Somebody, I think it was Vince Gironda, once said (well, knowing Vince, he said it a million times if he said it once)

Bodybuilding success is 85 percent nutrition

I have often said, in that same vein, that I wasn't sure what the percentage was, but I know this – It is high, way up there, far above 50 percent.

Especially when it comes to building muscle!

Sure, you have to train right and give your body time to recover (recovery will be covered on Friday), but one thing is crystal clear:

If you're not gaining weight, you're not eating enough!

Now, you could be gaining weight and NOT building muscle. That's 80 percent of the population. But that's because most of us eat shit and don't exercise at all.

But you're here because you train diligently, try to eat right, and try to balance the 3 Pillars the best you can.

Today, we're going to get back to basics – Basic eating. Here's what you need to know and do:

• In order to build muscle, you have to increase your caloric intake; you have to create a calorie surplus. If you're maintaining your weight, simply add in a glass of milk or other high-protein food to each meal.
• Eating 6 to 8 smaller meals is better for building muscle. Why? Because you can maximize your protein uptake. This means you can eat less protein per meal but more protein by the end of the day. This is very important for many reasons, one of which is this: If you're not in a positive caloric balance throughout the day, you most likely are running in the red at some parts of the day. When you're running a deficit, you are either burning fat or breaking down muscle tissue. Guess which one is more likely? Right! You are more likely to catabolize muscle tissue than burn fat. It's a sad but true fact.
• You have Two Most Important Meals – the one right before your weight workout and the one right after it! Here, bump up the protein intake to roughly double what you might take in during a regular meal.
• Consume at least 1 1/2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Preferably, take in 2 grams per pound. Yes, a lot of it is "wasted," but studies have shown that taking in more protein actually stimulates growth hormone production which spurs muscle growth, even if the protein isn't used.
• Eat plenty of eggs and lots of milk, if you can tolerate it. Both of these foods are sources of high-quality protein. Many weight trainers have made HUGE muscle gains on an eating/training system called GOMAD.
• Most supplements don't deliver on their promises. Read Supplement Scams. However, a few do. Read Supplements that work.
• Take your supplements every single day. Except Thursdays Seriously, I suggest you take a break from all supplements every 4th day of the week. Doing so just gives your digestive system a rest. Do it on a non-training day.

Tomorrow, we'll talk more specifically about a dietary meal & supplementation plan that will kick-start your muscle growth and put you on a path to gaining serious muscle!

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

Yahoo Answers

After a few comments that it would be better if I just posted the answer here on the blog, I've decided to do just that! So, here it is.

You need to concentrate on 3 things for building muscle:

1. Train right
2. Eat right
3. Recover right

For training, you want to lift heavy weights for 2-5 sets (more sets for more experienced lifters) of 6-10 reps on compound exercises only (exercises that use multiple muscles like squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, overhead press). Train 3 times per week. Full body workouts.

For nutrition, make sure you eat at least 6 meals per day. Get 20-40 grams of protein per meal. At 160 pounds, you want at least 160 grams of protein a day. Good protein sources are eggs, milk, beef, fish, poultry, and pork. Eat plenty of raw fruit and vegetables, too. Drink lots of water.

Before your weight training workouts, mix up a protein shake. Make it a double serving. Mix whole milk and a good protein powder and drink roughly 1/3 of it about 30 minutes prior to working out. During your workout, drink another 1/3. Afterwards, finish it off.

Get at least 8 hours of sleep and rest as much as possible. Walk when you can run, sit when you can stand, lie down when you can sit. The idea is to expend as little energy as possible throughout the day.

The best system I've seen for building muscle is the Stair Step Training System (SSTS). It's a 16-week course that shows you how to build muscle, shred body fat, and get bigger, stronger, and faster all over a 4 month period.

It's an easy sale, too. Your body is much more adept at building muscle OR cutting fat than it is trying to do both at the same time. In fact, cutting up and building muscle at the VERY same time is impossible.

However, that is not to say that, over the course of six weeks, you cannot gain muscle and lose body fat. You can start out at 200 pounds at 15% body fat and wind up at 200 pounds at 10%.

You see, you split your training into cycles. I've talked about this before. Interestingly, you can break up the cycles into even smaller chunks than I did in that old post – we're talking intra-day stuff here, folks.

When you do your weight training during the day, your muscles break down and are ready to build back up again immediately after your workout. They are super-efficient. This is the time when you run a calorie surplus (more on surpluses and deficits in a moment, and NOT of the federal budget variety!).

Most of the rest of the day, if you want to cut up, you can run a calorie deficit.

Over the course of a 24-hour period, you may need 3,000 calories, depending on your weight, activity, metabolism, etc. However, each hour is not simply 1/24th of a day, in caloric-need terms. At rest, you may need only several hundred calories for an 8-hour period.

During your peak activities, you may need A LOT more calories.

When you're running a calorie deficit, if you do it right, you're burning fat. Conversely, when you're running a surplus, you're setting the stage for anabolism (muscle growth).

You have to know how to do this. Timing, as they say, is everything.

And Vince Gironda was right after all – successful bodybuilding is 85% nutrition!

For more info on this, check out The Holy Grail. It's free, for a limited time, but with a catch. But, in my opinion, it's worth it.

You also get the Arms Race for free, too. The direct link is –

Hardgainer Manifesto

No sales page (if you want to read about it, read this). The link above takes you right to the order page.

Once you buy this special report, why not sell it? Become a Muscle-Build.com affiliate. Sign up here (free, no obligation, opt out at any time). Get 75 percent commissions (or, when I boost the price back up to “normal” get roughly $27 per sale).

Be sure to read about eggs here and here. You can bet your bottom dollar that eggs, milk, creatine, and whey will make up the biggest components of the mix. Oh, and chocolate milk!

That’s it for now. Stay tuned.

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Now is a great time to become a subscriber because I’m able to write more often now and I’m finding and creating lots of content that I think you will find pretty cool and informative.

Oystein Lund presents So what does fitness mean anyway? posted at Muscle building for fat loss, saying, “What’s your motivation for doing this anyway?”

Joe E presents New Diet Craze: I Gross You Out So Much That You Quit Eating Crappy, Disgusting Fast Food! posted at Promote Health, saying, “Here’s 12 reasons why you should quit eating fast food!”

Steve Faber presents Aerobics is a Waste of Your Time if You Want to Burn Fat posted at Belly Fat Loser.

Conan Stevens presents Gain Weight – 20kg In 3 Months posted at Conan Stevens Online, saying, “Before i was a hardgainer, i was an easy gainer, then…”

FitJerk presents Building Muscle Mass By Eating More? Carbs? Why Gluconeogenesis Is Your Enemy posted at FlawlessFitness, saying, “Most know that protein is the fundamental element that you need to eat to build rock hard muscles, and carbs are something you should cut down on to avoid getting fat. Right? WRONG! Learn the secret carb to protein ratio that explodes muscle mass!”

Verna Morris presents 25 Bookmark-worthy Cheat Sheets for Healthy Living posted at Nursing Assistant Guides.

Ralph Jean-Paul presents Lessons Learned During My Self-Discipline Fast posted at ralphs words, saying, “The benefits and lessons I learned during a challenging juice fast.”

FitJerk presents Supplement Review: Purple K Creatine From Fusion Bodybuilding posted at FlawlessFitness, saying, “I stumbled upon a buffered type of creatine which is pH balanced, doesn’t need to be cycled, comes in a pill form and best off all, gives you the same results with a smaller dosage! Find out if it lived up to its claims!”

Colin Timberlake presents Training Log: The 2009 Arnold Classic 5K Pump and Run- Day 35 posted at colintimberlake.com, saying, “Former Mr. Olympia and the King of Perseverance Samir Bannout is used as the inspiration for a day of hard training.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Hardgainer blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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• Go to the store
• Buy a gallon of milk
• Drink it in a day

That’s it. Well, not really. You’ll want to ease into this. Some folks report stomach issues. Also, don’t do follow this program if you suffer from milk allergies or if you’re lactose intolerant.

Finally, make sure you train hard and rest easy while following the GOMAD program.

Lots of trainers have experienced even greater success with this program when coupled with a Breathing Squat training routine.