This thread is going to be like no other yet.I will be discussing,conversing and informing people on how to build clean and fresh muscles "naturally" meaning muscles devoid of drugs(steroids,human growth hormone,fat-burner),supplements,creatine-powder e.t.c.
I will show you the natural and african way of developing "PRISTINE MUSCLES" through diet(nutrition) and weight-training.

I dey wait o!

I have seen so many people making countless mistakes while attempting to build that muscles.
To start with there are some vital factors to consider before one embarks on a journey of muscle-building.

Do go on

suckerpunch: I dey wait o!

My brother, this is not one of those thread that gives "quick" fixes.I am going to take it bit by bit.
So you will have to exercise patience.

Hmm

Before i proceed on listing the factors, i am going to be informing you on the top muscle-building myths you have been made to believe.

THE MORE YOU WORK OUT THE MORE MUSCLE-MASS YOU AMASS.
When i began training seven years ago,i was made to believe working-out more like everyday of the week would make me look like Arnold.But i was very wrong because i discovered that my sets and reps began to diminish with each passing day of the week.What do i mean? Okay lets assume i do a barbell curl of 3 sets with 60 reps each on amonday, i will discover that i am only able to do 2 sets of 60 reps and a wobbly set of 20 forced reps the next day and my sets and reps kept on diminishing.Mind you my muscles will be sore and painful why doing my work-outs.

I even noticed my muscle shrinking despite my working-out everyday. I kept on making this same mistakes until i stumbled upon a very vital article on muscle-building and a new dawn began in my muscle-building campaign.
MUSCLES like every other tissues in the body need to rest.When training or working-out those muscles in the gym you are in fact tearing them apart, more like the muscles undergoing some mini destruction. It is during rest i.e outside the gym that the muscles actually grows.
And the muscles take at least 3-4 days to regain its maximum strength.So a gym-rat that trains everyday is in fact actually killing those muscles.
The muscles need rest to grow . Training 3 days in a week is preferable.

IF YOU STOP WORKING-OUT YOUR MUSCLE WILL TURN INTO FAT.

wow

That is a lie from the pit of "SCRAWNINESS" if there is any word like that.
I know most people won't agree with me on this but it is the truth.
When i was younger i remembered a particular man in my hood,he was hefty and muscle-bound,with those fear-some biceps,huge quadriceps and those ripped- out abs.This man was practically nicknamed "warrior".Early this year i saw him at a social function and i was shocked to my muscles, warrior had become "fat" with his protruding belly. What happened to his muscles?
The answer that came to my mind was that the muscles warrior had amassed through the years of dedicated work-outs had turned into fat.

Folks,i am sorry for not updating the thread.It was something beyond my control.I don't know why i got ban from this section.
Well i am back again.

But i was pretty wrong. Warrior's muscles did not turn to fat, they only shrank.Muscles are made up of individual cells(myocytes) that undergo all kinds of complex metabolic processes while on the other hand fat cells otherwise known as adipocytes are simply storage packets of triacylglycerols.
So for one to say muscles when not utilized turn to fats,is like saying yam can become cassava.It practically impossible for muscles to turn to fats and vice-versa.
When an individual stops training(working-out) and don't apply resisitance to the muscles, the muscles simply adapt to the new stress-free condition and undergo shrinkage.This shrinkage can be very much accelerated if the individual in question is physically inactive(sedentary) and do not maintain a healthy balanced diet.
Well as for me, i have being able to navigate my way through this especially when i travel a long distance away from home.Since i do not travel with my free-weights(dumb-bells),i engage in resistance exercises using my body-weight.Push-ups,pull-ups,sit-ups,millitary presses,chair-dips,suspension are amongst the resistance exercises i engage in.

Myth number 3
IF YOU DO COUNTLESS NUMBER OF SIT-UPS IN A DAY,YOU WILL EVENTUALLY ACHIEVE A WELL-RIPPED OUT ABS.
This is another fallacy from God knows where.
When i started training, i noticed my muscles were undergoing tremendous transformation but when i looked at my stomach,i would hiss.Reason being that they looked quite bloated.Although at that time i was not paying much attention to my abs.
I told some of my colleagues about my plight and they told me to be doing multiple numbers of sit-ups daily.I took their advice but it was as if i was flogging a "dead horse". I did not notice any change in my abs. Then i went online did some researches. All i saw were do sit-ups/abs-crunches.
But one article caught my fancy. It was as if kratos wanted me to have that much desired ripped mid-section.
I devoured the article like a mad-man eating bread and bean-cakes.

Enough of my life history.
Although doing thousands and thousands will give you tight abdominal muscles they will do nothing to remove that layer of abdominal fat covering the muscles.
For the abs to become visible, the fat must give way.So in my case i was developing my abdominal muscles but they were not visible because of those stubborn layer of bodyfat covering the abs.
For one to get rid of those bodyfat(abdominal-fat), there must be a reduction in body-weight. This is achieved by a reduction in one's daily energy intake. Now what do i mean by this. You must burn/expend more calories than you ingest. In other words you must be physically active. A three square meal could be spread out into six/seven small meals so that the body gets its required nutrients from a meal at a time without accumulating fat unlike when one eats a large plate filled with rice and meat. The body would simply store the excess as fat.
Never forget to incorporate proteins and fibres(vegetables) into your meals because they fill up the stomach pretty well without making you to fill hungry for a considerable amount of time

MYTH NUMBER 4
WEIGHT-TRAINING MAKES YOU BIG WHILE AEROBIC EXERCISE CUTS YOU UP.
Well this myth might have had a minute element of truth in time past but now i know better.

Weight-training can make one look big and at the same time make you look ripped(cut). But this requires a cautious manipulation of one's nutrient intake.It is very easy for a conventional body-builder to gain body-fat alongside the much desired muscles,reason being that weight-training burns more calories and thus the tendency and temptation to "overeat" is always there.And like i earlier said, eating large portions of a meal at a time over a long period of time would cause accumulation of body-fat.
To be ripped out, there must be net negative energy balance meaning daily caloric expenditure must exceed daily caloric intake while still training.
On the other hand aerobic exercise is generally used to improve cardiovascular efficiency i.e your heart and its blood vessels would be in top shape.
But aerobics if done long enough will burn up calories and in the long run there would be a drop in body-fat and thus you become ripped. However weight-lifting is a much more efficient way. Do you know that muscles burn calories when you are not training? I for one eat more on the days when i train than on the days when i don't.
MUSCLE IS SUCH A BIOLOGICAL FAT BURNER.

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Happy independence folks.
To be muscularly ripped is not impossible.

At last i will be dropping the last muscle-building myth for now.
MYTH NUMBER 5
THE LONGER YOU WORK OUT THE BETTER.

Looking at the myth from a far distance, you might be tempted to believe it but i can make bold to say it is just another adulterated lie.
When i go to some gyms i will be hearing funny statements like "wow i just did a bench press of 100 reps per set" and when i look at the person making such statement, he just looks worse than "sh..its"(body-building language meaning not in top shape).
I could not blame him because he was not properly informed.

Read with rapt attention.
When training always endeavour to make use of many muscle fibres as much as possible and always train to MUSCULAR FAILURE You know dat "freezing up" feeling you experience accompanied by that stinging pain which is as a result of lactic-acid build-up. This just mean you are doing something right.
And this cannot be achieved by doing multiple number of sets and reps.
My work-out session has never lasted more than an hour and my physique is a living testimony to this. Always endeavour to assume proper form i.e posture and also carry weights that will allow you to do at least 20 reps using the proper form.
Just imagine a guy doing standing barbell curls using a barbell loaded with more plates on the right side than the left, definitely he cannot assume a good form and thus any curl he does would have no effect or his right biceps would be more developed than the left biceps which will make him have poor symmetry.
Always make every rep count.
When i am training with the bar-bells(benchpress), i do it with intensity,strong-will and i give myself short rest periods by locking out my weight-bearing joint i.e i will suspend my hands up with the bar-bells while still on the bench and rest for less than 2 mins and proceed to another set without putting the bar-bell down. With this method one can surpass his/her normal pain and energy thresholds.

Now to have that much desired PRISTINE MUSCLE, there are some factors to put into consideration.
I am going to start off with GENETICS.

The saying that "we are what our parents look like" has some elements of truth in it. Because most of our genes(DNA) were inherited from either our father or mother. When you see a guy with a "naturally" well-built body, naturally in the context means without using weights, try and do some probing to see how his father is. It is very much possible that the father will have a well-built body also. For me i have always had a broad shoulder and slim waist long before i ever lifted a weight. I know deep down in my mind i just knew i got my physique from my father most especially the broad shoulders.

One's body-type also play a major role in muscle-building. Mother nature gave humanity three kind of body-types
1. Ectomorph
2. Mesomorph
3. Ectomorph

Let me begin with Mesomorph.
Mesomorph is a body-type that muscle-building was meant for.Most natural as well as professional body-builders fall into this category. What then are the characteristics of a mesomorph?
A piece of "broad shoulders",narrow/slim waist, good lats as well as muscular extremities. A mesomorph has a "v" shaped physique. His is naturally muscularly. Mesomorphs find it much easy to shed weight as well as gain weight. So i can say a mesomorph is someone that already has the "template" body to build more muscles. A mesomorph must almost always suceed if he ventures into body-building most especially if he eats and trains right.
A mesomorph also have a very good and well balanced metabolic rate i.e the body makes use of food ingested efficiently.

An endomorph can be synonymous to a chubby person. This body-type is also good for muscle-building but not as much as the mesomorph. Most power-lifters fall into this category.
How then do you know an endomorph? An endomorph has a "stocky" or "round" physique. A round belly,wide waist,short chubby arms and legs as well as a round head are prominent features of an endomorph. They gain weight much easier compared to a mesomorph but the downside to it, is their inability to shed those weight. An endomorph has a huge chunk of bodyfat in his system. That does not stop an endomorph from going into muscle-building but he has to do much "extra" work compared to a mesomorph.
When an endomorph begins to lift weight, he increases in size tremendously and his muscles begin to develop but they are usually not evident because of the high body-fat, so it will take a very careful diet plan,cardios and a dedicated weight training programme for an endomorph to pack on those slabs of muscle-mass that are visible to the human eyes.

Ectomorph
This body-type is the worst hit for muscle development. Look at our dear beloved country Nigeria for instance, most especially in the "low brow" areas six out of every ten guys are ectomorphic. I remembered one particular saturday i went to a gym, i saw some guys training with weights, i was amazed at their vigour and strength but they were "lean" it was as if they were wasting their time training because they had near zero muscle-mass. They were simply ECTOMORPHS.
Take a close look at those marathon runners then you will get an exact picture of how an ectomorph looks like.

How do you then spot an ectomorph?
He has a linear/"i" physique. He appears scrawny and weak. He has a long,thin, compressed, chiseled face with a high forehead. His shoulders are narrow and he also have long legs and hands.
Most ectomorphs have a natural well-toned abdomen or "six packs" as you guys call it .
Little body-fat,little muscle as well as a small chest are also prominent characteristics of an ectomorph. Ectomorphs hardly gain weight. They can eat a whole house of food and they won't add weight. This is because they have a high metabolic rate. The body burn the food that are ingested very quickly without storing the excess as body-fat.
For an ectomorph to gain muscles, he should most of the time be on high calorie diets like eba, amala,fufu or pounded-yam with a nice soup to match. The soup should have "obstructions" like chicken,turkey,beef, fish or "egufe". He should rest well and train like a beast. He will most definitely pack muscle-mass on that lean structure of his.

Have you ever heard of muscle-fibres before?
Muscle fibres are usually in bundles and are what the muscles comprise of. There are two main types of muscle-fibres
1. Slow-twitch muscle fiber/Type 1
2. Fast-twitch muscle fiber/Type 2
The type 2 fibers are further divided into type 2a and type 2b.

Awesome piece. I'm following intently.

The slow-twitch/type 1 muscle fibers contract slowly and they can be able to sustain their contraction for a long duration without them tiring out. Endurance activities such as long distance race,cycling,swimming,sex,yes i know you would be shocked to see sex, Sex is a good example of an endurance activity. These muscle-fibers are small in size and are quite difficult to develop.These muscle-fibers are red in colour due to their abundant supply of blood.
Now let me proceed to muscle-fibers for muscle-building which is the fast-twitch muscle fibers/type 2 muscle fibers.
These muscle-fibers were built for body-building.
They have very high contraction rates/speed.But they tire out easily because they do not have abundant supply of blood. But they can grow/undergo hypertrophy very well compared to the slow-twitch muscle fibers.