Q:  I’ve heard that eating more frequently will increase my metabolism and help me lose weight? Is this true and how does this happen? I thought you had to eat less to lose weight.

A:  You’ve probably heard this advice from many different places: personal trainers at your gym, online weight-loss websites, and popular diet books. Even though it has some merit, it may not be entirely correct, especially if your physical activity levels are low or non-existent.

The suggestion to increase your eating frequency, meaning going from eating three square meals a day to six smaller meals and snacks, stems from both research and anecdotal findings. Some of the benefits attributed to eating more often include reducing hunger and caloric intake, boosting your metabolic rate, and controlling hormones that increase your desire for food. For some people this is true, for others, not so much.

More here at Prograde.

Both strength training and endurance exercise will increase your energy expenditure at the time of activity, and for a few hours afterwards, when they are conducted at the same intensity (you all have experienced that increase in hunger after a good workout, whether it be strength or cardio work).

However, strength training is unique in that if you perform multiple sets of a challenging weight to failure, scientists have shown that the energy expended afterwards, known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) can be elevated for 24-36 hours. Some people call this the “Afterburn” effect of serious strength training.

For the rest of the post, check out Strength Training.

Building muscle in 30 minutes a day

Today's a day to relax. Or at least learn about it.

A critical component of any exercise program is recovery. It's just as important as exercise and nutrition. In fact, if you don't give your body enough time to rest and recover from the strenuous workouts you do, no matter what you do otherwise, your muscle gains will be minimal, if even positive.

Yeah, you could lose size even if you train right and eat right.

It's a sad fact. But it's true. I've seen super athletes fall from grace by partying too hard into the early morning. I've also been plagued myself by a significant lack of sleep for extended periods of time (years, decades even). I always rationalized my poor sleeping habits with a mucho macho phrase:

I can sleep all I want when I die.

Of course, this thinking is all crap. There's nothing good to be said about sleep deprivation. So let's lay it on the line right now: Get at least 8 hours of sound, restful sleep every single night. Here are a few other "Rules of Recovery" -

• Go to sleep at the same time each night.
• Avoid shift work if at all possible.
• If you must consume caffeine, do so only prior to 3PM.
• Rise at the same time each morning.

Try to abstain from these activities -

• Going to sleep full.
• Exercising immediately before going to bed.
• Consuming any caffeine after about 3PM.
• Taking any kind of weight-loss aids, like diet pills, as they contain caffeine and other stimulants.

Read more about sleep here.

Sleep isn't the only component of Recovery.

You also need to calm down and relax. If you want to build maximum muscle, you need to put your mind at ease and stop worrying about stuff. I used to be a worrier; it's a trait I got from my mom, who constantly worries about this, that, and the other thing. Fortunately, I have overcome this unfortunate mental characteristic. It's a long road, but it's certainly worth it.

Sit if you can stand, walk if you can run. That sort of thing. Conserve as much energy as possible throughout the day. You will find that you won't have to eat as much to get results, either.

It's really win-win.

There's more on Rest here.

If you follow the advice given in this series, you will most definitely be training and eating right. If you find that you still aren't gaining the muscle you think you ought to be gaining, look first at your recovery practices.

• Are you getting enough sleep?
• Do you fidget while working or watching TV?
• Do your ears ring (classic sign of overtraining)?
• Is something bugging you and making you sleep less soundly, for less time, or both?

That's it for this series. I hope you liked it – let me know in the Comments! Thanks for visiting.

To recap, this is the entire series, How to Build Muscle in 30 Minutes a Day:

• Monday – Basic Training
  
• Tuesday – Advanced Training
• Wednesday – Basic Nutrition
• Thursday – Advanced Nutrition & Supplementation
• Friday – Importance of Recovery

Building muscle in 30 minutes a day

Yesterday, we talked about basic nutrition. Today, we're going to "kick it up a notch," and talk about a specific eating program that will have you building muscle faster than Lou Ferrigno on anabolic steroids, bull semen, and gorilla growth hormone!

I've alluded to elements of this program before, not only in this series, but in quite a few posts over the years. Here are a few, just for background:

• Gallon of Milk a Day
• How to Consume More Protein Without Supplements
• Creatine Cycling
  

…and, as they say, much, much more!!!

I'll try to lay it all out in a schedule-format. This assumes you train mid-afternoon, say around 3pm. Adjust accordingly.

• Upon Rising – 2 Arginine tablets with a glass of water
• Breakfast – Eggs, toast, whole milk, vita-pak, 6 desiccated liver tabs, 5 grams Creatine
• Snack – Protein shake, liver tabs, creatine (same doses)
• Lunch – "Flesh" food like beef, chicken, fish, or eggs, whole milk, rice, liver tabs and creatine (same doses)
• Snack – Protein shake, liver tabs
• Pre-workout meal – Protein shake, liver tabs, branch chain amino acids, creatine, 30 minutes prior to workout
• WORK OUT, feel free to consume some protein shake during your workout too
• Post-workout meal – Protein shake, liver tabs, creatine, branch chain aminos, immediately after workout
• Dinner – Another round of flesh – beef, chicken, fish, or fowl. Rice, oats, other starchy foods. This is to be your biggest meal of the day. Vita-pak. Add milk as you grow.
• Snack – Protein shake, aminos, creatine, liver tabs
• Right before sleep – arginine, tryptophan, and glutamine

10 bullets (plus one for working out). Think you can consume all that? Build to it

Granted, two of those bullets aren't meals or working out – the first and last ones are there to a) break your all night "fast" (hence, why it's called "breakfast") and b) to set you up for sound sleep along with some growth hormone-inducing aminos.

On non-workout days, simply cut out the pre- and post-workout shakes. On Thursday (assuming you're training M-W-F), cut the supplements entirely. Give your gut a rest.

After 7 days, cut the creatine down to 2-3 grams where creatine is called for. The first 7 days' worth of creatine will build up a huge store of in-muscle creatine but then it maxes out and giving that high a dose is just wasteful.

Note that your muscles use creatine phosphate to produce energy when working out anaerobically. The creatine you ingest is converted into CP by the body and is stored in your muscles for quick energy.

That's it for today. Tomorrow: Recover tips and tricks.

Here's the rundown again on what we're covering this week:

• Monday – Basic Training
  
• Tuesday – Advanced Training
• Wednesday – Basic Nutrition
• Thursday – Advanced Nutrition & Supplementation
• Friday – Importance of Recovery

When I was growing up, football was undoubtedly my favorite sport: To play, watch, and practice. I absolutely LOVED football. I was all about strength, speed, and the finer skills like throwing with precision, catching a bomb, and running perfect routes.

Each summer, I practiced literally for hours at a time!

I was a pretty good ball player. But I wish that I'd had Jason Ferruggia's Renegade Football Strength training manual. This one really seals the deal as far as a comprehensive summer-long football preparation program goes. It shows you everything you need to know to get stronger, faster, quicker, bigger, and more bad-ass, whether you want to be a beefy lineman, a ferocious LB, or a "skill player" like running back, QB, or receiver.

After all, what football player wouldn't like more strength, quickness, speed, agility, and endurance? Oh, you're gonna get bigger, too.