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Cheat and build muscle

So you’ve read a lot of articles on how to build muscle. But there’s something you just don’t know. There’s something they’re just not telling you. You’ve been lied to.

Everything you have ever read about proper exercise form is wrong. It could be hindering your progress and setting you up for an injury. If you want to build muscle faster and maybe even avoid some injuries along the way, read what I am about to tell you very carefully.

Despite everything you read about the importance of full range of motion, and strict exercise form the reality is that most people. Who are beyond the beginner level, will build muscle faster and more effectively by NOT using text book form. Not using a complete full range of motion on every exercise and by… dare I say it… CHEATING!

Have you thought about picking something up at waist height and lifting it to a shelf at eye height or above? Do you pin your elbows at your side, allowing zero movement in your body, only allowing your forearms to move upward as you hinge at the elbow? That might sound ridiculous? But that’s what you do when your perform a text book barbell curl.

Cheating and using a little momentum is 100% natural to the body. It’s just what you instinctively do when you lift something heavy. What is unnatural is just locking yourself into one rigid position, only allowing movement at one or two joints.

No two people are the same and some have injuries that they have to take into account. For example, I have a bad shoulder that has required surgery in the past. If I do a strict dumbbell curl with a dumbbell I can only use 25’s. Any heavier weight than that causes me a lot of excruciating pain. But if I adjust my body position slightly and lean over at just the right time and slightly swing through the painful portion of the exercise I can use nearly triple the weight without any problems at all.

Before I go off on a tangent, I should explain that everyone reading this who wants to build muscle and hasn’t been training for at least a year or two, should learn text book form first. Unless you know proper form and how to isolate and target the muscle you are training you will never be able to cheat effectively. After many years in the game I can cheat a bent over row with some extra leg drive and hip extension while still targeting my lats and upper back very effectively. A newcomer who tried to emulate my form would only work their biceps and lower backs, and probably get injured in the process. With the amount of weight a strong lifter can use, cheating actually takes stress off the lower back and makes it safer instead of more dangerous.

The same can be said for a barbell curl. When you are using a lot of weight the stress on your lower back with text book form is actually greater than if you used a little body language. However an advanced trainee can cheat and more effectively overload his biceps while sparing his lower back. The beginner, on the other hand would put less stress on his biceps and only work his front delts, traps and lower back. So this would be counterproductive.

You’ve got to put some practice in to make it perfect. After a year loosening up your form and cheating on exercises that safely allow you to do so and you will be pleasantly surprised at much it will aid in your quest to build muscle fast.

Well who said cheaters never win? I hope this article has helped all those who were about to throw in the towel, keep at it.

Jason Ferruggia,
Author, Muscle Gaining Secrets

Vegetarian muscle building meal ideas

Details of his vegetarian muscle building diet is one of the most frequent requests Jason Ferruggia receives. I also often read on various forums people begging him for advice because they already are, or have been brought up in a vegetarian household. Since there is much interest in this topic he would like to share it with you today. Here’s what he has to say on the subject:

Mike let me explain my daily routine.

At Breakfast – My day always starts with a shake. This will usually include ingredients like rice, pea’s or hemp protein, or a combination of the three. I start by blending between 30-40 grams of protein in 8oz of organic coconut milk, and somewhere between 8-12 oz water. I also blend fruits like banana, mixed frozen berries, a tablespoon of cacao nibs, and 2 tbls of maca powder, which is known to increase testosterone production and virility. This shake is delicious beyond your wildest imagination.

Snacks – Some times a few hours later, I will have a few tangerines and some cashews or a pair of apples with some almond butter. The fresh ground almond butter from Whole Foods is one my favorite things and I could easily eat an entire container in one sitting. Occasionally I treat myself, I mix it with honey and kill the entire container, with a cup of hemp or almond milk.

I am big fan of high sodium (Salt) intake for strength and energy production so I always have a few pickles every day and add sea salt to much of food.

Lunch – This will usually consist of some kind of legumes or beans, which are a mainstay in any vegetarian muscle building diet, with organic brown rice or quinoa. I will sauté the black beans with peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic, and then mix that in with the rice. I top it off with salsa and some fresh avocado. That is my version of Mexican style rice and beans. Sometimes I just mix the beans and rice or quinoa with marinara sauce.

I will sometimes have a salad with that or eat some raw veggies or mix some steamed kale or spinach into the whole thing.

Occasionally I will have a couple almond butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. I have drastically reduced my consumption of peanuts and peanut butter due to the deadly toxins, that they contain, along with wheat because of it’s gluten content, hence it’s inflammatory properties, I substitute some brown rice bread for the occasions I do eat these.

Snack – Similar to above. When I’m not near food I always carry Raw Organic Food Bars with me and a variety of nuts. If I am home and have fruit for my first snack. I try to make this snack with raw veggies and hummus along with a decent amount of nuts.

I also drink another shake some time during the day which is usually right after I train. It is similar to the shake above except that I don’t include the coconut milk or the cacao but I do use the maca powder. I blend a banana, almond milk, water, frozen spinach (you don’t taste the spinach at all so this is nowhere near as gross as it sounds) and some extra protein.

During my workouts I drink coconut water or regular water. I try to drink at least half a gallon of water throughout the day (hopefully you will filter your own from the tap) out of glass or my bottle. I do my best to avoid drinks stored in plastic containers and bottles. Considering of the estrogenic effects of chemicals in plastics. I also drink a couple cups of green tea each day.

For Dinner – I normally cook some kind of stew consisting of a large variety of vegetables and some kind of legumes. For example, last week I got home, and all that we had was onions, squash, spinach and garlic. I threw it all in a pot with vegetable broth, salt, pepper and yellow peas, which have 10 grams of protein per ¼ cup (you would have to eat a lot of meat to equal the protein in two cups of yellow peas). That’s cooked for 2 hours, and then mixed in some quinoa. Other times we will mix brown rice in with a variety of other veggies and lentils. If I was trying to get lean I would probably skip the brown rice, as rice is full of starch. Adding potatoes (even just one) to the stews makes them creamier and even more delicious.

I severely limit my soya consumption because of it’s unfortunate estrogenic effects, but for the occasional cheat I will have some tofu with brown rice, or some kind of meat substitute with brown rice pasta.

I also eat soya and wheat (gluten) free veggie burgers one or two nights per week, and always have a huge spinach salad mixed with broccoli, olives, peppers, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and fruits such as apples, berries, nuts, seeds, avocado, and whatever else I can fit in there. I top that with olive oil, rice bran oil and balsamic vinegar.

Dessert – Occasionally, when I am going to cheat I will have some organic coconut milk ice cream. It is delicious and pretty healthy. Coconut milk contains healthy Medium Chain Fatty Acids and has none of the dangers of cows milk. I then sweetened with organic agave syrup.

The only other cheat dessert that I will regularly eat is organic, dark chocolate. Concentrated Chocolate is shown to have a variety of health benefits. The brands I buy are those that show their support for slave free, and fair trade practices.

So there we have a brief overview of my vegetarian muscle building diet. It’s very straight forward, and a whole lot healthier than eating pounds of red meat, and all that saturated fat.

Let me tell you a bit more about Jason.

He is a world famous professional fitness coach. His trade marked Muscle Gaining Secrets workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and other magazines and all over the Internet. To get more muscle building nutrition tips, and to access his training program, check out. Renegade Diet Program.

Read his other post about

Post workout nutrition for a better body.

Post workout nutrition ideas for healthy shakes, to help build muscle and enhance fat loss.

I was wondering about what is best to consume after a workout, to get nutrients back into my tired muscles. So I emailed Mike Geary who sent me a reply which I based this article on.

Your probably sick of hearing it. But your post-workout meal may very well be your most important meal of the day.

The reason is that when you have finished with an intense workout. You’re about to enter a catabolic state where your muscle’s glycogen is depleted. At this point increased cortisol levels, are beginning to excessively break down muscle tissue. This situation is not good, and the only way to reverse this catabolic state (and promote an anabolic state). Is to consume a quickly digestible post workout meal (can be a shake or smoothie) as soon as you can after training.

The goal is to choose a meal with easily digestible quick carbs to replenish muscle glycogen as well as quickly digestible protein to provide the amino acids needed to jump start muscular repair. The surge into the bloodstream of carbohydrates, and amino acids from this quickly digested meal promotes an insulin spike from the pancreas, which carries nutrients into the muscle cells.

Good post workout nutrition should mean that each meal contains between 300-500 calories to get the best response. A good example would be, a 120-lb female may only need a 300-calorie meal, when a 200-lb male may need a 500-calorie post-workout meal. Your post-workout meal should also contain anywhere from a 2:1 to a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein. While the majority of your other daily meals should contain a source of healthy fats. Keep the fat content of your post-workout meal to a bare minimum. Since fat slows the absorption of the meal, which is the exact opposite of what you want after a workout.

When deciding what you want to make for your post workout meal. The first thing to realize is that you don’t need any of these expensive post workout supplement formulations, that all those fancy ads will tell you, that you absolutely need. I prefer to make my own post-workout shakes from natural ingredients instead of using a commercial mixture, since many of them are low quality with hidden ingredients.

For the shakes, here are some things to keep in mind if you try it…

A good source of quickly digestible natural carbohydrates such as frozen bananas, pineapples, honey, or organic maple syrup are perfect to promote an insulin response that will promote muscle glycogen replenishment, and a general anabolic (muscle building) effect. The more you can do to assist the muscle repair process. The more you will increase your metabolic rate and that can help you to lose fat as well.

The best source of quickly digestible protein is a quality non-denatured whey protein and some fat-free or low-fat yogurt. Here are a couple ideas for delicious post-workout smoothies that will kick start your recovery process:

Chocolate Banana – blend together

1 cup water
½ cup milk (I prefer organic grass-fed milk for max health benefits)
one and a half frozen bananas
2 tbsp organic maple syrup
30 grams chocolate whey protein powder – 38 g protein, 72 g carbs, 1.5 g fat, 450 calories.

Pineapple Vanilla – blend together

1 cup water
½ cup vanilla yogurt
one cup frozen pineapples
2 tbsp honey (preferably raw)
30 grams vanilla whey protein powder – 35 g protein, 71 g carbs, 1 g fat, 430 calories.

When choosing a good whey protein, you need to realise that the quality vastly differs between brands and types. Most whey proteins are produced under high heat processes that destroy some of the fragile nutritional components of the whey. The best whey I’ve found is this great new grass fed RAW whey protein. As this is from grass-fed cows, it has higher levels of muscle building and fat burning CLA conjugated linoleic acid.

When looking to lose body fat, keep in mind that post-workout meals should have the opposite characteristics of all of your other meals throughout each day. While your post-workout meals should have quick high glycemic index carbohydrates, as well as quickly digested proteins. Your other meals throughout the day should be comprised of low glycemic index, slowly digested carbs and slow release proteins.

These are powerful strategies towards developing a lean muscular body with a low body fat percentage. Post-workout meals are great for satisfying even the worst sweet tooth. Since this is the one time of the day where you can get away with eating extra sugars without adding inches to your gut. Instead, it goes straight to the muscles. But only if your workout was high intensity, and involved resistance training for large portions of the body. However if all you did was low intensity cardio, you don’t need to make this type of post-workout shake.

For a more detailed nutritional analysis, with more of these various powerful post workout nutrition dietary strategies. Can be found in Mike’s best-selling No1 rated fitness ebook in the world, The Truth About Six Pack Abs.

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Tag Archives: muscle

Cheat and build muscle

Vegetarian muscle building meal ideas

Post workout nutrition for a better body.