If you’re a skinny guy like me (or like I was), all you want to do is to get bigger. You don’t want to get fat, so you want to Build Muscle Mass Quickly.
This as you may know is harder than it looks. People always stressing about how to lose weight, when trying to gain weight Properly is just as difficult.
But have no fear, Fit With Mitch is here.
Here are the three things you MUST do to build muscle mass quickly.
1. Eat 15% over your daily calorie needs (I’m still trying to break this one down into something easier, but that’s what it is)
2. Intense weight training 3 times a week. Doesn’t matter if you do splits or not, just keep track of your results and train with intensity – better yet, get a muscle building program!
3. REST – get plenty of sleep so your muscles can actually grow.
That’s about it – it’s not rocket science, but without a plan, it’s damn near impossible to do. Pick up a great muscle building program that I’ve gone through myself and reviewed and you should be well on your way!
Until Next Time,
Get Big. Get Ripped. Get Fit With Mitch.
Filed under Muscle Building Programs by on Jul 28th, 2010. Comment. 
Bodybuilding Success
In continuation of the Part 1, I’m going to lay out 5 more success principles that you can use in life, and in the gym.
Principle #6 – Resting
Here’s the ever popular pit that most lifters run into. The first thing someone asks when they see my muscles is “How often do you train?” or they’ll just plain say “You must train ALL the time!”
Quite the contrary. I only train about 4 or 5 hours a week. My muscles spend more time RESTING and rebuilding that I do tearing them down.
Life is no different. If you run yourself all day with little rest, eventually, you WILL break down also.
Get plenty of rest to clear your mind, renew your mind, and refresh your body – it’s the only one you have.
Principle #7 – Coaching
I looked back over my life and realized that ALL the things I’ve succeeded at (martial arts, school, sports, etc.) I had some sort of coach or teacher.
We know this, yet so many of us have the “lone ranger” mentality and go it alone. This is just foolish.
Get a muscle building program to guide you or a personal trainer, if you’re serious about your success in muscle building.
In life, see where you want to go, then get a coach to help get you there. You’ll save yourself A LOT of headache, time, and energy.
Principle #8 – Accountability
In the gym, we call him your gym buddy. At work, we call them co-workers, managers, or team members. In sports, we call them team members. In marriage, we call them spouse.
They are the people that hold us accountable and push us because we SAID we wanted to be pushed.
Find someone you trust and give them permission to bust your chops if you fall on your word.
Motivation will get you started. Habit will keep you going. Partners will pick you up when you fall.
Principle #9 – Belief
To quote Napoleon Hill from his book Think And Grow Rich, “If you can believe it, you can achieve it.”
Another quote, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re probably right.”
Belief is the FIRST step in a purposeful life. You have to believe you can lose those 10 lbs of fat or build those 10 lbs of muscle BEFORE you ever see any results – or even gets started.
Contrary to popular saying, you have to BELIEVE it before you SEE it.
Principle #10 – Clearly Defined Goals
A vague goal is just a wish. Whoever really achieved a wish? But you hear people say they achieve their goals all the time.
Not having a clearly defined goal is like sailing in a boat from FL to Africa and you just sail “east”.
Where are you going exactly? If you don’t know where you’re going, you could end up anywhere.
Just going to the gym “to get bigger” will never work. Who have you known it to work for? It never worked for me, for sure.
When I got a clearly defined goal aka “I want to put on X lbs of muscle and drop X% body fat by X date” – I began to make some serious progress.
I mapped out a plan and ignored all the shiny objects (bogus supplements) and detours (programs that weren’t on my plan) and allowed me to focus ALL my energy on that goal which got me there a lot FASTER.
Once you have your clearly defined goal, stop by my muscle building program review page and get the road map that’s right for you.
Until Next Time,
Get Big. Get Ripped. Get Fit With Mitch.
Filed under Body Building Tips, Muscle Building Programs by on Jun 15th, 2010. 1 Comment.
Muscle building diets and supplements are not cheap! Eating big, using supps and working out all the time can just about send you broke! The “usual” sources of protein are always so expensive! Chicken breast, fish and red meat cost a fortune these days at the supermarket! So you want to eat the best muscle building diet possible without spending hundreds or food per week right? Well this article is for you! I’m going to show you some of the things I do every week to keep the grocery bill down. It is possible to follow a strict muscle diet and keep some money in the bank! Here are my tips for eating big on a budget…
TIP #1 – Buy mince meat (ground meat)
Lean fillet steak, veal and lamb can often be very expensive. The solution, mince meat. Mince meat has the same amount of protein in it as steak and it’s so much cheaper. You can make it into beef patties for burgers, make a chili to feed you for a week or even make a pie with it. Chili is my personal favorite. I can buy all the ingredients for a big chili for around $20. That includes 1.4kg or meat! One thing to remember though, always get the premium mince. The normal stuff has way to mach fat in it. (>20%)
TIP #2 – Eggs are your friend
Egg whites are a really rich source of natural protein. Eggs are cheap and so very versatile. You can make omelets, scramble them, boil them, fry them… the list goes on – use your imagination! One point to note though, the yolk of the egg is very high in cholesterol so if you’re making an omelet use 4-6 egg whites and 2 full eggs.
TIP #3 – Buy in bulk and save
You hear it in every second TV advert, “buy in bulk and save!”. Well they’re not lying! Sometimes you can save up to 40-50% of meat sold in bulk. You’ve got a freezer haven’t you?! Don’t write butchers off either, sometimes their prices (especially on bulk) are cheap than the supermarkets. And if they’re a small outlet the might even be willing to do you a deal.
TIP #4 – Eat sandwiches
Bread is cheap. Head to the deli isle of your supermarket and you’ll find loads of good cheap sandwich meat available. Chicken, turkey and beef are all good sandwich meats. All some salad and you’ve got yourself a wholesome snack.
TIP #5 – Cook like a restaurant
What I’m telling is to cook in bulk. Find your favorite chili recipe, times the ingredients by 4 and cook it on a Sunday afternoon. There you have 10-15 meals for the week ahead. All you need is some 2 minutes brown rice and you have yourself a meal ready in minutes. Perfect for post workouts and rush meals. Now you’ll have no need to stop at that sandwich shop!
TIP #6 – Natures cheapest fish
Tuna tuna tuna. Tuna is one of the best foods you can eat if you want to build lean muscle. Not only has it got more than 20% protein but it’s cheap and rich in natural essential oils. Just one problem, it tastes like cat food! I find it hard to stomach tuna, but I eat it anyway because it’s dirt cheap and so good for me. If you don’t like the taste or small on tuna mix it with some satay sauce. My favorite is tuna mixed with satay sauce on some boiled brown rice. Nothing but goodness! (tastes average though!)
Filed under Muscle Building Programs by on Apr 22nd, 2010. Comment.
When it comes to “cutting”, losing weight, or burning fat, your biggest ally or biggest enemy is your diet.
To build muscle, you need to eat certain things, just as you need to eat certain things to burn fat.
When I tell people “I can’t eat that because it’s not apart of my diet”, they look a me funny and say “you don’t need to lose weight”.
Your diet is what you eat, good or bad, whether you want to lose or gain weight.
That being said, if you want to burn fat, your main goal in your diet should be to keep your metabolism as high as possible.
Your metabolism is the rate at which you burn energy. We all know that fat is stored energy (and wastes), so to get rid of this, your aim should be to keep the rate at which you burn energy quite high.
But I can hear you saying right now “I have a slow metabolism. I gain fat/weight easily and it’s hard to lose it.” I’ll do a blog later on internal beliefs but in short, YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK.
CONTRARY to popular belief (popular hardly ever means right) your genetics only influence your overall metabolism by 5% to 10% – a very small portion.
Your rate of calorie burn is largely determined by your age, weight, level of activity, food, and increments of food – to name a few.
Needless to say, your metabolism is largely up to you. Review my blog on 9 ways to instantly increase your metabolism.
Now, for the fat burning foods, which actually increase your metabolism.
1. Oats & Whole Grains
They are a great source of carbs and they digest slow. This keeps your insulin low, which you want to do most of the day.
2. Jalapenos
Spicy peppers contain capsaicin which increases your heart rate (so that’s what that is!). A spicy meal can boost your metabolism for several hours. I like to throw plenty of spices on my chicken breast and in my rice.
3. Chicken
A great source of lean protein and should be a staple in any diet (whether to gain or to lose weight). This lean protein is great for boosting your metabolism and helping you burn fat because proteins takes more energy to break down than carbs. I think like most builders, I eat chicken breast almost every day.
4. Salmon
Fish is a great source of protein also. But it’s on the fat burning list because it contains Omega-3 fatty acids which help lower leptin levels. Lower leptin levels increase your calorie burn. I eat fish several times a week.
5. Green Tea
It’s not exactly a food, but a drink and also important for many reasons. It has EGCG which increases brain and nervous system activity, it’s an antioxidant, and helps increase calorie burn because of these.
I tried to include different categories here, to give you a framework of which types of foods increase your metabolism and help you burn fat.
Now go out, and start burning around the clock.
Get Big. Get Ripped. Get Fit With Mitch.
Filed under Muscle Building Programs by on Feb 17th, 2010. Comment.
Alcohol is one of those things that has long been a nemesis to muscle builders around the world.
We’ve all heard of the infamous “beer belly” and have seen what it does to people.
Ironically, people work so hard to get rid of that fat and get a six pack when it was a “six pack” that did it to them in the first place.
I’m writing this post because I had a run in with our old friend recently.
By no means am I a big drinker. I may go out for drinks less than 10 times a year and even then it’s usually a Heineken or Mojito.
But this past weekend was a different story as my fraternity had a party.
We don’t have frat parties in the house with beer pong, we rent out clubs and have tons of girls show up.
Free drinks for brothers, and well, you get the picture.
The next day (Monday) I went to the gym for my usual Monday workout. Monday’s are usually hard, but this one beat my behind.
I experienced first hand how unwise it is to drink before you workout.
Alcohol does number of things to your body that are counter productive to your muscle building efforts.
It lowers your testosterone level. We know that testosterone is one of the major hormones your body releases when repairing your muscles.
Alcohol disrupts your sleep cycle, further messing up the release of other hormones like Growth Hormone which is crucial to muscle repair as well.
Alcohol will dehydrate you. Having plenty of water in your muscles is very important to a successful workout since your muscles are made up mostly of water. It allows them to move smoothly which will prevent muscle strains, tears, and other injuries.
Alcohol decreases your energy levels because it is a depressant. I was so tired when I went in to the gym. High energy levels from food and proper rest are very important to a workout as well.
Alcohol is very good at making you fat because it has a lot of calories and it’s easily converted to fat. This will definitely put a damper on things.
These are just some of the things that alcohol can do to you to negatively effect your muscle building efforts. I’ll stay away from the bar the next time I know I have a hard workout coming up.
It comes down to knowing your goals and not doing anything to take you away from that.
What has been your experience with alcohol and building muscle?
Mitch
Filed under Body Building Tips, Muscle Building Programs by on Jan 19th, 2010. Comment.
