Training Intensity

Q Everything that I've read says that training intensity is the bottom line. I train harder than anyone in the gym. I'm careful not to overtrain by training each bodypart just once per week. Here's my schedule: Monday: Chest, Tuesday: Back, Thursday: Legs, Friday: Shoulders, Saturday: Arms. I take Wednesday and Sunday off.
    Each set after warm up is taken to positive failure. I'll often do forced reps on my last set of each exercise. Here's my problem - I've been stuck at 225 pounds on the bench press for three months, I've made no improvements in size or strength anywhere except legs. I don't think I can train any harder. Help!

A Intensity is a part of the bodybuilding equation, but certainly not the only, or even most important variable. Simply training harder is rarely the answer. I learned this the hard way. When Nautilus equipment first came on the scene I was part of a field study group. Our mission was to see just how hard we could train a particular exercise. With each set under supervision we'd train to positive failure, then do forced reps, then negative failure. (These sets made everyone involved physically sick!) As each week passed, our ability to withstand pain increased and we'd take each set a little farther into the ultra-intensity zone. At the end of the study I learned that the only progress I had made was the ability to train harder without puking. Although I was able to use a little more weight on the exercises we trained for a given number of reps, my actual muscle size decreased and my strength on other exercises declined!

  Instead of making a big deal of training intensity, focus instead on slowly and steadily increasing training poundages with consistently good form. You do not have to go to failure each set. However, somewhere in your series of sets for a particular exercise you should strive to add one additional rep to a set or five pounds to the bar for the same number of reps.

  We at BodyMuscle believe in continuous incremental improvement from a routine or exercise. The idea is to "coax" the body into growth. Think in terms of adding an ounce of muscle at every training session. Four sessions per week over 52 weeks will results in a little more than a pound a month, that's thirteen pounds of muscle in a year!

  But proper training intensity is just one part of the formula for muscle size and strength. There are other support factors that are just as important. Very simply, in order to grow, a muscle must be stimulated to grow through exercise, given an abundance of nutrients from food and supplements to make certain that everything required to synthesize muscle tissue is available, and enough rest to allow the process to take place.

Ultra Size Versus Muscle Provider

Q I can afford only one so what's the difference between Ultra Size and Muscle Provider?

A Lamborghini or Ferrari? They're both better than anything else on the road. Ultra Size is really a food (or MRP) and Muscle Provider is really a supplemental protein. There's no difference in the results, only in the ratio of macronutrients.

    Muscle Provider has an extremely high level of medical-grade whey hydrolysates (predigested), whey isolates, and egg white. Half of Provider's amino acid profile consists of the eight Essential Amino Acids and more than half the essentials comes from critically-important Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs). Muscle Provider has no added fats or carbs, so it's extremely versatile and allows you to add protein to any meal, food, shake or even in-between meals when you want a surplus of nitrogen. Muscle Provider is absorbed quicker than Ultra Size, so if fast nitrogen uptake, (such as is required post-workout) is what you are after, then Muscle Provider may be your best choice. But we have thousands of athletes that use Ultra Size as their postworkout drink and they gain pound after pound of muscle too. Anytime you need protein, essential amino acids, and BCAAs without any added carbs or fat, then use Muscle Provider, especially within eight weeks of a contest, wedding, class reunion etc. The low calorie content and super-high BCAA content of Provider is very conducive to rapid fat loss. Client after client raves about the taste of Muscle Provider too. The vanilla-flavor is usually compared in flavor and smell to cake mix and the chocolate has a deep cocoa flavor similar to Nestle's Quick.

    Ultra Size is a slower release blend of protein that is comprised of milk isolates, whey, egg, and beef. It has complex carbs and healthful fats added to make it perform and digest like a whole food. Ultra Size is 50% Protein, 30% Fats, and 20% Carb. PERFECT to build muscle and shed fat at the SAME time. Ultra Size has a rich creamy taste and texture for both flavors and I think we've encountered just three people in 2.5 years that haven't loved the taste. And because Ultra Size is a whole food, it can be used in cooking very easily.