Australian Men’s Fitness – September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 MEN’S FITNESS 63

THEBODYHASAREMARKABLEABILITYTOADAPT– IFYOUDOTHESAMETHINGWEEKIN,WEEKOUT,PROGRESSSTALLS.

TWO

Eat like you

mean it

■ Nutrition is

EVERYTHING.

Building muscle

requires energy.

Food provides energy.

To build muscle, you

need to have a caloric

surplus. Your body

requires calories just

to survive at rest, as

well as calories to fuel

your daily tasks – it’s

only then that it will

use any extra calories

to help build muscle.

So if you’re eating

2900 calories worth

of chicken, rice and

veg every day, but are

then burning 3100

calories, you simply

will not put on muscle

size. What too many

people do when it

comes to nutrition

is leave it down to

chance. Don’t be

that guy. Work out

how many calories

you need per day to

increase your weight

• there are plenty of
  websites and apps
  to help you do this.
  For example, I use
  MyFitnessPal,
  which is available
  on Android and iOS


• and then track how
  many calories you
  are consuming per
  day to make sure
  you are exceeding
  this number.

■ Trainingwith

someone has many

benefits. Not only

does it give you the

encouragement to

push out that extra

rep because your

training partner

is there urging you

on to do it (and will

judge you if you

don’t), it also opens

up a few new ways

of constantly

changing the

stimulus to your

muscles. An

example of this

is forced reps, where

you do the exercise

yourself to failure,

then with the same

weight and without

resting, a partner

helps you squeeze

out a few more.

Having a training

buddy also makes

you much more

accountable – you’re

less likely to skip

a workout session

if you know that

someone is at the

gym waiting for

you to turn up.

■ Asa personal

trainer, the one

thing I try to drill

into people at the

gym is to log down

their workouts.

There is one rule

in the gym that you

need to follow to

see gains in muscle

size and strength:

progressive

overload. You

need to keep

progressively

increasing the

stimulus on your

muscle, either

throughmore

reps, more weight

or more sets.

Most people can’t

even remember

what they did

last weekend, so

remembering the

exact amount of

weight, reps and

sets from last

week’s workout

is going to prove

difficult. Some

days you are

more willing to

push yourself

than others, so

bywritingdown

workout statistics

we can use those

figures as a goal

to work towards

and surpass in

each session. And

in times when

you think you’re

making no

progress, you can

look back on what

you were lifting

six weeks ago and

see that you have,

in fact, improved,

which will keep

you motivated.

THREE

Find a gym buddy

FOUR

Log your lifts

Aim for 2-6g carbs per kilo

of body weight for optimum

muscle gain.

ONE

Switch

things up

■ The body has a

remarkable ability

to adapt to any

challenges it faces.

Yet too many people

do exactly the same

routines day in,

day out, week after

week. As a result,

the body adapts

and progress stalls.

I would recommend

you change the

program you’re

following every six

weeks. Try to work

different muscle

groups together on

the same day, use

different exercises,

push different rep

ranges, adhere to

different rest times

• trick your body
  into growing
  muscle. If possible,
  try to get someone
  else to write the
  program for you


• either a personal
  trainer or a training
  partner who you
  know has good gym
  knowledge. If you
  write your own
  routine, you’re more
  likely to prescribe
  exercises you find
  easier or more
  comfortable doing.

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