Sports Supplements > Mass-Gainers

A corollary to this theory is you can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. You lose fat by reducing calories and you gain muscle by increasing calories. This is a simplistic way of looking at it, but in general for hard-training bodybuilders it's true. It may be more accurate to say you can't maximize in either direction; you must choose.

When someone chooses to focus on increasing mass, a mass gainer supplies the calories needed to do that.

Monitor your body fat percentage, total weight, and how you feel.

• If your body fat is holding fairly steady or increasing at a much slower rate than your total weight and you feel stronger, then you've probably hit your mass gainer "sweet spot."
• If you start to look doughy, reduce the amount of mass gainer you consume.
• If you aren't gaining weight, try consuming a bit more.

Add creatine and glutamine to your mass gainer shake to maximize recovery.

1. Increase the intensity of your workout (fewer reps per set, with heavier weight in each set). If you do 3 sets of 10 reps, you are sacrificing intensity for conformity. Change that silly pattern before supplementing. You should find each set harder to do than the last, so it will necessarily consist of either fewer reps or less weight. If each set is the same, you are doing something wrong. Think about the logic, here. Then, implement the change and watch your results improve.

2. Focus on what the muscle is doing, not what the weight is doing.

3. Stimulate, don't annihilate. You need only stimulate the body into an adaptive response. Training beyond that point is counterproductive.

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