Well while we're at it, there are very few who will work on increasing their mass size at the same time as breaking their spring records and becomming an MMA champ. Genetic freaks, once again. The more exercise you do outside of the gym (while trying to put on size), the more you have to eat ON TOP of the extra calories you're already eating. While I put on mass, I keep my cardio activities to... well it depends if I'm dating or not. If I'm NOT dating, I only do about 20-30 minutes of cardio twice a week.
I see a lot of people that complain they can't get any bigger. They lift 5 days a week. They do cardio for 30 minutes each of those 5 days after they lift, and then go hiking and etc on the weekend. If you can't eat enough because of your body, or because your stomach is always too full to keep eating, you need to back your cardio down. Mass gain is a result of excess calories. No exception. If a person isn't getting any bigger, they aren't eating excess calories. There are only two options:
1) back off your energy expendature
2) eat even more food.
That's it. Mass gaining is positively effected by the "less is more" concept. Lifting 5-6 days a week, working out the same muscles twice a week... these things aren't going to get you there. Stop reading "Ahnold" articles. HE could do that because he was on TEH RHOIDS!!! Not to mention that you body produces the most HGH while you're sleeping, which is why many bodybuilders shoot for 10 hours of sleep a night. If you're only getting 6... it's time to rethink your strategy.
Overdoing protein is also a common mistake. I hear all the time "Aw you need 2-2.5 grams per pound of bodyweight". That's nonsense. That comes from a study done over in the EU somewhere, and the study concluded the most benefit for a male was 2-2.5 grams per KG of bodyweight. I.E about 1 gram/pound. Extra isn't going to be bad, but you certainly don't need double that. For mass gaining, almost all of your extra bump of calories should be coming from healthy fats and carbohydrates. Emphasis on carbs. You can back those down for leaning out, but to keep them low for muscle building is complete insanity. You want your muscles to work as hard as possible, so you want to give them the fuel that they will get the most out of: mmmmmmmmcarbs. And why healthy fats? It increases testosterone levels. That's kind of a big deal too
