Alain Gonzalez April 15th, 2013
I recently took a poll on my facebook fan page that read “Are you finding it harder to build your arms or harder to build your chest?”
I quickly realized that not only were some people finding it harder to build their chest over their arms, but most of these people found their chest to be the most stubborn muscle group for them, period.
With this information in mind, it is only right that I put together this quick guide to jumpstarting your chest into serious growth. In this article I am going to share 3 extremely underutilized strategies that are going to help put mass on your pecs no matter how “genetically challenged” you THINK you are.
Chest Building Tip #1 Drop it like it’s hot!
We all know that more tension on the muscle equals more growth. This is the reason that anaerobic activity such as weight lifting will increase muscle mass and aerobic activity such as cardio will not. However, there is one other factor that influences muscle growth and this is called metabolic stress.
In theory (because I am not even sure if this has been scientifically proven YET), high levels of tension combined with metabolic stress are optimal for maximizing new muscle growth.
One way to achieve this combo is by incorporating a little-known technique called Drop-Sets. This technique has been shown to increase metabolic stress substantially.
How to perform drops sets: Take a set to muscular failure and then immediately lighten the weight by 25% and bang out as many additional reps as you can with this weight. If you want to kick it up a notch, immediately drop the weight by another 25% and pump out another set to failure.
Warning! Do not try to perform drop sets for every set of every exercise. This technique is extremely taxing on the neuromuscular system and should be incorporated sparingly. I would recommend using drop sets at the very last two sets of your very last workout.
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Alain Gonzalez March 13th, 2013
If you want to build size there is only one sure way to do so and that is to eat in a caloric surplus. In order to ensure you are in a surplus, you must first know your maintenance calories. Once you have your maintenance calories or at least an idea of what they are, you will be a few short calculations away from creating a well balanced caloric intake and macronutrient spit.
What are macronutrients: Nutrients that the body uses in relatively large amounts – proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. This is as opposed to micronutrients, which the body requires in smaller amounts, such as vitamins and minerals. Macronutrients provide calories to the body as well as performing other functions.
Note: In order to calculate your EXACT maintenance level and establish a “perfect” macronutrient split for yourself can be time consuming, expensive, and simply not worth the efforts. This is why I have chosen to give you a simple and very basic starting point that will do the trick.
Simple way to calculate your caloric maintenance level
If you are a male with a healthy metabolism who exercises regularly then the number 16 is a great place to start. Simply multiply your current bodyweight x 16 to get an estimated caloric maintenance level. If you are not as active with a sluggish metabolism, 14-15 may work better for you.
Where does this number come from?
Resting Metabolic Rate: Your resting metabolic rate is approximately 10-11 calories per pound of bodyweight.
Thermic Affect of Activity: This is roughly 10-20% for someone who lifts weights regularly.
Thermic Affect of Food: Food has to be digested thus requires calories to do so. This is approximately another 10%.
Calculating your maintenance calories
Example:
170 lbs x 16 = 2,720 Calories per day to maintain your current weight.
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Alain Gonzalez February 19th, 2013
If it has been a while since you have made any significant improvements to your chest, it could be time to take a more functional approach. The thing about the pecs is this; if you train them incorrectly, they could potentially never grow…but if you take an educated approach to chest training, you could benefit from some serious gains.
Chest Training Tip #1: Functional and Purposeful Training
The first thing you must understand if you are going to pack on slabs of muscle to your chest is it’s (the chest’s) functions. If you can understand the function(s) of the pectorals, then you will find it much easier to decide which exercises work best and which ones are a waste your time (and energy).
Now that we understand the functions of each area of the chest, we must then choose exercises that train those specific functions. By doing this, we will ensure that we are purposefully training the pectorals.
Chest Training Tip #2: Proper Pectoral Positioning
Most experts would argue that the peak contraction is the most important part of an exercise. Although I don’t agree with this completely, I do believe that a good contraction and/or the ability to contract a muscle well is highly responsible for how much it grows.
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Alain Gonzalez January 25th, 2013
Being a torso-dominant individual has really helped expand my knowledge of arm specialization training. I say this because having visibly weaker arms (in comparison to my chest and back) and seeing no success with the typical information that has been taught to us by “fitness experts” has really pushed me to dig deep with my research on the matter. I’ll spare you the long boring details about all the hours I spent studying and get right into a few of the major sticking points. Today I am going to reveal 2 little-known tricks for building massive arms for those of us who are having a hard time seeing noticeable gains in our biceps and triceps.
2 Little-Known Tricks for Monster Arms
Arm Specialization Secret #1 – P.A.P
“Heavy loading before an explosive movement induces a high degree of central nervous system stimulation. This will result in great motor unit recruitment as well as force.”
The secret to building more muscle is no secret at all. The more motor units/muscle fibers we recruit, the more muscle fibers we can break down. The more we break down, the more new muscle we will create.
The biceps and triceps are considered smaller muscle groups and isolating these muscle groups doesn’t do much for motor unit recruitment. This is why endless curls, alone, will never get you big arms. Although isolating the biceps and triceps is keen when building them, it is not optimal unless we have activated enough muscle fibers.
In order to ensure we are optimally training are arms, we must always start our arms training with a heavy load in order activate the nervous system and ultimately set off more motor units.
Biceps Training: Start off with 3-5 sets of heavy weighted pull ups and THEN go into your traditional biceps training.
Triceps Training: Start your triceps training with 3-5 sets of heavy close grip bench press before moving on to your push downs, kick backs, dips, etc.
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Alain Gonzalez December 31st, 2012
We all know that eating like a bodybuilding can become very expensive. In fact, this is one of the largest complaints I hear from most of my readers and clients. But that fact is, eating to build muscle doesn’t have to break the bank. You see, when I first started training, like most, I was young and broke and I certainly couldn’t afford to put extra food in the fridge over paying my rent. Naturally, I had to learn to economize while still getting in the proper nutrients. With that said, today I want to share my top 10 cheap mass-building foods for bulking on a budget.
The foods on this list are all essential, nutrient dense, and best of all they are inexpensive. These food items are in no particular order and are all beneficial in their own way. If you are a college student, jobless teen, or just as broke as I was at one point, then these inexpensive mass building foods should become a staple in your diet.
Top 10 Cheap Bodybuilding Foods
Whole Eggs: Eggs are a rich source of natural protein. Not only are they healthy, calorie dense, and cheap, but they are extremely versatile. You can use them for omelets, sandwiches, scramble them, fry them, and the list goes on. It’s also important to note that eggs are high in BCAAs, which aids in muscular growth and development.
Peanut Butter: Besides being packed with protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. Peanut butter is also known to help support the repair of muscles after injury. It makes an ideal addition to your meal replacement or bedtime shakes. And the best part of all, it makes this list because it is dirt cheap!
Beans: One cup of black beans contains about 230 calories with less than 1 gram of fat and a whopping 15 grams of protein. With over 40 grams of carbohydrates, black beans are ideal for any hardgainer who finds it hard to meet their daily caloric requirements. If that wasn’t enough of a reason to bring this mass building food into your diet, 1 can of beans can be purchased for as little as 0.99!
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