I hope this issue finds you a few pounds heavier. David from up in Canada wrote to tell me...

"Thanks for the information on weight training. I have gained 6 pounds in the last 3 weeks. This may not sound like much but I have been trying for more than a year and this has been the most success I have had. Also it has come by doing the least amount training I have done..."

Was anyone paying attention to the last line?

David got more results by spending less time on his workouts.

One of the toughest things to learn with regards to weight lifting for mass gain is that sometimes (most times) less means more. A lot of the email I receive is ..."I am working out 12 hours a day, 8 days a week and I can't gain weight. What can I do?"

Well, you can spend more time on the couch and less in the gym. Do intense, short workouts. Then pop your favorite DVD in and do your best impression of a couch potato for a couple of days until your next scheduled workout.

If anyone should come along and inquire as to why you're watching Austin Powers over and over, just tell them, "I'm building muscle."

Can watching Austin Powers movies really build more muscle than a power rack and an olympic weight lifting set?

If used correctly, ABSOLUTELY.

Congratulations on your gains, David. If you too have been putting on the pounds, please let me know. I love to get success stories.

Last month I begged for suggestions for the site. Unfortunately, I wasn't overwhelmed with responses but the ones I got were great. Thanks to those who sent their input.

Keep the suggestions, questions and success stories coming. Contact Me

In This Issue...

Site New Stuff

Understanding Food Labels - A new article from Anthony Ellis. If you don't know who Anthony Ellis is, I encourage you to check out his site . His Gaining Mass program is simply the best mass building program out there.

In this article, Anthony tells you just how to decipher those sometimes confusing food labels. You make think you know it all, but check out the article and you may just find something you didn't know.

Look for more Anthony Ellis articles coming to the site real soon.

Bodybuilding Nutrition Resources - Need to know how many calories were in your breakfast? How much protein, carbs and fat? Now you can search directly from the site courtesy of NutritionData's database. And it is a pretty complete database.

There are additional resources on the page including your basic weight gain diet equations. This is a good page to bookmark to help keep your diet on track.

Is there a resource you use to help you with your bodybuilding diet that is not on the page? Please let me know.

Blog Topics - Over at The Muscle Building Blog the following topics were addressed this past month..."Gain Muscle By Training Less," "Gain Weight with Bananas?" "Building Muscle without Weights," "Squats and Neck Pain"

Interesting Off-site Reads

On occasion, someone puts a link up to the site on a message board (this is greatly appreciated by me). I see the link as a referrer in the site stats and visit the site to see why the Guide was linked. This particular thread was started by a thin guy looking for mass gaining help.

It's interesting to look at some of the advice he received, some bad, some kinda funny, and some very good. If you're sick of hearing this stuff from me, check out the thread.

I'll trust you to discern between the bad and the good (hint: if you're really thin, and your goal is to build mass, running 30 minutes a day probably isn't the way to go. It could make you disappear).

Mighty Mice

This isn't new news by any means, but I got an email from someone asking about myostatin blocker supplements last week. It seems that with the ban of prohormones, these worthless supplements are finding more shelf time in stores.

There is no science to suggest they work (unless you buy that stuff about secret clandestine meetings with leading scentists), it's just someone out to make a buck on you. Maybe in ten years though, you could see legitimate myostatin blockers on the (black) market.

If you don't know what myostatin is and how it relates to mighty mice and muscle building, here's an article to bring you up to speed. The time when we can take a couple of pills and look the way we want isn't here, but it is coming.

Bodybuilding Tip of the Month

Do Not Fear the Fat

One of the many difficult things to deal with for people trying to bulk up is that their gains aren't likely all to be in the form of eye-pleasing muscle. Along with providing the body with the nutrition necessary to build muscle, an unfortunate side-effect is that you are also providing it with the ammunition to add a little body fat.

Enduring this side-effect, I assure you, is very much worth the muscle you will build. When you have successfully achieved your muscle-building goals, that is the time to start worrying about lowering your body fat levels. Dealing with your physique goals in this way, concentrating on one thing at a time as opposed to trying to multi-task (i.e., trying to bulk up while maintaining body fat levels and also training for a marathon), will prove to provide much quicker overall results.

For the underweight person, it would seem that the prospect of adding a little body fat wouldn't be a major concern. This hasn't been my experience, however. Many thin people have a seemingly irrational fear of putting on some fat. I have a theory that as an underweight person, the only thing you really have to be proud of in terms of body image (especially for men) is the fact that you don't have a big belly and it is scary to put this one area of positive self-image at risk.

That theory may be flawed but it is clear that the fat issue is a stumbling block for many who desperately want to bulk up. The tendency becomes that as someone starts to notice their pants get a little tighter, they back off their diet. The result is that they do indeed curb the fat gain but they also stop the muscle growth.

This isn't meant to suggest that you ignore the accumulation of body fat while on your weight gain program. You should be tracking your body fat percentages and making adjustments in your diet if these numbers show too much of your gains are coming from fat. But, for most people, it isn't very realistic to expect to maintain a low body fat level while building muscle.

So, welcome a little fat and you'll likely get a lot of muscle in the bargain.

From the In-Box - Q&A

$20 Supplement Budget

My finances are limited right now and I only have about $20 to spend a month on supplements. What would you recommend, a weight gainer or creatine? (from Sean)

Actually, I don't know that I would recommend either.

The first thing I suggest you do is plan your diet. Figure up how many calories you need, the macro-nutrient ratios for those calories, and plan for how you will consistently follow this diet (Weight Gain Diets). If you are having trouble finding ways to get to your caloric goals, that is the time to consider getting some help from bodybuilding supplements in the form of meal replacements or weight gainers.

Remember, though, just because they are called "weight gainers" doesn't mean they are made with magical weight gaining beans. Weight gain occurs when you take in more calories than you expend. Weight gainers can provide a lot of calories and help you achieve that excess of calories but if you are concerned about what type of weight you are gaining, fat-weight or muscle-weight, it is vitally important you pay attention to your macro-nutrient ratios. This is where some weight gainers can really mess you up because in an effort to impress you with massive calorie counts they simply add sugars (simple carbs).

A good weight gainer is Prolab's N-Large 2 .

For many people, meal replacement products will fit better into their diets. They don't bombard you with as much hype but often they provide better nutrition for muscle building.

If, and only if, your diet is in good shape should you consider creatine. Creatine won't do you much good if you aren't supplying the body with the nutrition it needs to build muscle.

3 X Full-body but No Gains

I have been doing a full-body routine 3 times a week for quite a while and I have gotten stronger. But I'm pretty frustrated because I haven't gained any weight... I like the full-body routines and I never feel sore so I don't think I'm overtraining by doing it three times a week. My question is do you really think that if I cut it back to three days a week like most of your sample routines are that this would mean I would gain weight? (from R.K.)

Working muscle groups three times a week will work fine for many. Everyone is unique. For most hardgainers, however, working major muscle groups just once or twice a week will show the most gains. Some have even found that working them just once per 8-10 days provides them the best results. Ultimately, the only way to find out what works best for you is by trial and error.

My guess is that your frustrations stem more from other issues with your program. You don't mention your diet which will be the greatest factor in your ability to gain mass. You state that you have been working out this way for "quite awhile." Do you mean the same routine? Routines should be changed up every 4 to 8 weeks, keep the body guessing.

There are many other factors that can stall your efforts to gain weight. Are you working heavy? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you getting your post-workout nutrition? And many more.

I encourage to spend some time learning about all these factors from my site and/or other resources. I think your gains will come when you have a good base of knowledge on the subject and then apply it. After ten years of frustration, that's the only way I started to make gains.

Future Plans

I'm still working on the weight gain diets section. The plan is to break some of the longer pages up into separate pages and, hopefully, organize it in a way that all the info is easier to find.

I also have many more new articles to put up. Hopefully I'll find some time to put into the site this month.

Well, I hope you all have a great big March. Talk to you soon.