The Olympic lift -or clean and jerk to you and me – is the most effective exercise for a full body workout. It uses 8 different body parts,

If you’re wondering what a ‘clean and jerk’ is, start with the bar on the floor, palms on top. Lift it to your shoulders. Then above your head.

But it’s not just the 8 body parts is gets pumping hard – here’s the biggie:

It increases testosterone levels by as much as 51%. So every rep is helping you bulk in two ways. Not only is it a great compound exercise to give you bulk – testosterone is the bad boy of muscle building. Without it, you won’t get big.

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Don’t be thinking you’ll just live off protein to grow big. It doesn’t work like that.

When you train, you want to train ‘all out’. Give everything you’ve got. But the trouble is, when you’re feeling tired, you can’t do that.

And when you’re feeling really tired – you’re luck if you get yourself in to the gym.

So make sure half your calories come from carbs, you’ll feel a lot more energetic.

But here’s the biggie: low carb diets give you high resting cortisol levels (have a look at my earlier posts on that). All you need to know is that’s not good for packing on muscle.

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Three simple ways to keep your hard earned muscle:

1. Eat something every 3 hours.

Go without food for more than 3 hours and your body starts to look for ways other ways to fuel it – it does this by using your hard earned muscle for food. Not good. Eat as often as possible. And it’s why they next tips has made this list.

2. Eat protein before you go to bed.

Say you go to bed at 11pm and get up at 7am. That’s eight hours without food, which puts you firmly in the ‘burn some muscle for food’ camp when it comes to fuelling your body. Eat some protein before you hit the sheets and then you reduce that muscle eating window to 5 hours.

It’s also why if you’re really serious, take a protein shake to bed – that way, if you wake up for any reason, you can have a quick sup and avoid any muscle breakdown.

3. Make sure one snack is an ice cream.

Ice cream is never a bad snack to have if you’re trying to gain weight anyhow, but it also triggers a good surge of insulin which delays post-workout protein breakdown.

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Just like fat people who diet, the most gains are right at the beginning: putting on muscle at first is pretty quick (especially if you load with creatine – have a look in my earlier post about it)

But if you are are a couple of months in to your program, you’ll build the most muscle quickest by focusing on the large muscle groups: chest, back, and legs.

So make sure your routine includes squats, deadlifts, pullups, bent-over rows, bench presses, dips, and military presses.

Load the weights so you can just – just – do 3 x 7 reps.

That last rep should be a monumental struggle for maximum muscle growth.

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If you’re sore and stiff after a workout – well done. You’re doing everything right. Stressing and tearing the muscles ‘tells’ them to get bigger as right now, they’re not up to the job.

But on one hand, you know you’re training hard, on the other, feeling sore isn’t pleasant, and key to muscle growth is your muscles being able to rest and ‘repair’ themselves.

Here’s 4 tips that will speed up your recovery:

1. Stretching. Make sure you stretch off before and after your workout, to prevent – or alleviate – muscle spasm.

2. Soak in a hot bath, jacuzzi or sauna. Heat helps muscle relax.

3. Rest. Might sound boring and obvious. But if you work your muscles before they’ve had sufficient rest, guess what? They aint gonna grow…

4. Fuel your muscles back up with a post workout protein and carbo drink. Glutamine also helps speed up recovery.

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If you’re skinny, you are probably conscious of that ‘pencil’ physique – or shape.

Compound exercises solve that problem – and quicker than you’d think, too. But there’s one that’s always overlooked.

Sure everyone wants big shoulders, chest and arms.

But if you’re naturally skinny and you’re going for shape, don’t forget your glutes.

Your glutes give shape to your butt. And to exercise them, you have to work on your legs too, so it’s win, win.

The gluteus muscle is worked during several core leg exercises which need hip flexing and leg extending. So, squats, deadlifts and lunges and leg presses will all hit the spot.

Ending with walking lunges will set the burn in too. Hard work, but that’s what it’ll take to lose that pencil shape.

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Here’s the thing – doesn’t matter what program you buy in to, all the plans that build muscle fast have a disclaimer at the bottom, along the lines of this:

Results are not typical.

There’s two problems here. Firstly, they have to put this in, because frankly, it’s the truth – but that’s because of the second problem: most people.

The truth is, results are not typical because 99% of the people who buy in to a plan, start off with all the good will in the world, but two weeks later… well, it’s gone.

So of course results are not typical. It’s not the plan. It’s the person.

So make yourself a promise. Put together, or buy a plan, you know you can stick to. A plan that’s doable for 6 months will get you far more results than one you follow for a month or so, then give up on.

It sounds childishly simple – but that’s the truth of it. If you only stress your muscles twice a week for 6 months, you’ll bulk up more than 4 short weeks of effort that comes to nothing.

And of course, eating the right stuff over 6 months will make a massive difference too. I know I keep saying it, and it’s not as cool as working out, but eating right and training wrong will get you better results than training right and eating wrong.

Course, if you can eat right and train right, that’s when people start to take notice of your new physique.

So be realistic with your goals.

If you can stick to a plan, 2 pounds of muscle gain a week is reasonable to begin with.

But if the first few weeks kills you – ease off and play the long game. Don’t be on the wrong side of very real statistics: results are not typical.

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Going from skinny to muscle packed doesn’t happen overnight.

And it’s never going to happen unless you keep your testosterone levels high. Testosterone is the bad buy of muscle building – it’s what gives you bulk.

But what’s that got to do with seeded bread? Lots: seeds are rich in zinc, a mineral which increased your levels of libido boosting testosterone.

Tastes nicer than oysters too.

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You know I keep harping on about it’s better to eat right and train wrong, than train right and eat wrong?

Well check this out:

The best food ratio to be on full charge for a workout is a ration of 40:40:20 (carbs, protein, healthy fats).

It’s also the most effective ratio to prep your body for the hormonal changes that come with a great workout. So nosh a meal of this ratio 2 hours before you hit the gym.

Quaff a protein shake 90 minutes before with BCAAs (branch chain amino acids) to fire up your bulk building hormone, testosterone.

Testostorone is your best friend when it comes to bulking up – you won’t get big without it.

And doing all of the above will make you less skinny anyhow, so what have you got to lose?

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Keep coming across this article so thought it worth publishing.

I keep banging on about diet being more important than exercise to go from skinny to muscle: It’s better to train wrong and eat right, than eat wrong and train right.

But there seems to be an exception.

Eating dark chocolate a few hours before a workout can boost performance by as much as 50%. And when you’re trying to build muscle quickly – that 50% can make a massive difference. The more strain you put on your muscles, the more they will respond by getting bigger.

And if you’re skinny, a chocolate bar before gym session isn’t going to be a bad thing, is it?

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