We are all accustomed to seeing bodybuilders on stage, and on it these people resemble gods who descended from Olympus or, what is more relevant today, athletes resemble supermen who have undergone monstrous scientific experiments, like the character from the Marvel universe nicknamed “Hulk”! But in reality, these people are not in such good shape in the off-season. We will find out right now how and why during the mass-gathering period they do not look the same as on stage.
Nutrition
Muscle grows as long as you consume more calories than you expend. That is, you need to eat more. No other way.
This problem is especially relevant for people prone to thinness, scientifically called ectomorphs. They seem to be eating normally and, having read about the principles of weight gain, increase their caloric intake. For example, they eat an additional chocolate bar or add two eggs to the breakfast menu. But there is still no growth. Why? Because the actual increase in calories needed is much greater than they imagine.
A good rate of weight gain is considered to be an increase of about 700 grams per week.
Sometimes for growth it is enough to increase the calorie content of the daily diet by 15%, but more often it is necessary to receive 30, 50 or even 100% more energy per day. How can you force yourself to eat twice as much? In fact, you don't need to do this. Doubling calories does not mean doubling the amount of food consumed.
Food can be different, but you need to choose high-calorie food, giving it 70% of the place in your daily diet.
High calorie protein foods
- Lean meat, especially poultry.
- Fish and seafood. The most important source of healthy fats.
- Low-fat dairy products like cottage cheese and cottage cheese.
- Eggs. You can eat 6–8 eggs including yolks per day.
- Legumes. Lentils, chickpeas, peas and beans are good sources of plant protein, and the first two products contain a decent amount of essential amino acids BCAA, which is also good. Do not get carried away with soy, because it negatively affects male hormonal levels.
- Nuts.
High calorie carbohydrate foods
- Buckwheat, pearl barley, oatmeal, rice, corn, wheat, millet porridge.
- Pasta made from durum wheat.
- Black bread.
- Vegetables as a side dish for protein foods. Potatoes, carrots and beets contain a lot of starch, and therefore you should not lean on them.
- Fruits. Grapes, pears, bananas and persimmons contain a lot of sugar, and therefore it is better to limit their consumption.
Proportions of proteins, carbohydrates and fats in the diet
- Proteins - 30–35%.
- Carbohydrates - 50–60%.
- Fats - 10–20%.
Nutrition tips
- Count calories and weigh yourself every 3-5 days.
- If you gain less than 700 grams of weight each week, increase your caloric intake. If growth is faster, then it is better to reduce calories, otherwise the excess will go into fat.
- Try to eat more often. Divide your daily diet into 5-6 meals.
TEMPLE
The hall is a temple. And even more precisely - House of pain (literally: “house of pain”, and there is also such a hip-hop group). And you need to visit it at least 3 times a week, otherwise you are not a real adept, but just fooling around.
Advanced athletes preparing for outstanding results train 1 or 2 times every day, like Schwarzenegger.
You have to pay to visit, depending on the rules of each hall. It's funny, but in Russia, gyms are some of the most expensive in the world. For example, in the USA in the center of New York it is easy to find gyms for $20-30 per month. In St. Petersburg in the center, decent halls cost from $1000 a year, in Moscow it’s more expensive.
By the way, a very important point for choosing the right fitness room is how much equipment there is for the “base”. Oddly enough, there are halls that, on a thousand or two square meters, contain only 1 or 2 power racks needed by sectarians for squats, a couple of benches for bench presses, and there is no platform for deadlifting at all. At the same time, there are as many different types of exercise equipment as you can see (sometimes up to a hundred), a swimming pool, and a bunch of halls with group classes. If you want to exercise seriously, run away from such “gyms.”
This one will be more effective:
And here is the entire photo selection of home-grown gyms.
In general, those who don’t want to do it look for a reason why they don’t do it, those who want to do it simply do it.
Sports nutrition
Ordinary high-calorie food is not a panacea. Eating so much every day is still difficult, and often simply impossible due to work, lack of time to cook, and so on. Sports nutrition successfully solves these problems.
Sports nutrition is actually a pure concentrated beneficial substance. Maximum required in minimum volume. The vast majority of athletes, be they weightlifters, bodybuilders or crossfitters, take sports nutrition, and beginners and amateurs should do the same.
Whey Protein
Protein sports nutrition helps you meet your daily protein intake, which averages 2 grams per kilogram of body. It is recommended to get 50% of your protein from regular food, and the remaining half from sports nutrition. Whey protein is the most effective. Take it 3-5 times a day: in the morning, immediately after sleep, and between meals.
Popular brands:
- Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard →
- Genetic Lab Whey Pro →
- Fit Foods Mutant Whey →
Gainer
If there is no weight gain, that is, if there is a lack of calorie intake, a gainer helps - a super-calorie mixture of carbohydrates and proteins. Take it immediately after training, and if you are unable to have a normal breakfast, take it in the morning.
Popular brands:
- Fit Foods Mutant Mass →
- Dymatize Nutrition Super Mass Gainer →
- Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass →
Pre-workout complex
Pre-workout supplements are supplements that help you exercise more efficiently. They include products to improve blood supply and muscle nutrition, substances that promote the growth of muscle strength and volume, vitamins and microelements.
Popular brands:
- APS Mesomorph →
- Finaflex Stimul8 →
Creatine
Creatine is one of the most studied sports supplements with proven effectiveness in promoting muscle growth and strength. Take it on rest days, that is, when you do not train, 3-4 grams.
Popular brands:
- Dymatize Nutrition Creatine Monohydrate →
- R-line Creatine →
Vitamin-mineral complex
A lack of vitamins and minerals is harmful in itself, and specifically when gaining weight, it additionally negatively affects muscle growth.
Popular brands:
- Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men →
- Universal Nutrition Animal Pak →
- Scitec Nutrition Jumbo Pack →
When is most muscle mass created?
Most people agree that muscle mass peaks in your twenties. During this period, the body is at the peak of the production of hormones that help increase strength and muscle mass. Also, young guys have more free time, which they spend on sports and active recreation. In addition, they are not bothered by old injuries and chronic pain.
Workout
Living organisms, and the human body in particular, are the result of millions of years of evolution. Do you know what distinguishes us from all our ancestors? In their life there was little food and excess physical activity, but now the opposite is true.
But the body still works in the old mode. It is very economical and does not build muscle if there is enough existing muscle, but it happily accumulates fat, because frequent and prolonged fasting is the most common thing for it. More precisely, it was ordinary, but several decades of a well-fed life had no effect on the biochemistry of the human body.
It turns out that even a person who has overcome a calorie deficit in the absence of physical activity will gain weight, but not in the form of muscles, but in the form of fat on the stomach, sides, and so on.
Any physical activity in the absence of a calorie deficit will give some kind of muscle gain, but we do not need “some”, but the maximum. To do this, it is important to choose the right training strategy.
Basic principles of training for mass gain
- Perform only basic exercises that involve large muscles and several muscle groups at the same time.
- Perform exercises with heavy weights and low reps per set.
- Rest 2-3 minutes between sets.
- Warm up thoroughly.
- Carefully study the technique of performing the exercises correctly.
Pay attention to the last two tips. They are extremely important and will help you avoid health problems. It’s better to spend a few minutes on them than to spend six months recovering from an injury.
The best exercises for gaining mass
1. Total weight: deadlift and classic squats
There is a popular opinion among gym regulars and professionals that a beginner needs to do just three exercises to increase mass and strength: squats, deadlifts and bench presses. It's worth listening to them.
2. Chest: Dumbbell Bench Press
The classic barbell chest press uses the anterior deltoids to a greater extent, thereby taking the load away from the pectoral muscles. Therefore, for more effective chest development, it is recommended to press dumbbells.
3. Back: pull the upper block to the chest with a wide grip
There is a misconception that the best exercise for widening the back is a wide row behind the head, but in practice, it is the row to the chest and wide grip pull-ups that have proven to be the most effective. Next come rows and pull-ups with a reverse grip.
4. Quadriceps: Front Squats
Shifting the weight forward takes the load off the hamstrings and glutes, transferring it to the quadriceps.
5. Hamstrings and glutes: Romanian (dead) deadlifts
The Romanian deadlift differs from the classic deadlift in that it is performed on straight legs from the middle of the knees. Roughly speaking, this is the final phase of the deadlift with the exception of the exit from the squat, when all that remains is extension of the body due to the work of the hamstrings and buttocks.
6. Triceps: close grip press or dips
Triceps are relatively small muscles, and therefore isolation here, unlike the same chest and dumbbell press, is not needed. The more complex the exercise, the better.
7. Biceps: standing straight bar curl
You'll read about basic exercises, but you'll still be pumping your batsukha, right? If so, do it right. The EZ bar is more comfortable, but it works the biceps unevenly. Only a straight bar loads both bundles of the biceps biceps muscle equally well. Most likely, you will have to reduce your current working weight by 5-10%.
8. Shoulders: standing or seated dumbbell press
The width and roundness of the shoulders is given by the middle bunch of deltas. When you perform a standing or seated barbell press from the chest or even from behind your head, the emphasis inevitably shifts to the front bundles. Dumbbells allow you to perform a press along the axis of the body, including the middle beams as much as possible.
Sometimes workouts seem monotonous, and some exercises cause discomfort. In these cases, remember the words of Paul Dillet:
Among the dozens of exercises, there are those in which it’s great to overcome a lot of weight. You grow from them.
Simply put, try new things, find your exercise routine, and listen to your body.
PROPHETS
His Majesty Arnold Schwarzenegger is a typical living legend that everyone in the world seems to know about.
Andrey Skoromny.
But the further you dive into the sect, the more you know who our Andrei Skoromny and Oksana Grishina or foreign Ronnie Coleman or Jay Cutler are.
Alexander (born 1952) and Dmitry (born 1977) Yashankins.
And this is multiple Mr. Olympia winner Phil Heath:
Advanced sectarians say that in his best form, Arnold Schwarzenegger would not even be among the finalists of the current world championship - Mr. Olympia - the level has increased too much (including the level of drugs).
PERSECUTION OF GIRLS-SECTANTS
But let's return to more modest muscle forms. A typical “lure” into a sect looks something like this and, by the way, is almost always the truth:
Doing what is shown in these photos is surprisingly simple: 3 times a week in the gym with a trainer and a healthy diet. But there is one problem that is unique to our country, where almost everyone cares about everyone. Apparently, thanks to dramatic changes for the better, there are a huge number of people on the Internet who will write to a girl involved in bodybuilding: “shoulders like a man’s”, “legs like a weightlifter”, “little femininity”, “where are the boobs” and others, sometimes much harsher words.
The worst thing is that many weak-willed girls, who seem to be not averse to seriously working on their bodies in the gym, are afraid of such persecution. And most importantly, they are captive of a naive fear that as soon as they take up the barbell, their muscles will instantly swell.
The right choice of products: the key to success
Constant adherence to the diet and diet becomes the basis for stable muscle building in the body, and the opportunity to acquire new eating habits.
You can add additional substances to your daily schedule, such as protein for weight gain, vitamin complexes and natural nutritional supplements.
The correct psychological attitude provides a practical opportunity to stabilize and systematize muscle growth.
By consuming natural products and gainers to gain weight, you can not only build an athletic figure, but also significantly improve your body’s health by following a diet, work and rest schedule.
Constraint + set
The technique of dietary restriction and simultaneous weight gain through active and intense training is the optimal solution for all athletes.
In this case, it is necessary to carefully work out the menu for several days in advance, select a schedule of the day and activity, taking into account day and night sleep.
MISCONCEPTS OF "SNOWDROP"
“Temple of Pain” is open to everyone, always. But not everyone who has tried is drawn into the sect, and every year in spring the hall is filled with young shoots - “snowdrops”, which real adherents look at with poorly concealed superiority. But it’s worth distinguishing newcomers from “snowdrops.” The latter train for a maximum of two to three months and do not even try to master the technique of the exercises. There is no shame in being a newbie; the jocks are good-natured guys and are always happy to give advice. The only problem with “snowdrops” is that they don’t ask for advice, don’t listen, and almost always skimp on a trainer, which makes their classes pointless in 95% of cases.
MAIN SECTANT TRENDS
Just like within each direction of the church, for example, Christians (Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox and, of course, Baptists), the sect of jocks has its own directions and currents, competing and in some places vehemently not understanding each other.
Among men, there are two main competing areas: bodybuilding and powerlifting. Bodybuilding is aimed at appearance and development of maximum muscle mass. Powerlifting puts results first and is aimed at being able to lift the maximum number of kilograms in three basic exercises (press, squat, deadlift). Therefore, the “lifters” laugh at the “builders”, and they tease them back.
There are not many “lifters” among women, and the main competition of currents is different answers to the question of how many muscles a woman can have. Roughly speaking, women have three such options. The category closest to ordinary life: fitness bikini - these are elaborate “cutes” that are liked not only by sectarians, but also by almost all other inhabitants of the Earth.
Representatives of the fintess bikini trend look like this:
Yana Kashcheeva is the absolute champion of Russia in the Fitness Bikini category.
Here you can see the Instagrams of the most famous fitness bikinis in Russia.
The next female category in terms of the number of muscles is body fitness and fitness. Women competing in this category look something like this:
Finally, women also have a “bodybuilding” category, where the muscle mass of the participants is not limited in any way. As a result, the participants—all of them on male hormones—look something like this. It is because of representatives of this category that sectarian girls are persecuted and bullied on social networks (by the way, this is typical only for Russia).
Lenda Murray, eight-time winner of the Ms. Olympia competition, was born in 1962 in Detroit.
In general, you can see the differences between different categories of girls here:
However, there are a tiny number of fans of the female category of “bodybuilding” even among the most ardent jocks. The reason for sympathy for such women most likely lies in the many years of professional psychological deformation of jocks.
