In the relentless pursuit of more muscle, we can often become our own worst enemies. This is particularly the case when we hear that something worked for … well, anyone: a friend, a pro, a guy in an ad, or the biggest guy in the gym. Ask them—they’re usually begging you to, right?—and you’ll get a crazy answer about two-a-days, double-dough pizzas, and twice the recommended dosages.

The truth is that many of these guys succeed in spite of their excesses, not because of them. Here’s a list of what I believe are the eight biggest mistakes that bodybuilders make—all of them a case of doing more when less would have been better. Take a look and see how you could be wasting your time, money, and energy.

1 Taking too many supplements

Supplements are called supplements for a reason. They are supposed to fill the gaps in your whole food diet and help you get more from your efforts in the gym. They are not, nor will they ever be, a replacement for a proper diet or hard work.

Time and time again, I’ve talked to people who blow most of their monthly food budget on overhyped supplements when what they really need is steak, sweet potatoes, and other basic whole foods, supported intelligently with basics such as protein, fish oil, creatine, and pre-workouts.

Make sure that your diet is nailed down before you start adding anything more than those to your routine. You’ll get better results by mastering basic nutrition than if you have a subpar diet with superior supplementation.

2 Adding more volume and workouts

In my opinion, people spend way too much time online arguing about whether or not overtraining is a “thing.” Focusing on that dodges what I feel is the real question: Is it possible to train too hard, too often, and for too long? The answer, I can say from experience , is yes!

The “more is better” mentality that has permeated bodybuilding is not beneficial, especially when it gets applied to the length and frequency of workouts. Why? Because, your muscles grow outside of the gym, after your workouts.

“Is it possible to train too hard, too often, and for too long? The answer, I can say from experience , is yes!”

If you train hard enough, the work you perform in the gym will cause microscopic tears and trauma to your muscles. The work you do outside of the gym—eating, drinking water, stretching, supplementation, and especially sleeping—repairs this damage. When you train a muscle hard again before the repair process is complete, you not only rob yourself of growth, but you open yourself up to more injury and unnecessary pain.

If you want your muscles to grow bigger and stronger, you need more recovery, not less. Let your muscles fully heal before training them again, and you’ll enjoy faster, injury-free gains.

3 Setting more elite expectations

Chances are you have an image in your head of what you’d like your body to eventually look like. Perhaps it’s someone you have seen before. That’s how a lot of people communicate their fitness goals: “I’d like to look just like him. He looks great!”

Maybe it’s a personal trainer at your gym, a professional athlete, or just a random picture you saw somewhere. Regardless of whom it is, I bet that person spent years, or even decades, building his or her body.

Please don’t think I’m saying you can’t achieve what you want. I’m simply recommending that you set realistic expectations about your progress and the timeframe required to achieve it. If you don’t, you’ll get discouraged, and that can take all the fun out of your lifestyle. Because, don’t forget, it’s the overall lifestyle—not a certain lift, program, or dietary trick—that creates lasting results.

Enjoy your progress, and take satisfaction in setting and reaching your realistic goals. Then set new ones and get back to work!

“I’m simply recommending that you set realistic expectations about your progress and the timeframe required to achieve it. If you don’t, you’ll get discouraged, and that can take all the fun out of your lifestyle.”

4 Eating more dirty calories

By now, we’ve all seen enough “It’s OK, I’m bulking” memes to last a lifetime. In real life, the joke isn’t on some random baby or squirrel, it’s on that guy we all know (or are) who pounds pizzas, burgers, and ice cream until he could be mistaken for a fat person—if not for his incredibly developed forearms and calves.

All kidding aside, I see way too many people with offseason diets that are—shall we say—loose. They end up blowing their body composition and nearly dying on the stairmill when they finally decide to get cut. Not only is the excess weight unhealthy, but they end up spending massive amounts of time dieting away the body fat they put on, and as a result, lose more muscle than if they had just stayed a little leaner.

Would you rather take three steps forward and two steps back, or two steps forward and one step back? I’m going to go with the option two, because it’s a whole lot less walking—both figuratively and literally—to go the same distance. It’ll also feel far better along the way.

“If you want to learn from the pros, study their principles, not their workouts. Follow their training tips or exercise recommendations, not their overall workout volume and duration.”

5 Performing more
pro-level routines

What better way to get legs or arms like an IFBB pro than to copy their workouts from their latest article in a bodybuilding magazine, right? Wrong! While there are plenty of great technique tips you can learn from the pros, you should hesitate before following their actual workouts on a regular basis.

Why, you ask? The athletes performing these workouts have been training at a high level with near-perfect diet and supplementation for a long time. They have coaches, nutritionists, and years of muscle growth to support everything they do. Put it all together, and they’re simply more acclimated to perform heavier workloads than the average person.

If you want to learn from the pros, study their principles, not their workouts. Follow their training tips or exercise recommendations, not their overall workout volume and duration. Otherwise, it’s a recipe for the type of overtraining I talked about earlier.

6 More routine changes

You’ve no doubt heard that you have to change things up to continue making progress in the gym. I agree with that statement, but it’s how people change that I often disagree with. Instead of modifying the amount of weight used, the rest between sets, or the set-rep scheme, they’ll completely change exercises, or they’ll swap their training splits on a dime. I have a couple of issues with this.

First of all, in bodybuilding, there are certain movements that are irreplaceable for gaining mass, such as the squat and deadlift. These lifts require an immense amount of skill and practice to perform properly with a strong mind-muscle connection. If you’re not practicing them regularly, you’re probably leaving gains on the table.

Second, many programs feature loading and de-loading phases, or alternating light and heavy weeks, that can’t simply be plugged into another program. Bouncing back and forth between routines can cause some parts of your body to get overdeveloped while others remain undertrained.

Do yourself a favor and give your program a chance to work. Follow it all the way to the end, especially if you’ve never done that before. You’ll be surprised how well it works!

7 Listening to more advice

You know what they say about opinions right? If you’re going to seek training or supplementation advice from someone in your gym, make sure the person knows what they’re talking about. And until you make sure, be suspicious!

“If you’re going to seek training or supplementation advice from someone in your gym, make sure the person knows what they’re talking about.”

I’ve witnessed bad advice being doled out plenty of times, but more importantly, I’ve heard stories about people looking terrible for their shows, causing personal health problems, or just not progressing like they should, all because they were taking bad advice from the wrong person.

No one knows your body better than you do. And if that’s not the case, I’d recommend you spend time getting more in tune with programs, workouts, and stacks that are built around the fundamentals. That way, you’ll know what straightforward heavy training feels like for you, so you have a benchmark to compare to when the time comes to start cutting, getting ready for a show, or making huge offseason gains.

8 Pushing more weight

Sure, that single you did with 495 on the deadlift sounds awesome when you tell the story later. But was it more beneficial to your physique than pulling 405 for 8 reps? That’s debatable, particularly if you had to break every form rule in the book to get the bar above your knees.

When you get to the gym, leave your ego at the door. Lifting heavier than you should opens up the door to injuries, chronic soreness, and slower progress than if you perform your exercises with an appropriate training weight.

When was the last time you saw a bench press on an NPC stage during a bodybuilding contest? How about a leg press contest on the sideline of a football field? You haven’t, because weights are simply tools to help athletes get better at their sports.

Exercise is not the sport in itself, unless you’re a powerlifter or weightlifter. And if you are, then you already know that big round numbers only matter in specific settings.

If you’re looking for a unifying takeaway from all of these points, it’s this: think more, follow less. Analyze your training, nutrition, lifestyle, and mindset ruthlessly, and don’t be afraid to question what anyone says. If you find yourself wondering where the line between “enough” and “too much” is in your training, hit me up in the comments!

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Vital Stats

Name: Horia-Paul Schiopu
Email: dude0796@gmail.com
Location: Constanta, Romania

Why I decided to transform

My passion for bodybuilding started when I was a mere 9-year-old. My father used to compete in bodybuilding himself, and he’d watch CDs and DVDs from his collection with bodybuilding competitions, movies, and training.

Although I had no idea what was going on, I remember how I admired these muscle-packed, shredded physiques. I thought to myself: “Man, if I ever get to be half as big as these guys are, I’ll be more than happy.” I admired and looked up to my father, looking to his medal and photos with pride and hoping to one day become national champion as he once was.

As time passed by, I kept reading bodybuilding magazines and watching videos, but I never got motivated enough to actually start going to the gym and train. When I turned 16, I’d begun to think more seriously about bodybuilding and asking my father about taking me to the gym and training.

On the night of the March 8th 2013, my father told me he’d take me to the gym the next morning. On our way there, I set up my goal: I would compete next year at the National Championship.

Post To Fitboard

How I accomplished my goals

Starting out lifting, I didn’t really know much. Under my father’s guidance, however, I learned many new things and managed to improve at a steady rate. I became interested in becoming better and stumbled upon Ben Pakulski’s intelligent approach to bodybuilding, which hooked me immediately.

My appetite for knowledge seemed insatiable. I wanted to learn as many things as possible to become the best version of myself. I also discovered and fell in love with Kai Greene’s more poetic and philosophical way of seeing things. (An interesting thing about Kai is that being the best bodybuilder in the world today doesn’t let it get to his head and is very humble and nice.) I owe my motivation, knowledge, and progress to these three guys—my father especially.

There surely were moments in which I thought about quitting, but one glimpse of my father’s photos in my room I got right back on track to sleeping, training, and eating properly. As of April 27, I am proud of myself because I’ve succeeded in taking part in the competition.

Although I was disappointed in my placing (4th place), the experience was unforgettable. Everybody congratulated me for what I’ve managed to do in one year of training.

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Of The Week!

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Supplements that helped me through the journey

Diet plan that guided my transformation

I try to eat every 2 to 3 hours in order to stay anabolic throughout the day.

Training regimen that kept me on track

I train 5 days a week, training each body part every 7 days in order to allow myself enough time for recovery and hit it hard with high intensity every time. I firmly believe that short, intense workouts in the 6-10 rep range give the best results.

For me, training for a longer amount of time tends to stop me from growing.

What aspect challenged me the most

When I started out, I didn’t pay much attention to what I was eating, not counting my macronutrients and calories. When I saw that I gained a few pounds of fat, I started tracking everything, avoiding the same mistake again.

I also used to stay up late and play video games, which prevented me from sleeping enough and recovering from my training. I let that passion die and now go to bed earlier, so I can get at least 8 hours of sleep every day.

My future fitness plans

I’ve begun training for competing next year at the 2015 National Championships. I intend to compete at a heavier weight class with at least 10 more pounds of muscle than I did this year.

Of course, I hope to win the title and bring it back to my family. My dream is to take part at the Arnold Classic Europe in 2 or 3 years either in physique or classic bodybuilding. I am willing to learn, train, eat, and be as dedicated as possible in order to achieve this goal.

“Research the field. Gaining knowledge is just as important as gaining muscle.”

I also have high hopes of studying physiology, as bodybuilding has put me on this path.

Another thing I love doing is sharing the things I know with others, helping them fulfill their fitness goals, and I’ve promised myself I will never let anything get in the way of this. There’s this quote I love, and it goes something like: “Strong people don’t put others down…they lift them up.”

Suggestions for aspiring transformers

• Research the field. Gaining knowledge is just as important as gaining muscle.
• Make a diet plan and assess the results every 3 to 4 weeks, tweaking the plan accordingly.
• Never quit. If you believe in yourself, you will succeed eventually.
• Do not waste your time on your haters. Do not listen to what they say.
• Motivate others just as others motivate you.

How Bodybuilding.com helped me reach my goals

I visit Bodybuilding.com on a daily basis. I look for inspirational people, product reviews, new exercises, training plans, competition results and photos, threads on the forums, and more. It was the place I could find the most information about tanning for my competition, which was crucial and helped me a lot.

The database of information here is huge, and everybody should take advantage of it to know more things, which might prove helpful in their fitness journey. Anybody who wants a change in their physique should get on Bodybuilding.com. It provides everything one could need.

Horia Paul’s Top 5 Gym Tracks

1. “Till I Collapse” by Eminem
2. “Bleed It Out” by Linkin Park
3. “Coming Undone” by Korn
4. “Animal I Have Become” by 3 Days Grace
5. “Du hast” by Rammstein

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It’s time to set foot in the gym and begin the training portion of the Ultimate 30-Day Beginner’s Guide to Fitness. Or, if you prefer, you can perform this movement at home or outside in your yard or a park, provided you have an exercise ball (also known as a Swiss ball) and a medicine ball. Watch today’s video with Kathleen for the details!

Ultimate 30 Day Beginners Guide To Fitness:
Watch The Video – 03:21

Day 2 challenge

• Complete a general warm-up
• Conduct your first workout using bodyweight exercises

Below, you can see the workout program you’ll follow. You can follow it from this screen, print it out, or even load the trainer into your BodySpace profile and receive it that way. If you have any questions about one of the movements, just click on its name to see an instructional video.

If you’re going to be at the gym and are wondering how heavy of a medicine ball to use on the chest pass and scoop throws, it’s OK to err on the light side. With time, figure out a weight that leaves you winded but not overwhelmed after 12 reps. If you find you enjoy this full-body workout, keep it in your back pocket when you need a quick, simple routine someday down the road!

And remember, if you have questions about today’s workout or anything else related to this trainer, you can get them answered on the Ultimate 30-Day Beginner’s Guide to Fitness thread on the Bodybuilding.com forum.

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These days, more people than ever realize the power of performance nutrition. Unfortunately, realizing the power doesn’t mean they perform it right! Many trainees figure that as long as they have a pre-workout in them by the time they set foot in the weight room and a protein shake after leaving, they’re good to go. After that, they’re off the clock.

This approach is a great start, but it’s by no means the end of the story, especially if you have dreams of building your all-time best physique. You may only spend an hour or so in the gym each day, but maximizing the results you get from that hour requires a 24-hour effort.

Here’s the play-by-play of what your day should look like, starting from the moment your previous workout ends. Note that this schedule is designed to have you doing a 5 p.m. workout. If you work out at another time, simply adjust the sequence of events accordingly.

Are you ready? Set the clock!

24 Hours Pre-Workout:

You just finished one workout, and you’re almost exactly one day from the start of your next. It’s time for a shake!

You may think this ritual is part of the workout you just finished, but in the larger context of recovery, it does more to support tomorrow’s session. Fueling up immediately post-workout helps the body begin healing, repairing, and growing as quickly as possible so it’ll be ready to attack the next challenge it faces with equal intensity. Skip it, and you put yourself behind the eight ball.

No need to reinvent the wheel here. If you’re looking to grow, take in about 0.25 grams per pound of bodyweight of a quality whey isolate protein powder along with 0.25-0.5 grams per pound of a fast-acting carbohydrate. If you’re looking to lean out, or if your carbohydrate intake is limited, you could opt for double the whey and cut the carbs, like IFBB pro Amanda Latona does.

“Immediately after my training, I take 2 scoops of Isoburn protein,” Latona explains. She says she prefers this method when she’s in strict show-prep mode, since the additional incoming protein can spike insulin levels on its own without a carb source.

23 Hours Pre-Workout:

Your post-workout shake is in, and the nutrients are doing their job. However, your body is also feeling the damage of your last workout acutely right now, so it’s time to eat up and give it fuel to keep recovering and growing. Recent research has concluded that the so-called “anabolic window” actually lasts somewhere around 3-4 hours long, so use this opportunity to make the most of it!

Eat a solid meal at this time consisting of lean protein along with complex carbohydrates. Chicken, fish, beef, or turkey all work great alongside brown rice or sweet potatoes.

19 Hours Pre-Workout:

You’re now gearing down for bed, preparing yourself for the most important recovery session of your day. It should last at least 8 hours, and if you’re looking to add muscle, more like 9 or 10. Cut back on sleep, and your chances of having a perfect workout tomorrow decrease dramatically.

In either case, don’t go to bed hungry. Give your muscle tissues some amino acids to utilize throughout the wee hours. At this hour, you might think you can’t beat the tried-and-true formula of casein, either as a powder or from a food like cottage cheese. But, there’s a better option: casein along with a healthy fat like avocado.

You might think you can’t beat the tried-and-true formula of casein, either as a powder or from a food like cottage cheese. But, there’s a better option: casein along with a healthy fat like avocado.

Why include both? First, by feeding your body both fat and casein, two slow-digesting nutrients, you’ll help counteract the muscle breakdown which occurs during your nightly fast. And second, healthy fats are crucial for maintaining or raising your natural testosterone levels, which can promote even greater growth.

If you’re training early in the morning without food or utilizing a dietary system such as intermittent fasting, you could boost this meal with some carbs. This is how BSN athlete Dr. Sara Solomon structures her day.

“Carb back-loading yields better outcomes with fasting and fasted training, so I purposely eat my carbs at the end of my eating window, which falls before bed,” she explains. “This facilitates my fasted training workout the next day, because my glycogen reserves are fully saturated.”

10 Hours Pre-Workout:

Welcome to the day of your perfect training session. It’s time to prime your body with a solid breakfast! Don’t think that only your pre-workout meal matters.

Remember that what you eat now will take hours to fully digest, so this meal will definitely help fuel that workout.

Eat a mixture of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats before you leave the house.

If you’re looking to get leaner, keep the carbohydrates lower and then add more later in the day—such as in your pre-workout or post-workout meal—to keep your daily total in line.

9.5 Hours Pre-Workout:

While you eat breakfast or immediately afterward, take some time to plan out your workout so you know precisely what you’ll be doing when you hit the gym later on. Do this before your day gets busy and you head off to work, so you can give it your full attention.

“Each workout should be a carefully orchestrated plan with the main objective to destroy the targeted muscle groups.”

“Each workout is an opportunity to take another step closer to the physique you desire,” explains IFBB pro Ryan Hughes. “Each workout should be a carefully orchestrated plan with the main objective to destroy the targeted muscle groups.”

As part of this plan, Ryan advises mapping out not only your workout session, but your pre- and post-workout nutrition, so you don’t find yourself improvising or cheating during the day. Your time in the gym is precious, but it’s brief. Don’t leave anything up to chance.

4 Hours Pre-Workout:

Focus on lean protein, a few vegetables, and a good hit of complex carbohydrates.

With four hours to go before you hit the gym, it’s time for another protein-rich, slow-digesting meal. Focus on lean protein, a few vegetables, and a good hit of complex carbohydrates.

90 Minutes Pre-Workout:

How this meal looks will depend on your personal food tolerance level before exercise. Some people prefer having a shake at this time rather than solid food, because they find it doesn’t weigh them down quite so much. Others couldn’t imagine working out without this meal inside them.

Regardless of what your meal looks like, aim to get in 0.25 grams per pound of protein along with another 0.25 grams per pound of carbohydrates. These can be a mix of slower-burning or faster-burning carbs depending on how long before the workout you’re eating.

The longer beforehand, the more you should favor complex carbs over simple ones.

30 Minutes Pre-Workout:

Your workout is getting close now, so it’s time to pump yourself up. Do this by taking one serving of NO-Xplode mixed with water. People will do this just a few minutes before training, such as when they’re in the locker room, but it’s far better to give the ingredients more time to work. You don’t want to be almost done with your workout before you feel it working!

A pre-workout supplement helps boost your focus and concentration, improve blood flow to muscle tissues, and prevent fatigue. It’s also one more great way to reinforce the ritual of training—particularly if you have a pre-workout you really like. “I’m so in love with the new formula,” Latona says of the new NO-Xplode. “I actually look forward to drinking it, which then makes me look forward even more to my training session.”

Now is also the time to review what you plan to do in the gym so you’re focused and fully prepared. If you’re someone who likes to power up by watching a motivational video or reading an inspirational quote, this is the moment to queue it up and soak it in.

2-3 Minutes Before The Workout:

If you’ve followed all the steps up to now, your body is fueled up and energized, like a racecar rumbling on the starting line. You’ve lived a day like the pros do, and you’re set to have the workout of your life. The only thing left is to prepare your intra-workout drink.

“Mix some AminoX with some water and head into your session,” says Solomon. “This is especially vital if you’re using an intermittent fasting approach; BCAAs can help further enhance protein synthesis in the skeletal muscle while in the fasted state.” Fasted or no, soaking up these amino acids throughout the workout session will help maximize the growth stimulus your body receives.

Now, get ready to do it all again. Are there any places you could be making improvements? Do you have any pro tips of your own? If so, let us know in the comments!

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It doesn’t matter if you’re a guy or a gal: defined, shapely arms look good. While compound exercises should be the staple of any resistance training routine, adding an effective arm workout to your usual split can add direct definition and size to your biceps and triceps.

Although you already hit your triceps during your push or chest days, and your biceps on your pull or back days, isolating your biceps and triceps once per week will further improve your complete physique&mdsah;and everybody’s favorite show-off muscles.

Ashley Hoffman, Neon athlete and all-around badass, has a set of guns that would make many guys jealous. She also happens to have some great tips, and below you’ll find one of her favorite workouts to help you get the most out of your biceps and triceps training.

Arms Advantage Tip 1

We’ve all seen it: the guy doing biceps curls with his hips and lower back instead of his arms. Sure, challenging yourself with big weights every now and again can be helpful, but consistently choosing weight that’s so heavy you have to swing it isn’t going to get you much stronger.

“The key to a good arms workout is keeping your elbows at your sides,” says Ashley Hoffman. “Use only your biceps or triceps to do the exercises, not your body’s momentum to move the weight.” Whether you’re doing curls or extensions, keep your elbows pinned to the side of your body, which will stop you from using body English to move the load.

In order for your biceps and triceps to grow, you need to make sure that they’re the muscles being stressed. If you use your body to move the weight, you take away from the workload your arms could be doing, which could mean less change in the target muscle group.

Arms Advantage Tip 2

One key to building lean mass is keeping your muscles under tension. The best way to do this is by increasing the length of each rep by pausing for some extra squeeze at the top of the movement. “When I do biceps and triceps exercises, I try to act like I’m flexing,” says Ashley. “That way I know I am really targeting the muscles.”

“One key to building lean mass is keeping your muscles under tension.”

Yes, your muscles will be working throughout any exercise, but extending the time that your muscle is in its peak contraction can really increase its size. That squeeze can increase the number of muscle fibers you activate. The more muscle fibers involved in your lifts, the bigger your muscles can get.

“Try finishing your last set with a dropset or negative reps to deliver better results—and an enormous pump!”

Arms Advantage Tip 3:

Many of us know that the best rep scheme for hypertrophy (muscle-building) is around 8-12 reps. However, your body will eventually adapt to the routine if you do the same thing over and over again. So, if you’ve been curling 30-pound dumbbells for 3 sets of 10 for the last three months and haven’t seen any changes, your program needs some help.

Start by bumping up the weight. If you start to fail sooner than you’d like, grab a buddy and have him or her help you on those last few reps. You can also try using bigger weights for fewer reps early in your workout, and then progress to lighter weights for more reps as you fatigue. Try finishing your last set with a dropset or negative reps to deliver better results—and an enormous pump!

The point of pushing your muscles past failure is twofold: most importantly, it helps your muscles adapt by becoming bigger and stronger, and secondly, pushing past failure means you’ll avoid those annoying plateaus.

Arms Advantage Tip 4

You want a sick pump? Do supersets. Supersets are a technique which calls for you to do two exercises back-to-back without resting. One of the best ways to employ this technique is to do a triceps exercise and follow it immediately with a biceps exercise or vice versa. By using this technique, you stretch one antagonist muscle group while contracting the other, which brings more blood to the muscles and sparks new growth.

Supersets are also great because they save a lot of time. The limited rest means you get through your workout faster, leaving more time for showing off your growing guns.

“The limited rest means you get through your workout faster, leaving more time for showing off your growing guns.”

Arms Advantage Tip 5

Unilateral (single-arm) lifts can be beneficial to your arms training. Many of us are stronger on one side of our body. So, if you only use a barbell to do biceps curls, chances are that your dominant side will do more work, leaving your weaker side, well, weaker.

By focusing on one side at a time, you’ll be able to grow each arm evenly. Balanced and symmetrical muscles not only look better, but they function better so you’re less likely to get injured.

Single-arm lifts can also help you learn how to use your mind-muscle connection to better recruit and activate the right muscle fibers to do the work. Think about your triceps squeezing as you do each and every rep, concentrate on using that muscle, and only that muscle, to move the weight.

Arms Attack

Need a fresh arms workout to put your newfound knowledge to use? Try one of Ashley’s favorite arms assaults! This workout is built on supersets, one of Ashley’s treasured techniques.

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For years, decades even, we’ve been fed the lie that the best way to control calories and shed fat is to cut fat from our diet. Since fat contains more calories per gram than protein or carbs, it only makes sense that, in order to lose fat, you need to consume less of it, right? Wrong.

Though totally flawed, this low/no-fat dogma was once upon a time aggressively embraced by the bodybuilding community. Bodybuilders have likely been successful on these diets due to their stronger-than-average dedication to the gym and the increased levels of dietary indiscretion—otherwise known as cheat meals—that are allowed when accompanied by high volume weight training.

Regardless of past success with fat-restricted diets, lowering fat intake doesn’t equate with dropping fat. A little fat could even help make your fat loss more successful!

1 Eating Fat Displaces Eating Carbs

When you look at the macronutrient percentages of your diet, everything needs to add up to 100 percent. Eating more of one macronutrient means that your intake of another macronutrient needs to decrease. Regardless of your goal—fat loss, hypertrophy, or performance—you should meet your protein needs first, then adjust your fat and carb intake accordingly.

Eating more fat means eating fewer carbs, and vice versa. From a fat-loss perspective, displacing carbohydrates by increasing fat in your diet sets the stage for an optimal fat-loss environment. Insulin, released by your body in proportion to the amount of carbohydrates you eat, is the major gatekeeper when it comes to nutrient partitioning—telling what nutrients where they can go. Lower overall insulin levels—achieved by reducing carbohydrates—allow your body to more readily access fat stores for energy while also allowing fat to enter and fuel your muscles.

Eating more fat means eating fewer carbs, and vice versa.

2 Eating Fat Enhances Your Body’s Ability to Burn Fat

From a biochemical level, low-fat diets don’t make sense. They don’t condition your body to be efficient at burning fat. Instead, they ramp up the enzymatic machinery in your body so it becomes efficient at burning carbohydrates.

Lower-fat diets can also have negative impacts on adipokines which impact fat loss. Adipokines are hormones released specifically from your fat cells. One such hormone, adiponectin, is a true fat-burning hormone that works to enhance your metabolism and increase the rate in which fats are broken down, curbing your appetite. Lower-fat diets lead to lower levels of adiponectin.

3 Eating Fat Makes You Want to Eat Less

The hormonal and metabolic benefits of eating more fat are great, but one of the best benefits might be the satiating effects of fat. Nothing is worse than eating a lower-calorie diet that leaves your hungry all the time. This is traditionally a huge problem in diets which deny you foods with a higher fat content such as nuts, fatty fish, cheese, and avocado.

Satiating fat leaves you feeling full. When the fat you eat hits your small intestine, it sets off a cascade of signals which includes the release of hormones such as CCK and PYY. These two hormones play a major role in appetite regulation and satiety; they leave you feeling full and satisfied. The more satiated you are, the less likely that you’re going to sneak in snacks between meals or pile on a second helping.

The more satiated you are, the less likely that you’re going to sneak in snacks between meals or pile on a second helping.

A Word Of Caution: Avoid this Big Fat Mistake

It’s true, fat is good for you. That said, fat is not a calorie-free food. It’s the exact opposite. Despite this rather obvious fact, many people have embraced adding ample fat to their diets with reckless abandon. While eating more fat—roughly 30-35 percent of your total calories, or more if you’re low-carb dieting—is beneficial, these calories add up quickly, so be careful.

Even if you aren’t counting your calories and macros, it’s good to have some level of measurement control. I recommend that you always measure fats and oils before using them. Dressing a salad with olive oil can quickly escalate from two teaspoons to two tablespoons, and one eyeballed spoonful of peanut butter can actually be the equivalent of three servings. Fats are delicious and easy to over-consume so, even if you are making an effort to eat more fat in your diet, make sure your efforts are calculated.

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5 Ways To Grow More Muscle Day And Night!

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No doubt, the cost of feeding hungry muscles can be steep. Especially when your grocery cart is weighed down with salmon fillets, tuna steaks, and chicken breasts in your never-ending pursuit of quality protein essential to building muscle.

For those of us on a budget, the canned meat aisle can be the answer to getting all the high-quality protein you can stomach without the serious pain at checkout. Let’s not forget that canned proteins are also portable nutrition. But today, you’re not just limited to tuna.

From sandwiches to pasta to soups to salads to quick tacos, these 5 convenient and economical canned proteins can sneak their way into all sorts of muscle-sculpting meals.

1 Canned Chicken

Sure, it’s not as mouth-watering as a perfectly roasted whole bird, but there’s no reason to be chicken about trying canned chicken. Most brands stuff their cans with chicken breast meat, meaning that each forkful is loaded with a stellar protein-to-fat ratio.

Sure, it’s not as mouth-watering as a perfectly roasted whole bird, but there’s no reason to be chicken about trying canned chicken.

Chicken breast is also a good source of the potent antioxidant selenium. You can now even find some products without added salt if you’re watching your sodium intake.

2 Canned Anchovies

An anchovy is a tiny, silvery fish often found in Mediterranean waters with a wallop of umami flavor. These little sustainable swimmers provide a boatload of omega-3 fats, calcium, and niacin, a B-vitamins which the body uses to convert the food you eat into the energy you use to hoist iron from the gym floor. Being so small with a relatively short lifespan, anchovies don’t accumulate toxins from the sea like bigger species such as albacore tuna.

Not just for Caesar salad, anchovies can make scrambled eggs, pizza, salad dressings, and pasta dishes instantly better. To reduce their saltiness, you can soak anchovies in water for 30 minutes, then drain, and pat dry.

As for product, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better option than the meaty white anchovies from Wild Planet. They’re so good, you’ll want to forgo any prep and just eat them straight from the can.

3 Canned Beans

Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart, the more you eat the more you … Amusing school-yard rhymes aside, think of the various guises of canned beans as the MVP of your pantry. Beans are inexpensive, ultra-versatile in the kitchen, and overloaded with nutrients.

Beans are inexpensive, ultra-versatile in the kitchen, and overloaded with nutrients.

Case in point: A cup of canned kidney beans delivers 13 grams of protein along with folate, iron, phosphorus, and an impressive 14 g of dietary fiber. Studies suggest that higher intakes of fiber can help in the battle of the bulge by regulating blood-sugar levels and promoting satiety, which can keep your hands out of the cookie jar.

Eden Foods packs its organic beans without salt and in tins that aren’t lined with the sketchy chemical BPA.

4 Canned Smoked Mussels

Flecked with great smoky flavor, often-overlooked canned mussels can help you put on more muscle than a New England clambake. A 3-ounce tin has about 18 g of top-notch protein and is also a stealthy source of omega-3 fats.

The omega-3s found in the edible gifts of the sea have been shown to help initiate muscle protein synthesis and may help fend off coronary woes. For a fanciful snack, try smearing some horseradish cream cheese on rye crisps and top with canned smoked mussels.

5 Canned Salmon

Often cheaper than fresh cuts at the fishmonger, canned salmon provides a payload of protein as well as vitamin D. It turns out that the sunshine vitamin could be the secret to bigger muscles.

A study in “Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise” discovered that people with higher blood levels of vitamin D tend to have stronger upper- and lower-body muscles. It’s thought that vitamin D positively impacts testosterone.

Often cheaper than fresh cuts at the fishmonger, canned salmon provides a payload of protein as well as vitamin D.

For the most part, canned salmon also harbors higher levels of omega-3 fats than its tuna counterpart and has been shown to contain lower levels of the harmful element mercury. Eat the softened bones and you’ll also take in good amounts of calcium to help fortify bone strength.

For the healthiest product for you and our seas, look for canned salmon that is labelled “wild.” While canned sockeye salmon provides the richest flavor, you also can’t go wrong with more economical pink salmon.

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Name: Wil Shelton
Email: cwilpower@aol.com
BodySpace: wilpower1

Why I decided to transform

Although I used to compete in powerlifting as a teen in high school, I have continued to lift weights regularly for over 32 years. I wanted to get back into the optimal condition of my “younger years” and go for a national record for my weight and age category.

How I accomplished my goals

I had set a goal to one day bench press over 400 pounds as a teen and came within 15 pounds of that goal. Due to some injuries, getting married, and having a family I put it on the back burner and just kept training moderately. By the time I reached age 40, I had committed to a goal of getting in the best condition of my life. During that year, I encountered some health challenges: I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

The next year I had emergency surgery for a degenerative ruptured disc. Undeterred, I made it a mission to roll with the punches and not let these setbacks derail my spirit. As a result, I learned how to eat properly to manage my diabetes and also worked around exercises that I had limited range of motion from.

Post To Fitboard

With my emergency back surgery and diabetes, many felt my bodybuilding regimen would have been derailed long ago. For me, fitness was at the core of my being; it was a means to transcend pain and discomfort, to ease the body, the mind, and the soul. I have successfully endured years in the gym where adversity was only a matter of giving up.

However, I never surrendered to such failure, and I continue to overcome. I learned that the more we live in discomfort, the more we grow. The back surgery limited my range of motion, yet my resilience had no limits.

At times, my blood sugar levels may skyrocket, but my tenacity and vigor never let anything hold me back from planning, pursuing, and achieving my goals.

Apply Here To Be A Transformation
Of The Week!

Bodybuilding.com honors people across all transformation categories for their hard work and dedication. Learn how our featured transformers overcame obstacles and hit their goals!

Supplements that helped me through the journey

Diet plan that guided my transformation

Training regimen that kept me on track

What aspect challenged me the most

There were two things that changed me the most. First, was the diet. Because of diabetes I had to really watch my carb consumption. My other challenge was modifying my training according to my limited range of motion after my back surgery.

The last thing was training with super heavy weights. Since I hadn’t trained for powerlifting for years I had to re-train myself and change my form so that I could lift heavier without risking injury.

I also had to learn how to stretch and warm-up properly so that I would be able to handle the extremely heavy volume.

My future fitness plans

My future plans are to set the raw bench press record for the Masters category. I would also like to train teen and college athletes in the bench press exercise.

“My future plans are to set the raw bench press record for the Masters category.”

Suggestions for aspiring transformers

Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t accomplish the workout goals you have when you’re 40 and over. You are your greatest coach, and the only opposition is self-doubt. With dedication, and determination, you can reach your goals, constantly excelling with limitless potential.

How Bodybuilding.com helped me reach my goals

Bodybuilding.com is a major influential player due to the supplement information I have learned. You can find a diverse amount of information on various weightlifting styles, nutrition, and even competition.

Thank you, Bodybuilding.com, for giving me the opportunity to be featured as one of those transformations.

Wil’s Top 5 Gym Tracks

1. “Go Get It” by Mary Mary
2. “The Light” by Mali Music
3. “Crooked Smile” by J Cole
4. “Help” by Erica Campbell
5. “I Already Have It” by Deon Kipping

Photo Credit: Otis Sanders

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If just showing up at the gym is half the battle in your efforts to get in shape, then the other half is understanding the most important principle in building size and strength: progressive overload.

Unless you understand and incorporate this key concept into your training, simply showing up won’t go far in helping you achieve your training and physique goals.

WHAT IS PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD?

The story of Greek athlete Milo of Croton—a wrestler of renown in the 6th century B.C. —best explains the concept. According to legend, Milo trained by carrying a calf on his shoulders every day from its birth until it became a full-sized ox. As the load imposed by the calf gradually increased, so did Milo’s strength, and therein lies the key. His body adapted over time.

“Progressive overload is a key component to my resistance and cardio training.” -Brendy Scheerer

When you overload your muscles via resistance training, you trigger the body’s natural adaptive response to the demands placed on it (given good nutrition and rest) by growing bigger and stronger. Overload simply means you make your muscles work beyond the capacity to which they are accustomed. You need to continually increase the overload over time if you expect them to continue growing in size and strength. Otherwise, your body and gains will stagnate.

“The body will only change according to the level at which it’s stressed,” says Jimmy Peña, CSCS, exercise physiologist and bestselling author. “The progressive part kicks in when, over time, [muscles] grow stronger and you need to keep upping the ante, so to speak, continually increasing the weight or number of reps. Progressive overload, then, is the practice of continually increasing the intensity (amount of weight) or reps of your workout as you become stronger over time.”

Muscle-Building Is Just The Beginning

The concept behind progressive overload applies to every goal you may have in the gym, whether it’s building muscle size, strength, endurance, or even cardiovascular fitness. Moreover, with resistance training you can build more than muscle size; you can also strengthen your bones, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage.

“Progressive overload is a key component to my resistance and cardio training,” says Brendy Scheerer, a Miami-based fitness model and bikini competitor, who also works for BPI Sports. “If you don’t change your routines and push yourself past your previous limits, then your body won’t change either. I’m constantly using this concept in all aspects of my training … from weights to cardio. I’m always trying to exceed my previous max.”

Clearly, if you’re spending time in the gym you don’t want to waste your effort, but all too often trainees make the critical mistake of doing the same exercises with the same weight for the same number of repetitions—and never see any changes in strength or their physique. Now that you understand the concept of progressive overload, the reason these individuals fail to progress becomes clear.

So what are the most effective ways to implement progressive overload?

“If your goal is to build muscle and you’re able to complete more than 10 reps on the bench press with 225 pounds, it’s time to add weight to the bar.”

“If I can do one extra rep or decrease my rest time and still hit my goal, then that’s an incremental improvement.” -Brandy Scheerer

Making Gains

I gave you some dos, now here a few don’ts! If the idea of systematically increasing your strength or muscle size sounds appealing—and we’re betting that it does—here are four additional points to consider.

“For advanced lifters, making even small gains can be agonizingly difficult.”

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Supplements have become an undeniable part of the fitness lifestyle for people around the globe in recent years. But the funny thing is, of the many, many successful transformations that happen on Bodybuilding.com, nearly all of them say that their diet, not their supplements, made the real difference.

The supplements just fill the gaps in their diet, and help them dial-in their physique to that “after” picture. They helped with the detail work, not the foundation work. So what should you take away from this?

Ultimate 30 Day Beginners Guide To Fitness:
Watch The Video – 02:14

• Get your diet in line first! The opposite approach is what we call “trying to out-supplement a bad diet,” and long story short, it doesn’t work.

• Start with the basics. For Steve Cook and many others, those basics include nothing more than a protein powder, multivitamin, and fish oil. If you’re like many people, you might already be taking all of these! To learn more about each, just click on the articles below and check out the video and category guides!

• Have reasonable expectations, and let supplements work over time. They make a cumulative difference over time when working with the stimulus provided by your training, as Steve explains in today’s video.

Day 5 Challenge

• Learn about supplements on this page.
• Look at some successful transformations and the “stacks” that people use.
• Sleep well tonight and plan out your day for tomorrow. You have another workout ahead of you!

8.9

Optimum
Fish Oil

View Product

9.1

Optimum
Opti-men

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9.4

Optimum
Opti-Women

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* Ratings as of article’s date of publication

Once you’re training regularly and feel like you’ve got a program you can stick with for a few months, you’ll be ready to think about a “stack” to meet your specific goals. Look at successful transformations on our site, and you’ll see every kind of stack. But until you’ve been at this for a while, it’s OK to stay with the basics.

This article will give you a great idea of what those are. To learn more about whey protein and fish oil, check out these articles:

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As you learned a couple of days ago, a dynamic warm-up is a great way to get the most out of a workout and boost your overall mobility. But there’s a downside to a great workout: It can make you sore, especially when you haven’t trained regularly for a while, if ever.

This is where a cool-down can really make a difference. Kathleen says adding this simple element to the end of her workouts has helped her recover from hard physical training and rely less on expensive soft tissue work.

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Watch The Video – 02:27

Day 6 Challenge

• Perform a full-body workout with a dynamic warm-up.
• Perform a cool-down utilizing three new stretches.

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Vital Stats

Name: Noah Siegel
Height: 5’10″
Weight: 218 lbs
Occupation: Physique athlete, Optimum Nutrition-sponsored athlete, personal trainer
Website: www.siegefitness.com

I’m a stoic in the gym. I rarely smile. Very little bothers me…except overweight guys in tight-fitting Spandex…and country music when I’m training…and too much jabbering between sets.

Did I mention guys who don’t use deodorant?

Nothing bothers me more, though, than seeing a guy walk into the gym with a stringer tank top draped over hunched shoulders. While this may appear impressive to some folks, to me it’s a clear indication of someone who spends too much time training chest, and too little time focusing on what they can’t see in the mirror.

The guy needs some support to pull those shoulders back and bring his chest out like a proud silverback gorilla. This man needs to spend a little bit of his iron-loving time on rear delts. Operation Pumpkinhead needs to be put into full effect immediately!

The goal: Round out those shoulders and create the illusion of a masterfully carved stone statue. The best way to do it is with this finishing sequence!

THE REAR-DELT TRI-SET

You have neglected your rear delts for too long, and now it’s time to pay. Do this finishing movement (tag it on to the end of your workout) three—yes three!—times per week for two weeks with at least 48 hours rest between workouts. In just two weeks you should see some real lumps coming out of the backside of your shoulders.

I know I just blew up your entire gym existence with such a high frequency demand, but it’s time to shake things up.

“Grab someone as sadistic as you, an incline bench, and a set of dumbbells. Then get it on and get it over with.”

This is best done at the end of shoulders, chest and, back workouts, but you have to arrange your split so you don’t do them on consecutive days. Because repair and growth take place when you’re not in the gym, insert rest or lower-body days in between, so long as your upper body isn’t involved.

Grab someone as sadistic as you, an incline bench, and a set of dumbbells. It’ll probably take a few times to get the weight right so don’t get discouraged. Your goal is to do a set of 10 reps (to failure) and two additional forced reps with help from your partner on each of the three continuous movements. The three exercises are done as a tri-set, meaning you go from one movement to the next without resting.

TRI-SET INSTRUCTIONS

1. Set the incline bench to about 45 degrees. Position yourself with your chest on the pad as if you were doing T-bar rows. Your head and neck should be above the bench so that you can look straight ahead. Once you’re in position, have your partner hand you the weights.

2. On the first movement, raise the dumbbells forward and out about 45 degrees to your sides with your pinkies leading the way up. (Because you’re leaning forward, this still hits the rear delts.) Concentrate on trying to get your pinkies to touch the ceiling. You should hit failure by the 10th rep, with your partner assisting you on the last two.

3. Without resting, go directly into the second movement.

4. With the same weights in hand, raise the dumbbells straight out to your sides, again with your pinkies leading the way. Visualize throwing the dumbbells out to your sides again for 10 reps; finish with two forced reps with some help from your training partner.

5. You may start to feel fire but you’re not done. The third movement is a multi-joint row, which brings in the lats to assist those burning rear delts. Let the dumbbells hang straight down and turn your pinkies forward about 45 degrees. Row them up so your elbows go past the level of your ears, keeping your elbows out to your sides. Rep till failure, then perform five more. And no bitching and moaning about how you can’t do another rep!

6. Switch with your partner and repeat for a total of three sets. Rest only as long as it takes your partner to get into position on the bench. Get it on and get it over with.

Watch the short video here if you’ve got any questions on execution.

Once you’ve completed all three sets, check the mirror to see those giant lumps on the back of your shoulders you never knew existed. You’re now ready to be carved like a jack o’ lantern on All Hallow’s Eve!!

FAST TIPS!

1. Do all three exercises without changing weights or resting between sets. Rest only after you complete all three moves.

2. Rear-delt exercises like supported bent-over lateral raises require that you keep your arms locked in the slightly bent position for the duration of the set. You don’t want to open up and close at the elbows during execution.

3. The last exercise of the tri-set, the row, is a multi-joint movement; hence it requires movement at both the shoulder and elbow joints. Most rowing movements, if you didn’t know, work the rear delts in addition to the lats.

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Vital Stats

Name: Chris Pugh
Email: Cjpugh24@charte…
BodySpace: Cjpugh24
Location: Suffolk, VA
Age: 34
Height: 5’10″
Weight: 187 lbs
Years Bodybuilding: 2

QHow did your bodybuilding
journey begin?

I never thought about competing in a bodybuilding show or any kind of sporting event. But that changed March 6, 2012. I decided to give my left kidney to my father-in-law who had his kidneys fail about three years prior. He was dying before my eyes and I had to help. After losing my father to a heart attack in 2007, I didn’t want to lose another person I loved when there was something I could do about it. I was tested by the transplant center and I was a perfect match for my father-in-law. The doctors were dumbfounded that we matched so well.

While I recovered at home for eight weeks I lost 20 pounds and I looked sickly. I decided to do something with a new lease on life. I started doing some research on how to start eating right and finding a workout plan I could use. Then, June 20, 2013, I started working toward a goal to get a six-pack.

All I wanted out of the plan was a six-pack. One day I was approached by a bodybuilding show promoter about entering into a competition. I told him, “No, I’m not that kind of person to show off and I was afraid of being judged more by perfect strangers.” When he asked me about competing in a show he planted a seed. I was in the last phase of my program. When he asked again, I said “Yes!”

What was I in for? The show was in three weeks. I started posing like crazy, ordered my suit, and made all the last-minute prep needed for the show. Wow … the show was a success. I came in at 169 pounds and 5.5% body fat. I had entered the Novice Middle height class and in the Tall Open class and won the Middle Novice class (out of 5 competitors). I was overwhelmed by wining first place on my first try. I never thought I would win.

Chris Pugh
Watch The Video – 1:33

The judges called the Novice Short, Middle, and Tall first place winners up to the stage. I thought it was for a photo or something else. It was a pose-down! I had no idea what to do until the other guys started hitting some poses, so I started posing also.

I didn’t win the overall, but I still had a chance to compete in the Tall Open class. After going through the posing again for the Tall Open class I felt good. I gave it my best and my father-in-law was in the audience cheering me on with his new kidney, my old one. I felt like a winner just making it to the stage.

What workout regimen delivered the best results?

My training is simple. I train each body part once per week. I do a six-day split, making sure to provide enough time for the muscles to repair and rebuild. When I’m training on-season or off-season the goal is the same: I want to make my time in the gym matter. I do a week of heavy, then a week of moderate weights. I switch the weight and reps so I don’t get bored in the gym and so my body never adapts.

On-season, pre-contest training routine:

Amateurs Of The Week

Bodybuilding.com honors amateurs across all categories for their hard work, dedication, and great physiques. Learn how our featured amateurs built their bodies and hit their goals!

What nutrition plan fueled your body?

I don’t follow a typical bodybuilding diet. I use flexible dieting to achieve my goal body fat percentage. I don’t eat “bad” food because I like to eat. The “cleaner” the food the more I can eat.

Bulking Phase

My bulking phase is simple: I add 500 calories to my normal diet until I get to 15 pounds above stage weight, then I start backing the calories down little by little until I find my maintenance.

What Supplements Gave You The Greatest Gains?

“I challenge myself every day. I push past what I think I can do and do more.”

How did your passion for bodybuilding emerge?

I have so much more self-respect. It taught me self-discipline. I challenge myself every day. I push past what I think I can do and do more. Research on training and nutrition is one of my hobbies. I don’t compare myself to anyone; I just compete against myself and make sure I beat my personal best every time. I enjoy helping others and inspiring them after they hear my story.

Where did you go for inspiration?

I have self-motivation. That’s what drives me. I’m my own worst critic. I have to outdo myself from the last workout. Each day is like an internal competition.

What are your future bodybuilding plans?

I want to take my body as far as I can. Bodybuilding isn’t something you do as a fad, it’s a lifestyle and I love it. I hate it, then I love it. I never stop pushing myself.

“I like the challenge. It’s hard at times, but I enjoy the challenge. Self-motivation is the key.”

What is the most important bodybuilding tip?

I’m the only one who can do it, who can make me a bodybuilder. I can’t rely on someone else to do it for me. I like the challenge. It’s hard at times, but I enjoy the challenge. Self-motivation is the key.

Who is your favorite bodybuilder?

C.T. Fletcher is one of my biggest bodybuilding motivators. I look up to Phillip Ricardo Jr. because he’s a natural bodybuilder and what he is trying to do for the sport. I get inspiration from Kiyoshi Moody, who overcame an injury to become one of the greats. In my case, I overcame a major surgery. I know with hard work and dedication I can make it to the top of natural bodybuilding.

How did Bodybuilding.com help you reach your goals?

I couldn’t have got to this point in my bodybuilding career without Bodybuilding.com. I can find workouts to fit my ever-changing needs. I can’t get enough of the recipes. I love trying all the different type of recipes. I find myself using what I learn from the articles in the gym and the light bulb goes off. Why haven’t I been doing this all along!

Contest History

• OCB October 20 2012 (Battle for Tidewater), 1st place Middle class novices, 2nd place Tall open
• INBF October 27 2012 (Neptune Classic), 3rd place Middle class
• OCB May 4 2013 (Atlantic Supershow), 2nd place Middle open
• OCB February 15 2014 (Body Sculpting), 2nd place Middle class

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Hey, you!

Yeah, you, the one struggling to hit a new personal bench press record by lifting heavy week after week. Sure, I get it. Multiple plates make anyone look like a badass, but despite trying to lift heavier and heavier, the results just don’t seem to add up. Experienced trainees in particular will find it more and more challenging to hit loftier numbers.

Here’s a thought: How about you stop focusing solely on moving heavy weights as a way to get stronger. Try supplementing your strength training program with the following modes of non-heavy weight training.

1 Incorporate Light Bar Speed Work

The idea of not lifting heavy may sound blasphemous, but research has shown that lifting lighter may be just as effective as going heavy and hard for building strength. This is not to say that you—especially if you’re an advanced and experienced lifter—should use only baby weights from now on. Try speed work.

Speed work refers to a type of strength training which uses a much lower percentage of your maximal weight. Lifting weights with greater bar speed trains your stretch reflex and your ability to build momentum more quickly, as well as recruit more muscle fibers. This type of training benefits athletes whose sports involve generating a huge amount of force in as short a time as possible.

Barbell Squat

Also known as explosive strength, speed work typically involves lifting weights at 45-65 percent of your 1-rep max for 2-6 reps per set as explosively as possible. To get the most out of this speed work, you need to treat each rep as if you’re pushing max effort; pick up or push the weight really, really fast or in an explosive manner on the upward motion—of a squat, for example.

Imagine you are doing speed squats. Descend quickly into the hole, pause briefly, and then shoot back up as powerfully and quickly as you can while maintaining proper squat form. Just because the weight is lighter doesn’t mean you slack off on form. On the contrary, this is the best time to hone-in on your technique. Since speed work hits both lower-than-max weight and reps, you’ll benefit from more total sets than a typical heavyweight rep scheme, equating to a higher volume of work (typically 12 sets).

Plyometrics and Olympic lifts can also help in the same way as speed work, but it should be important to build upon your explosiveness in more relevant areas. A clean and jerk, for example, probably won’t do much to build your bench press, whereas plyometric push-ups will.

2 Sprint Your Way to Gains

In this context, work capacity refers to the degree in which you can or cannot maintain repeated bouts of high intensity (e.g. how many sets and reps can you take above 90 percent effort?). Improving work capacity in regard to strength training is a fancy way of saying, “Duh, do more sprint work.”

Sprinting is the anabolic—or musclebuilding—form of cardio which develops your cardiovascular health, while keeping strength and muscular growth. It reduces impact by reducing running time (as compared to traditional long-distance running), but it should be extremely intense.

Sprinting should complement your training program, but not make you so fatigued that the rest of your training suffers.

Sprinting should complement your training program, but not make you so fatigued that the rest of your training suffers. While you can sprint on a track, cycling can also be a firm option if your goal is to gain muscle mass, since it doesn’t burn as many calories as running. You could get a lot of quality anaerobic work on a prowler or sled, if you have access to that special equipment.

Avoid doing cardio on the same day as a heavy lifting session (or at least not on the same day as a lift you care about), and make sure you get enough sleep and calories to maximize recovery.

You can see great benefits from one or two sessions of sprint intervals or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) each week.

3 Get More Lean Muscle Mass

You’ll still want to do a lot of work with your main lifts, but you’ll also need to do isolation-style exercises to ensure maximum hypertrophy as well.

Composition refers to the ratio of your fat mass to lean mass. Ideally, you’d aim to pack the most possible muscle out of your frame and get stronger for your relative size.

This is relevant because common sense says that—with all things being equal—a person with more muscle tends to be stronger than someone with less.

To this end, training in bodybuilding-style 8-12 rep schemes and reeling in a tighter line on your diet (count your macros every now and then!) could help you cut out the excess fat and maximize your strength potential per pound.

You’ll still want to do a lot of work with your main lifts, but you’ll also need to do isolation-style exercises to ensure maximum hypertrophy as well.

Putting it together

In order to harness your full strength potential, you will need to incorporate speed work, sprints, and improve your amount of muscle per pound of body weight to help build strength. By going (and being) lighter, you can get faster and stronger.

Other strength programs might rotate between heavy, speed, and bodybuilding days, while also including assistance work and cardiovascular training on off days. For best results, lifts should be tested in a variety of styles—variations on form, loading patterns, and lifts which identify muscular weaknesses—to help break through any personal weak points. An example of this is working on hamstrings to help improve squats.

Find the right balance here and you’ll soon find that the only problem you have with strength training is that too many of your friends will start asking you to help move couches around.

Sample 2-Week Program

Leg Press

References

1. Gonazalez-Badillo JJ et al. Maximal intended velocity training induces greater gains in bench press performance than deliberately slower half-velocity training. Eur J Sport Sci, 2014 Apr 15:1-10.

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Vital Stats

Name: Nikki Walter
Age: 34
Weight: 113
Height: 5-foot-3
Education: B.S. in fitness management, certified Les Mills Body Pump instructor

Cheerleading and track events helped carry Nikki Walter through high school and college, but as her interest in sports waned, she found a new career in fitness. She started competing in the NPC, signed up for the 2014 BodySpace Spokesmodel Search and took fourth place!

Nikki lifts out of her local YMCA and trains with fellow Team Bodybuilding.com member Brandan Fokken. Marathons and cheerleading are big parts of her past, but her future is in competitive fitness.

After college, Nikki settled into a job with the Chamber of Commerce, which helped her create a national network of contacts. She seemingly had everything in place. Then, in 2011, her husband was diagnosed with leukemia and died shortly after, at age 35. The loss left Walter with a lot of questions, and she found that fitness and healthy living were a major part of the answer.

She left the Chamber of Commerce and began working in sales to spend more time with her daughter, Addison. She competed in a bikini contest to check a mark on her bucket list. She embraced hard training and nutrition as a lifestyle, making a profound impact in her community and on BodySpace. She and Addison now stage clean eating parties where they teach friends and their children about food prep and healthy nutrition.

When the Walters visit those kitchens, they teach others how to eat more wisely, and how to use BodySpace to continue improving. They spread the word.

Q How did you first find out about Bodybuilding.com and BodySpace?

I’m coached by Brandan Fokken, a Team Bodybuilding.com athlete, and Brandan encouraged me to try out for the spokesmodel competition.

“The people on BodySpace are really supportive of your goals and understand the ups and downs of a fit lifestyle—and that it’s a lifestyle.”

Before that, I was ordering products off the site. I kind of already knew about it, but because of the path I was taking toward competing, I leaned on the site a little bit more.

I wasn’t sure about BodySpace at first. Being in the public eye, I was a little hesitant because of privacy. I was in government and local leadership, so it was an issue. I had to overcome a lot of issues before I decided to utilize it to get inspired and to inspire others.

The people on BodySpace are really supportive of your goals and understand the ups and downs of a fit lifestyle—and that it’s a lifestyle. I like the support and enthusiasm people have on BodySpace.

As I started to post more and share my story and have more confidence in what I was doing in posting online, I started to get responses from a variety of people. I try to keep in touch with them.

People with leukemia, like my husband had, would reach out and say “I’ve been a competitor and I’m sick now.” I’ll reach out and write to them to see how they’re feeling. One of them just wrote back to me to say that he’s competing in six months because he’s now cancer-free. That is really cool.

I was always a very independent person. When I was married I did a lot of different things, but I also now have this niche of single parents reaching out to me. It’s a whole other aspect of my inspiration. They inspire me so much by how they handle it. It’s been so rewarding, being able to help these people, to interview them, and to hear about their experiences. For me, it’s all about inspiring others and helping make it happen for them.

How much does setting a good fitness example for your daughter drive you?

I know cancer is part of my daughter’s genetics, and I wanted to pursue clean eating for her health. I want to be a mom who made a difference for my daughter, but also showed her that she can help others just by doing the things you do in your everyday life.

“I want to be a mom who made a difference for my daughter, but also showed her that she can help others just by doing the things you do in your everyday life.”

When I talk to parents, I encourage them to do as much as they can with their families and do what’s right for them. I’m all she has! For my mindset to be healthy, I want to make sure I’m as fit and healthy as I can be for her. Addison gets excited about it and says, “Mom, we’re making a difference!” I compete and get involved, and it’s so time-consuming because of my time on social media, training, and because I have a family. But as parents, you have to find that balance.

I involve her in things she wants to be involved in. If we’re working on a clean eating program for a video, I’ll ask her what she thinks kids will like, or how we can make it better. I’m not a very good cook, so I’ll ask her what we can do to make it better. By engaging and involving her, I think it’s helped. If I hadn’t done that, I feel like she may have resented it a little bit and felt like it was taking time away from her.

I encourage parents to involve their kids. Addison takes my progress pictures. We discuss where I go on trips. I want her to have a role in what I am doing.

Can you tell us what a clean eating party is?

Basically, we host a personal training party, but for food. My daughter does a component of the parties; she works with kids and I work with the adults. I use local resources around the state, but also reference Bodybuilding.com.

We set up BodySpace accounts and give the host a basket of Bodybuilding.com products. I take them through clean eating websites and state resources they can use locally.

The parties are an opportunity to engage groups of people in a social setting, in the comfort of their homes, and teach them how to prepare a clean diet.

Food prep is a big component, so we can help combat the ease of fast food and help them have good things on hand for families. It’s tough, especially with kids in the house.

A lot of the people in my area do a lot of fad diets, a lot of shake diets, and once they get off it, they’re not sure what to do. They don’t know how to cook or how much.

We teach people portion control and we share ideas with them.

Do you actually eat at the parties?

Of course! I email the host to get a menu, and then we share recipes, shop for what we need, invite a few friends, and we have a food prep party. We only do parties of five now, because it gets really hectic.

We did a launch at the YMCA and 40 people showed up! I can’t do that, but I decided to make a side business out of it to help people understand, and encourage people do to it with their friends. We now accept bookings in South Dakota and are trying to branch out into Minnesota and North Dakota.

If you’re playing cards, stamping, or getting together once a week with your girlfriends, it’s an opportunity for the people you hang out with to learn and share. It’s such a social thing.

Addie goes through her little creative snack options for kids, teaching kids how to measure their snacks. If there’s Goldfish, she shows them how they can have a cup or just half a cup. She has her own little drawer of measuring cups. We teach parents how to monitor their kids.

How has receiving guidance from your coach helped you as a competitor?

What helped the most for me was the diet. One of the reasons I got into bodybuilding was because of the genetics of my daughter and learning what was in food, but also realizing that how you fuel your body makes an impact on your performance and how you can grow.

Everybody wants it, but they need somewhere to start. Hiring a coach was great for me. I’ve always been active and able to do my own workouts, but I think it’s also great to have a coach to seek questions and advice, because they really know what judges are looking for when you compete.

Do you have plans to work full-time as a fitness personality?

Absolutely! It’s my dream. I’ve followed Jamie Eason for a very long time and I always knew I wanted to be in the industry.

My background is in health and wellness. At one point in my life, years ago, I was offered a great fitness opportunity, but I passed on it because I was getting married and moving back to South Dakota. That was hard for me, because there weren’t those opportunities here.

That’s when I got involved in the Chamber of Commerce, and that was great. It helped me network throughout the country with a lot of people. But when I quit the chamber, people were disappointed that I was going into a career in sales, because they know I like to help people. I didn’t know where competing was going to lead me, but I knew it was going to take me somewhere.

The common perception of women wearing a swimsuit isn’t accurate. There’s more to it. It’s about discipline. I knew by competing that I needed to commit to do it. I was scared as a single parent going into such a drastic change, but I had a gut feeling that it was time for me to go through it. And I’m glad I did, because it led me to Bodybuilding.com.

Do you have any advice for up-and-coming people with fitness aspirations?

Be yourself. We get wrapped up in following other people and what they’re doing, but the way to stand out is to be you. Follow your gut feelings. There is so much out there, and if you’re open to finding what’s right for you, then it is OK to say no to opportunities until you find the right one that fits for you.

Take those risks. Even if it means a drastic change, it’s possible. You’ll never know unless you try. Never live with regret. Everything I’ve seen, like watching my 35-year-old husband just… go, really opened my eyes to a different side of life. If there’s something you always wanted to do, do it. Live with no regrets.

Nutritional Regimen

Training Plan

I do my treadmill workouts at 5:30 a.m. in my home gym. If I can complete a workout with free weights or plyometrics, then I do this at home. I squeeze in my Cybex Arc and weight workouts over my lunch or in the evening.

I work out at our YMCA, so my daughter has a place to be if I need to be at the gym in the evening. On days that I teach muscle classes, I try to incorporate some of my free weight training, but it usually requires me to have a third workout to assure I get my training covered.

Training Regimen

Supplementation Plan

During prep I watch carbs and calories in my shakes. I also try to cycle off BCAA powders one week before competing.

Supplementation Regimen

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