Mike Chang

To end my blog, I thought I'd isolate a case example of an enterprise that has contributed to the confusion of the fitness industry. If you haven't read any of my blogs up to this point, one of my main goals is to sift through the jumbled mess of information that the commercial fitness industry has presented to the public and preach the truth.

Put simply, Mike Chang is my antithesis. So, who is he?

Mike Chang used to run a youtube channel called "Six Pack Shortcuts" (I'm not sure why he doesn't run it anymore). If you've read any of my blogs in the past, you can deduce simply from the name of his channel that his entire enterprise is based on lies, misconceptions, and false premises. "Shortcuts" implies that Mike will be telling you secrets and magical methods to achieving success that don't require any hard work. You might be able to deduce why this bothers me: the entire purpose of my blog is to demonstrate that quick & easy methods don't work!

If you don't believe me as to Mike's flawed moral character, here's some stuff he's done:

- Released a video claiming that you can gain muscle using a towel to work out

- Marketed a common pre-workout supplement as "Mike's Magic Red Drink"

- Saying that eating a lot of fat can get you ripped

- Saying in another video that you have to avoid fat to get ripped

- He doesn't have a six pack even though that's the name of his channel
- According to his FFMI, he is likely a steroid user

I'm not the only one who hates Mike. The fitness YouTube channels "Vegan Gains" and "Omarisuf" have both produced videos specifically to point out Mike Chang's flaws. I do not exaggerate when I say that Mike Chang epitomizes everything that I've aimed to reconcile in the past 9 blogs.

I thought I'd end this blog with a bang. This rant that characterizes the very reason I wanted to write this blog in the first place: to exfoliate the deep-rooted misconceptions in the fitness industry.  This blog may seem a bit too angry, but people like Mike literally make people's lives worse. Polluting the general public's knowledge of fitness can have adverse health effects and cause people to be upset from not meeting the unreasonable goals that are set out for them.

If I can end one on point, it's this: The fitness industry plays on people's desires for quick results. We all want things fast, and corporations know this. No matter how amazing the results that a product promises are, always remember to never follow an Evil Shortcut to Six Pack Abs.

How Do I Grow Muscle?

The secret to growing muscle: you've got to use steroids. There is no other way. Just go to your local drug dealer, buy some steroids, inject them into your arm, and watch the results happen. I've never endorsed anything more in my life. There are no harmful side effects of using steroids. I don't know why anyone keeps complaining about them! Plus, if you don't use them, you actually have to have a strategy in the gym in order to build muscle.

I hope you figured out I was kidding. Yea, you should never use steroids (they're illegal). For the average natural person, the muscle building process isn't that easy. However, it is not complex. In this post, I'm going to lay out the foundational knowledge needed in order to build muscle.

1) To build muscle, you must achieve progressive overload. 
Progressive overload is exactly what it sounds like. Over time, if you lift heavier and heavier weights, your body will respond by growing muscle. It's best to do this slowly, making sure that your form stays intact even as the weights get heavier and heavier. If you try to achieve progressive overload too quickly, you might develop muscular imbalances. Eventually, imbalances can lead to injury, so it's best to pace yourself with progressive overload!

2) To build muscle, you must have time under tension (TUT)
TUT, like progressive overload, is exactly what it sounds like: the amount of time (uninterrupted) that your muscles are under tension in a given exercise. If you have at least 60 seconds of TUT for a given set, you will create the muscle-building stimulus. Many people talk about rep ranges, saying that 1-6 reps should be followed for strength gains, and 8-12 for muscle building. There is a correlation between higher reps and higher amount of muscle, but the causal factor is the TUT.

3) To build muscle, you must eat.
 It's common sense, but people seem to forget this: if you're not eating enough protein and consuming enough calories, your body simply can't build muscle regardless of how well you train in the gym. Each fitness website will say something different as to how much protein should be consumed. I'm no nutritionist, but what I know is that everyone is different. Some people can get by consuming less protein than others. In general, however, having 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day tends to work best.

4) To build muscle, you must perform compound movements.
A compound movement is one that involves multiple muscle groups, such as the bench press, squat, deadlift,  or overhead press. An exercise that involves a single muscle group is called an isolation movement. Both types of movements should be used; however, compound movements are the bread and butter of lifting weights. Since they work multiple muscle groups, they're a "two birds with one stone" type of deal.

I am no kinesiologist. Nevertheless,  I know that these four principles, if strictly adhered to, will produce muscle gains. At the end of the day, building muscle takes a long time, but the process doesn't require a lot of complex research. It's simply a matter of discipline, patience, and hard work.