You Should NEVER Skip A Workout… Or Should You?

By Sean Nalewanyj. Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author. www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

If you want to be successful at anything, discipline and consistency are mandatory.

You’ve got to be willing to work hard week in and week out, and put forth the effort even on those days when you’d rather stay at home, lie on the couch and relax.

The saying says that “80% of success is showing up”, and for the most part I’d say that’s true.

Building muscle is no different.
You’ve got to stay tight to your workout schedule and get yourself into the gym even when it’s the last thing on your mind. If you want to gain muscle size and strength as quickly as possible, you should never, ever miss a workout…

Or should you? Here’s the thing…

Yes, consistency is important. Yes, you should be sticking to your workout schedule the vast majority of the time. Yes, simply bailing on the gym out of pure laziness is not acceptable.

However, I would like to bring up a quote from the late Mike Mentzer when he said… “Rituals have nothing to do with science”.

What you need to keep in mind is that the human body is an extremely complex biological “machine”, and that not every single workout and recovery period is identical.

In other words, just because your schedule states that you must train on days X, Y and Z doesn’t necessarily mean that this will always be the optimal pattern every single week of the year.

If you wake up on a training day and your muscles still ache, you feel physically tired and your regular motivation to train just feels like it has been zapped... don’t you think your body just might be trying to tell you something?

Why would you force yourself to train in a situation where more recovery time is clearly needed, and when you know that your training performance will be less than optimal? If your body, muscles and mind are clearly still reeling from the previous session, what sense does it make to force yourself to train despite this?

After all, we know that the recovery phase is the ultimate “muscle builder” (the actual process of adding new muscle tissue occurs out of the gym on resting days) and that intense weight training is extremely demanding on the body as a whole…

So why would you deliberately interfere with the very process that transforms your physique in the first place? Why not take an extra 24 hours off and re-enter the gym once you feel physically and mentally ready to do so?

What harm could there possibly be in that?

There is no threat of losing muscle size or strength, as these decreases require 2 or more weeks of inactivity to be set into motion. Yet, there is the perfectly likely reality of a positive gain in the form of proper recovery from the previous workout and improved performance on the following workout.

The underlying key is to listen to your body.

Rituals truly do not have anything to do with science, and if it feels obvious to you that additional rest is needed, take it.

Don’t force your body into another battle with the weights if it clearly is not ready to do so. Don’t let your ego get in the way; just because some muscle building guru told you to “never skip a workout” doesn’t mean that it’s always the best approach.

You do have to use this method with caution, though...

If you develop the mindset of only training when you “feel like it”, then it’s likely that you’ll start delaying your workouts and convincing yourself that it’s correct to do so when in fact it is not.

There are plenty of times when you won’t feel like training purely for psychological reasons rather than concrete physical reasons, and that’s not what I’m talking about here.

I’m simply talking about those days where you are able to sense that from a physical standpoint, taking an extra day of rest would be the better course of action.

Just remember... there is no long-term harm in taking an extra day of rest, but there IS the very real and immediate harm of training your body without being fully recovered first.

If in doubt, take the day off! Want more no B.S muscle-building strategies just like this one? 

Check out www.MuscleGainTruth.com for more info. In a bodybuilding world full of marketing hype and exaggerations, I cut straight through the lies and give you the no-nonsense truth about what it takes to gain muscle fast. 

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked "social reject", Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, "The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System". Discover the 1 powerful secret to rapid muscle gains by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com. Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Neglect Your Leg Training And Every Muscle Group Will Suffer

By Sean Nalewanyj. Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author.
ww.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Let’s face it; the honest truth is that a good portion of lifters in the gym just don’t seem to care too much about training their lower body. 

I mean, a thick pair of quadriceps aren’t exactly what most people would consider a “showy” muscle... and I don’t think there’s anyone out there who can remember the last time a woman asked him to “flex his hamstring” for her. 

Everyone is so hell-bent on having a wide, thick upper body that they either neglect or flat-out ignore the other half of their muscles down below. 

They’ll come up with just about any excuse to avoid hard and heavy leg training, citing such responses as “I just run to develop my legs”, “squats are hard on my knees”, or some other bogus reason along those lines. 

I cannot even begin to stress how costly a mistake this really is... 

Not only does it look ridiculous having a ripped and muscular upper body sitting atop a pair of toothpicks-for-legs... but what if I told you that your refusal to place equal muscle building focus on your lower body was actually limiting the amount of muscle you could gain in your chest, back, arms and shoulders? 

You might think it was nothing more than a cheap tactic to get you into the squat rack, but it really is true. 

See, most people think of weight training as a simple black and white issue of “train muscle X using exercise Y, and muscle X will become bigger and stronger”. 

This limited view of muscle growth is one of the primary reasons why most trainees fail to maximize their results in the gym. They end up settling for mediocrity and never achieving the kind of explosive, monster muscle gains that they are truly capable of.

Here’s the truth…

The muscle building mechanism within the body goes far beyond a simple localized event that happens at the level of the muscle tissue itself!

A great deal of muscle growth also results as the entire body as a whole is placed under stress and adapts on a holistic level. This is achieved through the increased secretion of important hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone.

These hormones are considered the “holy grail” of muscle growth, as they are one of the primary limiting factors that determines how much muscle any given individual can ultimately gain. When bodybuilders inject anabolic steroids into their bodies, all they are really doing is increasing the circulation of these important substances.

Now, because you’re a natural trainee and jamming a roid-filled needle into your butt just isn’t your style, you’ve got to find other methods of speeding up the production of these muscle-increasing compounds.

And what is one of the most effective ways to do this?

You guessed it… Hard and heavy leg training! Squats, leg presses, lunges, stiff-legged deadlifts… Did you ever notice how incredibly challenging and downright gut wrenching these exercises can be when performed to a high level of intensity? 

After finishing an all out set of these lifts you may find yourself wishing that you hadn’t come to the gym in the first place. This is because they involve the largest muscle groups on your body and allow you to move massive amounts of weight. 

The reality, however, is that while these leg exercises require a lot of mental toughness and willpower to stick to, their intense difficulty is one of the key ways to really force your body to rev up its anabolic hormone production. 

Greater anabolic hormone levels means greater muscle size and strength, not only for your lower body, but for your entire upper body as well. 

What this means is that if leg training is not a regular part of your workout schedule (or if it is part of your schedule but is simply treated as an after-thought), you are missing out on significant total body gains that you could otherwise be achieving.

Really, take me up on this offer…

Incorporate a hard and intense day of leg training into your weekly workout schedule. Include the most basic compound lifts such as squats, leg presses and stiff-legged deadlifts, and focus on pushing yourself to the limit and adding more weight to the bar each week.

Try this out for 4-8 weeks, and then come back and tell me what you notice.

If you’re like 99% of the population, you’ll report that your strength on every single upper body exercise shot through the roof... and that your chest, back, arms and shoulders became noticeably thicker and more muscular as a result.

If you truly don’t care about the size of your legs, then fine, I can’t force you to do so. However, if not for the sake of your lower body, then at least include hard and intense leg training for the sake of those upper body muscles that you care so much about.

It may not seem logical at first glance... but the plain reality is that intense and consistent leg training really is one of the true “secrets” to a massive, ripped and strong upper body!

To learn exactly how to structure an effective leg workout, and to get all the insider tips for training all of your other major muscle groups, make sure to check out www.MuscleGainTruth.com. I lay everything out for you in step-by-step detail, including full training routines, video lessons and more.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked "social reject", Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, "The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System". Discover the 1 powerful secret to rapid muscle gains by visiting:www.MuscleGainTruth.com. Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

You Ain't Squat 'Till You SQUAT!

By Sean Nalewanyj. Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author. www.MuscleGainTruth.com


Simply put, squats are the most difficult, intimidating and painful exercise you could possibly have in your arsenal. They require massive amounts of discipline and willpower to perform correctly.


After you have performed a set of squats to failure, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. They are also a challenging exercise to master from a technical standpoint.


All this aside, squats are one of, if not THE most effective, growth-producing exercises you could possibly include in your workout routine.


They will pack more size and strength onto your lower body than any other exercise out there, and due to their high level of difficulty, they also force your body to release higher amounts of important anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone. This increased secretion of hormones will pack muscle size onto your entire upper body as well.


In addition, squats cause what is known as a "spillover effect": a strength gain in almost all of your other exercises. When I started squatting to failure, my bench press virtually increased by 20 pounds overnight. If you're looking for serious muscle gains and you don't already squat, you'd better get started.


Quite simply, they really, really work.


Unfortunately, many people have yet to experience the benefits of heavy squatting. It seems that people will come up with just about any excuse they possibly can in order to steer clear form the squat rack.


How many times have you heard the all too common "They're too hard on my knees", or "I heard they stunt your growth." What do I say to that? Nonsense!


If you're in the gym with the goal of maximizing your total body muscle gains, squats are an absolute must.


Proper Squatting Technique

For safety reasons you should always perform your squats in a power rack or cage. This way you can adjust the height at which you clear the bar, and you can drop the bar on the safety pins if you need to bail. The safety pins should be set at just below the depth you are squatting and the J Hooks should be set at about the level of your nipples.


At all times during the squat your head should be pulled back, your chest raised and you should have a slight arch in your lower back. You should always be looking straight ahead, and at no time should you be leaning too far forward, or be looking up or down.


Step up to the bar, placing your hands at about the same width as a bench press. Before clearing the bar, make sure it is placed evenly along your traps. The bar should rest on the lower portion of your traps and across your rear delts. It should almost feel as if the bar is going to roll off your back.


Now that you have cleared the bar, take only as many steps back as necessary. Most squat injuries occur when backing up, so make sure that you only back up as far as you need to. Your feet should be placed about shoulder width apart or slightly wider, and they should point out at a 45-degree angle.


Take a big, deep breath, and make your descent. You should not lower yourself straight down, but rather as if you were sitting in a chair behind you. At all times your knee must remain in line with your feet, and they should never bow in. Lower yourself until your thighs are at least parallel to the ground.


As soon as you have reached the bottom position, rise up immediately. Do not relax in the bottom position! Drive up with your heels and straighten your back as quickly as possible.


Once you are in the upright position again, take another deep breath, and continue the lift until you have completed the desired number of reps.


Final Thoughts

You have all the reason in the world to get into the squat rack, so go ahead and do it. Treat this lift with respect and you'll be shocked at the resulting muscle gains. I would recommend performing your squats once per week, for 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps. Focus on pushing yourself hard on this exercise and continually strive for more weight and more reps.


To learn about more highly effective, growth-producing exercises that you can include in your routine, visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com. Most trainees have no idea how to pick and choose the proper exercises and they dramatically limit their gains as a result.




About The Author





Once an awkward, pencil-necked "social reject", Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, "The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System".


Discover the 1 powerful secret to rapid muscle gains by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

The Pump: Does It Help With Stimulating Muscle Growth?

Your chalked hands are poised to grip the glistening, cold bar as your back presses firmly against the bench. 

Your training partner helps as you un-rack the weight, and you move the bar up and down, squeezing your triceps and chest muscles with each grueling rep.

Re-racking the bar after working through 6 reps, you plant your feet firmly on the ground and stand up.

Engorged with blood, your chest muscles feel firm and tight.

Looking in the mirror, you are impressed with the appearance of your vascular pecs.

Powering through the remainder of your workout is a cinch, considering the new “pump” and how powerful and motivated it makes you feel.

The fact is a pump is the best feeling in bodybuilding.

For those who are still new to this, a pump happens when blood gets trapped in your muscle tissue during resistance training.

Whether or not this does a lot for stimulating muscle growth is open to debate, regardless of how powerful a pump can help make you feel.

Ultimately, getting a pump is simply what happens when you focus on weight training intensely, and there’s definitely nothing wrong with it.

However, keep in mind that the myth that a pump indicates a successful workout and helps in stimulating muscle growth is absolutely baseless.

Don’t try and waste your time gauging a pump as a marker for a great workout.

I’ve heard countless lifters share stories on their massive pumps and offer advice on how to get the best one possible.

“If you want a huge pump, you’ve got to try this!”. "

Those who have been bodybuilding for a long time have certainly heard it before.

Even though a pump feels awesome, it does not do anything in terms of stimulating muscle growth.

A pump is nothing more than the result of extra blood that is trapped inside your muscle tissue.

Ultimately, if I got a pair of 10 pound dumbbells, I would easily achieve an incredible pump by performing 300 reps of a bench press movement.

Look, if muscle pumps really meant something, the trick for stimulating muscle growth would be light weights and high reps.

All it takes is some basic knowledge of bodybuilding to realize that this is not the case.

So how do you know if your workout is stimulating muscle growth?

It’s not that hard….

Check out last week’s workout records and compare the weights and reps to this week.

Are you progressing?

Did you change up anything by adding more weights or increasing the number of reps?

If your answer is positive, rest assured that your workouts are successful and effective at stimulating muscle growth, regardless of whether or not you felt a pump.

Every week, your job is to give 100% on every given set and always work to constant improvement, if you want to build strength and muscle mass.

If you do this consistently, stimulating muscle growth will be easy, with or without a pump.

After reading this, I hope any confusion relating to “pumps” and their role in stimulating muscle growth has been cleared up.

These days, finding a reliable online source for muscle-building information has become quite a challenge.

If you want to learn the truth behind 14 other common, counterproductive "myths", visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

The Secret To Extreme Muscle Growth

Look, the tiny margin of time that spells the difference between extreme muscle growth success and failure is a lot less than what you might think. 

It’s a fact that only a fraction-of-a-second can change everything during a 100 meter race and a fraction-of-a-second moment also determines your body’s extreme muscle growth response when you workout.

Did you know that your entire margin of success in the gym can ultimately be reduced to 60 seconds?

How you choose to handle those 60 seconds will determine whether you experience poor, mediocre, or extreme muscle growth.

Even though you’re looking at a workout that will last for about an hour, only one minute of that time will ultimately decide your overall gains.

You’re probably a little confused now, so allow me to explain….

Every set you perform is ultimately being completed for the purpose of those crucial last 1–2 reps and the gains they can offer.

Since muscles respond to stress, the stressful reps that trigger your body’s extreme muscle growth mechanisms are the ones that take place when the body is on the brink of muscular failure.

So if a given set has 6 reps, then reps 1–4 are done to get to reps 5 and 6.

It’s pretty clear that your first few reps won’t do much in terms of stimulating extreme muscle growth, but are needed to overload the muscles on reps 5 and 6.

Basically, it is only the last couple of reps that result in extreme muscle growth.

As long as you perform the last couple of reps with full intensity during this small time frame at the end of each set, you are looking at massive muscle gains.

If you are familiar with my work, you know I always suggest training to muscular failure.

Ultimately, there is no better way to get your body’s adaptive responses going and to achieve extreme muscle growth than to get your muscles to the point where they cannot move the weight another inch.

Your body’s response and your gains depend on how close you get to muscular failure.

This critical point in time is measured in mere seconds.

If you find that your tendency is to drop the weights 5–6 seconds earlier than the builder right next to you (and the margin is probably even smaller than this), you are significantly sacrificing your gains and getting nowhere near extreme muscle growth.

So, why are 60-seconds all that matter?

If you are performing 10 total sets per workout and the margin is 6 seconds between success/failure, you are looking at a total of 60 seconds per workout where you are either achieving extreme muscle growth because you battle it out or settling for mediocre gains.

Your extreme muscle growth success depends entirely on the short, precise moments at the very end of each set and how much effort you’re willing to put in at that time.

Force yourself to train to all-out muscular failure and you will achieve extreme muscle growth.

Make sure you hold out in those last 3 seconds before muscular failure or your muscle growth will be compromised.

If you are dropping the weight 8 seconds before muscular failure, your gains are further reduced.

Take that 60-second figure, multiply it by my recommended 3 workouts per week, and your bodybuilding success in the gym will actually be measured by that one short 3-minute period each week.

It’s fascinating, when you break down the results in a clinical fashion!

Train hard and with full effort, and you will achieve extreme muscle growth.

You’ll have to push through burning muscles, discomfort, and aches to achieve true muscular failure.

If you stop too soon, even by a second, your gains will be compromised.

Promote extreme muscle growth by following this practice at the gym and you’ll experience better results than ever before.

If you want to learn some awesome psychological techniques for breaking through the pain barrier and “mentally numbing” the discomfort associated with hard training, make sure to visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com for details.

Tips For Bodybuilding: Overcoming A Plateau

It’s happened to the best of us at some point or the other…. 

Many of use tips for bodybuilding to create successful workout programs, and we constantly add more weight on the bar, more pounds on the scale, and become bigger and stronger from week to week.

But out of nowhere, our gains come to a screeching halt, and our muscle building and strength gaining progress is stopped dead in its tracks.

This, my friends, is called a “plateau.”.

All progress halts during a plateau, in spite of our best efforts in the gym and in the kitchen. What does a typical bodybuilder do in response? Haphazardly switching up their training routine, these builders do everything they can to “shock” their muscles into new gains...

They change everything up, including their rep ranges and the exercises they perform... They try to force new gains by experimenting with new techniques like forced reps, negatives, and static holds.

HALT!

Even though some tips for bodybuilding say that varying your exercise routine is the key, these plateaus exist as a result of far more fundamental reasons. It’s not because your body has mastered your old workout.

Most of the time, a plateau simply means that you are overtraining. We need to consider some basic physiology in order to see why this is the case…. When we train intensely in the gym, we hurt our muscles.

With every set that we do, it takes longer for the body to heal. Your body needs time and nutrition to heal when you leave the gym, in order to repair this damage. When your muscles have been remodeled back to their previous state, your body will also start to build up more muscle as an adaptive response to the stress.

Are you still with me?

Here’s where it gets more complicated…. As you get stronger and begin to lift heavier poundages, the stress on your body increases and so does the “hole” in your body’s recovery abilities. For example, a seasoned bodybuilder bench pressing 300 pounds for 6 reps is placing his muscles under far more stress as opposed to a beginner who is only pressing a mere 125 pounds. 


And what is the connection with the plateaus?

Totally!

The heavier weights and increasing stress levels that you subject your body to each week HAVE to be compensated for by a reduction in training volume and frequency. If you continuously raise the bar on each and every set, but at the same time, you refuse to cut down on the number of sets or training days, your body will eventually reach a stage where it is unable to properly recover between workouts.

When you can’t recover properly, your muscles are not given an adequate amount of time to remodel, and this leads to limited size and strength. If you interrupt the process of recovery by placing your muscles under more stress before they are fully recovered, your gains will slow down and eventually stop.

This keeps you from pressing forward, and you keep yourself on the plateau. Good to know, right? Believe it or not, when you become more advanced, you must train less often and with fewer sets!

It makes sense that training intensity and volume is DIRECTLY related, because they are part of a balanced equation that works to decide your progress. If one variable goes up, the other MUST go down.

So if you find yourself “stuck” on this weight training plateau, try these tips for bodybuilding…. You have to balance your frequency and volume! Consider inserting an additional rest day in between workouts, and decrease the number of sets you perform for each muscle group.

Find out if you were previously overtraining by applying these tips for bodybuilding and then evaluating whether you come back to the gym stronger. Here are a few more tips for bodybuilding to keep in mind…. Often, a slight reduction in volume and frequency is usually all you need to make constant, uninterrupted progress in strength and size.

Understand that the body has a limited amount of recovery ability and as you grow stronger, you are using more of it with each set; so don’t panic and start hunting for some new “ground-breaking” routine. If you want to blast yourself through the plateau and into a new phase of growth, reduce your volume and insert an additional rest day into your routine. If you found these tips for bodybuilding helpful, make sure to visit me at www.MuscleGainTruth.com for more highly effective tricks and tips for bodybuilding. If you want to build muscle fast, then you can't be making mistakes that will sabotage your efforts.

Tips For Weight Training: How To Stay Injury Free

The truth is that if you want to become really huge, you have to train big. You won’t get results by going to gym and not even breaking a sweat. Overload your muscles with heavy weights and high intensity if you are in the market for serious results. Undoubtedly, this is the best way to stimulate muscular growth. Since muscles grow due to a natural adaptive survival response, you have to give them a good reason to grow or they won’t. 

Even though hard and heavy training might be good for your muscles, remember that it can spell trouble for the health of your connective tissue and joints.

Even though your odds are high that you could get injured during intense weight training, you can certainly take specific steps to lessen the chance.

An injury is the worst case scenario, as it will stop you dead in your muscle-building tracks.

Below, I’ve outlined my 5 golden tips for weight training; these will help reduce your odds of injury.

If you can honestly say you follow these 5 tips for weight training, you will lower your odds of injury substantially.

1) Commit to a thorough warm-up.
One of the most essential tips for weight training, taking time for a proper warm-up is the single best thing you can do to minimize your risk of injury.

Since this 15–20 minute process increases blood flow into the surrounding connective tissue and lubricates your joints, your mind and body will be prepared for the hard work to come.

Do 5 minutes of light cardiovascular exercise before each workout, and then 4–5 warm-up sets for the first major exercise of the routine.

2) Proper form is essential.
As tips for weight training go, this one is pretty high on the list.

Whenever you perform an exercise at the gym, it should be done with proper form and technique to keep the stress off your joints.

Once you begin squatting or deadlifting with a rounded back, getting crazy with the weights, or performing dangerous exercises, you are begging to get hurt.

3) You have to train within your limits.
This is one of those tips for weight training you really need to follow.

Since weightlifting is a personal battle, you will not achieve anything by allowing your ego to take over.

For your training program, the dude next to you and how much he benches is irrelevant.

When you start adding on plates to impress everyone around you, you’ll be stretching your limits, sacrificing proper form, and putting yourself in a very vulnerable position.

4) Know when to quit.
This is one of those tips for weight training that every lifter really needs to keep in mind.

When you are incapable of doing another rep using proper form, the set is over, plain and simple.

Lay down the weight and gear up for your next set.

Using jerky movements and lots of momentum to perform some extra reps is a surefire recipe for disaster.

5) You need to listen to your aches and pains.
One of the top tips for weight training, this will make certain you don’t spend your workout ignoring something serious.

I get it! When you’re bulldozing along through a weight training program and are constantly progressing on a weekly basis, the idea of quitting just seems impossible.

On occasion, this drive might encourage us to pretend as if these obvious injuries aren’t really there.

Most of the time, it only makes things worse.

When you get to the point where you have a feeling that something’s not right, go get the problem checked out and take the time to allow it to get better.

Even though your immediate progress will be affected, the long-term effect will put you major strides ahead.

You can learn even more tips for weight training and details about keeping your joints and connective tissues healthy for years to come by visiting www.MuscleGainTruth.com. I'll teach you the specific way to perform a weightlifting warmup, and will provide you with streaming online videos that demonstrate the proper form for over 100 different weightlifting exercises.