GST

For around two months now I have been following a programme that was popularised on the bodybuilding.com forums, known as Growth Stimulation Training. This programme has given me some excellent results, relatively quickly aswell, and i'd like to discuss a few key points, and hopefully encourage you to take a look yourself.

The routine itself focuses around four major compound lifts, a press, pull, lift and squat movement, each of which increases in weight every week, building to a crescendo where you are forced under the bar with your 1RM teetering above you, which for those who have been there know, can be a nerve wracking experience. Its seen all too often when people claim to be trying to gain strength, they load up the bar week after week with the same weight, crank out the same 7 or 8 reps, and call it a day. One of the great features of this routine is that it encourages you to try the weight, because the numbers say so. And most of the time, you surprise yourself when you hit your third rep with a weight you should have only managed once.

Various methods of what i'd refer to as 'hybrid' training come into play within the routine, weak point training, various rep ranges and movements are utilised to build a rounded, but most importantly, powerful physique.

The creator himself has a youtube channel www.youtube.com/user/GSTAuthor where he talks about some of the finer points not covered in his eBook, and more information can be found at growthstimulustraining.com/

Yeah but you cheat, you take Whey........

Ever heard that before? The whine of the 160lb 'natural' bodybuilder, the lips of which have never crossed with the taint of Whey protein, creatine, glucosamine, nor any other unholy product; because they COULD just sit back and sip some chocolate powder from their chalice and listen to the sweet sound of their t-shirt tearing to shreds as their giganto-guns come into their own-

Okay I could go on here, but I think you see what I'm getting at. These people are idiots.

Sometimes it can be forgiven, a 15 year old who has gained most of their knowledge from what they were told by the muscular retard in their class (and he must be right, his fatceps are over 17 inches!) can hardly be expected to know that creatine is found naturally in all red meat, for example, and that our muscles would be unable to function properly without it.

Now ofcourse I'm not saying that supplements are the answer either, they have their place.

Many people, including myself find it difficult and impractical to eat the required amount of protein per day, and so the answer to that is to supplement the diet with whey protein, thats an extra 50grams of protein that I don't need to worry about hunting today. Fantastic.

Personally, whey is about the only supplement I use regularly, along with a multivitamin now and then. I've taken creatine, pre-workout supplements, and all kinds of other commercialised designer supplements, and honestly, my opinion is that if you have the money, and feel like they help you (talking more about pre-workout supplements here, I prefer to just make sure I've eaten a decent amount of carbs a few hours before the workout to fuel me) then go for it, but don't expect miracles unless you're putting in a godly amount of work.

In summary, take supplements, but don't rely on them.