In 2018 I have one bigger goal with the channel. I would love to bring more car based videos to you guys. Exotic and luxury cars are a huge passion of mine and I can effortlessly talk about them. I do need to work on my reviewing of cars as well and learn more about each car before I go to the dealership to review them.
I would love to be able to hopefully get a Lamborghini review or tour video out to you next year as well. For now I am going to work up to that, and probably see if Porsche will let me review a couple of their cars next year, as well as BMW, Lincoln, Cadillac, maybe some SRT stuff as well. But it is up to each dealership. These are all cars I believe they would let me review or do a tour of. Lamborghini on the other hand, I have no idea.
The reason these are 2018 goals is that in Michigan it is cooling off, and Michigan winters can be pretty harsh, I hate the cold, and I don't want to damage my camera equipment because of the cold weather. So I am going to start back up in the spring, or if we get a warm day here in Michigan before then. Or if I end up going to Florida or somewhere warm for a while.
In the mean time I will continue sharing my workouts, and making some vlogs, as well as doing book reviews and writing and "videoing" whatever else comes to mind.
I also really plan on doing more with affiliate marketing on this blog, since over the past couple years I rarely ever put affiliate links in my posts. This will make it easier for you to purchase a book or item I talk about, and will also help me continue to bring these videos an blogs to you.
For muscle growth I plan on gaining 10 pounds of muscle over the next year. I have no idea if this will happen. I am currently eating more than I usually do and gaining some muscle, but I am the only one who really notices it (maybe 1 pound in the past month). Over a year, however this could be 12 pounds, but only time will tell.
Closing thoughts.
The end of 2017 and the year of 2018 will be huge, I already see myself transitioning into more productive habits compared to a few months ago. I am currently listening to the 10x Rule by Grant Cardone, which just alone this morning kinda reminded me what productive things I need to do to make today great.
Today I am here to share and go in depth with you on my new exact bulking workout routine that I am currently using to gain muscle. I am hoping you will implement this into your routine as well, especially if you are a hard gainer like myself.
I have been experimenting and trying to fine tune a perfect workout for hard gainers and I believe I am getting pretty close to perfecting it to the best of my ability. I am hoping to gain 10 pounds of muscle by the end of next year (December 2018) and believe I will be able to if I continue to follow the workouts that are laid out in today's post.
I know over this period of time I will have to have a secondary routine as well for when my muscles get used to the normal routine. Currently, however it has not come to that, so I am going to share what has been helping me so far gain muscle faster as a hard gainer.
Before I share the workout, I recommend 5 days a week, Monday-Friday. Some weeks you may not be able to do this, take this week for example with Thanksgiving ahead you may go out of town and may not have a gym near you. This is ok, do what you can do and start again on the normal schedule when you get back on Monday.
Myself I like to workout my abs on the weekend, this way I am always doing some sort of exercise every day of the week. Anyways lets get into the workout routine.
Monday and Friday (arm day)
Tricep extension - 4 sets total, the last set add one more rep each day until you reach 14 reps, then add one rep each day to the previous set after your reach 14 on the final set. This will be the same for every workout.
Close grip bench press or skull crushers - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Seated tricep extension - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Barbell preacher curl - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Forearm preacher curl - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Hammer curl - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Tuesday and Thursday (leg day)
For leg days I kind of switch it up so I will share a couple variations
Variation 1:
Leg press or squat- 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set and add 20 pounds last set as well.
Leg extension - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Glute machine or as I like to call it "the kickback machine" - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Seated leg curl - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Laying leg curl - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Calf raises - 2 sets of 20 reps as fast as I can go.
ending with 5 minutes of stair steppers.
Variation 2: What I prefer for maximum growth
Leg press or squat - Stays the same.
Kickback machine - 6 sets each leg, first 4 sets 8 reps, last 2 sets add one rep each day.
Laying leg curl - 6 sets each leg, first 4 sets 8 reps, last 2 sets add one rep each day.
Calf raises - Stays the same.
Ending with 5 minutes of stair steppers.
Also with the stair steppers I am always striving to do more staircases than I did last time in that 5 minutes to always strive for growth!
Wednesday (back, chest, and shoulder day)
This is by far the longest and hardest day. (Thats what she said) Jokes aside by the end of this workout you should be completely out of breathe, even more than you were after stair steppers on leg day, because you are going to be doing 9 exercises.
These will all be the same routine as most of the other exercises for how many reps you will do. Only push ups will be different.
Upright barbell row - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Shoulder flye - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Barbell shoulder press - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Pull down - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
MTS high row - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
MTS low row - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Seated incline press - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Seated flye - 3 sets total 8 reps for the first 2, and add one rep each day for the last set.
Push ups - This may kind of confusing at first but it is a great chest workout and will leave you out of breather after set 1! The first set we are going to do 5 diamond push ups, 5 regular push ups, and 5 wide grip push ups. The second set is 4 of each, and the final set is 3 of each. This may sound easy but I guarantee that you will struggle to complete this! And if you don't, good for you! You should add one more set of 2 of each.
Stretching
At the end of each workout I like to end with a stretch for more openness and flexibility in my body. I usually focus on stretching my legs because my legs are still the least flexible part of my body and also affect my back.
The stretches I do are
1. Hamstring stretch with one leg extended out to the side and I try to touch my toes of the extended leg.
2. Butterfly stretch
3. Seated or laying hip stretch
4. Standing quad stretch
5. Calf stretch (the most important for me)
I also will sometimes do an inner thigh stretch as well as a side stretch. And I will also do cobra stretch for my lower back and openness in my chest. And on days I do shoulder I will do the towel shoulder stretch without the towel since my shoulders are thankfully pretty flexible. If your shoulders are not, bring a towel and work up to doing it without a towel.
I also have taken up foam rolling along with my stretch every single day I work out. Sadly I have trouble foam rolling my hamstrings and calves so I only foam roll my side by my ribs, my back, my quads, as well as shoulders.
Closing thoughts.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this. Whether you are a hard gainer or someone just looking to bulk up over the winter, I hope this has helped you get the results you want over the next few months!
Before I get into each book and why I believe they are the best books that can help you in you life I wanted to say a couple things. First off you must be willing to take action from what you are reading, and this can be very hard to do. It is simple and easy to read a book and truly understand what to do but it is often easy to not do it even though you do understand it.
Books are by no means a magic pill. They are guides that can hep you get to where you want to go, but they can't do the work for you. With that in mind lets get into how these 5 books can help change your life if you take the action from these books.
1. The Power of Now
This book has been a tremendous help in my life and will be in yours as well. It is one of those books you can, and should read once or twice per year. I have read it about 4 times and still find new points that I have missed before. Even as I am writing this I am doing a practice from the book. I have literally been in a pissed off mood all day, I guess I am just having one of those days.
When I started to write about the book, I also thought of the practice that helps me be more relaxed from the book, where you are supposed to close your eyes and ask yourself "I wonder what my next thought is going to be?" For whatever reason asking myself this a few times just now and being present has helped me be less tense and less in my body, I also feel I am able to take a deep breathe a lot easier now.
This is just grazing the surface of what this book has to offer to you. If you are stressed or just need some direction in life, I suggest you get a copy of this book today.
2. The Slight Edge
This is a book I just finished reading recently. I bought it at the perfect time, right when I needed to read it. I saw myself losing some momentum in life as far as taking small steps. I was always focussed on how fast I could make things happen instead of looking at how every small thing done every day can add up to create those big things that I wanted.
I started focussing more on the gym than before and I notice how when I show up every single day to exercise my body I see a tiny 1% increase that is barely noticeable. Those small increases every single have lead to a pretty big increase so far, even though I have only been practicing the Slight Edge practices for a couple weeks in the gym. I already see my arms and legs growing faster than ever before!
The Slight Edge can also go the other way. It is based off of the small things you do every second of everyday. Do you decided to drink water or drink pop? These are each an easy choice to make, but which easy one will you choose? One will take you down the right path, one won't.
I think its a great read if you are a result oriented person, as being results oriented can often make you give up when you don't see results fast enough. Take baby steps every day to make drastic changes down the line!
3. The 4 Hour Workweek
I believe this is the book that got it all started for me, the book that got me into reading. It is also what has inspired me to find other ways of making money outside my job. Although I am still learning how to improve my money making capabilities outside of work I think this book is a great book for beginners or people new to self development as it opens up your mind to realize there is more than just one way to make money, and that you can do it from anywhere in the world, even on vacation.
I definitely need to give it another read, it is one of my favorite books, but I feel there is so much more that I will get from it when I read it for the third time. It is a book that is a yearly MUST READ!
You will love it as well and it will open your mind up to so much more!
4. The One thing
If you buy one book with "The Slight Edge" this is the book that will go hand in hand with it. Being one of the very first books I read along my journey, I can say I find myself going back to it, I am currently reading it for the 4th time.
You will love this book and it will dramatically help you if you are always focussed on being busy instead of being productive. If you are going to pick one book to read first, this is the book. Tim Ferriss's "4 Hour Work Week" comes very close.
The reason I would say this is the one to read first is that it will get you head focussed in one direction, as long as you follow what is said in the book. From there being focussed on your "One Thing" you should choose other books that relate to it. This way you will be able to go deep in your dreams instead of broad.
5. The Way of the Superior Man
This book recommendation may sound one sided but it really isn't. I have seen many comments from men and women saying that this book helped them in their life.
With that said this book can really help you if you start to follow what David says in the book. There are things that will take longer to learn and do in the book and some things are easier to implement into your life.
One of the greatest parts of the book is about making decisions. It is still something I am working on, but I have gotten better at it since I have read the book. This is one of the hardest things we can learn today. There are so many decisions we make throughout the day and making decisions in a split second can be hard.
If you want to go out to eat but you are trying to choose between Outback Steakhouse and Chili's, as an example, you will be wasting much more time deciding which one you are going to go to rather than just choosing one right off the bat. A "superior man" would be able to make the decision quickly.
Now I used a more broad example than David uses in his book just to show you a regular scenario. But in the book he goes way more in depth on ways to be a "superior man".
It is a great read for men to understand themselves, and for women to understand men as well, because it goes in depth on Masculine and Feminine energy and how to deal with both. No matter who you are, I recommend you get a copy of this book in your hands today!
For some reason I can no longer find the Amazon link I used for this book on my recommended resources page. If you wish to purchase the book here is a link to my recommended resources page so you can purchase the book for yourself.
Closing thoughts
Narrowing this blog into only 5 books was hard to do. There are many books I love, such as "On Success" "Power vs Force" "The Ultramind Solution" and "The 10x Rule" but need to re-read in order to share how they can help your life in more detail. So I may come out with more posts of recommended books in the future or just do book reviews on the books that I love and think will help you the most.
I hope you decided to pick up these books to transform your life. I believe these are 5 great books to start your journey and better yourself.
Also if you have read any of these feel free to leave a comment below on what you like or don't like about these books. Or if you haven't read them yet, get your copy today, and come back here when you finish reading each book and share what your learned. Also what books would your recommend to someone starting their journey? I would love to hear your feedback!
Today you are going to learn the benefits that I have noticed from exercising daily over the past couple weeks. Keep in mind while reading this, that as a skinny fat body type man, my current goal is to build as much muscle as I possibly can over the winter. I am eating a lot more, so I am gaining fat, but enough about me lets talk about how exercising every single day can help you.
1. Muscle Growth
This is pretty obvious, but by going to the gym 5 days per week and working out your abs twice per week you are going to notice more muscle everywhere on your body, even if it is only 1% more muscle. What I have found to work great for putting on muscle growth is to do 3 exercises for each muscle group. So you would be doing 3 exercises for biceps, 3 for triceps, 3 for your back, and so on. This seems to be the right amount to really make your muscles look bigger and to progress with strength (I can go more in depth on this in a later post if you would like to hear the exact routine).
2. You feel more alive each day.
We all have those days where we don't feel like working out, but what happens after you push yourself to workout? You instantly feel better. Not only that but you feel more alive, and more confident because you did something that seemed hard to do.
This may vary from person to person, but working for me can put me in a state of meditation, it may be true for you and it may not, everyone is different. If it does put you in a mindful place or helps you become more present that is another reason to do it!
3. You will love the way you look.
Admit it, we all love to look in the mirror and flex our arms after a good workout. And guess what? The more you workout the more you can do just that! Being comfortable with wherever you are is important though. If you are someone who has never stepped foot in a gym, you may not even be close to where you want to be, but look at yourself after that first workout, 2 weeks, and 2 months later, you will be a totally different person (even if only you notice it).
When I first started being really serious about working out I had to accept that I wasn't the biggest or strongest guy there, but I also had to accept myself for where I was at and where I was going. You must do the same in your journey, don't compare yourself to another guy 15 years ahead of you, but ask yourself "what will it take to get to where he is?"
Closing thoughts
Where are you in your fitness journey right now? Did these benefits help you at all? If they did please feel free to share in the comments below what helped you, or your experience so far, I would love to hear your comments!
Life has many obstacles, and no one is exempt from dealing with them. Not you, not me. There are things out there that are in this world to help each and every one of us with these obstacles we face. These things are called books.
Yes books, this may seem very boring to a lot of you, don't worry it was boring to me to for about 17 years of my life. I used to be that person that would rather play some video game than sit down and read for even 5 minutes out of the day. I believe the reason this was, is that in school we are pretty much forced to read books that we may not even like, and when you are forced to read a book you don't want to it makes you think all reading is boring.
Since 2015 I have been a pretty avid reader. Most of the books I read were in 2015. 2016-2017 I probably have only read 20-30 books.
I did make a huge mistake in 2015. I would read the books and fold the corner of a page to mark it, but I would never underline the lesson I found on that page. In 2016-2017 I started to do both. The reason for this is that so when I re-read each book I can go back and see what I thought was useful before, however while I am reading I am still looking for new things that I might have missed when reading the book previously.
I want to share how reading is important and then share the routine I am doing now to build back my momentum into reading, which I believe is a great path to follow if you want to read but never have the energy to or just want to read but think that reading is boring.
First off, you have to find the right kind of books for you. I recommend non-fiction, but that is still pretty broad, since you may like history, auto-biographies, self improvement, or business books and so on. It doesn't matter what you are into but rather what you can learn from these books.
Second, once you have found the category of book you think will help you the most, invest in those kinds of books to help further your journey in life. Most authors are there to help you and give you insight on what you are reading. We can learn so much from someone years ahead of us, that are where we want to be.
My current routine for reading anyone can do to build up some momentum. I am currently working to building back up to reading 50 pages a day. Currently, I wake up and meditate for 15 minutes, and most days right after my meditation I will read 10 pages, some days I will wait till a little later to read, but most days it is directly after my mediation. I do this so that no matter what I read 10 pages each and every day. This gives me time if I want to read more before bed I can or even listen to an audiobook and learn as well. I like doing it because it is a great way to start the day and allows me to read as much as I want or as little as I want to.
I hope this helped you start reading and helps you build momentum. What is the first book you are going to read? Or if you are already a reader what book are you currently reading?
I would love to be able to hopefully get a Lamborghini review or tour video out to you next year as well. For now I am going to work up to that, and probably see if Porsche will let me review a couple of their cars next year, as well as BMW, Lincoln, Cadillac, maybe some SRT stuff as well. But it is up to each dealership. These are all cars I believe they would let me review or do a tour of. Lamborghini on the other hand, I have no idea.
The end of 2017 and the year of 2018 will be huge, I already see myself transitioning into more productive habits compared to a few months ago. I am currently listening to the 10x Rule by Grant Cardone, which just alone this morning kinda reminded me what productive things I need to do to make today great.
