Number 1- Get plenty of rest

That's right, if you get proper rest you can increase muscle gains! It's recommended to sleep about eight hours a night. Your body repairs itself when you go to sleep, which in turn helps the torn muscle fibers to heal and ideally grow. Now if you aren't able to get eight hours a night, I can completely understand. Some have pretty busy schedules. So if you can try to get a short nap in, or try not to do much physical activity after your workout. It's also recommended to have a slower absorbing protein before bed, like casein. That way your body is getting nutrients still while it sleeps, and that protein will help your muscles recover quicker. Now what I do is I drink whey protein before bed, but instead of making it with water, I make it with milk. The milk helps slow down the absorption of the protein, and that way you don't have to buy a tub of casein protein. Another supplement that helps with night time recovery is ZMA. Which consists of Zinc, Magnesium, and Aspartate. They vitamin b6 to. It can help in boosting testosterone levels, and that means more muscle mass! But don't take this with any kind of calcium because it'll block the absorption of Zinc. So take it 30 minutes prior to using any other supplements

Number 2- Eat, Eat, Eat!

Eating food is a huge part to gaining muscle. Eat frequently, and have calorie dense meals. You have to exceed your maintenance calories if you want to see more gains.This isn't really a science, but a lot of people make it seem like one. Because it doesn't mean you should eat three big macs and four pizzas in order to "bulk". Well you'll bulk, but you'll end up looking like Fat Albert if you do that. Also, people claim to have tried to eat more, but still haven't seen gains. There's a simple answer to that, eat more! But first you need to figure out how many calories you need to meet maintenance. To figure that out click the link here- http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

To make things easier, get a notebook and pen, and record down everything you've eaten from wake-up to your last meal of the day. Write down the calories, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats from each meal. That way you know how many calories you've taken in, and if you need more. Remember..you gotta eat big to get big!

Number 4- Use a powdered protein or mass gainer

A powdered protein, like a whey is great to help increase your daily protein intake. It's perfect for after your workout when your body is catabolic, and will absorb more nutrients. Also a mass gainer is great to help meet and exceed your daily caloric intake. They do exactly what they're named for, gaining mass. Read my post on how to make a great home-made mass gainer here - http://codygarber.blogspot.com/2012/08/home-made-mass-gainer-shake.html?m=1

5 ways to improve muscle gains

Throughout the day I will be posting 5 tips on how to improve muscle gains. Stay tuned because the first tip will be posted soon!

Home-made Mass Gainer Shake

When on a bulk you're trying to push up your total food intake per day, and a lot of people sometimes have trouble eating more food. So what do they do? They go and buy mass gainers! Mass gainers basically provide a surplus of calories, carbs, and proteins, and fats. Now we all know that a five pound tub of mass gainer typically doesn't last over two weeks. But it can be quicker and more convenient to buy mass gainers instead of making them yourself, because all you have to do is scoop it into a shaker cup, add water, and voila! it's all ready and can be chugged down. But with each tub costing about forty bucks, they can add up to cost a fortune. So to save on price you have to get a little creative. So I decided to come up with a mass gainer shake of my own, that has high calories, carbs, and protein.The mass gainer shake I make contains: two cups of milk, one cup of fruit (whatever fruit you want), one serving of natural peanut butter, a half-full serving of oatmeal (optional), and a scoop of whey protein. So here are directions to make this mass monster:

1.) Pour one cup of milk into a blender
2.) Add one cup of fruit (your choice of fruit) and one serving of peanut butter
3.) Blend all of it together
4.) Pour in another cup of milk
5.) Add whey protein powder, and oats
6.) Blend again
7.) Pour into a cup and enjoy!

Now, onto the nutritional facts of this shake. The two cups of milk add up to 244 calories, 24 grams of carbs, and 16 grams of protein. The cup of fruit, let's say you added a large banana and that's it, would be about 110 calories 30 grams of carbs and about 1..yes 1 gram of protein, the peanut butter adds up to 190 calories 6 grams of carbs and 7 grams of protein, the oats add up to be 150 calories 27 grams of carbs and 5 grams of protein, and lastly the whey protein (we'll take 100% gold whey by Optimum nutrition) adds up to be 120 calories 3 grams of carbs and 24 grams of protein

So once you add all of this up it comes to a total of:
814 calories
90 grams of carbs
53 grams of protein

The taste of this shake is incredible! And if you want extra calories and protein just put in two scoops of whey protein instead of one! You can also add egg whites to. But most importantly 5 pound tubs of whey protein are 50+ servings, so a lot of shakes can be made before having to buy a new tub!