Over the past couple months or so I have been geared towards bulking up. My current goal is to gain 10 pounds of muscle by December 2018. Although I have noticed muscle growth, especially over the past few weeks, I have also noticed some fat gain and it seems almost impossible to get rid of when bulking.
My experience and how it can help you
So far I have been really pushing (especially over the past few weeks like I said above) to gain muscle and its working, really working. I have noticed probably about a 5-10% growth in muscle just over the last few weeks along. It may sound crazy, but my arms look bigger, my legs look, bigger, and so do the rest of my muscles. The only problem is that I also am starting to notice some belly fat being gained.
This is a huge problem I have noticed with myself, but also when I look it up online I see many other guys are struggling as well.
A few months back I did a 30 day cutting challenge, where I strived to lose the most amount of fat I could in one month. However, I did make a really, and I mean really stupid mistake. I said to myself "I should just eat 1200 calories per day on non workout days, and 1800 on days where I go workout." Long story short, I later figured out this was about the dumbest thing I could do to lose the belly fat I did have. The reason being is that your metabolism will adjust to how much you are eating.
In the last couple months, I would say October-November, I wasn't tracking calories at all and just eating, probably more than I should've. Even being what I consider healthy foods, I gained fat again. Around the end of November and beginning of December I started tracking my calories. I started all the way up at 2500 calories per day. Currently I am at 2100 and plan on getting down to 1900. The difference this time is that instead of going from one day eating 2500 calories to the next eating 1200 is that each week I am lowering my calories per day by 100. This way my metabolism should adjust properly, and I will be eating enough to be able to gain muscle and get shredded.
If you are noticing that you are gaining fat while bulking, I would recommend you at least try this out as an experiment. Even just tracking calories alone can be super beneficial to your daily life and in the long run.
Closing thoughts.
I hope this was a huge help to you along your bulking journey. If this blog resinated with you, or if you have had the same trouble or similar as me I would love to hear your story, so be sure to comment down below!
Let me start today off by saying Merry Christmas. I hope your Christmas is great and get to spend time with your family.
Last night on Christmas Eve we had a HUGE snow storm here in Michigan. The roads were not plowed at all most of the way home form the Christmas Eve parties, so we had to drive at about 20 MPH the whole way, but luckily we made it home safe.
As for me I am going to be with my family at my aunts and uncles house for dinner. We are also going to have some family time and time for Cards Against Humanity for some fun, since my parents got me some new expansions for the game I am really looking forward to playing the game with the family for some laughs.
Today is also my cheat day, which I plan on making a good one, since food on Christmas is always delicious and I will be happy to enjoy it.
I am also vlogging today which will go way more in-depth on the past couple days than this blog because today I really just wanted to say Merry Christmas to you and update you on my day.
Closing thoughts
I hope this is your best Christmas yet, I thank you for reading this and once again Merry Christmas!
If you have been following me for the past couple years you know that I have read between 70 and 100 books in the past 2 years. Some books are awesome, others aren't the best. Over the past few months I have made it a habit to re-read books.
You save money.
Maybe this sounds weird to you but there are a couple reason why I am re-reading books and why you should as well. First off, it will save you money. The average book costs somewhere around $20. If you are reading 50 books per year you will be spending about $1,000 per year, and there is nothing wrong with this but if you are not willing to spend that and already have a good amount of books at home, then re-reading the books you have can be a huge benefit.
You learn more.
Second, you can always learn more from books you have already read. There is always something that you miss when reading the book for the first time. Re-reading a books gives the change to take more time and go through the book and really take notes and mark sections of the book that you find useful.
Like I said buying new books to read is a great thing, however if you have books that you read that were hard to understand in the past, they may make more sense to you today.
I am currently re-reading Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. I have only read about 90 pages in the past few days but I have already been finding things I didn't notice in the book the first time around.
Closing thoughts.
I know this was a really short post but I really wanted to be short and to the point today. Re-reading books can be a great benefit to your life and you will be able get the most out of each book that you buy if you choose to re-read each of these books that are great for your life.
I have had my 13 in. MacBook pro with retina display since early 2015. After taxes I believe I paid somewhere around $1250 for it. These are the main stats of the computer from Apple.com.
Display
Retina display
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors
Supported scaled resolutions:
1680 by 1050
1440 by 900
1024 by 640
300 nits brightness
Standard color gamut (sRGB)
900:1 contrast ratio
Processor
2.7GHz - 128GB 2.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache Configurable to 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache or 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz) with 4MB shared L3 cache.
2.7GHz - 256GB 2.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache Configurable to 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache or 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz) with 4MB shared L3 cache.
2.9GHz 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz) with 3MB shared L3 cache Configurable to 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz) with 4MB shared L3 cache.
Memory
8GB of 1866MHz LPDDR3 onboard memory Configurable to 16GB.
Storage1
2.7GHz - 128GB 128GB PCIe-based flash storage
2.7GHz - 256GB 256GB PCIe-based flash storage
2.9GHz 512GB PCIe-based flash storage Configurable to 1TB flash storage.
Size and Weight
Height: 0.71 inch (1.8 cm)
Width: 12.35 inches (31.4 cm)
Depth: 8.62 inches (21.9 cm)
Weight: 3.48 pounds (1.58 kg)2
Graphics and Video Support
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 3840 by 2160 pixels on up to two external displays, both at millions of colors.
Thunderbolt digital video output
Native Mini DisplayPort output
DVI, VGA, dual-link DVI, and HDMI output supported using Mini DisplayPort adapters (sold separately)
HDMI video output
Support for 1080p resolution at up to 60Hz
Support for 3840-by-2160 resolution at 30Hz
Support for 4096-by-2160 resolution at 24Hz
Why did I buy the MacBook?
The reason I saw it to be a good purchase was because I am not much of a gamer anymore, and was looking for a computer that worked good for video editing, as well as getting started with different eCommerce types of businesses.
I also really love the build quality and the way Mac is set up compared to Windows. Lets talk about the build quality first.
I really despise when I am looking at a computer with great specs and the screen is super flexible or bends real easily. The MacBook screen does bend but you really have to try to compared to other computers, and the bend is very slight.
As for liking the setup of Mac over windows, that is all personal preference. I find it to be very simple and easy to use, especially for the photos app on Mac compared to Windows. Maybe I just really got used to how Mac operates, but it seems so much easier to find the photo I am looking for and to quickly get it into iMovie to edit it.
The trackpad is actually useable. This is the first laptop that I have been more comfortable using the deftly trackpad than an actual mouse. I have used regular mice with it, and even the Magic Mouse by Apple. Both of with worked perfectly fine, however I just found that the trackpad on the MacBook to be way better (and you won't have to waste money on a mouse).
What problems I have had over the last 2 (almost 3) years?
In mid 2016 I had the first very rare and major problem with my MacBook. I was doing yoga one day and after I decided to close the screen and charge it (something I have always done without a problem). Well on this particular day it decided not to turn back on. (I decided to buy a back up laptop for the time being a Toshiba Satellite). A few weeks later when it did turn on again it acted like I was holding shift down and no matter what I did I couldn't sign into the computer because "my password was incorrect" A pretty troubling experience over the course of 2-3 months. We even took the shift keys off to see if one was stuck or something, they weren't. A couple months into this problem we take it to the Apple Store and they gave me a price of I believe $300 to replace the motherboard which isn't too bad. I decided to hold off on it, and after a week or so of letting it sit and not touching it at all I decided to try and turn it on. Surprisingly it powered up normally and hasn't given me trouble since. I cannot explain why this happened or how but it was a pretty huge problem.
I only have 2 other minor problems with it and one is my fault. The first is that I don't know how to put the shift keys on correctly from when I took them off, so they are on and work, but they are not as neat in the computer like they rest of the keys.
The next is that it seems that one pixel in the screen randomly disappeared and left a mark on the screen.
Both of the last 2 aren't huge problems to me, but the first problem was a real pain in the ass and a lot of stress. At least it works prefect now and didn't cost me anything to repair it. I haven't heard of that many people having that problem so it could be a 1 in 1,000,000 type of thing.
Closing thoughts
If you are someone who likes to edit video, a blogger, a vlogger, or someone that has an amazon, eBay, or any type of eCommerce store, and is willing to spend over $1,000 this is the computer for you. If you are a gamer I would recommend sticking with a gaming computer/laptop which can also do all the things that the MacBook can do, along with gaming as well. Or you could even spend around $700 and get a computer with comparable specs, but I the MacBook is a very strong computer on the outside, either way, it all comes down to what you prefer in a computer.
For me it works great for everything I do on Youtube, for video editing, for the blogs I write, and for drop shipping. I will definitely buy a new one in the future, but for now I am going to stick with mine since it is working great for everything I do.
I also recommend buying new so you know that you are getting a MacBook that has never been through anything before. I hope this helped you make a decision on a MacBook, if it did here is a link to purchase your very own!
"The Slight Edge" is something that affects every single human being alive today, it always has and always will. It is the thing that determines whether or not you will live your life potential or not. Here I am going to share my top 5 favorite key points of the book, I hope you enjoy!
"Slow down to go fast"
It's not about doing a bunch of things at once and rushing through them. Although everyone is guilty of this. We either try to multitask, or underestimate how long something will take, and so we rush through it.
Instead Jeff suggests doing little things consistently. This is the main theme throughout the book. Every single second of everyday we have a choice to choose progression or to choose regression. Take for instance writing a school essay for example. This is something we all had to do at least once in our lives. Lets say you are like I was and like most students are, you wait till the last day or 2 and write the essay then, in other words you procrastinate. You usually have a couple weeks to write about 10-paragraphs, so if you went slow and steady like Jeff suggests in the book you could do one paragraph a day for 14 days. But like most of us, we try to go fast at the end, and we end up rushing and not doing our best work, instead of working in small increments to do our best work.
Raise your happiness level.
In "The Slight Edge" Jeff states that by raising your happiness levels you will notice that every area of you life gets better. And I can say that this is very true. Think of it when you are happy are you doing your best or worst work? You are probably doing your best work or having the most fun right?
Being happy will radiate onto others as well as in what you do. As I am writing this section here I am feeling pretty happy about life today, and I can feel that I am able to share more than on days when I feel negative or pissed off. So if you are in a state of negativity, what are some things you can do to raise your level of happiness today and how could that help you in other areas of life?
What words are you constantly speaking.
What words are you using right now, or everyday? Are the words you are saying bringing you up or bringing you down? This is something that we all overlook and probably never even recognize, but it is huge to our success in every area of life. If you say words negatively that limit you, you will be limited by these words which also become beliefs. Tell yourself you "can't" do something enough, and you won't be able to do it. Tell yourself you "can" do something enough and you life will be limitless.
Take responsibility.
This is something everyone struggles with, and I have talked about this before in my own life but I will say it again. When I was younger I used to always blame. Lets say I accidentally knocked something over, I would say "it fell" instead of taking responsibility for knocking it over in the first place. This is a small example, but maybe you do this as well? It could be big or small but we must take responsibility for what we do.
This way we can start to recognize what we are doing wrong and what we are doing right, and by taking responsibility we can shift the things we do wrong into things we do right.
Book smarts, street smarts, and mentors.
Jeff says that successful people have three qualities in which they learn from, they have book smarts (knowledge), street smarts (action), and mentors (people that guide you). Having these all will save you drastic amounts of time while you are on your journey. Book smarts and street smarts are the easiest of the 3. For book smarts all you need to do is read a book or a course and find some nuggets of wisdom. Streets smarts although a little harder is still pretty easy. You can have all the book smarts but you must act on them. Acting on what you have learned is street smarts and will get you closer to your goals.
When I hear people talk about book smarts and street smarts, I rarely hear anyone talk about mentors being a part of it. Jeff suggests that having mentors to guide you will really propel you to reach your goals faster, since you will have someone "holding your hand" and guiding you along the way. They will help you put the street smarts and book smarts together to have the best life you possibly can.
Closing thoughts.
These are my top 5 nuggets of wisdom from the book "The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson". I hope they were a great guide into the book. If you would like to learn more from the book on your journey, click the link below to get your very own copy of the book delivered to your home today!
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!
This is a huge problem I have noticed with myself, but also when I look it up online I see many other guys are struggling as well. 
