Turn yourself into a body building beast

Dear Fitness Coach,

I am a guy who started lifting about 5 months ago and my muscles haven’t budged. Getting really discouraged here, but not going to give up. What should and should not be doing?

Dude with no guns

Dear Dude,

I like your attitude as consistency is the key to changing your physique, so you need to continue weight lifting. However you should to take a long hard look at your program and nutrition. If it’s a perfect storm of nutrition, weight training and cardio you will start to see results within the first month. Follow these easy instructions to pile on the mass:

1. Pig out on protein. You are causing micro tears in muscle fiber when you lift so your body needs lots of protein to repair. Aim for 200-250 grams of quality protein a day. Protein shakes and bars for snacks and some sort of beef, fowl or fish for your meals. Cut back on refined carbs as well

2. Go heavy and then go even heavier. You have to put enormous stress on your muscles to make them grow. Go as heavy as you can while maintaining proper form.

3. Cut back on cardio. Unless you are overweight, 20 minutes of low intensity 3x a week is all you need. Anymore and it will work against your bodybuilding efforts.

4. Banish beer. This includes all alcohol as well. Sounds harsh, but without beer goggles you will be better able to pass up those bar snacks and chips and dips.

5. Get your snooze on. Sleeping 8 hours is not a luxury-it’s a necessity. Overnight is when your body goes into building mode on those muscles that you worked out. Skimping on sleep means depriving those muscles from growing.