Human Growth Hormone

The human growth hormone is the main hormone other than testosterone that all bodybuilders need to learn about. Once you start lifting weights in your resistance style training your body will start to produce heaps of both of these hormones.
However unlike testosterone, human growth hormones (HGH) only begin to really function well after your training ends, because it does'nt have enough time to work inbetween each set. But theres a huge problem here that many people will have that they are oblivious to. Human growth hormone doesn't like to work once you ingest alot of carbs. So for anyone who has carbs in their post workout shake all the time, or has a recovery shake once they leave the gym, then they aren't getting much benifit from their training and hormone production as they should. Also it is very active at night, so if you have carbs before bed you again will reduce its effects in your muscle gains.

What the human growth hormone does is it activates your body's fat stores as energy and uses the energy and fat molecules to build new cell walls on yor muscle fibres with any protein in your gut or blood stream that you ate earlier. Dr McColla and researchers at the University of Virginia have looked into this and believe that to get the most out of your training you should wait up to an hour after training before having your recovery shake in order to maximise your gains and effectiveness of this hormone.

The main reason for the effect of the carbs is the release of insulin, which not only reduces the amount of human growth hormone production but also the two hormone struggle to work together due to the fact that each is attempting to utilise a different energy source, either carbs or fats and so the growth hormone almost takes a back seat and stops working.

So to sumarise, wait up to an hour after training to maximise your effectiveness of the hormone before having your post workout shake and you should start to see better results in your muscle gains and may even put on less body fat due to its recruitment in the HGH process.

Time Under Tension

This is the time that your muscles are under 'stress' or tension whilst lifting weights.It means that you lift the weight in a controlled and steady motion making sure that the muscle fibres are stimulated to the max in every rep, therefore helping you make the best gains.
The main aim of this training style is to take all the momentum that helps you lift the weight out of the equation, in a sense you focus on each individual rep as its own rep, not as part of a bigger set. This not only improves your control over the muscle but increases its overal stimulation in each set and therefore should lead to faster gains. You've all seen the swingers in the gym, the chest bouncers and the guys who have poor form, and a sa result have poorer muscle definition or size. Well by using time under tension your results and shape will start to improve.

Focus especially on the negative section of each rep and the exploding up from the base into a perfect lift. This will therefore work both the fast and slow twitch muscle fibres, and give you a better all round workout, combining muscle gains and power, whilst reducing risk of injury.
another way to improve your muscles time under tension is to squeese the muscle at the top of each rep, forcing the blood into the muscle and getting more of a pump, this will help to bring out more definition in the muscle and help your gains.

If you struggle with negative reps on every rep then start slowly, wait until the last rep, finish it and then do a negative rep after this to finish the set. For example try doing 8 reps of chest press and as the 8th rep gets to the top, lower it back to your chest as slowly as you can, and build it up from there.

Always remember that momentum in your lifts, will build muscle, a little. But by controlling the weight and really squeesing and stimulating the muscle with each rep it will not only increase your gains but reduce your risk of injury and help with lean definition after you cut down your bodyfat.
So always remember TIME UNDER TENSION!

Bench Boost

This simple but effective move helps to strengthen the areas where you will struggle on the bench press. Be it in your negative rep training or the more common struggle of the 'sticking point' about half way off the chest towards the end of the set.
Try it out for yourselves:

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Chicken and Ginger

A little meal I cooked up last night and it has seriously good macro/micro nutrient levels to support your muscle growth and recovery after a tough day at the gym.

Protein - 47g
Carbs - 39g
Fats - 9g


It's reasonably easy to make. First you need to collect the ingredients from the list below. Then slice the red pepper into reasonably large slices and chop the brocolli in half or quarters down the center depending on its size. Now weight out 150g of chicken per person and warm up your wok before you add the chicken. Now weight out 75-100g of brown wholemeal rice per person. (note nutritional values are estimated on 75g of rice). Then add the rice to a suitable pot and cover in boiling water, abd allow to boil for 20-25 minutes depending on the brand. Whilst the rice boils you need to add the chicken to the wok and cook until the chicken has turned white all over. Once white, lower the heat under the wok and grate 1/3 of a ginger root per person into a small dish. Once the ginger is grated add the veg to the wok and increase the heat stiring well. After about 5 minutes you need to add the ginger and a table spoon of soy sauce and mix it in well with the veg and chicken, decrease the heat at this point.
After a further 5 minutes th rice should be ready, so drain the rice, serve it out onto the plates and add your chicken and veg. There won't be alot of sauce, but thats how this dish is prepared, you are coating the chicken in ginger not adding a ginger sauce.

Hopefully you'll try this and enjoy it. I know I did.

Ingredients:
150 grams of chicken (per person)
50 grams of brocolli (per person)
1/2 red pepper (per person)
1/3 ginger (root per person)
1 table spoon of soy sauce (per person)
75 grams brown rice (per person)

Spiderman Crawl

In the light of the new Amazing Spiderman movie I thought I’d share a move that even the famous wall crawler would be proud of. This is a full body move that helps build balance and all-round strength.

So, you will need to dumbbells, about 4kg-8kg. Hold them in each hand and get into a push-up position. From here reach one hand and the same leg forward, from his position do a push-up, then reach forward with the other arm and leg and again do a press up.
Aim to complete 8-10 reps with each hand per set and around 3-5 sets for the best results. You’ll also need a reasonably open and straight area to perform this move, try using a separate gym hall, or fitness studio if your gym has one, if not then try to stick to the channels where there are no cardio or weights machines to maintain a straight path for this move.
By using light dumbbells you will be working nearly all of the muscles in your upper body, with triceps, shoulders and chest working in the push-up and biceps and back working in the reach. Also your core is being worked hard to keep your balance and your legs are worked in each step forward.

By performing the push-ups at an awkward angle it hits the muscles in a different way that they aren’t used to. This is extremely useful for sports that require movement in constantly changing angles and positions, such as most combat sports and gymnastics. Also by constantly shifting your centre of gravity your abs are forced to work harder to maintain your stability and balance.

Breakfasts

Just a few breakfasts to try out, all have over 30grams of protein and plenty of essential macro and micro-nutrients to really kick start your gains and metabolism.

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Structuring a cutting cycle

Many people want to lose their bodyfat and get ripped, but few know how to structure their diet in order to get the best results possible in terms of muscle retention and fat loss. So I thought I'd share the structure of any cutting diet with you and you can use this simple maths and a calculator to get exactly the right amount of macro nutrients and calories in your diet in order to get shredded in 5-8 weeks.

Okay so first things first you need to workout your calorie limit.
Find your body weight in pounds -(weight in kilos x 2.2) then multiply this number by 11. That is your max calorie intake per day!
For example I weigh 85kg, which is 187 pounds, so my max calories is - 2057kcals

Now onto the macro-nutrients.
Protein is simple it is a gram per pound of body weight, so mine would be 187g per day max.
Carbs is also reasonably simple to work out, multiply your bodyweight in pounds by 0.6, so mine would be 187 x 0.6 = 112.2 grams of carbs per day max.

This is where most peoples cutting diets fall short and they start to sacrifice huge amounts of muscle.
In order to lose weight you need to increase the amounts of healthy fats that you eat! This is true and heres why. In order to prevent cortisol atacking your muscles for an energy source yo ave to provide an alternative, this is usually carbs, but as we have reduced carbs in the diet, fats are the best alternative. Secondly if the brain detects increased fat cosumption and I mean healthy omega 3 fats and ployunsaturated fats then it is more likely to burn excess bodyfat as it is no longer a rare component of the diet.
So how much fat should I be eating? well you need to make your macronutrients equal your total calories, so you must first workout how much you have already from the protein and carbs.
To do this add both totals together, e.g 112.2 + 187 = 299.2
then multiply this by 4(the amout of calories per gram of carbs and protein) 299.2 x 4 = 1196.8

Then take this value away from your total calorie figure. 2057-1196.8 = 860.2
then divide this by 9 (number of calories in fats) to get the amount of fat in grams you should be getting in your diet. 860.2/ 9 = 95grams

So to sumarise
calories = 2057kcals (bodyweight x11)
protein = 187g   (bodyweight)
carbs = 112.2g   (bodyweight x 0.6)
fats = 95g           (left over calories / 9)

These figures represent the max values you should be taking per day, aim to get close to the fats and protein, but don't worry if you fall short on the carbs every few days, just don't go over this!