Issue #101 of the gain muscle mass help newsletter is ready to go with some excellent muscle building information.  In this edition we take a look at CLA supplements and try to come to some sort of conclusion about their effectiveness for aiding in fat loss. While not necessarily one of the most popular muscle building supplements, CLA has gained widespread acceptance among the weight loss and fat loss communities. Because of this growing and devoted following among weight loss junkies and all of the solid scientific evidence pointing to it’s effectiveness, I thought that it would be worth a look.

After we tackle CLA supplements, we take a long look at the particulars of one of the most effective muscle building principles ever discovered…Progressive Overload!  Without proper stimulation, your muscles will not reach beyond their comfort zone and actually grow.  The most effective way to stimulate consistent muscle growth is through the application of the progressive overload principle.  Brush up on your knowledge of this effective yet underutilized muscle building principle!

After we discuss the process of tearing down your muscles in order to stimulate muscle growth, I thought that it might be a good idea to talk a bit about muscle soreness.  The fact of the matter is that if your are going to train for muscle growth, you will eventually face sore and achy muscles.  As with most things in life, knowledge is power (and in this case, less muscle pain) so read through these tips and find out how to minimize the pain of sore muscles.

Moving on, I review Mike Geary’s popular fat loss program The Truth About 6 Pack Abs. While The Truth About Abs has become somewhat of a phenomenon on the net,  I still thought that it might be a good idea to lay out exactly what you get with this 6 pack abs program.  While the sales letter and marketing information always look tempting, sometimes it’s nice to pull back the covers and take a long hard look at something before shelling out your hard earned cash.

What I discovered while reviewing this program is that it is a very well thought out and actionable fat loss program for anyone looking to simply slim down and expose their abs.  What The Truth About Abs isn’t, is a comprehensive muscle building workout plan, but it is built around solid fat loss principles like eating a well rounded nutrient dense fat loss diet, incorporating high intensity short duration aerobics and muscle building weight training workouts.  This is a winning combination for stripping away fat and exposing your abs.

Download the PDF edition of the Gain Muscle Mass Help Newsletter Issue #101

CLA supplements have been described as everything from a miracle supplement all the way down to a flat out worthless scam.  While everybody has their own opinion of CLA supplements, most of the claims (both good and bad) have been made without taking a  serious look at the science surrounding this supplement.

In my experience, nothing is ever quite as good or bad as it seems.  Before assigning CLA supplements the top shelf billing in the muscle building supplement market, or relegating CLA supplements to the “worthless” category, you owe it to yourself to take a look at the studies and make your own informed decision regarding CLA.

Over the past 25 years, more than 600 CLA studies have been published highlighting the many ways CLA supplements can help to enhance the way your body looks as well as your health.

What Are CLA Supplements Supposed To Do?

Lets kick this off by explaining that traditionally, CLA supplements have not been presented as muscle building supplements, rather fat loss and weight loss supplements.  If you’re reading this blog to find out about the best muscle building supplements, CLA is definitely not in the same muscle building category that supplements like creatine monohydrate are in.  That said, there is a substantial amount of evidence that suggests that CLA can help you shed excess body fat.

When it comes to decreasing body fat, CLA supplements safely work in four ways:

1.) They decrease the amount of fat stored after eating

2.) They Increase how fast fat is broken down in fat cells

3.) They Increase the rate of fat metabolism

4.) They Decrease the total number of fat cells in your body

While these benefits are not directly related to the muscle building process, I have never met a bodybuilder who wasn’t interested in burning more fat – naturally!

What Is CLA?

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a naturally-occurring polyunsaturated fatty acid – an essential fatty acid of the omega-6 family. The human body is unable to manufacture Linoleic Acid or CLA, so it must be obtained from dietary sources. Foods highest in CLA include milk, cheese, beef, and lamb as well as a lot of other processed foods.

Getting enough CLA from your diet for the preferred benefit would require considerable intake of potentially unhealthy foods. This is not only impractical, but would also have a seriously negative impact on your metabolism due to the high caloric penalty you would pay.

My Experiences With CLA Supplements…

Based on my experiences with CLA, I honestly can’t say that I noticed a dramatic impact in the amount of lean muscle mass that I gained, or a drastic reduction in body fat once I began taking CLA supplements regularly. I don’t believe that CLA is a supplement that will give you results that you’ll be able to instantly recognize.

I view taking CLA supplements as more of a healthy thing to do to ensure that I’m getting enough high quality essential fatty acids into my diet. In addition to CLA I regularly use an omega-3 essential fatty acid fish oil supplement and occasionally throw high quality flax seed oil into the mix (especially if I am cutting calories to burn fat). I really believe that if you can experience even one of the many benefits commonly associated with CLA supplements, taking them regularly is well worth the price!

==> More information on cla supplements.

If you’re serious about gaining muscle mass and you’re looking for a way to build muscle mass fast without having to take unhealthy shortcuts, then you need to begin applying the progressive overload principle to your muscle building workouts.

The muscle building process is certainly not one of the most efficient process in the human body.  It’s difficult for your body to make this happen.  If you want to build muscle mass fast, you can’t sit around waiting for your body to become more efficient and grow… you must give you body  a reason to grow.  This is where progressive overload comes in to play.

The progressive overload principle states that in order for your body to build muscle mass, it must be progressively stimulated over time.  An example of progressive overload in action is increasing the weight that you train with for each of your weight training workouts. By training with progressively heavier weights, you are telling your muscles that they must adapt to the new stress (heavier weights).  Your body will adapt by increasing the strength of your muscles and adding muscle mass.  Once your body has adapted, you then need to continue to overload your muscles progressively over time.

If you take the time to apply the progressive overload principle to each of your muscle building workouts, and you’ve worked out the rest of your plan you’ll be well on your way to building more muscle mass as quickly as possible!

Read this article for more information on using progressive overload to build muscle mass fast.