We know that training routine of UFC fighters consists of a lot of cardio and most of them look shredded. But, how do they succeed to gain 20 pounds of lean muscle for one month when they want to move up a weight class? Is it possible to gain that amount of lean muscle mass for that time?
Well, it is possible. No matter that many people say that is physiologically impossible to gain more than one pound of lean muscle per week. And of course, absolutely without using steroids.
Dr. John Berardi, Georges St-Pierre's nutritional coach tried that experiment on one UFC fighters and he gained 20 pounds of muscle for 28 days. The experiment started with the guy that had 169 pounds and after one month he weighed in at 190 pounds.
More information about this experiment you can find on the blog of author Tim Ferris: How To Gain 20 Pounds In 28 Days: The Extreme Muscle Building Secrets of UFC Fighter
Most important things for building muscle mass are diet and training routine. Check out what training routine and diet plan were used for this experiment:
MONDAY - Upper Body Strength
Bench Press - 5 sets x 5 reps (5 RM - rep maximum)
Weighted Chin Up - 4 sets x 6 reps with 6 RM
Weighted Dips - 4 sets x 8 reps with 8 RM
Overhead Press - 4 sets x 10 reps with 10 RM
Barbell Curls - 4 sets x 10 reps with 10 RM
Weighted Crunches - 3 sets x 8 reps
TUESDAY - Hurricane Sprints
Round 1:
Sprint on treadmill at 10 mph for 25 seconds
1 set x 20 crunches
1 set x 20 table-top crunches
Repeat 3 times from the beginning and rest 2 minutes before Round 2.
Round 2:
Sprint on treadmill at 11mph for 25 seconds
1 set x 20 knee-grab crunches
Repeat 3 times then rest 2 minutes.
Round 3:
Sprint on treadmill at 12mph for 20 seconds
1 set x 20 bicycle crunches
Repeat 3 times this round too.
WEDNESDAY - Off
THURSDAY - Hurricane Energy Circuit
Rope Swings
10 double rope swings
10 alternating rope swings
10 rotations
Kettlebell Swings
10 reps with both hands
10 reps for each hand
Medicine Ball Slams
Sledge Hammer Swings
Ladder
FRIDAY - Upper Body Hypertrophy
Close Grip Bench Press - 4 sets x 8 reps
Cable High Pull - 4 sets x 10 reps
Triceps Pushdown - 4 sets x 15 reps
Cable Rows - 4 sets x 8 reps
Dumbbell Curls - 3 sets x 8 reps each arm
Half-kneeling Chops - 3 sets x 5 reps
SATURDAY - Lower Body Strength
45 Degree Back Raise
1 set x 10 reps with bodyweight
1 set x 8 reps with 25 pounds
1 set x 8 reps with 45 pounds
1 set x 8 reps with 70 pounds
Barbell Squat
3-4 Warmup Sets
5 sets x 8 reps (8 RM)
Deadlift
3-4 Warmup Sets
5 sets x 8 reps (8 RM)
SUNDAY - Off
The sample of diet plan that fighter followed for gaining 20 pounds of lean muscle:
Breakfast
Breakfast pudding
Blend these ingredients:
2 frozen bananas
1/4 cup of almond milk
3 scoops casein protein powder
2 squares high cacao chocolate
Side dish
4 pieces of whole grain bread
2 tbsp of peanut butter
2 tbsp of jam
multivitamin
1 tbsp of creatine in coffee or green tea
Pre-Workout
500 ml water
10 grams of BCAA's
Post-Workout
1.5lb any type of lean meat
3 cups of vegetables
2 large sweet potatoes
1 tbsp of Udo's 3.6.9 oil
Anytime meal
1lb of any type of lean meat
3 cups of vegetables
1/2 cup of sauerkraut
2 servings of fruit
1 tbsp of fish oil
This diet plan provides a lot of healthy calories that are needed to feed muscles to grow.
I know that a lot of you that are reading this would probably be very skeptical and write comments like this is not possible, researchers have shown that one can't build such amount of lean muscle mass for that time and other comments like that. Before you do so, I must say that this was what Dr. John Berardi claim that is possible and proven so you can check out one of his comments about this experiment:
Dr. John Berardi, Georges St-Pierre's nutritional coach:
In the end, I know some people will be skeptical about these experiments, not knowing us. But we’re trustworthy guys and have documented everything in painstaking detail in our free online book "Bigger Smaller Bigger"
www.biggersmallerbigger.com
