Tips for Building Massive, Well-Formed Legs

Here are some workout tips which will help ensure that your legs are just as well developed as your upper body when practicing bodybuilding training.

Featured Workout Playlist- 5/17

Make sure to check out each day's playlists here!

Babe of the Day

----- MP's WORKOUT OF THE DAY ------

IN GYM
AT HOME

05/17/2012- SHOULDERS & LEGS

1) Standing Shoulder Press- 15, 10, 8, 6, 4 reps
2) Arnold Press- 5 sets of 12 reps
3) Upright Row- 3 sets of 15 reps
1) Back Squat- 20, 15, 10, 6, 4 reps
2) Barbell Front Squat- 20, 15, 10, 6, 4 reps
3) Leg Press- 20, 15, 10, 6, 4 reps
4) Stiff Legged Deadlift- 20, 15, 10, 6, 4 reps

Check out this routine with full descriptions, pictures and videos of each exercise

05/17/2012- LEG CIRCUIT

Try to complete this leg circuit without any rest. Rest 2 minutes after this circuit. Repeat this circuit 5 times.

Circuit:

30 Jump Squats
30 Squats with Front Kick
30 Side to Side Jumps (Jump over an object such as pillow or phone book)
30 High Knees
30 Jumping Jacks

Ask Your Question Below

Alex Johnson

When would you say is the best time of day to do cardio? I am trying to cut down for the summer and not lose a lot (if any) of the muscle i have built during the year. I have heard a million different views on when to do cardio, some people say doing it in the morning on an empty stomach, but some people say that will burn muscle. Other people say after a workout, but some people say that puts the body into a catabolic state and hinders muscle growth. I know doing HIIT on off days is good but if I was to go on a 2 to 4 mile run on a day I was lifting when would be the best time to do it?

Muscle Prodigy

Mike, to increase flexibility you need to incorporate lots of stretches. To do a split, you need to stretch specific muscles in your legs so they can "bend" more easily. Examples of stretches would be the butterfly stretch and the pancake stretch. You will not be able to do this in one day either. You need to continue to make progress by increasing the "tension" within your legs on a daily basis. After several weeks of doing this every day and pushing yourself, you will have increased flexibility.

Muscle Prodigy

James, Incredible. So glad you're doing so well with it. Please email me and I'll further help you with your goals and give you some extra personalized tips to help with your progress.

Mike crocozia

Hey Jarret! Do you have any tips to increase flexibility? I want to be able to perform a split but I don't exactly know how to develop the flexibility for it. Thankyou for your reply in advance.

James Hammond

Thank you so much for the MP45. I've dropped down to 250lbs and still dropping!

Muscle Prodigy

Tizzle, it is better to avoid using a weight belt when performing squats. This will further engage your core.

Muscle Prodigy

Aharon, I answered your question regarding foods that you should include in your diet. Stay away from white carbs such as breads and pastas; chopped liver, Frosted Flakes, cheese curls, barbeque chips, snapple, and gatorade are not going to give you the physique you want. Cut out the junk and the simple refined carbs and trans fats. The abs are a muscle group that are worked with certain exercises, but certain exercises place more emphasis on certain regions (upper, lower, obliques). You should have a balanced approach when working your core that includes working these three areas as well as your lower back. Please keep in mind that this is not intended for one person to abuse this free tool and bombard this area with questions.

Aharon Newmark

Sorry to Nag but I posted my question more then 3 days ago

Aharon Newmark

Do some abb workouts only focus on the top abbs or Bottom abbs?

Aharon Newmark

Please tell me Which foods I should eat instead of the food that I'm eating now in order to get a 6 pack Breakfast: Frosted Flakes Coca Puffs or Eggs Snacks: Barbecue Chips Fruit cups Apples Bananas or Cheese curls Drinks: Gatorade Snapple Nestea Arizona Fruit Punch or Water Lunch: Skip Dinner: Sundays: chicken or other meat product Mondays: Macaroni Tuesdays: Meat Wednesdays: Tuna with Macaroni or Macaroni Thursdays: Homemade Pizza Fridays: Soup Bread and Chicken Saturday: Bread Chopped Liver Cold cuts and a Stew with Potatoes Meat and Beans Also which foods would you not recommend Thanks Greatly Appreciated!

Tizzle Mizzle

When doing MP workout of the day or MP 45, should I use a weight belt when performing squats even if I can maintain proper form without one.

Aharon Newmark

I am considering buying the Mp45 books please tell me which exercise equimpment I would need to follow the program

Muscle Prodigy

Mike, thanks for the positive feedback. Episode 3 should be out by the end of this week. Stay tuned. Episode 3 will expand on the proper weightlifting principles to implement.

Muscle Prodigy

Aharon, as far as getting ripped at home, we post a home workout on this site everyday. Just look above this post here. At 13 years old I do not recommend supplements. Focus on natural, healthy foods which would include things like grilled chicken, tuna fish, salmon, lean steak, almonds, baked sweet potatoes, brown rice, lots of green and leafy vegetables, apples, grapefruits, etc. For a complete diet to follow and a breakdown of what you should eat for every meal please refer to mp45, which focuses on nutritional and training aspects. It does not just focus on abs, but a complete physique. Exercise should never be just about vanity, but also performance and health, and these are the principles that led me to a 3x Collegiate All American wrestler.

Mike crocozia

Hey jarret! Out of curiosity, will episode 3 of "Muscle Prodigy on the Couch" be coming out anytime soon? I'm really enjoying and benfitting from the series so far. Looking forward to the next one. Thanks for your time in advance!

Aharon Newmark

Could you please tell me some foods I should eat to get a 6 pack?

Aharon Newmark

does the 45 day workout focus on just abbs

Aharon Newmark

Is 13 to young to buy sumplements?

Aharon Newmark

I don't really have access to a gym is there a way to get a 6 pack or ripped at home?

Muscle Prodigy

Aharon, you most certainly can follow the MP45 program at your age. A lot of people are under the misconception that lifting weights stunts your growth. No studies have ever confirmed such. In fact, regular sessions of moderate to intense exercise actually increase human growth hormone (HGH) production, triggering growth in muscle fiber, bone tissue and other body features. However, as a teenager you must be very careful not to injure yourself while weightlifting. Teens still have cartilage located at the ends of their bones which are soft and pliable called growth plates.You must be preventative during your training and not over-train. However, what is likely to stunt growth is malnutrition. My program not only provides you the exact workouts to perform and science behind it, but it also teaches you exactly how to eat, what to eat, and when to eat so you can build muscle mass and grow into a strong, healthy individual.

Aharon Newmark

I'm 13 years old am I still able to follow the 45 day 6 pack workout?

Muscle Prodigy

Mike, yes, improving your work ethic is going to improve the transformations you make. The progression you make is contingent upon how hard you work and how smart you work. However, sometimes work ethic is disguised as going into the gym more frequently, when in reality it's more about studying and learning how to progress by implementing the proper principles. To further this point, your nutrition and hormonal environment (adequate sleep, low stress) play a far more vital role in how you look. Working out is only about 5% of your time during the week. The other 95% of your week needs to be in tune with your goals. My advice to you is to write down your top goals. What you want to accomplish in a month from now, what you want to accomplish in 6 months from now, a year from now, and 5 years from now. Once on paper and you solidified exactly what you want to achieve, then you need to implement a proper plan of action towards achieving those goals and do not stop learning how to improve in the areas to tweak your plan and make the proper modifications. Then question yourself every minute of every day, are your actions moving closer towards those goals or are they moving farther away from them.

Muscle Prodigy

Shane, please stop asking the same questions over and over again. It is disrespectful of my time. Thank you for understanding and considering my frustration on the matter.

Mike crocozia

Hey jarret! Do you have any tips to improve work ethic? I try to train and do my best everyday but I can see that if I improve my work ethic more, I'll be able to accomplish so much more. So how can I develop the more hardworking mindset? Thanks in advance!

Anonymous

thanks jarret what is the best way to be a freak of athlete like lebron james or shaquille oneal? do you track and field like triple jump 800m marathon 200m 400m will help? what the best protein shakes to extremely big strong and ripped? how you really no if you great genetic if someone is really slow can you become extremely fast help me out thank you

Muscle Prodigy

Laurence, don't think of it as supplementation that is going to make up for the differences you're seeking. Whey protein is good, but you shouldn't RELY on any supplements to get the physique you want. A pre-workout is good for energy, but your nutrition in terms of the foods you eat and the frequency of those meals is going to play the biggest difference in the way you look, despite the training you are putting yourself through. In terms of building strength, continue to strength train, however, I would up it from three days per week to four days, even five if you want to maximize your results. I assume you are doing full body routines if you are doing it three times a week. I would start focusing more on individual body parts to help switch it up and make sure that you go to failure during your workouts. Keeping your rep range low with heavy weights (whilst keeping strict form) will help build strength without focusing on hypertrophy or mass building. It also appears from your question that you tend to favor cardio more than weight training. As far as physique goes, diet plays the biggest role, but try to ramp up your weightlifting a little more to burn off that stubborn fat. Also from a conditioning standpoint, high intensity weightlifting is going to help with your endurance. I often find that intense weightlifting routines I put myself through are far more exhausting than any form of running I could do. Since I was a wrestler, high intensity weightlifting circuits always mimicked what I experienced in a match much more than running ever could. All the best, Jaret.

Muscle Prodigy

Christopher, glad you purchased the program. As far as your goals. If we break it down numerically, that means you want to gain 18 pounds of muscle while losing 8 pounds of fat if your starting out measurement is right. This is do-able, but it really it is going to depend upon how hard you are going to work and how strict you are going to be with your nutrition and training. I spelled it out for you, but its up to you to apply it. However, I don't want you to view this program as a do it and quit it type. Think of this more like a catalyst for change that will teach you principles to apply for life. The particularly rough thing with gaining lots of muscle as dictated while dropping almost double your bodyweight in fat is the nutritional predicament. As I explain in the program, the best results usually come when you are focused on either getting ripped or bulking up. When you look to gain lots of muscle AND burn lots of fat, the difficulty is heightened to achieve those goals rapidly. Your results will certainly come, but they may not happen in 45 days. Just stay committed. Everything is detailed in the program, but email me at mp45@muscleprodigy.com with the email your purchased the program from and I will give you some tips to further help you with your goals. That is a privilege of being an MP45 customer.

Muscle Prodigy

Shane, genetics refers to your ability in an activity to be predetermined. Whether your parents played sports or not, your genetic blueprint cannot change after the fact. However, if they were good at sports, that is probably a good indication that you were blessed with being an athletic type- or the ability to work up to that point. However, this is not always the case. Nevertheless, you should most definitely put your mind to it and try to maximize your genetic potential by working hard.

Omar Marquez Mier

que hago para marcar mis abdominales?

Laurence Kenchington

Hi Jaret, I'm 5'11" to 6'00" tall and weigh about 175lbs. I'm 18 and play 2 different sports and I go to the gym times three times a week. I do a mixture of HIIT cardo and resistance training. I'm looking to lose fat (just the stubborn bit arond my middle) and gain lean muscle (not for body building or anything like that). I want power but also endurance for the sport I play. What stack of supplements would you suggest. I'm just taking whey protein at the minute as this was suggested by the gym trainer. Cheers, Laurence

Christopher Moran

I just started MP45 this week and am wondering if this goal can happen from it. I am curently 150ish and have an esimated body fat percentage of 14%. Would I be able to get up to 160 and have a 8% body fat by the start of june.

Anonymous

hey wassup i would like to how to be extremely athletic and my dad was playing volleyball and soccer when he was young do you think it help my overall genetic if i put mind into it?

Muscle Prodigy

Hey Edwin, you are one strong kid even at your bodyweight. To lose fat you need a consistent training regimen (making sure you hit each bodypart at least once a week) and a very strict nutritional plan. You've got plenty of muscle mass, but that doesn't mean we want to stop weight training. Weight training is the best way to burn fat believe it or not, because if you stop weight training, then your body no longer has a need to hold onto its muscle mass. Being lean is all about your muscular composition- your ratio of muscle to fat. We want to maximize the amount of muscle on your body and minimize the fat, but the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn throughout the whole day because your body's basal metabolic rate is higher due to the need to sustain its muscle mass and get you through those taxing workouts. So when we do cardio workouts, we also want to preserve our precious muscle tissue but burn fat. How do we do that? Sprints and explosive movements in addition to HIIT. You may think that doing long bouts of cardio will work but it won't. Long cardio sessions will burn fat, yes, but it will also eat at your muscular tissue as well. We want to preserve muscle. You weigh 290 now and odds are you are at a higher body fat percentage than you think. You should aim to get down to about 10% body fat and you do this through nutrition and continuing high intensity training. As I told Nick below you need to eat every 2-3 hours with a lean protein source, a low glycemic index carbohydrate, and healthy unsaturated fats. You are probably very insulin sensitive though if you weigh 290 pounds so that means you need to watch your carbs more than someone else. You probably need to taper them down during the day and implement carb cycling to trick your body into burning fat. My MP45 program teaches you everything you need to know about these tips to help do that. Stay consistent. It doesn't matter how much you weigh...what matters is how lean you are. If you look 240 pounds with 10% body fat, you're going to look absolutely JACKED- a body that everyone envies. So stay committed to achieving that goal.

Muscle Prodigy

Hey Nick, thanks for reaching out. You are a strong guy. As far as burning fat, you need to ramp up the intensity of your workouts. If you are that strong, odds are you activate the ATP-PC energy system by doing explosive movements, but take long rests in between your sets (3-5 minutes). To help burn fat, you should cut down your rest periods to about a minute, sometimes even less like 45 seconds and incorporate a lot of supersets. This will help increase your production of hgh to help lean you out and you will be burning more calories during your workouts by completing more sets. I also recommend incorporating some cardio as well in the form of High intensity interval training. You can find plenty of those kinds of workouts. However, the biggest changes in your body will be a result of nutrition. You can train until you are blue in the face, but if you eat freid fodds and McDonald's you're going to look like you don't train at all. What good is building lots of muscle if it is covered by fat so no one can see it? Transfer your carbs over to low glycemic ones and limit them. Transfer your fats from trans and saturated fats to unsaturated fats. Odds are you are currently eating more than your caloric requirements. Therefore, break up your meals into about 6 smaller meals and portion your food with a lean protein source, a low glycemic carb, and lots of green vegetables with fiber.

Edwin Hurtado

Hey, I am a 17 year old. I bench around 300 and squat 480. But i weigh 290? Should i pursue weight training or should i do more cardio to lose weight and get down to at least 240? And what program will help?

Nick Hagaman

Hello, Im currently a 15 year old kid. Im abnormaly strong for my age. I bench 225 and i currently weigh 189. I need to burn some more fat though...... any suggestions? any will help?

Muscle Prodigy

Tim, for a preworkout please consume roughly 20-30g of whey protein along with some slow digesting carbohydrates (do not overdo it with the carbs since you want to burn fat during your workout) in addition to a pre-workout supplement that includes something with 4 ingredients: caffeine for energy, beta alanine to improve performance against fatigue, l-arginine to dilate the blood vessels, and creatine to help create ATP energy. One of the best on the market for this kind of supplement profile is Cellucor C4 Extreme, which is GMP certified.

Tim adfaljkf

what are the best preworkout supplements?

Muscle Prodigy

Mitch, Awesome!! Good job sticking with it. Yes, the first 2 weeks are to ease the beginner into these kind of training principles and then it ramps up fast after that, but now that you've completed all 45 days you've given your body the proper foundation it needs to be able to handle day 15-45. However, make sure to incorporate variety in your exercise routines as I state in the program. Increasing the weight is great, but also switch up your exercises, tempo, rest periods, sets, etc. for the next 6 weeks- sometimes doing the program backwards is a great way to switch things up too. Remember, we want to expose our muscles to something new with every workout. Moving on to your hybrid workout. Insanity is mainly a high intensity cardio routine with little emphasis on muscle building or strength training, so do not neglect the weights in replacement of Insanity. However, it would be ok to complement it into the program at separate times of the day, however, remember what I discussed about overtraining- make sure not to cross over that fine line. This is very important. Doing too much will place your hormones completely out of whack. More is not always better, so putting an Insanity workout in here and there is OK, but trying to do every workout program all in one is going to be too taxing on the body.

Mitch Larry

I just completed the MP45 program, great stuff and now I'm looking to a hybrid of the workout program with insanity. What day do you recommend I start at as I don't think I need to go all the way back to the first 2 weeks. I will be alternating between the insanity workout and your sprints! Will be using your workout for the upper-body so I don't lose any strength. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Muscle Prodigy

Dennis, for a preworkout please consume roughly 20-30g of whey protein along with some slow digesting carbohydrates in addition to a pre-workout supplement that includes something with 4 ingredients: caffeine for energy, beta alanine to improve performance against fatigue, l-arginine to dilate the blood vessels, and creatine to help create ATP energy. One of the best on the market for this kind of supplement profile is Cellucor C4 Extreme, which is GMP certified. As far as a post-workout meal, have a whey protein shake with some carbs to shuttle the protein to the muscles, but do not overdo it since you train at night. Also, try to get one more meal in about an hour or two after the post-workout shake and before bedtime to make sure you get an adequate supply of nutrients.

dennis deminio

hello there... can you tell me a good pre workout and a post workout meal??? my weight is 83 kgs and i train in the night so afterwards i go to sleep... thanx in advance

Muscle Prodigy

Emmanuel, we appreciate your support but if you have further questions about Mp45 please email me. I am pretty sure I've answered all of your questions, but for now we have to give other members the opportunity to post here.

emmanuel emmanuel

if i do mp45 program for the entire year and workout like an athlete for the rest of my life. will make me the best athlete i could be?

Muscle Prodigy

Emmanuel, take Cellucor Super Sport as your protein shake. http://cellucor.com/product/super-sport As far as MP45, yes you will become a freak athlete. To give you an idea, I went from being 2-14 on varsity my freshman year in wrestling to becoming a 3x All-American wrestler in college after implementing these principles of H.I.S.T. and proper eating. At 200 pounds, I can do over 250 pushups, I currently run a 5:10 mile, and squat 325 pounds 21 times and 148 pounds for 104 reps ass to the grass. Get the program- it's specifically designed for athletes.

emmanuel emmanuel

whats also is the best protein shakes does professional athletes like nba , nfl, and nhl wich one you recommend for me

emmanuel emmanuel

thanks my last thing i want to ask you is do you think if i take your mp45 program and also do track and field will it help my overall athleticism and also be ripped like an athletes that my main goal thank you

Muscle Prodigy

Fred, on your chest days, you need to focus more on working your chest than your shoulders. Like you said you overcompensate with your shoulders. That tells me three things- 1) You're not connecting your mind with the muscle you are working - the chest. 2) The weight is too heavy where you're incorporating more muscle groups to get the weight up than you should. 3) The position of the weight is not in an optimal state and you aren't doing the exercise right to receive the peak contraction. Lower the weight and focus more on your chest. Instead of keeping the incline bench at a high incline, lower it. This will place more emphasis on your chest. Your shoulders are a delicate joint, so you need to strengthen it. Dedicate a day where you do shoulders, but minimize the military presses (never do behind the neck shoulder presses either) and do lots of lateral raises, rear delt raises, and front raises. Focus on the contraction and stimulation rather than heaving the weight up. The biggest takeaway is to focus on the negative portion of the rep- LOWER IT SLOWLY. Try supplementing with glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM in addition to vitamin D.

Muscle Prodigy

Emmanuel, there is a genetic envelope in terms of there being a maximum limit as to what you can accomplish. There is a limit as to how fast you can run, how high you can jump, how much muscle you can maintain. No one on this Earth will have 100 inch vertical. No one will be able to run a 2 minute mile. Everyone has a genetic limit. Just like you are born with a max height of 6'6", there will be a limit as to what you can achieve. However, working very hard every day can maximize your potential and perhaps allow you to reach that threshold. The limit is often understated by your mind, but the further you allow your mind to expand the possibilities of what you can achieve, the greater your achievements will be. To be an athletic freak, like I keep reiterating over and over, you need to hit the weights, work on your cardiovascular conditioning, eat right, sleep 8 hours a night, and minimize stress. Now get going and work hard!

Fred Oickle

A few years ago, I suffered an impingement in my shoulder from lifting (dumbbell chest presses). I went through physiotherapy, and when I am not working out, it feels fine. I continue to weight train, but often on my chest days, I tend to over-compensate with my shoulders, and perhaps keep them tucked a little too much. The result is my shoulders give out before my chest does, and they are sore for a few days after, which keeps me from working them for longer than I want. I work out at home, with mostly dumbbells, a TRX, and an older universal-type machine. Is there a lifting method I can employ that will ensure my shoulders will go the distance for a workout and not haunt me for days afterward? Thanks.

emmanuel emmanuel

how you exactly if you have genetics envelope if you could explained to me?

emmanuel emmanuel

than you very much i appreciated my goal is to be a profeesionnal athletes ill take your program is it possible extreme athlete at my age right now? what does it take to ripped and blazing speed? MY goal is to be intimidaded like a dwight or shaq. My goal is to be a freak of nature. I will work EXTREMELY HARD TO GET THERE.if you could please some pointers how to get there again because i play basketball thank you

Muscle Prodigy

Emmanuel, the athletes you are referring to spend hours doing strenuous physical activity every day and are surrounded by elite nutritionists and trainers. They are eating right throughout the day and they are training hard and with the proper methodology. To be jacked like these athletes, you must have a very consistent training and nutrition plan, that follows the PROPER methodology. The difference between a pro and an amateur is that the pro is doing the activity right, whereas the amateur is going through the motions and doing the activity wrong, even if it's unintentional. The MP45 program is a proven science that has been structured after several years of research and now thousands have reaped the rewards of increasing their power, strength, speed and by extension, their athleticism while reducing body fat levels tremendously. To get your body fat down from 35%, like I said, your nutrition is going to play the largest factor here, and your training needs to be very intense. However, if you down a bag of McDonald's after your workout, you'll look like you don't train at all. So it's a combination of both. MP45 puts you in the right direction, giving you a plan that tells you everything you need to know to continually build lean muscle and drastically decrease body fat levels by stimulating, your muscles, repairing them to grow with proper nutrition, increasing your basal metabolic rate, and increasing the anabolic hormones in your body.

emmanuel emmanuel

but the problem also im 240 a lot of body phat at least to 35% i want to reduce to 4 to 5% at least get 300 lbs

emmanuel emmanuel

thank you very much but im 25 is it too late but my problem is i really want to be a athletic freak like shaq or lebron basiacally increased my athleticism includes speed power strength coordination vertical leap conditionning stamina endurance and resisitance.Second do you think if i do track and field and ur program mp45 i will be jacked like those athletes?What does it take to be really jacked like athletes if you could please help me out thanks

Muscle Prodigy

Emmanuel, those are some pretty lofty goals you are setting out for yourself. The first step in accomplishing something is believing in yourself. The next thing is to carry out the tasks that are going to get you there every single day- eating right during every meal, hitting the gym with intensity, training like an animal, getting 8+ hours of sleep per night, and staying away from the vices such as partying with alcohol intake. While you can increase your vertical jump significantly, like all things in life, there is a genetic envelope. A 50 inch vertical leap would make you the best jumper in the NBA. Kobe Bryant, one of the best dunkers in his prime, had a 38" vertical. I do not want you setting yourself up for depression by making huge goals that may not be attainable. Your best bet is to make small goals during brief timeframes that aren't too much of a stretch, for instance, setting out to gain 2 inches on your vertical in a month. Then evaluate, reassess, and determine your next goal after that month is up. Shaquille O'neal was surely an athletic freak in his prime, and the good news in your comparison to him, is that you are blessed with a tremendous frame being 6'6". So if you are looking for a career in professional sports, you've got a significant advantage already. Your goals of bulking up are probably the easiest out of everything. If you want to gain 30-60 pounds of lean muscle, you can realistically do this in about 15-30 weeks if you are seriously committed to it. Your diet needs to be spot on, eating frequently with low gylcemic complex carbs, lean protein sources, and healthy fats. Particularly, your breakfast and your pre and post workout meals need to be the right macronutrient combination of simple and complex carbs and fast and slow digesting proteins. If you are really interested in learning on how to train properly to increase your athleticism and bulk up properly through diet (clean weight), then take a look at mp45.com. This program guide will teach you everything you need to know to put you on the right path to grow continuous lean muscle, while increasing your strength, power, speed, and jumping ability. Best of luck to you.

emmanuel emmanuel

hey gyus wassup my name is emmanuel my goal is to be extremely ripped, strong,athleticism basiacally a frwak of nature like a shaquille oneal and pure speed like a sprinter and at least to have between a 40 to 50 inches vertical leap what should I do? im 6"6 240 my goal is to be at least 270 or 300 all muscle and 4 to 5% body phat help me out thanks

Muscle Prodigy

Luke, since you are a football player, you have come across the PERFECT guide to help you maximize your potential as an athlete. If you are serious about being an elite athlete, then you need to perform a certain type of weight training and conditioning program. There is a difference between being good and being great in sports. The difference is in how much you put in after practice both physically and mentally by getting stronger, quicker, and developing more endurance. To be the best athlete you can be, you need to incorporate a multi-faceted approach of cardio, weight resistance training, and proper diet. However, you need to train a very specific way. You need to reach absolute failure during your workouts, but keep them short. So they need to be short in duration, but as INTENSE as possible. MP45 focuses on everything- it will train your core, chest, back, arms, shoulders, legs, flexibility, speed, stamina, endurance, quickness, etc by doing a series of compound exercise movements, some various isolation techniques, and interval cardio to improve your VO2 max; and the nutrition compounds this effect. Gaining lean mass will actually improve your 40 time, reflexes, vertical jump, and your ability to change directions. The more muscle fibers you have available to recruit, the easier it is for your body to be explosive, which is necessary to be an elite athlete. You see, gaining lean mass is all about a systemic process. By performing squats, you actually build muscle in your upper body because exercises like squats, deadlifts, and lunges release tremendous amounts of precious hormones such as testosterone and human growth hormone, which creates the proper anabolic hormonal environment for you to build muscle in your upper body and burn fat throughout your whole body. MP45 preaches a philosophy I coined called High Intensity Stimulation Training which will increase your anabolic hormones and stimulate your entire for LEAN growth. MP45 is perfect for you, especially since you are an athlete looking to get better.

Luke Ceneviva

i am 5 foot 11 and weigh 155 pounds and have gotten a really good and pretty toned body by just doing a bunch of push ups and pull ups and dips and them with weight. im a freshmen in highschool and play receiver and have very good speed. im looking to put on 10-15 pounds of muscle mass without losing my speed. will mp45 lifting do it for me?

Muscle Prodigy

Here are some tips to help you Kuber: Rule #1: Eat, Eat, Eat. I cannot stress this enough. What most people neglect to do when gaining mass is to provide their muscles with the proper nutrients necessary to facilitate growth. However, it is important to understand when the most beneficial times are to eat so you put on proper mass and not just carry weight that you’ll eventually want to shed off (a.k.a. fat). Our program MP45.com gives you all this information. Rule #2: You’ve got to train with intensity. Amp up your workouts with High Intensity but keep your workouts under an hour. High Intensity Stimulation Training found in MP45.com will deliver you your results. Rule #3: Rest often. Make sure your work outs are spread out enough so you don't hit the same muscle group more than once in a 72 hour span. Also, sleep 9 uninterrupted hours a night. Rule #4: Despite popular opinion, do a couple of cardio sessions a week. Your heart is a muscle as well. The better trained your heart, the more efficient it works and can effectively do its job. But do high intense cardio- also explained in MP45.com/ Rule #5: Develop a mind-muscle connection when training. Form trumps weight.

Kuber Verma

im 5'6 and weigh 120 i really just wanna reach 140 pounds all muscle ive tried everything but the most i can put on is like 1-3 pounds a month any advice?

jacob kelbrants

My name is Jake Kelbrants, i'm 22-from Minnesota. I'm training for my first fitness show. I have a small page on Facebook called Ultimate Fitness Motivation. Are you guys going to have a booth at the Arnold Classic? If so, could I send some pics? I would love the opportunity to work at it! My email is kelbrant@augsburg.edu

Muscle Prodigy

Awesome James! We are glad you are loving MP45. Stay focused and work hard throughout the next 4 and a half weeks. You're going to see some incredible results during that timeframe if you follow everything and shock your system by switching up the regimen week by week as dictated in the program.

James Hammond

I've started week 2 of MP45 and I'm loving it so far! I've noticed some changes already. The best part of it all is the fat seems to be melting away!

Muscle Prodigy

Don, try to focus less on supplements and easy fixes and more on the foods you are eating. Just replacing many unhealthy foods with the foods listed in the MP45 program will completely take care of burning fat, regardless, of your portion control. Focus more on transitioning to healthy eating at every meal (water instead of juices, cut out the junk food, have protein at every meal, pyramid down your carbohydrates, eat lots of vegetables, grill everything instead of frying it). The one supplement I recommend is to get in a whey protein or hemp protein source before and after your workouts in conjunction with a healthy carb source (amounts dependent upon whether it's resistance training or cardio and your goals). I once had someone who was 315 pounds come up to me looking for advice. In 2 and a half months, I got him down to 220 pounds. I knew that I couldn't put him on a terribly restrictive portion control diet because he would quit so fast, so what I did instead was I gave him a list of foods that are on limits, and he could eat anything off the list in any amounts he wanted, and I obviously put him on an advanced training regimen that he faithfully followed. All these foods are listed in MP45. Obviously he ate big portions of those foods and overeating without introducing the intricate details of nutrition is not going to get you to 5% body fat, but you can see the point at how I was able to get him into health and fitness and make the transition of getting him out of obesity to get him down to about 13% body fat in such a short period of time. Introducing the right type of foods makes the biggest difference in the world, but MP45 lists all of the tiny intricate details of nutrition and training as well, to get you looking absolutely shredded. Best of luck!

Don Blight

What is your opinion on African Mango extract? Do you think it is more effective for fat loss than Green Tea extract and other calorie burning supplements?

Muscle Prodigy

James, doing cardio in the morning is definitely beneficial since two-a-days are going to ramp up your metabolic rate and burn extra calories, however doing the bike for 30 minutes is certainly not recommended. Here's why. First off, running burns significantly more calories than the bike, due to the fact that your core has to stabilize itself while moving, whereas doing the bike only requires movement from your legs. Second, doing steady-state cardio is not beneficial because while it burns calories, it also breaks down your muscular tissue in the process. Being lean and looking your best is about having the most amount of muscle on your body compared to fat, no matter how much you weigh. This is body fat percentage, and this is the most important statistic you should be concerned with- not your weight. The cardio that you should be performing should be high intensity interval training, that includes sprints! 30 minutes is more than enough time, but it needs to be an incredibly intense session. This not only spares muscle tissue (just make sure you have something like whey protein beforehand), but also burns calories far after the exercise is over since more energy is required to recover from an intense session rather than a session doing the same speed for the entire time. As far as your lifting, the whole light weight/high reps thing is in reality a myth. Muscle is muscle; and fat is fat. Each muscle group responds best to a specific number of reps dependent on the type of muscle fibers it is predominantly made up of. The most important thing you need to bring to your weightlifting sessions is INTENSITY and that means going to failure while using your mind to connect the muscle. If you would really like to learn about how your body works, then I really suggest you purchase MP45, which gives you a detailed 45 day plan showing you exactly what kind of cardio I'm talking about, when to perform it, and what exactly to train in the gym when looking to torch the fat. If you don't create this mind-muscle connection in the gym and bring your muscle to total failure to pop them out, then you're practically wasting your time in the gym. Also, nutrition is going to play the ultimate X factor in your quest to losing weight- learn exactly what to eat for every meal of the day for all 45 days. You will not regret your purchase of MP45. www.MP45.com

James Hammond

I'm enlisting in the Navy soon and I'm trying to cut the fat. I graduated from high school last year playing football and i'm stuck with the same weight i was back during the season. I'm 5' 8". I weight 270. I've been getting on the bike and going for 30 min each day to start my day. After work each night I got to the gym and do light weight/ high reps (a friend told me that's the best way to burn fat around muscle). What is your opinion on this? Anything thing i can do to speed the process up?

Muscle Prodigy

Don, getting ripped is all about a systemic process, which is a result of your training and your diet. You need to build muscle and burn fat through exercise, but more importantly, you need to make sure your body is creating the proper hormones (namely, testosterone and hgh) to get to the low levels of body fat you are referring to. This is very difficult with the high amount of long distance running you are doing on a practically daily basis- 70 miles...ouch! Steady state cardio and lifting without intensity (meaning minimal weights used) will not cause you to lose much in the way of fat, because even though you burn a lot of calories, you break down muscular tissue during the process and the less muscle you have, the less fat you burn- so the more calories you put into your body, the less it goes to recovery of the muscles to build them up and the more it goes to storing for energy (and if you don't use that energy, it gets stored as fat). And you can see how this process repeats itself over and over again. Since you are a cross country runner, you cannot change around the particular type of cardio you are doing, but you need to implement some form of higher intensity exercise such as sprints and strength training, where you are lifting with near maximal loads (three days a week, as prescribed by your team is enough to get a significant response, if done with the PROPER intensity). It is not about how much weight you lose, but what the mirror sees- and that is particularly why your body composition is so important- your ratio of muscle to fat. With getting a ripped physique with minimal body fat at 6.5 or 7%, it requires pushing yourself within your workouts by being very intense during short brief bouts, lasting only seconds long where you've reached momentary failure (I explain exactly how to do this in our MP45 program- www.mp45.com), then resting briefly, and repeating the process. But there is a fine line that must not be crossed- you cannot do this for extended periods of time in the same day and you cannot do it every day to the point where you overtrain. This will hinder your hormone balance and create CORTISOL. My recommendation to you though since you cannot change up your exercise much, is you do things with nutrition to help prevent muscle breakdown during your runs. Make sure to take a whey protein and complex carb source like maltodextrin before you run and immediately after. Also, I recommend taking a BCAA supplement before your runs. I highly value HumaPro tabs made by ALRI, which is a specific vegetable origin 8 essential amino acid formulation with the proper enzymatic structure so your body can break it down and utilize it. Best of luck!

Don Blight

im 6 foot and weigh 172 lbs. I run cross country for Wayne State University. In order for me to take my athletic to the next level I need to cut some weight. I want to maintain my strength and cut fat. Im currently around 9 percent and would like to reach 6.5 or 7 percent. How should I approach this?? We run 70 miles a week and lift 3 days. Plus basketball twice a week

Muscle Prodigy

Jason, your training needs to be where you look to achieve what's called a pump through your training and where you are actually taking your muscle to complete failure to present it with progressive overload. Nutrition is going to make up a huge composition of gaining those 10 pounds- you need to be taking in an adequate amount of nutrients very frequently and particularly your post-workout meal and breakfast are extremely important if you want to pack on LEAN muscle. . The number of reps you should perform differs based upon the actual muscle you are working, since each muscle is particularly responsive to a set number of reps based on the fibers they are made up of (predominantly fast twitch or slow twitch). This is explained fully in the MP45 program at http://www.mp45.com. This is a workout program designed exclusively by Muscle Prodigy. It tells you the exercises to perform, the amount of reps to do, the number of sets, on what days to lift, when to take off, etc.- step by step workout and diet plan for all 45 days.

Jason Bourne

I'm looking to put on some lean muscle (approx 10 pounds) without getting overly muscular or bulky. How many reps and how many sets of each exercise should I be looking at doing in the gym?

Muscle Prodigy

Sorry for this spam issue.

Muscle Prodigy

Daryl, If you would like to be a Prodigy of the month, please email us with a short bio and pictures of yourself to enter the evaluation process. That goes for anyone interested in this esteemed position.

Muscle Prodigy

Alex, you most likely are suffering from elbow tendinitis, which is inflammation of the tendons that attach to the outside part of the elbow. This could be a very painful condition, but is almost always worsened by performing certain movements that involve a pressing motion, where a lot of pressure is placed on your elbow. That means every time you are doing a shoulder press, bench press, dip, pressdown, etc., you are exacerbating it, and never giving it a chance to heal. If you mentally cannot afford a break from exercising your upper body altogether, you need to modify your exercises and choose the ones that give you the least amount of pain. However, you must consult with your primary physician to find out what the real problem is, because it could be a much more severe condition such as a hairline fracture. Best of luck.

Daryl Butler

How does the prodigy selection work

Alex Chavez

how to I get rid of elbow pain wen i do shoulder presses of anything with triceps?

Brian C

I love hill sprints. Go 8 seconds as hard as you can, stop for 12 then go 8 then 12. I read this is most optimal for fat burning. And yes...Alex Timber, I do that for chest also. It's wicked good!

Alex Timber

I never extend all the way up when doing bench press. I like to keep a slight bend in my elbow and squeeze the chest at the top. I feel a much better pump. Does anyone do it this way?

Brett James

Pull-ups with weight tied to your belt is the best! DO IT!

Chris Andrews

I love doing squats with low weight. I try to shoot for 20-30 reps with my legs perfectly parallel. I squeeze at the bottom of each rep and explode up. I never felt stronger in my life doing this stuff! Everyone must try this!