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With regard to your query about developing “mass” for your legs, this can actually be answered in a pretty comprehensive manner. However, since it is taking some time for me to complete the detailed response (blog), let me first give you a brief answer.
Introduction:
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To begin with, we at Focus You Strength Academy, coach people on Strength Training for overall Fitness. We do not endorse nor teach Body Building styles, for purposes of overall Fitness. Again, I reiterate…we have nothing against Body Building as a sport, but do NOT endorse it (nor teach it) for purposes of overall Fitness.With that out of the way…by “mass” I take it that you are looking to add muscle to your legs. So, our version of looking at this would mean that you are looking to add strength to your legs.
Strength training by the way, does NOT follow a body part split kind of training…all exercises are designed to use and to strength the whole body by involving as many muscles as possible through the biggest range of motion, in each exercise.What that means is, we do NOT advocate exercises just for the legs…such as just for the thighs (quads), separately for the calfs, separately for the hamstrings etc.
Recommended Workouts:
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Deadlifts (standard deadlifts, Strength Training style), and
Squats (style: Low Bar Back Squats)I. Deadlifts:
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So, for your legs, with regard to exercise, you need to Deadlift. The deadlift style is done in the following steps, IN ORDER and…WITHOUT SKIPPING ANY STEPS:
1) Approach the bar, until bar in over the MIDDLE of your feet…for most everyone, this will be above where you would tie your shoe laces, or an inch away from your shins.2) Go down and grab the bar….
a) Do NOT lift the bar yet
b) Do NOT DROP YOUR HIPS
a) and b) are VERY IMPORTANT3) Move your knees (not your feet) forward until shins TOUCH THE BAR…this is IMPORTANT too
4) SET YOUR BACK… by this we mean, your lower back should be in extension. Can be done by “CHEST UP” cue…or “showing your chest to the person in front of you”. When doing this DO NOT DROP YOUR HIPS…This step will feel uncomfortable and that’s OK. If you feel too comfortable after setting your back, then, you are NOT doing something right.
It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that your lower back is in extension, because then, the weight will be handled by the Spinal Erectae muscles…that is, muscles that run beside your spine on the lower back.
On the other hand, if you do not do this step properly, that is, your lower back is ROUNDED, then, your spine is going to be loaded (instead of the Spinal Erectae muscles mentioned above), and pretty soon if not immediately, you will DESTROY your lower back, for SURE.
5) Take a deep breath and hold.
6) Tighten your whole body…nothing should be loose.
7) SQUEEZE the bar…do NOT Yank/Jerk on the bar.
8) Lift the bar, first with your legs, keeping the Back Angle (the angle that your extended back makes with the floor) steady, until your knees have extended fully.
9) After step 7, extend your back and stand up fully.
10) You only need to maintain the fully upright position for about a second or so…don’t need to prolong it.
11) Put the bar down. However, note two important things here…
a) You don’t need to slowly put the bar down…as the deadlift only helps strengthen during the Concentric Phase (the phase when you pull up the bar). The Eccentric Phase (when you put the bar back down on the ground) is nowhere as important. So, just pull down the bar.
b) However, in the interest of not disturbing everyone around you, do NOT just let go of the bar… Just rapidly place the bar back on the ground, with y our hands continuing to hold onto the bar.
c) Make VERY SURE that you do NOT ROUND YOUR LOWER BACK when putting the bar back down on the ground.
12) Just as important, do NOT BOUNCE THE BAR OFF THE GROUND. Reset from step 1. This is NO JOKE.
The number of sets IN THE BEGINNING, will be 3 sets of 5 reps each with the SAME WEIGHT FOR THE DAY.Do this no more than 2-3 times a week, and INCREASE THE WEIGHT ON THE BAR BY 2 KILOS EACH DAY.
Remember, for any given day, deadlifts (our style) are done sets across…meaning, the SAME WEIGHT ACROSS ALL THREE SETS. And, exactly 5 reps…(NO MORE or NO LESS) per set.
II Squats:
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Remember the style that we use is Low Bar Back Squats (LBBS). Ensure that you are working out Squats every single time you hit the gym (not on consecutive days etc, as discussed above). Sets are again 3×5…sets across. Increase weight by 2 kgs, every new day.Example:
Monday 40 kgs LBBS (Low Bar Back Squat)… 3 Sets with 5 Reps each…all sets and reps with 40 kgs
Tue…no gym work
Wed 42 kgs LBBS… 3 sets with 5 reps each… All sets and reps with 42 kgs.
Thu…no gym work
Fri 44 kgs LBBS… 3 sets with 5 reps each… All sets and reps with 44 kgs.
Sat…no gym work
Sun…no gym work
Monday 46 kgs LBBS (Low Bar Back Squat)… 3 Sets with 5 Reps each…all sets and reps with 46 kgs
So on and so forth…Recovery:
——–Remember that you need to Recover/Rebuild… So,
1) Workout only once a day (I say this, because Body Builders do workout more than once a day, due to following Body Split routines)
2) Do NOT workout on consecutive days. Meaning, if you workout on Monday, then do NOT workout on Tuesday. Workout again on Wednesday and then NOT on Thursday. Workout on Friday and then do NOT workout on Saturday or on Sunday.
These days when you do NOT workout, are the days when your muscles grow strong and grow bigger.
3) You need to eat a lot, eat well and eat a LOT of Proteins and
Carbohydrates and Fats (all fats are good except Trans Fat), for your muscles to grow. The primary nutrition for your muscles are Protein…so you need to eat a LOT of it.
4) Need to REST well on ALL DAYS. Note that you would need a MINIMUM OF 8 HOURS OF SLEEP EVERY DAY. Skimp on this, and nothing good will happen.Nutrition:
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As mentioned above, you need to eat a LOT of protein… Recommended amount of protein is Number of Grams of Protein should at-least equal your body weight in Pounds.
So, if you are around 65 kgs (equalling about 150 pounds), then, you need to eat at-least 150 grams of protein. To give you an idea of how much protein you should eat, 1 whole egg (with yolk included) contains about One hard-boiled egg (with the yolk) has about 6.29 grams of protein!!!
You can make up the protein requirements by first eating a LOT of sensible home made foods. Try eating a LOT of eggs (with the yolks)…they are cheap and a VERY GOOD SOURCE OF PROTEIN. However, cook them any style you want, but do NOT eat them raw.
If you can eat meat, they are the best source of protein…both in content and in terms of bio-availability (the amount of protein you eat, that gets actually absorbed by your body).
Drink LOTS OF MILK. This is Important.
Only if you have topped off on the above home based cooking options, should you consider Supplements. And by supplements, we mean legitimate/legal supplements. For this, I would recommend nothing other than Whey Protein. Nothing else is required.————
These are our recommendations for you to put on mass, for your legs and everywhere else on your body.
For more discussions, we really need to do that in person. However, please feel free to shoot any questions you might have on this (or any other related) topic.
Hope you find this useful… CheersHi Prakash… I can see a couple of issues, you might need to deal with.
1) Sitting all the time at work: This is not unique to call centers, but a lot of work these days (such as Software) requires this. You want to ensure that you are sitting posture is right, and the computer monitor is placed at an adequate height and distance from you. Make sure the lighting does not get reflected off the monitor etc… The actual posture discussion is quite extensive… Check the internet…lots of information there about proper posture…
Sitting all day long (again, not specific to call centers only, but all sedentary jobs), also decreases your metabolism (kind of, whether you use up food as energy or store it up as fat). So, please do stand up, stretch and walk away from your desk for at-least a couple of minutes, every hour. Does not mean, you go to the cafeteria and eat/drink everytime you get off your desk !!!
2) The most affected due to night shift work is to your circadian rhythm, which is of course how your body works/adjusts to various times of the day. Since night shifts completely turns this upside down…it certainly is very difficult for your body to adjust. But, as you mentioned, you might not have much, if any choice about this, when you work at a Call Center. So, just make the best of it, by getting adequate sleep during the mornings…everyone needs a minimum of 8-9 hours of sleep everyday (bare minimum 7 hours). If not, strange and bad things start happening to your body and mind.
3) Make sure your food (nutrition) intake is good. The same thing applies to you, as it does to everyone working regular shifts. Don’t snack at all…especially, not on junk food or sugar/carbonated drinks of any kind. Eat healthy, whatever it takes…no fast food on a regular basis. Give it atleast a couple of hours if possible, between when you eat and go to bed. Give it atleast 12-14 hours between the last time you eat before bed and the first time you eat after waking up. Don’t snack between meals at ALL. Make sure to eat Proteins and good Fat along with your Carbohydrates. Eat your vegetables and fruits and nuts, without fail.
4) You need to find a good time to workout. As mentioned in other discussions, make sure you know about the various fitness options that exist, and see which one best suits your fitness goals. Then write-out a program for your workouts to achieve your fitness goals. Approach a good/qualified coach if you need help in this area.
5) From our perspective, Strength Training does GREAT GOOD things to your body and mind. In addition, High Intensity Interval Training will ramp up your metabolism and keep it up for upto 48 hours. Something that will help quite a bit for people with sedentary kinds of jobs, such as Call Center jobs.
Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any more questions/doubts.
Cheers !
The nutrition/food topic discussion can be quite extensive and go in many different directions, Victor. Do you have anything specific which you would like talked about?
Nutrition as well as Workout in the following manner. For nutrition, increase your Protein and (good) Fat intake. Reduce your Carbohydrate Intake.
Do Strength Training to improve/maintain Strength… That’s it…
Kogul, Thanks. I would recommend the following… Reduce simple carbohydrates (Rice, Flour etc) in your diet… Increase intake of vegetables. Increase Protein (Eggs, Fish…meat in general) and good fats (basically everything is good, except Trans Fat…such as in Cookies, Chips, French Fries etc)…
You need to Stress out less… this is just as important as the other Suggestions…
Regarding actual eating habits… Make sure to eat Breakfast with Lots of Protein… Give it between 3-5 hours between meals…DO NOT SNACK ANYTHING in-between. Finish you dinner no later than 7.00 (max by 8.00-8.30 pm). DO NOT SNACK ON ANYTHING AFTERWARDS…no apple, banana, peanuts, juice, milk…. Nothing.
Until the Breakfast the next day morning. There should be at-least 12-14 hours gap between dinner and breakfast the next day. Of course, DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST ANY DAY…
To make it easy to follow nutrition advise…maintain a Food Log. This will help you see for yourself, where all you are getting those extra (and unhealthy) calories from…
It may be a pain to begin with, but, it’s a good habit to get into…maintaining a food log. Will also help you to understand, why/how/how much you are over eating.
Sure Kogul… Can you please provide some information about yourself… Your age, height, weight and if you are working out presently at all… Also, what kind of job… Thanks. Also, are you veg/non-veg ?
Oh, well, this again is a question that might require a LONG answer…
First, for the general population…Intermittent Fasting (such as what some of us Indians follow) is GOOD. This helps the body to get rid of excess body fat, during the fasting period.
However, fasting, as in eating disorders are obviously NOT GOOD. Things such as Anorexia, Bulimia etc. are VERY BAD for your health. So, eat sufficiently and eat healthy…but do give some rest for your stomach every now and then.
Now, if you are working out regularly and/or you are a world class athlete, then, your nutrition requirements are FAR MORE than the average person.
If you are an underweight person…you then need to eat more to put on a more healthy body weight.
If you are an overweight person, then, you need to go on a calorie deficit. But, you still need to eat adequately (the right quantity of foods) and appropriately (the right kind of foods).
Hope that answers your question…
Let’s think about why it’s not a good idea to eat just before going to bed…
There are atleast a couple of reasons….
Sleeping is resting, right? Means our body’s functions are reduced to a minimum, so body and mind can recouperate…
Digestion on the other hand is quite an intense body function…So, the two are in conflict when happening at the same time isn’t it?
Your body is neither able to sleep well nor is it able to digest the food eaten properly
That’s the main reason…Another reason is that, the later you eat, you are then going to accumulate that as excess body fat…1) because you are not active…in fact, sleeping is exactly the opposite of being active and therefore, your body has no need to use the calories… So,it stores them as body fat…
Eat no later than 7.00 pm (max 8.00 or very max…8.30pm). Eat NOTHING afterwards…
That’s our advise
Next meal is Breakfast (DO NOT skip breakfast)…at-least 12-14 hours after dinner the previous day.
Well, to talk about carbohydrates… let’s see…
The following are salient points here…
1) Carbohydrates are absolutely essential for your body…so, don’t STOP eating carbohydrates…
2) Get your carbohydrates from Vegetables, Protein and from Nuts…
3) Go for Complex Carbohydrates (such as Oats and Brown/Red/Unpolished rice)… avoid simple carbohydrates (polished white rice/chappathis etc) as a staple diet…4) Eating your Carbohydrates (as advised above) along with your protein is good because, eating Carbohydrates increases your Insulin Response in your body… Which means, what you eat get absorbed more by your body. So, if you are eating Proteins along with your Carbs, then, they get absorbed more and get absorbed quicker by your body.
So, for all the above reasons, Carbohydrates are good… (essential in fact)…
Hope the above suggestions make sense !?Let me know how it goes with your nutrition intake as well as with your exercise regimen, over the next couple of weeks.
Feel free to share in group, or if you wish to keep the communication private, then, please feel free to forward details direct to my whatsapp too (if that’s what you want to do)…
With this and add to this an active recovery schedule (as discussed in my suggestions earlier in the day)…you WILL GROW MUSCLE MASS ALL OVER YOUR BODY… Trust me… !!!!!!!
Any kind of meat is ok, Devine…Obviously, a little more white meat than red meat…Mutton, pork, chicken, fish…Beef too, if you are ok to eat it… But don’t go terribly overboard with it…
Other than that, no other specific meal recipes are required in my opinion. Go high on your meat, at the same time, make sure to get enough complex carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits and nuts, as well as complex carbohydrates such as oats and unpolished rice etc)…
Yeah…go high on protein sources such as meat and eggs.
Eat your vegetables, fruits and complex carbohydrates such as Oats….
Don’t forget your nuts… Almonds, Cashews etc..Peanuts are good, but are fatty…they are not nuts, but are legumes, by the way… Eat em, but don’t gorge on them…
If you must eat Rice, then, go for the unpolished rice … you get them as Kai Kutthal Arisi these days… they are good…
For fat, eat good fat…that is, any kind of fat, except Trans Fat… So, no fries or any fried stuff…
Avacados are WONDERFUL for fat intake… You get them online and at some of the Kovai Pazhamudhir stores and elsewhere…
Make sure to get ones that are not darkened (if skin has holes/cuts, they get oxiginated real quick).
If all the above don’t satisfy your protein (and other) intake, then, go for Whey Protein, with water… Not sure if you can tolerate Whey… But, if you can…this is an EXCELLENT source of protein.
[Do these sound ok to you and sound do-able for you !??
Oh, and basically, avoid sugar items…and simple carbohydrates, along with friend items and Trans Fat … Coke/Pepsi…anything like that…avoid
French Fries…avoid, Bun/Breads…avoid… even when they say whole grain bread…
Less rice…more vegetables… Less Chapattis…more side dish (made from vegetables other than potato…) can also be made using dhal…
MORE MEAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MORE EGGS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MORE VEGETABLES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MORE FRUITS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MORE NUTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, that’s a bit of a bummer…because, MILK kinda has no substitute, when it comes to great protein to increase your Overall Strength and Muscle Mass…
Ok… then, continue to avoid Dairy, but please use other forms of Protein, such as meat and eggs to keep up your protein intake. As mentioned above, you’ll need to be taking in protein, at-least total grams=your bodyweight in pounds, every day.
Always a pleasure to answer your queries to the best extent I can… Of course, I am really passionate about this (Fitness / Strength Training and Conditioning for all demographics…basically, for ALL kinds of people)…
Well, as far as nutrition for you, I am assuming that you do not suffer from Diabetes, High BP or are not Overly Fat… If any of this is not true, let me know please… With that in mind, my suggestions for your nutrition would be…
Don’t get too hung up on the number of meals per day… In order to increase strength (and muscle mass) you need to EAT A LOT, especially PROTEIN. There is just no way around this.
Start of with a protein filled breakfast and be sure to include protein in ALL YOUR MEALS. As mentioned above, I would use as much home made cooking to get your proteins, as much as possible. So, include say at-least 4 eggs (boiled…or cooked in any way…but NOT raw)…in addition to some good complex carbohydrates, such as Oats…
