This is about training and specifically about gaining muscle. This is supposed to be an easy process and it is, if you do it right. Think: prisoners bulk up and they eat garbage, literally the food they are served is a violation of human rights.
 |
| I'm amazed they don't just die. They probably want to. |
Yet somehow they manage to stay alive and get freaky strong using, generally, nothing but body weight exercises as weights have been banned in most prisons. This topic is covered much more in depth by a former inmate in his book "Convict Conditioning"- if you're into bodyweight workouts get it.
Anyhoo, many people find themselves in situations that are far less than ideal nutrition wise and most of them make this out to be the death knell of productive training. Given the previous example of prisoners and with the addition of college students I will outline a workout plan that should work almost regardless of your nutritional situation.
The Rationale
Most shitty diets are high in carbohydrates and low in protein. Muscle size can be increased by increasing the sarcoplasm in between contractile proteins. This is good because stimulating carbohydrates to be taken up by said sarcoplasm is easy. Just exhaust the desired muscle within a given timeframe, why is time important? Metabolic systems will run out of gas within a certain time frame and different metabolisms use different fuels, when the fuel is exhausted rapidly, mRNA strands will be produced to increase the amount of fuel stored in the body. Ergo creatine depleted muscle signals increase in sarcoplasmic volume and sarcoplasmic volume is the result of carbs and water being taken from the bloodstream and stored within muscles.
This is a ridiculously (overly) simple overveiw but I have given you the keywords so that you may do your own homework if concerned. Oh and by the way, you'll still gain strength, recent studies have shown that one can gain as much strength using higher reps (8-12) as can be gained using lowerish reps (5-7).
All boringness aside, here is the plan:
Behind the neck press or military, 2 sets of 12
Squats, 2 sets of 12
Bench, 2 x 12
Rows, 2 x 12
Curls, 2 x 12
If you're a little adventurous and can hack a little more pain and would like to make even better gains: do two sets of 30 sec. instead of counting reps.
Do this 3ish times a week if you can, go heavy enough that you have to rest/pause the last two reps on your second set (if you're doing reps) and chill. Actually I really mean that, practice chilling, learn to relax totally at will. This skill is what sets high performers apart from the mediocre and further, it shifts hormone levels toward anabolism and away from catabolism. This is good period, as it can work toward extending your life, increasing performance in all aspects of life, making you look better and best, helping you feel better.
Seems too easy? It is, duh, your diet sucks! But it will work.
Easy - like bulking up should be. Maurice Jones used a routine very similar to this one and people called him the Canadian Hercules.
 |
| Mr. Jones |
An Aside
The fitness industry is exactly that, industry. The job of industry is to make money, not to be the best for the humans. They'll sell you all kinds of shit, knowledge included, that is basically garbage. Supplements, besides legit stuff like minerals and vitamins, are garbage. Most workout programs are flat out insane. Give it up, if it seems too good to be true it probably is.
It seems to me that the modern idea of hyper buffness is fueled, like it has been this whole time, by the gay community. Great for the gays, but if you're not gay you shouldn't have them telling you how you should look. Many pro bodybuilders moonlight providing various 'services' to the gay community to afford to keep bodybuilding, great if you're into it, shitty if you're not.
 |
| Masculine art? What's that suppo... ohhh... |
 | |||
| "Permission to.. come aboard?" "Only if you go astern and stow that cargo, seaman" |
I mean do you think the gays would appreciate if we told them how to look? Apocalyptic bitch fest I'm sure. Why is this important? Because you're supposed to be a relaxed, confident man or woman not insecure about exactly how buff and or lean you are. Fitness is an aside to life, don't major in the minors.
