Got another awesome question from a fellow hardgainer named Irving.

In today’s newsletter I’m going to answer Irving’s burning question which reveals the “TRUTH” about home exercises and gym exercises and what you NEED to know about each if you want to build the most amount of muscle in the least amount of time.

So here’s the “Killer” question that sparked today’s newsletter post:

In this week’s newsletter I’m going to be talking about workout intensity.

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yo my dude that was a good video about all of the good foods to eat .. I am 5′8, 126lbs but i want to get up to about 145lbs. Ive been eating a lot of the foods you mentioned, and i been eating like 4 or 5 times a day.

I have also been doin a lot of pushups. do you think the pushups will help in adding muscle or what other excersises should i do ? iight man thx

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First off, let me just say thanks for sending me this great question Irving. And the truth is if I would have found the answer to this question years ago I pretty sure I wouldn’t have struggled to see results for YEARS on end.

What I’m about to discuss today maybe the missing link to why you haven’t seen the results you’ve been looking for, so pay close attention.

I remember when I was in high school and I was what my friend called “crack head skinny”, yeah it was BAD. And I remember doing A TON of different things  to try to “get big”, “bulk up” - you name it.

And one of the things I did was do a “GAZILLION” push ups in the morning and another “GAZILLION” push ups at night thinking that was all I needed to get bigger.

You wanna know how bad it really was???

I even remember lifting gallon jugs of water like dumbbells thinking “as long as I’m lifting something ‘kinda’ heavy” I’ll get big.

WRONG!!!

It was the fact that I was doing workouts like these mixed with my poor high school eating habits that were the true cause of me not seeing the results I wanted.

And Irving, it’s great that you’re eating 4 - 5 times a day, that means that you “get” the nutrition part of the equation, now lets work on the “workout part” of it.

The Name Of The Game Is INTENSITY

One big misconception that I suffered from and you’re probably suffering from is that “as long as the work your muscle to exhaustion (i.e. doing a ton of pushups, etc) you’ll get huge”.

Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine and he was telling me about a website that shows you all the different exercises you could do at home to replace gym exercises.

Here’s a lesson I learned the hard way:

If you’re trying to add a significant amount of muscle and you’re a “naturally skinny guy” you’re going to need access to a gym or AT LEAST a home gym (i.e. - a BowFlex, etc)

Why?

Because the INTENSITY you get from doing a max set of pushups is WAYYYYY different from a MAX set on a bench press at 150 lbs.

Don’t get me wrong, you can add muscle with pushups and other body weight exercises. But if your ultimate goal is to build a significant amount of muscle especially if you want to build it in a short period of time “calisthenics” or “body weight exercises” will only get you so far.

These exercises alone will only get you by in the “beginning”.

So if you’re just beginning to workout and train and you’re following a muscle building diet which it seems like you already are Iriving, you will build muscle doing body weight exercises like pushups, pullups, dips etc.

Over Time These Exercises Won’t Be Enough If You Want To Build A Significant Amount Of Muscle

And here’s why…

See your body has primarily two types of muscle fibers. Fast twitch muscle fibers and slow twitch muscle fibers. Slow twitch muscle fibers are used for more endurance type exercises like “marathon running for example” and fast twitch muscle fibers are used for strength and power type exercises (like power lifting, and sprinting for example)

Every muscle group in your body (i.e. - your legs, your back, your biceps, your triceps, your shoulders) all consist of BOTH of these muscle fibers.

One key note to keep in mind about these two types of muscle fibers is that your fast twitch (strength and power) muscle fibers have the ability to grow MUCH larger than your slow twitch (endurance) muscle fibers can.

So when you think slow twitch muscles, picture a long distance marathon runner. And when you think fast twitch muscle picture a body builder like Arnold in his prime. Yes the difference in size that each of these muscles can grow are that staggering.

See, when you keep doing pushups or dips and all these other body weight exercises, instead of increasing the weight, which requires more strength and power (fast twitch muscle) to complete the exercise your body will switch and begin using your slow twich (endurance) muscle fibers to complete the exercise.

Why?

Because for endurance type activities your slow twitch muscle fibers are way more efficient. The problem is that your slow twitch muscle fibers even though great for endurance activites lack strength and power. That’s where your fast twitch muscle fibers come in.

They can deliver more strength and power when you need it than your slow twitch muscle fibers but they fatigue very easily which is why your body uses your slow twitch muscle fibers for longer more drawn out activities.

So depending on the exercise your body will engage which ever muscle fibers it feels will help it get through the exercise more efficiently.

So when you do pushups or any of these other “home” exercises you’re not increasing the weight over time, you’re simply training your body to do MORE pushups then last time. Which means over time your pushups will be seen as an endurance activity, which means your body will engage more of your “slow twitch “muscle fibers to complete it.

Compare that to performing a bench press where your goal is to pick a weight that allows you to do no more then 8 reps. Everytime you’re able to hit those 8 reps instead of doing more reps (endurance: slow twitch) you add more weight (strength and power: fast twitch) til you hit those 8 reps again and then you repeat the process.

So that’s why you NEED access to a gym or a home gym if you want to build the most amount of muscle in the least amount of time. This is especially true if you’re a hardgainer or “naturally skinny guy” like myself.

To answer your next question Irving, would make for a rather long blog post. But in short if you want a detailed list of exercises to do to build the MOST amount of muscle in the least amount of time I highly recommend you get my DVD casestudy.

Inside I offer a 2 week workout plan designed to build muscle FAST no matter what your experience level.

If you’d like to ask me a question leave a comment below or shoot me an email at Richard [at] buildmusclechallenge.com and I’ll try my best to answer your question ASAP.

Please keep in mind I get TONS of emails and messages, so it may take a while for me to get to your specific question.

Only if you’re interested, if you get your DVD Casestudy and Step By Step Action Plan when I release it I’m going to provide you with a 30 min. 1-on-1 coaching session FREE of charge so that I can answer ALL of your *BURNING* questions, see what you’re doing wrong and create a game plan for you so you can start seeing results IMMEDIATELY.

If you’re interested and would rather hop on the phone with me for a 1-on-1 coaching session rather than wait for me to get to your question via email which takes rather long due to my BUSY schedule then click the link below and sign up for my DVD Casestudy waiting list so you’ll be first to know once it’s available so you can grab one of the limited spots available.

Click here to sign up for my DVD Waiting List

Don’t forget to leave your comment below letting me know what you thought of today’s newsletter and if you have any additional questions.

Take care and til next time,

Rich

In this week’s newsletter I decided to answer another “KILLER” question that I got from one of your fellow subscribers.

Today’s newsletter will reveal why you NEED to workout if you’re trying to gain weight and build muscle.

So here’s the “Killer” question that sparked today’s newsletter post:

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hello I watch your video and it really helped but I still have one question. Can I still gain weight eating eggs if I don’t exercise?

thank you,

Navid…(Nick name I’ll use for our friend)

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I know it’s a rather short question but there is a BIG problem assoicated with it.

After reading this question I realized that our friend Navid.. isn’t familiar with the muslce building formula and the crucial role exercising plays when you’re trying to build muscle (especially if you’re a naturally skinny guy or hard gainer.

And I realized if one of my subscribers had this question then AT LEAST 20 others or more, possibly even you had this question in some way shape or form.

So before I get into the meat and potatoes of WHY exercising is so darn important even though it’s something alot of guys don’t want to do either because they’re not used to working out, they find the idea of being “the skinny guy” in the gym intimidating (trust me I’ve been there), or they’re just too lazy, I want to go over my muscle building formula first and foremost.

Everything I do to build muscle and everything i teach comes from this formula so it’s VERY, VERY, VERY IMPORTANT.

Here’s my muscle building formula:

Proper Nutrition + Proper Workouts + Proper Recovery = MASSIVE MUSCLE GAINS

Yes, you need ALL 3 components to get to the end of the equation (Massive Muscle Gains). If one is missing, it won’t work. Trust me on this one, you need them ALL to get the results you want.

So now that you know the formula, let’s dive in to why you NEED to workout in order to build muscle.

First, I want you to notice what’s at the beginning of the equation, “Proper Nutrition”. Proper Nutrition is important and you should look to start with your nutrition plan which includes what  foods to eat, when to eat it and how often to eat it before you move onto the other components.

Proper Nutrition is a whole other section in itself and would take way too long to explain why it’s SOOO important to building muscle as well. But for the sake of this newsletter I’m going to put Proper Nutrition in the simplest terms as possible. 

In order to build muscle you need to consume more calories than your body burns. So let’s say your body burns 2,000 calories just to get through the day, you’re going to want to consume MORE than 2,000 calories EACH day if you want to build muscle (somewhere between 2,500 - 3,000 calories would be a good range to shoot for).

So in short, if you want to build muscle you’ll have to consume EXTRA calories daily. (there’s much more to take into consideration but this is the simplest way to explain it)

So now that you know the role nutrition plays, here’s why you NEED to workout if you want to build muscle.

It’s real simple actually.

Your workouts tell your body what to do with all those extra calories you’re consuming.

See when you workout (the right way) you’re literally wearing, tearing and damaging your muscles to the point where your body says “Holy crap I better make these muscles stronger” so that the next time your muscles are exposed to such stress it can handle it better and get through it without getting damaged so much.

Read my previous post for my Tornado and House example to understand how your workouts effect your body.

http://buildmusclechallenge.com/50/need-help-gaining-weight/

What if you don’t work out and you consume extra calories each day?

The simple answer is:

A) It’ll get rid of it / speed up your metabolism and burn it off

B) Convert it into fat

C) Convert some of it into muscle

It really depends on your genetics and where most of those calories come from (i.e. junk food like “chips and soda” or whole foods like “whole grains and lean meats”) that’ll dictate what your body does with those extra calories IF you don’t workout.

If you’re a naturrally skinny guy odds are your body WILL NOT convert those extra calories to muscle UNLESS you tell it to through properly designed workouts.

If you’re a naturally skinny guy then odds are your body will get rid of those extra calories or in most cases convert it to fat. That’s why some skinny guys get that “skinny - fat ” look. It’s basically a skinny guy with a pot belly or beer belly type stomach.

And I know ALOT of guys who suffer from this.

So if you plan on building muscle as a naturally skinny PLEASE do proper workouts along with consuming extra calories each day to get the results you want. Because if you don’t tell your body what to do with those extra calories you’re consuming, it’s just going to pick one on it’s own. And just to let you know, building muscle is at the end of your body’s “To Do” list.

I hope this post helps our friend Navid and anyone else who had this question at one point in time as well.

If you’d like to ask me a question leave a comment below or shoot me an email at Richard [at] buildmusclechallenge.com and I’ll try my best to answer your question ASAP.

Please keep in mind I get TONS of emails and messages, so it may take a while for me to get to your specific question.

Only if you’re interested, if you get your DVD Casestudy and Step By Step Action Plan when I release it I’m going to provide you with a 30 min. 1-on-1 coaching session FREE of charge so that I can answer ALL of your *BURNING* questions, see what you’re doing wrong and create a game plan for you so you can start seeing results IMMEDIATELY.

If you’re interested and would rather hop on the phone with me for a 1-on-1 coaching session rather than wait for me to get to your question via email which takes rather long due to my BUSY schedule then click the link below and sign up for my DVD Casestudy waiting list so you’ll be first to know once it’s available so you can grab one of the limited spots available.

Click here to sign up for my DVD Waiting List

Don’t forget to leave your comment below letting me know what you thought of today’s newsletter and if you have any additional questions.

Take care and til next time,

Rich

The Build Muscle Challenge DVD Casestudy Will Available Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 12pm EST

If you want a head start before the other (over 5,400) guys who all ITCHING to get this information and the chance for me to personally coach them then be sure to sign up for my DVD Waiting List. Trust me, if you hesitate someone else WILL take your spot AND your DVD.

Click here to sign up for my DVD Waiting List

************************************************************* 

What’s up guys,

Today I’m going to talk about that dreaded word that most skinny guys are told to stay away from like the plague, and it’s “Cardio”

I just got a great question from a guy named Pedro telling me that he’s been reading a lot of articles on the topic of cardio and now he’s confused.

Well today I’m going to break the myth of Cardio once and for all, because I know it’s an issue that most skinny guys go through at some point in time.

What I reveal in today’s blog post may *SHOCK* you, so read with caution. Here’s his question:

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Hi Rich. First I really want to thank you for all your work
and videos to help skinny guys to build muscle (I’m 70.6kg 1.79 height) the
videos have great tips! I’m actually on video #6 “workout fundamentals” and
looks great, but I just have a question at this point, since I don’t know if you
may talk about this in a future video, and is about cardio. I’m on a “dance”
class from Monday to Thursday (practically 1hr cardio) just after my gym routine
(GYM is MON to SAT 1:30 to 2 hrs, I’m on my 2nd week).

I have read several articles that says cardio is BAD for
skinny guys who are trying to build muscle, however I also have some fat that
would like to take away and I’m getting very confused with this info and at the
end I don’t know what to do, I just know I want to get muscle. So my question
goes to “can I continue with my 1hr cardio after the GYM? or do I have to stay
away from it?” I’m eating at least five times in the day. Thank you again for
your videos, I’m having a close watch to your info since you have been in the
same place I’m.

Take care.

Pedro

==============

First let me say thanks for the question Pedro. There’s so much (conflicting) information when it comes to cardio that it’s no surprised that you got confused. Trust me, this topic got my head going off in circles when I first started out as well so I know how you feel.

I actually go over this topic in A LOT more detail in my DVD Casestudy and Step by Step Guide but I’ll give you some pointers to help you out with your dilemma.

First and foremost here’s the TRUTH when it comes to cardio and building muscle for us skinny guys.

If you want to gain the MOST amount of muscle in the LEAST amount of time then YES you will have to LIMIT your cardio. Why? Well it’s simple. The reason why you’re skinny is primarily because your metabolism is
faster than most people’s. Which means you burn more calories throughout the day than other people

Since at the end of the day you have to be in a SURPLUS of calories (you have to consume more calories than your body burns) the more cardio you do or any other activity for that matter (i.e. – basketball, wrestling, tennis) or in your case even dance class will BURN those extra calories rather than use them to build muscle.

Here’s an example of this to help illustrate what I’m talking about a little further:

Let’s say your body naturally burns 2,000 calories each day WITHOUT cardio.

Now let’s say you wanted to build muscle so you decided to consume 2,500 calories each day to get bigger.

So at the end of the day you’d be at a SURPLUS of 500 (2,500 – 2,000) extra calories. THIS SCENARIO = MUSCLE GAIN

FYI – It takes 3,500 extra calories to gain 1 lb of new body mass. So 500 extra calories a day equals 3,500 extra calories each week which 1 lb weight gain in 1 week.

Now lets add cardio to the mix (again I’m just making these numbers up to show you what I’m talking about)

Let’s say your body naturally burns 2,000 calories each day WITHOUT cardio.

Now let’s say you wanted to build muscle so you decided to consume 2,500 calories each day to get bigger.

Now let’s add the cost of 1 hr of cardio to your daily routine and let’s say 1 hr. of cardio burns 500 calories.

Now let’s do the math,

At the end of the day you’d break even with the calories which means 0 (2,500 – 2,500) extra calories which equals NO MUSCLE GAIN.

Now there are two options for you at this point.

1. Limit or even eliminate your cardio. The least amount of cardio you do, the less amount of calories you burn a day. The least amount of “Calories You Burn” the easier it’ll be to build muscle.
2. Increase your calorie intake – If cardio (ie – your dance class) is a necessity or something you can’t eliminate or even limit then your second option is to increase your calorie intake by consuming more calories each day.

It’s definitely do-able but of  the two options eliminating the cardio is the easiest which is why so many people say to stay away from all unnecessary cardio. Which is good in theory but it just isn’t practical for those who are obligated to do activities such as (dance, football, basketball, track, swimming, dance, etc) And if you fall into this category then you NEED to increase your calorie intake if you want to build muscle while still having cardio and similar activities a part of your daily life.

So to answer your question Pedro,“can I continue with my 1hr cardio after the GYM?” is, it’s entirely up to you.

If you can eliminate it or even limit the amount of cardio / dance you do then great. But if you’d rather do the
cardio regularly (by keep going to your dance class) then you’re going to have to increase your calorie intake. I think a good option would be to limit your cardio as much as possible (if you can’t eliminate it) and consume a little bit
more each day, that way you don’t have to increase your calorie intake by that much to still build muscle.

As for you wanting to burn the fat with your cardio, there are windows throughout the day where you can actually do cardio while you’re bulking up that burn the most amount of fat while leaving the extra calories you
consume virtually untouched so you can dedicate them to your muscle gains rather than burning them.

But in the interest of time (that’ll really take some time to explain) I’ll try to tackle that issue in the another blog post. But I do reveal these windows in detail and even more about cardio in my Build Muscle Challenge Step by Step Action Plan Guide which is only being offered to those who get their DVD Casestudy.

I guess now would be a good time to mention that I’ve decided to release my DVD Casestudy again.

Mark this day on your calendars because the last time I released it they were gone like (**fingers snapping**) THAT!!!

On Tuesday - August 18, 2009 at 12pm EST I’m opening up the doors again and releasing my Build Muscle Challenge DVD Casestudy.

And one of the bonuses I’m not even sure if I’m ever going to do again for getting my DVD Casestudy AND Step by Step Action Plan Guide is going to be a 30 min 1-on-1 coaching session with ME.

Just imagine what it would be like if you can tell the person who gained over 40lbs in 4 months what your biggest hang ups are and have me personally create a game plan for you to see results fast right then and there. This can honestly be the missing link you need to FINALLY start seeing the results you’ve always been looking for.

But I can only coach so many people at a time which means I have to limit this bonus to the 1^st 10 people and see how it goes. Which means I may NEVER EVER do this again if it gets to hectic with my schedule. So as you can imagine the demand for this is going to be EXTREMELY high.

So if you want a head start before the other (over 5,400) guys who all want this information and the chance for me to personally coach them then be sure to sign up for my DVD Waiting List.

Because if you hesitate, trust me either one of my over 650 Youtube subscribers or one of my more than 2,000 email subscribers or even one of the 2,855 visitors that came to my site this month will take your spot without thinking twice.

Click here to sign up for my DVD Waiting List

Til next time,

Rich

Check out this YouTube message I got a little while ago:

Subject: Gaining Weight

Hey I have watched a couple of your videos and have a few questions. I have an incredibly hard time gaining weight..I’m almost 6′4 and 122 pounds (18 years old) so I’m very skinny for my height. I’ve been eating 3000-3500 calories daily, including 2 protein/gainer shakes in between meals, lifting weights every other day, and taking supplements.

After gaining about 7 pounds in a little over a month (yeah I was at 115), I haven’t been able to gain any more weight at all. What can I do now?

Should I be eating all that protein you suggested each meal even though i’m taking in 100g/protein from the shakes?

All that I have become recently is all muscly but still kind of just skinny so I have been eating a decent portion of good fats along with a lot of protein. Any advise would be great, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong?

Thx

Pakmule….

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Do you have a burning question or even a few BURNING questions like this that you feel is holding you back from see results you want?

If you do, then you NEED to read today’s blog post to see how you can get ALL of your BURNING questions answered by me 1 on 1.

But first things first back to the message I got from one of my YouTube subscribers (PakMule…) we’ll call him Pakmule because he didn’t leave his name in the message.

The first thing I should say is that based on what Pakmule told me I won’t be able to pin-point the problem unless I was able to ask him some specific questions like what his meals consist of, how often did he eat each day, how is he working out, etc.

But based on what he told me I can give him some tips that should help him build more muscle and gain more weight.

So PakMule here are some tips to get you out of your rut and seeing results fairly quickly.

Gain Weight Tip #1 - You Need to Consume MORE Calories Each Day

Yes, you’re right, being 6’ 4 and 122 lbs is incredibly light for your height which leads me to think that you have an incredibly fast metabolism. And the best way to defeat your fast metabolism is through your diet.

It sounds like you already know this and you’re on the right track by consuming those 3000 – 3500 calories each day. The fact that you gained 7 pounds and then stopped indicates that your body has hit a plateau. Remember, in order to gain weight and build muscle you have to consume MORE calories than your body burns each day.

When you plateau it simply means that you’ve built up the MAXIMUM amount of muscle that your diet will allow. Think of it this way: when your body was at 115lbs it burned 2000 calories in order to get through each day. So in order to gain muscle you need to consume above and beyond those 2000 calories if you want to build muscle.

So let’s say after a few weeks you consumed an extra 1,000 calories per day by consuming a total of 3,000 calories each day you built 7 lbs of muscle. Well guess what, here’s something that most guys don’t realize. Your muscles burn energy. Your muscles AREN’T like fat that just sits there. Your muscles are actually living tissue that needs energy (calories) to sustain itself.

Just to show you how this all works, lets say 1 lb of muscle burns 50 calories to sustain itself. So for every pound of muscle you gain your body burns an extra 50 calories each day to sustain itself and also to sustain your new muscle gains.

As you could imagine after you’ve gained a certain amount of muscle, those extra 1,000 calories you were consuming before aren’t EXTRA anymore. Your body now NEEDS those EXTRA 1,000 calories to SUSTAIN itself and your new muscle gains.

And once this happens (your body catches up to your diet) if you want to build muscle after this point you’re going to have to consume above and beyond those 3,000 calories that your body is currently burning each day.

So what I recommend you do is to begin consuming 3500 – 4000 calories each day (essentially increase your daily caloric intake by 500 calories) until you start seeing extra muscle growth and you bust out of that plateau. If you don’t see any results after 10 – 14 days then increase your intake again by another 500 calories until you start to see new muscle growth.

Gain Weight Tip #2 - Your Calories Should Come From The Right Sources

I just wanted to expand on nutrition a little bit more because I know how important it is and how many guys (including myself when I started out) struggle with this.

I’m glad to see that you already know that in order to gain weight you have to increase your daily caloric intake (consume more calories each day). But it also depends on where those extra calories are coming from.

Let’s say for example all of your calories came from fast acting carbs and fats (like chips, soda and junk food) then instead of building muscle you’ll be gaining mostly if not all fat.

But if the majority of your calories are from lean meats and whole grains like (lean chicken breast and whole wheat bread) then the majority of your gains will be muscle gains.

I’m not sure what your diet consists of, I’d need to talk with you 1-on-1 and ask you a few specific questions, just know that it does depend on WHERE these calories come from as well. 3,000 calories from chips and soda is WAYYYY different from 3,000 calories from sources like chicken breast and whole wheat bread.

In addition to that I recommend you use the 30 / 40 / 30 nutrient ratio. I know it may sound a little complicated but it simply means that 30 % of your total daily calories should come from protein. 40% from carbs and 30% should come from “good” fats.

If you have a hard time figuring this out, check out my Weight Gain Calculator and it’ll do all this stuff for you.

Click here to check out my Weight Gain Calculator in action and why so many people are dying to get their hands on it.

(I’m also giving away Free access to my Weight Gain Calculator for anyone who gets my Free DVD Casestudy and Step By Step Guide)

Gain Weight Tip #3 - You Need to Increase The Intensity Of Your Workouts

Ok, next I want to hit on your workout routine. Just like how you need to increase your calories after a certain point. You also need to increase something with your workouts as well. And it’s your INTENSITY.

Think of it this way. When you first start working out, you’re wearing and tearing your muscle fibers apart. And the way your body responds and adapts to this is by getting bigger and stronger so that the next time you do that workout again it doesn’t damage it as much.

After a while your body will adapt to your workout to the point where it feels it doesn’t have to build anymore new muscle to deal with your workout.

Here’s an analogy if it helps: Just imagine every winter a tornado rolled into your neighborhood and damaged your roof. It was to the point where you could see the clouds just by looking up in your living room.

So what are you going to do? Of course, you’re going to rebuild your roof. But this time you’re going to build it, thicker, stronger and sturdier than before so the next time that tornado comes it doesn’t do so much damage because you don’t want to go through all the hassle of repairing next time. Not to mention you’re pretty vulnerable to the elements when you don’t have a roof over your head.

So fast forward to next winter. The tornado touches down again, but this time since you made your roof stronger from the last time, it doesn’t do as much damage as before. So you patch up your roof and make it just a little bit stronger this time so the next time that tornado comes around, your roof could withstand it and you don’t have to invest the time, money and energy it takes to repair it again.

So fast forward to the next winter season. And as expected the tornado touches down again but this time, your roof was strong enough to withstand it with barely a few scratches. Now at this point are you going to fork over more money, invest more time and energy making that roof stronger when it’s proven to be able to withstand the tornado, of course not. Because that’ll be too much unnecessary work.

Well the same goes for your muscles. Once it has adapted to the point where your workout doesn’t damage it that much, it WILL NOT build more muscle. From your body’s perspective, THERE’S NO REASON TO because at this point it’s just extra unnecessary work.

So here’s what I recommend. You have to INCREASE the intensity of your workouts.

If you’ve gotten to the point where your workouts are becoming less challenging then you NEED to increase the intensity of your workouts.

Here’s a quick list of a few things you can do to increase the intensity of your workouts (I also reveal more effective ways to increase intensity in my Free DVD Casestudy that I’m about to release):

• Decreasing the amount of time it takes to finish your workout (instead of 50 minutes, do it in 40 minutes)
• Increasing the amount of reps for each exercise in the same time or less than you normally do
• Decrease your rest time in between sets (instead of taking a 2 minute rest take a 1 min. rest)
Hope these tips help (Pakmul),

Let me know if you have any further questions

Richard

And if you’re going through the same thing as Pakmul then you can also use these tips to get the results you’re looking for.

Now remember at the beginning of the blog post I mentioned how you can get me to answer ALL of your BURNING questions just like these 1 on 1.

Well, if you’re interested then read further…

Now, as you could imagine with 655 YouTube subscribers and 2139 email subscribers to date I get A LOT of YouTube messages and Emails asking me TONS of questions just like these. Which made me realize that there’s tons of guys just like yourself and just like Pakmul that have something holding them back.

So whether it’s:

• Not knowing what foods you should be eating
• How to see results after your body seems to hit a plateau.
• What workouts you should be doing
• What supplements you should be taking
• When should you do cardio
• Should you even be doing cardio to help reach your goals
• Or anything else for that matter

Here’s what I’m going to do for you….

In the next few days I’m going to be releasing my Free DVD Casestudy which explains step by step how I gained over 40lbs in 4 months.

And one of the bonuses I’ve decided to include is a 30 minute 1-on-1 coaching session with ME. This is where I’m going to literally pick apart EVERYTHING you’re doing to build muscle and see what’s holding you back and help create a game plan for you so you can start seeing results FAST.

This is also where you can ask me 1-on-1 whatever BURNING questions you have. Which means no more, searching for hours on the internet or buying tons of magazines or reading a thousand websites and articles or checking out hundreds of YouTube videos just to get your questions answered.

I’ll answer them for you 1-on-1 in our coaching session. Just imagine how powerful it is to be able to ask someone who gained over 40lbs in 4 months “I’m doing X, Y, Z, and I’m still not seeing the results I want. What the heck am I doing wrong?”

Trust me this could literally be the missing piece of the puzzle you need to start seeing the results you want. Yes it’s that POWERFUL!!!

As you could imagine I value my time and my schedule is pretty busy and with 655 YouTube subscribers, 2139 email subscribers each of which probably has tons of questions that’d like to ask me and I can only imagine A LOT of people are going to want to this 1-on-1 coaching session (more than I can probably handle).

Which is why I have to limit the number of these coaching sessions I do.

Since this is the first time I’m doing anything like this, I’m limiting it to only 10 coaching sessions to see how everything goes.

And the only way to be eligible for your 30 min 1-on-1 coaching session is to get my FREE DVD Casestudy and Step by Step Guide.

With 655 YouTube subscribers, 2139 email subscribers and not to mention over 2,762 visitors who visited my blog in the past 30 days which is a total of 5,556 people all ready to get one of these 10 spots just like you.

So I’m pretty confident that these 10 coaching sessions are going to be gone pretty fast.

In fact, the last time I gave away my Free DVD Casestudy I only had to send two emails to my newsletter subscribers alone and they were ALL GONE.

If you want to be first in line when I release my Free DVD Casestudy again then I highly recommend you get on my DVD Casestudy Waiting List which already has 50 guys salivating to get their hands on what I reveal in this my Casestudy (and this is before I decided to add my 30 minute coaching lesson bonus).

I’m going to be notifying the people on my Waiting List first and whatever’s left (if there’s anything left) is what’s going to be available to everyone else.

So if you want to be first in line to get your Free DVD Casestudy and my Step by Step Guide and get your Free Bonus: A 30 minute 1-on-1 coaching session with me then click the link below and enter your name and email to be put on the Waiting List.

Click here to be put on my Free DVD Casestudy Waiting List

Take care,

Richard Knight
Richard [at] buildmusclechallenge.com

I just stumbled on a pretty cool video on Muscle Building Nutrition, in particular your post workout nutrition.

One of my biggest secrets to gaining over 40lbs in 4 months is exploiting ALL of my nutritional Windows of Opportunity each and everyday of the week.

If you remember, a window of opportunity is a period of time in which your body is primed for MAXIMUM Muscle Gain and minimal fat storage. And one of the most important windows is your Post Workout window.

So while I was researching a few things today I actually stumbled upon an underground video explaining the simplest way to exploit this window of opportunity.

It’s created by Vince DelMonte author of the No Nonsense Muscle Building Program and Lee Hayward author of the Blast Your Bench Program. It’s less than 5 minutes and you can start using these tips IMMEDIATELY.

Muscle Building Nutrition Video

If you want to build the most amount of muscle in the least amount of time then I highly recommend you check out Vince Del Monte’s No Nonsense Muscle Building Program. It’s after learning how to exploit these windows of opportunity each and every day that allowed me to ultimately gain over 40lbs in 4 months and practically build muscle on demand. (Yes, these windows of opportunity are THAT effective)

Click Here to read my Controversial Review Of Vince Del Monte’s No Nonsense Muscle Building Program

Don’t forget to leave a comment and let me know what you thought of this video, if it helped you or if you have a question about proper muscle building nutrition.

Laters,

Rich

It’s been long over due but I finally posted up another video.

This one is a little different though. Today I’m revealing my “Underground” Muscle building diet tool called: The Weight Gain Calculator.

My Weight Gain Calculator is designed to tell you EXACTLY how many calories you REALLY need to gain weight and build muscle fast.

And most importantly so that you can see results SUPER QUICK.

If you ever wondered the following questions:

- How many calories do I need to gain weight?
- How many calories should I eat to build muscle?
- How much should I eat each day to gain weight fast?
- How much should I eat to build muscle?

…then you need to check out my free weight gain calculator.

Just go to: http://www.weightgaincalculator.com (once it’s available)

and see how many calories you “REALLY” need to gain weight and build muscle fast.

Also don’t forget to leave a comment, letting me know what you think of my muscle
building diet tool. Check out my new Muscle Building Diet Video below:

P.S. - Don’t forget to leave me a comment letting me know what you think of my new tool.

1. Make sure you practice proper nutrition:

Nutrition is a really complicated subject, but the nuts and bolts are pretty simple. You want to gain muscle mass, not fat so you should concentrate on the foods that are going to help you do that. Lean beef, mixed nuts, vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower and spinach are really good) and fresh fruit. Fat is not your enemy, but trans fats are! About 30% of your calories should be from fat. Always choose colored carbohydrates when you can help it.

For example use brown rice instead of white rice, sweet potato instead of a regular potato, whole wheat bread instead of white bread. Also, try to fit your carbohydrates and simple sugars in during your post work out period. One to two hours after a workout, your body can process them better. They are less likely to turn to fat. Also, try to eat small portions every 2 to 3 hours so your metabolism is working continually.

2. Exercise Effectively

For most people looking to build mass, this means lifting weights. It means heavier weight and fewer repetitions. A good strategy is to look for 3 sets of 10 repetitions (reps) on each exercise. The idea is to achieve muscular exhaustion with each set. Muscular exhaustion means that your last rep, is the last rep you can do with proper form. You may see people in the gym straining to finish their sets with all sorts of sloppy form. They simply have too much weight. They are past muscular exhaustion and are not getting the maximum benefit from their workout.

Instead, it is better to go with a little less weight and keep proper form. You should give muscle groups at least 2 days to recover before having another hard workout. This does not mean you can not work out on consecutive days, simply rest one group of muscles you work out, such as your upper body, and concentrate on another, such as your legs until the rest period is up.

3. Take proper supplements

Protein, protein, protein! It is impossible to overstate the importance of good protein when trying to build muscle. Your body needs protein to grow muscle. Protein is constructed with amino acids. For muscle building you want “branched chain amino acids” (BCAAs). Be sure that your protein supplement contains these BCAAs for maximum efficiency. Whey Protein is by far the most common type of protein found in supplements and it is very good.

However, it is better to have a combination of whey and casein, which are the two proteins found in milk. The combination of casein and whey protein has been shown to speed up muscle recovery and aid in fat loss. If you have a milk allergy however, you will need to look at another protein source. Soy protein is another popular choice that shouldn’t bother you if you have a milk allergy. Have 2 or 3 protein supplements daily in addition to your meals.

Gaining weight in a healthy manner does not have to be a difficult process. Just remember to eat well, eat a lot and eat frequently. Work out correctly and regularly, and get plenty of protein into your system. With these simple tips there is no doubt you will see dramatic results with quick, healthy weight gain.

A while ago I posted an excellent video about the top foods that’ll help you gain weight fast and build muscle. This is actually the grocery list I used that helped me gain over 40lbs in 4 months so, trust me it’s super effective. I also tried to make it as simple as possible so that anyway could follow it.

These are the top foods I get pretty much week in and week out to gain weight and build muscle (not fat).

I cover the foods I get to satisfy my protein requirements, carb requirements and “Good” Fat (Essential Fats) requiremtnts.

If you’re having trouble with what to eat and what to buy or what groceries to get in order to build muscle than this was made for you. Because I not only go over what I get, but why I get it and what I look for.

The Build Muscle Challenge Advanced Subscriber Program is officially opening it’s doors tomorrow

be sure to sign up to my Early Notification List and get FIRST *dibs* before anyone else. Space is EXTREMELY limited so go to: http://www.buildmusclechallenge.com/fastmuscle NOW if you haven’t done so and sign up before you miss out and start kicking yourself later
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What’s up guys,

I came across a SUPER question that someone sent me a while back and I wanted to share my response to this question with everyone because this question absolutely PISSED ME OFF and had me seeing red for a little while. It also reveals the Muscle Building Workout I used while I was bulking up during my 40 lbs in 4 Months Transformation.

So if you want to see what exactly in this email pissed me off and if you were ever lost on what exercises to do and when to do them in order to build muscle than you absolutely NEED to read this post:

Here’s the question:

 “i tried putting on weight and i weigh just 56 kgs i took muscle juice supplement and was able to put on just 4 kgs and im a model and my job requires me to put on a lot of weight with lean muscle mass.. but i just cant do it, whatever my trainers says i not workin out for me and im in india there no good advice here, i saw your videos here in youtube and its motivating.. i workout one muscle a time this is my workout regimem.. monday, chest, tues- biseps, wed -lats, thurs shouders, fri triceps. sat- legs, i wanna put on lean muscle mass, coz im missin lots of work coz of my body.. the gym that i go is the best in my city pls ya’ll help a brother out.” - (Unknown)

Unfortunately they didn’t leave their name but it’s still a damn good question.

There are a few key things that I “really” want to hit on in this question.

First thing is the part about the trainer. And this literally PISSES ME OFF!!! We all have different body types, there’s endomorphs (the “easy” gainers if you will, naturally muscular), mesomorphs (round and soft body type, think Roseanne or Jack Black) and ectomorphs (us, skinny guys, hardgainers, etc.) and combinations of the three. Each body type is different and requires different things in order to build muscle.

Most people only recognize how to build muscle for their body type. Understandably so, I mean if you learned how to build muscle as a hardgainer why would you want to learn how to build muscle as a mesomorph (a round person).

That’s why it really doesn’t make sense asking a true endomorph (someone who can build muscle by simply sneezing) or a mesomorph (a naturally “round” person) how to build build muscle if you’re a hardgainer. (Trust me, I fell into this trap WAYYYYY tooo many times before I figured out “JUST DON’T DO IT”)

 But this is where I get PISSED OFF!!! -With personal trainers or any type of fitness professional they should know which body type you are and give you advice accordingly. Based on your body type. You’d be surprised but most personal trainers just blindly give guys advice without taking this into consideration and the only person that suffers here is YOU. (This causes way too many guys to throw in the towel and I’m SICK OF IT.)

Think about it, does it make sense to do the same workout routine as someone who can lift a 5 lb dumbbell and gain muscle. OF COURSE NOT!!! But that’s what alot of guys do. And it looks like this is the case with our friend over here.

So in short…

If you’re a HardGainer Learn From Other Hardgainers Who “Cracked The Code” To Building Muscle

This is by far one of the fastest ways to see positive results. Because other hardgainers (who cracked the code) know how your body works and they know EXACTLY what you need to do in order to build muscle and ultimately change your physique. That’s why I’ve taken to time to study from guys like Vince Del Monte, Anthony Ellis and alot of other hardgainers who “cracked the code” to building muscle.

…

…

Ok sorry bout that, but I had to get that off my chest.

Now back to the question.

As the old saying goes: “There’s more than one way to skin a cat”. Well the same is true for building muscle for hardgainers.

Here’s my recommendation on how to build muscle fast based on my results.

1. Do full body workouts FIRST to build your “frame”

2. Once you’ve built your “frame” than you can do “split training” (training a different muscle group each day of the week) to chisel everything out.

Think of your body like a stick figure made of clay or even better (Play-doh). And adding muscle to your body is equivalent to stacking on more clay to your “clay” stick figure body.

Now which makes more sense, going to the gym just about everyday and adding a little bit of clay to your biceps one day, a little bit on your chest another day, a little on your legs the next day … and so on.

Or does it make more sense to put clay on EVERY part of your body 1 day, rest for a few days and add more muscle to EVERY part of your body and rest a few more days and add more muscle to EVERY part of your body.

In other words does it make sense to: 

1 -add a little bit of muscle to one part of your body every time you go to  the gym or

2 - add muscle ALL OVER your body each and everytime you go to the gym.

Hopefully you picked number 2. Not only are you going to the gym less days a week but each time you go to the gym ALL your muscle groups are growing not just 1 or two. So hmm….., go to the gym LESS and build MORE muscle throughout your body, I’d take that any day.

And that my friends is the power of FULL body workouts. Now don’t get me wrong “split” training has its place too. I recommend using split training once you’ve built enough muscle to actually train. Split training hits each muscle group from all different angles, thereby making your muscles fuller and more developed. But if you haven’t built “enough” muscle to hit from all different angles than the results you’ll get from split training won’t do much.

So if you’re trying to build muscle mass as a hardgainer you’re wayyyyyyy better off building your frame FIRST with FULL body workouts.

Below is a sample FULL body workout routine I used when I was bulking up. This routine actually helped me gain my 40 lbs in 4 months:

(3×8) = 3 Sets of 8 reps with 1 minute rest in between each set
(3xF) = 3 Sets to failure with 1 minute rest in between each set 

Recovery tip: Don’t worry about not being able to hit the gym on Wednesday because your body is still sore from Monday. It normally takes me about 48 – 72 hours to fully recover from my previous full body workout, which is why I workout every 3 days or twice a week.

 If your body can fully recover within 48 hours (if you follow the workout plan, and workout fundamentals I teach you, I strongly doubt this will happen) than you might be able to workout every other day or 3 days a week – space your recovery and workout days according to your body’s recovery speed)

–Remember never go to gym until your body has fully recovered from your previous workout (I cannot stress this enough),

 So there you have it, a full body workout routine you can use immediately to start bulking up, and building your frame FIRST.

With that being said, I just wanted to remind you that the “Build Muscle Challenge Advanced Subscriber Program” is going to be opening up TOMORROW. And if you haven’t joined my Early Nofication List already, you should do so right now because space is EXTREMELY limited and only those on my Early Notification List will get first *dibs* on the spots and all the Bonuses available.

So if you want to learn how to build muscle from a fellow hardgainer whose “Cracked The Code” to fast muscle gain then go to http://www.buildmusclechallenge.com/fastmuscle before you miss out.

Let me know if you have any comments or questions by leaving a comment at the end of this post.

Laters

Rich 

Just got another great question and I wanted to share it with everybody because it’s something that I struggled with and if you plan on building muscle than you’re going to experience this too.

Ok so here’s the question:

“Hi Rich! Ive’ been hittin at the gym for about 3months and i have gained 22 lbs. im from 128-150lbs now. but i have a problem. it’s been 1 month now and im still at 150. actually its my 4th month in the gym now and im not gaining weight anymore. could you give me some advice? i eat about 5 times a day

heavy lunch meal and a heavy dinner meal

tnx! i’ll wait for your response

-Anthony”

Let me just say thanks for the question Anthony, 22lbs gain is pretty impressive, keep up the good work bro.

Now what you’re experiencing is a muscle “plateau” or a “ceiling” on your muscle gains. Eventually this happens to everyone and there’s some easy ways to blast right through it.

First, let me give you some key pieces to the puzzle then I’m going to put them all together so you can see the “ENTIRE PICTURE” and never get stuck at a plateau again.

Muscle Plateau Tip #1

The Cause (Your Workout)

The reason why your body isn’t growing any more is because your body “caught up” to your diet and your workout routine. Basically your body adapted to your stressful workouts and the amount of calories you’re consuming each day and doesn’t feel it NEEDS to grow anymore. Always remember, your body wants to be where its at right now…comfortable. The only way your body is going to change “build more muscle” is if it thinks its survival depends on it.

Think of your body like your house. It’s just like having the roof of your house getting blown off after a snow storm. Once you realize “Wow, I better build a bigger, stronger roof just in case a storm like that happens again it won’t do as much damage” - if you don’t you put your survival in jeopardy because odds are you won’t last too long with a tore up roof in a snow storm.

Well your body does the same exact thing. When you first start working out you’re damaging your muscle tissues to the point where your body says “Holy crap, I better add more muscle and fast so the next time this happens I don’t get so tore up” -at this point your body adds muscle out of survival.

Muscle Plateau Tip # 2

The Cause (Your Diet)

Next, your diet. As you know your diet plays a HUGE role in building muscle. Think of the food you eat as bricks for your house. After that storm blew the roof off your house, you’re going to need EXTRA bricks in order to build it thicker and stronger than before. Same thing goes for your body. After a strenuous workout your body is going to need extra calories (extra bricks) in order to build more muscle to protect itself from such a damaging workout next time.

And that’s where most of us begin to plateau. and there’s three main reasons why people begin to stop building muscle after a certain period of time:

1- Your body has gotten used to the intensity of your workout
2- Your body has caught up to your diet.
3- A combination of the two.

As you workout your body will eventually grow big enough and strong enough to withstand the damaging effect of your workouts. “If the roof of your house is strong enough to withstand the snow storm why are you going to spend the resources to building it stronger - it’s a waste of energy” Well that’s EXACTLY how your body views building muscle. “Hey, if I’m strong enough to withstand these workouts why should I build more muscle when I don’t have to”

Muscle Plateau Tip #3

The Workout Solution

There’s several ways to go about breaking out of your muscle plateau. But the main goal is to “Expose your muscles to a NEW kind of stress”. This doesn’t mean just lifting more weight. It goes beyond that.

Here’s some things you can do to expose your muscles to a new kind of stress:

- Changing the order of your workout routine around (do your first exercise last, do two or more exercises on the same muscle group back to back, mix the order of your exercises up, etc.)

- Increasing the intensity of your workout (THIS IS A BIGGIE):

• Decreasing the amount of time it takes to finish your workout (instead of 50 minutes, do it in 40 minutes)
• Increasing the amount of reps for each exercise in the same time or less than you normally do
• Decrease your rest time in between sets (instead of taking a 2 minute rest take a 1 min. rest)
• Change your rep scheme around (instead of doing 3 x 8 (3 sets of 8 reps) change it to 4 x 10 or 5 x 5) - I experienced the most gains when I changed my rep scheme around - it’s always a good idea to change your rep scheme every 3 weeks to prevent plateaus

As you can see, the entire goal of this is to expose your muscles to a new kind of stress so your body feels the need to start tacking on more muscle to adapt to it. But even this isn’t enough to fully BUST OUT of a muscle plateau, read on for the second part of the formula.

Muscle Plateau Tip #4

The Role Of Your Diet

As you probably realized your body doesn’t like change. So once your body has caught up to your diet it’s going to want to stay there. Let’s say right now your body is comfortable with consuming and burning 2,000 calories each day. Now lets say you wanted to build some more muscle and you started working out and eating 3,000 calories each day. Ok, after a few weeks of some impressive gains you stop seeing any results. You’re stuck!

What happened??

It’s simple, muscle burns calories. It’s not like fat that just sits there, your muscles actually need energy survive. Thus the more muscles you have, the more energy “food” you’ll need to consume in order to maintain and keep those muscles. So what you basically done was built enough muscle so that your body can comfortably consume and burn those 3,000 calories each day no problem.

Even if you increase the intensity you won’t necessarily start tacking on more muslce. Why?? because your body doesn’t have enough bricks “calories” to build more muscle.

Now your body needs 3,000 calories to stay at the weight it’s at and in order to build more muscle you have to give it more “bricks” to build with. Which means you’re going to have to increase your daily caloric intake. (Simply put, you need to eat more “of the right things”)

Muscle Plateau Tip #5

The Diet Solution

There’s a few ways you can go about this. But ultimately the main goal here is to consume more calories than your burns off each day. Even if you increase the intensity, you still need to give your muscles “EXTRA” bricks so it can not only repair the muscle you have now but also to build “MORE” muscle on top of it.

So here’s some things you can do to quickly and easily increase your caloric intake each day:

- Consume more nutrients during each meal (Add more protein, “good” carbs, and good fats to each meal)

- Consume smaller “muscle building” meals more frequently (instead of eating 4 small meals daily, eat 5 meals daily or even 6 (I personally consume 6 small meals daily, roughly every 3 hours)

- Consume more “muscle building snacks” in between meals (eat some lean meats, like tuna or chicken breast or some fruits and veggies in between each meal - nothing too big - just something to add to your stomach while your body is waiting for it’s next meal

- Personally I’d recommend drinking more milk. It’s the easiest way to add more calories to your diet. I drink milk with every meal and in between meals. It’s by far the EASIEST way to add extra protein and extra good carbs to your diet and well as essential fats.

I wrote on a post on it as My Secret Weapon To Building Muscle Fast, you should check it out.

Well that’s pretty much it. Breaking out of your plateau isn’t hard. You just have to know how your body works and use it to your advantage and with what you’ve just learned you now hold the key to busting out of any muscle plateau you may face.

KEEP THE QUESTIONS COMING!!!

Leave me a comment if you have any more questions you want me to answer, and let me know if this post helped you or not.

Rich