Posts Tagged ‘muscle gain’

Gaining Muscle and Losing Fat at the Same Time

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
Your Questions
Your Questions

I get plenty of questions in various comments throughout the website, but I also get comments and questions via the Project Swole Contact Form.

Generally I address those questions through e-mail, but often I do not have the time to reply to each and every question personally.

The category, Your Health Questions is a more proactive approach to answering your questions so that everyone can benefit from the Q & A.

Jake asked:

“Hey Steve, First I wanted to say thanks so much for taking the time to make this article. I just had a question. I am 16 and 6’4″ and about 200 LBS. I love doing cardio and used to be extremely overweight but i started running and eating right and it all shed off.

I have been working out on and off for about a year and a half now and I have found it pretty easy to put on muscle as long as I stay dedicated to the workout which is also my biggest problem. I have petty much the opposite body type of Taylor Lauter because I am taller and bigger built were he is shorter and was very skinny when he started. So I would thus like to lean out at the same time as i build muscle to achieve that lean muscle look.

My question is that if i were to take in less calories and carbs than recommeded for me but still took in the right amount of protein to build muscle, could I still bulk up and lose fat at the same time to achieve that leaner muscular look?”

(more…)

How to Deadlift

Friday, July 30th, 2010

How to Deadlift

How to Deadlift
How to Deadlift

Deadlifts are one of the primary, fundamental exercises for all serious weight training programs. Deadlifts work 100% of your legs and they require functional stability from 95% of the rest of the muscles on your body. Using proper form, deadlifts will help you get stronger, gain more muscle, and burn more calories than any other single exercise after the squat.

Deadlifts build lower back and hamstring strength, and they teach you to keep your lower back tight against a heavy load, which is critical to avoid injuries when lifting objects from the ground or floor. Unfortunately, this is also why deadlifts have gained a bad reputation of causing a variety of injuries, including spinal injuries and hernias.

(more…)

Occlusion Training Also Works for Large Muscle Groups

Friday, July 23rd, 2010
Kaatsu Training
Kaatsu Training

You may have read my post on occlusion training (or Kaatsu training) from a year ago. If not, the basic premise goes something like this:

Occlusion training refers to blood flow restriction (BFR) to small muscle groups like the biceps and triceps, then using single-joint resistance training with 20% of a 1 rep max. The results produced up to a 300% greater increase in strength and up to an 800% greater increase in muscle thickness, over the subjects who used traditional strength training methods.

The initial reported study had noted great results for BFR exercise in small muscle groups using single-joint exercises. For example they measured the results of occlusion training on the biceps after 2 weeks of biceps curls.

At Project Swole, we are more interested in the results on large muscle groups using multi-joint exercises, such as the bench press, squat, or deadlift.

So today’s question remains: does occlusion training increase the strength and size of large muscle groups during multi-joint exercises, when blood flow is restricted from the extremities?

(more…)

Werewolf Training: A Weightlifting Routine to Gain Muscle

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Updated on 7/6/2010: routine and new spreadsheet contain updated reps and sets requirements, added exercises, and added HIRT, HIIT, and Tabata sessions.
Updated on 7/19/2010: lower body HIIT and HIRT sessions made optional.


Werewolf Training
Werewolf Training

Gain Muscle with Werewolf Training

This training routine is designed for you to gain muscle. That’s it.

If you’ve come here to lose fat, you are better off using the Full Body Fat Loss Routine for Men or the Full Body Fat Loss Routine for Women. This routine definitely has nothing to do with fat loss.

If you came to learn how to bench 700 lbs, you are better off reading Werewolf Training for Strength Gains. Although, truth to tell, you will probably get significantly stronger following this program.

Use this menu to skip to:

(more…)

Does Coffee (Caffeine) Help You Build Muscle?

Thursday, July 1st, 2010
Your Questions
Your Questions

I get plenty of questions in various comments throughout the website, but I also get comments and questions via the Project Swole Contact Form.

Generally I address those questions through e-mail, but often I do not have the time to reply to each and every question personally.

From now on I want to take a more proactive approach to answering Your Health Questions by posting them separately in the blog. This way we can be sure that everyone benefits from the Q & A.

Joe wrote:

“I have heard that too much caffeine can be detrimental to muscle growth because of its tendency to increase cortisol which has catabolic effects. That being said, it also stimulates testosterone production, so its actual effects are a little unclear. Here’s a little medical study I found on the web to back it up:

Dose effect of caffeine on testosterone and cortisol responses to resistance exercise.

Just curious if you’ve heard anything along these lines and I’m interested to hear your take on it.”

(more…)

The Taylor Lautner Workout for Twilight: Eclipse

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

The Taylor Lautner Workout

Here we go again! The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is coming out at the end of the month – June 30th if I’m not mistaken, so it is time to examine the developments in the physique of our buddy Taylor Lautner for this, the third installment of the Twilight Saga.

(more…)

How to Gain Muscle and Lose Fat Most Effectively

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Your Questions
Your Questions

I get plenty of questions in various comments throughout the website, but I also get comments and questions via the Project Swole Contact Form.

Generally I address those questions through e-mail, but often I do not have the time to reply to each and every question personally.

The category, Your Health Questions is a more proactive approach to answering your questions so that everyone can benefit from the Q & A.

Greg wrote:

“Hi,

First, let me say thank you for this website and all the useful information you post here. I am 45 years old, at 6 foot 1 inches and 210 pounds, and my goal is to simply change my weight distribution (don’t mind weighing 210 if it’s muscle and not fat).

Since I am a ‘hard gainer’, I have read your recommendations on the best exercises/workouts to build mass, and I have two additional questions.

First, I’ve continually heard the following: higher reps + lighter weight = definition, and lower reps + heavier weight = mass. My question is, what is the sweet spot for mass AND definition? For example, if I do three sets of curls, how many reps for each set – 12, 10, 8 or maybe 10, 8, 6 (with progressively higher weight)?

Second, what about diet? I’ve also heard that you should eat like a horse – lots of protein and carbs. Of course, if you overdo it, you’ll gain fat as well. So again, where is the sweet spot?

Thank you!
Greg”

(more…)

Werewolf Training 2: A Weightlifting Routine to Gain Strength

Thursday, December 31st, 2009


Werewolf Training
Werewolf Training

Gain Strength

Originally posted: 12/31/09
Updated: 1/20/10 (update rest time on HIRT circuits, added Excel spreadsheet workout logs)

This training routine is designed for you to gain strength. That’s it.

So you have already been through two or three Werewolf Training for Muscle Gain cycles. You gained 5-10 pounds of muscle in that time and you got a little stronger. You are psyched about your progress but you’re a little bored with the program.

It is time to change up your training a little bit, but you know you can’t jump right into a strict fat loss phase, or you risk losing most of your new muscle. What to do? What to do?

Use this menu to skip to:

(more…)

The Twilight Workout Routine – Taylor Lautner Gains 30 Pounds of Muscle in One Year

Friday, November 27th, 2009

The Twilight Workout Routine

If you are a Twilight fan, you have already seen The Twilight Saga: New Moon and you already know who Taylor Lautner is, aka Jacob Black the werewolf.

I have seen the movie and I was not altogether impressed, although it was not a bad movie. I would give it a 7 out of 10, while IMDB has it at 4.5 out of 10. It is a thrilling romance/monster story for teenage girls. Everything about the flick is targeted at tween girls and that’s all there is to it.

What I was more impressed by, is the evolution of Taylor Lautner. In nine months, this 17 year old boy gained 30 pounds of muscle to better pull off his changing into a werewolf for New Moon. Granted, if he didn’t gain the weight the part of Jacob Black would have been recast.

Taylor Lautner Before
Taylor Lautner Before
Taylor Lautner After
Taylor Lautner After

Taylor Lautner used to be a 5’10″, 140-pound fairly ripped martial artist, but now he’s a weightlifting beast. So, just how did Taylor Lautner gain 30 pounds of muscle so quickly?

He maximized his genetic potential, and you can too.

(more…)

FDA Forces Recall of 65 Supplements that Allegedly Contain Steroids

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Here we go again.

Bodybuilding.com has initiated an international recall of 65 dietary supplements that the FDA insists probably contain steroids.

Since they would probably get in some kind of legal trouble down the road, the popular bodybuilding website pretty much has to cooperate, so they have recalled all lots and expiration dates related to the 65 supplements flagged on the FDA’s list. Click here to see the list.

The FDA claims that the products on its list could contain some of the following substances:

Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding
  • superdrol
  • madol
  • tren
  • androstenedione
  • turinabol

(more…)