thenaturalone’s BodyBlog

I meet so people that are battling with their own bodies to lose weight and remain unsuccessful. Most them will say that they are doing everything right but they just can’t get any meaningful results. While so many people who are trying to lose weight think they are doing the right things, are they really? Here are a few reasons that people aren’t losing weight as they feel they should.

1. Carbohydrates are too high. Alot people I meet think they are doing a good job keeping their carbs low when in reality they are consuming alot of hidden sugar carbohydrates. People really buy into these food and snack companies that promote so called healthy foods and snacks. Beware! Some examples are alot of cerials, crackers, yogurt, chips and cookies and even breads that are advertised as being a healthy addition to the diet when in fact they are loaded with simple sugars. Daily consumption of these types of food will make weight loss very tough. Nearly all cold cerials are loaded with excessive simple sugars. The only ones that are worth eating are the original all bran and fiber one. Be sure to read lables of these products and check out the sugar content. Some of the yogurts out there will have a sugar content that is comparable to a king sized candy bar! Chips and crackers and cookies should just be off limits all together, none of them will support a weight loss diet. And no it doesn’t matter if they are baked they’re not good for you. Again take a look at the ingredients and nutritional information. 

2. Carbohydrates are too low. When carbs are cut back too far it creates higher levels adrenaline and cortisol in the body which will work against fat loss. I’d say never go under 60 grams in a day. Just try and make sure they come from low glycemic sources such as green veggies and unrefined grains.

3. Water retention. Taking too much sodium and not drinking enough water to flush that sodium out will make you retain water and bloat. Try not to get too carried away with the salt shaker!

4. Your body could be in a transitional stage. Your body will sometimes go through a period of adjustment just like a thermostat, your body could be resetting it’s internal temperature to catch up with amounts and types of fuel it’s getting. This will sometimes happen to me when I begin a lower calorie weight loss diet. Sometimes I will actually gain a few pounds the first couple weeks until my body resets it’s thermostat and then at which point I begin shedding fat.

5. Are you overeating? Too many calories beyond the maintainance and growth needs of the body will make us gain weight. Try to increase the amount of nutrients while decreasing the amount of calories consumed. Stick with nutrient dense foods and make every calorie count.

6. Are you undereating? Yes that’s right, too few calories will through your body into a metabolic meltdown in which your metabolism will come to a screaching halt. This is the bodies way of protecting itself from starvation. Try eating 5-6 small nutrient dense meals per day to prevent this. Some of the fatest people I’ve ever met eat just ounce per day!

7. Your not being consistant with your training? Both weight training and cardio! Weight training because it will keep more fat off your body in the long term because as you add muscle your metabolic rate increases. This happens because muscle is active tissue, it burns calories 24/7. Your muscle is your metabolism! Just like an engine in a vehicle. The bigger the engine the more fuel that is burned. The bigger the muscle, the more fat that is burned. Cardio training will burn fat and calories on very short term basis but effectively when done with consistancy.

8. Do you have food intolerances? Many people have problems being able to digest or they are allergic to wheat, milk, sugar, peanuts, soy, eggs, and corn. Some other offenders are artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame (Equal), citric acid which is in soda, alcohol, and glycerine which is found in alot of protein bars. Eliminate the suspected food for a couple weeks and see what happens.

9. Are you taking medications? Many meds can interfere with weight loss, especially anabolic steroids or other steroid medications like predisone is one of the worst. There are many other types of Rx drugs that can cause weight gain. If your taking any medications check with your pharmacist or doctor.

10. Are you eating enough protein? If your protein intake is too low then your body will break down it’s own muscle protein which means your metabolism will slow down. Remember, your muscle is your metabolism!

Take these things into consideration if you are currently losing the battle to lose weight and try to make the necessary adjustments and see if your progress improves. Best of luck!

What a standard that has been set in the world of  bodybuilding! By that, I’m talking about the standard that has been set by the bodybuilding magazine industry that  has literaly created the bodybuilding profession and made it what it is from right around the year 1965 up till now. Over the duration of this booming bodybuilding magazine industry millions apon millions of readers have put complete faith into everything that is printed in  these magazines and followed all the information they provide as a blue print on how to build the perfect body. Where does this lead all these inspiring bodybuilders to be. Well first clue, just look around. How many Jay Cutler or Ronnie Coleman look alikes do see combing the streets? Or lets lower the scale and ask how many Dave Draper or Larry Scott look alikes do see out and about? Well, if your like me, the answer is 0! Or if you have seen any of these look alikes it would far and very few between. Why would this be? Well, with all that vast knowledge of the pro bodybuilders printed in all these magazines telling all of us what workout to follow and what supplements to take you think there would be alot more amazing physiques walking among us. The answer to this is very simple. All these magazines are full of crap! The fact is that these magazines have abandoned the needs of normal people wanting to build muscle and lose bodyfat and have invested  strictly in pro bodybuilders and pro competitions that are dominated by very heavy drug use! These magazines are huge frauds and have done enormous disservice to the sport and also all the consumers who purchase these magazines. They print workouts that will never work for an average person or drug free bodybuilder because with out heavy steroid use there’s no possible way you could recover fast enough to get anything meaningful out of these workouts. Then you’ll also find page after page of fraudulant advertising by supplement companies that have heavily juiced bodybuilders endorsing them, claiming to use these supplement and suggesting that you might be able to see similar results as what they do if you would only buy all the supplements that they say they’re using. I think it’s very sad to see the bodybuilding industry become what it is. Unfortunately people will continue to read these magazines, believe what they read and follow the advice thats given. This will result in countless injuries, wasted money and great deal of disappointment. For those who are aware of the drug use and want to take that route and try to reach pro status, well the success would be very short term and the consequences could be devastating later on down the road. It’s also worth mentioning that I ounce spoke to an IFBB Pro bodybuildier who told me that  his drug bill which included steroids, growth hormones, insulin, and diuretics ended up costing around $200,000. per year. He explained to me that this was about the average cost that a pro bodybuilder would spend in 1 year on drugs. Take this into consideration the next time you read about the workouts and the supplements that the pro bodybuilders in the muscle magazines use. I will say that I have to give the Magazine Planet Muscle some credit for providing some good information on bodybuilding for those who choose to do it the natural way. They do still feature some drug laden pro bodybuilders but at least they’re making some attempt to cater to the needs of normal people and natural bodybuilders.  

Normally I try to write posts that contain helpful information about bodybuilding that are very serious for the most part but every so often I like to put a not so serious post in the mix just for fun. I came up with a few questions that I sometimes ask myself based on life experiences and also daily observations and maybe some of you can relate to some of these questions on some level or maybe not and I’m just weird. Here is a list of questions I ask myself quite often…

- Why is it any time you buy supplements that come in plastic containers, the containers are always barely half way full? Marketing perhaps?

- Why is that anyone I know thats overweight and has kids always tells me the reasons why they are overweight and cant exercise and eat right is because of the fact that they have kids? Am I missing something here? Maybe these people’s children belong to that crazy kids cult from that movie Childeren Of The Corn, where Maliki instructs all the children to hold kitchen knives to their parents throats and forces them to eat Little Debbie Snack Cakes and drink multiple pictures of margarita’s all night long. Any other theories?

- How come every workout printed in Muscles and Fitness and Flex magazine has you always doing 5 sets on each excercise you do? Where did that magic number of 5 come from and why? I’ve never done 5 sets of anything at one time.

- George W Bush, not 1 but 2 terms???????????????????????????????????????
?????

- Why is it that in Wisconsin the majority of fit, in shape women that workout like to date big obese fat men that don’t workout and live off of beer and fast food?

- How come smokers feel it is their right to contaminate our lungs with second hand smoke in public places and increase our risk of getting lung cancer? If I were to walk around in public and punch smokers in the head could it just be considered a bad habbit also?

- Just how big are IFBB pro bodybuilders gonna have to get before action is taken to rid steroids and other illegal drugs from bodybuilding competition? They will probably be competing ay 5′ 9" and weigh 420 pounds and be shredded down to 2% bodyfat by which at that point they won’t even be able to be classified as human beings.

- If Opra really believes that green tea is a huge weight loss break through then why doesn’t she drink some?

- Why is it that the people who expose their bodies in public are always the one’s that absolutely shouldn’t?

- How come in Wisconsin if your 100 pounds over weight and wear camo hunting bibs and Nascar hats every day your considered normal and nobody thinks anything of it but if you workout and keep fit and wear clean clothes then everyone looks at you like your ET or something?

- How come when you use a public restroom, say like at the gym, and there is either 5 urinals or 5 stalls available and you go use the very end one, then someone always has to come use the one right next to you even though there’s four left that are vaccant?

- Why is it that GNC thinks it’s exceptable to charge $50 for a 2 pound container of whey protein?

- With gas prices as high as they are, how come weekend traffic hasn’t slowed down at all?

- How come every time I go to a movie there’s always come idiot talking loudly on a cell phone in the theater?

- How come old, fat, stinky, creepy balding guys think they should be dating women who look like models?

- How come guys think they can attract women by staring at them and looking them up and down? Can you say creep show?

- How come so many guys think that just because a woman says hi to them or smiles at them that it means they want to sleep with them? Wishful thinking but sorry guys, no cigar. 

- How come any time a celebrity loses 5 pounds of fat or gains 5 pounds of muscle then they’re on the front cover of every muscle magazine out there but one of us would have to win a pile of world bodybuilding championships to make the cover of a muscle magazine? Obama recently had his name on the front cover of Planet Muscle cause he ate a Met-Rx bar! LOL!

What can I say, so many questions, so little time. I could go on all day but I gotta wrap this one up. Hopefully you can relate to some of these things or get a good laugh, if not then I’m probably some crazy wack job who’s out of touch with reality and people will be questioning me!

As you probably know everyone and their brother, sister and cousin has a book out there about how to lose weight. There’s the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, nutri system, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and the Hollywood diet just to name a few. With so many different theories and ideas about weight loss it’s no wonder why it remains to be the single most confusing topic out there in terms of health and fitness. So which diets or weight loss plans actually work? Well, to tell you the truth, they all work to a certain point. The one common denominator of every single weight loss diet plan out there is that they all are reduced calorie diets. Any time you go on a plan where you maintain a calorie deficit diet for an extended period of time rather than flying by the seat of your pants eating whatever, whenever, then you will most definately lose weight. In the bodybuilding world the low carb diets are most popular for fat loss. And yes low carb diets do work well but they work by being a calorie deficit diet. An average person would be better off by reducing the portion size of all the macronutrients, that is fat, carbohydrates, and protein in order to cut calories, lose weight and still obtain a well balanced diet. Bodybuilders on the other hand will do better on a lower carb diet with more emphesis on protein in order to provide maximum building blocks to preserve and build the muscles which are constantly under a heavy work load and reducing carbohydrates and saturated fats in order to minumize  total bodyfat content at the same time which makes a bodybuilders situation more unique in this respect. However, taking extra supplements is an absolute must in order to obtain a well balanced diet when carbohydrate intake is low. Lots of fiberous carbs should replace startchy carbs. By fiberous carbs I mean lots of green leafy veggies like broccoli, asparagus, spinach, green beans, and mixed greens. This is important to provide vitamins, minerals and fiber. A multivatamin, essential fats like flax oil, extra virgin olive oil, fish oil, and extra calcium and vitamin C need to be supplemented on a daily basis. Also branched chain amino acids and creatine ethylester should be taken before and after workouts to provide more energy and enhance muscle recovery and also keep blood sugar levels more stable. A good whey protein isolate supplement can very helpful to control food craving and also help fullfill the craving for sweets. Whey isolate is good to bridge the gaps between meals to keep up energy and also to take along with branched chain amino acids and creatine ethylester after your workouts to further enhance muscle recovery. Now in case your wondering why I suggest creatine ethylester as apposed to creatine monohydrate, it’s because creatine monohydrate requires alot of sugar to be taken with it in order to absorb which wont help fat loss on a low carb diet, creatine ethylester doesnt require sugar to be absorbed. It is also a good idea to try to take in smaller food portions on a more frequent basis to have a more optimal effect on increasing your metabolism. While it is important to reduce calories, it is also important to try to take in 5-6 small food portions per day composed of mainly lean protein sources and fiberous carbohydrates like green leafy vegetables. Eating in this manner will help preserve muscle tissue better which will keep your metabolic rate higher. The idea here is to increase the amount of nutrients you take in while reducing the amount of calories. The bottom line is that it isn’t one particular nutrient or one single thing you eat that makes you fat. It’s any calories consumed beyond your bodies maintenance and growth needs is what makes you fat. The idea is to create an energy deficit in the body which will force it to have to rely on stored bodyfat for energy. You make this happen simply by burning off more calories than you take in during the day. This means cut back on calories and increase the amount of exercise you do. Simple mathematics really. There’s 3600 calories in a pound of fat. With the modifications you make in your life style to do more exercise and eat fewer calories you may complete one week with a negative calorie balance of 3600-7200 calories. This means that you lost 1-2 pounds of fat. If you gain 1-2 pounds then you have taken in 3600-7200 calories during the week that your body didn’t need. Success here depends strictly on discipline to make a valid effort to cut back calories and keep up on a regular exercise plan. The more consistant you are with these two things the greater extent of weight loss you can achieve. I will be the first to admit, trying to lose weight is not fun, nor is it always  comfortable because in order to be cosistant on a weight loss plan you have to constantly turn down unhealthy food. That is a big reason why americans in general are becoming increasingly over weight, is because there is far too much unhealthy food available in way too many places. How often you turn away from these unhealthy food opportunities will reflect just how serious you are about creating a lean healthy body. All I can say is, the next time your boss brings in dounuts to work for a job well done, having the lean, healthy, strong, muscular body you’ve always dreamed of will feel 1000 X better than that dounut will taste! Be strong, stay disciplined and the rewards will be great! 

I remember 14 years ago after having learned about the negative consequences of overtraining as it applied to me personally I began a workout that involved training each muscle group on a less frequent basis. I had been training each muscle group 3 times per week and I had all the signs of over training, lack of muscle and strength gains, chronic fatgue, chronic muscle soreness and joint pain, insomnia, depression, restlessness, and lack of ambition for training. I altered my routine so that I was training each muscle group just ounce per week and doing half the amount of sets per bodypart as what I did before. It was crazy after that, my gains began to sore, I gained more muscle and more strength, my drive to train hard went through the roof, my muscle and joint pain went away, and wasn’t always tired anymore, I actually had energy! After following this new program for several weeks, one of the regulars at the gym noticed how much heavier weights I was suddenly lifting and approached me and asked me how I could possibly be lifting weights that much heavier so suddenly and I told him that I was drastically over training before working each muscle group 3 times per week and now I was training each muscle group just ounce per week and now I was making great muscle gains due to the fact that I was giving my muscles that much needed increased recovery time in order recuperate and produce muscle size and strength gains. He laughed and responded back to me " Yeh well that type of training your doing might help you gain strength, but theres no way your gonna gain much size training each muscle group just ounce per week." I then said "Oh really? Well ok, if don’t get bigger by getting stronger, than how do you get bigger? By getting weaker??? Thats right in order to get your muscles bigger they must get stronger. There is a very direct relationship between muscle size and muscle strength. On that note, make no mistake about it, as long as your getting stronger your moving in the right direction in order to get bigger. Train smarter not harder!

In terms of our diets, there is no subject in this category that has caused more confusion and controvery for people than  protein supplements. I decided to write this blog to shed some light on this subject in order to straighten out some of the confusion in regards to protein supplements. What kind of protein is the best kind to use? Are they all the same? When is the best time to take protein supplements? Are there advantages and disadvantages to using different proteins? Lets begin with the most popular of all proteins, whey protein. Not all whey proteins are created equal. Sometimes you do get what you pay for. You may know that whey protein is derived from cow’s milk. Cow’s milk has two different types of protein. Casein protein about 80% and whey protein about 20 %. The difference? Whey protein contains natuaraly higher amounts of branched chain amino acids and glutamic acid which greatly enhance muscle recovery and nitrogen balance. About one-third of our muscle tissue is composed of branched chain amino acids and roughly 10% of fuel required for muscular activity which can lead to more intense training sessions and also better muscle recovery which means better muscular gains. One other advantage to whey protein is that it is much more soluble than other protein sources so its a very fast acting protein that can deliver a fresh flood of amino acids to hungry muscle tissue in a matter of minutes. Levels of blood amino acids will peak about 1 hour after ingestion and return down back to pre-meal levels in around 4 hours. These qualities make whey a great post workout protein to use after workouts during that time sensitive window of opportunity of about 45 minutes when the muscles can super- saturate with nutrients like amino acids to begin the recovery process. With whey protein you get a much higher concentration of amino acids delivered in a much faster time frame than you would casein or caseinate protein. Now lets take a look at the different types of whey protein the compositions of each kind. First, lets look at sraight whey powder which is roughly just 11-14% protein, 63-75% lactose, and 1-1.5% milk fat. Not the best choice because all that lactose will cause some gastrointestinal disturbances and the actual protein content is very low, respectively. Then probably the most commonly used whey protein seen on the market in most whey protein supplements is whey protein concentrate. The actual protein content can vary between 25-89% depending on the quality. Lactose content can be anywhere from 10-55%, while the milk fat content can be from 2-10%. Finally, lets look at whey protein isolate. Here we have an actual protein content of 90+% of actual protein with the lactose content being very low around .5% and also the milk fat content at around .5%. There you have it, when searching for a good between meal and post workout protein, then whey protein isolate will be your best bet where you’ll get the best bang for your buck. Read the ingedients to find the protein origin of a product before you buy it! Now what about casein and caseinate proteins? These are the slowest absorbed and digested of all the proteins. Not to say that these proteins are bad, however, they should be reserved as pre-bed time proteins in order to help support a positive nitrogen balance to keep the body in an anabolic state throught the night while sleeping. These proteins will take as long as 8-10 hours to run through your system so never use them before a workout as they will keep blood in your stomach for a long period of time to slowly digest the slow absorbing protein. You don’t want blood in your stomach when your training, you want the blood in your muscles! Consider this information the next time you go to place an order for a new protein supplement to add to your regimen. I hope this information is helpful. Best of luck!

I tried this new bicep workout that is actually a very old workout but new to me and it only took 5 minutes to complete and by the end of this brief workout my biceps were blown up like cannon balls and they stayed pumped for the next 2 days! I came accross this workout when researching some training styles that were used by my favorite bodybuilder of all time, The Legend Larry Scott. Larry Scott had in my opinion the most perfectly developed arms of any bodybuilder in history. Larry Scott was very impressive in his days back when he won the 1965 and 1966 Mr. Olympia. He stood 5′8" and weighed 205 lbs with a 29" waist and massive 21" arms which was unheard of back in the days before steroid use got so heavy. Alot of bodybuilders now days would have to reach a body weight of 280 lbs or more to reach an arm measurement that big. I read a very interesting article Larry had written talking about his favorite bicep routine and was curious to see what it would be like to try it out so I did. Here is how it went. I began by setting up for the workout. I grabbed a well padded preacher curl bench, one that has a rounded top versus the kind that have a pointy crown and slant straight down. I grabbed a set of heavy dumbbells, I used 75’s. Then I took a straight barbell loaded with with about 80-85% of the weight that the 2 dumbbells weighed together which came to 125 lbs. Then I grabbed an E-Z curl bar and loaded it with a weight that was 60-65 % of the weight that was on the straight bar which ended up to be 80 lbs, then I grabbed a set of dumbbells that was equal to the weight that was on the easy bar which would be the 40 lb dumbbells. Every thing was set so here’s what I did. I grabbed the 75 lb dumbbells, 1 in each hand and put my elbows just past the crown of the preacher bench right where the pad starts to slant down, then keeping my elbows close together with a 75 in each hand pointing outward at about shoulder width with my palms facing up, I lowered both dumbbells simotaniously and completed 6 reps of curls letting the weights slowly lower all the way down until the wrists uncurl at the bottom of the movement and then bringing the weights all the way to the top into the begining position. Ounce I finished that I did 3 partial reps with the dumbbells where I only lowered them half way down and then back up. Immediately following that I grabbed the straight bar with the 125 lbs on it and with the same form having the elbows close together and my grip almost shoulder width apart I performed 6 full reps still on the preacher bench and then 3 partial reps. Right after that I put the barbell down and grabbed the E-Z curl bar with the 80 lbs on it and held the bar with a reverse grip and performed 6 full reps of reverse grip preacher curls and then 3 partial reps. By this time my biceps were so engorged with blood and so tight I barely move my arms! Next, without any rest I put down the E-Z curl bar and grabbed the 40 lb dumbbells and performed 6 full reps of double arm hammer style preacher dumbbell curls (palms both facing inward towards each other), then I performed 3 partial reps and that was all she wrote! My biceps were cooked! Fully pumped, skin tight, and veins a bulgin, that was the most wicked bicep pump I’ve had in a long time! And yes the total time it took including set up was just 5 minutes! It’s all about quality not quantity. If your looking to add more size and thickness to your biceps I recommend giving this bicep routine a try. If you get a chance go ahead and google Larry Scott and check out those classic 21" guns. If you look closely at his photo’s the condition his arms were in for that time period were absolutely incredible! One final note here, unless chemicaly enhanced, I recommend doing this super-duper-set for just one go cause it is very taxing! Repeating this cycle of exercises for over 1 super set at a time could lead to over training and be counter-productive. I would limit this workout to no more than once per week. A training partner can be very helpful doing this routine as well. I’m looking forward to doing this workout again as soon as my biceps fully recover! Best of luck to everyone!

I cant tell you just how many articles I’ve read in bodybuilding books and magazines about how you can achieve muscle growth by using muscle confusion and or muscle tricking techniques. Articles such as these seem to suggest that each muscle fiber has it’s own little brain and can think for it’s self to the point where when you train that your actually in a war of wits with your muscles and need to invent some clever strategic plan in order to trick your muscles into a growth response, ya know like a game of chess your having with your muscles where each muscle fiber is it’s own entity that can outwit you if your not slick enough for it’s formitable intelligence. I just have to laugh, roll my eyes and shake my head when I hear and read about theories like this. There does not exist one single iota of scientific evidence that suggests that it’s even a remote possibility to confuse your muscles. The only confusion thats taking place is the confusion that bodybuilding enthusiasts have when they read obsurd articles in books and magazines that suggest muscle confusion is real. The fact of the matter is that it is absolutely impossible to confuse a muscle! Our muscles are not that technical. Our muscles have only two fuctions, they contract and they relax, that’s it! Yes, you heard me correctly, contract and relax, that’s all! Although progressive resistance or muscle overload is absolutely necessary in order for your body to have an adaptive response to grow bigger muscles, there is no way, shape or form that you can confuse your muscles. Muscle growth occurs through a very simple process. You workout, you perform weight training exercises and if your going about it the right way you progressively increase the intensity of your training by subjecting your muscles to either heavier weights than what they’re used to or by using a the same weights for a higher rep range than they are used to in order to warrant an adaptive response by the body which is to ad more muscle to the body part under a now more stressful work load, in order to protect that body part from further assault that you may subject it to. Ounce you’ve tore up a muscle with progressive overload the next step is to get out of the gym, make sure you give the muscles sufficient time to recover so that they can actually grow, take in the precise amount of protein and nutrients to fullfill your muscles maitainance and growth needs, and ounce your fully recovered your muscles will now be bigger and stronger and you go back into the gym and follow this process all over again but now working with a heavier work load than last time, and it’s that simple. Don’t ever let anyone make you think that muscle growth is more complicated than that because it isn’t! One last note here. If when you go back into the gym to repeat a given workout, and your not stronger than you were the last time, then it’s because your muscles haven’t fully recovered yet and you need to incorporate more rest days between all future weight training sessions!

One of the most common myths in the bodybuilding world is that because you obtain a pump while weight lifting means that you’ve stimulated muscle growth. This is not the case. The pump sensation you get from lifting weights is just a temporary edema or swelling of the muscle in response to weight training. If getting a pump meant that you stimulate muscle growth then you would be coming into the gym bigger, better and stronger literaly every single workout. Just think of all the regular lifters you see at the gym that obtain a pump every single day but haven’t gotten any bigger or stronger for months or even years. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the pump, in fact I love the feeling of fresh oxygenated, nutrient rich blood flowing throughout my muscles when I lift, however, the positives that come along with obtaining a pump aren’t enough to stimulate muscle growth. Progressive resistance where intensity is increased via using heavier weights or doing more repetitions with a particular weight that the muscle isn’t used to is what it takes in order for the body to create an adaptive response by stimulating more muscle growth. Combined of course with adaquit rest and recovery time and the proper nutrition. Just to give you an example, every single time I train my arms, I move up and become stronger every single arm workout. Every one! The thing is here that I train my arms ounce every 3 weeks. This is not B.S! With the weights I use thats how long it takes to recover enough in order to produce muscle growth. I see other guys in the gym that train arms 3 times per week but yet haven’t been able to increase the strength or muscle mass in their arms for months to years even though they pump them up hard 3 times per week. So you see I’m seeing much better results pumping my arms ounce every 3 weeks vs others who pump their arms 3 times per week. Those extra days of pumping may not only not give you better results, but it could be counter productive. The only way to gauge whether or not your stimulating muscle growth is by whether or not your stronger any time you repeat any given set of exercises. If your not stronger every workout, then chances are your over training even though you may be obtaining the pump much more often. And yes folks, in order to get bigger you must get stronger. I had a guy tell me that training my way may make you stronger but it wouldn’t make you bigger. My response to him was "Ok, if you dont get bigger by getting stronger, than how do you get bigger? By getting weaker?" He didn’t have much to say after that. You see a little logic can go a long way when it comes to bodybuilding. Best of luck training to all!

There are so many magazines out there that I read articles by pro bodybuilders talking about what a great benefit it is to do forced reps as part of your muscle building regimen and for the pro’s who are saying this that may be the case for them but because of one simple reason. That reason is anabolic steroids. Doing forced reps will cut such a deep inroad into muscles recovery ability that there’s just no way that inroad will be able to be filled in or compensate (put back what was already there), in order to over compensate (put back more than was there before), which is what we know to be muscle gain. At least not by natural means anyway. I’ve never known of a drug free bodybuilder who has ever gotten anything out of doing forced reps. In fact in each case I’ve seen where this was practiced it was actually counter-productive. It is very catabolic to the muscles of a natural bodybuilder. Anabolic steroids are very powerful chemicals that drasticaly alter the chemistry of the body by greatly enhancing nitrogen retention, protein synthesis, and also supressing the release of cortizole, a very catabolic stress hormone that breaks down muscle tissue. And no there arent any supplements out there that non hormonal that can produce the same anabolic effects that steroids can. This makes steroids sound really good however the cost of the benefits of using them wont compare to the price of the negatives one would experience from using  them. On another note about forced reps, it can also be very annoying to the person being asked to help the person doing the forced reps. Yes I’m speaking from experience. I had a guy come up and ask me to help him do some forced reps on the bench press. I dont know why but I agreed. I don’t mind spoting someone but I don’t like doing their workout for them. Anyway, he had 225 lbs on the bar so he got under the weight and told me that he would do 2 reps on his own and then wanted me to assist him forcing out another 3-4 more reps. I’m thinking to myself ok who’s gonna be doing the work here? Just as I suspected he lifted off and managed to get just 1 rep on his own and while struggling he said "ok, 4 more! Help me! Basically what happened is I ended up doing a set of deadlifts while he rested his hands on the bar and went along for the ride. I wasn’t too happy either cause I had just done super heavy deadlifts the day before and my back and traps were in knots! About 10 minutes later he came over and asked be to help him do some more forced reps on the bench and this time I said "no!" He gave me a puzzled look and asked "why not?" I said " because it wont do either of us any good." I then explained to him the science behind over training and that that’s what he was doing by using forced reps and he would never see any meeningful gains by doing them. I also explained to him that he wasn’t actually the one doing the set, I was actually doing a set of dealifts with him hanging on the bar. He told me that this how the pro’s do it and he was gonna keep doing it this way and that it would work. The following week I saw him in the gym maxing out at a bench press of 205 for 1 rep. So yes, he lost 20 lbs off his bench in one week. Impressive hey? So unless you want to end up like that guy, dont do forced repetitions if your a natural bodybuilder!