. All rights reserved. All content on this website should be considered for entertainment purposes. |
Maybe you've had sand kicked in your face. Maybe you've lost one too many attainable women to
beefier guys. Or maybe you've read so much about weight loss that actually admitting you want to
gain weight is a societal taboo. Whatever the reason, you want to bulk up. Now.
But forget about your alleged high-revving metabolism, says Doug Kalman, R.D., director of
nutrition at Miami Research Associates. "Most lean men who can't gain muscle weight are simply
eating and exercising the wrong way," he says.
Here's your fix: Follow these 10 principles to pack on as much as a pound of muscle each week.
1. Maximize muscle building. The more protein your body stores—in a process called protein
synthesis—the larger your muscles grow. But your body is constantly draining its protein reserves
for other uses—making hormones, for instance. The result is less protein available for muscle
building. To counteract that, you need to "build and store new proteins faster than your body
breaks down old proteins," says Michael Houston, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at Virginia Tech
University.
2. Eat meat. Shoot for about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, which is roughly the
maximum amount your body can use in a day, according to a landmark study in the Journal of
Applied Physiology. (For example, a 160-pound man should consume 160 grams of protein a day—
the amount he'd get from an 8-ounce chicken breast, 1 cup of cottage cheese, a roast-beef
sandwich, two eggs, a glass of milk, and 2 ounces of peanuts.) Split the rest of your daily calories
equally between carbohydrates and fats.
3. Eat more. In addition to adequate protein, you need more calories. Use the following formula to
calculate the number you need to take in daily to gain 1 pound a week. (Give yourself 2 weeks for
results to show up on the bathroom scale. If you haven't gained by then, increase your calories by
500 a day.)
A. Your weight in pounds: _____
B. Multiply A by 12 to get your basic calorie needs: _____
C. Multiply B by 1.6 to estimate your resting metabolic rate (calorie burn without factoring in
exercise): _____
D. Strength training: Multiply the number of minutes you lift weights per week by 5: _____
E. Aerobic training: Multiply the number of minutes per week that you run, cycle, and play sports by
8: _____
F. Add D and E, and divide by 7: _____
G. Add C and F to get your daily calorie needs: _____
H. Add 500 to G: _____. This is your estimated daily calorie needs to gain 1 pound a week.
4. Work your biggest muscles. If you're a beginner, just about any workout will be intense enough
to increase protein synthesis. But if you've been lifting for a while, you'll build the most muscle
quickest if you focus on the large muscle groups, like the chest, back, and legs. Add squats,
deadlifts, pullups, bent-over rows, bench presses, dips, and military presses to your workout. Do
two or three sets of eight to 12 repetitions, with about 60 seconds' rest between sets.
5. But first, have a stiff drink. A 2001 study at the University of Texas found that lifters who drank a
shake containing amino acids and carbohydrates before working out increased their protein
synthesis more than lifters who drank the same shake after exercising. The shake contained 6
grams of essential amino acids—the muscle-building blocks of protein—and 35 grams of
carbohydrates. "Since exercise increases bloodflow to your working tissues, drinking a
carbohydrate-protein mixture before your workout may lead to greater uptake of the amino acids in
your muscles," says Kevin Tipton, Ph.D., an exercise and nutrition researcher at the University of
Texas in Galveston.
For your shake, you'll need about 10 to 20 grams of protein—usually about one scoop of a whey-
protein powder. Can't stomach protein drinks? You can get the same nutrients from a sandwich
made with 4 ounces of deli turkey and a slice of American cheese on whole wheat bread. But a
drink is better. "Liquid meals are absorbed faster," says Kalman. So tough it out. Drink one 30 to 60
minutes before your workout.
6. Lift every other day. Do a full-body workout followed by a day of rest. Studies show that a
challenging weight workout increases protein synthesis for up to 48 hours immediately after your
exercise session. "Your muscles grow when you're resting, not when you're working out," says
Michael Mejia, C.S.C.S., Men's Health exercise advisor and a former skinny guy who packed on 40
pounds of muscle using this very program.
7. Down the carbs after your workout. Research shows that you'll rebuild muscle faster on your
rest days if you feed your body carbohydrates. "Post-workout meals with carbs increase your
insulin levels," which, in turn, slows the rate of protein breakdown, says Kalman. Have a banana, a
sports drink, a peanut-butter sandwich.
8. Eat something every 3 hours. "If you don't eat often enough, you can limit the rate at which your
body builds new proteins," says Houston. Take the number of calories you need in a day and divide
by six. That's roughly the number you should eat at each meal. Make sure you consume some
protein—around 20 grams—every 3 hours.
9. Make one snack ice cream. Have a bowl of ice cream (any kind) 2 hours after your workout.
According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , this snack triggers a surge of
insulin better than most foods do. And that'll put a damper on post-workout protein breakdown.
10. Have some milk before bed. Eat a combination of carbohydrates and protein 30 minutes before
you go to bed. The calories are more likely to stick with you during sleep and reduce protein
breakdown in your muscles, says Kalman. Try a cup of raisin bran with a cup of skim milk or a cup of
cottage cheese and a small bowl of fruit. Eat again as soon as you wake up. "The more diligent you
are, the better results you'll get," says Kalman.
The Whey To Go
Drink this protein power shake before every workout
Weight-gain powders seem like an easy solution to a skinny guy's problems. After all, they pack as
many as 2,200 calories into one serving. But you're not getting what you pay for. "High-calorie
weight-gain drinks usually get more than 80 percent of their calories from sugar," says Doug
Kalman, R.D. And downing that much sugar can give you an upset stomach and diarrhea. So, in a
sense, you're flushing good money down the toilet. "You'll get much better results by spreading
your calories throughout the day," says Kalman.
And by using protein shakes. Look for whey-protein powders, such as Nitro-Tech by MuscleTech or
Mega Whey by GNC, at nutrition stores. Combine one scoop of the powder with the following
ingredients and blend for a homemade muscle-building pre-workout shake:
1 tsp olive or flaxseed oil
1/2 c fat-free yogurt
1 c grape or apple juice
Per shake: 335 calories, 27 grams (g) protein, 45 g carbohydrates, 6 g fat
Read more at Men's Health: http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/10-muscle-building-
tips/page/2#ixzz2EhFuFSLj
