Your complete guide to muscle building.
The real science behind getting jacked.
A thread.
*Standard disclaimer that this does not constitute medical advice*
First of all, what are muscles?
If you ask this to personal trainers, 8/10 won’t even know the answer.
I’ve tried this multiple times and you should too.
Walk up to a PT and ask him this.
Understanding the foundations leads someone to not indulge in superficial thinking and leaves way less room for errors.
Muscles are soft tissues.
The tissues in the body that is not hardened by the processes of ossification or calcification such as bones and teeth.
We have more than 600 muscles in our body and different types of muscles have different jobs.
This means that there are types of muscle and the word “muscle” does not refer to one thing only to begin with.
The 3 types of muscle tissue are:
1)Cardiac
2)Smooth
3)Skeletal.
1)Cardiac muscle cells are located in the walls of the heart and are under involuntary control.
2)Smooth muscle fibers are located in walls of hollow visceral organs such as the liver, pancreas, and intestines and are also under involuntary control.
3)Skeletal muscle fibers occur in muscles which are attached to the skeleton and are under voluntary control.
You control these muscles voluntarily with the help of your nervous system and make them move by thinking about moving them.
Muscles play a role in nearly every system and function of the body.
From breathing, speaking, digesting food and moving all the way to pumping blood through the heart and blood vessels, seeing and hearing.
This means that when you hear phrases such as “muscle catabolism”, this affects way more things that the way your biceps look.
Having healthy muscles means way more than having a good looking body and this is why muscle building can not be seperated from health.
Now let's move on to why you probably clicked on this thred.
The most simple and effective formula that i’ve found to this day that helps people understand how to build muscle is the following 4 step process.
In order to grow your skeletal muscles you will need:
1) The right type of resistance training 2) Recovery 3) The right kind of diet 4) Optimizing your hormones
All of which are of equal importance.
Every time you don't grow, some of these 4 is not optimal.
Now let's analyze them.
First we have the right type of resistance training.
In order for our muscles to grow, we need to give them a reason to.
At the end of the day we are creatures of adaptation.
If there’s no NEED for our body to CREATE more muscle, it will not.
Our entire being is governed by adaptive responses.
Every cell in nour body gets better at resisting stress damage by prior exposure to a lesser amount of stress.
Even our eyesight deteriorates under certain conditions.
We need to give the right amount of stimuli to our
body and then the tools to recover if we want it to grow stronger aka to adapt to the stimuli that we are giving it.
So we first of all need to resistance train if we want to build muscle but lifting is not enough.
We need to lift with an emphasis on progessive overload.
This means that as the years go by, you should be increasing the weight/resistance.
Other ways of progessive overload are increasing the reps and increasing the sets.
So your first focus if you want to add muscle is growing stronger.
There is no other way around it.
So what prevents people from getting stronger besides improper recovery, nutrition and so on that we will address seperately?
The most common reasons are:
1) Not pushing it (almost) to the limit.
I've said "2 more" to clients all the way to an extra 10+ reps.
It's insane how many reps people leave in the tank when they train.
So you should not leave more than 3 reps on the tank for your working sets.
This why you need to push it harder than you might think on your lifting sessions.
2)Too much or too little volume
If the more you trained a muscle the more it grew, marathon runners would obviously have Mr. Olympia legs but that's not the case.
After a certain point, your muscles just can't keep up.
Here's an example of how i recommend intermediate lifters to train.
If you are an advanced lifter, simply add 2 more sets.
Stick with split for 4 months (after 4 months take a deload week), focus on progressive overload and you won't have to worry about training the right way.
Top the above split with a full body day as the one in the pic.
*I do not recommend training full body style if you're an advanced lifter but rotating PPL, Upper/Lower and Chest&Back/Shoulders & Arms/Legs splits*
Moving on to recovery.
You don’t grow in the gym but outside of the gym.
When you train you create tiny tears (microtears) that on the muscle.
As the muscles repair themselves and the tiny tears heal, the muscle tissue becomes inflamed.
Ideally within a few days, your muscles recover and the inflammation goes away resulting in the muscle to grow bigger and stronger as a result.
But that's not always the case.
Recovery is the most neglected tool when it comes to muscle mass but it's a non negotiable.
If you want to grow you need to prioritize recovery.
Here are the main things that interfere with your recovery:
1)Improper sleep
2)Alcohol
3)Stress
4)Not enough bioavailable protein (peanuts don't have protein, they have some amino acids, not protein, stop playing with words).
Tools that will help you recover better are:
1)Epsom salt baths
2)Glycine
3)Taurine
4)Sauna
5)Ice baths/cold showers 6)2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight
7)Glutamine
8)Fruit
9)Magnesium
10)Grounding
11)Sunlight
12)Deep tissue massages
13)Stretching
14)Red light
Moving on to how you should eat.
First we need bioavailable protein.
In order to build something you need building blocks and the building blocks of muscle are amino acids which we get by eating protein.
Our bodies ar in a constant process of renewing and recycling the amino
acids in our muscles.
If our bodies removes more protein than they add, we’ll lose muscle mass.
If the net protein synthesis is even, no measurable change in muscle size occurs.
So we want to deposit more protein than they removes in order for our muscles to grow.
So one of the keys to building muscle is to increase the rate of protein deposition while minimizing the rate of protein breakdown.
The most bioavailable protein sources are eggs, then raw milk, beef, shellfish such as oysters, white fish, chicken and so on.
Ideally since the digestion and amino acid profiles are different, you want to consume eggs and dairy as pre/post workout meals (the anabolic window is not a lie by the way and all you have to do is try it yourslves) and muscle meats, bone marrow and so on as regular meals.
Then we have nutrients.
In the following thread there are the key vitamins and minerals that you will need in order to recover properly, build muscle and boost your performance.
Not only that but it also includes foods you want to avoid as well.
Last but not least, you can not build muscle in a caloric deficit, the scale needs to slowly go up.
So yes, if you have zero experience with tracking, track your protein intake for a period of time and weight yourself every day and at the end of the week add each weight and
devide it by 7 to find your average.
If you're not an amateur lifter and you're putting on more than 2 pounds a week, you're over eating.
Last but not least we have optimizing your hormones.
Hormones are the real muscle builders.
Without porper functioning hormones, building
muscle will be impossible.
Hormonal optimization begins in the gut.
Endotoxins for example reduce testosterone production by the testis, both by direct inhibition of Leydig cell steroidogenic pathways and indirectly by reducing pituitary LH drive.
So read this thread and implement the tools that are mentioned inside of it.
Give me 2.5 minutes and i will give you the best peptide guide you've ever read.
Thread🧵
It's George.
Peptides can legitimately help with almost every goal people chase today:
-Extreme fat loss
-Improved memory recall, mood, mental clarity, focus etc
-Healing gut issues
-Healing common gym injuries
-Restoring libido and sexual function
-Rebuilding a broken immune system
-Slowing biological aging
And many more…
BUT, peptides are also one of the deepest, most confusing rabbit holes in modern health and performance.
So take 10 minutes to read this entire thing before you buy a single vial.
First, the non-negotiable disclaimers:
1. Nothing here is medical advice. 2. Target the root cause of your issues as well.
Peptides are amplifiers, not magic wands. 3. Scams are everywhere in 2025. 4. Talk to an actual doctor. 5. Stacking 5–10 peptides with no bloodwork is playing Russian roulette with expensive water.
Different peptides need different environments (PHs etc), have different half-lives and act on different receptors/sites.
Idiot’s rules of thumb:
-You don’t need more than 3 peptides at a time, most likely.
-If the liquid in your syringe turns cloudy once you mix your peptides, they are ruined.
-Space injections at least 30 minutes apart.
-Use different pins for different peptides (usually)
Here are some supplements that don't and can actually help you in a variety of areas, ranging from your brain and gut health all the way to your hormones and skin health.
Thread🧵
*Standard disclaimer that nothing in this thread should be used as a substitute for medical advice*
Note: This is about supplements indeed but if you do not get sunlight, exercise, eat whole foods, try to avoid vices such as excessive alcohol consumption and so on, then supplements will not save you.
Plenty of foods have more benefits that not only compared to the supplements at a low/medium price point but a very high as well. If a supplement, had the history and benefits of kefir for example, it would sell a lot. It’s just that you can only make so much profit from foods. I can’t sell you for example a $30 bottle of kefir yet i can very easily sell someone a $30 bottle of probiotics.
The right supplements CAN be useful and maybe even life saving. I am not dismissing them. At all. This is why we will talk about them.
This is just about having the right priorities.
Also, every single of these supplements that are mentioned will backfire for some people.
It's mathematically impossible not to.
If only 3.000 people read this and out of them 300 choose to use one, it's impossible for one of them to not react badly to it.
Does this fact make the supplement bad? No.
It makes it bad within a certain context.
So, read the studies that are linked.
Now let's talk about the supplements (not presented by order of importance).
Number 1: Magnesium.
Magnesium is involved in over 3700 enzymatic reactions in the body.
So without enough magnesium, nothing really works. But supplement wise, which form should you pick?
Here's a basic breakdown
Form 1: Magnesium citrate
This is a quite bioavailable form (not as much as glycinate or malate though in many cases) that combines magnesium with citric acid but because of this (most commercial citric acid comes from Aspergillus species), you should only use it to resolve constipation and if you have MCAS or histamine intolerance you should not use it.
Form 2: Magnesium oxide.
Throw this in the trash.
This is just a cheap form that results in the creation of pro-oxidant compounds (obviously) with a 4% bioavailability (to put this into perspective, glycinate can reach up to 40% in some cases).
Form 3: Magnesium glycinate.
This is a form where magnesium is bound to glycine and the form that most people should start with since it’s pretty bioavailable, cheap and it’s great for supporting sleep and stress reduction.
Form 4: Magnesium malate.
This is a form where magnesium is paired with malic acid (a compound that’s found in apples).
It’s perfect for people who either battle aluminum toxicity or just focus on overall detoxing.
All forms of magnesium can help by lowering aluminum retention in bones and tissues overall but malic acid can also bind certain heavy metals such as aluminum.
The effects are mild and you can not rely just on this for aluminum toxicity, but it’s something good to know in my opinion. Compared to other oral forms, it seems to be better for muscle recovery as well and support the krebs cycle more.
Form 5: Magnesium threonate
This form, has gained a lot of popularity for the overall benefits it can have on the brain and that’s because it crosses the blood-brain barrier. It’s a form where magnesium is bound to threonic acid (a metabolite of vitamin C).
Form 6: Magnesium acetyl taurate
If you have high blood pressure, anxiety and want to focus on your overall CVD health, this form is for you.
Form 7: Magnesium chloride
This form where magnesium is bound to chloride, is typically used for muscle recovery but it’s also great for people who have serious digestive issues and can’t absorb a lot of things.
Disclaimer: If you are extremely deficient in magnesium and decide to use MgCl, it will sting, a lot.
From 8: Magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts)
This from where magnesium is paired with sulfate is also great for muscle recovery but not ideal for increasing the levels within our bodies.
Note 1: If you have profound gut issues and for whatever reason you also react badly to topical forms of magnesium. Magnesium l aspartate hydrochloride is your best bet since it does not really alter gastric pH or binds hydrochloric acid.
Note 2: When it come to bicarb, it could reduce calcium buildup in soft tissues a bit and help with constipation. But it's quite expensive and if you choose to make it yourself, make sure that it stays cold, not overconsuming in order to not dilute my stomach acid etc.
This network is at the very core of anxiety, depression, PTSD, CPTSD, bipolar disorders, panic attacks, and much more.
So here's what you need to know to be less anxious, happier and enjoy life far more.
But most likely, you should not read it.
No i am not joking. It's too dense and you've been warned.
Thread 🧵
*Standard disclaimer that nothing in this thread should be used as a substitute for medical advice*
It's George.
First things first (read these 9 notes and do not skip them).
Number 1: Just because you experience anxiety or panic, it does not mean that you are mentally ill, necessarily.
I am fully aware that people over 40 who might be reading this might think "yeah, obviously", but a lot of young people have fallen into the trap of pathologizing normal life experiences because modern societal trends pretend that life is something that it's not.
So, anxiety is normal and every time you do something scary for the first time, your balls should be on your neck.
But, after you experience that nothing really bad happens and that in the rare occasion that it does, you can recover from it, you won't experience the same level of anxiety the next time you are about to take the same action.
Initially, we are anxious because we expect a negative outcome and get a cortisol spike.
But with time and positive feedback, we get excited because we expect a positive outcome and get a dopamine spike.
Number 2: Positive experiences will heal your anxiety faster than thinking will.
We know very well, that negative thoughts do not have nearly the same outcome as negative experiences but we tend to neglect that when it comes to positive ones.
So you can read all the work of Carl Jung, Adler and so on and they will probably help you understand anxiety better, but unless you start getting positive feedback, your progress will be very slow.
Number 3: An underrated cause of anxiety that i don't really see people talking about enough in the online spaces is "neglect" even though i dislike the term because it's usually blown out of proportion.
Fucking up, is the most common human experience since we are newborns.
We fuck up, someone fixes the mess or reassures us that everything is fine and we go back to a more neutral emotional state.
But imagine you fucking up, no one fixing the mess and thus you, a child, needing to fix something that you have no idea what it even is.
This will inevitably lead to you flat out not exploring the world anymore.
The same thing happens with overprotection, which also results in anxiety and is talked about more.
The kid makes a normal mistake, the parent freaks out, prevents the kid from doing basic stuff and the kid thinks that everything is dangerous.
An underrated tool that can help you with this is teaming up with other people for side projects.
Why? Because in contrast with your day job, the stakes are way lower.
So you will be able to accept the feedback and not take it personally, way more easily and see that in a team, a person helps another.
You will also experience the basic male interaction which is us yelling at each other during mistakes but still being friends.
Thankfully, this direct communication won't change soon since trying to make sense out of passive-aggressive games will make someone insane.
Number 4: Have a plan for the things you want to do for the rest of the year.
We are creatures designed to create, set and accomplish goals.
When we neglect something that fundamental for our psyche, we will have no motivation whatsoever and experience plenty of negative emotions by default.
Goals give us resiliency in the face of adversity and if we don't have any, we'll just become neurotic.
If you've been recently struggling with hair loss, what if you've been lied about its causes for decades?
What if your genetics are only one puzzle piece and there are meassures you can actually take to slow it down and might even stop it?
So, if you want to understand the problem of hair loss better, this might help you.
Thread🧵
It’s George.
First and foremost, losing some hair as the years go by is normal.
We can't look at 70 like we did at 25 and believe it or not this is not common sense these days and the demands to avoid any sign of "ageing" are at an all time high because anything that can cause a negative emotion, is avoided and masked like the plague.
So, some hair loss if you are older, is fine.
BUT, younger and younger people are losing their hair and in A LOT of the cases, no one in the family had a history of premature hair loss.
So, if you just recently started noticing your hair falling off a bit, immediately address these because you might as well stop it within even a couple of months compared to the daily effort you'll have to put forever if you let it get worse and worse.
Now this thread will basically provide you with the MOST effective strategies you can use to manage premature hair loss.
If you find it helpful, make sure to leave a like.
Let’s start by stating the following: there’s no “one thing” that causes all types of hair loss all the time.
Sorry.
It’s a myth capitalised to sell whatever magic solution is trending at the time.
Hair loss is driven by a complex interplay of genetics, hormones, certain lipid compounds, environmental factors and a few more things that we discuss in this thread.
If you are interested in improving your health, the “oil of the pharaohs”, aka black seed oil, should be a staple in your arsenal.
Heck, it might even be effective against hantavirus.
Here's what you need to know.
Thread🧵
*Standard disclaimer that nothing in this thread should be used as a substitute for medical advice*
It’s George.
There probably isn't any other medicinal food that can do (or greatly assist) ALL of the following:
•Increase glutathione levels
•Improve insulin sensitivity
•Enhance amyloid clearance
•Improve the function of the immune system
•Support endothelial function
•Reduce inflammation
•Suppress mast cell degranulation
•Improve lipid profiles
•Improve a wide range of skin issues
•Lower blood pressure
•Improve male fertility
•Modulate the stress-sleep-immunity axis
•Increase BDNF and support neuroplasticity overall
•Has anticancer potential (potential, it’s not a “cure”)
•Has great antifungal and antibacterial properties
and way more, while also having few side effects (sorry, but everything will have side effects for some people).
So here’s how this oil is able to accomplish all these, who could benefit from its use, who should stay away from it and more.
Now derivatives of black seeds, such as black seed oil, have been cultivated and used for almost 3,000 years in various cultures.
Some archaeological evidence suggests that these seeds were used as early as 2,000 BCE in Mesopotamia and these seeds were even discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun.
For thousands of years, physicians have used it to treat a range of ailments, from digestive issues to skin conditions.
A lot of common health issues such as fatigue, skin issues, anemia, gut issues, brain fog, mild depression, migraines, high blood pressure, ADHD-like symptoms, anxiety, fertility and much more, can be a direct result of mineral deficiencies and imbalances.
Yes, it's that simple sometimes.
Here's what you need to know in detail.
Thread🧵
It's George.
First and foremost, it's very true that most people don't get enough minerals and this could be one of the main drivers behind common problems such as fatigue, acne, low testosterone, gut issues, hormonal issues, a compromised immune system low libido and more.
Minerals are needed for almost every process inside of our bodies and if we neglect their importance, we can not expect to be healthy.
● Tens of housands of enzymatic reactions
● Regulating our nervous system
● Detoxification
● Energy production
● Blood cell production
● Oxygen metabolism
● The utilization of vitamins
● Adrenal health
● Blood sugar regulation
● Thyroid health
● Gut health (HCL, antimicrobial and digestive enzyme production)
● Battling oxidative stress
● Immune function
● Hormone synthesis
● Cellular hydration of cells (controlling fluids inside and outside cells)
● Bone health
● Skin health
● Joint health
● Hair health
● Heart health
● Brain health
and a lot more.
This is why for example low calcium levels can cause muscle spasms, low magnesium levels can cause muscle cramps and even cardiac arrhythmias, a zinc deficiency can cause gut issues, low libido and skin issues, an iodine deficiency can case goiters and a copper deficiency can cause low white blood cell count or even premature gray hair (copper helps the body produce melanin and a copper deficiency is associated with reduced SOD activity).
Classic studies that showcase some of these are the following in case you are interested in them (tap in the pics):