5 Muscle building rules to live by

I get asked a lot about my work outs, fitness training modalities, and nutrition macros. And being the old cranky bastard that I am, I usually just grunt and give the generic standard cookie cutter answers.

Occasionally, I’ll soften up and help people out who are honestly struggling in their campaign for fitness and personal growth. So without further ado, I present to you my personal methodology for gains. These rules work for me. They may or may not work for you, but take away what you will. It’s all about the gains, anyone who says otherwise is a liar and shouldn’t be trusted with small animals.

1.  Be explosive. Explode through your reps and muscle contractions. The very definition of strength is the ability to contract muscles with maximum force. If you’re having a lazy workout, GTFO of the gym. you’re wasting time and equipment usage.
2. Treat all food as if it might be poisoned or you have severe allergies to it. This way you will monitor what you eat and how you eat it. Eyeball the damn labels. Know what you’re shoveling down your piehole and what it might do to you.
3. Stop eating carbs late at night. It’ll jack your metabolism….for the worse. Practice carbohydrate manipulation. You need carbs to refuel all those glucose stores you burned up during training. Abuse this rule later in life and say hello to type 2 diabetes. Download a food macro app.  I use Fitocracy’s Macro app for the iPhone.
4. Weight resistance. If you want to look the same, lift the exact same weight. Forever. If you want muscle growth, adjust the weight resistance accordingly. During repetitions of 10, shoot for muscle strain around the 8th rep. If it seems light, It is light. This isn’t rocket science.
5. Muscle soreness. “its weakness leaving your body”! That’s what gym rats like to tell ourselves anyway, Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a sign of muscle repair and growth. Feed your body what it needs to make those repairs and grow: protein. Lots of it. 1.5 grams times your lean body weight divided by 5 to 6 meals. Seriously. It may seem like a lot of protein, but the goal here is to keep your body in a positive nitrogen balance so it won’t catabolize your hard earned muscles that you’ve been training months on end for.

And that’s the short and the sweet of it. if you came for some detailed formula for some 6 pack beach body, I’m sorry. Good luck on whatever personal fitness goals that you have your heart set on.