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8 Proven strategies
for building muscle mass
by Sean Nalewanyj
http://www.MuscleGainTruth.com
There is so much conflicting information out there when it comes to
the topic of building muscle, and sometimes it can be very difficult
to know where to start. If you’re an average beginner looking for
some basic guidelines to follow in the gym, the following 8 points
will start you off on the right track.
1) Train With Weights and Focus On Compound, Free Weight Movements.
If you want to make solid, noteworthy gains in muscle size and
strength, you absolutely must train with free weights and focus on
basic, compound exercises. A compound exercise is any lift that
stimulates more than one muscle group at a time. Examples of these
lifts are the squat, deadlift, bench press, chin up, barbell row,
overhead press, dip and lunge. Compound movements allow you to handle
the most weight and will stimulate the greatest amount of total
muscle fibers.
2) Be Prepared To Train Hard.
One of the biggest factors that separates those who make modest gains
from those who make serious gains is their level of training
intensity. In order to stimulate your muscle fibers to their utmost
potential, you must be willing to take every set you perform in the
gym to the point of muscular failure.
Muscular Failure: The point at which no further repetitions can be
completed using proper form.
Sub-maximal training intensity will leave you with sub-maximal
results, plain and simple.
3) Track Your Progress In The Gym From Week To Week.
Our bodies build muscle because of an adaptive response to the
environment. When you go to the gym, you break down your muscle
fibers by training with weights. Your body senses this as a potential
threat to its survival and will react accordingly by rebuilding the
damaged fibers larger and stronger in order to protect against any
possible future threat. Therefore, in order to make continual gains
in muscle size and strength, you must always focus on progressing in
the gym from week to week. This could mean performing 1 or 2 more
reps for each exercise or adding more weight to the bar. Keep a
detailed training log to track your progress as your strength
increases over time.
4) Avoid Overtraining.
Overtraining is your number one enemy when it comes to building
muscle size and strength. When most people begin a workout program,
they are stuck with the misguided notion that more is better. They
naturally assume that the more time they spend in the gym, the better
results they will achieve. When it comes to building muscle, nothing
could be farther from the truth! If you spend too much time in the
gym, you will actually take yourself farther away from your goals
rather than closer to them. Remember, your muscles do not grow in the
gym; they grow out of the gym, while you are resting and eating.
Recovery is absolutely vital to the muscle growth process. If you
don't provide your body with the proper recovery time in between
workouts, your muscles will never have a chance to grow.
5) Eat More Frequently.
The main area where most people fail miserably on their
muscle-building mission is on the all-too important task of proper
nutrition. Training with weights is only half of the equation! You
break down your muscle fibers in the gym, but if you don't provide
your body with the proper nutrients at the proper times, the muscle
growth process will be next to impossible. You should be eating
anywhere from 5-7 meals per day, spaced every 2-3 hours in order to
keep your body in an anabolic, muscle-building state at all times.
Each meal should consist of high quality protein and complex
carbohydrates.
6) Increase Your Protein Intake.
Of the 3 major nutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats) protein is
without a doubt the most important for those who are looking to gain
muscle size and strength. Protein is found in literally every single
one of the 30 trillion cells that your body is made up of and its
main role is to build and repair body tissues. Without sufficient
protein intake, it will be physically impossible for your body to
synthesize a significant amount of lean muscle mass. If your body
were a house, think of protein as the bricks. A general guideline is
to consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day
from high quality sources such as fish, poultry, eggs, beef, milk,
peanut butter and cottage cheese.
7) Increase Your Water Intake.
If you want a simple, easy and highly effective way to maximize your
muscle gains, drinking more water is it. Water plays so many vital
roles in the body and its importance cannot be overstated. In fact,
your muscles alone are made up of 70% water! Not only will drinking
more water cause your muscles to appear fuller and more vascular, but
it will also increase your strength as well. Research has shown that
merely a 3-4% drop in your body's water levels can impact muscle
contractions by 10-20%! Aim to consume 0.6 ounces for every pound of
bodyweight each day for optimal gains.
8) Be Consistent!
Consistency is everything. Those who make the greatest gains in
muscular size and strength are the ones who are able to implement the
proper techniques on a highly consistent basis. Simply knowing is not
enough, you must apply!
Building muscle is a result of the cumulative effect of small steps.
Sure, performing 1 extra rep on your bench press will not make a huge
difference to your overall results, and neither will consuming a
single meal. However, over the long haul, all of those extra reps you
perform and all of those small meals you consume will decide your
overall success. If you work hard and complete all of your
muscle-building tasks in a consistent fashion, all of those
individual steps will equate to massive gains in overall size and
strength.
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About the
author:
Sean Nalewanyj is a bodybuilding expert, fitness author and
writer of top-selling Internet Bodybuilding E-Book:
The Truth About Building Muscle.
If you want to learn how to build the greatest amount of lean
muscle mass and strength possible in the shortest period of
time, visit
his website:
http://www.MuscleGainTruth.com.
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