10-ways-to-kiss

Insanity: doing the same thing over

and over again and expecting different

results. -- Albert Einstein

Dear Fellow Hardgainer, Lets face it. Youre tired.

Tired of filling your body with mysterious and expensive supplements that do nothing except make you bloated and sick.

Tired of all the conflicting, over-complicated and confusing muscle building information out there.

Tired of busting your ass in the gym six days a week, only to find youre the same size you were last month.

Tired of watching other guys work out half as much and get twice as big.

Believe me, I know. Because I was once there, too. I was your typical 149 pound weakling.

All my life I was skinny. I was so thin growing up I was nicknamed Skinny Vinny all through high school and university. The only thing I wanted was to be big and muscular. But no matter how hard I tried, I remained the same.

Skinny. Scrawny. Weak.

Vince Del Monte Fitness2

I Mean I Had No Muscle Mass Whatsoever!

What made matters worse was when I headed off to college all four of my roommates were JACKED. Im talking 6-packs 8-packs and guns the size of Howitzers!

The intimidation was unbearable.

I wanted what they had, but no matter what I tried, I couldnt come close to achieving it.

Yup, Im the guy trying to hide because Im embarrassed!

Like you, I read all the bodybuilding magazines visited all the popular bodybuilding websites. and wasted thousands of dollars on worthless supplements. I watched my buddies getting all the girls, while I spent my nights killing myself in the gym.

StillI looked like a skinny little runner and my social life was non-existent.

SoI gave up. I figured everyone was right. I was destined to be Skinny Vinny. But I still wanted to make the most of the skinny little body I was cursed with. Since I was built like a runner I became a runner. More than that. I became a triathlete.

You knowthose mean and lean running, swimming, and biking dudes. Sure, it wasnt bodybuilding but at least it was something.

I actually got pretty good at it too. I even represented the national team in triathlon competitions. But still it wasnt what I wanted.

Just like you, I wanted defined muscle mass to attract the ladies.

Just like you, I wanted a body that demanded respect.

Just like you, I wanted the self-confidence that comes with a killer body.

Just like you, I wanted all the things I figured I could never have.

Copyright 2006 - 2013 Vince Del Monte and VinceDelMonteFitness.com. All rights are reserved. 3

I Was Just A Thought Or Two Away From Giving Up On My Muscle Building Dreams Altogether

But then something happened that changed everything

A chance meeting that changed who I was and who I was meant to be forever

This chance meeting transformed me from the Canadian bean pole, lanky framed and weak Skinny Vinny to an international hard body with the worlds most publicized and dramatic skinny-to-muscular weight gain story ever.

The key to getting the fastest results isnt making sure youre doing everything right but rather to evaluate what you may be do-ing wrong.

This chance meeting helped make me become one of the nations most sought after fitness coaches, get all the female at-tention I could ever imagine and eventually the wife of my dreams.

The day before the 2011 WBFF Pro Fitness Model Championships


BAD INFORMATION!

Bad information results in unrealistic expectations that lead to frustration and quitting early.

Bad information results in outdated training principles that lead to over-training and injury.

Bad information results in over-complicated nutrition strategies that lead to in spinning your wheels.

Bad information can turn your cupboards into a supplement warehouse and can lead to you taking out a second mortgage.

Bad information is taught by arm-chair experts or internet marketers who couldnt add a pound of muscle to their body if their life depended on it.

You get the point.

Bad information is the number one reason you dont have the body you desire and deserve right now.

Thats why I wrote this free report.

Im sick and tired of seeing skinny guys put in SO much time, SO much effort, SO much sacrifice and SO much research without anything to show!

For most skinny guys, they start skinny. And they stay skinny.

But not YOU!

Because you were lucky enough to find this report, youre about to learn the same information that has helped hundreds of thousands of skinny guys worldwide transform their bodies from scrawny to Spartacus, regular to ripped and average to astonishing! (Yes, youll see that I love annotations!)

Keep in mind

Nobody gets it right all the time. If that were the case then wed all be sporting Olympia-contending physiques and you wouldnt be here right now.

The key to getting the fastest results isnt making sure youre doing ev-erything right but rather to evaluate what you may be doing wrong.

The following represents a list of 10 common training, dietary, supplement and mindset mistakes that can result in kissing your gains goodbye when seeking out a bigger, leaner and more muscular physique.

Sometimes one pays most for

the things one gets for

nothing. --Albert Einstein


The successful warrior is the

average man, with laser-like focus.

--Bruce Lee

Muscle Building Mistake #1

Broken FocusIll just come out and say it.

YOU are your own worst enemy when it comes to transforming your body. Not your genetics. Not your metabolism. Not your environment.

YOU!

And while I have one finger pointed at you, I have three fingers pointed right back at me because Ive learned this the hard way.

Heres the deal. Its hard to say to yourself:

I AM RESPONSIBLE for how I look and feel right now. Im getting everything in life that I deserve right now based on the person I am being!

Its far easier to say, Its my genetics or metabolism or environment Right?

GIMME A BREAK! Thats the line losers play. Dont even try playing that card on me. Youre only fooling yourself. If you believe that, I hope you discover it sooner rather than later

Today, you have to be 10 times more focused than 10 years ago (when I first transformed my body) because of the millions of blogs, websites, magazines and books available. Not to mention that the Internet has no gatekeepers so anyone with a pulse, Faecbook page/You Tube channel and decent physique can become a fitness expert overnight!

When it comes to building muscle, the most superior scientific muscle building knowledge is useless if you cannot focus on the information you do have and execute it with consistency and sufficient intensity.

Here are some of the deadly pitfalls of broken focus:


Goal Hijacking- Right now you have a goal. Consider it the original goal when you first enter the gym. It might be to increase your bench press by 50 pounds, or add 30 pounds of muscle, or achieve 8% body fat or maybe you want to compete in a fitness model show. Most likely you have a combination of visual goals and performance goals.

The key to achieving your original goal is to stay focused on the optimal training style that supports your goal. For instance, an individual purely focused on gaining 30 pounds of muscle should stick to traditional bodybuilding workouts. An individual purely focused on adding 50 pounds to his bench press should stick to traditional powerlifting workouts. Someone who prefers to train for the circus should stick to crossfit workouts. Someone who prefers to train for a comedy club should do wobble pad and Bosu workouts!

With dozens of new training programs and products that offer you a new way to train and even a new identity (can you say, Im a CrossFitter for life or Im a functional trainer or Im a hardcore powerlifter etc.), its easy to forget that your original program was already designed to achieve your original goal!

Before you know it, youre distracted and testing out every fitness program out there, even though the training style is not harmonious with your original goal!

Heres the truth, your goals are your responsibility. Write them down. Review them daily. Only take advice that SUPPORTS YOUR ORIGINAL GOAL! If the advice does not support your goal, file it away or discard it until you accomplish the goal in front of you.

Program Hopping- Here is program hopping at its worst. You start off January following the 1-6 Wave Loading Principle to get your entire body stronger. February rolls around and you think your arms are lagging so you jump ship to the Swiss Ball Arm Workout. That lasts about one week, but since you still want to work on your arms you try out The One Day Arm Cure because someone told you Swiss Balls suck for mass building (they do). So you try the Arm Up workout promising 17-inch arms in four weeks. You gain a solid inch but notice some extra fat accumulating that youre not happy with. This calls for the latest Bodyweight Stimulator workouts to blast the fat. Whatever happened to your original goal of getting stronger in January? This story is far too common.

The shorter way to do many things is to do

only one thing at a time.

-- Mozart


There is a belief that the grass is greener on the other side.

This is a flat-out lie.

You know where the grass is green? The grass is green where you water it! If you start doubting and second-guessing every program you start youll just spin your wheels and become a consumer, not a results-getter.

A program works only because you make it work! Its your responsibility to follow it consistently, progress it incrementally and execute it wholeheartedly.

If you want a jaw-dropping physique you have to believe in yourself and the program and follow it until completion. Dont be that guy whos tried every muscle-building program on the planet but has nothing to show for it. That sucks!

Too Many Chefs In The Kitchen- This is a metaphor often used in business. Just as if six people were trying to season the same meal, similar chaos can exist when you take advice from too many fitness coaches at once. One of the reasons I gained 41pounds of muscle in six months when I first started was because I decided to follow one coach and one coach only. While I was taking his advice I shut myself out from the rest of the worlds advice. I was on a low information diet.

Many people never achieve their fitness goals because of the too many chefs in the kitchen syndrome. I believe this happens because, deep down, youre afraid to put one person in charge - they may screw up. So you put many people in charge of your fitness goals.

But thats an even bigger problem - you end up with too many solutions that lead to overlap, inefficiency and truckloads of confusion, contradiction and complexity. Months pass and theres still no agreement amongst your favorite fitness coaches and your body has barely changed.

My advice? Keep it simple. Pick one coach (with a proven track record of success) who helps you organize the chaos into a single, well-designed program, and dont add another coach into the mix. Youll be shocked by how fast your body changes when you apply a laser-like focus to your program and decide to learn from doing, not talking or reading about it. Less is often more!

Click here to check out my students track record of success

Often he who does too much does too little.

-- Italian Proverb


A martial arts student approached his teacher with a question. Id like to improve my knowledge of the martial arts. In addition to learning from you, Id like to study with another teacher in order to learn another style. What do you think of this idea?

The hunter who chases two rabbits, answered the master, catches neither one.

The simplest example of chasing two rabbits in bodybuilding is the Should I build muscle or lose fat, first? debate. Also phrased like, Should I bulk up first or should I cut first? Rabbit 1 = bulking. Rabbit 2 = cutting. The question you must ask yourself is this: Which one is more important right now? Or where would you like to be three or four months from now?

Would you look better by adding 20 pounds of size to your frame? Or would you look better losing 20 pounds off your frame?

Trying to build muscle and lose fat at the same time is possible but extremely difficult and requires perfection of so many variables that bodybuilding would need to be your full-time job. Literally.

Heres my strong suggestion: Focus on one goal and one goal only until you complete it. Do not shift your focus toward anything else until you accomplish this original goal. If your goal is to build muscle, submerge your life around muscle and dont even give cutting a second thought until you achieve the muscle you desire. Then, and only then, can you refocus your energy and plan toward cutting. While youre cutting, apply the same laser-like focus. The end product will be a dramatically bigger and leaner person and your friends wont recognize you. This is the only simple way to catch both rabbits.

Very few people dramatically transform their body because they want to chase both rabbits at once - but they catch neither one. Dont be that guy. It all comes down to avoiding broken focus.

If you chase two rabbits,

both will escape.

-- Anonymous



Shotgun Training & DietingThe Definition of Shotgun Training in application to muscle building

The practice of firing out a lot of shells i.e. training and nutrition tips and tricks, and hoping you will hit something i.e. you see a result. An example of the shotgun approach would be pumping up the protein, buying a cupboard full of supplements, shoveling down the calories and adding a truckload of intensity techniques to your workouts -- all at the same time. Shotguns blast over an area with the hope of a critical hit. The word shotgun is actually defined as covering a wide range in a haphazard or ineffective manner.

While conducting fitness assessments with skinny guys, here is a typical conversation between me and my frustrated skinny guy seeking my help:

How many calories are you eating each day? Skinny guy says, A lot.

Wheres your body fat at right now? Skinny guy says, A guy at my gym said its probably about 8-11% right now....

What gets measured, gets

managed. Peter Drucker


Whats your training split look like right now? Skinny guys says, I switch it up every week.... you know, keep the body guessing...

How many meals do you consume a day? Skinny guy says, It depends... Im pretty busy...

How consistent are you to your current meal plans (assuming they are following one)? Skinny guy says, Not sure... its gotta to be 50-80%... somewhere in there...

How many sets and reps can you do for this exercise and this tempo and rest period? Skinny guys says, Im supposed to be tracking that kind of stuff. I just train hard...

See the problem?

Nothing gets measured so nothing gets managed. And this leads to nothing getting done or progressed.

This approach is as dumb as trying to save money without checking your bank statements.

Sadly, this conversation is more common than not. This shotgun approach requires less thought and accuracy. In short, its easier. And lets be honest, at first, it works! Strength and muscle gains kick in for a few weeks -- maybe even a few months if youre a novice bodybuilder - and building muscle appears as simplified as the 16-year kids on the bodybuilding forums boasted, Eat... sleep... train bro! And for a few lucky individuals, it is that simple. But this is the exception, not the rule.

I whole-hardheartedly believe, the short-term gain of shotgun training could cost you heavily in the long run.

Why?

1. You become lazy. Imagine telling a meathead bodybuilder he needs to start tracking calories and macros after he made his

The things that get measured are the things

that get done. Michael LeBouef


first dramatic transformation doing none of that complicated stuff in the beginning.

2. Your shotgun shells might hit something. Not tracking anything is like playing the lottery. Truth is, you might win. Key word: Might. But the hope of might is strong enough to ignore the fact measuring and managing the details is the most reliable and predictable way to progress.

3. You become a sucker for the latest tricks and trends. Dudes who dont track anything are always on the lookout for the next magic pill and cutting-edge method because that is more exciting than the cornerstone principles of slow dieting or slow bulking, incremental progress and consistency.

4. Costs you hundreds of hours of firing off shotgun shells. And time equals money so not only are youre probably draining your bank account in the process.

5. You put a ceiling on how much muscle you can build. Without quantifying where you are, how do you know much more room you still have to improve on?

Truth is, shotgun approach is NOT for everyone

Before I discuss the concept of riffle bullets as a solution to shotgun training, I want to state for the record that shotgun training is not appropriate for everyone. Here are a few examples:

1) Youre not truly dedicated to outcome-based training. 2) You dont have a specific deadline you must be ready for.

After being a fitness consultant for six years, I conducted over a thousand individual fitness consultations on new members that committed to 12-month gym memberships. I asked every member, On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to your goals? 9

out of 10 times the new member would say, 8 or 9. Very few people are 100% committed to their goals and for these people, the shotgun approach might be appropriate. Just dont come crying to me when your not happy with your progress in 12-months. Why are you surprised? Youre only committed to your goals 8 or 9 out of 10!

You become what you

measure. Anonymous


The Definition of Riffle Bullet Training in application to muscle building

A better approach to muscle is to use riffle bullets, not shotgun shells. Riffle bullets allow you to focus on one specific area you want to see improvement in.

An Example of UsingRiffle Bullets...

Youre 175 pounds and have hit a plateau. Currently youre using the shotgun approach and eating a lot of protein each day. Youre tired of firing out shotgun shells. You really dont know if you are eating 100 grams a day or 150 grams a day. You want to test out some riffle bullets and measure out 175 grams a day -- 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight each day. You want to see the differences this one change makes. You change nothing else in your diet, the only variable you are managing is protein intake. After a week of eating 175 grams of protein per day you notice a few things: 1) Your energy is higher. 2) Youre not as sore. 3) You feel stronger. You up your protein intake to 200 grams the next week and dont notice much difference. Interesting! You can now accurately say that eating at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight impacts your physique because this was the only variable you manipulated. This is called learning by doing, not talking about it.

Riffle bullets result in a few major benefits:

1. You take control of the training process. No more hoping that method A or B might work.

2. You gain accurate intelligence on how your body responds to certain variables. No more wasting time reading hundreds of articles.

3. You can make weekly progress. Yes, weekly progress, because everything is now scalable!

Conclusion

A good muscle building workout and nutrition system will help attack problems using a rifle approach, rather than a shotgun approach. The workouts and nutrition plan will be organized into a step-by-step plan. Ultimately, for bodybuilding to be effective, it MUST be a process NOT an event.

The quality of a mans life

is in direct proportion to

his commitment to excellence, regardless of

his chosen filed of endeavor.

Vince Lombardi



Majoring In The MinorsOne of the biggest reasons skinny guys stay skinny is because they spend their days majoring in the minors. By this, I mean spending your time and efforts on activities that have little or minimal impact on your muscle and fitness results.

With thousands of pages of information on the Internet, us skinny guys can get caught up wasting our valuable time on marginal and unproductive activities. Its easy to become that guy who is a walking encyclopedia of information. That guy who can analyze the pros and cons of every bodybuilding routine in existence. That guy who can critique the upsides and downsides of every nutritional strategy invented. That guy who knows all the stats, measurements and gear cycles of the Pro Bodybuilders. That guy who could teach a college bodybuilding class about supplementation.

And sadly, its often the same guy who looks the same as last year. He couldnt gain 1 pound of muscle if Arnold showed up at his front door. Hes been in a plateau for months. He knows what works for the rest of the world but has no idea what works for HIMSELF! He couldnt tell you what training program or diet strategy has proven most effective for himself.

Putting The Cart Before The Horse

These guys are examples of putting the cart before the horse! This simply means to do things out of order. This saying comes from the olden days when horses were used to pull carts

We all sometimes sweat the small stuff. We often

make mountains of molehills,

magnifying issues of little or no

importance into giant obstacles and barriers.

The Quotable Coach


since they didnt have cars or trucks yet. If you put the cart before the horse you werent going anywhere. You are not doing things in the right order!

Until you master THE BASICS, you have no business worrying about anything else!

Stop reading hundreds of different opinions before taking action. Stop following information that is not applicable to your goals and needs. Stop putting every theory under a microscope. Stop losing sleep over the minutia.

Start focusing on what REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE.

So - What are the Majors?

1. Lifting Execution! Learn the science of bio mechanics to understand how to move your muscles through a full range of motion. Anatomically, learn what a fully shortened and fully lengthen muscle looks like for each respective bodypart. There is only one muscle building program in existence that can teach you this and its Ben Pakulskis MI40 System.

2. Workout Suitable For Your Goals! If youre a complete beginner and have not exploited high-frequency full-body workouts then you dont need to be doing Ronnie Colemans 2-hour marathon training workouts. In No Nonsense Muscle Building I teach skinny novices to exploit the benefits of high-frequency, full body routines with variable rep ranges for the first 6-months before even thinking about a split program.

3. Get Your Calories & Macronutrients In Order! Before you even think about various calorie manipulation methods, master a set daily intake. Forget high days and low days and carb cycling etc until you have proven you can hit your daily caloric intake using simplicity! Before you worry about food combining (an advanced technique taught after NNMB), master the habit of eating balanced meals. In No Nonsense Muscle Building, the muscle building diet is based around consuming a balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates with every meal. The easiest way for a skinny guy to hit his goal calories is eating balanced. For instance, 45% carbohydrate intake, 35% protein intake and 20% fat intake. Trying to hit your goal calories with food combining requires an entirely new level of dedication which you must graduate into.

Clarity is the antidote to

anxiety. Marcus Buckingham


4. Establish A Regular Meal Frequency! Smaller meals at a more regular meal cadence are optimal for skinny guys. Consuming 3,000-5,000 calories in 3 or 4 sitting can be tough on the digestive system and not optimal for absorption. Whether you chose to divide your calories over 4 meals or 7 meals is your choice but ensure its not both - make it consistent so you can manage your progress and make adjustments if youre not growing.

5. Dont Got Nuts On Supplements... Yet! Over the years Ive furthered my supplementation strategies but when I first started, ten years ago, the only supplements I used to gain 41 pounds of muscle in 24 weeks were a multi vitamin, fish oils, protein powder and some creatine. Thats it! Dont panic if you cant invest a few hundred dollars on supplements (each month). There is more opportunity for gains getting consistent with your calories and macros. As you get closer to your genetic ceiling and more serious, start increasing your supplement budget.

6. Focus On What You CAN Control. There is no point stressing about your genetics, fast metabolism or long limbs. Nor is it healthy to lose sleep comparing your physique to others. Instead of focusing too much on the desired result, focus on the daily habits that will achieve that desired result. -- meal preparation, scheduling your workout, grocery shopping, sufficient sleep, listening to your coach, social support and accountability with like-minded trainees. Hypertrophy M.A.X. and Maximize Your Muscle members know what Im talking about!

7. Time! If you think youre going to transform your body - I mean dramatically - in 2 or 4 weeks, pinch yourself and wake up! Although extreme muscle growth is possible for novice lifters, muscle building is a long and tedious process for most. Focus on consistent and incremental improvements and youll be happy with your results.

Listen - The Minors Do Make A Difference... But Not Until You Get The Majors In Order, First!

Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.

Peter Druckerh


Heres a list of questions I would consider minors if you dont have the majors in place. Feel free to add a few of your own in the comments below!

Should I be taking my creatine before or after my workout?

Is it better to take BCAA in capsule form or powder form?

Is it better to train 30 minutes or 40 minutes?

Whey isolate or whey hydrolysate?

What kind of sugar should I take with my creatine?

Is it better to pair my triceps with chest or shoulders?

What should I do if my training partner is growing faster than me?

Should I eat carbs 2 hours or 4 hours before I workout?

What if its not free range chicken?

Is it better to do drop sets or rest-pause?

Should I have my post workout shake right after or wait 15 minutes?

Should I do shurgs on my back day or shoulder day?

Is it better to do cardio in the morning, afternoon or night?

Should I do what [insert name of your favorite pro] is doing, too?

Whats better for strength? 5x5 or 6x6 ?

Should I start with Barbell presses or Dumbbell presses?

Remember, these are not bad questions. Its simply the timing of the question that might not be appropriate.

Conclusion

There is not need to get confused by all the information available. Eventually you will use it all. Its simply a matter of timing based on your rate of progression. Dont get caught up in the minors until you master the majors. Al the majors can be found in No Nonsense Muscle Building and once you complete that program, youll be ready for my advanced programs like Maximize Your Muscle or Hypertrophy M.A.X.

Most people fail in life

because they major

in the minor things.

Anthony Robbins



UnderfeedingAside from poorly designed workouts, not consuming enough calories (i.e underfeeding) is the number one dietary mistake I see skinny guys make who desire to gain muscle. I think its common knowledge that the only way to add a dramatic amount of muscle mass to your body is to consume sufficient calories and nutrients to support muscle growth. If youre consuming enough calories and nutrients, your body will not be in an optimal muscle-building environment. In fact, if you fail to consume enough calories, you might get skinnier and smaller by losing muscle, despite your heroic weight training workouts.

Hang on now, I know what youre thinking:

But I eat so much -- at least 5,000 calories a day -- and I still dont grow!

Sure you do!

Why am I being sarcastic? Because if it was enough then the tale of the scale would prove otherwise! Your false perception of eating so much is inaccurate. Just like overweight individuals tend to underestimate how much they consume, skinny guys tend to overestimate how much they are actually consuming over the course of a given day and week. In short, your problem is underfeeding.

The Reality of an Underfeeder...

Take a moment and think about how good your nutrition was this past month, I dont care how good it was this past 7 days. Lets examine your nutrition intake with a satellite lenses for a moment, not a zoom lenses. Did you follow your meal plan 30% of the time? 60% of the time? 90% of the time? Its amazing how skinny guys will fool themselves into thinking they are eating so much food

If you want to look like

a 200 pound bodybuilder, you need to

eat like a 200 pound

bodybuilder. Me


because of that crazy high-calorie buffet last Sunday but easily forget they ate nothing else for the rest of the day because they were so full. Sure, youre great at putting back a few huge-ass meals through the course of the week but what is happening the rest of the time?

Gaining Muscle Is An Outcome-Based Pursuit

This is a key lesson you must grasp. It means that you must alter your current setting (i.e increase your calories), measure the outcome of the alternation, and use the outcome to determine if changes are necessary. Just following a 5,000 calorie meal plan is what dummies do. Following a program beyond its effectiveness is also dumb too. I suggest a different approach.

Are you eating more than you ever have in your entire life and still not growing? Eat more! Think youre eating more than you need but still not growing? Eat even more, again!

Lets say you want to learn a new language and the language course you bought said you only need to practice one hour a day. However, you are not grasping the language. Would you continue to only practice one hour a day because the course said so? Heck no, you would practice 2 hours a day or maybe even 3 hours a day. You wouldnt stop practising until you learn that darn language!

Use this same practice in your nutrition. Becoming self aware of the reality of the situation is half the battle. If youre in fact consuming 3,500 calories a day and not growing then its time to go to 3,750 and if that doesnt work 4,000 calories. Your success is directly related to knowing exactly how much you need to grow.

In my book, No Nonsense Muscle Building, I provide a calorie calculator that dictates exactly how many calories you should be

You cant sculpt a pebble.

Scott Abel


consuming based on your level of leanness and activity level. Its a great starting point and then you can make alternations based on what happens.

Use the K.I.S.S. Principle

Keep It Simple Skinny!

It boggles my mind at how complicated skinny guys make gaining weight. If youre less than 10% bodyfat than you have zero business inquiring about these dietary strategies to build muscle:

Lower calorie days on non-training daysHigher calorie days on training daysCarb cyclingIntermittent fastingOne large meal after the workouts

Whats The Problem With These Methods?

These are nutritional strategies more appropriate for fat loss not muscle building! Sure, theyll help you experience a cleaner bulk by the year 2030!

I teach my skinny guys to bulk up without losing their four pack. Thats the benchmark you strive for. For most guys this works out to overshooting their goal ripped look by anywhere from 10-25 pounds. Lets say youre 150 pounds and want to be a shredded 175 pounds, you could bulk up to 185 pounds and then you would focus on cutting the 10 lbs of excess fat to reveal a shredded 175 lbs with 25 more pounds of muscle!

The Simplest Muscle Gain Diet Ever...

When I gained 41 pounds of muscle in a record-breaking 24 weeks I followed the simplest eating system in the world - I ate balanced! You can follow the same style meal plans I used by picking up a copy of No Nonsense Muscle Building. Every single meal utilized proteins, low-glycemic carbohydrates and essential fats. I consumed a big breakfast, a big lunch and a big dinner and I consumed two or three high-calorie


nutrient dense shakes with an elite protein powder in between those meals.

In all honestly, it was the easiest 41 pounds of muscle Ive ever gained. I ate the same every single day whether I trained or didnt train. I pre cooked my meals when I traveled. I trained hard and earned my calories. Ten years ago, I dont even think the word organic existed so I just ate the same foods you can find in your local grocery store. If I was full or didnt have an appetite, I forced my meals down. No excuses. No crying. No whining. I was 100% committed to my goals. My metabolism and genetics didnt stand a chance. I smacked them both in the face.

If you havent had a dramatic skinny-to-muscular transformation like I did, I recommend you put to rest all the fancy nutrition strategies and stick to the basics - eat balanced every single meal and every single day. Once you master this habit, I have plenty of advanced muscle building programs to introduce the concepts of food combining and nutrient timing, next.



Unstocked Kitchen Heres the truth: getting big is not easy! In fact, packing on pounds of lean muscle mass can be one of the biggest challenges ever. Its certainly no walk in the park like getting lean is (yes, getting lean is 10x easier than building muscle).

Just like I say, any idiot can lose weight, I believe the contrary is also true, any idiot can gain weight. What separates the men from the boys is the degree of muscle weight you gain during your muscle building journey. How good are you at maximizing the muscle to fat ratio?

That answer is determined by how comfortable you can become with these two ideas I learned from one of my University professors, Dr. John Beardi:

Idea #1 To gain muscle mass, youre going to have to spend more money on groceries than youre currently spending. If you endeavor to get bigger and dont start increasing your weekly grocery bill, all your muscle building prayers will go unanswered.

Idea #2 To gain muscle mass, youre going to have to shop, cook, eat, and clean the kitchen more often than youre currently doing. Thats right, if you dont increase your grocery store frequency as well as the amount of food you prepare, the amount of daily fork lifts you do, and the amount of dishwashing you do, your reign as the worlds weakest man will continue to go uncontested.

Yes, this is a huge challenge! However, this is where you need to place your mental energy! This is where the

Bodybuilding is much like any

other sport. To be successful, you

must dedicate yourself 100%

to your training, diet and mental

approach.Arnold Schwarzenegger

http://delmonte00.biotrust.com/Shop.asp?p=LowCarb2

http://www.bluestarnutraceuticals.com/

http://vincedelmontefitness.getprograde.com/green-drink.html


weight gain battle is won and lost. All the fancy nutrition tricks in the world wont do you any good if you fail to address this game-changing nutritional habit.

Since the Internet has exploded with hundreds of overnight gurus, everyone is being marketed these fancy nutrition tricks, which certainly have a time and place, however the real issue is ignored -- your kitchen is still not stocked! There is no trick to cure no food!

In order to build muscle, you dont need any more nutrition tricks, you need to ensure your fridge and cupboards are always stocked with the essentials. After you clean out all the processed foods, replace it with muscle growing foods and keep replacing it over and over. You need to set up a shopping system (for example, I shop every Thursday and Sunday), or else youll find yourself with empty cupboards.

Albert Einstein defined Insanity as, Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This couldnt be further from the truth. In summary, here is a list of the habits that must change if you desire to defeat your muscle-unfriendly genetics:

Youre going to spend more money on groceries

Youre going to shop more

Youre going to cook more

Youre going to clean more

Youre going to move the fork and knife more


If these habits dont change then you can kiss your muscle building dreams goodbye. Here is a snapshot of my muscle building kitchen and what it looks like a few days at a time:

Organic brown eggs

Egg whites

Organic Greek yogurt

Ricotta cheese

Gatorade

Organic chocolate milk

Coconut water

Extra lean ground beef

Bananas

Broccoli

Strawberries

Raspberries

Blueberries

Cucumber

Tomatoes

Onions

Peppers

Avocados

Oranges

Spinach

Asparagus

Garlic

Bio Trust Protein Powder

Poliquins QuadriCarb Powder

Blue Stars Creatine

AllMaxs CytoGreens

BCAA

Progrades Genesis

Powdered Gatorade

Poliquins Glycine Powder

Almond butter

Natural peanut butter

Apple cider vinegar

Lentils

Red beans

Black beans

Canned tuna

Salted mixed nuts

Sugar free gum

Oatmeal

Quinoa

Ezekiel cereal

Pumpkin seeds

Green olives

Organic maple syrup

Gatorade

Rice cakes

Pasta

White potatoes

Red potatoes

Sweet potatoes

If you dont follow a good

nutritional plan, youre

bodybuilding with one arm behind

your back.Shawn Ray


Yellow potatoes

BBQ spices

Atlantic salmon

Halibut

Filet mignon

New York steaks

Chicken breast

Garlic shrimp

Shrimp

Black cod

Breaded cod

Variety of teas

Variety of coffees

Stevia

Pam cooking spray

Variety of spices for steaks

Cinnamon

White vinegar

Cilantro

L Carnitine

Krill Oil

Fish Oils

Vitamin D

Tangy shrimp sauce

Garlic minced

Sun dried tomatoes

Lemon juice

Mustard

Ketchup

Greens powder

BBQ sauce

Raspberry jam

Hot peppers

Tomato sauce

Avocado oil

Extra virgin olive oil

Balsamic oil

Macadamia nut oil

Franks hot sauce

Coconut oil

If you always do

what youve always done, youll always get what you always got

Ronnie Coleman



Undertraining SyndromeEveryone is familiar with overtraining syndrome, which is a real problem with negative side effects but the truth of the matter is that 99% of people will never even come close to experiencing the true definition of overtraining!

In fact, sports scientists are overwhelmingly concluding that individuals will never reach a true overtraining state. Research on elite athletes has found an ability to tolerate a threefold increase in training volume for up to three weeks. Think about that for a moment. A threefold increase in training volume, not for a single day or week, but for three weeks straight! I tripled my training volume while at Charles Poliquins 5-Day Hypertrophy Bootcamp (15 workouts in five days) and felt like George St. Pierres punching bag. I couldnt imagine repeating that for an additional two weeks! Again, its extremely hard to reach a truly overtrained state.

Overtraining vs Overreaching

Losing your appetite, altered sleep patterns and change in mood are often a reflection of overreaching, not overtraining. Do not confuse the two. Overreaching or overwork means a short period of increased work that deliberately exceeds your abilities. Its an intentional stress that is placed on your body for a brief period of time followed up with a period of undertraining or deloading to allow for a greater super compensation after-effect, as opposed to periods of normal training. You can recover from overreaching after one or two weeks. It took me approximately seven days of doing nothing to recover from the 15 workouts in five days.

I hated every minute of

training, but I said, Dont quit.

Suffer now and live the rest of

your life as a champion.

Mahummad Ali


Overtraining has been blown out of proportion for commercialism...

Overtraining certainly exists (primarily in endurance athletes, not bodybuilders) and can absolutely hinder your progress, which is why we introduce deload and recover weeks. However, over the years Ive watched the concept of overtraining become blown out of proportion and distorted. Most exercise gurus are capitalizing on the desires of lazy people looking for an easy way out with messages like, Train more than 3x a week and youll overtrain. Really? This type of marketing has created a generation of lifters more concerned with how much rest to take rather than how much training to perform. Most people who discuss overtraining are using it to justify not working hard, instead of working harder.

I, personally, have never met someone overtrained in my 10 years in the business...

Take it for what its worth but, have you? Sure, I have had clients who express feeling of staleness in their workouts and even use terms like, I feel burned out... However, thats nothing that one or two weeks of rest and good nutrition cant fix. Now that we know that a truly overtrained state is a fear we can throw in the dumpster, its time to address a bigger problem:

Undertraining Syndrome

I believe that most people are lacking progress due to undertraining, not overtraining. Although there are no negative side effects, undertraining can take a toll on your motivation and self-esteem. Here are the biggest culprits of undertraining:

Rest periods. A beginner can stick to a generous 90-second rest period between sets and get bigger - to a point.

Intensity (as defined by how close you are to your 1RM). A beginner can improve his bench without doing reps lower than his 6RM - to a point.

Frequency. A beginner can gain weight training only three times a week - to a point.

Tempo. A beginner can ignore lifting speed and gain size - to a point.

Volume. A beginner can build his arms with only six sets per workout - to a point.

Pain is temporary,

pride is forever

Unknown


Adaptation = Stagnation

All in all, if more overall work is not achieved, your body has no reason to progress. When most people sign up at the gym, they should ask for the social membership, not the gym membership because their workouts revolve around 20-30 minutes of sub-intense training, lots of resting and deciding which exercises to do based on where the cute girl is going next. On top of this, every few weeks they go missing in action, so they lack consistency. These types of people are undertraining and never see any real results. This approach never gets the job done.

Its about perioidzation and if youre not using it, youre swimming upstream without a paddle! Case in point - every single athlete that recently competed in the 2012 Olympic Games used some form of

periodization, which simply means to plan. No one here will probably make the Olympics but there is still a lesson to be learned.

You dont arrive at the gym and bench press 315 pounds. You design a plan preparing you to lift 315 pounds. You dont just commence high volume training. You cycle an HVP (high volume phase), an MVP (medium volume phase) and an ELVP (extremely low volume phase). Anything else is a Dummies approach and the Dummies approach is simply dumb.

Its very hard to get leaner, stronger and bigger by accident. Progression is the name of the game and many people are just hoping that showing up to the gym is enough to progress. It might have been when you were 16 years old but for many of you, those days are long gone my friend. Without progress, you will be

Failing to manipulate your loads, rest times, tempos,

duration and frequency is the fastest way

to undertrain.


undertraining and have little to show for your social membership, I mean gym membership.

Self-Check Time

Its time to be honest with yourself. How far have you come in the last few years? Some of you are nodding your head with pride and good on you! Most likely youre following some form of periodization and are experiencing the fruits of your labor. Keep rocking. Some of you are realizing that youve been doing the same number of reps, sets and weights for months, maybe years without changing anything. Maybe youve changed a few variables but your frequency, duration and intensity havent changed. The ultimate self-check is to look in the mirror - that will tell you very quickly if youre undertraining.

5 Tips If Youre Suffering From Undertraining Syndrome

Train your weak body part twice a week. On a five day split, you could do this Monday and Friday.

Start wearing a stopwatch and reduce your rest periods by 15 seconds every set.

Start following a tempo -- a 3 or 4 second negative on most of your lifts will instantly extend your sets.

Start training each body part twice a day - an Intensification workout in the morning and an Accumulation workout in the evening for the same body part. We teach this protocol only to our Hypertrophy M.A.X. members.

Get someone to write out your workouts. Either hire a personal trainer or follow a periodized program like No Nonsense Muscle Building. Get on the Waiting List for Hypertrophy M.A.X. when it reopens later this year -- the most epic 12-month periodized muscle-building program in the galaxy. Yes, in the galaxy.

The only time undertraining is acceptable and encouraged is for planned deloading/recovery weeks. Other than that, say NO to undetraining.

I had the goal to be the

best since day one.

Jay Cutler



Neglecting Tempo & TensionTempo is easily the most neglected training variable -- and one you cant afford to ignore if you want to build serious muscle mass. I suspect the reason its neglected is because tempo is also the least understood of the strength-training variables (when compared to rest, sets, reps etc).

Tempo is another tool, just like reps, sets, rest periods, duration, and exercise selection, that can be periodized to maximize muscle gains, but its often ignored because most people dont recognize or appreciate the importance. You can elicit completely different physiological adaptations by completing the same number of reps and weight but by varying the tempo.

Tempo - Basic Points

Tempoisthespeedatwhichyouperformarepanddetermines a number of things, including the amount of tension developed, the use of mechanical energy (such as the stretch-shortening cycle), and the load.

Theslowerthetempo,thelowertheloadbutyourmusclesare exposed to the stress of managing the weight longer (generally speaking). If you want your muscles to do the majority of the work, you minimize the use of mechanical energy by slowing down the speed of the movement.

The last three or four reps is

what makes the muscle grow.

This area of pain divides the champion from

someone else who is not a

champion. Thats what most people

lack, having the guts to go on and just say theyll go through the pain no matter what

happens.Arnold Schwarzenegger


Thefasterthetempo,thegreatertheloadpotential,butthemuscle load is reduced and mechanical energy is increased (generally speaking). If your interest is simply lifting heavy weights, you can use mechanical energy to your benefit.

Thedurationoftherepiscalledthetimeundertension(TUT).

Tempodictatesthenumberofrepsandloadtobeused.

Understanding Tempo

I teach the same four-digit system learned from my two mentors Ian King and Charles Poliquin, to represent the time it takes to complete the different phase of repetition.

Example: 4210 Tempo

The first number is the eccentric lowering, that is, when you lower the weight (e.g. the descent of a squat or lowering the bar during a bench press). A way to remember this is when the muscle is being stretched. During the eccentric phase of a repetition, the muscle is actually lengthening. So the 4 in a 4210 tempo would indicate 4 seconds to move from the top to the bottom of a squat or 4 seconds to lower the bar from the top to your chest.

The second number is the pause which occurs during the stretched position (e.g. how long you pause at the bottom of a squat or how long the bar rests on your chest when you lower it). The pause occurs between the eccentric and concentric portion of the lift. So the 2 in a 4210 tempo would mean you would pause for 2 seconds at the bottom of the squat or keep the bar on your chest for 2 seconds during a bench press.

The third number is the concentric contraction, that is, lifting the weight (e.g. rising in the squat or pressing the barbell from your chest to the top). In this case the muscles are shortening. So if you see a 1 in a 4210 tempo than you will take 1 second to rise in a squat or press the barbell to the top. Sometimes youll see X indicated as the third number in my program designs and this indicates to perform this part explosively.

The fourth number is the time of pause in the contracted position (e.g. the top of a chin-up or the top of a bicep curl).


Time Under Tension In Application

When hypertrophy is the goal, research and empirical data both tend to support the 40-to-70-second rule of thumb, which states that a muscle must be loaded within that time frame to optimize the hypertrophy response.

If maximal strength and hypertrophy is your goal, the duration of a set should not exceed 40 seconds, but for even better results should not exceed 20 seconds. The logic behind this is to recruit the high-threshold motor nits, which use the high-energy phosphagens as a source of fuel.

The Real Reason People Avoid Tempos

Lets not kid ourselves here, shall we?

Mechanical energy is a great way to lift heavier weights so we can impress people in the gym. Im guilty, too. I believe most guys make their load selections based on the impact itll have on others watching instead of the impact itll have on their body! Most guys ignore tempos because relying on mechanical energy offers fools gold. Its a false sense of strength to feed our insecurities and our desire to stand out and be someone.

Listen, if your goal is to be the strongest guy in the gym, be

my guest, but once the loads become so heavy that you lose your awareness of what the muscles are doing dont be shocked when you experience poor results in terms of muscle growth. I have never been impressed when someone tells me how much they can lift because I have no idea what percentage of the lift is mechanical energy! Building muscle mass has to do more with the control of the speed than the load.

Dont believe me? Look around at some of the top bodybuilders in

Most guys ignore tempos because relying on mechanical energy offers

fools goals.


the world - rarely are they the strongest guys in the gym -so take that lesson to the bank!

So What Tempo Is Best?

It depends on your primary goals!

To summarize again:

Dominant Training Effect TUT

Speed and maximal strength = 1-20 seconds

Maximal strength and hypertrophy = 20-40 seconds

Hypertrophy and muscular endurance = 40-70 seconds

Now you know why you cant rely on rep ranges as an indication for the dominant training effect. For instance, training theory states that you should do 8-12 reps for hypertrophy but what if your 8-12 reps take less than 15 seconds because youre practically swinging the weights? Then youll experience gains in speed and maximal strength, but not hypertrophy. Your tempo must match the training effect youre seeking.

Ultimately, you must periodize all of the different speeds of movement as I prescribe in No Nonsense Muscle Building and Hypertrophy M.A.X. The real question is, Which tempo should I spend the variety of my time with? The answer is critical. This requires experimenting with different tempos to see where you respond best, and oftentimes the best tempo to start with is the one youre currently not doing. So if your workouts are constantly a series of exercises banging out reps with lots of mechanical energy, start slowing your movements down. If your current workouts use a tempo that is so slow and controlled that youre yawning, put some effort into the concentric portion. And always make sure the lowering portion is slower than the lifting portion. Changing this one variable will immediately increase muscle growth.

The single biggest mistake

that most beginners make is putting 100%

of their effort into the positive

(concentric) part of the rep,

while paying no attention to

the negative (eccentric) segment.

Dorian Yates


Honest Progress

Another, rarely discussed reason I love including tempos in my workouts is that it helps my clients measure honest progress. Lets say you increase your weights from one week to the next but youre not using a standard tempo. How do you know if youre actually getting stronger or just working harder? Heck, you could just be relying on more mechanical energy! Thats not honest progress.

You Dont Need A Metronome

Ive heard tempo criticized for being too complicated or too distracting... Are you kidding me? What else would you possibly be thinking about when youre working out? Its not like youre daydreaming while youre on a cardio machine. The entire purpose of tempo is to get you to concentrate on exactly what youre doing -- lifting! I will say, it takes a little getting used to, but keep in mind that the tempo is ultimately a guideline to better predict a specific training outcome. Just be conscious of the speed of movement youre trying to achieve with each portion of the rep.

Try This Tempo Today: 4121

Probably the most powerful muscle-building tempo in existence - 4 seconds to lower, 1 second pause, 2 seconds to lift, 1 second pause. No need to set up the metronome next to the bench. Tempos are guidelines that help you be aware of every component of the lift, which results in a stronger mind-muscle connection, safer workout and volcano grade-like burns! Get ready for some serious muscle building gains!

Conclusion

I cant stress this enough -- its not so much a matter of finding the perfect tempo. Instead, find out the most effective way to periodize the different tempos and where to spend the most time based on your primary goal. If youre interested in following one of my step-by-step programs to see how I periodize the tempo and other variables, grab a copy of No Nonsense Muscle Building today and dont miss out when we re-open Hypertrophy M.A.X. in the near future.



Overreliance On Supplements Lets be honest - Im just as guilty as the next guy who wishes his supplements were magical! In fact, I love supplements, especially when they come from companies that I trust like Blue Star, Bio Trust and Prograde. However, its critical to start off this article by saying there is absolutely no substitute for healthy eating.

If your muscle-building diet is screwed up, you can forget about any degree of muscular development, because supplements cant correct a bad diet regardless of how many supplements you take. Over the years Ive become a bigger and bigger believer in nutritional supplements, but dont assume this to imply that they should, or even could, take the place of a well-designed, healthy and balanced nutritional plan.

On the flip side of the coin, while its certainly possible to take great strides toward impressive muscular development, just like I first did when I started out (the only supplements I used when I gained over 40 pounds of muscle in my first six months of training were whey protein, creatine, a multivitamin/mineral and some fish oils), I doubt youll come close to realizing your full muscle-growth potential without the addition of high quality nutritional supplements.

Supplements make a 10%

difference in your results, assuming

you have your nutrition and

workout intensity dialed in

perfectly. Me


Below is a snapshot of one of my recently stocked supplement cupboards in my kitchen. I believe I have earned the right to expand my supplement regime for the reasons Ill explain next.

My Test - Do You Earn The Right To Take Supplements?

The gym I train at is full of young guys and Im often approached for supplement advice. Vince, whats the best pre workout? What kind of creatine should I take? Whats your favorite mass gainer? Think I should get this fat burner? Can you recommend a good test booster? I can answer all of these questions but I dont - unless they can answer my follow up questions.

How many calories are you consuming? What are your macros? How is your body responding?

If the person cant tell me their calories or macros, I dont give them an answer. Not because Im a jerk but because they have the cart before the horse. This means they have things backwards. They are focusing on dessert before the main course. Their priorities are mixed up. Intentional or not, they are relying too much on supplements rather than whole food.

That goes for you, too. Dont ask me any of these questions unless you can first tell me what your daily calories and macros are. If you cant, then you have not earned the right to even walk into a supplement store. Pick up a copy of No Nonsense Muscle Building to get yourself some done-for-you meal plans. Sorry this sounds harsh but its annoying to hear these guys complain and cry about not making gains when they spend more money on supplements than good quality food.

Beware of The Placebo Effect


Whenever a debate arises over the best nutritional supplements to consume, the placebo effect is bound to come into play. The placebo effect occurs when a certain supplement is taken and results in a positive effect that is simply conjured up by our own mind. For instance, (very low dose) sugar pills are often used in clinical research trials, given to subjects who have no clue of what they are. These pills have zero physiological or biochemical effect. However, people often report headaches, dizziness, nausea etc. from taking these pills! In short, our mind plays tricks on us. Its important to note that your level of intelligence, whether you flunked out of high school or have several Masters degrees, has nothing to do with it. Do not feel insulted if you have experienced the effects of the placebo effect even if you have years of schooling behind you. Its completely normal, and is no reflection of your intelligence

The Directed Placebo Effect

The Directed Placebo Effect is something we should all concern ourselves with when it comes to anything muscle and fitness related. This is a supercharged placebo effect that happens when we have an expectation of what the pill, powder or potion is supposed to do; we will be more inclined to believe that is has that effect. And an even more dangerous result of the directed placebo effect is when we want the particular effect to take place. This can result in an overreliance on supplements. Ever heard stories of guys who order fake anabolic steroids online and then immediately increase their bench press by 10 lbs? This physical effect is manifested by our desire to believe that something works - but dont think this is silly because again, this is a natural human trait.

In Defense Of The Placebo Effect

It needs to be said that the placebo effect is not necessarily a bad thing. Take our friend who increased his bench press by 10 lbs immediately after taking fake steroids. Despite the effect coming from his own mind, the positive benefits should not be dismissed. I know for a fact that certain supplements produced a short-term effect in terms of muscle growth or fat loss and I dont regret the investment for those reasons alone. However, most of us are after long-term changes that require biochemical changes, so its important to acknowledge the difference. Here is my cupboard of supplement

Food always was, still is and always

will be better than

supplements. Jason Ferruggia


powders I use all year round -- glycine, greens powder, protein powder, glutamine, creatine, electrolytes, carb powder and branch chain amino acids. Am I missing anything?

Another Reason We Over-Rely On Supplements

Unless youre a supplement sponsored athlete and getting boxes of supplements for free each month then youre paying for your own stuff with your hard earned money, which is another reason we want to believe our supplements may be magical. Unfortunately, this often makes us blind to scientific evidence and ideas that contradict our emotions and experience because we physically feel something, although it may be generated by our mind. The biggest reason I believe people over-rely on supplements is because of advertising. The advertising is so earth shattering that our initial tendency is to want to believe it and get excited. There is nothing wrong about getting excited as long as you maintain a healthy skepticism and follow my rules below.

My Rules For Relying On Supplements Intelligently and Strategically

There are a ton of products and ingredients on the market today to address specific facets of what the male and female bodybuilder is trying to achieve. Whatever your goal -- mass building, fat burning, recovery, pump enhancement, energy augmentation -- you can find a supplement to meet your needs. The more edgy products are touted as testosterone boosters, estrogen blockers, fat absorbers, anabolic steroid substitutes, and fat and carbohydrate blockers. Ive seen them all. Some are legit. Others are bull. Sorting through the choices and understanding which ones are right for you can be a scary and overwhelming task. Here are some tips on making smart supplement selections:

Milk is for babies. When

you grow up you must drink beer.

Arnold Schwarzenegger


1. Research ingredients, not products. Instead of getting caught up in specific supplement products, focus on educating yourself on the ingredients. Since supplement companies and products can come and go very quickly, by focusing on the underlying ingredients of a product, you can swipe away the hype and zero in on what youre actually taking and make a more logical decision. Like any purchase in life, it pays to be smart and do your homework and make sure the supplement is appropriate for your goals.

2. Wait for the product to be on the market for at least three or four years. If a certain ingredient has been been around for more than three or four years then its probably safe to say its worth looking at. Buying supplements because they are touted to be the next big thing is a decision based on emotion. If a supplement is still going strong in a few years then it has probably lived up to its claims. I do not endorse any ingredients to my readers if they dont meet this test.

3. Get your calories and macros in order first. Just like you cant out-train a bad diet, you cant out-supplement a lack of training effort (or no training effort)! That said, when your calories and macros and micros are in order, nutritional supplements are the next step to having you burn more fat, have more energy, recover faster, sleep better and build muscle faster.



Program Design BlundersFor the past 10 years Ive read more than a few thousand emails from trainees who are confused about why their program isnt working and Ive boiled it down to these five different categories. If Ive missed any be sure to add your input in the comments section below.

I need an ADVANCED program

Really? For novice lifters I have seen the most success by initially focusing on quality not quantity for the first 6-12 months of a lifters career, which is contrary to traditional bodybuilding workouts. Your first exposure to bodybuilding workouts were probably split routines that could be summarized as lower intensity and higher volume. The goal of those workouts is to do a lot of exercises and a lot of sets, then try to add more intensity to all of those sets. In my entry level program, No Nonsense Muscle Building, I take a reverse approach based on maintaining a higher intensity and lower volume, recognizing that initially a novice lifters work capacity will be very low. Then we increase the volume progressively, without sacrificing the intensity.

Everybody wants to be a

bodybuilder, but dont nobody

wanna lift no heavy ass

weights.Ronnie Coleman


In summary, the goal with my novice lifters is to teach them how to lift intensely with low volume and only add more volume if they can sustain the same intensity. Heres how this could look:

Year 1 - 1 Day Split (i.e. Full Body Workouts)

Year 2 - 2 Day Split




Heres how I define beginner, intermediate and advanced lifters, and this was taught to me when being mentored by Australian strength coach, Ian King:

Beginner - 1 year or less of consistent training

Intermediate - 2-4 years of consistent training

Advanced - 4+ years of consistent training

The problem is that EVERYONE thinks theyre advanced. Im always perplexed when novice lifters are following 4-day and 5-day splits when they have not yet exploited the benefits of a full body or 2-day split! Coming from a competitive long distance running background,


its like people who want to run a 42-km marathon but can barely run a decent 10k. Get faster at 10k before you think about running a slow 42k! Quality before quantity.

Novice lifters are always weaker, and the weaker the individual, the greater need for higher training frequency. So in cases of rehab or post-surgery, training frequencies are as high as six times a week and tolerated no problem. Females, because of their lower maximal strength initially, need greater training frequency to maximize training progress. My full body workouts in No Nonsense Muscle Building teach you how to train the same muscle group twice every five days before we transition you into greater volumes. It makes perfect sense and ignoring these principles will rob you of appreciable muscle gains. In fact, if you have been training for five or more years and not where you feel you should be it may be because youve skipped the beginner or intermediate phase and I would recommend going back to base one and start with full body routines as prescribed in the first six months of No Nonsense Muscle Building.

Winging It

Confession time - how many of you show up to the gym and just wing it? You have some sort of an idea of what you want to do but if I asked you to tell me exercise order, reps, sets, rest periods, tempos and whether or not this was a low, medium or high intensity week you would be left speechless. Hitting the gym without a workout plan is like going to university without a major. You hop from class to class aimlessly, waste lots of time and money and have nothing to show for it in the end. Its just as silly as trying to save money without looking at your bank statements!

Whats wrong with taking an instinctive training approach? I guess nothing if your time is not worth anything to you. Instinctive training should be reserved for times of the year you just wish to coast. In fact, the more advanced you become, the less likely an instinctive approach will work. Ill use the money analogy again. Most successful business owners find making their first 100 thousand per year or 1 million per year easy. But to get to 10 million a year and above, it requires a completely different approach and way of thinking. In bodybuilding, youll find that what you do to build the first 40 pounds of muscle on your body is very different than what

Everyone wants to excel.

But few are willing to make the sacrifices

that excellence requires.

Joe Friel


you do to build the final 10 pounds of muscle on your body. Principles are similar, but details are different.

The best decision you can make today is to start following a plan. One of the reasons a cookie cutter routine might still produce results is because it eliminates the guesswork for an individual and provides a step-by-step plan. Look around your gym today and I guarantee youll notice that the men and women producing the most impressive results are following some sort of plan. I have lots of them here if you need a new one.

Paralysis by Analysis Syndrome

These guys are the complete opposite of the guys who wing it. These guys design 72 weeks of meso-cycles using the most cutting-edge periodization principles (only reserved for Olympic caliber athletes), only to rewrite a completely different 72 weeks of meso-cycles two weeks later! These guys get their programs reviewed by a dozen different gurus before they even consider tying up their running shoes. I love these guys from the bottom of my heart but it goes without saying - it doesnt matter how well designed your program is if you dont follow it!

A program is only as good as the individual following it. I could give two people the identical program and one could go on and get their WBFF Pro Card with it while another dude double checks


all my scientific references for a month before starting! The bottom line is that a program doesnt work by itself ; you must make the program work with good old fashioned hard work, discipline and consistency. Now, on the flip side of the coin, there are programs out there that are just poorly designed...

Poor Program Design

This is a reason people pay me to design programs. Aside from having a university degree in Honors Kinesiology and 10 years of hands-on experience with clients, Ive also been mentored by Australian Strength Coach Ian King and world-famous strength coach Charles Poliquin through his P.I.C.P Level 1 and Level 2 certifications, and have closely studied the the top strength coaches in the industry. The biggest problem I see with programs is too much variety and change. The trend has swung from not enough variety to too much variety.

I believe that too much variety kills results and damages continuity. A poorly designed program has no continuity through the various phases. There is no common thread from phase to phase, so the size and strength gains dont continue from phase to phase. As an example, if you look at my programs, youll notice that we use similar exercises from phase to phase and some subtle variations. They provide a continuity and allow us to see gains in strength and size in these particular exercises. If you are following a program that lacks continuity from phase to phase than youll stall your progress quickly.

If you want access to the most advanced 12 months of periodized

programming then be sure to join

Hypertrophy M.A.X. when it re-opens.


The goal of a well-designed program is to not use the methods that are best but to skillfully use all the best methods in a progressive and cyclical manner. Remember, there are still upsides and downsides to all the best methods and the key is knowing how to organize all the methods into a plan that maximizes the upsides and minimizes the downsides.

For instance, youve probably heard to never train small muscle groups before large muscle groups because you wont be able to overload the bigger muscles optimally if the smaller stabilizing muscles fatigue first. Makes sense, right? However, does it make sense to always put a smaller muscle group at the end of a workout if its a weak link? No. One aspect of a well-designed program will ensure you give all muscle groups opportunity to train at the start of a workout so you dont develop visual or strength imbalances in the long term. If you want access to the most advanced 12 months of periodized programming then be sure to join Hypertrophy M.A.X. when it re-opens. Click here to join the waiting list. Our users tell us its by far the most bad-ass muscle building program in existence!

The best workout is

the one that you follow.

Unknown



No Mentor(s)There is a way to get what you want in a shorter period of time: Find a successful mentor who has already achieved what you want. A common theme among people who are successful with something, whether they have a booming business, have deep and connected relationships, or have a jaw-dropping body, is not luck. Its because they followed a set of principles and strategies, and those principles and strategies worked. You dont need to reinvent the wheel to find a way to succeed. Throughout my entire life I have surrounded myself with successful people.

I have always sought out mentors I respect and whose advice I want to absorb. Not all of my mentors have been famous or ultra successful - most of them are just regular people who have achieved extraordinary success in the area I want to grow in.

In university, I had a spiritual mentor, Bill Underwood, who was the director of a Christian campus ministry called Athletes In Action and I sought him out to make wise decisions and hold me accountable. I didnt escape university without making small mistakes, but I did make it out of university without making any big ones. I contribute that to my spiritual mentor.

When I entered the fitness industry, I had two business mentors to guide my career as a personal trainer. Jeff Russo and Murray Middlemost taught me all the ins and outs of selling personal training at my gym. They helped me become so confident in my position that I worked on straight commission. I broke club sales records. I grew training departments from a few trainers to over a dozen trainers. I ended up becoming a mentor to my own staff after six years.

When I started my online fitness business I didnt have a clue, so I hired another mentor, Sandro Salsi, to teach me

Better than a thousand days of diligent study is

one day with a great teacher.

Japanese Proverb

The great Charles Poliquin and I at his Hypertrophy Bootcamp


the ABCs of the internet marketing world. He taught me how to identify my market, how to build a website, how to create my first e-book, how to get traffic to my website and much, much more. As my online business grew I hired new coaches - Eben Pagan, Yanik Silver, Craig Ballantyne, Bedros Keuillian and Dean Jackson. These guys identified my main challenges and gave me single steps to focus on each day.

In fitness Ive studied under Ian King, Charles Poliquin, Dr. John Berardi and the late Peter Chiasson -- whom I consider my four most influential mentors. Hands on, Ive worked with IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Ben Pakulski and literally transformed my body in less than 12 months working under his expertise.

With my mentors and coaches, I avoided asking for too much information. I avoided asking generic questions. For instance, if you want to improve your body, dont ask your mentor/coach, How do I build more muscle? Instead, simply ask, What are three action steps I can take today to improve my muscularity? Then walk the talk.

Dont ask your mentor to prove everything before taking action. You dont employ a mentor/coach to do the research for you. You employ a mentor/coach to access their depth of experience and wisdom. Its your job to take action and learn from getting it done.

Tips On Mentoring

1. Know your goal. Do you want to get shredded for a show? Bulk up to 230 pounds? Increase your bench press 50 pounds? Once you identify your goal, find someone who has achieved that goal themselves and has helped others do the same.

2. What kind of mentor do you need? Bill Underwood met me once a week on the third floor of UCC campus. Jeff Russo visited my gym once a month. Eben Pagan held 3-day events a few times a year on the other side of the country. Sandro Salsi met me on the phone once a week for six months. For years, the only fitness information I read was from Dr. John Berardi, Ian King and Charles Poliquin. I didnt hire them but I read their articles and work like youre reading my work right now. Today, Ive taken many of their courses and certifications but at first, it was a free mentorship. Ben Pakulski allowed me to text him every day with questions, and he cost me an arm and a leg! Mentors can meet you on your terms -- some of

A lot of people have

gone further than they

thought they could because someone else thought they

could. Unknown


them will be free, some of them will require you to take out a second mortgage.

3. Ensure your mentor has experience. In the fitness world, its pretty easy to become an overnight expert. Take your shirt off, show your abs and start a YouTube channel and youre in business. Its one thing to help yourself and its a whole other thing to help others. If your prospective mentor doesnt have a track-record of success like this, then move on.

People seldom improve when

they have no other model but

themselves to copy.

Oliver Goldsmith


Now What?Now that weve gone into depth about the 10 mistakes kissing your muscle gains good-bye, I think you realize that your problem is not a lack of information but perhaps too much information! You do not need to subscribe to any more YouTube channels or LIKE any more fan pages or sign up for any more newsletters. In fact, that route might make matters worse.

If youre not like me, an individual who makes his living writing workout and nutrition programs, then there is no need to spend hours a week burying yourself in this stuff. You should be outside living your life, building your career, going to the movies, dating people, improving your relationships, learning a new language, taking salsa dancing with your girlfriend or boyfriend and traveling to cool places. You dont need to know all the science, biomechanics, anatomy and physiology to get results -- you just need to know what to do today.

You simply need someone to help you focus on your next step and thats where I come in.

I assume you dont drill your own teeth?

I assume you dont fix your own car?

I assume you dont represent yourself in court?

I assume you dont teach yourself how to ski?

Heck, today, I dont even cut my own grass or shovel my own driveway in the winter. I outsource almost everything in my life to the experts. Mark Burnett isnt holding a camera when hes filming a new reality TV series. He hires a team to do that.

So why in the world would you try to design your own workout program and teach yourself how to lift and how to eat? Unless this is your livelihood, outsource your fitness to a coach who can eliminate all the thought for you!

Its simply your job to execute, execute and execute!

When I first started lifting in May of 2002, I was blessed to meet a natural level bodybuilder at my church of all places and I asked him


to be my mentor. I knew virtually nothing about building muscle but in exactly 24 weeks, I transformed my scrawny body from a wimpy 149 pounds to a solid 190 pounds. I simply put my trust in my mentor and did exactly what he told me. They were the easiest and fastest gains of my life.

Ever since then Ive been helping average guys and gals copy my results and they too are experiencing the easiest and fastest muscle gains of their lives and are leaving their friends in the dust.

The most important decisions you can make today are:

1. Find a coach (i.e. moi)!

2. Follow one of my professionally designed programs.

3. Surround yourself with like-minded people.

4. Develop a laser-like focus one day at a time.

My No Nonsense Muscle Building program has worked for thousands of skinny guys (and gals) as you can see showcased in just a few of the pictures below, and it will work for you too.

Stop subscribing to 14 different YouTube channels, following 57 different Fan Pages and subscribing to 29 different blogs that only confuse, complicate and contradict each other. Instead, put your trust in one coach, follow one program and go to one guy when you have questions.

When you cut the BS, keep it simple and keep it focused, youll dominate!

I look forward to meeting you on the inside,

Vince Del Monte

Honors Kinesiology DegreeP.I.C.P. Level 1 & 2 Precision Nutrition Certification WBFF Pro Fitness Model

Click here to join the Live Large TV & Get All My Advanced Secrets

Living the dream with our ladies!


Before & After

Tony GreGoryGahanna, Ohio

AmiT SidhwAniMumbai

STATon AkAnA Lindon, Utah

Packed On 50 Pounds of MUSCLE!

The Best Shape I Have Ever Been In!

My Self-Esteem Shot Through The Roof!

Gained 17 Pounds Of Muscle

Your Full Body Routine Is Simple Amazing!

Lost 22 Pounds Of Fat

Got My Life Back at 53 Years Old

Andy Notices Veins And Cuts He's Never Seen Before!

Gains 30 Pounds Of Solid Muscle

ChriSTiAn roSenVoLdCopenhagen, Denmark

dAnieL erneSTo Gomez ChAmAVeracruz, Mexico

BoriSLAV hriSToVBulgaria

Tom BoddCreston, British Columbia

Andy SpruiLL

ezrA VAn den BoSCh Waddinxveen Netherlands

CLICK HERE To Ready Their Success Stories

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Gino AquinoTrinity Beach, QLD, Australia

Joo pAuLo GASpAr dA SiLVA Brazil

Ben GouwenS IN, USA

Anything Can Be Physically Achieved

Now Quickly Noticed By Women

He Gains 10 Pounds Of Muscle!

Gave "One Hundred And Ten Percent"

"Commitment is key!"

Joe Lost 25 Pounds

Josh Lost 7% Body Fat

Packs On 47 Pounds Of Size!

Added Nearly 20 Pounds Of Muscle

AnThony CiCCoTToLong Island, New York

BernArdo pinhoPortugal

Joey VAiLLAnCourTGatineau, Quebec

JoSh proBerTSWamsutter, Wyoming Columbia

niCk LofTonKaty, Texas

JoCk purTLe NSW, Australia


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iVAn mendezAkureyri, Iceland

SondrA ST-AmAndVernon, British Columbia

derek CuTSinGer Daegu, South Korea

Maan...you look so muscular!

40 Year Old Mother, Loses 18 Inches

Building Muscle The Chicks Dig!

Pain is only temporary

Went From Skinny-Fat To Lean, Toned And Sexy!

The Work Is It's Own Reward!

Stayed On Track and Took Action

"I Wanted To Be Someone Instead Of Being A Little Skinny Push Over"

Packed On 10 Pounds Of Muscle

miChAeL dAhLBC, Canada

meGAn keLLyMA, USA

pAuL mASineLLi

peTe LuCkrAfT

BiLL rAnChmen Louisiana, USA

mATT BeukeLmAn Mitchell, South Dakota


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