How many times have you heard overweight men saying "its mass season"? In other words a period of time where you increase your calories, minimize your intensely vigorous movement and stick to basic heavy lifts. Now when defined that sounds fine for someone who wants to put on quality muscle and size, how ever, the confusion of "putting on mass" starts creeping in when you get the dude thats forty pounds overweight and is using this slogan as an excuse to not exercise and eat pretty much what ever he wants.
Isn't the point of weight training to increase strength and muscular size? Sure their can be times of increases calories and decreased cardiac conditioning, but not to use as an excuse to get fat, unconditioned, and flat out sloppy. So how can we put on size/muscle with out all the blubber that comes with it?
Well first lesson, something that was and still is hard for me to swallow, if you truly aspire to get stronger and add size you must eat more, and yes you will put on weight! Let me repeat that if your goal is to get stronger and bigger, do not freak out when the scale says you put five pounds on.( Something that can scare the crap out of a former chubby kid) .....me.
Second lesson- realize like almost everything if done correctly, in the fitness field it takes time, the way to stay lean and athletic is by maintaining a sound cardio routine, and slowly increasing your calories over a period of time. Staying lean while adding significant muscle is definitely challenging but not impossible, staying committed to eating more of the right foods and hitting your target numbers consistently will ensure consistent progress.
Lesson three- Biggest mistake people make when training for an increase in strength and size, they turn the gym session into a two hour annihilation of their body. Remember in the gym while training we are breaking down the muscle, the growth happens outside of the gym, while in rest. Keep your sessions short and and intense. Stick to one major lift a session, like a bench press, squat, dead-lift, and add in some assistance work after.
Cheat sheet to get big and strong- ( for those of you who scroll all the way down with out reading)
1) Eating a surplus of quality calories (mainly protein, slow digesting carbs, healthy fats)
2) Training to stimulate not annihilate- keep your lifting sessions to about an hour
3) Slow progress like anything in the fitness world, is the safest and most effective way!
A-Lev
No comments:
Post a Comment