Archive for the ‘mass building’ Category

So, I left you last time talking about how much more you need to be eating to gain mass.  I hope you have started to eat more all ready!  If not, go grab a protein shake and sip on that while you read the rest of this post. 

So, now that your eating more, lets talk about what to eat.  Protein, carbs and fats!  Nothing is left out!  Even though we’re trying to eat more, I don’t want you eating complete crap though!  So here’s the best choices:

Proteins: think lean meats – turkey, chicken, tuna, tilapia, sirloin steak, lean ground beef, and cage free eggs.  Other sources include whey proteins, beans, and cottage cheese.

Carbs: think green leafy veggies first and 100% whole grain sources – all green leafy veggies, brown rice, uncooked stone cut oats, quinoa, potatoes, apples, and berries.  Try to avoid your processed carbs such as whilte processed breads, cookies, pastries, most cereals, and other high sugar and fatty foods.  Most are complete sh*t and have no nutritional value what so ever.

Fats: all nuts, whole omega 3 eggs, natural peanut butter, avocados, whole 2% milk, extra virgin olive oil, and flax seed oil.  Don’t forget the good fats you get from omega 3 fish oils as well – crucial for fat burning and to help reduce inflammation.   

So, now that you have all of the best choices from above, how do you put them all together? 

Rule #1 Always build your meal with a lean protein first.  Simple.

Rule # 3 is to avoid adding carbs and fats together in the same meal (like I stated above).  High sugar and fats mixed = not a good combo = fat ass.

Rule #4 is to increase fat intake on off days and decrease most of your crab intake.  This rule is simply to keep you lean by cutting carbs on your off days.  Carbs are primarily used for energy.  When you’re not crushing it at the gym, you need to lay of the carbs and increase your good fats and of course, keep the lean protein intake pouring in. 

Rule #5 To play it safe, if you have an extremely high metabolism and have a difficult time gaining mass to begin with, eat eat and eat.  No excuses!  This is the exception to the rule above where you should only be crushing carbs on hard workout days.  If you’re a bean pole, eat your sweet potatoes daily

Try to follow these rules to gain mass.  In the end its all about how much you eat.  If your not eating, you ain’t gonna gain mass.  Keep crushing it in the gym or where ever it may be your crushing it at.  Until next time, have a steak and eggs on me. 

Coach Trav

Eating food.  Its one of the most overlooked ways to gain mass.  Athletes and clients ask me all the time, “How do I start to get bigger?”  These same athletes and clients are busting their butts in the gym to grow and get strong, but there’s an important component you and they might be missing.  Its eating enough food!

One of our favorite ways to get a few extra cals in after a hard workout is to grab a smoothie from a local spot here in Omaha.  The thing has about 1000 cals in it!  Its called a “Bench Press”!  Ha ha – it better add some weight on my bones.  Its got milk, whey protein powder, and fruits in it. 

Anyways, you got to eat more to gain weight!  I’m guilty of not doing this as well at times.  I find it hard to shove enough calories down my throat.  When you train as hard as we do at the forged athlete, you burn calories like nothing!  You HAVE to make it a priority to get enough grub in everyday! 

To end this post rather quickly, I leave you with one point – eat and eat well!  In part 2 of eating to gain mass, I will discuss exactly what it is you will need to eat.  Until then, eat everything in sight if you’re working hard enough.  If you’re trying to gain quality mass and build strength, food is going to be the best supplement you can possibly have!  Now get eating!

Coach Trav

What up peeps? 

I want to discuss about complexes.  I love complexes.  I was introduced to complexes back in high school during wrestling.  We would do these bad boys towards the end of the season AFTER practice.  Talk about killing yourself.  These babies were no joke!  We would do front squats straight into overhead presses then finish with drop lunges and bent over rows.  They would leave you feeling nauseous as heck!  But I knew they were good for me.  They will turn you into a complete animal!

Basically, a complex, if you’ve never heard of one before,  is certain number of exercises put together in a row , done back to back to back of one another.  Now there’s a different between a complex and a combo exercise.  Complexes are when you complete each rep of each exercise before you move to the next one.  A combo is simply when you take two or more exercises and string them together like a squat to press or dealift to high pull.  Complexes can be done with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, and even sandbags.  In this post we have both a barbell and sandbag complex. 

So for an example of a complex, if you were to do a barbell squat x 5 then go directly into a push press for 5, then even come back with a bent row x 5, would be a good example.  Now a true complex is when you don’t take breaks and just move on to the next exercise.  In part of the video that I have posted, I was doing a failyheavy barbell complex in which I had to set the weight down in between the exercises.  Try to complete the whole complex without setting the bar down.  That not only fries your forarms but, will blow up your grip strength up as well.   You’ll see a true complex better with the sandbag complex.

Now, a few pointers to focus on with complexes:

• choose a weight you can handle with each and every exercise – the weakest exercise will decide the overall weight
• choose complex exercises like squats and variations, military presses, cleans, snatches, bent rows, high pulls, rdl’s, and lunges
• go for reps of 3-5 for strength and 5-8 0r even 10 (if you’re feeling crazy) for mass

Complexes are great for when you’re strapped for time.  You can bang out 3 sets in 6-7 mins and be on your way.  Intensity is greatly increase by complexes due to their circuit style nature.   If your looking to get lean, complexes can help you do that as well. 

So, if you’re stuck in a rut and can’t dig yourself out of your hole, try a week of complexes and put together a bunch of different types and see what happens.  I guarantee these will get you out of your plateau and help you continue on your journey towards total strength and world domination  

Coach Trav

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pR-vB4SNRw