Muscle Soreness or DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)

Probably the main reason people hate working out is because of muscle soreness or DOMS.  If it wasn't for sore and stiff feeling the day after a workout, people would be more willing to go the gym and workout.  The reason our muscles are sore the day after is due to the muscle breaking down when we lift heavy weights.  A little soreness after a good workout is actually great.  It means you trained hard and your body is repairing itself.  Now when you are really sore to the point it hurts just to breathe, it means you work too hard, too soon and your body is not used to the stress you put on it.  If you are a beginner, you should slowly ease into the workload.  For example, if you are overweight, begin by walking or slowly jog.  Do NOT start your first workout with 100 meter sprints.  Your body is used to sitting on the couch all day to all of a sudden sprinting.  By gradually increasing the workload you also decrease the risk of unwanted injuries.

What should I do if I have muscle soreness?

There are many things you could do to speed up recovery process.  The first thing is to make sure you are getting enough nutrients and water into your body and getting 7-8 hours of sleep.  Gentle stretching will also help loosening up the stiff muscle.  (Side note: Stretching does NOT prevent muscle soreness).  Additionally, a light cardio session such as walking will help increase blood flow in the body.  And finally, the best method to recover from muscle soreness, in my opinion, is a massage.  Not only does it feel awesome, but it is scientifically proven to help speed up recovery.  What massage does is it increase the blood flow to the sore muscle(s) and it pushes away the toxins resulting in reduced recovery time.  I know massages can cost a lot, but the way to massage yourself is a foam roller which cost about $10-$15.  When I bought a foam roller myself, it was probably the best investment I made my entire life.  You don't  know what I mean until you try it out yourself.  It feels amazing and the recovery time is shorten.  With a shorter recovery time, I can go back into the gym and continue training.

Read this article to find out more about foam rolling: http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/science-says-foam-rolling-increases-rom-and-does-not-decrease-strength

What are things you shouldn't do for muscle soreness?

When you are sore, the worst thing to do is lay around and do nothing at all.  Your muscles stay tight and stiff and your blood is not circulating enough.  Inactivity will only make you more sore and the recovery duration longer.  Also never train the same muscle on consecutive days.  Give at least 48 hours until training the same muscle again.  If you are still slightly sore after the 48 hours, you can still train.  But if you are still really sore after 48 hours, rest a little longer.

How to build muscle (Hypertrophy)

I hear these statements a lot, "I've been lifting for almost 2 months now and I haven't noticed any progress" or "I've gained about 20 pounds of muscle since I started lifting two months ago."  The process of building muscle mass is very slow.  At most, lifting for about 2 months equals to about 1-3 pounds of muscle. Normally, if you lift consistently, eat right, and sleep, you should gain about 25-30 (give or take) pounds in a year. For the body builders you see on TV, they have been lifting for their entire lives.  Some have been lifting for about 15-20 years.  In the case for the person not seeing results, 2 months is not enough to see any result.  To see results, you must constantly lift for years.  It doesn't happen overnight.  As for the person that gained 20 pounds in 2 months of lifting, I would estimate 2 pounds was actually muscle and the other 18 pounds was fat gain or he did gain 20 pounds of muscle by taking steroids.  (Here at Swole Squad Fitness, I don't condone steroids.  Not only is it illegal, but it is very dangerous to use.)

The formula to build muscle is simple.  There are only 3 steps:  Lift, eat, and sleep.  Yes!  It's that simple. Each part of the formula are equally important.  Even if you train very hard and sleep but your diet is crap, you will not make any gains.  Or if you do eat right and train, but if you get 4 hours of sleep each night, that too will do you no good.  Continue reading this post as I will break down the component of building muscle to help you get SWOLE!!!

Lifting

Most people believe that lifting is the only thing you need to get more muscular.  WRONG.  When lifting, what you are actually doing is tearing the muscle fiber down at a microscopic level.  When lowering the weight, your muscles stretches and when raising the weight, your muscle contracts. With every rep you take, you muscle fiber actually tears apart.  This how muscles actually grow. When the muscle fibers tear, they eventually heal and grow back bigger and stronger.  Remember to choose weights that you can do with good form within the 8-12 rep range for the best muscle growth.  If you can't do 8, lower the weight and if you do over 12, add more weight.  Simple as that.

Diet

After lifting and tearing down the muscle, our body needs energy and nutrients to repair.  Protein is very essential as they are the building blocks of muscle.  Remember to get about 0.8 grams of protein for each kg of your body weight.  It is very important to get protein in your body to help they muscle repair and grow.  Fats is also vital as they help with hormones.  And carbohydrates fuels the body.  Also drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and remove unwanted toxins in the body.

Sleep

And for the last component, sleep.  Muscle actually repairs and grow when we sleep.  During the first few hours of sleep, our body release growth hormones.  These hormones are the reason muscles repair and grow.  When deprived of sleep, our body will not produce enough hormones to repair and grow the muscle. If you don't get enough sleep, don't even worry about trying to get more muscular because you are doing more damage to the body instead.  Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night, to maximize your gains.

There you have it, the secrets to build muscle.  There is no shortcut or magic just hard work and dedication. If you do each of these correctly, you will grow muscle.  Yes, it will take a long time, but stick with it.  You will see results, trust me.  If you don't see results, you are either not training hard enough, not eating right, and/or not getting enough sleep.  Make sure you are doing each properly.  Good luck getting SWOLE!!!!

Fixing Bad Posture (Forward Head and Rounded Shoulders)

Bad posture has become a problem for many people especially in the United States.  As we constantly sit in front of the computer, our posture deteriorates.  Most commonly, people with poor posture tend to have more head aches, neck strains, and reduced energy.  Fortunately, fixing bad posture is not difficult at all. There are many stretches and exercise you can perform to fix this issue.

Pectoral (Chest) Stretches

One of the main reason for forward head posture is tight chest and front shoulder muscles.  When these muscles are too tight, they bring the head and should forward causing this posture.  These muscles should be stretched.  Perform this simple stretches below.

One arm chest stretch

Steps

• Find a door frame or a corner of a wall
• Bend your arms 90 degrees
• Place the arm on the door frame or corner
• Place the foot inside forward and the outside foot back
• Slowly lean into the arm
• You should feel a stretch in the chest and front shoulders (If you feel pain, slightly reduce tension)
• Find a spot and hold for 30 seconds
• Slowly take deep breathes
• Repeat on other arm

Do this stretch once or twice a day

Leaning back in chair stretch

Steps

• Place both arms behind your head
• Feet flat on ground
• Take a deep breath
• Slowly lean back into the chair
• As you slowly lean back, slowly exhale as you get deeper
• Try to keep elbows out
• Your chest should be expanded
• Slowly inhale and exhale

Do this stretch when you are sitting a computer and need a quick break.  Do this stretch plenty of times when working at the computer.

Towel Stretch

Steps

• Grasp the towel at both end
• You can perform this stretch standing or sitting
• Bring the towel above and slightly behind your head
• Stick your chest out and upper back together
• Keep your head in neutral position
• Try to pull towel behind you
• Inhale and exhale slowly

Same as the other stretches, do this a couple of time per day.

Strengthen the upper back and rear shoulders

The other main reason for poor posture is weak upper back and rear shoulders.  These muscles should be strengthen to pull the neck and shoulders back.

Rear Delt Flies

This should be the main exercise to perform to fix bad posture.

Steps

• Grab a pair of light dumbbells (5-15 pounds)
• Sit on the edge of a chair or stand up with knees bent
• Lean Forward
• Head in neutral position
• Tighten core (abs and lower back)
• Elbows slightly bent 
• Raise the dumbbells with your upper back and rear shoulders
• Hold at the top for a split second and slowly lower the weight
• Exhale going up and inhale going down
• Do 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets

Rows

Another great exercise to strengthen the back and rear shoulder.

Steps

• Grab a dumbbell that you can rep 8-12 times
• Place knee and hand on the same side on the bench
• Grab dumbbell with the other arm and place feet on floor
• Tighten core
• Head in neutral position
• Pull the dumbbell with your elbow to your hip
• Hold and squeeze for a split second at the top and slowly lower the weight
• Exhale when pulling and inhale when lowering
• Do 8-12 rep on one side and repeat for other side

Things not to do

Do not perform this stretch.  Doing this stretch facilitate the issue.  It stretches the rear shoulder and upper back and contracts the front shoulder and chest.

Swole Food (Lipids)

On the third part of the Swole Food series, I will be discussing lipids (or fats).  Unlike carbohydrates and protein in which each gram is 4 calories, there are 9 calories for each gram of fat.  Fats are very calorie dense.  There is a misconception that all fats are bad for you which is completely false.  There are actually many fats that are actually very good for you.  They help with providing energy, brain function, hormones, makes you feel fuller when eating, etc.  Still there are negatives with consuming too much fats such as high cholesterol and weight gain.

Unsaturated Fat

Unsaturated fats are basically fats that are liquid in room temperature.  Examples of unsaturated fats are olive oil, vegetable oil, fish oil, nut oil, avocado, seed oil, etc.  Unsaturated fats have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol and maintain HDL cholesterol.  

Saturated Fat

Saturated fats are fats that are solid in room temperature.  These include animal meat, dairy (milk, butter, cheese), eggs, etc.  Generally people should limit the amount of saturated fats in their diet as they are known to increase LDL cholesterol, but do not eliminate it from your diet completely.  Some is okay.  There are healthy saturated fats such as coconut oil.  Coconut oil is actually very good for you.

Cholesterol

As many people are told, "cholesterol is bad for and can cause heart problems".  Yes, that is true, but TOO MUCH cholesterol is bad for you.  In fact, every cell in the human body is surrounded by cholesterol. Without cholesterol, our cells would "burst" and we would not be able to live.  In terms of LDL vs HDL, which one is good or bad depends on the society you live in.  In the United States, LDL is bad and HDL is good.  Well, if you were a starving child in a third world country, LDL could potentially save the child's life. LDL is the cholesterol that brings fats to the adipose tissues (stored fat) and HDL brings the fats away from the adipose tissues.  If you live in a country like the United States, you want more HDL than LDL. Our bodies naturally produces more HDL when we perform exercises.  When we exercise, our body uses the stored fat as energy.  As previously mentioned, HDL brings fats away from the adipose tissues.  To lower LDL, there many things you could do including exercising, eating more vegetables and fruit, limiting saturated fats, and consuming unsaturated fats.

How much?

Fats should take up about 10-35% of the total daily calories.

Hydration

All life on this planet begins with water.  There's a reason why we are searching the galaxies for a planet with water so we may one day journey across space to build a new home.  Without water, life as we know will not be able to exist.

Protein Smoothie (Delicous and Healthy)

Should I lose weight (cut) or try to build muscles (bulk) first?

Let's put this out of the way first.  Losing weight and losing fat are completely different things.  Losing weight means you are losing water weight, fat, and even muscle.  Losing fat means shedding extra fat off.  When we want to slim down, we want to get reduce the fat, but still keep the lean muscle.  To lose fat, you have to be in a caloric deficit.  Meaning that you take in less calories than you burn which leads to fat loss.  But the thing is people want to be muscular when they lose the extra fat.  When someone overweight losses all their fat, they typically don't have much muscle.  Scientific research has shown that building muscle first will make losing fat much easier.  Having more muscle burns more calories.  When our body adds more muscle mass, it requires more calories to maintain it.  Which is great for people trying to lose fat.  Instead of storing excess calories, our body instead feeds the calories to the muscle.  The reason behind this is because having more muscle mass increase your metabolism (the rate in which you use calories).  Even when you are resting, your muscle will use and burn calories.  So it is better to try build muscle mass first before trying to go on a cut.  And here is the best part.  When your metabolism increases, you can eat more food and still lose fat.  Which is why athletes can consume around 4000 calories and still stay very lean.  Remember more muscle mass mean more calories burned.  As a result, when you do go on cut, you metabolism will higher making the process more efficient.

Plan

Example:
First two month: Work on form and technique/ Cardio and abs at end of workout


Next two month: Work on strength (4-6 rep)/ Cardio and abs at end of workout


Next four month: Work on hypertrophy (8-12 rep)/ Cardio and abs at end of workout


After completing these eight months, you should put on a decent amount of muscle mass.  Now you should begin your cut.  Since having more muscle mass increase metabolism, you cut should be fairly simple.  Just keep going to gym doing 8-12 rep exercise and doing more cardio while also decreasing your calories by 200 under the amount to maintain your weight.  If you consume 2500 calories and burn 2500 calories, your weight will never move.  If you consume 2300 calories and you burn 2500 calories, you will gradually lose weight.  Try to lose about 0.5-1.5 pound a week.  At first you will lose weight very rapidly due to water weight during the first few weeks.  But after the water weight is gone, your weight will dramatically slow down.  If you lose 6 pounds in one month and you continue your cut, you will lose around 24 pounds in four months.


(Be looking out for the "How to Build Muscles" post)