Chinese Medicine for increase muscles mass

What an interesting topic to discuss here. Do you know why you can't bulk up even you have drink your protein supplement and going through a vigorous weight training? Many years ago, I have this doubt in my mind when I was just a college students. I had seen many (including me) not getting the result that we want even we have taken enough protein and exercises.

As an acupuncturist and a Chinese Medicine physician, I might not have all the answers. But I believe if we discuss this topic, somehow we can have better understanding on how to make our body work better, perhaps increase a bit of muscles effectively during weight training. First of all, we must understand, in normal condition, human body doesn't naturally build like those muscle men you show in the fitness & muscles Magazines.

In the world of building muscle, we have too much influence from Joe weider workout programs since the 1960an. This guy ignore the fact of scientific research on human body & muscle building methods, he make you believe if you buy more protein supplement, buy more dumbbell or barbell sets, do more sets (3-6sets per muscle groups0 and of course buy more muscle magazines, then you Will be able to bulk up like those American guys do. But, you might don't know, Joe Weider is the guy who having a huge business in weight training and muscle building business. Today, more then 80% of the muscles and fitness books and magazines, training equipments, supplements are from his company. Joe Weider training philosophy emphasized on "train HARD, eat MORE (protein) and buy MORE (training materials). But, there are another group of doctors and scientists who believe that human body should train less, not too much depending on protein to achieve better muscles development, if you are interested to read more, I will recommended you to read on Doctor Wayne Westcott and doctor Ellington Darden's books. If you also heard of The Nautilus training equipments, these 2 people are helping very much in developing Nautilus equipments.

In the studies of Traditional Chinese Medicine, we understand that different individual have their own body type, the Chinese medicine formula work for you, might not work for other, therefore we as a physician, we need to carefully study what are the difference between them. As for the question of why certain people can not build muscles effectively, the answer lie within the body type. Our body type have something to do with our genes. Moderate weight training is good for reduces the risk of various injuries and illnesses, but when we look at the fact, there are more people getting injury during workout in the fitness club or not even getting a good health. In my opinion, there are many people can't not understand what kind of exercise program are good for their body type, or suit their lifestyle. Most of the times, we just don't know how to get a trainer or a nutritionist to help us to understand how to eat well and train well.

Although I have the know ledges on fitness, but I still need to focus on what can Traditional Chinese Medicine help you to feel better while enjoying your workout without feeling being exhausted by the UNLIMITED OVERLOADING workout. When your trainer tell you that your body have a slow recovering period, that mean if a normal guy can fully recover from the muscles soreness and pain within 24-48 hours, but the more you train, the longer recovering period you need....that's mean you are over-training, this may lead to un-known reason of tiredness and fatigue at all time, easy to get flu and fever. The formulation for reduce the tiredness, I will recommend "Buzhong Yiqi Decoction" (补中益气汤), this decoction contains astragalus root (黄芪) , white atractylodes rhizome (白术), ginseng root(人参), Chinese angelica root(当归), bupleurum root(柴胡), Chinese date(大枣), aged mandarin orange peel (陈皮), Chinese liquorice root(甘草), cohosh rhizome(升麻) and fresh ginger rhizome(生姜).

If you are facing the problem of having the difficulty of gaining weight during weight training. I will recommend you to try to look into the content of your food in-takes. As if you are eating enough balance diets, recheck if you are eating enough calories to support your workouts. Of course you should ask yourself if you are on the right training program. Sometimes, less is more, not more is good,ok? And if you are genetically slim build and you find you can't eat more, because of lack of appetite or the more you eat, you will have bloating stomach or accumulate fats around abdomen area....I will recommend "The Aid Life Pill" (资生健脾丸), the formulation contains Barley (薏苡仁),Chinese yam (山药),Euryale (芡实),Poria (茯苓),Hyacinth bean (白扁豆) ,Bai-zhu atractylodes (白术),Chinese hawthorn (山楂),ginseng root(人参), Sacred lotus (莲子肉), Platycodon (桔梗), Tangerine (陈皮), Round cardamon (白豆蔻),Chinese licorice (甘草) etc.

The key point of having a healthy and strong body is to make sure you have a good digestion. You can have a good digestion when you reduce cold drinks and raw foods. Because the lower temperature you have in your stomach, the worse absorption of nutrition you will get. As for the resting time also very important. You body only release Human Growth Hormone during sleeping time, if you sleep late or not getting enough sleep, you won't be able to build that muscles. In China hospital research, Chinese medicine like astragalus root (黄芪) , white atractylodes rhizome (白术), ginseng root(人参), Chinese liquorice root(甘草) and Chinese yam (山药) can improve sport performances and also improve immune system.

Regular Clinical massage also encourage muscle recover faster from a workout. 1 session of professional clinical massage per week will help you to reduce 60% of the risk of muscles injury. If you can't afford that, having 2-3 times of 15 minutes of dry-sauna after weight training in a week also can help you to reduce lactic acids that build up in your muscles (lactic acids cause muscles soreness). Besides that, 3-4 times of regular full body flexibility exercises also can help you to relax those tired muscles.

Weight training can be an very enjoyable experiences when you know how to TAKE IT EASY. A lot of people THINK TOO BIG, they think they are born to be SUPERMAN, and they watch too much TV, they think everyone have the potential to be SUPER MODEL, they think building muscles is easy WITHOUT STEROID. I am here to tell you, you should wake up now, not all of us can have the genetic potential to have what we want,ok? Why have to put too much attention on those muscles? Why don't you think in a bigger picture, to be thankful for having a chance to do exercise, and to be thankful for doing the moderate exercise that will give you less risk of injury, better body figure, perhaps increase a bit of sexy muscles, improve the stability of joint, tendons and ligaments......

But, if you wish to increase muscles? I will welcome you to visit me, let me design a personalised Chinese Medicine program for you, and I am very confidence that you will like it very much.



From,
Ho
Acupuncturist + Chinese Physician