Body builders and trainers must eat protein consistently as much as 1 gram of protein for every 1 pound of bodyweight.

For example, a person who weight 200 pounds will have to consume 200 grams of protein per day in his diet. Anything less than that and the recovery process of muscle as well as any body building efforts will not be as effective.

Some trainers have been known to consume up to 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to increase the speed of muscle building process. However, this is not recommended for everybody especially if you are just starting out. Your protein consumption also should be spread over 5 to 6 meals.

Sources of protein can obtained from:

Chicken breast
Lean red meat
Lean pork
Chicken breast
Turkey breast
Fish
Egg
Skim Milk
Protein Bars & Powders

If you have a goal of losing fat, it is necessary to eat a high protein diet. This is because protein foods in nature are low in carbs and also low in saturated fats. Thus, by eating high protein food, you are actually consuming low calorie quality foods. Reducing carbs and calories while maintaining the consumption of protein as a nutrient to build muscle will speed up the fat loss process.

Timing of protein consumption is also crucial in the muscle building process. Although you are constantly consuming protein, you should be eating more protein during your breakfast, after your workouts and before your bed meal. Start your day by having high protein breakfast. A protein shake is recommended after your workouts and a slow digesting protein before you sleep such as casein.

Regardless of whether you are a body builder, protein intake is necessary to repair your muscle tissues. It is further more crucial for the body builders as protein provides the building blocks for muscle growth.

The person responsible to making the dumbbell concentration curl popular is none other than Arnold Schwarzeneggar. This exercise will result in toning and giving a nice roundness to the biceps.

Here’s how to go about it:

Firstly, sit yourself on a chair or on a bench. Next, place your feet comfortably slightly wider than your shoulder line, with your lower legs and feet on a slightly outward angle.

Grip a dumbbell on one hand and have your arm hanging down in between your legs next to the tight with the same side leg of which you are holding your dumbbell.

At your waist, bend over while maintaining your back and spine and straight as possible. Brace the rear of your upper arm against and inside of your thigh, while maintaining the level above the knee while gripping the dumbbell in the lowered position.

Breathe a full breath and tighten your abdominal muscles. Take note to breathe out on exertion. Next curl the dumbbell upwards and then squeeze.

Lower the dumbbell again slowly. While the weight is being lowered, control the weight. Also ensure that that the rear of your upper arm is steadfastly braced against your thigh. Repeat again the whole process.

Be careful not to use your knees to leverage them for the curl. By doing so, it is defeating all purpose and is not as effective as it suppose to be. Many people tend to make this mistake by resting their elbows on the knees to leverage it.

The second mistake to avoid is to swing the dumbbell. Some people tend to use too much weight that they can handle. Thus, they cheat by swinging the dumbbell to gain momentum. This mistake again reduces the effectiveness of this exercise by reducing the tension of the biceps.

Here are some exercises and routines you can perform to gain the six pack abs you want.

1) Mountain Climbers

Mountain Climbers should be performed in 30 seconds. How you can go about this is to lie on the floor with top push-up position. In this way, only your hands and feet are touching the floor. Then, brace your abs by flexing one of your knees and bringing it towards your chest. Return the knee to the starting position and repeat the same routine for the other knee. Do this in a swift tempo as though you are running or as though you are climbing a mountain for about 30 seconds.

2) Squat Jump With Knee Tuck

Stand up in a normal position as straight possible. Then slowly progress into a normal bodyweight squat. Once you reach the bottom, stand up and jump off the floor explosively. Do this and jump as high as you can. While you are in the air, bring your knees towards your chest. Extend your legs back and land lightly on your toes. Repeat this and perform this for about 10 jumps.

3) Dumbbell Swing

Stand up straight with your feet just slightly wider than your shoulders with both hands holding a dumbbell in each hand. Slowly squat down as you move the dumbbells between your legs. Then quickly and explosively flex your gluteus maximus (your largest muscles on your bottom) and stand up. While doing this, swing the dumbbell straight in front of you until it reaches your chest height. Return to your squatting position and repeat this routine. Perform this routine about 10 reps.

After you have finished with the Dumbbell Swing workouts, rest for about 20 to 30 seconds. Then start with the routine of Mountain Climbers again and perform the whole circuit as many times as you can in 4 minutes.

You can perform this circuit of these 3 routines and exercises a few times a week on top of your regular workout. I guarantee that you’ll see your six abs start to take shape and appear in just a matter of weeks.

1) Eat every 3 hours. This means you should be eating approximately 5 to 6 meals a day. Each meal you consume should contain protein, carbohydrates and fats.

2) Eat more calories than you burn. However, do not overeat. Without proper workout and routines, this may cause you to become fat.

3) Consume lots of fruits and vegetables. This is to ensure your body obtains the vitamins you need for the recovery process. Even though vitamin supplements may help, there are really no substitutes in the benefits of eating good vegetables and fruits.

4) Drink lots and lots of water, and consistently throughout the day. Often, your body is always lack of water. You don’t want to cause your body to have more stress as your body is trying to repair itself from muscle tears due to body building exercises.

5) Eat the most during breakfast. After 8 hours of sleep, your body needs to be replenished with nutrients needed for the day’s activities.

6) Your diet of calories should contain fats approximately 15-20% of your calorie intake. This is because fats play a central role in the metabolic process. Consume good fats such as seed oil, fish oils, and olive oil. Such fats are vital in the cell membrane structure. Also, these fats are antioxidant which also can give you smooth complexion.

7) One hour or one and a half hours before your workout, consume a well balance meal including carbohydrates and proteins. You can also opt for liquid protein shake of which the digestive system can process much faster. For example, a liquid protein shake and a banana consumed 15 minutes before a workout is good.

8.) After your exercises and routines, eat fast absorbing protein and also a good source of carbohydrates. This ensures building of muscle tissues quickly.

If you are not experiencing any further muscle growth, I would seriously take a look at the scale of weights that you are working on.

I have seen with my own eyes many body builders and trainers pump in the gym the same amount of weights day after day till months after months.

Even though they may feel satisfied due to the “feel good” workouts and being exhausted after performing different sets of exercises, it is not a good measurement of future muscle growth.

All the pump simply means that there is increased blood flow into your muscle tissues temporarily. Even though there are benefits of getting a few good pumps, you should not judge your workouts by them.

The key on how to build big muscles fast is to add weights to your routines and exercises progressively. This is one of the basic principles and rules you must follow. You really cannot expect to grow bigger muscles if you are using the same scale of weights all over again weeks after weeks.

You’ll have to increase your strength from these weight trainings. Your focus should be to add weights progressively in your routines and exercises every single week.

How you can do it is to have a journal or record down every set or reps, how much weights you have done, and how you should go about increasing your weights every single week. From this, you’ll be able to tell exactly what you need to do for your workouts.

It is definitely a more effective way of working towards your goal instead of just feeling good from pumps in the gym.

One thing about adding weights each week is that you realize that you will hit what is called the sticking point, where your strength will only increase slightly as compared when you first started.

So, one solution is that instead of adding maybe 5 points again next week, continue to perform the same weight until you can complete the full reps that you planned.

You’ll be stronger if you slowly add weights to your workouts as oppose to adding weight too fast and being stuck with the sticking point, sometimes for months.

Only those experienced body builders who has been lifting weights for years know a little better.

The experience body builders will agree to one thing. Free weights are definitely better to muscle building in comparatively to machines.

Here’s why: Free weights will cause your body and muscles to build and work against resistance in a 3 dimensional environment. This means that when you work on a particular muscle group, you are working the muscles all around that area.

When it comes to machines, they normally only allow your body to build and work against resistance in either 1 or at the best 2 dimensional environment.

Not only not, working on free weights increases your strength which overall are used in your daily activities as everything you do and movement in your body requires strength from all 3 dimensions.

There are small skinny guys which load the bench press machine with 4 plates on the side but can’t even perform 2 plates on a free weight bench press. I almost guarantee that if you see someone performing a 4 plate per side on a free weight bench press, they are usually a large person.

However, they are advantages to using machines. Since machines focuses the work on muscles in a 1 or 2 dimensional environment, they can be used to be more focus on building up more muscle to a specific area. They are used by experienced body builders who know what they are doing to shape their muscles.

But overall, I strongly suggest that free weights to be used as the majority and priority exercises which are more important for beginners and intermediates whose aim is to build strength first.

Here are some tips you can use right away optimize your bench pressing efforts:

1) Always Use A Wide Grip

The reason why you should use a wide grip is because by doing so, you increase the stretch on the pecs in which you involve more muscles in the lift as well. The aim is always aiming for wider and wider grip but take this process slowly as using too wide of a grip immediately may result in an injury. You may also want to perform warm-ups before your bench press reps.

2) Bring The Bar Down Slowly

While bench pressing, bring down the weights slowly to your chest. Though it is hard and sometimes, you may have to drop the weights down but there is good reason for this. As you take this path of resistance, you will build more strength and become stronger. At the end of the day, every tough rep contributes to your end results. As you become stronger, you will realize that you will also reach your goals sooner.

3) Do Not Bench Press The Bar Directly To The Chest

When you are performing the bench press directly to your upper chest, it will cause strain to the shoulders and rotator cuff. As you work your way up to heavier weights, you increase your chances of a rotator cuff injury. The proper way is to bench press to your lower chest. This is also to get more explosion and strength as well.

Most of the time, people are caught up in how much weights they can use while bench pressing. It definitely does not mean that using heavier weights will result in faster growth of muscles. Using heavier weights simply means putting more stress and tension on your muscle and resulting in more muscle tear. It must be combined with proper nutrition to maximize muscle growth.

Follow the tips and I almost guarantee you that you will build your chest muscles faster than anyone who does not.

It is also the primary reason why so many people are trying so hard in the gym only to see a small reward of muscle gain.

Are you one of them? If you are, it is high likely that the problem is not with your routines or workouts but rather your consumption of nutrition.

The great Larry Scott, the first ever Mr. Olympia in 1965 stated that body building is 90% what you eat. At that time, people thought that he was making an overstatement only for us to realize that he knew what he was talking about many years later.

Thus, knowing, it means that if you wish to build muscle successfully, you have to prioritize in your nutrition intake.

Here are 5 pitfalls to avoid on your nutrition intake:

1) Not Enough Protein

While pumping away and tearing away your muscle cells happens in the gym, muscles are formed outside of the gym. And since protein is a main source of building muscle, you must consume protein consistently as you are working out in the gym. Protein consumed must be lean and fat free for example: egg whites, fish, read meats, chicken breast and whey protein. It is ideal that for every pound of your body weight, that you consume one gram of protein.

2) Not Eating Frequently Enough.

Eat every 3 to 4 hours with small balance meals. Many think that it’s not important and they rather have 2 to 3 meals due to laziness. As mentioned earlier, discipline plays a big role in body building and will make a big difference on where you are and what you do. The reason why you should be eating frequently is that firstly, it will accelerate your metabolism rate, resulting in your body burning fat naturally. Secondly, protein cannot be stored in the body and will usually only last for 3 hours in your body. So by consuming protein frequently, there is a constant supply to build your muscles as your muscles recover.

3) Not Drinking Enough Water

Workouts in the gym can lead to dehydration easily. It is extremely important to replace the fluids that you lost during your training. As 67% of the body is made from water, your muscles will have a hard time repairing itself if they are dehydrated. At the same time, without enough water, your kidneys will also struggle to remove unwanted waste as a result of your increase intake of protein and other substance from your frequent meals per day. So drink as much water as possible starting from today.

4) Drinking Alcohol

One advice that all body builders speaks about is not to consume alcohol. Why? Alcohol contains 7 calorie per gram. Apart from fat which is 9 calorie per gram, alcohol is the second most calorie dense nutrient. By consuming alcohol, it will greatly affect your body’s capability to burn fat. Not only that it will quickly dehydrate your body and also reduce the productivity of testosterone. In conclusion, avoid alcohol at all cost.

5) Consuming Too Much Sugar

Arnold Schwarzenegger calls sugar the “white death”. It suppresses the immune system of your body and has been shown to decrease the number of white cells in the body. Sugar can cause your blood to be also more acidic, which increases vulnerability to toxins, bacteria and viruses. While your body is busy repairing its muscle, anymore more unnecessary stress will cause your muscle building process slow down, thus avoid sugar too.

If you have a proper lifestyle and proper nutrition intake, it is safe to say that you have already won most of the battle to a healthier, and learner body you desire. In a way, you can force your body to gain muscles by working out in the gym, and the only missing ingredient you will need is fuel your body with the right nutrition regularly.

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Before anyone should just decide to build muscles and straight away sign-up for a gym membership, one should really understand what muscle building is really about.

To most people, gaining or building muscle is a short term goal. What they fail to understand is that muscle building, or even gaining the body you desire is a lifestyle, and is not hard and can be accomplished. The only difference is to be in the right mindset where strength and fitness training should be long term goal oriented.

The body can be one of the biggest contributing factors to our self-confidence. It really is a beautiful gift of God. To a certain degree, how we treat out bodies and take care of ourselves depicts who we really are inside.

As a body builder, you must learn to focus on the action of building and strengthening of the body, meaning that we will try to push our bodies to their maximum potential, surpassing a higher and higher level to transform our body, into a muscular figure.

There are some guiding principles for fitness and strength which I believe that you must tackle and follow before pumping away in the gym.
 

1) Set Realistic Goals

You should always aim to set your goals hard but realistic. Be honest to yourself. If you think you cannot achieve it no matter what you try, you should avoid setting in the first place. If not, it will be a de-motivating factor for you. Set the goals that you think is hard but possible if you push it.

2) Always Keep A Journal

No matter what you do in life, a journal always helps in keeping track of your routine and progress. You can start by jotting down your intake of nutrition such as calories and fat you consume each day. This will help you to remind yourself and whether you are in line with your fitness program. More importantly, you should also keep a record on your progress and workouts in the gym, such as the number of reps you are doing and the scale of weights you are working out with. If your body is not progressing as you want it to be, refer back to your journal. It will tell you the answers you want.

3) Seek Advice From Others

Never be too proud to seek advice of those who has proven to do build muscle quickly and have maintained or improve their shape on a consistent basis. Sometimes, if is better and far more valuable to seek an advice from a body builder and to go through 100 books and courses. If you can afford it, you should always consult and engage a trainer for you. One of the greatest benefit is your trainer will always help you to achieve the result you want faster because they will push you to areas where you would not push yourself.

4) Warm-Ups Before Routines

Before you perform your reps and routines, have proper warm-ups exercises. You can also include stretching in your warm-up routine. These exercises will keep your body as well as limbs to be ready to perform heavier weights reps. Warm-ups and stretching will also prevent unwanted injuries such as to your joints in the long run.

5) Lift Weights That Are Right For you

The different machines and weights in the gym may be a little overwhelming for a beginner. With different weight options, beginners are always anxious to workout the heaviest one first. It is always beneficial to be patient start with the smallest weight and slowly work your way up with heavier weights. A sudden use of heavy weights that is not suitable may cause unnecessary injury.

6) Ensure The Right Methods Are Used

You must be confident and ensure the rights methods are being used during your routines of lifting weights and exercises. This is important because it will make a big difference whether you’ll see results or not. There are a number of effective programs out there that can accelerate your muscle building process or as mentioned earlier, you can engage in a personal trainer to help you out.

7) Eat Right And Sleep Right

Building muscles does not come from just lifting weights in the gym. It is crucial to having to know what to eat and what not to eat. Eating healthy must also be your lifestyle. Apart from that, some body trainers can’t stress enough about getting enough sleep. This is because your muscles are formed outside of the gym.

These guidelines serve purposes for body builders. You’ll eventually will follow and be in line with them as you continue to build muscle as this are principles all successful body builders follow. Keep in mind that body building is a lifestyle.

It does not mean that body building or all body builders have huge biceps or huge traps. It is to maximize your potential to get in shape, be fit and healthy to attract the positive energy in your life. Keep on track, persevere and you’ll be there soon enough.

2) This is a very little known fact. People who are building muscle intensively in the gym to not consume enough fat! It’s a simple principle. The body will try to hold on to its fat if there is less intake of fat. It’s a natural survival mechanism of the body. The targeted fats to consume are healthy fats such as olive oil, fish oil, avocado oil and organic butter. In the case of animal fats, it is advisable to east fats from lean meats such as beef or chicken.

3) Perform some sort of exercise routine every single day. Perform cardiovascular exercises everyday, whether it’s weight training, jogging, swimming, etc. If you find it hard at first, you can alternative between cardiovascular exercises and brief walks in the parks. This will greatly increase your metabolism rate and your fitness in a short period of time.

4) Drink plenty of water. This is a simple overlook method to increase your metabolism rate. Other than that, it also clears cellular toxins out from your system. Water is an important substance for the hormonal signaling process in your endocrine system which regulates the fat burning hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone.

5) Do not consume any appetite suppressors or stimulant to lose weight. These quick fixes often result in imbalances of your neural chemistry, cause stress to the adrenal glands and also lowers your metabolism rates. Instead, consume natural fat burning supplement such as green tea.