Four essential things you need to have down to build muscle

[martin2min]

Many people make the mistake of thinking that training is the most important part of achieving their dream physique. These are 4 huge ideas, and they are just as important for you as weightlifting.

1) Nutrition
Nutrition is an often overlooked aspect of training. However, if you plan to make gains in muscle mass, strength, as well as conditioning, practicing good nutrition is essential. Nutrition is essential to providing your body with the materials it needs to build your body. This does not mean that you cannot have a bowl of cheerios at all; it just means you have to eat healthy and eat smart. It all comes down to whether you would rather excel at your sport or have that McDonalds burger.
The only way to set up a good nutritional plan is to know the fundamental ideas behind it. An excellent guide is Vincent Delmonte?s Fitness Guide which can be found at http://martin2min.nononsense.hop.**************.

Post Workout:
One thing which cannot be stressed enough is your post workout meal. This is essential to building quality muscle. Best is a protein shake right at the gym, the sooner the better. However, any high protein foods will do as well.

Food and beverage:
Since I have a very fast metabolism, I can only talk about what works for hard gainers. It all comes down to two rules:
1) You need to consume more calories than you use up to gain weight
2) Not all foods are created equal
It is very hard for me to gain weight because of school, constant exercise and because of my genetics. I never counted my intake, I just made sure I ate at least every 2 hours, at least 2 protein shakes, at least 6 eggs, at least 4 meals of chicken and carbs and at least 2 cans of tuna a day. It is also important to slowly increase your food intake as you go on. Also make sure to eat a balanced diet (which I sometimes forget) and also include cheat meals at least once a week. Basically you need Carbs, Protein and Fat.
Make sure to drink as much water as you can. This does not mean to drink a lot of water at a time. Instead, keep a water bottle with you at all times throughout the day.
Once again, I am not an expert on nutrition, I just learned what is best for my body through trial and error.

Supplements:
The only two supplements I use are Whey Protein powder and vitamins. There are thousands of other supplements but I have seriously not found any use for those. Sticking with these two is your best bet. You don?t really need Whey Protein, but it makes things a whole lot easier and it is a very fast way to get 25 grams of protein. One trick I have found, is to never have a meal and protein shake. I used have meals every 2 hours which included a protein shake. However, since your body can only handle about 30 grams of protein at a time, it is much more efficient to have a meal every two hours, and in between these meals have a quick protein shake. This gives the body an optimum amount of protein at a time.
An amazing multivitamin is the Animal Pak. My whey protein of choice is EAS Whey Protein. In addition you should keep a stock of protein bars so whenever you feel like you might be in a time crunch you can have a back up in your bag.

Creatine:
Creatine is a widely used supplement and it works by dragging water into your muscles. I tried it for about a week and it left such a bad feeling in my stomach that my intensity in basketball and in the weight room dropped. In addition I started to develop fairly bad acne. I decided that it was not worth it. However, if you take it and find that it helps you without the side effects than it is a good supplement.

2) Rest
Minimal 7 hours of sleep every day. No exceptions. No excuses. This was a challenge for me as in high school there are just so many things to do every day. It comes down to setting your priorities straight. If a game was on TV at 2 AM, I made sure to sleep at least till 12 the next morning. Sleep is important to regenerate your body and avoid injuries. I learned this the hard way when as a junior I had a week of studying for exams where I got minimal sleep. Then I had practice one morning and severely tore my MCL (medial collateral ligament) in my knee which put me out for 6 months. Getting enough sleep will increase your gains as well as allow you to remain injury free.

3) Motivation
In order to stay motivated and training in the long term, you have to enjoy what you do. You have to enjoy the work you will have to put in, because even though right now you may say you can endure anything, when you are on your 10th suicide you will think differently. Set goals. Ones that will require pushing yourself, but will still be attainable. You have to believe that what you are doing will pay off.
If you feel like your motivation in the weight room is dropping, take a week off. You might be overtraining and lead your self down a path of injuries.
Also if you think you could benefit from an energy boost, try BSN No-Xplode. It is a great supplement to give you a boost of energy for your workouts. I tried it a couple times and it was amazing. You cannot go wrong with a supplement Ronnie Coleman is fond of.

4) Planning and Logging
All of the aforementioned principles are extremely important; however, this last one might just be the most important one of all. I started fully logging my results in my senior year, and my results both on the court and in the weight room sky rocketed.
Planning: You have to have a plan in order to make sure you can fully be ready for basketball. There are so many aspects to basketball that there is no way anyone can organize in their mind everything they have to do. PLAN OUT IN WRITING. I like the weekly plan, where I set what I have to do each day to make sure I am able to work on everything.
Logging: This is what will make you improve. The mistake a lot of people make is that they go into the weight room and do the same workout. It may feel tough, and you may get sore every time, but you aren?t a whole lot stronger after 3 weeks of the same workout. Think about it, if you ran a 6 minute mile one week, and then ran it again the next week, did you really do anything the second time. WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING. When I go to the gym, I carry my training notebook with all the drills, and log what weight and how many reps. Same with time for quickness drills, dribbling drills and running. Then the next workout you can see that you ran a 6 minute mile last week, therefore you have to run it faster this week. Whatever improvement is good improvement, even if it is by one second. Remember, to get better in the long run, you have to try to get better every day.
If you build your lifestyle on these four ?pillars of fitness?, then you will be on your way to achieving your goal.

This excerpt came from http://web.mac.com/playcollegeballnow

[Teledin]

Good post bro. I would personally add in using fish oil and/or flaxseed oil as a supplement too.

[ChrisWBell]

Great post man, a lot of people here need to read that

[765]

how about this?

1. dedication

2. consistency

3. a good routine

4. a decent diet

[awberke]

I don't understand how you can justify 2 dollars a day for a multivitamin. How do you know its amazing?

[martin2min]

how about this?

1. dedication

2. consistency

3. a good routine

4. a decent diet

Dedication and consistency fall under motivation

On the other hand, a "decent diet"?
Decent diet gets you nowhere, u need to have a great diet, it is the most imporrtant part.

[Davidthefat]

And balls