Sci-MX Nutrition

The overload > recover > adaptive growth cycle:

Muscle builds like this: muscle overload – when you do resistance training (weights) at the right intensity, you actually cause tiny micro tears to muscle fibres. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you have hurt yourself, these tears are tiny and happen in life anyway in various other circumstances. Recover – after training it takes around 72 hours for muscle to recover, this means that these tiny tears repair themselves. Adaptive growth – this occurs after the recovery has taken place. Your brain remembers the stress that was placed on those fibres and adds a little more muscle tissue to adapt to the stress that you placed the muscle under so that you can cope better if you do it again. By continuing this cycle, you gain a little muscle each week as long as you continue the cycle. The critical thing here is to allow the process to take place, so always leave enough time between training each muscle group to complete the cycle before training it again. This is why we recommend 3 to 4 weight training sessions per week, doing each muscle group only once per week, never more.

How many reps: This is an age old question, but don’t get too worked up about it because it can be confusing. The bottom line is that you should fail completely by the end of each set. In other words, you should not be able to do one more rep by the end of your set, and this should occur between 5 and 12 reps depending on the phase of your training. See our website for more information.

Variation: It is vital that you change your programme at least every six weeks. The reason for this is because you begin to wear down connective tissue if you do the exact same movement every week for longer than six weeks. Your brain is far too clever to allow you to harm yourself, so as soon as your connective tissue begins to wear, your brain sends messages to your muscles to reduce their capacity to contract, in other words it makes muscle weaker. All you need to do is change the movements and intensity slightly every 6 weeks to avoid this. So for example, don’t do bench press all year long. Do it for 6 weeks, and then change to something like dumbbell press for the next 6 weeks.

Concentric and eccentric: Sounds a bit academic doesn’t it? Don’t worry, it’s simple. Concentric movement is when your muscles shorten, for example when lifting a dumbbell while doing bicep curls. When lowering the dumbbell the muscle lengthens and this is the eccentric movement. The concentric movement does very little to muscle tissue other than get the weight up so that you can lower it again. Do the concentric movement quickly, but controlled, and do the eccentric movement slowly as this is when you really hit muscle fibres and stimulate growth.

Always combine cardio and weights: Even if you are training for mass gain only, do cardio even if it is only for 20 minutes twice a week. Your body functions better if you have a balance of cardiovascular fitness, as well as strength and power. Becoming totally unfit will hinder your muscle gain goals. Conversely, even if you are on a total fat loss programme, do some weight training as well otherwise you may end up remaining pear shaped, but just a smaller pear. You won’t look any better if your waist size decreases but so do your shoulders, chest and arms. Aim for balance all the time.

Name: Luke_Sci_MX

Web Site: http://www.sci-mx.co.uk

What Are Muscle Growth Plateaus?

If you have to ask, then you’ve never had one. A muscle growth plateau is one of the most frustrating things that can happen to a serious weight trainer. No matter what you try, you just can’t keep on making the gains you’re accustomed to. You train, you eat, and you rest. Maybe you get a bit bigger, but the big mass gains still elude you. It sucks.

What Causes Muscle Growth Plateaus?

There are numerous possible causes of growth plateaus which is what makes them so annoying. Think of them like food intolerances; the symptom can be much the same in every case but the cause could be any one of several things. Like food intolerance, the best approach is to rule out each possible cause one-by-one.

Let’s start with over-training. Not to be confused with under-resting, over-training means hitting the weights too hard, too heavy, and too often. You’ll have other symptoms like soreness and possibly tightening of tendons and ligaments around large joints. Cut down on either the weight or the frequency with which you target each muscle group and allow more recovery time in between sessions.

Under-resting, simply not getting enough quality rest. If this is the cause of your plateau, it could be good news because you can literally sleep it away. Lack of quality sleep is a common problem for people who work shifts or late nights. During quality sleep your body undergoes the anabolic drive, a process we’ve mentioned before on this blog, which is a period of intense rebuilding and repair. If you’re not sleeping properly, or not sleeping for long enough, then your body has a reduced window in which to build muscle. Aim for at least 8 hours of quality sleep per night, lay off coffee, tea, caffeinated soft drinks within 6 hours of bedtime and consider either a supplement which enhances the anabolic drive like 17-T Somatocri-MX or a gradual release protein which works while you sleep like GRS-5.

On a smaller scale, you should also rest one to two minutes between heavy sets. You want your workouts to be shorter but of higher intensity. In short, rest is a great way to break through a plateau.

The next thing to rule out is being stuck in a rut. Most people know that you should aim to change your workout at least every six weeks but it’s amazing how many people simply forget. Switch out at least 50% of the exercises in each muscle group. If you’re short of ideas, either seek the advice of a personal trainer, or be creative. You’d be surprised at the results you can get by dropping all weights exercises on your back for six weeks and replacing them with variations of chins.

So, work through each of these possible causes and you should be blasting through your plateau in no time.

Name: Luke_Sci_MX

Web Site: http://www.sci-mx.co.uk

1)  Reverse the pyramid.  Most workout routines will recommend starting with a lower weight so that you can bang out a few more reps and increasing the weight with each set.  If you’re looking to really pile on the beef you want to do the opposite.  Start with a heavier weight, something which allows you to complete no more than 6 reps, then lower it as you progress through the sets.

2)  Lift more weights.  Obvious?  Well, yeah.  But you’d be surprised how many ‘hardgainers’ we get feedback from who are still doing four cardio sessions to 2 weights sessions each week.  To gain weight, lift weight.  Aim for at least four weights sessions each week and make sure that each body part has at least three days to recover in between.  Stick to compound exercises like bench presses and squats to work the big muscle groups.  Cut down or cut out cardio if your overall aim is to add mass, a good approach is to bulk up first with weights, then use some cardio (in conjunction with a maintenance weights program) to burn away fat afterwards and increase definition.

3)  Protein, protein, protein.  Of course, we’re bound to say this aren’t we, but it’s still a fact.  If you aren’t consuming between 2 and 3g of protein per kg of body weight every day then you aren’t giving yourself much of a chance to build muscle.   If you’re a 90-100kg male then you’re looking at a protein requirement of between 180g and 300g.  Make sure your diet is rich in lean protein sources like tuna, chicken breast, and egg whites.  Also remember to drink more water as your protein intake increases.  Obviously a protein supplement is a simple way to add more protein to your diet but for mass gain you want to make sure it’s a high calorie protein source, consider Sci-MX Mass System or an all-in-one like Omni-MX Hardcore.

4)  Carbs.  In the ‘Atkin’s aftermath’ there has been a fundamental shift away from carbs but if you’re looking to bulk up, you need carbs almost as much as protein.  Not only do they supply the energy your body needs to perform repairs, they also help stimulate insulin production which helps your body absorb compounds like creatine.  To use the careworn metaphor, consider protein as the bricks and carbs as the mortar.  Look for about a 40-40-20 ratio; that’s 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% good fat.  Stick to sources of complex carbs like sweet potatoes, and brown rice & pasta.  Avoid any processed sources like pastry and bread as they are often bristling with fat, salt and sugar.

5)  Sleep yourself strong.  Big weights mean big muscle breakdowns and that means you need rest.  There’s a process which happens just after you fall asleep called the anabolic drive.  It’s a process where the production of somatacrinin (the hormone which causes secretion of natural growth hormone and testosterone) peaks.  During this period, the body is hugely active in rebuilding itself.  Making sure you get enough sleep is crucial – rest as hard as you train, as they say.  It’s also worth looking at a testosterone booster which works in synergy with the anabolic drive like 17-T Somatocri-MX and a gradual release protein like GRS-5 to keep you topped up when you need it most.