Tag Archives: bodybuilding

How To Not Be Skinny – 5 Tips To Get Big Muscles Naturally

Me after I gained over 40lbs naturally.

Overcoming Skinniness For Men

I know first hand how much it sucks to be weak and skinny. Growing up, I wasn’t very athletic. Although I enjoyed certain sports, being smaller meant I would be one of the last picked on teams. I also got teased for my size and although I was never seriously bullied, my friends and classmates wouldn’t hesitate to push me around knowing they could get away with it. I can still recall getting thrown around on the playground by a classmate (who later actually became a friend) in grade school and feeling helpless.

Throughout most of high school, I weighed a massive 118lbs. But before going into senior year, I studied the secrets to building muscle naturally. I was determined to figure out how to not be skinny and maximize my muscular potential. Once I knew these simple steps, I was able to pack on over 25 pounds in a matter of a few short months – all without adding extra fat and maintaining a six pack.

Later, I built upon my foundation with some more advanced techniques. I have at one point benched press 345 pounds at a bodyweight of just over 165 making it just over twice my bodyweight. At another point, I hit a bodyweight of 176 pounds while maintaining a six pack. All of this done without illegal drugs, steroids, or even legal pro-hormones. Needless to say, I figured out a few tricks to packing on muscle and you’re about to discover some of these same methods so you can go from skinny to huge fast.

Tip 1: Eat More High Quality Nutrient And Calorie Dense Foods

Eating more is essential if you want to not be skinny anymore. This was and still to this day is the hardest part for myself when it comes to building muscle. The reason a guy is usually skinny is that he either has a fast metabolism and/or a small appetite. If you want to get big, you’re going to need to eat big.

While this is obvious, where some people screw up is they eat a lot of the wrong kinds of foods. This best foods for building muscle are those high in both calories and nutrients. This is because, given a limited appetite, you’ll want to maximize the amount of calories and nutrition you take in.

A plate full of broccoli is healthy, but it will fill you up before giving you the calories you need to grow. On the flip side, sugary drinks and desserts will add a ton of calories, but not a lot of nutrients. They’ll also mostly be calories from sugars and unhealthy fats rather than from healthy fats, slow digesting carbohydrates, and quality protein. We want to get big from muscle, not adding fat.

Examples of a nutrient and calorie dense foods that are great for bodybuilding would be nuts, eggs, meats, fish, sweet potatoes, organic potatoes, hemp seeds, buckwheat, quinoa, rice, wheat germ, avocado, coconut oil, macadamia oil, olive oil, whey protein, and others.

These foods should of course still be balanced with other foods that are high in nutrients even if not high in calories such as fiberous vegetables.

One problem is that many skinnier guys, as much as they may want to build muscle, fear they’re going to add too much fat. This is particularly an issue for guys that are “skinny-fat” who have little muscle but still carry extra fat. By choosing the right kinds of foods and avoiding too much junk, this can largely be avoided.

But a big part of it is psychological. Remember, it is a lot easier to lose 10 pounds of fat than to gain 10 pounds of muscle. My favorite method for keeping fat gains low while building muscle is by following a lean gains type of intermittent fasting approach. See more details here.

Tip 2: Follow A Proven Hypertrophy Workout Program

I’m thankful that when I started out I had a great workout routine to follow designed specifically from a former skinny guy to help hardgainers build muscle. I’ve found over the years however there is no “one size fits all” program. Skinny “hard gainer” guys in particular need a routine that takes into account their unique body type.

For those who don’t have a solid foundation of muscle, I’ve found training splits that workout muscle groups more frequently such as HST to be very beneficial. The frequent training sessions allows the nervous system to quickly learn the proper movement pattern for each workout.

As I progressed, I’ve found upper and lower body splits as well as “traditional” one body part per week style training can be effective. I don’t recommend body part splits as much for beginners though as I feel more frequent hitting of each muscle group results in quicker gains for newbies.

See my recommended routines for a variety of good routines to suit your needs.

The most progress I ever made was following what some would consider extreme overtraining. It was a routine in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopedia of Natural Bodybuilding. I was supplementing heavily with branch chained amino acids to aid in recovery and it worked extremely well.

Even if you don’t have access to a gym, you can still get huge. Doing a combination of gymnastics style bodyweight training with a set of rings and a pullup bar allowed me to get insanely strong while still packing on muscle in my own home. Water jugs can also be used as inexpensive dumbbell replacements along with a set of affordable resistance bands.

Tip 3: Change Exercise Routines That Aren’t Working

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Having worked out in a variety of gyms over the past 9 years, I can see a lot of guys doing the same routine month in and out without any changes in their body. There is no shame in quitting if you’re quitting something that doesn’t work.

The caveat here is that you don’t simply change something every single week because of not seeing progress. But if you’ve been doing the same routine for a while and have little to no gains for it, assuming your diet is in check, it’s time to switch things up. The body will adapt to whatever demands are placed on it.

The best strategies that people often overlook for maximizing muscle gains are found in this free report on utilizing various muscle building factors in your training. Things to try are one or more of the following:

Go to an entirely new workout style.
Change the order of the exercises.
Change the rest period.
Incorporate heavier weights and power lifting style exercises.
Incorporate lighter weights and high rep “pump” training.
Utilize explosive movements like high jumps, medicine ball slams, and “clapping” pushups.
Targeting a weak muscle and training it more frequently.
Follow a routine that incorporates all of these elements over several months.

Tip 4: Get Adequate Rest And Recovery

Your body grows when you’re resting, not in the gym. I credit a lot of the gains I made early on to making sure I was getting enough sleep and not getting to stressed out in my life. While a solid program will make sure your muscles are rested up enough between workouts, it’s up to you to make sure you’re getting enough sleep and managing stress for total body recovery.

There are a few things that can be done to enhance recovery such as:

Get enough sleep.
Use a grounding mat.
Drink chamomile tea to relax nerves after a workout.
Alternating hot and cold water in the shower to enhance recovery.
Practice meditation.
Utilize the stress reduction techniques from Heartmath.

Tip 5: Know Your Supplements

I know I got really caught up in the whole magic pill idea of a supplement that’s going to build a ton of muscle for me. The hyped up adds create a false illusion that a pill is going to get you jacked and be the answer for how to not be skinny.

Just the other day, I was walking down the street and a guy out of the blue goes “creatine?” He was asking if my big muscles were built by creatine.

While I have used creatine in the past and do recommend it, it is just a supplement. It’s easier for him to think that my results came from creatine or even protein powder than from hours in the gym and a strict diet. There are many times nowadays where I don’t take any particular supplements (including protein powder) outside of a few herbs for general health.

The truth is, you don’t need supplements to get big, and most of them are a waste of money. Not because they don’t ever work (though they usually don’t), but because spending $50-$100 on something that may add an extra pound or two of muscle per month isn’t as economical as investing that money into quality food.

The supplements I do recommend for building muscle naturally as well as general health (without breaking the bank) are:

Hemp, Whey, and/or Rice Protein from TrueNutrition.com (use coupon code DKD714 to save money)
Fish Oil
Vitamin D
Astaxanthin (for general health and recovery)
Magnesium or magnesium oil
Digestive enzymes (good for skinny guys who have trouble digesting and absorbing food properly)
Chaga and/or reishi mushroom for keeping immune system strong and total health.
Creatine (proven) Creatine is not needed, but it does help.
Beta Alanine (Debatable effectiveness)
BCAA (Debatable effectiveness) I only use BCAA if I’m training really hard and want an extra edge. Otherwise your diet and protein powders supply enough branch chained amino acids.

Reader Comments: What Challenges Have You Faced Building Muscle Naturally As A Skinny Guy?

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How To Keep Gaining Muscle – 5 Tips To Always Be Growing

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Building Mass All Year Round

When I first started training, every week I was excited to hit the gym and blow past my previous best lifts. I can still recall the excitement of getting that much closer to a 200 lb bench press as each week went by. I could literally see myself transforming in the mirror month after month going from a skinny guy to someone that actually looked somewhat manly. All in all, it pretty easy to stay motivated with rapid newbie gains.

But that didn’t last forever. Eventually progress stalled, and it felt like I was having to fight tooth and nail to just add a rep or two to a lift and get even a fraction of an inch bigger.

This can be one of the most frustrating issues a guy deals with when trying to pack on muscle. Slowed or non-existent gains can sap motivation if one doesn’t know what to do about it. Before I did the things I’m about to share with you, I felt like I was doomed to just slowly grind away for the rest of my life to get every last ounce of additional muscle.

But after I made a few simple tweaks, particularly when I saw what a friend was doing that was getting him incredible results, I’ve found that gaining muscle non-stop without plateauing is possible for just about anyone serious about their bodybuilding training. Keep reading to find out my top 5 tips on how to keep gaining muscle year after year.

Increase Calories

If you want to grow, you’re going to need a lot of quality calories. The thing that can easily be overlooked however is that as you gain more muscle, you’re going to need to increase your calorie intake appropriately.

When I started out and went from 118lbs to 153lbs, I had to continually ramp up my calorie intake. Once I was in the 150s and wanted to get to the 170s, I couldn’t keep eating the same amount of calories that got me my initial muscle mass. I had to eat like a 170 pound person to become a 170 pound person.

While this may seem stupidly obvious, what isn’t so obvious is how many calories one may actually be eating vs. thinking they’re eating. If you’re not gaining any weight, be it fat or muscle, it may have less to do with what’s going on in the gym and more to do with what’s going on in the kitchen. The first place to turn to when your mass gains slow down is what’s on your place.

Focus On Exercise Form And Technique

The second area that I’ve seen countless guys in the gym screw up is their exercise form in the gym. As a beginner, a person can get away with crappy form and still get stronger and grow. But once someone gets more advanced, those weak links and sloppy habits will catch up with them.

“Proper” form though isn’t just about doing exercises with picture perfect technique. It’s also about learning how to create tension in the proper muscles. Here’s an example.

Do a pushup.

Now this time, focus on contracting your pecs, squeezing your hands together, and imagine pushing the ground away from you. Maintain tension in your pecs the entire time and go a bit slower up and down.

Notice a difference?

When it comes to building muscle, it’s not just about getting a weight from point A to point B. It’s about learning how to recruit the right muscles for the job. This can mean leaving the ego at the door, dropping the weights down, slowing the tempo a bit, and learning to really contract the proper muscles.

While lowering the weights you use and focusing on better form and muscle recruitment may seem like a step backwards, it’s actually setting you up for much better and more continuous gains down the road.

Specialization

Specialization is a form of training where you do extra work for one or only a couple target muscle groups while doing less work (maintenance) for the rest of the body. This is not recommended for beginners, but it is absolutely perfect for those who’ve built a solid foundation and want to continue getting those “newbie” type of gains in certain muscles or lifts.

People have reported out of this world gains in certain lifts and muscle groups, even if they had many years of training already, by doing specialization programs.

For myself, my legs are a strong-point and responded well to training early on. The thing is, working the legs demands a lot of my body’s recovery abilities. So it makes sense for me as I advance to do less work for my legs and then bump up the work for something like my arms. This allows my body to take its limited recovery abilities and direct all that growth to my arms so they keep growing while my legs stay the same size and strength with relatively little work.

You can actually cycle specialization workout routines throughout the year (tip #5) to keep up your motivation and to keep growing constantly. For information on how to set up a specialization routine, check out this article.

Do A Different Style Of Training

I can still recall the shock of seeing how my friend had blown past me on many major lifts while I was away at college. I thought I knew everything there was to know about how to train to maximize muscle gains. What was his secret?

It turns out, he was doing everything wrong!

Or at least so I thought…

I believed at the time the best way to train was with body part splits where each muscle group was hit once per week. He was hitting each muscle group three times a week with total body workouts. As much as that didn’t fit my “dogma” of proper bodybuilding, I couldn’t argue with his results. I also couldn’t argue with my results either when I copied what he was doing and started getting similar gains.

So was there something wrong with my previous routine? No. It just turns out that there’s no one best way to train. Oftentimes the thing that your body will respond most to is something that it hasn’t adapted to yet.

That means switching up your routine to something different than what your current routine does.

Doing a high volume routine? Try a low volume higher intensity routine.

Doing once per week body part splits? Try 3 full body workouts each week.

Lifting heavy weights for low reps and long rest periods? Try lifting lighter weights with less rest.

The key thing is to recognize that whatever you’ve been doing for a while, it needs to be switched up to prevent the body from adapting. Just don’t keep switching it up every workout so your body never adapts to anything unless you have a set plan in place for how you’re going to progress.

(I should note, if you’re in a particular sport or Olympic lifting where building muscle is secondary to mastering a skill, this isn’t the best approach)

Periodization Routines

Periodization is a way of switching up the style of training throughout different periods of time to maximize performance and gains. There are different types of periodization, and it often takes the wisdom of a trainer to understand how to set up a training cycle to match an individual’s goals. But when done correctly, this is a powerful way to ensure you’re constantly making noticeable gains for the rest of your life.

If you’d like to learn more about how to implement one version of this advanced technique, I highly suggest this free article here.

If you’d like a proven program that already has a plan laid out for lasting gains for an entire year, fitness trainer JC Deen has a great one that I’ve checked out here.

Conclusion

I want to wrap up by making a note that it can be important to manage your expectations. If you’re still getting stronger each workout, even if it’s just adding a pound to a lift, that’s still progress!

If a person could add 5 pounds to every lift and a pound of body weight every week, then we’d all be 300 + pound monsters bench pressing 1000 pounds after a several years. Obviously, this doesn’t happen.

On the other hand, if you’ve been doing the same thing month after month and haven’t seen any gains, it may be time to reconsider your approach. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Leave a comment below to let me know how you plan on keeping your gains going strong.

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LGN365 Review – How To Look Great Naked 365 Days A Year

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What Is LGN365?

JC Deen – Creator Of LGN365

LGN365 is a fitness guide and series of workout routines created by trainer, blogger, and all around great guy named JC Deen who is well known among the fitness community as being one of the most respected sources for no-BS fat loss and bodybuilding information. The name of the program stands for “Look Great Naked 365” because it covers just about everything a person would need to know to burn fat, build muscle, and enjoy an awesome looking body year round.

JC Deen has given me the honor and privilege be one of the guest experts he interviews for the program. So naturally, any program with yours truly is going to be good.

I’ve since got a copy of LGN365 and, even though I would expect nothing less than something spectacular from JC, I was very impressed with how well put together his guide is. Keep reading to find out what I enjoyed about the guide, and to get a no-BS look at if it is the right solution for your physique goals.

Who Is LGN365 For?

To begin with, you can tell this guide is obviously not aimed at the typical “get super huge” bodybuilding crowd, nor is it for the people looking for a “quick fix” to burn 30 pounds in 30 days.

That’s not because it doesn’t contain great information on how to burn fat or build muscle, but this guide is more for those who want to simply… look great naked. More muscle, less fat, and what I would consider an “athletic” looking physique. It’s for people who are busy with other priorities in their lives and aren’t looking to drop everything they have going on to go on a hardcore bodybuilding routine or a radical (and unsafe) fat loss routine for quick but unsustainable results.

That’s because the entire layout of the program is designed so the average person will quickly and easily be able to find out exactly what steps they need to take to reach their goals, but more importantly how they can integrate these steps into their lifestyle so they can maintain their great looking body year round.

What Makes LGN365 Different?

Extremely Effective: While there are certainly many good training programs and diet guides out there, JC has spent a good portion of his life digging into countless hours of research on everything related to body recomposition. He has then tried and tested numerous methods not only on himself, but many clients to find the exact formula that is most effective for the vast majority of people. Combine that with his connections to the world’s top trainers, fitness experts, and researchers, and you’ll realize how valuable it is to have all of that knowledge distilled down into one easy to read guide.

I’ve started to put the workout routines to the test and am currently utilizing his most advanced muscle building routine in the guide. I”ll have an update post on my personal results later.

JC’s Results

Hype-Free: The first thing you’ll notice about the program, and this says a lot about JC, is that it is very “hype-free.” That’s because even though this stuff works far better than most nonsense out there, JC recognizes that overly hyping things up creates unrealistic perspectives in people. Namely, people think in terms of quick fixes instead of lifestyle habits.

What Makes LGN365 Great?

Mindset Focused: If you’re familiar with my work, you know how much I emphasize mindset as playing the biggest role in getting results with your health and fitness routine. Nothing works until you make it work, and JC knows how important the psychology of an individual is in terms of the results they will get. He gives very simple but effective ways to get yourself motivated to not only get started, but stay on track day after day and year after year. This is the missing link in most fitness programs, and by including it, he’s virtually guaranteed you’re going to stick through long enough to see results.

Step-by-step: You’ll know how much to eat including the proper ratio of fats, protein, and carbohydrates including automatic calculators to figure it all out just by typing in your body weight, activity levels, and goals. You learn how to properly read nutrition labels. Exactly what exercises to do with the right amount of sets and reps for both fat loss and muscle gain. You get a breakdown into how JC assesses what kind of program is best for someone. You then get multiple programs to run through the year so your body keeps “guessing” and never adapts to one thing for too long. You even get exercise videos showing you proper form.

Basically, it’s like have a world class trainer right by your side giving you a personal evaluation and setting up all of your training and diet for you. Except in this case, you learn how to do it yourself so you can always adjust and readjust as needed over the course of the years so you’re never left wondering what you should be doing.

This ability to never have to worry about “is what I’m doing really working?” is worth the price of admission alone. So many people who try to piece things together only to end up unsure of themselves and hesitant to invest much effort. But by having everything laid out with a system that has been proven time and time again to get great results, this allows you to leave second guessing behind and get straight to seeing your body start to transform.

Practical: Practicality is another thing that sets this program apart. It doesn’t just tell you the “ideal” thing to do leaving people feeling like it would be next to impossible to actually fit the recommendations in with their lives. Instead, JC is a realist. He knows the everyday challenges people including himself face, and he doesn’t give overly restrictive rules. This includes having things like multiple workout routines that fit into a variety of schedules and how to stay on track while eating out a restaurants.

Expert Interviews: The expert interviews really rounds out the program. JC ties up any loose ends by bringing in others, like myself, to explain things like how to create habits that stick, how to prepare fast healthy meals, and how to sort through all the conflicting information floating around out there in the fitness advice world.

When it’s all said and done, anyone going through the guide will have all the tools to ensure they will be successful in reaching their physique goals.

Is LGN365 The Best Fat Loss and Muscle Gain Guide Out There?

I myself, and even JC wouldn’t say anything is the “best.” There are many great programs out there that are effective for fat loss and muscle gain and it all depends on the individual and their circumstances. But very few programs can match the caliber of LGN 365. If I had this program when I first started, I would have saved myself a lot of obsessive worrying about things that ultimately don’t make a whole lot of difference and instead would have been able to focus only on what I knew was essential for my goals.

That being said, if you’re not able to invest at least several days a week to training in the gym and tracking your food intake, this probably isn’t the guide for you. Because it follows a proven template of what will work for either fat loss or muscle gain based on real world testing, just randomly following bits and pieces of the system probably won’t yield as good of results as JC’s clients. So, you’ll want to make sure you’re really committed and that your lifestyle allows for you to take some time and energy to learn and apply the system.

If you are committed and able, then I’m confident this program will give you what you need to look great naked 365 days a year. I don’t recommend a lot of courses and programs, so I’m staking my reputation on this one by both including myself in it and recommending it here. That’s how much I believe this guide will benefit my readers. So if you’d like to look great naked all year round, click the link below to find out more:

Click here to learn more about LGN365 and purchase the program

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The Best Bodybuilding Cookbook – Over 200 Muscle Building Recipes

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Bodybuilding Cooking Made Tasty and Delicious

I remember when I first got into bodybuilding I would force feed myself bland chicken breasts and broccoli. I would actually bring it in a sack bag to my high school lunch room and proudly display my strict eating habits in front of my friends whom thought I was crazy.

Fast forward a few years, and I’ve since discovered tons of awesome recipes that not only are great for packing on slabs of muscle, but are healthy and tasty too. I even created my youtube channel to show off some of my culinary creations. But, finding new recipes is always a bit of a challenge. Not because recipes are hard to come by, but because bodybuilder friendly recipes are hard to come by.

That’s where Dave Ruel has come in and saved the day. He’s put together what I consider to be the single best “all-in-one” bodybuilding cooking guide for guys like myself who like taste, affordability, and most of all convenience. Since most of the recipes are made stupid simple for the average guy, you won’t find you have to be a great chef to start making great tasting high protein muscle gain meals.

Here is an awesome meatloaf recipe courtesy of Dave to kickstart your bodybuilding chef skills.

Bodybuilding Cookbook Recipe Dinner Idea – Muscle Meat Loaf

Ingredients

– 2 lbs of ground Turkey
– 1 teaspoon of olive oil
– 1 diced Onion
– 1 teaspoon of Garlic(optional)
– 1/3 cup Dried Tomatoes
– 1 cup of Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs
– 1 Whole Eggs
– 1/2 cup of Parsley
– 1/4 cup of Low Fat Parmesan
– 1/4 cup Skim Milk
– Salt and Pepper
– 1 teaspoon of Oregano

Directions

1. Cook the Onion with Olive Oil separatly
2. Mix everything together in a big bowl, add the cooked oignons
3. Put the mix in a big pan
4. Bake at 375-400 F for about 30mins

Nutritional Facts (Per Serving)

Calories: 393
Protein: 46g
Carbohydrates: 14g
Fat: 17g

Purchase The “Anabolic Cooking” Cookbook

Check out the Anabolic Cookbook here for over 200 more muscle building meals!

This cookbook will not only give you just about every breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack idea you could ever need for bodybuilding, but it’s also filled with nutritional tips and tricks to maximize your results. Dave is pretty jacked and knows a thing or two about healthy eating for building muscle and burning fat. The money saved from not having to eat prepackaged meals or fast food is worth the price alone.

Get More Free Bodybuilding Recipe Ideas

Want to try out some more great muscle gain recipes for free? Dave Ruel is offering this free guide so you can get even more recipes to build mass. Right click here and save to your computer.

Right Click and Download To Computer

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The Best Quick Bodybuilding Recipes – 3 Tasty & Cheap Meals

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3 Fast & Tasty Muscle Building Recipes

So you want to build more muscle and are getting tired of chicken breasts and brown rice? Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered with 3 super quick and easy recipes that are not only going to help pack on slabs of muscle, but they taste absolutely frickin’ amazing. They are also fairly “idiot-proof,” so even if you don’t know much about cooking, you’ll find it pretty hard to screw these up.

Recipe #1 – Bodybuilder’s Slow Cooker Pineapple Chili

Directions:

Why It’s Awesome:

A quick and easy chili recipe is essential for any bodybuilder. Whereas many chili recipes may call for 15-20 minutes of prep time, this can be made in around 5 minutes. I usually just toss the ingredients in a slow cooker before bed, let it cook while I sleep, and then wake up to several days worth of chili.

Bodybuilders need tons of calories, and there’s no easier way to get those calories than by tossing everything together in a pot and then cooking a delicious meal that can be taken on the go and warmed up whenever you’re ready. If you want to add even more calories, you can add some more meat for additional protein and fat. You can also add some organic red potatoes, additional rice (add water in 1:2 ratio of rice to water), and some more beans.

Recipe #2 – Pumpkin Pie Protein Shake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk (Available in ethnic/Asian food section of grocery stores)

1 cup Canned Pumpkin Puree (Available in baking section of grocery stores)

1-2 scoops protein powder with either 6-12 oz of water, milk, or almond milk

2 tablespoons of honey and/or blackstrap molasses (or 1 tablespoon of powdered stevia)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 oz chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a blender. You may use either honey, blackstrap molasses, or a 50/50 mixture of each for a total of 2 tablespoons or desired sweetness.

Why It’s Awesome:

Who doesn’t love pumpkin pie? And what’s the best part of a pumpkin pie? The filling! You’ll swear you’re eating straight pumpkin pie filling with this quick and easy pumpkin pie protein shake.

While a protein shakes’ convenience is a life saver for people in a hurry, but the problem is they’re mostly treated as a supplement rather than a meal in itself. We can add a few things to make an ordinary protein shake an extraordinary muscle building meal.

Pumpkin is one of the most nutritionally rich foods and is very high in fiber. So by adding pumpkin to the protein shake, it will be much more filling and give you a lot more nutritional than just protein powder and water.

The coconut milk is a great source of healthy fat including medium chain triglycerides which actually boosts the metabolism and keep you burning fat. Including coconut fats in your diet is a great way to ensure you’re building muscle without adding too much body fat.

Blackstrap molasses provides tons of minerals including chromium which aids in blood sugar balance. Proper blood sugar regulation is essential for adding muscle and preventing fat gain. Studies have shown cinnamon also aids in promoting blood sugar which resulted in more muscle and less fat.

Want to kick it up with even more calories? Trying adding some applesauce and oats for additional carbohydrates.

Recipe #3 – Homemade Protein Fudge Bars (Non-Cook)

Ingredients:

8 scoops chocolate protein powder
1 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup natural peanut butter
3 tbsp honey
1/2 cup 1% milk
3 tbsp crushed peanuts

Directions:

1. Mix together the protein powder, oatmeal, peanut butter, honey and milk.
2. Form into 5 bars and then roll in the crushed peanuts to finish.
3. Place in the fridge for about 30-45 mins or until solid

See video below to watch it being made:

Why It’s Awesome:

This last recipe comes from Dave Ruel, author of the Anabolic Cooking Recipe Book.

Most store bought protein bars are crap. Some low quality protein, a ton of sugar, and the one’s that actually taste good are usually pretty horrible in terms of tons of added crap you probably don’t need to be putting into your body. But this recipe is quick, easy, and affordable.

Dave’s got a ton of great recipes specifically for bodybuilders. He’s compiled them all in both his Anabolic Cooking product which you can check out here:

Want More Free Bodybuilding Recipes?

Check out Dave Ruel’s 10 Most Anabolicious Recipes PDF – Right Click Here and Save To Computer

Right Click and Download To Computer

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