“Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.”
- Arnold H. Glasow
Note: This guest post was written by Mark McManus. Check out his website here.
Want to look better and burn more calories even when resting?
You will if you add some muscle to your frame.
Whether you want to be the next Ronnie Coleman or just want a more defined / toned physique like Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston, you’ll need to build some muscle mass.
So here’s 10 tips to help you build pounds of lean muscle and get the body of your dreams.
1. Pursue Progressive Overload.
The law of progressive overload simply says that you must increase the amount of reps or the weight lifted every single workout (or as close to this as humanly possible) in order to ignite muscle growth.
The body adapts to stimuli, so how do we use this to our advantage? Well the key is to place ever increasing demand on the body, thereby forcing it to continually adapt. Training with weights is undoubtedly the best way to achieve this. You can know precisely how much weight you can handle and can also make incremental increases over time to spark muscle growth.
If you workout with the exact same weight every session and perform the same number of repetitions, how can you expect your body to grow? So, if you want bigger biceps, you must increase the weight you are lifting every session or the amount of repetitions. Remember:
Progressive Overload = Muscle Growth.
2. Perform 8-12 reps.
8-12 reps on any given exercise will stimulate most muscle growth. Lower rep ranges of say 3-6 work well for building strength but not necessarily muscle hypertrophy (growth). Higher reps e.g. 15 - 20 can indeed stimulate muscle growth but it is far from optimal. You should be lifting a weight so heavy that you can’t get more than 12 reps but light enough to allow you to get at least 8 reps.
3. Perform 6-9 sets.
Yes just 6-9 sets per body part. If you are working out with good form this is all you need to stimulate muscle growth. You want to keep your workouts under 45 minutes to avoid the release of hormones that actually break your muscle tissue down (catabolic hormones). Luckily, you can easily accomplish this by performing a maximum of 9 sets per body part.
4. Eat Eat Eat.
Working a muscle tears the tissue, it then repairs and grows. Muscles need fed in order to allow them to grow. Basically you need to eat big to get big. A good bodybuilding diet will allow you to grow without adding fat at the same time.
5. Increase the Amount of Protein in your Diet.
Muscle = protein. In order for muscle tissue to repair itself after your weight-training sessions it needs an abundance of protein. Some beginners don’t take enough protein and some more experienced guys take ridiculously extreme amounts of protein. So how much protein is enough to supply those hungry muscles? Use the following formula for the most accurate daily protein requirements.
Lean Mass Weight (Kg) x 2.75 = Daily Protein Requirement
Your lean weight is your total body weight minus the amount of fat you are carrying. You will need to know your body fat percentage for this. If you are unsure about this, you can get a good estimate by using the ‘Body Fat Calculator’ in the sidebar at MuscleHack.com site. Another good rule of thumb is to take 1 gram of protein for every pound of total body weight. So a 160 lb man would take around 160 grams of protein per day. My favorite sources of protein include
* Chicken
* Steak
* Pork
* Eggs
* Cheese
* Whey Protein Powder Shakes
* Seafood - tuna, prawns, salmon…
* Nuts
* SeedsHere’s a good post showing great vegetarian sources of protein.
6. Eat Fat.
A Low-Fat diet is not desirable in bodybuilding. Eating fat increases the amount of anabolic (muscle building) hormones in your body. These are:
1. Testosterone
2. Growth Hormone
3. Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1)Some people resort to taking anabolic steroids in order to accelerate muscle growth but you can get great results by implementing the ultimate bodybuilding diet.
7. Make Sure you Drink Enough Water.
Getting enough water is crucial for peak strength and energy levels. You should shoot for around 12 x 8 ounce glasses of water per day. Remember you can include your protein shakes towards your daily water intake.
8. Avoid Too Much Cardio.
Cardiovascular work will rob you of muscle gains. Yes if your goal is to lose fat you should do cardio but make sure it is:
(a) Performed immediately after your weight training
(b) ‘High Intensity Interval Training’ form of cardio for a maximum of 20 minutes.
The reason that too much cardio isn’t desirable when your goal is to build muscle is that too much cardio releases catabolic hormones in the body, breaking down your muscle tissue; obviously this is counter-productive.
Sleep is so important for building muscle. We know that muscle tissue repairs itself and grows during rest periods but sleep is more important than waking rest periods.
Here’s why:
1. The release of growth hormone reaches its peak during deep sleep
2. Your metabolic rate slows which is perfect for muscle tissue repair and growth
3. Increased blood flow to the muscles
10. Relax.
Being stressed out results in a catabolic (muscle breakdown) environment in the body. One such hormone is cortisol. Remember that a calm, relaxed person builds more muscle than the hot-head
(assuming all other factors are equal).
Keep it positive and stay motivated!
Mark runs MuscleHack.com, a blog he started as a way to share insights into the oftentimes confusing world of building muscle and losing fat.
If you would like to get started today he has a free muscle building workout plan here. You can also download it as a free bodybuilding ebook.
If you liked this article, please bookmark it on del.icio.us or vote for it on Digg. Thank you!
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This guide is really useful for someone like me but unfourtunately the problem I have is sticking to the regulations outlined. I am sure it would work but it is having the dedication and commitment to following the training through.
Regards. John.
Good post.
The only problem is ensuring that you can actually stick to the recommendations. There are many good articles like this one out there but it is having the commitment to see things through.
If you have good willpower and a steady determination then this type of regime is idea in helping build body mass.
Regards. John.
http://www.snoringshop.co.uk
Glad to have you back. I enjoyed the article because I wish that there was a blog that talked about this when I was trying to bulk up. I made a lot of mistakes and I should have done more research. Arnold always said that you have to push past the first feeling of stopping, pushing through and really working that muscle to get real growth.
The post is very informative and I appreciate the information that Mark has provided, but I think that protein is highly overrated.
I personally am a vegetarian who eats mainly vegetables and fruits and I have a decent amount of lean muscle mass.
That being said, I think that we need to start paying attention to the sources of our food, rather than just the food itself.
The way our food is grown or raised has a lot to do with its nutritional benefit, if any.
In other words, there are healthy and unhealthy versions of the same type of food. For example, lean chicken can be either extremely healthy or extremely toxic; it all depends on the environment in which the chicken was raised and the diet that it was fed.
I am not trying to downgrade what Mark has said in his post. Rather, I am just trying to add a little extra something to take into consideration.
Thanks for the great post
Is this not a big step for a beginner.
More weight vs speed?
One thing #1 doesn’t mention is speed.
Just a few minutes ago I finished a workout. I’ve gotten into the habit of just lifting the weight and straight back down and was intending to hold at the same weight for a few workouts forcing myself to slow down the movement - which I don’t think I could do with more weight
So what’s better - adding more weight on the next workout or slowing the movement?
This is pretty good, although I have a minor problem with the section on cardio. For an ectomorph, this is pretty sound advice, as you run the very real risk of robbing yourself of muscle gains.
For an endomorph like me, however, a lot of cardio is unfortunately necessary.
I like your article, but I see a couple of ways that we can force our body to constantly adapt, that you missed.
Our body is great at finding ways to adapt to the stresses that we put it through. It will even adapt to the number of reps that we do. I’ve heard that we should change the number of reps for the exercises that we do every two weeks or so. If we do 9 reps for two weeks, then our body just begins to get used to this number of reps. On the third week, if we change the reps to say 12, then our body will start to get used to this number, until we change it again.
Another way to keep the body guessing, is to change the amount of time you spend resting in between reps. If we change the amount of time we spend in between reps on every second and fourth week, along with the change of reps, this will help keep the body from adapting.
This are very good specs, this will not work if you’re not consistent!
These tips are quite helpful and practical too. I’ve put in a lot of weight since the last year or two and now I’m thinking of putting on some muscle weight too and building my muscles. Thanks for the tips. Have a Good day.
Nice ideas but I think that decreasing the fat % is important to mention.
Also will power and sticking to the plan is key.
Good luck to all !!!
Thank you so much for the great article, and especially for the link to vegetarian sources of protein.
on step 1 - you can also decrease the time it takes over a period to stimulate muscle growth… using the same weight, reps and sets. Example - you complete your push ups in less time today vs yesterday. That will also trigger growth.
This article is pretty retarded. It does nothing to introduce the non-workout person into the workout person’s world. WTF is a rep, a set, a training, etc?
Also, I’m not sure the medical advice in this article is particularly sound or safe. Looking at the water requirements, the author says 12 x 8 ounce glasses, thus implying that you should drink a dozen glasses of water per day??? Poppycock! The body doesn’t require 96 ounces of water per day. You could argue 64. Even then, the majority of that water is embedded in the foods we eat. We actually only need 1 or 2 full glasses of water per day. Maybe 3 when you do the strenuous workout. Any more than that, and you risk flushing your body of essential vitamins and minerals. Consuming a dozen glasses of water risks water intoxication.
In general, I think this article is sloppy and irresponsible. The blog maintainer would be wise to replace it with a general notice advising readers to disregard the author’s decidedly amateur advice.
I am most impressed with both the content and logic of your site. Of particular interest to me was the area on weight loss. Lots of good sense. The mechanics outlined are sensational.
What has interested me for a long time is the fact that losing weight is no longer a mystery and yet the ‘weight loss industry’ is a billion dollar industry. Yet the process appears to be simplicity itself. Either consume less than you burn or burn more than you consume. Yet the majority of people fail in the long run and end up heavier than before.
There has to be another factor or factors. I have researched this and I believe I am on the track of the answer. In the next few months I will know positively.
Meanwhile, I applaud what you have done.
Regards,
Ollie Lind
Truly faulty assumptions on many counts. Not sure why the “Protein=Muscle Growth” myth keeps getting passed around. Aside from Olympic lifters, increasing protein beyond a standard US diet will have no impact on muscle growth.
Gorrillas, Elephants, buffalo, etc are vegatarians (for the most part) but are quite capable of developing significantly more muscle mass that the average human.
Good point Greg,
I am also a vegeterian. There is a huge drive in gyms and work out magazines etc to include meat as part of a balanced workout regime.
I still think the above information is very valuable but you really need to be able to apply it and I am not sure the post in istelf is motivating enough to do that.
Regards. John.
Tip # 6 is often overlooked by most people because they don’t realize that fat is a major building block of testosterone
Great list,
The only thing I might do differently is the 8-12 rep range recommendation. True, this is the hypertrophy sweet spot, but most guys looking for muscle mass tend to workout in this range only. Working in your traditional strength rep range will actually stimulate a lot of muscle growth because these fibers don’t get any work usually. They are also mostly the high threshold motor units that get recruited at lower reps, which have the most potential for growth.
Also, if you work on strength for a cycle or 2, when you return to your hypertrophy range you will be able to lift more weight in your 8-12 rep range… = more volume = more muscle.
Not to take away from the post, you make some excellent points.
step two is backwards. To gain mass you should do lower rep with higher weight to gain mass. Once you pass 12 you get into cardio range. You need the heaviest weight you can handle to add mass.
im 23 yrs old and im just 52 kg.. Can you suggest a food time table??
I happen to think that it was a pretty good article; if rfjason does not know what a set or a rep is then he has no leg to stand on by critising this article.
wrt to protein = muscle debate, people need to realise that there is a difference between adequate and optimal amounts of protein. Sure, you CAN build muscle without bumping up your protein levels too high, but if you want optimal progress you will get there quicker by upping your protein consumption. The protein naysayers are quiet correct in that you don’t NEED that much protein, but there are countless studies to prove that strength athletes will make faster progress on higher protein diets.
The only thing that I would disagree with is the 8-12 rep range. I know, this is the optimal hypertophy range, but 99% of gym-goers already work out in this range all the time. Most people would do quit well doing a strength cycle for 4-6 weeks and workout in the 3-6 rep range with higher sets. eg: 5×5, 8 x3.
Changing pace like this can stimulate more muscle growth and more importantly, when you go back to 8-12 reps you will be stronger and able to lift heavier weights. More weight = more volume = more muscle growth in the long run.
After seeing a scrawny looking rock-climber kick a buff-looking body builder backwards, forwards, and sideways at any number of strength exercises, I’m less interested in building ‘muscle mass fast’ and more interested in actually gaining strength and fitness.
Seriously, the body builder guy seemed to have *huge* muscles, and yet, when it came to pull-ups, push-ups etc, it seemed like they were mostly ‘fluff’ compared to the scrawny guy.
What are the recommendations for building dense, rather than big, muscle?
These tips are quite helpful and practical too.
Thanks for the tips.
Have a Good day.
Femina
Muscles does not equals fitness and I frown upon the advice on limiting cardio exercise.
Cardio is important for the heart and lungs.
I push as heavy as possible for 3 sets of 6-8 reps then drop the weight by half and crank out a set of 15-20 what a pump and feel really torched.
This list is good, but oh the power of pictures b/c that man is the only reason I had to comment. Good choice
You also have to be careful. It was progressive overload that eventually caused me to blow out my achilles tendon.
I’m on the mend now and I think it’s going to heal pretty well, but it wasn’t pretty and it took a long time . . .
MrAchievement
Stanley F. Bronstein
Attorney, CPA, Author & Professional Motivational Speaker
Your tips suit my husband , great post ,
Tracy ho
wisdomgettingloaded
ok,I really do not wish to argue this point,but gorillas, elephants and other such animals are predisposed to grat threw evolution and genetics,not because of what they eat.And every top level athelete I have ever met has always eaten a geart deal of proteins,and I myself tried a vega diet years ago and I did in fact lose some strength,and lost muscle size.I like the articles here on this site, but I would also like to really drive home that your workouts needs extreme intensity to truly cause truama to those muscles and lots of rest to let those muscle adapt and recover!
Good post. I would also add that 30-45 sec between sets is crutial for that increased intensity. You don’t have to translate intensity into explosive or super heavy, but the overall volume and time under tension has to be there. So slow and controlled can add plenty of muscle too, and may lead to less injury for those not used to lifting heavy. Oh yeah, start your workout with the largest muscles like the legs and back (squats, deadlifts) and get that T-boost you are looking for. Free weights with compound movements are the only thing people need to worry about…playing on machines won’t get you big and strong.
Good post. I pretty much have been following this type of routine for the last year. Starting with a few heavy sets, then going lighter and upping the reps to finish. The only thing I possibly do different and have found very beneficial is pushing each set to failure - when you can no longer complete that last rep without ‘cheating’ or a spot. the diet is important too as mentioned. More protein, less carbs and don’t sweat the fatty stuff too much seems to do the trick. I’ve managed to gain over 10 pounds in the last year like this, which I’m very happy with.