Hi coach
I just finished a BB contest and I am holding a ton of extra water. Any tips would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Brent
[quote]zaydadog wrote:
Hi coach
I just finished a BB contest and I am holding a ton of extra water. Any tips would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Brent[/quote]
-
A natural diuretic like taraxatone (6 caps 3x per day … taper gradually over 10 days)
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Epsom salts bath (400g of EPSOM salts, nothing else will do, in the hottest water you can stand) for 20-30 minutes before bed.
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Eating a lot of cucumbers
CT
When we seek put lean mass, set up foods/nutrients. But, protein synthesis is enery dependent. Do we take DEE as reference? or simply adjust enery macros looking at bodyweight progression / control bodyfat.
Thanks
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
youngoldguy wrote:
Cool. I take a ton of fish oil to combat that anyway.
It wont protect you against an excessive workload. It can help with imflammation, but it cannot prevent knee problems for overuse.[/quote]
Oh, OK. You think HIIT for 15-20 mins is a better idea?
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
zaydadog wrote:
Hi coach
I just finished a BB contest and I am holding a ton of extra water. Any tips would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Brent
-
A natural diuretic like taraxatone (6 caps 3x per day … taper gradually over 10 days)
-
Epsom salts bath (400g of EPSOM salts, nothing else will do, in the hottest water you can stand) for 20-30 minutes before bed.
-
Eating a lot of cucumbers[/quote]
Thanks very much.
Brent
[quote]youngoldguy wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
youngoldguy wrote:
Cool. I take a ton of fish oil to combat that anyway.
It wont protect you against an excessive workload. It can help with imflammation, but it cannot prevent knee problems for overuse.
Oh, OK. You think HIIT for 15-20 mins is a better idea?[/quote]
No… I’m not saying that what you are doing is right or wrong. Just that running, especially on a hard surface puts a lot of stress on the knee joint, which when added with the frequent squatting can eventually lead to overuse injuries.
Coach, in regards to BETA-7, how should I take in order to increase my work capacity? And does beta-alanine allow me to train more frequently or it only allows to train with more volume?
CT,
While synthesizing new muscle tissue/contractile proteins is not a linear process, what is the approximate rate of muscle gain added per week that a person can expect at each of the following stages: beginner, intermediate, and advanced stages of development?
Also, in your opinion, what is the lowest acceptable ratio of lean mass gain to fat gain during a muscle-building phase as well as what you consider to be the optimal ratio between the two?
Hi Thib,
Hope you are well. I’m getting more and more troubles with my shoulders. On chest day im good for a few sets and then they get really sore and even worse the next day.
I’m not overtraining and my diet is good.
Anyideas? More fish oil? Different exercises? (tried flat DB press and incline Db press and it still hurt).
It’s driving me nuts, haven’t had a good chest session in months!!
Thanks x
[quote]ethos wrote:
Hi Thib,
Hope you are well. I’m getting more and more troubles with my shoulders. On chest day im good for a few sets and then they get really sore and even worse the next day.
I’m not overtraining and my diet is good.
Anyideas? More fish oil? Different exercises? (tried flat DB press and incline Db press and it still hurt).
It’s driving me nuts, haven’t had a good chest session in months!!
Thanks x[/quote]
Try to do your dumbbell press and incline press with a hammer (parallel) grip.
CT, you have mentioned many times that it is only possible under the best circumstances for a female athlete to gain maybe 1-2 lbs of muslce a month.
I was wondering if that means training more and eating more does not work to speed up gains - do you mean that the body can only synthesize so much food and increasing training and food will still lead to unnecessary fat since you exceed your body’s ability to use nutrients for muscle growth??
I like to train but it makes me super hungry…I’m wondering if I should be forcing myself to workout less (right now I do a schedule of pretty intense full body in 1 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off, repeat)…
[quote]sarah1 wrote:
CT, you have mentioned many times that it is only possible under the best circumstances for a female athlete to gain maybe 1-2 lbs of muslce a month.
I was wondering if that means training more and eating more does not work to speed up gains - do you mean that the body can only synthesize so much food and increasing training and food will still lead to unnecessary fat since you exceed your body’s ability to use nutrients for muscle growth??
I like to train but it makes me super hungry…I’m wondering if I should be forcing myself to workout less (right now I do a schedule of pretty intense full body in 1 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off, repeat)…[/quote]
You might have misinterpreted what I said, or I may have explained myself poorly.
The 1-2lbs/month figure is not linear. Meaning that it doesn’t mean that it is IMPOSSIBLE to gain more than that in a month. Rather it is based on a monthly average of the maximum that can be achieved by a non-beginner in a year.
Under the best circumstances gaining around 12-20lbs of muscle per year is the utmost amount that one can achieve if he is not a beginner. And it is likely to be less than that, especially for a woman. So that comes up to an average of 1-2lbs per month. Some months you may gain more, some months your may gain less.
Understand that some people have a very screwed up idea of how much 20lbs of muscle really is. This is because of the whole ‘‘lean body mass’’ concept.
For example, if you are 120lbs with 10% body fat it means that you have 12lbs of fat and 108lbs of lean body mass.
However lean body mass doesn’t mean muscle mass. Lean body mass means everything in your body that itsn’t fat. This includes, muscle, water, bones, organs, skin, etc.
In reality muscle mass is equal to around 50% of your lean body mass. So if your LBM is 100lbs in reality you have around 50lbs of muscle.
Gaining 20lbs of muscle is thus an EXTREME gain compared to your current state!
Also understand that this 12-20lbs gain in muscle mass is actually dry muscle weight. In reality the scale weight will be greater because for each pound of muscle you add, you also add around 0.5lbs of water.
Now, back to your question…
You can’t force feed your body into adding more muscle. HOWEVER if you do not eat enough food/nutrients you will NLOT grow optimally. You NEED to consume an energy surplus and a godo amount of protein to grow muscle.
Eating big to get big is simply a way to ensure that you will not be lacking in the nutrients and energy department. However, once you get past the limit amount of nutrients that your body can use for fuel and growth, then it will not contribute to any more growth.
As for training… nobody has ever built an ounce of muscle in the gym… never happened, never will! You build muscle when you recover from your workouts. The sessions theselves are only the signal for the body to initiate the growth process.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
sarah1 wrote:
CT, you have mentioned many times that it is only possible under the best circumstances for a female athlete to gain maybe 1-2 lbs of muslce a month.
I was wondering if that means training more and eating more does not work to speed up gains - do you mean that the body can only synthesize so much food and increasing training and food will still lead to unnecessary fat since you exceed your body’s ability to use nutrients for muscle growth??
I like to train but it makes me super hungry…I’m wondering if I should be forcing myself to workout less (right now I do a schedule of pretty intense full body in 1 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off, repeat)…
You might have misinterpreted what I said, or I may have explained myself poorly.
The 1-2lbs/month figure is not linear. Meaning that it doesn’t mean that it is IMPOSSIBLE to gain more than that in a month. Rather it is based on a monthly average of the maximum that can be achieved by a non-beginner in a year.
Under the best circumstances gaining around 12-20lbs of muscle per year is the utmost amount that one can achieve if he is not a beginner. And it is likely to be less than that, especially for a woman. So that comes up to an average of 1-2lbs per month. Some months you may gain more, some months your may gain less.
Understand that some people have a very screwed up idea of how much 20lbs of muscle really is. This is because of the whole ‘‘lean body mass’’ concept.
For example, if you are 120lbs with 10% body fat it means that you have 12lbs of fat and 108lbs of lean body mass.
However lean body mass doesn’t mean muscle mass. Lean body mass means everything in your body that itsn’t fat. This includes, muscle, water, bones, organs, skin, etc.
In reality muscle mass is equal to around 50% of your lean body mass. So if your LBM is 100lbs in reality you have around 50lbs of muscle.
Gaining 20lbs of muscle is thus an EXTREME gain compared to your current state!
Also understand that this 12-20lbs gain in muscle mass is actually dry muscle weight. In reality the scale weight will be greater because for each pound of muscle you add, you also add around 0.5lbs of water.
Now, back to your question…
You can’t force feed your body into adding more muscle. HOWEVER if you do not eat enough food/nutrients you will NLOT grow optimally. You NEED to consume an energy surplus and a godo amount of protein to grow muscle.
Eating big to get big is simply a way to ensure that you will not be lacking in the nutrients and energy department. However, once you get past the limit amount of nutrients that your body can use for fuel and growth, then it will not contribute to any more growth.
As for training… nobody has ever built an ounce of muscle in the gym… never happened, never will! You build muscle when you recover from your workouts. The sessions theselves are only the signal for the body to initiate the growth process.
[/quote]
Coach when you say that somebody can only gain about 1-2 pounds of muscle a month, you say dry muscle, or all muscle (glycogen, water)?
CT,
Except in the case of a strongman competitor needing specific training for competition, would the use of a log bar for neutral-grip pressing be generally counterproductive for strength and mass gains due to the reduced and altered pressing ROM?
If so would neutral-grip DB presses and neutral-grip DB push presses(for increased HTMU activation relative to the “strict” version) be better choices due to the greater ROM and more natural path of motion?
[quote]Player wrote:
Coach when you say that somebody can only gain about 1-2 pounds of muscle a month, you say dry muscle, or all muscle (glycogen, water)?
[/quote]
“Also understand that this 12-20lbs gain in muscle mass is actually dry muscle weight. In reality the scale weight will be greater because for each pound of muscle you add, you also add around 0.5lbs of water.”
Its IN CT’s post, jeez.
CT
Many references throughout your articles (and those of other authors as well) to muscle fiber types e.g. Fib-II and to fast, medium or slow metabolisms. How do you establish these parameters? Are there specific criteria? Measurements? Tests?
This is my first post but I’ve been a long time devotee of TC Nation. You have a remakably erudite crew and the site is refreshingly free of the usually useless and mostly contradictory info that seems to characterize the strength biz.
Coach,
Is Poliquin’s EPA-DHA 720 Blend and Flameout too much of the same thing? Should I just use one or the other and some other type of liquid fish oil? Thanks.
Hey CT,
Had a quick question about cholestrol. I am in phase 2 of your building a beast series and have made good gains in strength and size. I think I am an ecto-mesomoph and have been following the diet you prescribed for crewpierce ( 9 omega 3 eggs a day, Metabolic Drive, various nuts, fish oil, red meat, superfood, etc.)
My cheat meal consists of a grilled cheese once a week. My question is I was at the doctors last week and got my cholestrol read and the results came back LDL of 100 and HDL of 53. My question is what can I do to improve my good cholestrol level?
I know cholestrol is heavily dependant on genetics but was just wondering if there was a way to improve the balance between good and bad cholestrol.
Thanks for your time,
teebone2223
COACH-
I am going to start your “destroying fat” routine with a low carb diet and I have a few questions.
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For the circuit’s, how important is weight, I read what you said its more ESW then anything else.
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I want to start with only doing circuit A and B, Ill leave C for when I stall. To make sure I understand, I do all 5 exercises in circuit A, 3 times in a row with no rest in between, and then rest. Then I take a short break and do circuit B 3 times in a row with no rest?
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This is a dumb question but you wrote…
"Do you calculate everything on LBM?
Nope since the carbs levels are adjusted depending on body fat levels"
So for protein and fat I use my BW, being that I do carry like 40-50lbs of fat, isnt that a bad idea? Since my protein and fat intake will be more then I need for my LBM.
- You get married yet?
Thanks!
Coach,
Splenda or no splenda?
I’ve read around a bit about why you shouldn’t use Splenda and also why you shouldn’t worry about using it, and the information written is sometimes contradicting and confusing.
Is there any better alternatives to Splenda?