Peanut Butter Protein Bar Recipe

Some protein snacks can be a healthy alternative to help someone satisfy their sweet tooth, as well as add some extra calories and protein for someone looking to build muscle. These low-fat bars are big in taste and rich in fiber with a light spread of peanut butter covering the top.

3 ½ cups quick oats

1 ½ cups powdered nonfat milk

1 cup sugar-free pancake syrup

2 egg whites beaten

¼ cup orange juice

1 tsp vanilla

½ cup natural applesauce

4 scoops low-carb chocolate or vanilla whey protein powder

Frosting - 1/3 cup natural peanut butter

Directions - Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients in bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine egg whites, orange juice, applesauce and sugar-free syrup. Blend well. Stir liquids into dry ingredients until mixed. The consistency will be thick and comparable to cookie dough. Spread batter into a 9x12 baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake about 20 min. or until edges are crisp and browned and inserted knife comes out clean. Frost with natural peanut butter. Cut into 10 bars. Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated.

Totals Per Serving (Recipe Makes 10 Servings): 170 calories, 17 g Protein, 25 g Carbs, 5 g Fat, 5 g Fiber

Recipes by Stella Post – Stella's Kitchen: Creative Cooking for Fun, Flavor and a Lean, Strong Body

Also, try this Delicious and Healthy fat-burning chocolate pudding that’s high in fiber, healthy fats, protein, and low in sugar, with ZERO artificial sweeteners and NO added sugars!

4 Simple Steps to Help Build Pure Muscle

Everyone has different opinions on how to build muscle. If you are one of many that are frustrated with your progress in the gym, then I have 4 simple steps to help you build pure muscle effectively.

A lot of people don’t utilize all of these steps properly. If you want to build a lean and muscular physique, you must follow these essential steps.

Get ready to learn the 4 simple steps to building muscle quickly without any drugs or useless supplements.

Plan on lifting weights at least 4 times per week. Your goal is to use resistance training to stimulate your muscles, which results in muscle growth. Your muscles will grow outside the gym with proper nutrition and rest. You should allow 72 hours for each body part to rest before working them again. As a general rule I would suggest working upper body and lower body twice per week. For example, a Mon. (upper) Tues. (lower) Thurs. (upper) Fri. (lower) split.

Concentrate on eating 5-7 balanced meals a day from protein, carbohydrates and fats. If your goal is to build muscle, 35% of your food consumption should be from protein, 45% from carbohydrates and 20% from fat. Make sure that at least 4-5 of those meals are from whole food sources and no more than 2-3 from whey protein shakes or liquid meal replacements.

Focus on stretching for half of the time spent lifting weights. This does not mean that you spend half your time at the gym stretching, but if you lift for one hour then plan on spending half an hour in that day or evening stretching your stressed body parts. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is neglecting to stretch. When training your muscles the tissue shortens as it is broken down, becoming  slower and more injury prone. Stretching helps to restore normal  length to the muscles allowing them to contract quicker and more explosively than the previous workout. As a general rule of thumb- if you spend 4 hours a week in the gym, then plan on spending 2 hours during the week stretching your muscles. Stretching is crucial for muscle growth!

Stay away from supplements that have not been around for at least three years. Most supplements that have been around longer than three years have had enough research support and customer satisfaction to survive. If you stick to this rule you will see only a small portion of supplements still existing. These are a few that you should not go without: multi-vitamin, fish oil capsules, creatine and whey protein powder. These products will give you a great foundation for health, strength and pure muscle mass.

Do you want to learn how to build muscle and gain weight quickly with less time in the gym? Check out the top rated muscle gaining system on the internet! Please take a few minutes to listen and read.

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Build Lean and Ripped Muscle With These 3 Important Tips

Building muscle is not the easiest task to accomplish, despite daily workouts and trying every type of workout and supplement known to man.

I struggled for years to gain any muscle mass, but over the years with my own experimentation have found a few key things that have helped me make significant muscle gains possible, even for hardgainers (like myself).

Start building lean muscle faster and easier with these 3 important tips.

1. 95% of the exercises you perform regularly in the gym should be big compound exercises.  It doesn't matter if your goal is to shed fat or build muscle... big compound exercises should comprise 95% of the exercises you do in your workouts if you want to get lean, ripped, and powerful.

The core of your major lifts should be comprised of the following exercises:

• upper body horizontal press (bench press, pushups, dips),
• upper body horizontal rows (1-arm dumbbell rows, seated cable rows, bent over barbell rows),
• upper body vertical pull (lat pulldowns, pullups, chinups),
• upper body vertical press (overhead dumbbell and barbell presses, barbell or kettlebell clean & presses)
• lower body squatting movements (front squats, back squats, overhead squats, bodyweight squats, etc)
• lower body deadlifting movements (regular deadlifts, sumo deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts)
• lower body single leg movements (lunges, step-ups, jump lunges, etc)
• abdominal and core exercises (these are important, but still are 2nd priority after all of the major upper body and lower body multi-joint movements... your abs and core will be worked from most major multi-joint exercises anyway)

Isolation lifts should make up the other 5% of your exercises, such as tricep pushdowns, bicep curls, calf raises, shoulder shrugs, shoulder lateral raises, chest flyes, etc.. These exercises should always follow your compound lifts at the end of your workout. This will ensure you have full strength for your heavy lifts.

2.  You should have intense workouts at least 4 days/week for 45-60 minutes per weight training workout. Train no longer than 60 minutes.Your body only releases growth hormone for the first 45 minutes or so and then your body goes into a catabolic state (catabolism=muscle breakdown). You want an intense workout for 45-60 minutes to put your body into a anabolic state (anabolic=muscle growth).

Super set exercises are great for increasing intensity during workouts.  My favorite combinations are upper and lower body movements, such as squats paired with pullups as a superset, or bench press paired with deadlifts as a superset.

Don't underestimate the effectiveness of these types of upper/lower body supersets done with heavy weights and a high intensity.  The first time in my life that I experienced significant muscle mass gains were when I started doing these types of workout combos regularly, but I was still mixing up my training schedule.

These exercises are staples of almost any effective workout program. Simply adjust calorie intake to whether your goal is to shed fat or build pure muscle.

3.  Eat clean with quality whole foods... REAL foods instead of highly processed meal replacements.

The quality of protein (and additional nutrition from vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants) are best assimilated by the body from real whole food such as eggs, meats, dairy (preferably raw), fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc..

Dedication and consistency to your diet and workout plan is a must for optimum results. Make these tips in this article part of your lifestyle, and you'll see muscle gains like you've never seen before!

If you want to get a lean chiseled body, check out these tips to Get Ripped Abs the right way.