Author: Nick Hawkins

Want A Defined Back?

▪️Here are a few workouts that I recommend you use for your routine to build a big and strong back.⠀⁠
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▪️Below are some exercises and what muscles they predominantly target, and you’ll see that some work multiple muscle groups (in fact, most work more muscles than I’ve even mentioned in the diagram).⠀⁠
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-Lateral Raises – Side Delts⠀⁠
-Dumbbell Row – Lats (and biceps & upper back)⠀⁠
-Chin-Ups – Lats (and biceps & upper back)⠀⁠
-Deadlift – Hamstrings (and lower back, lats, upper back, glutes & more)⠀⁠
-Barbell Row – Lats (and upper back, biceps & more)⠀⁠
-Face-Pulls: Rear Delts (mid trapezius, rhomboids, etc)⠀⁠
-Barbell Shrug – Trapezius (and rhomboids)⠀⁠
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▪️You can choose what workouts and muscle groups you want to focus on, you don’t have squeeze all of them in every week.⠀⁠
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▪️You could even deadlift on your leg days, then choose a vertical compound pulling exercise ( such as the a chin-up) and one horizontal compound pulling exercise (like a row) and you’ll engage most of your back.⠀⁠

▪️I’d also recommend that you try doing face-pulls as they’re great for strengthening muscles that are usually overlooked.⠀⁠

Message me the word “Freedom” for info on my nutrition plans. Email MuscleHackingSociety@gmail.com

Muscle Building Shopping List

▪️Ask 10 people why they fail to reach their fitness goals and 9 will tell you it’s due to nutrition.
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▪️I get it. It’s much more difficult to make the right food choices on a daily basis than it is to go smash some weights for an hour a few days per week.
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▪️Truth be told, however, nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated. Aim for at least .75 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight, get 30% of your calories from fats, and determine how many carbs you need based on your goals (bulking or cutting).
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▪️Once you’ve got that in order, it’s simply a matter of making the right food choices to meet those numbers (and of course you should always be tracking your weight and making adjustments accordingly). Which is why I’ve created this easy-to-follow shopping list. Use this as a guide to help you select the right foods to meet your goals.

REFEED DAYS VS CHEAT DAYS
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▪️I personally suggest that you should incorporate refeed days instead of cheat days when your goal is to lose fat.
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▪️When it comes to refeed days, calories are raised to maintenance or a slight surplus, through an increase in carbohydrates which will serve as a mental and metabolic break from dieting. ⁣
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▪️Overall, when you are planning your diet, it’s a good idea to add at least one or even two refeed days every one in a while (frequency should be based on the person’s leanness), and it won’t cause any “damage” to the progress being made in a diet. ⁣⁣⁣
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▪️Refeed days can also help you reduce water weight because of the increased amount of carbs, which can help decrease stress levels and cause water weight to drop: as a result you generally feel tighter/leaner/fuller, you will also have more energy during your workouts and even your mood your mood will improve.⁣
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▪️And it doesn’t just stop there! ..2 or more (consecutive refeed days) generally referred to as “Diet Breaks” have a positive impact on our Leptin levels, which is the hormone that is responsible for regulating our metabolism. From my experience I’ve seen that Multiple Days spent at maintenance with an increased amount of carbs will increase my energy expenditure and will allow me to train better, without regaining the fat back since the calories are still kept around maintenance.
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▪️However, on the other hand “Cheat Days” will never be anything more than an excuse not to diet. Cheat days really don’t serve a purpose and will only slow the process down due to the fact that the calories consumed will generally be very high (it’s called “cheat” for a reason). ⁣
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▪️Also the mental aspect of a cheat day, which mostly (not always) tends to make people feel guilty and more likely to quit the diet afterwards. ⁣⁣⁣
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▪️Am I saying that you should never have a cheat day? Certainly not, there are some occasions in which you could cheat a little, however, if the goal is losing fat they would only slow down the process.

Want A Defined Back?

▪️Here are a few workouts that I recommend you use for your routine to build a big and strong back.⠀⁠
⠀⁠
▪️Below are some exercises and what muscles they predominantly target, and you’ll see that some work multiple muscle groups (in fact, most work more muscles than I’ve even mentioned in the diagram).⠀⁠
⠀⁠
-Lateral Raises – Side Delts⠀⁠
-Dumbbell Row – Lats (and biceps & upper back)⠀⁠
-Chin-Ups – Lats (and biceps & upper back)⠀⁠
-Deadlift – Hamstrings (and lower back, lats, upper back, glutes & more)⠀⁠
-Barbell Row – Lats (and upper back, biceps & more)⠀⁠
-Face-Pulls: Rear Delts (mid trapezius, rhomboids, etc)⠀⁠
-Barbell Shrug – Trapezius (and rhomboids)⠀⁠
⠀⁠
▪️You can choose what workouts and muscle groups you want to focus on, you don’t have squeeze all of them in every week.⠀⁠
⠀⁠
▪️You could even deadlift on your leg days, then choose a vertical compound pulling exercise ( such as the a chin-up) and one horizontal compound pulling exercise (like a row) and you’ll engage most of your back.⠀⁠

▪️I’d also recommend that you try doing face-pulls as they’re great for strengthening muscles that are usually overlooked.⠀⁠

How To Lose Weight

▪️No matter what the situation is; fat loss begins & ends with a calorie deficit. Being in a calorie deficit is like being the driver of fat loss. In a nutshell, you want to consume fewer calories than you expend.

▪️I get many questions in my inbox about cardio and HIIT classes. People also message, “How can I burn more calories?!” If your main focus is to burn more calories than you’re missing the bigger picture; which is calories in.

▪️You’ve most likely heard it before. It’s a big piece of repeated fitness advice that’s actually true; you can’t out work your diet. The focus should be on how many calories you’re eating.

▪️1.Protein Intake:
While in a calorie deficit, adequate protein consumption helps you keep your muscle while shedding fat. Maintaining and building muscle is a must in order to look good, perform better, age well & keep your metabolism revin’

▪️Protein also helps with satiety. Want to manage your hunger? Eat your protein!

▪️2.Strength training:
To keep (and to build) muscle in a calorie deficit; you not only need enough protein, you need to let your body know that you need to build more muscle. Strength train with the focus on getting stronger over time. Make that your priority in every workout.

▪️3 NEAT:
Non exercise activity thermogenesis is the most underrated strategy to burning fat. NEAT is any activity you do outside of organized workouts. Which is most of your time btw. Little bits add up. Track your steps aiming for 8-12k.

▪️4. Sleep & stress management:
Sleep and stress will impact your ability to burn fat indirectly. They can boost cravings and hunger, lower your ability to feel full and impede your judgement around food choices.

▪️5.Cardio
When it comes to burning fat, it’s not the best way to achieve results (exceptions: marathoners, long-distance racers, pro-athletes, etc). Keep your focus on tracking your calories.

Download my free ebook “4 Steps To Burning Fat” Click Here

•Benefits of Brown Rice•

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▪️Brown Rice has been a primary source of carbs for bodybuilders and athletes for centuries. Brown rice is known as a muscle building food because it is a complex carbohydrate that is the “unrefined” version of white rice, which provides a sustained release of energy to your muscles as they grow.

▪️Both, white rice and brown rice, are excellent sources of carbs, but white rice causes more of an insulin spike because of its very low fiber and fat content. Brown rice also increases insulin release, however the fiber and fats help reduce this. Therefore, at times of the day when you aren’t training, the carbs from brown rice are much less likely to go to body-fat storage than those from white rice.

▪️Personally I like brown rice because it’s high in magnesium and fiber, both of which help control blood sugar levels.

▪️Research suggests that regularly eating whole grains, like brown rice, will help lower blood sugar levels while decreasing the risk of type 2 diabetes. Even just replacing white rice with brown has been shown to lower blood sugar levels and decrease type 2 diabetes risk.

▪️On the other hand, eating lots of white rice has been linked to an increased risk of diabetes.

▪️This is due to its high glycemic index (GI). The GI measures how fast food increases your blood sugar.

▪️Studies suggest that eating brown rice helps reduce several risk factors for heart disease as well.

▪️45 different analyses showed that people who ate the most whole grains, including brown rice, had a 16–21% decrease in the risk of heart disease than people who ate the fewest whole grains.

▪️Eating brown rice instead of white can also significantly reduce weight, body mass index (BMI), and circumference of the waist and hips.

▪️There was a study that included 29,683 adults and 15,280 children. The analyst found that the more whole grains people ate, the lower their body weight.

▪️Additionally, a randomized controlled trial in 40 women that were overweight found that brown rice reduced body weight and waist size, compared with white rice.

Free Ebook http://eepurl.com/hSrymz

How To Gain Muscle ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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1. First, we must be in a net positive energy balance to ensure we’re providing our body the necessary nutrients for growth. This simply means that we should be consuming more calories than we’re burning.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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1. We must ensure we’re consuming enough protein (0.8-1g/ pound will suffice). If doesn’t matter how many workers are present, if we don’t have enough bricks available, we can never build the house.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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2. Progressive Overload: When we introduce a stress to our muscle, our body is forced to adapt by building new muscle in the hopes that it will handle the same stress again in the future. If we fail to increase that stress, however, our body will find no need to repair and grow. It’s really that cut and dry.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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3. Rest & Recovery: No matter how on point your diet and training are, if you’re not able to recover from the work, you’ll never maximize your performance in the gym.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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   Eat. Train. Sleep. Repeat.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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How To Show Your Veins

• Caloric Deficit

🔹Science proves that if you want to burn fat, diet manipulations are more effective than doing extra cardio.

🔹Push towards getting under 15 percent body fat for some of you. To be sure though, aim for under 12 percent body fat.

🔹 You can never go wrong with leafy greens when it comes to gaining vascularity.

🔹 Most importants keep your calories at least 200 under your BMR

• Increase Nitic Oxide Intake

🔹 Nitric oxide is the compound that is responsible for your veins to dilate; AKA get bigger. There are alot of foods out there that help increase the amount of nitric oxide in the blood to make your veins show.

🔹 Foods that that will convert into nitrates in the body will most definitely do the trick to up your level of nitric oxide. Eat foods such as:

.Beetroot
.Lettuce
.Celery
.Broccoli
.Arugula
.Spinach

• Keep sodium intake low

🔹 Salt will hold onto water which is what you don’t want. In other words, the more salt that you have in your diet, the more water your body will retain, which means the less your biceps vein will show.

• Keep water intake consistent

🔹 If you’re chronically dehydrated and not getting the amount of water your body needs, your body will start to crave water and will retain as much as possible whenever it has the chance.

🔹 Avoid dehydration so that your body will hoard less water and be willing to excrete any extra water.

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Are you eating enough protein?

▪️When it comes to aligning your diet with your fitness goals, one aspect I see people constantly struggle with is consuming enough protein.

▪️(About 0.7-1g per lb of total bodyweight, or roughly 0.8-1g per lb of lean body mass if you have more weight to lose.)

▪️Of the three macronutrients (protein, fats, carbs), protein is typically the one that’s lagging behind.

▪️Why is eating enough protein so important?

▪️Protein is a crucial component in the muscle building and retaining process. You want muscle (you won’t get bulky, I promise) not just for the visual appeal, but for the many health/performance benefits as well. Fun fact…the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn just existing…this is a nice plus.

▪️Protein is also the most filling and satiating macronutrient, which is a big positive especially when restricting calorie intake. Staying full longer will keep you from sneaking back into the kitchen or break-room much sooner than you need to.

▪️The thermic effect of protein is another big plus. Your body has to burn more calories to digest protein than any other macronutrient, which is definitely a good thing.

▪️I’ve listed a few of my favorite ways to increase your protein intake in this graphic, there are definitely others as well.

▪️And if you are vegan/vegetarian, a few of my staple recommendations to bump up your protein intake are options like: quinoa, lentils, chickpeas, beans, rice, tofu, tempeh, almonds, edamame, etc.

Incline Bicep Curl

▪️Studies have shown that incline biceps curls are the best exercise for growing the peak in the short head of the biceps.

▪️When on an incline, your arms get naturally further back, keeps the rest of the body steady and doesn’t allow any other muscles to help or cheat the weights up.

▪️If you curl straight forward in line with your body, you will be targeting the long head which is on the outside of the bicep

▪️Angling the arms slightly outwards can target the short head at the inside of your bicep.

▪️If you’re currently only doing biceps curls using bars, implementing a dumbbell curl might help you take out any imbalances you have, as most of us use one arm more than the other for certain things (like, I’m right-handed and do most things with my right hand)