As summer ended, Jason C., Rory, Tuan and Dana were among those kind enough to share their successful weight/muscle gain stories.

Jason C. reported a very nice 14 lb. gain with 13 lbs. of that being lean muscle gain. How did he know that 13 lbs. was in the form of muscle and only 1 lb. in fat? He tracked his program.

I realize few listen but those who follow the advice of tracking their programs are well rewarded. The information you can learn from monitoring your body fat percentage and LBM as well as keeping accurate track of your other doings can mean the difference between succeeding and failing.

Not only is a good tracking program an invaluable information source but it can act as a great motivator as well. For more, check out the Tracking Program Section.

I always love to hear success stories and am also happy to throw ideas at those of you experiencing weight gain difficulties...Just send me an email.

Not a lot of new stuff at the site lately but I have been working hard. Very soon the site will get a face-lift which will hopefully improve not only its visual appeal but hopefully its navigation. For now things may seem a bit jumbled but rest assured a remedy is being worked on.

In This Issue...

Site New Stuff

• Do Weight Gain Pills Really Work?- Inspired by a reader's question (thanks Marc), I finally got a page up on this scam. The weight gain pills currently being marketed on the web, offering unlimited weight and muscle gain just by popping a couple of pills, are really just overpriced multi-vitamins.

  They aren't even quality multi-vitamins, just cheap vitamins packaged as "weight gain pills."

  Now, a good multi-vitamin can help you gain weight. But you don't need to pay 5 times as much just for a marketing label. Instead check out the recommended vitamins in the Bodybuilding Supplement Guide.

• 3 new articles from Dr. Franco-Obregón are up.
  • How much Creatine Monohydrate should I take? Includes a creatine dose table.
  • When is the right time to take creatine?
  • Is creatine and protein powder a bad combination?

    Also of note, Dr. Franco-Obregón's latest newsletter talks about how B-vitamin supplementation in combination with creatine can possibly increase muscle anabolism. You can check out a targeted B-vitamin product he endorses here...http://www.ehf-group.com.

    Look for more information on B-vitamins and creatine supplementation at the site soon.

    And, if you are looking to keep up to date on the the best ways to utilize creatine, consider Dr. Franco-Obregón's ebook, Creatine: A Practical Guide

• New posts at the Muscle Building Blog are "Skinny Fat Concerns," "When To Take Creatine," "Wide-Grip Pull-Ups," and "Limiting Fat Gains."

Interesting Off-Site Reads

An Alcoholic Weight Gain Plan

This is sort of funny in a pathetic way - The skinny cop. A cop in India was suspended due to his drinking problem. Why was he drinking? Because he was thin and felt inferior to the other officers. The advice he was given to gain weight fast was apparently to just drink himself silly.

Obviously, this wasn't a good plan. It does illustrate how self-conscious thin men can be made to feel and how desperate they can get. It also shows just how bad gain weight advice can get.

A Solid Weight Gain Plan

This article, Thinking Big ( you may have to answer a couple of questions to view the article but you don't have to give your email address), talks about a sports-medicine doctor's approach to helping those who want to gain muscle weight.

Not all that different from the basic approach presented at the site. The nutrient ratios given in the article are higher for carbs and lower for protein. I still believe more protein benefits those who have more of a problem gaining mass. Those actively training for a sport will have a higher caloric expenditure however, and can benefit from a higher carb intake.

The biggest key to weight gain, quoted from the article...

Get that philosophy ingrained in your head and you can't help but succeed.

Bodybuilding Tip of the Month

Failing to Gain Mass?

Along with success stories, I also get many emails from people frustrated by a lack of gains. Typically, the problems with their programs are very easy to spot. More often than not, it boils down to the fact that they are not eating enough. Other times it has to do with the workout and people wrongly feeling that they have to do way too much to build muscle.

If you are having problems making gains, review the Bodybuilding Tips Checklist. It is a list of 21 tips that you should be aware of if mass gain is your goal.

None of the tips will take more time away from your life. In fact, many will save you time. Always remember...

From the In-Box - Q&A

OTS Frustration

Look, I'm 18 yrs old and I'm desperately trying to build lots and lots of muscles. I've been training hard for 2.5 years without any results AT ALL!!! It's extremely frustrating to see everybody else growing big, even some guys who just started training last month are already in shape.

I'm sick of this, I've tried everything, including dieting on those (whey protein supplements) and eating lot of fat. Everything is just a waste of time and money. At the beggining, I did 65kg bench, and now I'm doing 50kg, I feel very weak every time I train. I get very little salary a month and there's not enough money to make a diet program. so since nothing works for me, I'm deciding go for those stupid steroids to see if they really work. (from anonymous)

You certainly sound as though you have tried very hard to gain muscle mass. In fact, you sound like you've tried too hard.

You could be the poster child for OverTraining Syndrome (OTS). When you lift weights, the desired outcome is to cause minor muscle damage that the body will then naturally repair and make stronger to compensate for the stress you placed on it. However, when the body is not given sufficient rest to make these repairs and you continue to overdo it in the gym, the body can enter an OTS state. In short, you are causing more muscle damage than muscle growth and therefore have a net decrease in muscle mass and strength.

The main OTS symptoms are decreased strength and a feeling of fatigue (weakness), both of which you report. Studies of those with OTS have found that cortisol levels can increase, testosterone levels decrease and the immune system can weaken. Psychological symptoms can be feelings of hopelessness and depression.

The effects can be cumulative - continuing to overdo it in the gym will further reduce the body's ability to repair itself. Therefore, cutting back on the amount of exercise you do may not be enough to reverse the effects.

The cure for OTS is complete rest. Your first step should be a doctor's visit to make sure there aren't other reasons for your difficulties. From there, stay away from the gym for awhile and let your body recuperate. Based on the length of time you report being frustrated, I would advise a minimum of 3 months with no weight training. Feelings of fatigue and weakness should start to fade.

Consider supplementing with glutamine during this time. Low levels of blood glutamine are typically present in those suffering from OTS and direct supplementation has been shown to greatly aid the body in recovering from the condition (as well as helping to avoid the condition when training).

When you do go back to the gym, take it easy. Ease back into training. It doesn't matter how much you have been training for the past 2 and a half years, whether it has been 20 hours a week or 2, you have been training too much. The amount of training your body can handle is unique to you. Do not pay attention to what other trainers at your gym are doing - they have different genetics.

Those of us who weren't naturally blessed with a great deal of muscle mass tend to respond best to limited training. 3 workouts a week of less than an hour, hitting each major muscle group only once or twice is a typical level that works well with many ectomorphs. Others, however, have found that they grow best with workout programs that work each muscle group as little as once every 14 days.

The most important thing is not to overdo it. Trying to keep up with those who may have genetics that allow them to train more is a recipe for failure. As you have experienced, the penalty for that can be severe.

Steroids would be ridiculously bad choice for you. You state that you have little money for diet but you have money for steroids? Any steroids that will be effective and relatively safe will be expensive. The black-market steroid world has some cheap stuff but it is a dangerous place. You never know what you are getting. People die from that stuff.

Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, steroids do not build muscle out of thin air. They can alter your hormone levels in a way to direct more of your energy intake (food) towards the purpose of muscle building. But you still have to eat a large and nutritious diet to get good results. If you don't eat enough, you won't grow, with or without steroids.

The best results attained from steroid use occur in experienced trainers and dieters, those who have made significant gains using natural methods. To get the best results you must be disciplined, you must be living a lifestyle centered around bodybuilding. Steroids are not a good choice for the vast majority looking to gain weight and build muscle.

And taking steroids at your age, before you are done growing, means that you are risking having your growth plates prematurely closed. Before you are done growing naturally, the influx of hormones from steroid use can signal the body that the growth stage is over. In other words, at your age, using steroids even in a safe and responsible manner can mean that you ultimately end up a smaller man than you could become without them.

Again, steroids would be an awful choice for you. Instead, get a doctor's check-up, give your body a much needed break and then come back with a more reasonable training and dieting program.

Future Plans

As previously mentioned, I am hard at work on a site redesign. The work on the bodybuilding supplements section has slowed a bit due to this. I am also getting closer to adding a review section of muscle building programs offered for sale on the net. I hope to have reviewed 15-20 such programs, the ones marketed to those seeking weight gain, very soon.

Until next time, keep training smart.

JP