Monday is for Muscle Mass Building: Water - The Most Overlooked Component In The Quest For Muscle

FACT: There's a very good chance that you will die if you don't drink water within three days.

This is because aside from the air we breathe, water is the most crucial thing to human beings. Blood would not be blood without water. Even bones are made up of a lot of water. Most importantly, muscles and all our organs are composed mainly of water. Our muscles, in particular, are made up of 70% water. It has been stated in studies that once our bodies get dehydrated, even by just 3%-4% in the body's natural levels can cause premature muscle weakness and fatigue. Imagine a 10%- 20% diminished muscular contraction. Yikes! Bad news for muscle building!

If you have read the previous post about creatine, it should be mentioned that creatine also help increase muscle size by increasing the volume of the muscle. Obviously, what's being driven in the muscle is made up of water. Another thing to consider is that while water shuttles in the nutrients to the muscles, it also helps in getting the waste product out. In fact, everything in our body relies on water, even our brain functions.

Probably, the most obvious question to ask now is, how much water do you need to support your body functions and your muscle building effort?

Sean Nalewanyj wrote in his report, 8 Things You Must Do To Build Maximum Muscle, a calculation of how much is enough in terms of water consumption. In his report he stated that for every pound of bodyweight, we need about 0.60 ounces of water. This means that if you weigh 160 pounds, you multiply that by 0.6

160 lbs x .6= 96 ounces or 2.9 liters.

Now, I don't know about you, but from where I come from, the sun shines so hot and I sweat so much from workouts that I can't survive and push my muscles to grow. It's hard to focus when you're dehydrated. This figure seems low for me, and I imagine it's true for others.

Another approach is from Stuart McRobert's Beyond Brawn. In it, Stuart suggests a more unique way to judge your hydration, your urine color. His recommendation of 4 clear urinations a day is way more valid to me. This is aside from other urinations you might have which is slightly or darkly colored. Even if you are taking multivitamins/minerals, the first few hours after ingestion will definitely reflect on your urine's color, but not for the rest of the day. If you are using any other medication which causes your urine to be colored, try judging it in terms of urine frequency and volume. Also, adjust accordingly to your performance in the gym.

Sunday's Dietary Supplement: Creatine- The Surprise Fat Loss Supplement?

In the worlds of strength, fitness, sports and muscle, few people are clueless about creatine. This supplement first caught mainstream media when some big name sports personalities were spotted to have creatine monohydrate in their locker rooms. In reality, it's been around for way longer than that, as it's emergence in the 90's was welcomed with open arms by the weightlifting community. Since then, it has been hailed as a wonder supplement for it's favorable effects in terms of muscular endurance, muscle volume, strength and recovery. However, one thing that isn't taken in to account by most articles is how creatine can help aid fat loss. Wait, is that right? Fat loss?

An article in FLEX magazine, written by Jim Stoppani, PhD. about ten years ago (November 2003 issue, page 214) cited studies about how soldier who took creatine for one week  were observed by the U.S. Department of Defense. These soldiers were said to have not only an increase of both strength and size, but also experience 1 to 2 pounds of bodyfat loss. Well, assuming that they really lost body fat and not just water weight loss, it adds to the mounting evidence that creatine does work as a fat burning supplement.

I can think up of some reasons why this makes sense, even if there are not sufficient studies to back up  that creatine can directly shed the unwanted blubber. One explanation could be that when creatine supplies energy via replenishing the ATP (adenosine triphosphate) in the mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell), along with it are fat molecules that are burned off in the process. The influx of energy creates a nice fat burning environment for us to reap benefits from.

Another reason could be that the additional energy raises the body's resting metabolic rate. In the same article above, one study was mentioned where it has been observed that a group of people were supplementing with creatine for one month. One group, who did no exercise during the time, had their metabolism raised by 50 calories a day. Those who did lift weights increased theirs by 100 calories. This might seem small, but every little increase in calorie burn counts.

Of course, one way to look at it also is the fact that with more strength, more weights can be lifted. As more weight is lifted, more energy has to be spent, and more resulting muscle damage. Both the energy expenditure and muscle repair need higher amounts of calories. Creatine boosts both strength and recovery, which means good news for us.

As for how much creatine should be supplemented, there are plenty of articles in the Internet on how to load up on creatine safely. You can also try maintaining a regular dose for about 2 months and going off for 1 month to keep your body sensitive to creatine's effects. 3g -5g is a good place to start, or start with a lower dose if you feel bloated.

Saturday Workout Videos Review: Ronnie Coleman - The Unbelievable

As you may have noticed from my previous post about Pumping Iron, I don't watch bodybuilding videos for the sake of dissecting the everyday lives of bodybuilders. I usually don't even care about the filler shots. I am intent on seeking those little things that most people miss when they watch these videos. There is something in the way that these pros do their exercises that make them so massive. For this Saturday, I have chosen one of the most massive bodybuilders to ever walk the earth and his famous video, Ronnie Coleman: The Unbelievable.

The Exercises

I wouldn't go full length here, as I have found a very detailed description of Ronnie's exact workout, weights, reps and sets in bodybuildingpro.com's review of this same DVD (click here). I'll try to criticize the exercise in terms of safety and their usefulness to us regular folk to apply in our regular workouts.

Shoulder workout:

Overhead Presses: I have never really like doing these seated. In the video, Ronnie pressed 315 lbs seated, to which in my opinion a dangerous move for anyone, steroid user or not. The lower back is not designed to handle this kind of pressure. Ironically, doing cleans and presses (where you can clean before every press) seems to be a safer alternative, as well as a bigger fat burning exercise, because it involves the entire body, from head to toe. Notice here how Coleman seems to do the same limited range of motion on all movements, presses and raises-wise, focusing on the pump and burn as well as force overload on his muscles.

He uses so much crazy heavy weights, such as 200 lbs dumbbell shrugs. How in the living hell can he do this stuff without tearing anything off his body this close to a contest??

Back:

802 lbs for 2 reps Deadlift: This has got to be the craziest thing that any bodybuilder, in any era has done during their pre-contest prep. Not only that, he did heavy ass T-bar and barbell rows. When most bodybuilders whine and complain how weak they feel during their workouts when in a shredded condition, Coleman seems to be getting stronger. Maybe, we should change the title to The Unstoppable.

One noticeable thing is that they didn't cover Coleman's lat workout. This is probably because he does mid- and lower back on a separate day from his lats. I think he did cover this with other videos.

Quadriceps:

He didn't show us how he trained hamstrings in this video, folks. But he did show us how he trained his legendary quads. One thing I didn't like though is the way he did front squats. The bouncing at the bottom is too dangerous for the majority of the people and should never be attempted by anyone, especially under a heavy barbell.

In General:

Coleman focuses on building high tension and pump in the muscle. He also relies primarily on heavy basic exercises done for high repetitions, to which how he accomplishes this is beyond me. Learn from the selection of exercises he uses, and try the pump approach, but use your common sense. Use lighter weights first and develop a feel for the moves. Feel free to experiment to get the most out of every workout. Also, remember not to go all out all the time; learn to cycle your weights and effort for better gains.