This piece was inspired by an old secondary school friend of
mine, let’s call him KC. Now must of us guys in our thirties are currently
engaged in a battle with our waistline and generally we are losing it! Most
guys are struggling to lose weight, trim down and stay in shape. Now KC’s
problem is the exact opposite because he struggles to maintain a healthy weight
and be fit and his asked me for advice. Now I love a good challenge so I delved
into the archives and came up with this wonderful training advice from Sylvester
Stallone.
Now we all agree that sly is the epitome of fitness and
dedication to one’s objectives and he has inspired and continues to inspire
millions of guys (and ladies) to be in their shape no matter their age. Sly is
66 now but, I am willing to bet he is in far better physical condition than
most of us in our thirties! (check out the previous video post of old man sly
still doing his thing!!)Sly wasn’t always so ripped and muscular as you can
see. He too was underweight as a young man and had to overcome physical and
mental barriers to get to where he is today, both physically and professionally.
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| sly (right) and family |
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| who knew? |
From overcoming such adverse conditions as facial paralysis,
dyslexia, skinniness and grinding poverty sly has come up with this his six
tips for putting on lean weight. Please read on, I promise you that if you want
to gain lean weight these tips will put you well on your way and if you are
already training but not getting satisfactory results, try to incorporate them
into your workout and you will be amazed at your results.
1.
LIFT WEIGHTS FREQUENTLY:
If you want to gain lean mass you must lift
weights and you must lift frequently. Your muscles require stimulation to grow
and the only way to do that is to put them under tension. Now it is not enough
to lift once a week on Saturday, that is just cruel and unusual punishment for
your muscles! According to sly he trained weights four to five times a week
while training for his role in the expendables and he is in his sixties! Now I know
it’s tough juggling this with work and family, but you can work out with dumbbells
at home or even with home made weight s and even your wife and kids, seriously! I
spent last Christmas and New Year away from my gym and I had to do some leg
exercises, what did I do? I simply co-opted my wife; she sat on my shoulders
and presto! I had a human weight to do my squats. It was practical and fun.
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| Stallone training with former Mr Olympia Franco Colombu |
2.
LIFT HEAVY:
Another tip from Stallone is to lift heavy
weights! There is one rule that stands out in training to gain weight and that
is you must lift heavy to gain mass. Now heavy is a relative term as our strengths
vary, but basically inn every exercise and every workout you must lift enough
weight to challenge your muscles to grow. If for example you can squat 50kg
comfortably week in week out, I am willing to bet your muscles will not grow as
the weight will no longer be a challenge. You must increase the total weights
you lift till you are struggling to complete the workout, it’s called
progressive overload. According to former bodybuilding champion Franco Columbu
who trained Stallone for his roles in rocky, Rambo and the expendables “we
would work with progressively heavy weights and constantly stress his muscles
out in the end sly put on about 10 pounds of muscle in 6 weeks!”. Please lift
heavy weights.
3.
EAT OFTEN AND EAT CLEAN:
According to sly “I treat my body just like
a car, I give it the adequate amount of fuel available, but I also make sure
its good quality fuel”. This quote aptly covers how you should approach
nutrition for lean weight gain. We are what we eat, and the more balanced and
nutritious a meal the quicker you will see results. To gain lean weight aim to
eat 5 or six small meals a day, not 3 large ones! Eat quality carbohydrates
like; oatmeal, brown rice, yam, sweet potatoes, whole grains etc. and try to
eliminate white rice, white bread, noodles etc. from your diet. The key phrase
for carbs is: brown is good, white is bad! Eliminate as much processed and packaged junk
from your diet as possible, they will end up sabotaging your efforts. Also, eat
more protein on your training day and eat less carbohydrate on days you are not
training.
4.
PROTEIN IS KEY:
As the saying goes, “you are what you eat”
and if that holds true then guys like Stallone must be chickens and turkeys in
disguise! According to sly “To gain weight while still looking cut for my roles
I had to eat a ton of it! I even eat chicken just before sleeping!” There is a
method to this madness. When you work out, your muscles get torn and broken
down and they require protein to repair them and make them stronger so it is
highly critical. Try to eat protein with every meal, turkey and chicken with
the skin removed is the best option but you can also eat fish, eggs or beef. Just
make sure the beef cuts are not fatty.
5.
YOU MUST SUPPLEMENT:
To gain lean weight, it is important that
you take nutritional supplements. Intense physical exercise releases a lot of
toxins and compound called free radicals into the body. Normally you would get
enough nutrients to counter this from your food, but in order to grow lean mass
you need to supplement nutrients from your food. Supplements you require to
grow include the following: Multivitamins, Amino acids (BCAA), Whey protein and
fish oil. Now these are just some of the many supplements out there but these
are the key ones that help you put on weight without putting on fat. Stallone has
been using them for years to maintain his impressive physique.
6.
SLEEP:
Rest is perhaps the strongest and least employed
weapon in your arsenal to gain lean mass. Most of us do not get enough of it
and this ruins all your other efforts. According to sly” when I first started
working out, I had very little education on the need for adequate rest, I would
burn myself out in the gym and work all night, the result: stagnation and
frustration”. Please learn from his experience and try to get an absolute
minimum of six hours sleep per night and even more on your workout days. The
reason is simple, all your huffing and seating in the gym breaks down muscle,
your food and supplement intake is the medicine your muscles need and the
medicine is most effective when you sleep. So it is important you get enough
rest and not sabotage your efforts.
Do have a
wonderful day!
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