What’s up gym bro!
I’m trying to gain as much muscle as I possibly can in a year. In this post we will go over my exact diet, supplement, training, and recovery protocols. As well as my overall philosophy around optimal muscle building. I hope you find this information valuable and beneficial to your pursuit of gains.
TRAINING
In general, I believe there’s a balance between high volume long workouts, and lower volume high intensity workouts. This is a never ending debate in the bodybuilding world. It seems that different people respond better to different training styles. For natural lifters, I believe shorter intense workouts with fewer sets to failure or close to failure is ideal for recovery and rapid muscle growth. For OPTIMAL muscle recover and muscle growth, I would focus on fewer sets and really pushing yourself. I also prioritize REST DAYS. Hitting each muscle group about once per week seems optimal to me, as long as you are getting enough sleep and nutrition.
This is my training routine. Sometimes I switch it up, but I usually stick to this general format. I take rest days as I see fit. On average I train about three days a week. I focus on progressive overload. If you are feeling like you are hitting a plateau, take some days off.
Day 1: Chest and Back:
-Fully warm up chest and back in whatever way you see fit. I like to warm up with pushups.
-Flatbench dumbbell press: 3 sets going up in weight. Last set to failure (or close) 10-20 reps.
-Incline dumbell press: 2 sets. Last set to failure or close 10-20 reps. -Chest push machine. 2 sets. 10-20 reps. Last set to failure.
-Cable pull downs(varying grip): 3 sets going up in weight. Last set to failure or close 10-20 reps.
-Cable Rows: 2 sets. Last set to failure or close. 10-20 reps. -Cable Pull Downs: 3 sets. 10-20 reps. -Pull ups: 1-2 sets to failure. Varying Grips. -Forearms. 4 sets of Dumbell forearm curls, barbell curls, reverse dumbell curls, or any other exercise targeting the forearms.
Day 2: Legs and shoulders:
-Warm up leg and shoulder muscles in whatever way you see fit.
-Squats or Leg Press: 3 sets going up in weight. Last set close to failure 10-20 reps.
-Deadlift: 3 sets going up in weight. I never go that heavy on deadlift. Sets of 15. -Hamstring Curl Machine. 2-3 sets. 15-20 reps.
-Dumbell overhead shoulder press: 3 sets going up in weight. Last set to failure or close. 10-20 reps.
-Standing shoulder dumbell flys: Various Grips and angles. 4 sets to failure or close. 10-15 reps.
-Standing calf raises with dumbell: 3 sets 20-30 reps
Take 4-5 Rest Days, then Repeat.
DIET
During this year of muscle building, I am eating a very unique diet. I believe simplicity is key for optimal digestion. I eat one “normal” meal per day consisting of mostly whole foods. I also eat multiple “bowls of protein powder” each day for most of my meals. They are basically like my mass gainer. Here is the basic recipe.
Recipe 1: Protein Bowl. Ingredients: -2 scoops protein powder
-1/2 cup honey
Recipe 2: Protein Bowl. Ingredients: -2 scoops protein powder
-1/2 cup honey
-4 Tablespoons Udo’s Oil
Recipe 3: Same of recipe one but I put it all in water and shake up up like a protein drink. A healthy mass gainer.
I TAKE A HIGH AMOUNT OF DIGESTIVE ENZYMES WITH EACH MEAL. These are the digestive enzymes I use. This is a crucial part of my protocol. Enzymes help to digest food so that the body can put more energy towards muscle building and recovery. Studies have found that high enzyme supplementation leads to accelerated recovery in athletes. I will talk more about enzymes more on my website.
Each “protein bowl” comes out to about 40 Grams of Protein. The protein powder I use has 20 grams per scoop. This is the protein I mainly use. You can use any protein powder you like as long as it’s high quality. Most protein powders are low quality, hard to digest, and are filled with preservatives, chemicals and fillers. These things are detrimental to digestibility, recovery, hormone balance, muscle building, and overall health. Eating chemical free food is another important pillar in my protocol that I will discuss in more detail.
I use a high quality honey. This is my main carb and calorie source. It is super easy to digest and makes the bowl of protein powder delicious. Make sure that it a good quality honey. Organic is best. Most honey you find on the shelves are high heated, filled with pesticides, fake, or a combination of all of those. A good real honey is not only easier for your body to deal with but also provides vitamins and minerals. You can also use high quality maple syrup instead.
I eat high quality fats and oils. Fats are necessary for a healthy diet, and essential fatty acids are vital for muscle building and maintaining overall health. I like using Udo’s oil. It’s a combination of cold pressed hemp, olive, flax and other oils. You could also use only hemp or flax seed oil. You could also use ghee or high quality melted butter. As long as it’s balanced in omega fatty acids. I also eat avocadoes and raw milk. Both very good sources of fat. A combination of different fats is best if you are doing this protocol long term.
Right now I try to eat around 3000 calories per day.
I also take probiotics and make probiotic keifers that I drink. They help with digestion, energy, and overall health to facilitate muscle growth and recovery.
SUPPLEMENTATION
I take a multivitamin, vitamin D, Zinc, magnesium, Iodine, vitamin c, liquid minerals, probiotics, a greens powder, and a fiber powder. I take enzymes with each meal and before bed.
TESTOSTERONE OPTIMIZATION
For a natural lifter (not on steroids or trt) testosterone optimization is very important for building muscle. These days the average 25 year old has the testosterone level of a 70 year old in the 1950s. This is concerning.
Avoid chemicals as much as you can in your day to day life. The plastics found in food are Xenoestrogens, meaning they act as estrogen mimickers in the body. This is not good for men or women. Basically all processed food contain microplastics. Avoid plastic bottles and packaging. Pesticides and preservatives are also detrimental to testosterone. Tap water coming from municipal water sources are highly contaminated with chlorine and other chemicals. Focus on eating clean organic whole foods as much as possible. The protein powder, honey, and oils I use are organic and purity tested.
Avoid EMF radiation as much as possible. Meaning cell phones, Wi-Fi, etc. This is a controversial topic. Keeping your phone right by your ballsack isn’t good for sperm count or testosterone production. Turn on airplane mode as much as you can. Avoid using your computer on top of your lap as much as possible. Turn off your wifi at night if you can.
Make sure you have good levels of Minerals, especially zinc and magnesium. Being low in these nutrients can negatively impact testosterone levels.
Avoid stress. Cortisol kills testosterone levels. Find ways to stay calm during the day, whatever that takes.
Get good sleep! This is an obvious one. Good sleep in necessary for every aspect of health. Try to get 8 hours per day. I use Magnesium Breakthrough from Bioptimizers every night before bed. 2 or more pills. Its been a game changer for me. I’ve been taking it on and off for years. It’s the real deal. It also helps with stress.
RECOVERY
This may be the most important portion of this document. For rapid muscle growth, you need to recover as quick as possible, so that you can get back into the gym sooner. It’s a game of training as efficiently as possible and the recovering as efficiently as possible. If you work out too frequently, your muscles have not recovered yet, and you are actually hurting your muscle growth. I highly recommend everyone listen to what Mike Mentzer, Tom Platz, Dorian Yates, and others have to say about this. You must give yourself enough time to fully recover.
Most of my life I have done long volume style workouts. I am now understanding the value of cutting out the junk volume and focusing on HIT. Experiment with it yourself and you will find the amount of volume and sets per week that feels right to you.
Diet is hugely important for growth and muscle recovery. You want to focus on eating easily digestible foods so that the body can spend less energy on digestion, and more energy on repairing muscle tissue. This will greatly speed up the process.
Whatever you eat, I recommend taking high amounts of digestive enzymes. This will do much of the digestion for you. The protein will be broken down by the protease enzymes so that it can be absorbed much better. The other constituents like the carbs and fats will also be broken down by the enzymes. You will notice a huge difference in digestion. I use Bioptimizers Masszymes, and Puradyme Liyfzyme. I think these are the best enzymes on the market. I take about 20 capsules with each meal. Go big or go home.
My diet that I outlined above is what I believe to be the most efficient and easily digestible, while also providing all of the nutrients that you need for muscle growth. I do have cheat meals once in a while, about once a week where I eat whatever I want. I also eat whatever I want during holidays, vacation, or going out to restaurants.
DON’T BE AFRAID TO TAKE REST DAYS AWAY FROM THE GYM. Work out hard, and rest hard. Try it for yourself – take a week off from the gym and then come back. You will probably feel better and stronger. Allowing your muscles to fully recover is a great thing when trying to build muscle as fast as possible. Taking rest days on a regular basis between workouts is also smart. The frequency of how much you can train for optimal muscle growth depends on many factors such as sleep quality, diet, training intensity, and your own unique genetics.
Gut health. Gut health is important for all bodily functions. A diverse and healthy gut microbiome is essential. Pesticides and chemicals in our food damage our gut microbiome. I make probiotic Keifers that I sip on throughout the day. I take probiotic capsules and put the in a mason jar with honey and minerals (I put chlorella powder in there also to help with probiotic growth). In a few days, the probiotics will have eaten the honey and multiplied, this is a great way to get much greater amounts of probiotics into your gut.
Get some righteous sleep. Try to get a full 8 hours every night. I’ve been taking magnesium before bed for years. A good quality magnesium supplement will help calm you down and help you get to sleep and sleep deeper. Sleep is important for allowing your body to recover as quick as possible. This is also good for testosterone levels.
This is the magnesium supplement I take: Magnesium Breakthrough