Building Muscle Ebook Information

If you are considering purchasing the Muscle Gaining Secrets ebook package, then be sure to check this site regularly because there will be additional articles from the author.  These may not be available even as a special bonus for purchasing the MGS package.

To start, here is one of the articles; and it covers the rationale for choosing muscle building programs which are based around low-volume training:

The Magic Number for Building Muscle

By Jason Ferruggia

When looking at most popular muscle building workouts you need to understand that most forms of training have just been passed down for decades from one generation to the next, without the inclusion of rational thought. Sometime in the 60’s sensible muscle building programs started becoming less and less prevalent with the rapidly growing usage of anabolic steroids.

In days gone by, men like Steve Reeves and Paul Anderson trained with far more sensible, lower volume muscle building programs, but these started to disappear during the 60’s. By the time Arnold got to Gold’s Gym in Venice for the first time, high volume, bodypart splits were the widely accepted way for everyone who wanted to build muscle and gain strength to train.

This type of training is not based on rational thinking but just on the fact that “it’s what everyone else is doing.” The proponents of these training methods will always blindly tell you that “higher volume training is needed to build muscle.” Says who? I can tell you for a fact that the University of Chicago isn’t wasting time examining the effects of Jay Cutlers workouts. There are no studies saying that you need 8-12 sets per bodypart to build muscle. However, there are, in fact, studies that show the exact opposite; that one set is just as effective as three when it comes to building muscle.

The proponents of this type of training will also tell you that higher volume training is associated with higher levels of growth hormone secretion. What they don’t tell you is that almost anything you do elevates GH. Extreme temperatures elevate GH but my biceps don’t get bigger every time I take a shower. The increased GH secretion is not enough to make the slightest difference whatsoever in the muscle building process.

For the drug free lifter who does not possess muscle building genetics quite up to par with the Austrian Oak, training this way is a huge mistake. Not only does it drain your amino acid pool and glycogen stores but it dramatically increases your recovery time between workouts. If you do 8-12 sets for chest on Monday you can not recover from that workout and be able to train again for seven days. So you are only getting one growth stimulus per week or fifty two per year. Now if you reduce your volume to the point where you can recover faster and more efficiently without draining your amino acid pool and glycogen stores so greatly, you can train bodyparts twice per week instead of once. Now instead of 52 growth stimulating workouts per year for each bodypart, you can now do 104.

To train more often you absolutely have to lower your training volume. The total sets per workout should be kept low and the total sets per exercise should be even lower. Contrary to what a lot of the popular programs out there today prescribe, there is rarely a need to do more than two sets per exercise when you are trying to build muscle. If you can’t get the job done with two sets you probably aren’t training hard enough. In theory you should be able to get the job done with just one set but I like to use two just to be safe and make sure all bases are covered. The second set is basically an insurance set.

The are only a few times you should do more than two sets per exercise. If you are a raw beginner who needs more sets just to practice and perfect your form then you should probably do more than two sets. If you are doing speed exercises such as cleans or box jumps you should also do a few more sets. Finally, if you are varying the reps and weights, you can do more than two sets. For example if you are doing two sets of three with 315, a set of five with 295 and a set of eight with 275, you can get away with more than two sets. But other than that, you should never do more than two sets of any exercise with the same weight for the same reps.

There are a few different approaches you can take to doing your two sets. The first approach is to go balls out on your first set and then drop the weight a little bit on your second set and use it as a sort of backoff set. Theoretically this will allow you to give your most effort when you are freshest on your first set. The second approach is to hold a little something back on your first set and instead use it as a hard, working warm up set. Then you go balls to the wall on the second set. It has been suggested that a heavy, but not all out set, before your money set can serve as a neural primer and arouse your nervous system thus making the second set even more effective. The third option is to not take neither set to the limit but instead just do two very hard sets to clean failure. Each option works very well but you will have to experiment to see which is best for you. The most demanding method would be to do two all out death sets to failure. This can work but may be a bit hard for most people to recover from.

Whatever option you choose will be far better than the normal, mindless nonsense of doing 4-6 sets per exercise and you will get far better results. Better muscle gains with far less work? Sounds like an unbeatable plan to me.

Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He has trained thousands of clients during the course of his 14 years as a professional fitness coach, including over 500 athletes from 20 different sports. Jason has written hundreds of training articles for top ranked magazines and websites and has authored four books. He is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more great muscle building information, please visit http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com

If you are looking for muscle building books, either in physical form or e-book form, then chances are that you want some timeless information which is going to work.  The first thing to do is not necessarily buy a book from a champion bodybuilder.

Yes, this may seem counter-intuitive; but you want to be careful.  Apart from the arguments that many of the books written by champion bodybuilders are, in fact, ghostwritten and the claims that the bodybuilders who write the books are on performance drugs, there is another reason why to hold off from a champion bodybuilder right away.  The fact is that you are looking for a muscle building book because you don’t have awesome genetics, probably don’t have the freedom to skip putting in 10 hours of work a day, and you probably have family obligations.

Many of the champion bodybuilders, even if they write their own books and are drug-free, simply have a different starting point than you do!

Instead, be sure to look for books and e-books written by those individuals who have proven training concepts and that others like you (similar build, hereditary background, etc.) have made great progress using the information you find.

Two quality e-books can be found here:  Muscle Building Ebooks.  These are written by guys who have provided lots of testimonials, a 60 day guarantee, and instant access because they can be downloaded within minutes.  More information can be found by clicking on either link and then you can determine which is best for you.

If you prefer physical books, here are those books which do not emphasize heavy supplement use; and some emphasize no supplementation at all.  In addition, they usually recommend weight training routines which can be done in most gyms (commercial or at schools) around the country:

• Dorian Yates’ “Blood & Guts” — this is a deviation from the recommendation of staying away from books written/ghostwritten by a champion bodybuilder, but Dorian’s book is solid and offers some good information
• Beyond Brawn by Stuart McRobert — this book can be a bit dogmatic, but Stuart covers just about everything you need to know about training.  Since he is not in the supplement industry (at least as far as can be determined), his emphasis on progressive training is solid.  It is more high-volume than most High-Intensity Training (HIT) advocates like; but most would grudgingly admit that Stuart’s book is thorough and a worthy addition to the library
• New High-Intensity Training by Ellington Darden — Dr. Darden, in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s, produced several books on weight training and muscle building.  What was good about these early books was that he showed the extra fat gain which could be had in the last weeks of a bulking up phase; and at least he admitted his flaws, unlike many authors.  The new book compiled many of the best routines from the HIT world, although you may wish to skip the history part if it does not interest you.  The example of the guy gaining all of the pounds is actually inaccurate, as the guy lost a lot of fat first (brushed over in the chapter) and then regained the weight with an improved muscle-to-fat ratio.  The less-stellar examples in the book are actually more realistic as Dr. Darden discusses what has worked in terms of adding muscle if you are willing to display some serious intensity when training
• Another book which has received reviews from those into the power side of the weight lifting world (strongman, powerlifting, etc.) is Serious Strength Training by Tudor Bompa.  Take a look at the reviews and preview chapters on Amazon to determine if it is a good fit for you

Hopefully these muscle building book recommendations will help you get started on your journey to pragmatic and readily discernible muscle growth in the upcoming weeks.