I’ve recently stopped buying frozen chicken fillets and switched to whole chickens - they just taste so much better!

Problem is, how do you cut the damn thing to get maximum meat with minimal mess?

Easy! Check it out…

Step 1 - Remove the Legs

Place the chicken on a cutting board with the legs facing you. Hold the carcass steady and use a knife to remove the legs.

Step 2 - Remove the Wings

Now slice the wings off where they meet the body. The primal among you will want to eat these as opposed to throwing them away.

Step 3 - Halve the Carcass

Starting from the tail end, cut through the cavity of the bird. Slice the bones of the rib cage and cut parallel to the backbone. Now repeat on the other side of the backbone.

Step 4 - Go for the Breast

To get the breasts separated, remove the backbone by cutting where it is still attached.

Step 5 - What about the ‘Oysters’?

Those little bits of chicken where the legs meet the ribs. Grab the legs from step 1 and don’t let that deliciousness go to waste.

Here’s a helpful video that uses a slightly different method.

Enjoy your chicken!

Mark McManus

image credit: gourmetsleuth.com

It’s pretty much universally agreed that creatine works!

One concern that pops up from time to time is water retention.

Some people complain that creatine will make them look smoother i.e. they’ll lose definition on it. They believe that there is more extracellular water retained than intracellular water. Obviously we want the intracellular (inside the muscle) swelling, but not the extracellular.

So let’s take an objective look at this. Thankfully a study was designed to test this very notion.

32 trained individuals, 16 men and 16 women, were split into 2 groups:

1. The creatine group – 7 days loading then maintenance
2. The Placebo group – Sugar pill loading for 7 days then maintenance

The study lasted 4 weeks, then subjects were measured for:

• Muscle creatine concentrations
• Total Body Water
• Extracellular water
• Intracellular water

Check out the details of the study then see the bottom for the conclusion…

Creatine Supplementation Increases Total Body Water Without Altering Fluid Distribution

Objective:

To examine the effects of oral creatine (Cr) monohydrate supplementation on muscle Cr concentration, body mass, and total body water (TBW), extracellular water (ECW), and intracellular water (ICW) volumes.

Design and Setting:

After an overnight fast, urinary Cr and creatinine concentrations, muscle Cr concentration, body mass, TBW, ECW, and ICW were measured, and subjects were randomly assigned to either a Cr or a placebo (P) group.
The Cr group ingested 25 g/d of Cr for 7 days (loading phase) and 5 g/d for the remaining 21 days (maintenance phase), whereas the P group ingested a sucrose P using the same protocol. All the measures were reassessed immediately after the loading and maintenance phases.

Subjects:

Sixteen men (age = 22.8 ± 3.01 years, height = 179.8 ± 7.1 cm, body mass = 84.8 ± 11.2 kg) and 16 women (age = 21.8 ± 2.51 years, height = 163.4 ± 5.9 cm, body mass = 63.6 ± 14.0 kg) involved in resistance training volunteered to participate in this study.

Measurements:

Muscle Cr concentration was determined from the vastus lateralis muscle using a percutaneous needle-biopsy technique. Total body water, ECW, and ICW volumes were assessed using deuterium oxide and sodium bromide dilution analyses.

Results:

The Cr group experienced a significant increase in muscle Cr concentration, body mass, and TBW. The P group experienced a small but significant increase in TBW only.

Conclusions:

The Creatine supplementation protocol was effective for increasing muscle creatine concentrations, body mass, and TBW; however, fluid distribution was not changed.

study: Powers, M.; Arnold B et al. (2003). "Creatine Supplementation Increases
Total Body Water Without Altering Fluid Distribution". Journal of Athletic
Training (National Athletic Trainers' Association, Inc)
38 (Jan-Mar 2003): 44–50.  

Total body water is indeed increased but, importantly, the fluid distribution is not affected.

Supplementing with micronized creatine monohydrate is very important to preserving and growing new muscle tissue while cutting. However, from the above data, it may be advantageous to cease creatine supplementation before a contest.

I don’t compete and never have, so this isn’t an area of speciality for me. It would seem that you may look a little more ripped when cycling off creatine, BUT also note that you would appear slightly smaller too, the choice is yours. When primarily targeting muscle growth however, creatine supplementation is a no-brainer in my opinion.

Stay Motivated!

Mark McManus

P.S. If any competing bodybuilders want to shed some light on pre-contest creatine, that would be great.

MuscleHacker: “So what, are you expecting a round of applause or something?”

The logical, commonsense advice I will share in this article will take you to your goals faster than the majority of lifters you’ll see at your local gym.

One newbie question that always comes up is,

“How do I know if I’m lifting the right weight? I can’t lift as heavy as the other guys at the gym”

Answer: It doesn’t matter.

Whatever weight that allows you to fail somewhere in the 8-12 rep range is the right weight for you.

There’s one fact you need to burn indelibly into your mind…

Your muscles do NOT know absolute poundages

Don’t be in a rush to lift as heavy as the other guys. If you do, it’s likely that you’ll sacrifice form and muscle stimulation in the process. You can therefore go months and even years without attaining your goal – and many people do!

One man’s 70lbs is another man’s 200lbs. Poundages are TOTALLY relative; you must do what’s right for you. The hardest thing for some people to hear is,

MuscleHacker:“You need to lighten the weight, you’re not stimulating the intended muscle at all”

Gym Rat: “Lighten!? but that’s taking a step backward”

MuscleHacker: “Is it really? How much have your arms grown in the past 6 months”

GR: “An inch, well half an inch, a quarter…some…I mean a little….a bit….”

MuscleHacker: “They haven’t grown at all, have they?”

GR: “No”

MuscleHacker: “Lightening the load and actually hitting the muscle will ignite new growth, isn’t that a step forward?”

GR: “I guess so”

Inwardly he/she is thinking about what others will think and how crap it is that they have to go lighter if they want to fuel new growth.
They should be EXCITED though!
Their focus should now be on the fact that they are about to start actually progressing towards their goals, not wasting their time keeping up with the Jones’ at the gym.

Again, your muscles don’t know the numbers. They will, however, respond to a set done to failure with a weight heavy enough to allow failure on, or before, the 12th rep – ANY weight, it doesn’t matter – it’s relative to your current level of strength.

I admit that the main reason I got into the weight-lifting game was to look better. Like anyone who takes up an exercise program, their goal is to change their body for the better in some way.

Some guys train for strength, I don’t. I train because I like what it does to my body, strength increases are a nice side-effect though. This mindset will allow you to develop the body of your dreams as you won’t be inclined to get hung up on the numbers.

It is the minority of people who actually get to realize their dreams. It therefore makes logical sense to NOT follow the herd, to take the road less traveled, to do what the others AREN’T doing.

For my newbie friends, start as low as necessary to allow for good form and failure. Don’t concern yourself with what everyone else is doing.

For everyone else, progress with small increments week on week. When you can hit 12 reps on a given exercise, increasing the weight by too much will set you back a great deal. If you can go up 1lb at a time, do it. This will maintain the form and control conducive to muscle building. It reduces injuries and ensures that your progress continues unimpeded.

A clear sign that you have not heeded the above advice is the dreaded plateau. Many people will seek fancy techniques to overcome plateaus when what they really need to do is simply reduce the weight and get back on track. Progression and muscle growth will soon follow – no gimmicks, it’s the law of cause and effect folks.

I’ve said it before,

Real bodybuilders feel the muscle, not the weight.

Train Intelligently!

Mark McManus

P.S. No Gym Rats were harmed in the making of this article 

This website turned 1 year old on 1st November 2008.

It’s been a great year and the site keeps improving and growing in popularity. MuscleHack has about 6500 subscribers at this time – that’s great for such a young blog, and beyond what I thought could be accomplished when I first started.

The plans I had for my first year were as follows:

• Create a free book and give it away
• Write quality content frequently to build popularity
• Finish writing ‘Total Six Pack Abs’ (I had already started it before this blog came along)
• Start a forum to allow a community to flourish

It’s pretty much ‘mission accomplished’ for this first year. I’m proud to be able to say that because I have worked a full-time job throughout the whole time, getting up between 5am and 6am in the morning, starting work at 7am and getting home for 4pm.

I then cook my meal, workout, then get back to work on MuscleHack. Yes my family life has probably suffered a little as a result – I have spent a whole year of my life like this. I do think it is justified though as it is a temporary sacrifice – as time progresses I can cut down my job hours and eventually (hopefully) do this for a living. I will therefore work from home and set my working hours around my family life and not the other way around. Anyway, I keep my weekends relatively open (though I do work then too).

So, what are my plans for the next year?

• Keep writing frequent, quality content
• Continually update and improve Total Anabolism and Total Six Pack Abs
• Write guest posts at popular sites. My latest venture is as an author for the most popular bodybuilding site on the net - bodybuilding.com – check it out!
• Start a 1 on 1 Online Coaching Program (if there is a demand for it). I will develop a tailor-fitted exercise and diet program for you and help you develop your goals. We’ll then be in regular contact, as regular as you like, to ensure everything is going according to plan. No stone left unturned, NOTHING left to chance. You will be given a private email address to contact me on, a private forum and a free copy of ‘Total Six Pack Abs‘ for signing up. There will be more features added as I take more time to plan this out.
• A Training DVD or downloadable program that you can watch on your computer. I’d love to do this as I could go in-depth into EVERYTHING and let you see how I train first-hand.

The last 2 points are not set in stone. They may or may not come to pass depending on demand, time constraints and any equipment/facilities needed to make them happen.

As always, I remain open to your suggestions for the future.

Next year promises to be bigger and better than the last! And lastly, this site is NOTHING without you. I thank you all for the success MuscleHack has achieved.

Thank You!

Mark McManus

The most critical component of a great ab routine is the form. Yet it’s the one thing that so many people get wrong!

I’ve created an audio file that is designed to put an end to all of that. You listen to this track as you work your abs. Simply download the track and put it on your mp3 player to sculpt your abs with perfect form.

Some of you will note that this sounds like a podcast I created a long time ago. It’s actually an updated and improved version. In the old version the explanation of how to use the audio AND the actual ‘real-time guided ab workout’ were on the same track. This meant that you had to skip through the first few minutes of the track before your workout.

Also, the workout section now consists of only 1 set of ‘beeps’. The track will then stop and you can simply hit play again whenever you’re ready for your next set.

Listen to the instructions below – you do not need to download this track.

Abdominal Workout Instructions

Summary

Beep 1 – Start the positive part of the rep
2 seconds
Beep 2 – Now hold the position at the ‘Peak Contraction Point’
1 second
Beep 3 – Start the negative part of the rep
2 seconds

A total of 5 seconds per rep, this repeats for a total of 16 reps. For a killer abdominal workout you should be reaching positive failure somewhere between 8 and 16 reps. For most people this will involve weighted resistance, most likely a plate or dumbbell held on your chest.

You’ll know if your form is good if the movement feels smooth and fluid. Excruciating, but smooth and fluid

Now, download the track below and get to work! Right-Click and ‘Save Link/Target As’

Guided Abs Workout

To rock-hard, shredded abs!

Mark McManus

image credit: hashout blog

Firstly, it’s best viewed with Firefox or Google Chrome. Things are a little strange looking when viewed in Internet Explorer 6 and 7, like all the text being center-aligned. I made the switch away from IE a long time ago because of issues like that.

It was designed by Hector Beltran, who put a hell of a lot of effort into this. He took my suggestions and made a few of his own to produce what you see now. Hector, thank you!

He is available to work on graphic design, XHTML and CSS hand coding, so if any of you are interested in having some work done, you can contact him at hbvtux@estilo-latino.com .

I’ll probably make some minor amendments in the coming days too and am open to suggestions.

Changes & A New Newsletter Coming

I will no longer be sending an email to everyone on the list every time an article is published. Some subscribers were unsubscribing because they already have the RSS feed, an email reminder was therefore unnecessary. That’s a fair point so I’ve taken the following action…

The mailing list will now be used for a once-weekly MuscleHack Newsletter of EXCLUSIVE content. This content will NOT be a duplication of what appears on the site, you’ll want to stay subscribed for that.

If you’re someone who has unsubscribed but wants the new Newsletter, you’ll need to sign up again by popping your email address into the box at the top left of the screen.

Now, if you still want to get the articles emailed to you, you can have them. In fact, these emails will contain the FULL article as opposed to a short excerpt, which was previously the case.

If you want to receive the full articles in your inbox, you need to enter your email address below. Please do so now:

Articles haven’t been as regular as usual but all will be back to normal now. If you have any particular issues you’d like me to cover, or ideas about other services MuscleHack could offer, you can go ahead and give me suggestions below.

Let me take the time to thank you all for your continued support, it’s HIGHLY appreciated!

Your buddy,

Mark McManus

My pagerank took a severe battering recently, decreasing from a 4 to a 2! That’s a hefty penalty slapped on Musclehack.

I’ve no doubt I’ll get it back to 4 with quality regular content but I’d rather have it back sooner rather than later.

After a little research I have found that google doesn’t look too kindly on ‘Text Link Ads‘. Text Link Ads are a way for bloggers to make a little money by selling a link to an external sites.

A month or so ago I got my first offer. As the link wasn’t intrusive and was to a quality site, (I would never sell links to crappy supplements or companies I didn’t think were reputable) I decided to approve it.

In total I have sold just 3 links in 3 articles out of a total of 150 articles posted on this site. And for this I have made a grand total of…drum roll…………

$18.95!!

In return for $18.95 I lose 2 points on my pagerank meaning my articles will be indexed lower on google’s search engine results pages, which means I get less visitors to this site every day, ouch!!

Anyway, the solution is simple. I have now canceled ALL Text Link Ads and will never again permit them on this site. They’re gone for good, it’s over!

I’m hoping my pagerank will be restored very shortly. If not, it will be in time anyway as I add more content and the blog continues to grow in popularity.

It’s true, we learn from our mistakes and this has been a valuable lesson for me.

Message to new bloggers: research everything before making a move. If you’re in this for the long term and want your work to get a quality reputation, be sure to act with integrity at every turn.

Not that I didn’t, I genuinely had NO idea that there were penalties for such a thing. However, just google ‘pagerank’ and ‘text link ads’ and you’ll get all the info you ever needed on the subject. I didn’t take his step and therefore have to accept responsibility for acting without doing my due diligence.

To Google: I’m wearing sackcloth and ashes. Please restore my pagerank.

As another precaution, I’ll also be contacting some of those I recently swapped links with to take them down as this may also have contributed to the decrease in rank. Rest assured, any further links to MuscleHack will be organic.

Mark McManus

A kind reader has agreed to design a new Wordpress theme for me!

It won’t look drastically different but it should improve functionality and look a little better.

If you have any suggestions for the new theme, get them in now before it’s too late!

I’ll also be switching web hosts this week which will take a little time. There will therefore be no in-depth articles published until next Monday 10th November, although I may make some small posts in the meantime.

Go check out the forum. Here’s an easy high protein salad from Andrew for example.

Thanks for being a regular reader of my work, I appreciate it! Things just keep getting better and better!

Mark McManus

P.S. - If you notice weird changes over the coming days, it’s just me testing out the new theme and trying some things out - take no notice

“Mark, what do you eat on the low-carb section on the MANS diet?”

Firstly, I’ve got a thread devoted to this in the forum, check it out if you haven’t already.

Regardless, I still get asked so I figured I would post my current daily low carb/high fat/high protein menu.

Low Carb at Chez McManus

Breakfast (6.30am)

Eggs & Bacon OR Low Carb Mock Porridge (from Total Six Pack Abs)

Mid-Morning Break (10am)

Small Chicken Salad with High-Fat dressing like Ranch dressing,

AND

Progurt - (protein-yogurt, my own invention). ‘Total’ Natural Yoghurt with 30grams of whey protein isolate mixed in.

Lunch (1.30pm)

Taco Salad OR Chicken Curry OR Beef Chilli. Whichever of these recipes I made for the previous day’s main meal, is today’s lunch. I make 2 servings and seal one for the following day - easy!

Main Meal (4.30pm)

Taco Salad OR Chicken Curry OR Beef Chilli. These are what I’m currently cooking but there is also the option of steak and non-starchy veggies OR low-carb chicken fried ‘rice’.

Post Workout Shake (7pm)

This potent post-workout shake consists of whey protein isolate, 5 grams of L-Glutamine, and 5 grams of micronized creatine monohydrate.

Bedtime Snack

Another Progurt, this time with a twist. I add some double cream (equivalent is heavy cream in the US) to bring the fat content up, a mixture of raspberries and blackberries (not too many), and just 2 grams of L-Glutamine to elevate growth hormone while I sleep.

Please note that this is only my CURRENT weekly menu and does not represent everything that I eat. There also used to be numerous cups of coffee thrown in there but I recently weened myself off it as I was starting to get addicted to the caffeine buzzes.

I hope that helps anyone still wondering what to eat to plan their muscle meals in the future. Don’t make it complicated, low-carb is easy!

Mark McManus

1. You can’t remember the last time you were in the cookies/biscuits aisle of the supermarket
2. People look at you like you’re crazy when they see you ‘remove the bun’
3. You feel like an outcast at work outings that involve a meal
4. People are always asking you ‘What do you eat?’
5. You pretty much know what you’re going to eat for weeks in advance
6. You constantly have to explain to people that you DO eat vegetables
7. People nearly faint when you tell them how many eggs you eat
8. You constantly ask yourself, “mmmm, how can I make a low-carb version of that?”
9. You often feel like strangling every TV diet ‘guru’ you can get your hands on
10. You are much leaner than all the ‘high-carbers’ around you
11. You are more muscular than all the ‘high-carbers’ around you
12. You have a healthy lipid profile
13. The smell of bread baking causes a sudden outburst of saliva (unfortunately it’s true)
14. You enjoy red meat regularly, not as an occasional treat
15. You realize you have wasted a lot of time on other diets and wish you had discovered it sooner
16. You can stay lean all year round
17. Your kitchen is virtually devoid of any pre-packaged foods
18. You’re slowly becoming a great chef
19. People can’t believe the body you have when you eat ‘all the wrong foods’
20. You never have to worry about ‘getting enough protein’
21. People sometimes say you’re on a ‘fad’ diet
22. You eat right based on human genetics (so much for the fad)
23. You haven’t been sick in YEARS
24. Vegetarians and vegans have a problem with you
25. You’d be a millionaire if you had a Euro/Dollar/Pound for every time someone asked you to research ‘The China Study’
26. You’ve done a lot more research than those who tell you to read ‘The China Study’
27. You have to constantly explain that Dr. Atkins did NOT die an overweight man
28. You have to constantly explain that Dr. Atkins did NOT die of a diet-related disease
29. You read product labels on autopilot when shopping
30. You’re like “YES!” when it’s less than 5 grams of carbs per 100
31. You’re always surprised when you meet another low-carber in real life
32. You’re starting to realize that those around you are addicted to sugar
33. If you’re Irish, you’re mum wants to kill you for giving up potatoes!
34. You hope low-carb becomes popular again so you can stop ordering food products from the web
35. “Do you want fries with that?” is just annoying by this stage
36. You wonder how many comparative studies have to be done before it’s accepted that low-carb is healthy and effective
37. You get genuinely excited by the prospect of an all-natural calorie-free sweetener hitting the market
38. You think the supermarkets have some nerve putting the low-fat, high sugar items in the ‘healthy living’ section (ahhhhhhhh!)
39. You’ve a little less respect for doctors than most others. Is it too much to ask that they think for themselves?
40. If you were suddenly transported back in time 20,000 years, you wouldn’t notice any difference food wise (slight exaggeration there)

Got any more?

PS Here’s some other great Low Carb blogs while we’re on the subject

1. Jimmy Moore’s Livin La Vida Low Carb
2. Weight of the Evidence
3. Ask Dr. Vernon
4. The Spiky Haired Girl
5. Kudos For Low-Carb
6. Amy Dungan’s Healthy Low-Carb Living
7. Protein Power Blog
8. Mark’s Daily Apple