The site got a little bigger this month and hopefully you did too. New site content is listed below and there is much more on the way.

Important Note: This month I received a polite email from Robert that asked if and when I could respond to an email he had submitted a month earlier. He also wondered why he wasn't receiving the ezine. Well, I actually did reply to that email ( I reply to all legitimate emails, sometimes it takes a few days or even a week, but I get to it) and he is on the ezine list.

So, why isn't Robert getting my email? Most likely his email program has filtered it out. As email spammers have become a bigger pain (if you know one, please punch him in the nose), ISPs have taken to adding spam filters which will sometimes run afoul and block the email you do want to receive.

Robert, and anyone else thinking they may be having this problem, check out this page for the solution.

Now, yes, I do realize that Robert and anyone having problems receiving email from The Guide won't be getting this ezine...However, this is also archived online.

In This Issue...

Site New Stuff

Interesting Off-Site Reads

Some solid and useful ideas can be found here, eating to gain weight from UCLA.

Bad Advice

I hate to send you to places with bad advice, but it serves to show how bad the advice on how to gain weight can get. This is from Google Answers, where people pay to get their questions answered. Sometimes these questions are absurd and this one certainly fills that bill. The guy wants to learn how to gain weight without eating more (fits in with this month's bodybuilding tip).

Now the answers he gets are quite entertaining. The one he pays for is interesting but dangerously inaccurate and absolutely horrible. Because, as he states, "the greatest experts on weight gain belong to the past" when plumpness was a desired trait, the winning responder posts a chapter from an old Artie McGovern book on how to bulk up. That's the interesting part - some of the stuff is true today but some of it has certainly been disproved by modern science (or common sense).

The winning response goes on to tell the guy that HGH is taken to convert fat into muscle (nothing does this), will not promote weight gain (tell that to Bonds) and concludes that the poor skinny guy should try some heartburn medicines or nasal sprays because they have the potential side effects of causing weight gain???? I wish I was making this up. But I couldn't make up worse advice.

The saddest part...the poor skinny guy not only paid $150 for this advice, but he gave the guy a $10 tip.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Anthony Ellis posts the correct response at the end which basically tells the guy that he is not being realistic. Unfortunately, this voice of reason probably came too late as the skinny guy was undoubtedly already out buying Prilosec.

Click this to see some very bad weight gain advice.

Bodybuilding Tip of the Month

A typical email exchange between myself and a reader. While this is fictional, it is based on actual events. The names have been changed to protect the skinny.

Original Email from Jake:

Hi JP, I have been weight training for about two years. My goals are to build muscle mass. I've only gained about 2 lbs. in the last 18 months. I saw where you say doing squats is better than leg presses for mass gain. I have never done squats, always presses. Do you think I will get some gains if I start doing squats instead?

My reply:

Yes, squats will recruit more muscle fibers and tax the central nervous system more than presses. This can stimulate more muscle growth and can be more effective at moving you towards your mass gain goals. But, what has your diet been like in the past 18 months? This is more likely the main reason for your lack of growth.

His reply:

Thanks for replying. I am going to switch to squats. Just curious, how much weight should I expect to gain by doing this?

My reply:

I don't have any idea how much if any weight you will gain by switching to squats. There are many variables other than your workout routine that will contribute to your ability to add mass. You didn't tell me what your diet was like?

His reply:

Oh, trust me my diet is not the problem. I eat like crazy, much more than anyone I know.

My reply:

(a loud piercing scream that wakes the neighbor's dog)

Why is it that it is so hard to convince prospective mass gainers that they need to eat more? That they can create the most phenomenal weight training routine, perform it with perfect form and great intensity and still not gain weight because they haven't given the body anything to build that muscle? That they can spend ten grand on bodybuilding supplements and still see no progress simply because they don't put enough food in themselves?

If you aren't gaining weight, it is your diet that is to blame. Period, end of sentence. To summarize, YOU AREN'T EATING ENOUGH.

Now, before I go further, please note that this is not me looking down on people who seem to refuse to get this message. I spent more than ten years trying everything there was to put on some muscle weight. In all that time, I never once thought my diet was my problem. I thought I wasn't using the right supplements or lifting enough weights.

And clearly, judging by the email I get, I was not unique. When I finally understood that the body simply can't magically make muscle appear, that it needs to be supplied the materials to get the job done, I finally started to see results - 30 lbs. in just over two months, mostly muscle.

I'm hoping you aren't as pig-headed as me and it doesn't take you ten years to realize that your diet will be the most important part of your weight gain program.

If you aren't gaining the weight you want, don't just assume your diet is great because you think you eat as much as the next guy. Even if you do, which you probably don't, that guy has different genetics and different energy expenditures.

Learn about muscle building nutrition. Count your calories and then increase them until your body has enough to put on muscle.

How much food do you need to consume to gain muscle weight?

However much it takes for you to put on muscle weight.

From the In-Box - Q&A

...when I do straight leg deadlifts, the only place I feel them is my back. (Aren't they supposed) to work the hamstrings? (from R.K.)

Yes, they are supposed to work the hamstrings. First, you need to make sure you are using proper form. Second, you need to concentrate on using your hamstrings to power the movement. Focus all your energy into making the leg muscles do all the work. Practice without weights until you get the hang of it.

Straight leg deadlifts can be an awkward exercise at first but once you get the hang of them they can be extremely effective. They can also be effective for promoting muscle growth at higher rep/lower weight combinations. You may want to try doing them in 15 rep sets. Do them right and your hams will burn, I promise you.

Future Plans

My work on the weight gain diets section is nearly complete. There is a lot of new information mixed in this section. Next on the list is the bodybuilding supplements section - new (and hopefully better) organization and shorter pages.

I am also starting to work on a review section for some of the muscle building programs and products on the market that can help with mass gain goals.

If you have any comments or suggestions, they are always appreciated. Most of the direction of the site is determined by the email I get. Some stuff, like pre and post-workout nutrition, I don't even realize is missing coverage until someone points it out.

If you don't want to write, use the search function. I look at what is searched for and try to add stuff or make present stuff easier to find based on that.

Strangely, a lot of people search for "weight loss." I don't get that. I think the site makes it pretty clear that it isn't going to be the best place to find that sort of information.

Well, have a great April. Eat a lot.