First off, I want to apologize for not being able to write or update the blog in any way for quite some time. I was pretty busy with lots of other projects. But I’ll update the blog way more frequently from now on, I promise. Today I’d like to introduce a new section of this blog which I’d like to call ‘Fan Questions’. Tons of people keep asking me questions every day, mainly on Youtube but also on other video sharing sites, on Youtube.. I often spend a lot of time answering these questions and sometimes I end up writing half a book. So I thought: Why not share these questions and answers with everybody? Of course, I will always ask for permission before publishing these. This one will take a while to read, but I think almost everybody will be able to learn something from it. In the spirit of sharing, I’ll start off with the following questions I got from Hina Abid on MySpace:
Okay here it goes… you might have to sit down for this as I have not one but a couple… :S SORRY!Basically I’m 5′6 and weigh 110 lbs… I’m in the process of gaining about 3 or 4 more lbs. I’m not skinny.. I’m quite curvy but would like more weight in the right places if you know what I mean. I do gain weight in those places.. which is great.. but the truth is I tend to lose weight quickly which I hate very much.I need some advice on weight gain.. I don’t eat junk food. So tell me what type of foods I should eat to put on lbs.Second question.. I work out everyday, so I am pretty active. What I wanted to know was… what would be a good exercise for pec muscles… I don’t want to use the pec dec machine… Basically I read the more you do pectoral type exercises the better your breast shape would be… so which exercise would be good for females? I do pushups… :S So anything other than pushups which is better.Third I know how to do the normal squat. My previous trainer told me that the squat makes your butt big… it worked but would be great if I can master the one legged one.. so give me some tips on that one. I tried doing it.. but almost killed myself. lolAlso people say that I punch very hard.. seriously I can actually leave bruises even though I’m not fat or anything. What I wanted to know was how can I gain more strength than what I have at the moment (is that a stupid question)? LOL sorry I’m just confused so that’s why just asking away.Anyways will wait for your reply… TAKE CARE… and THANKS AGAIN!!!!!!
Quite a lot to answer. I go into a lot of detail in my answers, but I think it’s necessary. You need to inform yourself thoroughly about these subjects if you want to get the most out of your nutrition and workouts. In my opinion, there simply is no easy way around that. Learning is the key to success. So read. Read. READ! Soak up as much information as possible. Well, here’s my answer:
Could you possibly specify ‘more weight in the right places’ in greater detail? Which places do you mean? Nah, just kidding. Looking at your profile pic and reading what you write, I can imagine quite clearly where you’re at, genetically. You could be considered a ‘hardgainer’ who never puts on much weight (fat, in this case). But you do gain some muscle mass. However, you have to eat quite a lot (seen from your perspective) to keep those gains permanently or gain even more weight. Right?
In terms of gaining weight, it doesn’t matter which foods you eat. I’m trying to explain it in a way you can understand it, hopefully:Looking at the hundreds of new fancy diets, fat loss products and other crap that appear on the market every year, one might think that losing or gaining weight is a complicated thing. But it’s not. Basically, it simply works like this:
1. If you eat enough calories to maintain your current body weight, you’ll keep that weight. You might be a little bit heavier or a little bit lighter every once in a while, but in the end your weight stays pretty much the same.
2. If you eat less calories than you need to maintain your current body weight, you’ll lose weight.. you’ll lose both, a certain amount of muscle mass and a certain amount of body fat.
3. If you eat more calories than you need to maintain your current body weight, you’ll gain weight. Muscle mass and body fat.
Now here’s the important part. How much muscle and how much fat you’ll gain when you gain a certain amount of weight dependens on a lot of factors: Genetics, exercise, rest/sleep, age..
Now here’s the important part. How much muscle and how much fat you’ll gain when you gain a certain amount of weight dependens on a lot of factors: Genetics, exercise, rest/sleep, age..
Example: Someone might put on 3lbs of fat when gaining 1lbs of muscle. Somebody else might put on 5lbs of fat when gaining 1lbs of muscle. That’s different from person to person, plus, aging plays a huge role.. etc.
Now back to your question. Why am I telling you all this stuff?
If you want to gain weight, it doesn’t particularly matter WHICH types of food you eat. Basically, it’s all about the calories. If you want to gain weight, you need to eat more calories than you’d need to maintain your current body weight.
Seen only from the bodybuilding perspective, you simply need to eat more calories. No matter where those come from, just get more calories in. Seen from a health perspective, the types of foods are important, of course.
What I’m trying to get across here is, basically, that looking good and being healthy have nothing to do with each other in the first place.
Example: Personally, I could eat crap all day long, I’d still be pretty lean with visible abs. That wouldn’t be healthy at all, but from a bodybuilding perspective I wouldn’t really notice an extreme difference. Like I just said, there are tons of factors to consider. With worse genetics, seen from a bodybuilding perspective, you might end up being fat as hell if you only eat crap. It always depends on how YOU react to certain foods, certain eating habits, certain workouts..
What you need to know, basically: You want to gain weight? Eat more calories. From which foods should these calories come from? Only looking at the bodybuilding aspect, it doesn’t matter that much in your case. But to ensure good health at the same time, eat more healthy foods.
Finally, I’ll proceed to your next question.
Pushups are an excellent chest exercise, for both, men and women. If you don’t think pushups target your chest muscles that well or if you simply don’t like to do them, want some variation… you can also try any other chest exercise. Dumbell flys, dips, bench press, dumbell bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press.. there’s no ‘best’ chest exercise, anyways. There are differences, of course, but there’s no single best one.
Also, you should know that the look of your chest/breasts depends largely on three facors: genetics, body fat percentage and muscle mass. Let’s make a fancy little example with a fancy little body part. Nipples. You can’t train your nipples to get smaller, larger, wider or whatever. It’s genetics. To some degree, it’s the same with the rest of your breasts. One part of how they look is genetically determined, the other part is the one you got control over – by eating right and training your chest.
What you need to know: Simply try another chest exercise and train hard. Personally, I like variation, anyways. Do a bunch of different exercises. No matter what exercise or program you use, just give your best to hit your chest hard to actually cause change in that area. Part of how your breasts look is determined, however, you can still change A LOT about their look. My point is: if you work hard, you’ll improve and you’ll reach your goals – as long as your goals are realistic. Don’t set yourself goals that are extremely unrealistic or very unlikely to be achievable with your individual genetics. Always set yourself high but realistic goals.
If you can’t do single leg squats yet, just practice a lot of regular squats (preferably weighted squats). You can also do leg presses and leg extensions. If you want to focus on single leg strength in particular, go try single leg presses. Patience is key, as long as you keep practicing, you’ll be flexible/strong/skilled enough to do single leg squats one day.
What you need to know: Just keep practicing. Work on your leg strength and flexibilty. Practice the movement until it keeps getting easier. Be patient, learning any skill takes its time.
That’s cool, I like the fact you want to be stronger to punch people even harder. You’re a likeable person. 
If you work out every day, you should get stronger anyways. If you want to improve your punching strength, you should practice punches. Use a punching bag, your little sister or friends who forgot about your birthday. You might even consider taking martial arts classes or ‘fitness boxing’ classes where you only practice punches for fitness reasons and don’t actually fight.
What you need to know: If you want to get stronger, train until you can do something you can’t do with your current strength levels. Example 1: If you want to have stronger legs, do squats, leg presses and so on until you’re able to do single leg squats. Example 2: If you can do 20 pushups at the moment, practice until you can do 40. Example 3: If you want to punch stronger, practice punches and work out till you end up looking like a female version of Mike Tyson. Just set yourself a goal that requires more strength than you got now and work towards that goal.. till you’re there! So one day you’ll be able to see a measurable difference, meaning you’ve reached that goal, you’re stronger.
Now tell me that I’m the coolest dude ever. I actually wrote over 1000 words, although I just worked all night long and the sun is rising right now (it’s 8am here). Oh, and I still got to watch about five more episodes of King of Queens before going to bed.
I hope I could answer your questions in a more or less understandable manner. If not, just ask me more questions. 
Keep in mind that I answered these questions with her individual genetics in mind. If you’re a hardgainer, your food selections are not as important as those of someone who puts on excessive weight easily. Hardgainers are people who ‘can eat anything’ and struggle to put on weight, be it fat or muscle. If you’re overweight and put on fat easily, then you NEED to watch your diet and eat as clean as possible for maximum results. So keep that in mind when reading this post or thinking about it. If you’re a hardgainer, it’s way easier to get in more calories with crappy food or at least with not completely clean diets. It’s usually way harder to eat lots of calories with healthy, lean foods only. So if you’re not in the ‘hardgainer category’, don’t freak out and tell me I’m all wrong. There are elite athletes with like 5% body fat you can eat crap all day because their bodies can handle these foods without ending up overweight. On the other hand, there are people who will put on excessive weight very easily (the majority of people). So what’s my point? I’m an advocate of individualized nutrition. Everbody needs an individual solution because the differences from individual to individual are enormous.
So, be free to ask me any questions you’ve got!
So, be free to ask me any questions you’ve got!
I actually really like a temporary progressive 20-rep routine (i.e. the 20-rep squats and milk routine).
No matter how many reps if you pile pounds onto the bar and food into your mouth you’ll pound serious muscle onto your frame. In the end, progressive training is what counts.
8 to 12 is fine, that’s the repetition range I usually stick to.
hey skullers !!
i need to know what numbers of reps i should do for gaining serious mass and muscle growth.
maybe 8 to 12 reps for muscle gain?
please help me!!:?