How mental stress affects muscle growth

Do stress levels at work or home affect muscle growth? Absolutely - but there are things that you can do about it.

Cortisol

You've probably heard of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol is released as a response to stress and one of its primary roles is to give your body the energy it needs to fight off or escape a potential threat. Cortisol stimulates energy production and immune response. Cortisol levels are naturally higher in the morning and taper off throughout the day until they reach their lowest before bed time and during sleep. This makes sure that you have the energy that you need throughout the day while ensuring that you can get the recovery that you need at night. People with cortisol levels that are too low have constant fatigue and vulnerable immune systems. Healthy cortisol levels are good for you, but too much is not good either. Your body needs periods of low stress (and lowered cortisol) to calm down and recover. Thinking about stressful things at night can increase cortisol levels, which puts your body into a fight-or-flight response when it needs to start the recovery process instead.

One of the benefits of regular exercise is that it teaches the body to deal with stress. Exercise improves the way that cortisol is used by providing an outlet for the energy that cortisol creates. It also ensures that we don't experience the negative effects of too much cortisol production. Exercise tricks our bodies into thinking that a potentially harmful (or stressful) situation is over and that it can go back into rest and recovery mode. Too much exercise, though, can elevate cortisol levels. Physical stress (or physical exertion) can also trigger the release of cortisol. In order to recover sufficiently, our bodies need periods of low stress to enter its rest mode. If mental stress from work and physical stress from exercise releases more cortisol than what your body can recover from, your body will spend too much time in overdrive and too little time in recovery. Exercise can help you to deal with mental stress, but only to a certain point until it becomes too much. How do you make sure that you aren't stressing more than what your body can handle? Make sure that you balance out overall stressful situations with relaxing ones. Mental tranquility triggers speedy physical recovery. There is nothing wrong with feeling a little stress every now and then, but you need to make sure that you make time to feel relaxed. You can do this by spending time with a loved one, enjoying a hobby or through positive reflection. Doing these things at night will increase sleep quality.

Tension

Tension is one of the ways that cortisol affects muscle tissue. Cortisol tenses muscles so that they are primed for action. In nature, this would help you to make the fast movements that you need to eat (catch prey) or avoid being eaten. Think of the muscular tension as your muscles' version of 'standby mode'. As great as this is for action, it's not so great for recovery. Your muscles need to get out of 'standby mode' and enter 'rest mode' to grow. Tensed muscles cannot recover as well and relaxed muscles. If mental stress increases muscular tension, they will take longer to recover from exercise.

Exercise can decrease tension caused by stress, but prolonged physical stimulus and increased tension from non-exercise stress without sufficient relaxation can severely decrease the amount of optimal recovery time that your muscles need. If you feel like your muscles are negatively affected by stress, here are 7 ways to decrease the effects of stress from work. If work stress creates muscular tension, exercising after work will release the tension and give you the evening and night's sleep to recover. Applying heat (like through a hot bath or sitting in the sauna), stretching regularly, massage and aromatherapy are great ways to relieve tension and speed up muscle recovery.

Poor decisions

Stress can also negatively impact muscle growth by negatively impacting the decisions that you make. Stress can cause us to make unhealthy decisions in an attempt to cope with that stress. Drinking alcohol negatively affects muscle growth, and so does smoking. Irregular sleeping habits and erratic diet choices are other ways that our attempts to cope with stress can lead to decisions that hamper muscle growth.

In the above ways, mental stress can have an indirectly negative affect on muscle growth. Some stress is not too bad, but when you stress more than you relax; you risk sacrificing muscle because of it. Stay Strong!

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Supplements for Muscle Growth

In this article I look at the top supplements to maximize muscle growth. I've researched what most people use and what gives you the best results in the shortest period of time possible. Live Strong, for example, recommends a good combination of pre and post workout supplements to speed up the growth of lean muscle mass. 

The best supplements that will help your muscles grow as fast as possible

1. Protein powder

Stack.com says that bigger muscles can require twice the amount of daily protein, compared to people who don't work out at all. Legionathletics.com lists protein powder as the top choice in their article of the best and worst supplements. You can get all of the protein that you need from natural food sources like meat, animal products and nuts. Protein powder, however, is still a great supplement to have for the following reasons:

Benefits of protein powder

• Protein powder can be cheaper than food sources of protein, gram for gram. You can get the protein equivalent of a large piece of steak from a single protein shake. And a tub of protein powder gives you many shakes. This makes the cost of protein in powder form a fraction of the cost that it would be in food form.
• Protein powder is convenient. It is a lot easier to throw together a shake with a scoop of powder and a mix of water or milk than to have a cooked and prepared protein source when you need it. You can carry the dry powder in a shaker in your car, bag or locker and simply mix it with water when needed. When it is not mixed with wet ingredients like water, it won't spoil from heat, unlike most food.
• It doesn't expire as quickly as normal food. Protein powder, if left dry, can keep fresh for years without expiring. It will still be safe for consumption when you need it. You can literally buy a tub and keep it in your cupboard for months on end and only use it when you need to.
• Shakes are easier to consume. Eating a steak takes more effort than downing a protein shake. This can save time and is a lot less messy. For example, it is more practical to have a shake after your workout than to bring a bunch of eggs into the gym.
• They are easier to digest. Protein in a powder form is easier for the body to break down into the nutrients that it needs. Your body does not need to break down a full food into tiny pieces before it can enter into the gut for your body to absorb what it needs.
• Protein powders offer variety. There are a variety of flavors and brands to choose from. There are also different types of protein, ranging from egg and beef to milk and plant sources. You can also choose a protein powder according to the time it takes to reach your muscles after consumption. I have even seen birthday cake, mixed sundae and toffee flavors.

2. Creatine

Bodybuilding.com names creatine as the top muscle building supplement of their choice. 

Creatine is a naturally occurring chemical found in your body. It is actually found in almost all animals (all vertebrates). You will find it naturally occurring in meat based foods. It is also made by your body. It is one of the most popular supplements that bodybuilders and weight lifters use, after whey protein (a form of protein powder that comes from milk).

The supplement creatine is most widely available in the following forms:

• Creatine can be sold on its own. Creatine powder is available as an isolated supplement on its own, which you can add to protein shakes (post workout and meal replacement shakes), smoothies or juices.
• Creatine can be mixed with other ingredients in pre-workouts. Pre-workouts are supplements taken before your workout to boost energy levels, physical performance, and recovery and muscle growth. See more on pre workouts below.
• Creatine can already be mixed into meal replacement and post workout supplements. 

It has the following functions within the body:

• It assists your cells to make energy. Without creatine, your muscles will not be able to generate the energy that they need in order to work.
• Creatine increases muscle size by increasing the water that a muscle can hold. This increases the amount of nutrients that can enter the muscle. It also elevates the amount of waste products that can exit the muscle in a given period of time.
• It is involved with the formation of protein nutrients into muscle tissue, by allowing protein synthesis to take place.
• Creatine signals to the rest of the body where muscle needs to grow and recover.

There are different forms of creatine (like creatine monohydrate, micronized creatine, creatine serum, buffered creatine, ethyl ester, effervescent creatine, creatine nitrate, hydro chloride and more). See the different forms of creatine and how these differences affect your muscle growth here.

3. Branched Chain Amino Acids

www.muscleandfitness.com says that branched chain amino acids (BCAA's) are by the far the most important of all the amino acids for building muscle. It also says that they are important for repairing the muscle after stimulating it to grow bigger. The advantages of taking these amino acids are:

• They ensure the reduction of muscle breakdown (being in a catabolic state). Your body can break down muscle for energy if it feels the need to do so. This can often happen if training periods are too long, your body feels stressed or threatened, you are sick (flu or colds, for example) or if you don't have enough nutrients for it to get the energy it needs. When you take branched chain amino acids, your body can break them down instead of muscle for energy and leave your precious muscle mass alone. They are good to take during times when you risk muscle loss, like when you are sick or need to go a long time without eating.
• They increase protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is the process where protein is converted into muscle. BCAA's increase the rate of protein synthesis because they are crucial elements needed to make protein. They are important building blocks of protein. Taking them allows your body to create and maintain muscle more easily.
• They increase energy levels. These amino acids increase physical energy and physical performance. They also decrease the rate at which muscles start to fatigue. They are therefore also great to use during workouts to maximize performance and decrease muscle damage.
• They help to improve the time that your body takes to recover from exercise and other activities that impact your muscles. These other activities can be long periods of standing for work, for example.

4. Glutamine

Glutamine stimulates the growth of your muscle, according to mensfitness.com

It is also an amino acid and therefore one of the building blocks of the protein nutrient. It is a fantastic supplement that speeds up all round recovery. Patients on hospital recover faster from surgery when they consumed extra glutamine.

Exercise greatly depletes your glutamine stores, and therefore supplementing with it after exercise will speed up the recovery process. It helps with recovery on almost all aspects of your body. For example, it speeds up recovery from illnesses like flu and colds, shortens the amount of time that wounds take to heal, supports a strong central nervous system and even protects the immune system from vulnerability.

Similar to BCAA's, it prevents muscle from breaking down. While BCAA's will give you the energy to exercise while assisting muscle growth, glutamine will protect you from damage and speed up all-round healing and recovery while assisting with muscle growth. It also helps to increase human growth hormone (HGH) levels. This growth hormone is one of the most important muscle building hormones, along with testosterone.

Glutamine is very active in maintaining digestive and gut health. Glutamine supplementation is an effective treatment for leaky gut syndrome. It has a vital role in other bodily functions, like maintaining liver and kidney health.

5. Beta-alanine

Beta-alanine supplementation can combat muscle fatigue and therefore increases the amount of work that a muscle can do before tiring out. This is according Michael Matthews from www.muscleforlife.com

When your muscles perform at high intensities like lifting weights, they produce an acid called lactic acid. This lactic acid is responsible for the burning sensation you feel in your muscles when you work them hard enough. It is a by-product of what happens in muscle fiber when it exerts itself to contract or expand against a heavy force. This lactic acid was primarily responsible for our survival, because it stops us from working a muscle so hard that it causes more damage than what the muscle can recover from. It is also responsible for the soreness and stiffness that you can feel for days after a good workout.

The primary survival reason for this response was to prevent you from over working a muscle that hasn't healed sufficiently yet. Beta-alanine supplementation decreases the release of lactic acid, allowing muscles to perform for a longer period of time. This increases the total time under tension that stimulates a muscle before it tires out.

Some people are more sensitive to this supplement than others. The beta-alanine content of pre-workout supplements is what causes the tingling sensation that some people feel on their skin. It can also cause some users to itch. Others don't have any negative side effects from it at all. If you feel a tingly, itchy side effect from a pre-workout; it is probably the beta alanine that your body does not have a good reaction to. Others do feel the tingly sensation, but like the feeling. They say that it makes them feel like the supplement is working all over their bodies.

6. ZMA

www.myprotein.com says that ZMA boosts muscle building hormones. ZMA is made up of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B-6. My Protein mentions studies where people with zinc and magnesium deficiencies had increases in testosterone and insulin-like growth factor when they took ZMA. Insulin-like growth factors (or IF-1 for short) are proteins which are extremely similar to insulin. It is commonly known and used for its ability to enhance muscle growth. To find out more about the benefits, sources and deficiency effects of zinc and magnesium, click here. ZMA is typically sold at supplement, health and vitamin stores as a natural testosterone booster. 

As a combination of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B-6, ZMA aids muscle recovery by assisting the body to rebuild itself after exercise. This can increase the speed at which muscle grows, as well as the amount of growth that it undergoes following stimulus. This works to improve muscle size and physical ability in a shorter period of time. It enhances quality of sleep and allows the body to turn fat into energy more efficiently.

Your body cannot store zinc, so it is important to get enough of it regularly. Your body naturally needs zinc for healing (from exercise, wounds or other damage), growth (creating new tissue), turning food into nutrients that the body needs and maintaining proper immune function.

Magnesium is important for the optimal maintenance of muscular, skeletal and nervous systems. It is also heavily involved with many biochemical functions within the body. Magnesium supplementation can ease muscle pain, decrease fatigue and improve performance. Many runners use it during big races for this reason. 

Vitamin B-6 is needed for energy production from the food we eat and transporting oxygen throughout the body. It is also important for keeping neurotransmitters healthy and active.

A combination of the above benefits gives ZMA its muscle-building benefits.

7. HMB

Authoritynutrition.com lists HMB as one of the top muscle building supplements. HMB stands for Beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate. It is made when your body breaks down leucine, and it is essential for proper protein synthesis and muscle growth. It is naturally made within the body (by breaking down the amino acid leucine) and therefore supplementation is not necessary. Taking it as a supplement to increase the amount of HMB in your body, however, can benefit muscle creation. Authority nutrition cites studies that show that new athletes who take this supplement (at 3 - 6 grams a day) benefited with increases in muscles mass, compared to people who didn't.

Other studies show that trained athletes with more muscle mass than the beginners did not benefit significantly from HMB supplementation. Therefore, this supplement is a great option for people who are just starting out and need an extra boost to help them along their new journey. The benefits of HMS supplementation seem to diminish after the bodies of these athletes become better at turning protein into muscle. 

Beginners respond differently to exercise, compared to those who have trained for longer. For example, this workout plan is great for beginners who are new to weight training. It will help them to get their bodies into the routine of breaking down and building muscle without the amounts of physical stress that could hurt their bodies more than build them up. On the other hand, experienced bodybuilders will benefit from this workout routine more, since their bodies have adapted to weight training and need a newer, heavier stimulus to increase muscle growth.

Art of manliness says that HMB is not likely to be effective in increasing muscle mass. It discusses a study where people who took the supplement had great muscular gains from weight lifting. These people were consuming more calories than what their bodies were burning, though, which is also highly conducive to muscle growth. When these people used HMB while restricting their caloric consumption, they did not have the same benefits. This could mean that the reason why the people who used it initially gained muscle was because of diet and not because of the supplement itself.

My Take

It is fine to use HMB and the other supplements on this page, but diet must come first. Supplements cannot undo a bad diet. You should first focus on making sure that your diet is as conducive to muscle growth as possible before adding supplements into the mix. Supplements make a great bonus after your eating plan is properly implemented. Use these tips to create a diet that builds the most muscle.

8. Caffeine

The energy that caffeine gives you can benefit muscle development. Caffeine is found in most pre workout supplements for this reason. It gives you energy by breaking down fat stores. This is why it is also found in most weight loss supplements. Since your body has more energy from caffeine, it won't resort to breaking down muscle tissue for the immediate nutrients that it needs to cope with the physical stress during exercise. Studies have shown that subjects who work out in a fasted state retained more muscle mass when they had caffeine before their workouts. The extra energy that caffeine gives your body will allow your muscles to do more before tiring out. This increases the amount of stimulus that you can apply to muscle mass with every workout that you do.

The decreasing effect of caffeine

As great as the above information is, caffeine does have a diminishing effect. This is because the more caffeine you take the less sensitive to caffeine your body becomes. Since it increases energy levels by metabolizing fat, your body will try to counter this by decreasing natural fat metabolism. The process by which your body counteracts an action in order to restore balance is called homeostasis. The more caffeine you use (and the longer the period that you use it for); the more your body builds up a resistance in this way. For best results, I recommend using caffeine only in times where you need an extra boost, fear muscles loss due to diet change or need to jump start a new fat loss routine. By using it sparingly, you can get the benefits of this stimulant without minimizing its potential value for helping you to reach your goals.

9. Pre-workouts

The Athletic Build recommends using pre workouts to maximize strength and size gains. Pre workouts are supplements that are taken before exercise to increase energy and physical performance, decrease fatigue and rate of failure, increase recovery and growth, and boost motivation during exercise. Pre workouts are a mixture of different ingredients that bring about these benefits. Creatine, caffeine, testosterone boosters, amino acids and simple (fast acting) carbohydrates are common ingredients in pre workouts.

Pre workouts are usually very potent. For this reason, if you are using a pre workout for the first time; you should only use half of the dosage and increase or decrease it the next time that you work out, instead of taking a full dosage in the first go. For example, the first time I took a pre workout I felt very nauseous and felt like I was going to puke throughout my entire workout. 

It should also not be taken by people under the age of 18, or by people who are sensitive to stimulants. Since a lot of pre-workout supplements contain creatine and sugars which can increase water weight, many pre workout products are not recommended for people who are trying to lose weight or are preparing to compete. There are many variations without creatine and sugar for these people, though.

Pre-workouts give you an insane amount of energy. This massive amount of energy helps you to complete your workouts with the most stimuli that you can. The high energy effects also help to get your head in the game. I often compare taking a pre workout to drinking 10 cups of coffee in one go. 

Just like caffeine above, pre workout supplements need to be cycled. You should not take these every day of the week. Give your body at least two days of each week to rest from its energy-boosting properties; otherwise your body can burn out quite quickly. Also, allow for training cycles where you don't use a pre workout at all. Using it all the time will incur the same diminishing effect as caffeine. This happens when your body tries to balance out the effects of the pre workout. Since it greatly raises performance levels, it is easy to develop a mental dependence where people struggle to work out and give their muscles the stimulus that they deserve without the pre workout. 

Some people recommend using it for no more than 5 days a week and for no longer than eight weeks in a row before taking a 4 week break. This decreases dependence and counteracts the long term 'balancing out' reaction that your body will likely produce.

I personally only use it to break through a plateau where I haven't seen much progress in a long period of time. I also use it when changing up my program to a new routine that is much more demanding on my body. I also only use it for 5 weeks in a 1/4, 1/2, full, 1/2, 1/4 fashion. In my first week I will use a quarter of the full dose. In the second week I will use a half the normal dose. In the third week I will use a full dose so that I am increasing my dose as my body gets used to it. I then decrease my does to 1/2 and then 1/4 to give my body time to keep the same physical performance level with the decreasing amount of help from the pre-workout.

10. Horny goat weed and catuaba 

According to Men's Health, these two herbs reduce estrogen production and increase muscle growth. Estrogen is the female hormone; the opposite of testosterone. Your body balances these two hormones, which are both present (and made) in male and female bodies. When testosterone levels are high, estrogen levels will usually be lower. Your body uses the one hormone to balance out the other. For example, if your testosterone levels are too high, then your body will create more estrogen to balance out the excess testosterone. Horny goat weed and catuaba are often used to inhibit the production of estrogen.

Estrogen is not the worst thing in the world for muscle growth, says Iron Mag. Too much of it can cause ill effects (like practically every other substance in our bodies), but it is needed in male bodies for the creation of good sperm. Low estrogen levels are linked in infertility in men. Falling estrogen levels in women are linked to decreased bone health. Some studies suggest that the same is true for men. Estrogen is also strongly linked to good cardio vascular health.

Supplement tips

Here are some extra tips to help you decide what will work the best for you.

Choose wisely

Spot me bro recommends choosing the best supplements based on price and effect. If you are buying whatever everybody recommends and taking it without monitoring what works best for your own body, you could end up wasting a lot of money without achieving the best results. On the other hand, if you choose your supplements wisely, by doing a lot of research and trials to find what works best for you, you can achieve more while spending less.

Everybody's needs are different

Your body works different to mine and the next guy's. In the same way, some supplements will benefit you more than me. For example, I have tried a few pre-workouts to find the one that benefits me the most. I know of friends who say that the one that I use is nothing compared to their choices, but those ones don't have as a great an effect on me as the one I choose to use. Is one of us wrong? Not really. I discovered that the pre-workout I like works best for me. My friends have also tried a variety of supplements and found the best ones that work for them. 

Even entire categories of supplements might not benefit you in the same way that it could benefit someone else. Testosterone boosters are a good example. Most people below the age of 25 don't need testosterone boosters because their natural testosterone levels are already at their peak. Using them will be a waste of money that could be spent on other supplements that could make a much bigger difference. This isn't only limited to age or gender. Some people do better without pre workouts at all, for example.

Don't try too many new supplements out at once, so that you can test each one on its own without confusing the results. This way, you can feel which supplements are really helping you and which ones aren't making any difference.

If you have a few friends that are training with you, give the supplements that you don't use to them instead of throwing them away. Supplements are expensive. They might use it and benefit from it more than you did. This encourages them to give you their stuff that they don't use anymore. This becomes a great way for you to try out new stuff without having to commit money to it first.

Choose supplements according to goals

Decide on what your goals are before choosing the best supplements for you. If your goal is to lose weight, the supplements you use will be totally different to someone who is trying to gain weight. The ideal supplements differ greatly even for people who want to build muscle and lose fat, compared to people who want to build muscle and don't mind whether they gain a little fat or not.

If you don't mind gaining fat, for example, you will make sure that the calories that you consume are always more than what your body is burning, so that there are enough calories in your system for your body to turn into new muscle tissue.

If you want to burn fat at the same time, it becomes harder because you need to hold a close-to-perfect balance between eating enough calories to support muscle growth but less than enough for the body to turn into fat.

Different supplements can help you to bulk (or gain mass), lose weight (or cut/ tone/ define/ burn fat), strengthen (enhance performance), or recover. Find out what you want to do the most and buy supplements according to these objectives.

Priority list

Your first priority should be nutrients. Make sure that you get all the right nutrients that your body needs to stay healthy and grow muscle. These nutrients include water, carbohydrates, fats and micro nutrients (vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, trace elements, anti-oxidants etc.)

Build up a good diet that gives you as much of these nutrients as possible. Once that is done, find the best supplements to help you fill the gaps that your new diet cannot fill. For example, your diet might not be able to give you all the protein that you need according to your goals (for appetite, money or time reasons). This is how protein shakes can provide a good benefit.

Once your nutritional aspect is taken care of, you can look into supplements that will boost muscle growth over and above what would normally happen without them. The next best thing is totally up to you. It is a good idea, however, to choose the next supplement according to what you feel like you need the most.

For example, glutamine might be your best option if you feel sore for too long after your workouts or take longer to recover than normal. Caffeine and pre workouts will be better if you feel like you need more energy to give your workouts the kind of intensity that they need. Branched chain amino acids (BCAA's) are great for times when you feel like your body could be breaking down muscle (like going too long without eating or getting sick).

Choosing a supplement based on what you struggle with the most will give you a lot more bang for your buck.

Don't replace food with supplements

You need to eat real food. Do not replace too much real food for supplements.

One of the reasons for this is micro nutrient diversity. You might be getting the same amount of carbohydrates from an apple as you do in a meal replacement shake, but that apple has many naturally occurring micro nutrients which the shake does not have, but that your body needs. Real food has many micro nutrients that your body needs to function properly. Eating a varied diet of real food along with supplements ensures that you get all the micro nutrients that your body needs.

Additionally, studies are repeatedly showing that our bodies absorb micro nutrients a lot more efficiently from real food, compared to supplements.

Shape.com lists the following micro nutrients as absolutely essential for athletes that are creating diets to meet their caloric needs:

• Vitamin C is important. You can get it from fresh fruit and vegetables. This aids recovery and supports a strong immune system.
• Fish oil is also needed. You can get it from oily fish like salmon. This balances out negative plant oils (trans fats) that come from fried foods. Fish oil is great for eye, brain, heart, skin and cardiovascular health.
• Calcium consumption greatly benefits health. It benefits muscle function just as much as it benefits bone health.
• Magnesium that comes from spinach and legumes supports healthy living. Most people already don't get enough of this mineral. It alleviates muscles cramping and decreases muscle soreness from exercise.
• B vitamins, which are important for skin and nervous system health, should not be neglected. They are also extremely important for proper metabolism function and energy production.
•  Vitamin D is needed and is strongly connected to other muscle building hormones like testosterone and growth hormone. Insufficient vitamin D can lead to sleep problems.
• Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that helps to combat the oxidation that exercise can put on cells. Almonds are a great source of this vitamin.

Another reason why we need real food is digestive health. Supplements are made to be easily digested and used within the body. Real foods are harder to digest into nutrients. If too much of your diet consists of supplements, your digestive system will lose its ability to break down actual food. I know of someone who ate nothing but protein shakes to lose weight for a few months. After that, they struggled to eat normal food and got pains every time they tried to; because their bodies grew too accustomed to easily digestible 'food'.

Stacking supplements

Stacking refers to using different supplements at the same time (throughout the day) to achieve a desired effect. Here are some of my personal stacks, according to my specific goals.

Bulking
During bulking phases I use a mass gainer, whey hydrolysate, casein and a pre workout.

I mix my mass gainer and whey hydrolysate in the mornings as soon as I wake up and straight after my workout. I use my pre workout half an hour before my weight training session and I use a combination of my mass gainer and casein before sleep.

Cutting 
On days where want to burn fat while retaining muscle I use BCAA's, whey hydrolysate, caffeine and casein.
I take my hydrolysate shake after I wake up, use the caffeine and BAA's before and during my workout and use BCAA's throughout the day. I drink a shake of casein powder before bed.

Maintaining
During maintenance phases, I only use my mass gainer and BCAA's throughout the day.

Please note: This is all in addition to my regular meals (I eat 4 meals of real food every day).

I hope that this article helps you to make the right supplement choices. I hope that it will not only help you to reach your specific physical goals, but also keep you strong and healthy. Health and physical success are closely inter-related. The less time your body needs to spend fighting off illness, the better. It will have more time to build muscle. The healthier you are, the more energy you will have to do the workouts that you need to do to get further. Unfortunately, none of these supplements work over night. You are still going to have to put in all of the time and dedication that it takes to reach the top. STAY STRONG!

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Isometrics

Isometrics refers to working a muscle without moving it. Tensing your muscles is an example. We've all heard some of the big boys at the gym tell us that flexing the muscle group you have just worked in the mirror at the change rooms afterwards helps the muscles to grow even bigger. This is actually true because it further stimulates the muscle to grow and increase your pump. The pump in itself is beneficial because it causes the blood vessels to widen, increasing the amount of nutrients that can enter the muscle and increases the amount of waste products (like lactic acid) that can leave the muscle.

Isometric training already incorporated into your training session

Here are a few ways that you are probably already using isometric training:

Isometric exercises

Planks, which work out the core (abdominal, oblique and low back) muscles, are an isometric exercise because they work the muscles while they stay in the same position.

Stabilizing muscles

Muscles are also worked in an isometric fashion in lifts that require movement, but the stabilizing muscles aren't moved during the lift. For example, the core during push-ups, deadlifts, pull ups and squats does not move but is stimulated. Another example is the biceps, forearms, trapeziums and shoulders during dead lifts.

Isometric holds

You perform an isometric hold when you pause at the peak of your lift, like holding for one or two beats at the top of your bicep curl. Isometric holds have been touted as a great way to increase total time under tension and squeeze maximum muscle stimulus out of every rep.

Benefits of doing isometric training on its own

Here are a few reasons why doing isometric training in addition to your usual weight training routine can be beneficial:

Prevent and recover from injury

Isometric training is a great way to recover from joint injury because it does not require movement of the joint but still stimulates the muscle. For example, squeezing your hands together as hard as you can in front of your chest will still stimulate your chest muscles put will put less strain on your shoulders if you are recovering from shoulder injury.

Increase muscle strength during a specific range of motion

For example, if your chest muscles are at their weakest during the lowest part of the bench press (when the barbell is closest to your chest); you can increase the strength of your chest at this range of motion. You can do this by holding heavy dumbbells for as long as you can in this specific position for a few sets without moving them. This will increase your chest strength at this point, helping the outcome of your overall lift.

Shaping the muscle

Isometric lifts can shape muscles in order to achieve their best aesthetic look. For example, holding a dumbbell curl when the bicep is fully lengthened will develop the bicep in such a way that I will look longer. By performing an isometric hold when the bicep is fully contracted (shortened), it will make the bicep 'pop out' more.

Some people argue that you can develop the same amount of muscle mass through isometric contraction as normal weight lifting and there are numerous stories online of people who claim to have developed muscle this way. This is, however, a debated topic and we cannot verify whether this is true or just hype.

Well now you know what 'Isometrics' is all about, you know why the guys are posing so hard in the mirror and you have a few more options when it comes to injury and muscle shaping. Keep in mind that intense isometric holds do momentarily increase blood pressure as you tense your muscles as hard as you can. Keep pushing and be the best you can. STAY STRONG!

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Rest time between sets

The truth is that different rest times can all build muscle. The best time between sets is probably the rest time you haven't been doing, because changing something as simple as rest times can shock your muscle into further growth.

The benefits of longer rest times between sets

If you typically rest for shorter periods (less than a minute) between sets, here is a list of reasons why resting a little longer might increase muscle growth.

Increased strength

Longer rest periods give your muscles more time to rest and recover, immediately increasing the amount of weight they can move and decreasing the rate at which they fail from set to set. Since more weight is moved and total time under tension (the total time the muscle is contracted against a weight) is increased, the muscle will receive more stimuli.

Less energy tax, more muscle tax

By resting more, your energy production systems are used less. This gives the body more resources and more energy to spend on building muscle tissue. More energy can be spent on generating power and building muscle, with less calories being spent on restoring cardio-vascular channels and refilling glycogen systems.

Great for bulking

As in the point above, more calories can be spent on muscle tissue instead of energy recovery. Also, glycogen levels within the muscle won't be drained as quickly as they are during shorter rest periods.

Less stress on the central nervous system

Since greater resting times will stress energy systems less and focus more on muscle tissue, the central nervous system will receive less stress. This means that you will be able to train more and be at less risk of over training. 

Keeping clear of a catabolic state

When the body is put under physical stress it releases cortisol, a stress hormone that holds onto fat cells and breaks down muscle tissue as a survival mechanism. The body does this because when it is stressed it thinks that its survival is at stake so it will rather break down muscle (which is more easily broken down than fat) to get quicker energy to get out of the alleged situation of danger as quick as possible. This is called a catabolic state, when the body breaks down muscle to feed itself. It is often advised not to train for longer than 90 minutes because longer training periods can put the body into this state. Since resting for longer periods does not stress the energy and central nervous systems as much as shorter periods, you will be able to train for much longer periods of time before the body will start breaking down muscle.

I like to take longer resting periods when I have more time I can spend in the gym and want to focus more on increasing the amount of weight my muscles can handle.

The benefits of shorter rest times between sets 

Having shorter rest periods have their benefits too. Here is a list of reasons why you should balance your programs out with shorter rest times as well:

Burns more calories

By taking shorter rest breaks, you are involving the cardio-vascular and energy systems during your weight training session as well. This means that more calories are burnt. This makes shorter rest periods a great strategy for a fat burning session (and therefore, a cutting routine).

Greater glycogen stores equal greater size

Shorter rest periods drain glycogen stores quicker than longer rest periods. The body will adapt to this by increasing the amount of glycogen stored in muscle fibers. The more glycogen stored in a muscle, the greater its size.

Increased metabolic rate

Since your energy systems are stimulated more, the body will adapt by increasing its metabolic rate. This will increase the rate at which the body burns fat for energy naturally, but also increase the rate at which muscle recovery takes place.

More damage, less time

Shorter rest times allow you to destroy your muscle in a quicker amount of time than longer repetitions. When you have limited time in the gym, this will make you more efficient at fully stimulating muscle growth in the shortest possible time.

So there you have it: both longer AND shorter resting times between sets can be beneficial to muscle growth. If you typically train using the one style, try mixing it up to shock your muscle into further growth. STAY STRONG!

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Build Your Own Bulking Diet

This diet will assist with maximal muscle gain in the shortest amount of time. Appropriate exercise is also needed, of course!

Muscles need calories to grow. Without extra calories from food, muscles don't have the nutrients they need to get bigger. Too many calories, on the other hand, add fat to the body. This is why bodybuilders often diet in a bulking-cutting cycle, generally centered on their competition seasons. The bodybuilding season depends on which federation you compete in. To see which federations have their competitions in which times on South Africa, click here. The bulking stage allows people to eat all the calories they need without worrying about possibly overdoing it, rather adding fat mass to the body instead of eating too little which will hamper muscle growth. For people who don't compete, they often bulk in winter (when everyone is so fully dressed that their extra fat is often hidden) and cut in the spring (to get summer-ready, when their physiques are generally more exposed like during holiday, at the pool or with summer clothing).

What NOT to do on a bulk:

• Eat whatever you want

Some people think that being on a bulk means that you can eat whatever you want. This is not true. The point of a bulk is to eat foods that will lead to optimal muscle gain, and just eating whatever you feel like is not the most optimal. You will need to measure your calorie intake, balance your macro nutrients (protein, carbs and fats) right and eat at the best times when the muscles need specific nutrients the most. The difference between eating according to a good plan and eating whatever you want could be a significant amount of muscle.

What TO do on a bulk:

• Choose the best quality foods

If you can afford it, eat as much organic, free range, unprocessed and natural food as possible. For example, apples are rated on of the most toxin-contaminated foods. Some of the toxins sprayed onto apple trees seep into core of the fruit itself, which is poisonous. To explain the damage that these poisons can cause, significant amounts of farm workers who pick these fruits from the trees get sick from it. In some cases, over half of all the illness they experience is because of exposure to these toxins. Will this make a difference in your body's ability to grow muscle INSTEAD of fighting off these toxins? Definitely!

• Weigh your food

Weighing your food allows you to make sure that you are eating the right amounts of calories and the right balance of macro nutrients for optimum muscle growth.

• Eat often

Eat often so that your body always has the nutrients it needs to stay in an anabolic state (the state in which the body is building muscle). When the body is deprived of the nutrients it needs, it often goes into a catabolic state (the state in which it will break down muscle for nutrients). You do this by making sure that you have the right nutrients at the right time. For example, having enough carbohydrates along with proteins before and after training sessions for recovery and growth (muscles require carbs to fill their glycogen stores. This glycogen is the muscle's primary source of energy for anaerobic exercise) and having protein just before bed (so that your muscles can keep building while you are sleeping, where most muscle growth takes place. It is important to have use-able protein in your system at this time because your body cannot store protein. The muscles are used as a store of protein, which you DON'T want your body to tuck into. When your body takes protein from muscle, it breaks the muscle down in order to use its protein). Eating often also raises your metabolism, so that your body becomes more efficient at burning fat for energy. Try to eat every two to three hours. 

Macro Nutrients

Here is more information about the different types of macro nutrients that you should eat per day. Aim for a balance of around 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat. This is based on the nutritional value of the food, not the food itself. For example, egg whites contain 11 grams of protein per 100 grams of egg whites. Eating 200 grams of egg whites is equal to consuming 22 grams of protein. 

Carbohydrates

Aim for around 3-3.5 grams of carbs per kilogram of body weight, or around 1.5 grams of carbs per pound of weight. Most carbs should be in the form of complex, low-GI and fibrous carbs. These carbs take longer to break down in the body, which means it won't spike your blood sugar levels and burn out quickly. Fast-acting, quick carbs are however the best around your workout (just before, during and straight afterwards), because they are converted to energy so quickly. By taking fast carbs just before or during your workout, you have the energy needed to physically perform your workout and glycogen stores can be maintained. By taking fast carbs after your workout, you take your body out of its 'stress' mode and put it into 'rebuild' mode faster, leading to better recovery. Complex carbs should be used during the rest of the day though, as they provide slow-release energy that your body can steadily use for constant muscle growth and other daily needs.

Sources of Complex Carbs

• green vegetables
• oats
• whole wheat pasta
• whole-grains
• potatoes (and sweet potatoes)
• pumpkin
• beans, peas, legumes, lentils

Sources of Simple Carbs

• fruit
• cereals
• pasta
• white bread
• berries
• fruit juice
• chocolate
• honey
• yogurt
• jelly

Proteins

Aim for around 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, or around 1 gram of protein per pound for international readers. Protein is needed almost all the time. Faster digesting protein is great for breakfast because your body has gone eight hours without it and as a pre-workout meal and as a post-workout meal because your body will need protein as soon as possible to recover and start building muscle as a response to exercise. Slow-digesting protein is best used before bed so that while you sleep, your body has a constant flow of protein to build muscle. Throughout the rest of the day, you can vary the types of protein you take. Whey protein is fast digesting and casein protein is slow digesting (these are protein supplements that you can buy, mostly as protein shakes). 

Other sources of protein

• diary
• eggs
• fish
• meat
• seafood
• beans
• soy

Fats

Fat is an important part of your bulk diet that is often neglected. They aid anabolic (muscle building) hormone production and use, improve insulin activity, are more calorie dense than carbs (carbs and proteins offer 4 calories per gram, but fats offer 9 calories per gram) and are a very rich source of energy. Aim for around 1.4 grams of fat per kilogram, or 0.7 grams of fat per pound, of body weight. Be sure to get these fats from healthy food choices, like the ones listed below.

Sources of fats

• avocados
• nuts
• peanut butter
• seeds
• fatty fish (like salmon, tuna, trout and sardines)
• diary

Please note that as I'm sure you've seen above, most foods have more than one macro nutrient. Diary products are an example. If milk has 1 gram of fat and 3.4 grams of protein per 100 grams, then drinking 200 grams of milk gives you 2 grams of fat and 6.4 grams of protein towards your daily goal. 

Micro Nutrients

Micro nutrients are nutrients which are not needed or used as much as the three macro nutrients needed above but are also very important. These include minerals, fatty acids, vitamins, phytonutrients and trace elements. For example, you can read about the importance of minerals here. In order to get these micro nutrients eat fruit, vegetables, greens, and varied food sources to make up your diet plan. If you feel like you are not getting enough of these micro nutrients, you can take a good multi vitamin as well. 

Total calories per day

An easy way to calculate the total amount of calories you should be eating per day is your body weight in kilograms x 36. For example, a person that weighs 80 kilograms should eat around 2 880 calories a day. 

Firstly, this is not set in stone, as some people will bulk up easier than others. Hard gainers (people who struggle to gain muscle) should eat above this whilst easy gainers (people who put on weight easily) should eat just below this on a bulk.

Secondly, it is easy to work out how to split your macro nutrients after calculating your total calorie goal. For example if a person weighs 80 kg and wants to go on a bulking diet, they can start by consuming 2 880 calories per day. If they are bulking nicely after a few weeks, they stay with this calculation until the end of their bulk. If they aren't bulking enough they increase their calorie intake and if they are bulking too much they decrease the total calories consumed per day. If they are happy with the 2 880 total, they can split that into carbs, proteins and fats. Proteins and carbs contain 4 calories per gram and fats contain 9 calories per gram. 

For their carbohydrate goal: 50% of 2 880 calories = 1 440 calories. 1 440 divided by 4 = 360 grams of carbs per day

For their protein goal: 30% of 2 880 = 864. 864 divided by 4 = 216 grams of protein per day

For their fat consumption goal: 20% of 2 880 = 576 divided by 9 = 64 grams of fat per day.

Therefore the average person who weighs 80 kilograms will aim to consume 360 grams of carbs, 216 grams of protein and 64 grams of fat per day to bulk.

Final tips

• Vary your choices of foods

Vary the foods you take that make up your macro nutrients and calories to get nutrients from a variety of sources. Protein from different sources, for example, will assist in giving a complete scope of nutrition and will assist in maximum health. Some forms of protein can be higher in Omega 3 fatty acids, while others can be higher in calcium (two very essential micro nutrients).

• The bulking diet is not suitable for people who don't exercise

 This diet plan is made to ensure that muscle has all the nutrients it needs to grow to its potential. Eating a diet like this without exercise can have a negative impact on kidneys (too much protein which is not used), body composition (too much calories that are not being burned) and so on.

• This is a guide, not set in stone

The reason why I say this is because everybody is different. For example, people with fast metabolisms struggle to put on weight and are naturally skinny. They should eat even more calories to keep up with all the burnt calories that their bodies keep churning out. On the other hand, people with slower metabolisms would slightly reduce the carbohydrate, fat and therefore calorie intake in total as their bodies will turn more of this into body fat without using it for muscle growth. People who are more inclined to build muscle easily can reduce all these macro nutrient quantities because their bodies grow muscle more efficiently.

Remember to start with this guide and tweak it until you find the perfect fit for you. Record your results to keep accurate and keep it for your next bulk. Stay Strong!

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The Effects of Smoking on Bodybuilding

Looking to take your bodybuilding endeavors to the next level by finally putting down those nasty cigarettes but need the motivation and some information to give you that push you need to quit? Well then, dear smoker, you are at the right place!

We all know that smoking is bad for you, and that it hampers your training progression. Here is a list of reasons why quitting smoking will help you to get bigger, stronger and fitter.

Smoking Harms Blood Sugar Levels

Nicotine causes a quick, short-term release of blood sugar. This is one of the reasons why smoking often leads to diabetes. It also lowers insulin sensitivity, which means that your body is less able to handle sugar and energy production. The less your body is able to create and utilize energy, the less energy you have during workouts and you get tired quicker. Your strength is also hampered, which means that if you didn’t smoke, you would probably be able to lift heavier weights, for more reps, for a longer period of time, causing a greater stimulus leading to greater muscle gains. Insulin helps to regulate sugar and therefore energy. Because your body is less able to regulate energy, it is less able to perform other functions that require energy that it needs to do to adapt and grow muscle, such as filling muscles with glycogen (the energy in the muscle that enables it to work). Because energy is already lowered in smokers, their bodies take longer to change from a stress-induced state that exercise causes to the anabolic, repairing state that grows muscle and strength. When the body stays longer in this stress-induced state, it will start breaking down muscle as a survival mechanism for energy and nutrients.

Smoking affects Your Breathing and Oxygen Levels

One of the most important roles of the lungs is to take in oxygen from the surrounding air and expel carbon dioxide out. Smoking physically damages the lungs, and also progressively smothers the lungs with tar. Additionally, the lungs are also too busy trying to heal and clean themselves out to function optimally. This greatly reduces the amount of oxygen that the body has at its disposal and the amount of carbon dioxide it can get rid of. This leads to decreased energy and strength, lengthened recovery times needed between workouts and a lowered ability for muscle to grow and adapt from stimulus.

Carbon Monoxide and other Toxins

Smoking increases the amount of carbon monoxide in the blood, along with other toxins. The naked eye can see the different between the blood of a smoker and that of a non-smoker. The blood of smokers is thicker and darker than that of non-smokers. If you think about blood and veins as a road which acts as the body’s delivery system, then the carbon monoxide and other toxins can be seen as elephants in the road that take up a space that is not designed to accommodate them. They get in the way of the other vehicles and stop them from doing their job properly, turning an efficient road into peak traffic on damaged roads. The body is also less able to respond the way we want it to with weight training because it is busy fighting off and trying to cope with these harmful chemicals. For example, these chemicals place an unnecessary burden on the liver and kidneys which are metabolizing and eliminating these chemicals, on top of regulating and creating chemicals needed for growth.

Smokers Get More Sick

Smokers get sick more often than non-smokers, and when they fall ill, they are sick for longer and experience worse symptoms. We all know about the terror of falling sick and being unable to gym, as well as feeling like we are losing all the strength and size gains we have worked so hard to get. Getting sick more often means that your body spends less time in the gym, and less time growing from strength to strength and the worse symptoms mean that you suffer greater setbacks every time you get sick.

Smoking Disrupts Eating and Diet Habits

Eating the amounts of food you need in order to gain mass can sometimes be challenging. The increased appetite from quitting smoking is a great chance to stock up on the extra calories that you need to increase muscle growth. In the long term, smoking will no longer interfere with your appetite and blood sugar levels.

Sleep

Smokers not only need more hours of sleep than non-smokers, but their sleep is of less quality. One reason for this is because their bodies spend a lot of time trying to cope with the demands placed on it from smoking. Another reason is because of the nicotine withdrawal they go through while sleep. Getting better quality sleep as a non-smoker means that your body is better able to recover and grow muscle every night you sleep.

Recovering From Smoking Instead of Growing

As mentioned earlier, smoking placed a big burden on the body and the body is in a constant battle to deal with its harmful effects and survive. This energy that the body spends counteracting the negative effects of smoking would be much better spent building muscle.

Smoking and Focus during Workouts

Smokers are less able to concentrate because they are in constant withdrawal from nicotine. This withdrawal starts a few minutes after their last cigarette and builds up as time goes by. Withdrawals usually get to a point where people start craving another cigarette after 30 minutes, which is why the average person smokes a box (20 cigarettes) a day. As time drags on, withdrawals intensify, leading to symptoms like thirst, moodiness, dropped sugar levels, lack of concentration etc. These withdrawals mean that smokers are generally not as able as non-smokers to focus 100% on their entire workout program.

Smokers Take Longer to Build Muscle and Reach Greater Levels of Fitness than Non-smokers

Can you grow muscle if you smoke? Yes. Can you get bigger muscles than most people who go to the gym if you smoke?  Yes. Can you compete in bodybuilding competitions and have a successful bodybuilding career as a smoker? Yes. Can you do all these things with the same amount of time and energy compared to if you didn’t smoke? No. You can still get there, but the road will be longer and tougher.

Rather quit smoking and give your body every fighting chance that you can to reach your goals as quick as possible. STAY STRONG!

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Stretching For Bigger Muscles

Can stretching really lead to bigger muscles? Yes it can! Stretching can be used to maximize muscle recovery and performance when used to compliment a good strength training routine. Today we look at how stretching can help you on your journey to bigger arms and massive legs.

One of my favorite reasons why stretching helps muscle growth is because it elongates the muscle. By elongating the muscle, there is more space for the muscle to grow. This makes the muscle look bigger and more aesthetic. It won’t look shortened or too small for the area it is supposed to cover anymore. Think of biceps that have a little lump in the middle. By stretching the biceps, they can lengthen to appear larger.

Static and dynamic stretching for muscle

Static stretching

Static stretching is the kind of stretch where you hold a certain muscle for a few seconds before releasing (like toe touches). Research has shown that static stretching before exercise (hamstring stretch before running, for example) does not actually decrease the risk of injury. Research has also shown that static stretches do not improve muscle performance either, but can actually decrease muscle output. For example, stretching biceps in a static fashion before doing bicep curls will decrease their maximum output before failure. This effect lasts for over an hour following a good, thorough static stretch. The reason appears to be because static stretching relaxes the muscle fibers, sensitizing them to tension.

Does this mean that there is no place for static stretches in the world of muscle growth? Not at all! Static stretches aren’t very effective as a warm-up for before exercise, but they do offer benefits like increasing range of motion, releasing tension and correcting postural imbalances. All of these effects will decrease overall risk of injury in the long-term and help with optimized muscle gain, if used at the right times. By increasing the range of motion, you are able to get the best out of every rep. For example, people who have a problem with their heels lifting off the floor during the squat (bad form) because of tight calve muscles and tendons can do static calf stretches for a few days to loosen them - so that heels are flexible enough to stay on the ground and stabilize the entire squat movement (this is the right way to do them).

Lifting weights can tighten muscle fibers over time - which leads to them losing their overall range of motion. For example, people who have built up their upper bodies but have not stretched regularly can often feel uncomfortable when resting with their hands folded behind the back of their head.  This tightness is not because the muscles gets too big, but because the muscle has grown tighter over time and is not as elastic - as a result of all the tension. Static stretching can both prevent and undo this.

As discussed above, static stretching won't help much if done before exercise. Static stretching can, however, be done after exercise to cool down. This works very well because when the muscles are warm, they are more flexible and will therefore respond well to stretching. This will increase how much they can stretch, and by extending them further, you can increase your range of motion even more.

Even better: static stretching is great to do on rest days to maximize recovery and growth for a variety of reasons. Firstly, not much energy is required to stretch and this means that you are still not burning too much energy on your off days (which should be directed towards muscle growth). Secondly, static stretching will release built up tension. It also helps relaxes the muscles. This helps them to recover faster and grow more. Static stretching also helps to improve blood flow, which helps the muscles disperse lactic acid and get the nutrients needed for recovery.

Pro tip: stretching in the steam room will increase flexibility, release tension, improve circulation (and nutrient delivery), and increase recovery even more.

Dynamic stretching

Dynamic stretching is the type of stretching that has movement throughout the stretch. For example, swinging the arms in front of the chest and behind the back to stretch out the upper body (chest, back, biceps and triceps) is a dynamic stretch. Dynamic stretching, in contrary to static stretching, is well suited as a warm-up before exercise because it increases blood flow to the muscles and ‘wakes them up’ before exertion. Studies have shown that the dynamic stretching of a certain muscle before weight training increases its power and strength output immediately afterwards. For example, swinging the arms in front of the chest and behind the back could increase the amount of reps performed on the bench press. Besides increasing short-term power, dynamic stretching also elongates the muscles and increases overall range of motion.

Stretching helps to make sure that the muscles stay supple and flexible. Having big muscles won’t cost you your mobility - if you stretch them regularly. For bodybuilders, stretching does not need to be done daily, but a good stretch once or twice a week could really give you an extra edge. As small as the impact that stretching has on muscle growth seems to be, the difference adds up over time and makes a significant contribution.

Personally, I do a static stretch routine on my active rest days. STAY STRONG!

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