In a hospital, using outdated information is considered malpractice; in a gym, it’s standard operating procedure. Don’t believe it? Take a look at today’s most sacred lifting guidelines, and you’ll find that some originated in the ’40s and ’50s, a time when castration was a cutting-edge treatment for prostate cancer, and endurance exercise was thought to be harmful to women. What’s worse, other, more-recent recommendations regarding exercise form have been negated by new research yet are still commonly prescribed by fitness professionals.

Chances are, these are the same rules you lift by right now. And that means your workout is long past due for a 21st-century overhaul. Keep in mind, I’m not suggesting that your current plan doesn’t work. After all, at its most basic level, building muscle is simple: Pick up a heavy weight, put it down, repeat. But improve the details and avoid mistakes, and you’ll build more muscle in less time, with less risk of injury. Put a check next to today’s date—it marks the official expiration of your old workout.

Do 8 to 12 Repetitions

The claim: It’s the optimal repetition range for building muscle.

The origin: In 1954, Ian MacQueen, M.D., an English surgeon and competitive bodybuilder, published a scientific paper in which he recommended a moderately high number of repetitions for muscle growth.

The truth: This approach places the muscles under a medium amount of tension for a medium amount of time, making it both effective for and detrimental to maximum muscle gains.

A quick science lesson: Higher tension—a.k.a. heavier weights—induces the type of muscle growth in which the muscle fibers grow larger, leading to the best gains in strength; longer tension time, on the other hand, boosts muscle size by increasing the energy-producing structures around the fibers, improving muscular endurance. The classic prescription of eight to 12 repetitions strikes a balance between the two. But by using that scheme all the time, you miss out on the greater tension levels that come with heavier weights and fewer repetitions, and the longer tension time achieved with lighter weights and higher repetitions.

The new standard: Vary your repetition range—adjusting the weights accordingly—so that you stimulate every type of muscle growth. Try this method for a month, performing three full-body sessions a week: Do five repetitions per set in your first workout, 10 reps per set in your second workout, and 15 per set in your third workout.

Do 3 Sets of Each Exercise

The claim: This provides the ideal workload for achieving the fastest muscle gains.

The origin: In 1948, a physician named Thomas Delorme reported in the Archives of Physical Medicine that performing three sets of 10 repetitions was as effective at improving leg strength as 10 sets of 10 repetitions.

The truth: There’s nothing wrong with—or magical about—doing three sets. But the number of sets you perform shouldn’t be determined by a 50-year-old default recommendation. Here’s a rule of thumb: The more repetitions of an exercise you do, the fewer sets you should perform, and vice versa. This keeps the total number of reps you do of an exercise nearly equal, no matter how many repetitions make up each set.

The new standard: If you’re doing eight or more reps, keep it to three sets or less. If you’re pounding out less than three reps, you should be doing at least six sets.

Do 3 or 4 Exercises Per Muscle Group

The claim: This ensures that you work all the fibers of the target muscle.

The origin: Arnold, circa 1966.

The truth: You’ll waste a lot of time. Here’s why: Schwarzenegger’s 4-decade-old recommendation is almost always combined with “Do three sets of eight to 12 repetitions.” That means you’ll complete up to 144 repetitions for each muscle group. Trouble is, if you can perform even close to 100 repetitions for any muscle group, you’re not working hard enough.

Think of it this way: The harder you train, the less time you’ll be able to sustain that level of effort. For example, many men can run for an hour if they jog slowly, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who could do high-intensity sprints—without a major decrease in performance—for that period of time. And once performance starts to decline, you’ve achieved all the muscle-building benefits you can for that muscle group.

The new standard: Instead of focusing on the number of different exercises you do, shoot for a total number of repetitions between 25 and 50. That could mean five sets of five repetitions of one exercise (25 repetitions) or one set of 15 repetitions of two or three exercises (30 to 45 repetitions.)

Never Let Your Knees Go Past Your Toes

The claim: Allowing your knees to move too far forward during exercises such as the squat and lunge places dangerous shearing forces on your knee ligaments.

The origin: A 1978 study at Duke University found that keeping the lower leg as vertical as possible during the squat reduced shearing forces on the knee.

The truth: Leaning forward too much is more likely to cause injury. In 2003, University of Memphis researchers confirmed that knee stress was 28 percent higher when the knees were allowed to move past the toes during the squat. But the researchers also found a countereffect: Hip stress increased nearly 1,000 percent when forward movement of the knee was restricted. The reason: The squatters had to lean their torsos farther forward. And that’s a problem, because forces that act on the hip are transferred to the lower back, a more frequent site of injury than the knees.

The new standard: Focus more on your upper body and less on knee position. By trying to keep your torso as upright as possible as you perform squats (and lunges), you’ll reduce the stress on your hips and back. Two tips for staying upright: Before squatting, squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold them that way; and as you squat, try to keep your forearms perpendicular to the floor.

When You Lift Weights, Draw in Your Abs

The claim: You’ll increase the support to your spine, reducing the risk of back injuries.

The origin: In 1999, researchers in Australia found that some men with back pain had a slight delay in activating their transverse abdominis, a deep abdominal muscle that’s part of the musculature that maintains spine stability. As a result, many fitness professionals began instructing their clients to try to pull their belly buttons to their spines—which engages the transverse abdominis—as they performed exercises.

The truth: “The research was accurate, but the interpretation by many researchers and therapists wasn’t,” says Stuart McGill, Ph.D., author of Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance and widely recognized as the world’s top researcher on the spine. That’s because muscles work in teams to stabilize your spine, and the most valuable players change depending on the exercise, says McGill. Read: The transverse abdominis isn’t always the quarterback.

In fact, for any given exercise, your body automatically activates the muscles that are most needed for spine support. So focusing only on your transverse abdominis can overrecruit the wrong muscles and underrecruit the right ones. This not only increases injury risk, but reduces the amount of weight you can lift.

The new standard: If you want to give your back a supporting hand, simply “brace” your abs as if you were about to be punched in the gut, but don’t draw them in. “This activates all three layers of the abdominal wall, improving both stability and performance,” says McGill.

You may want to check out my other guides on: Workout Exercise and Bodybuilding Protein

Muscle Building FAQ

There’s a lot of talk about creatine, is it any good?

Yes it is good, it’s very good. Creatine increases energy production in the muscle cells so you can lift heavier and for longer. Creatine helps you to quickly gain weight making you stronger, and the more you can lift means the more muscle fibres you can stimulate for muscle growth. It pulls fluid into the muscle cells making you look bigger.

What type of protein powder is the best?

There is no real best when it comes to protein powders but Whey protein isolate (WPI) is a fast acting protein and is better than whey protein concentrate because it is purer and has a higher BV (biological value) around 170 compared to 104 for the concentrate which means that the WPI can be used more efficiently by the body. The higher the BV the better. Egg Protein has a BV of 100. Milk protein i.e. whey and casein has a BV of 85 and Beef Proteins about 75.

When should I take protein shakes?

You should take protein shakes (whey protein) before and after a training session i.e. about 30 minutes before and within 1 hour after. You can take a casein protein last thing at night for a steady flow of amino acids for growth and repair while you sleep. On non-training days you can take the whey protein anytime.

Should I eat anything before bed?

You should not eat anything before bed because it could keep you awake all night, especially if you eat a carbohydrate food. Having said that, you can take a casein protein supplement without your sleep being affected.

How can I speed up recovery?

You can speed up recovery by taking a creatine supplement immediately after a workout and about 40 minutes later take a whey protein supplement, then within an hour after that have a highly nutritious real meal supplemented with vitamins and minerals. Vitamin c and e is great for fast recovery.

Should I wear a lifting belt?

Some people find lifting belts great while others can’t stand them. I would recommend you wear a lifting belt on your heavy sets and on your heavy sets only, like squats, dead lifts, shoulder presses and bent rows.

Should I wear gloves?

You don’t really need gloves. It’s a matter of personal preference. Some people will tell you that gloves help them lift more weight, while others will tell you that it detracts from their lifting strength. I like to wear gloves because they give me a better grip on the bar.

How many reps for building strength?

To build strength you need to concentrate on low reps with very very heavy weights. Reps should be in the 2 to 6 range and the weight should be heavy enough to only allow you perform 2 to 6 reps. You should always have help on standby when you are lifting like this.

How do I bring out my abs?

To bring out your abs you need to watch your diet closer and cut out all the junk with the empty high calories like cakes and sodas. You could do 3 exercises in tri set style eg: Crunches 1 x 15 then hanging leg raises 1 x 15 then onto lying leg raises 1 x 15 repeat 4 times dropping the reps i.e. 12,10,8s. Rest between sets is as long as it takes you to walk over to the abs exercise area or about 20 seconds rest.

Should women lift weights?

Yes women should definitely lift weights. Lifting weights will be a great help in their weight loss, health or fitness goals. Some women believe they will get huge muscles if they lift weights, this is not true, women don’t have enough of the male hormone muscle builder testosterone. Weight lifting is a truly excellent form of exercise not just for men.

Build Muscle Mass

There’s never a waiting list for the rowing machine. But if you use the right form and regimen, this floor skimmer can torch more calories than a treadmill, build your upper body into a broad V shape, and injury-proof your lower back. To make it work, you first need to find a groove, says Bill Manning, an assistant rowing coach at Harvard University. “If you don’t have rhythm, you’ll tire quickly and won’t yield serious output.” Follow Manning’s tips and workouts to reap the benefits of rowing.

Your Perfect-Form Primer

1. Sit with your legs bent, shins nearly vertical. Lean your upper body toward your knees but keep your back and shoulders straight. Hold your arms in front of you and grab the handle with an overhand grip, wrists flat.

2. Without moving your arms or leaning backward, push off with your legs, driving your feet into the stirrups while keeping your back straight.

3. When the handle is over your knees, pull the bar toward your lower chest. Lean your upper body back until your shoulders are behind your pelvis. Draw your elbows behind you and continue to push with your legs.

4. As the bar touches your lower chest, squeeze your shoulder blades together. Relax your arms, let the cable gently pull your arms back toward the flywheel, and lean forward at the hips. Once the handle passes your extended knees, bend them to slide forward on the seat.

Common mistakes, like hunching your shoulders and leaning too far back, diminish pulling power and strain your back.

The Workouts

Day 1 The Pyramid

Row hard (90 percent of your maximum) for 5 strokes and then do 5 easy (60 percent). Now row 10 hard and 10 easy. Repeat but increase your count to 15 each, then 20, 25, and 30. Next, go back down the pyramid, decreasing by intervals of 5. Repeat when you’re able.

Day 2 The 1-to-1

Row hard for 1 minute and then do 1 minute of easy strokes. Repeat, alternating hard and easy, for 15 to 20 minutes. Gradually increase your time to a half hour. Aim for 18 to 20 strokes per minute. After several sessions, shoot for 30 strokes per minute.

Day 3 The Sprint

Set your machine on a 500-meter interval program with 2 minutes of rest. Row at 75 percent of your max and then rest 2 minutes. Do 10 intervals.

I suggest you check out my other guides on: Home Fitness Equipment and Workout Exercises

Mass Muscle Building

Muscle Building Mistake # 1: Training Too Often

The number one mistake I see hardgainers making is that they train too often. I was once the exact same way and used to go to the gym six days per week in the hopes that it would help me grow faster. Sadly, the only thing it did was make me smaller and weaker.

There is absolutely no need for anyone to spend more than four days per week in the gym. In fact, three days actually delivers the best results in most cases. Too many people are still obsessed with the “more is better” attitude, yet those are the ones that never seem to get anywhere in their quest for a more muscular physique. Week after week, month after month, year after year they look exactly same and are still lifting the exact same weights.

Training too often only leads to a state of overtraining, and overtraining leads to losses in size and strength. Remember, you don’t grow when you’re training; you grow when you’re recovering. Furthermore, after a brutal workout, it’s not just your muscles that need to recover, but also your central nervous system. Your CNS typically takes significantly longer than your muscles to recover.

Also, when you train too often, it can be hard to keep your motivation up from one workout to the next. It’s very refreshing and beneficial to have a day off between sessions to ensure full physical and mental recovery. That way you will be fully prepared for battle next time you enter the gym. For all of these reasons I recommend that you limit your training days to no more than three per week.

Muscle Building Mistake # 2: Training for Too Long

Many times I go to a public gym and finish my entire workout before others even finish their first exercise of the day. When new clients come to train with me for the first time, they are absolutely shocked at how short their workouts are and by the fact that they are getting significantly better results in half the time.

Spending too much time in the gym is another thing that leads to overtraining. When you first start your workout your body begins to increase its release of testosterone. This peaks at 27 minutes. At the 45 minute mark your testosterone levels return to baseline.

If you train longer than that your testosterone levels will slowly start to drop below baseline and your cortisol (the stress hormone that eats muscle and increases body-fat storage) levels will slowly creep up. By the one hour mark your cortisol levels will be higher than your testosterone levels. Obviously this is the worst possible scenario.

That is why I never allow my clients to train for longer than 45 minutes and would strongly suggest that you don’t either. You will be shocked at how much faster you will grow.

Muscle Building Mistake # 3: Doing Too Many Sets per Workout

If I had to take a guess I would say that most people do somewhere between 20 and 30 sets every time they go to the gym. The question is why? Why would you possibly want to do that many sets? Why would you want to abuse your joints with that much volume? Despite what you may have heard or read, and despite what the big guy at the gym tells you, there is absolutely no need to ever do that many sets.

When you do a large number of sets it’s impossible to put the required amount of focus or energy into each one of them. With fewer sets your workout has a greater sense of purpose and urgency. Knowing that you have 25 more sets to go after you first set of the day is a bit daunting. But if you only have a limited number of sets to complete you will go all out and do your best to make sure each one really counts. And that’s exactly the kind of effort required to get big and strong.

That is why I recommend a grand total of only 10-16 sets per workout! This is a far cry from the norm, but then again normal training only produces normal results. We want extraordinary results. And the way to get them is not by doing what everyone else does.

So start training three days per week, cut your workouts down to 45 minutes and don’t do more than 10-16 sets at any one session. I guarantee you’ll be pleased with the results.

Muscle Building Mistake #4: Not Training Each Muscle Group or Body Part Often Enough

Most bodybuilding programs tell you to train each body part once per week. You do chest, shoulders and triceps on Monday, legs on Wednesday and back and biceps on Friday. This system is all but useless to skinny hardgainers who want to pack on the most muscle in the shortest time possible.

One of the most important keys to stimulating muscle growth is training frequency. You must train a muscle more often than once per week or your gains will come at a snails pace. If you were learning to surf of play the guitar surely you would do it more frequently than once every seven days. So why should your weight training be any different? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Hardgainers should be hitting each muscle group at least twice per week, and in most cases three times will be more beneficial. Think about it logically for a second…

Do you think your chest will grow faster if it gets trained 52 times per year or 104 times? Or what about 156 times?

The answer is obvious. Ditch the once per week routines, switch to three times per week and you will immediately jump start your progress.

Muscle Building Mistake #5: Not Lifting Heavy Weights

If you want to get massive, you have to lift massive weights; it’s as simple as that. Yes, some genetically gifted and juiced to the gills bodybuilders can grow with lighter weights. That doesn’t mean you can, though. Getting big is hard work and requires a lot of discipline, desire and dedication, all of which are needed to move big iron.

Heavy lifting stimulates the type IIB muscle fibers which are the ones with the greatest potential for growth. Now this doesn’t mean that you should ever use weights you can’t handle with good form or that you have to be doing only singles and one rep max attempts in your training. Far from it. But whatever rep range you are training in you had better be sure that the weight is heavy and you are busting your ass. You can’t pussyfoot around with light weights and ever expect to build an ounce of muscle.

Like 8 time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman said, “Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder but don’t nobody want to lift no heavy-ass weights.” He called you out. Now you gotta step up.

Muscle Building Mistake #6: Ignoring the Law of Progressive Overload

Next to frequency the most important law to follow in your muscle building quest is that of progressive overload. You absolutely have to do all you can to force muscle growth, basically leaving your body with no other choice. Otherwise it won’t adapt at all. The body loves to remain in a state of homeostasis and it’s gonna take some serious stimulation in order for it to lay down new muscle tissue.

Like I said in mistake number six, you have to lift heavy weights. But the key is that they have to get heavier and heavier from workout to workout. You can’t simply go heavy and expect to grow. It’s the progression that forces the adaptation.

If you bench press 100 pounds for six reps today, you had better be sure that you do at least seven reps with that or add five pounds to the bar at your next workout. Simply doing the same thing will be a waste of time and your body will not change in the least.

To get bigger you have to get stronger. And you have to keep getting stronger. As long as you are on a program that allows you to make great strength gains you will be able to make great size gains.

Muscle Building Mistake #7: Training Strictly for the Pump

We already know that you need to lift heavy weights, but what about getting a pump? After decades of debate many people still don’t know if you should be training for a pump or not. I’m here to tell you that the answer is a resounding no. For those that don’t know, a pump is nothing more than blood rushing to the muscle while working out which causes it to swell. There is nothing inherently magical about it.

But that’s not to say that a pump is completely useless; just that it should never be the focus of your workouts. Everyone knows that you can get a pump from doing 50 pushups or going for a swim, but neither of those activities is going to build massive amounts of muscle.

Lifting heavy and beating your previous numbers should always be your main goal at each and every training session. However, some trainers ardently insist that getting a good pump is a necessary part of the growth process.

While there are no scientific studies proving this theory to be true there are some possible benefits to be gained from getting a pump.

For one, a good pump may be able to stretch the fascia, which is the sheath that encases your muscles. If it is tight it will be difficult for the muscle to grow. This is just theory but may hold some validity.

A pump also brings growth inducing and healing nutrients into the muscle and enhances amino acid uptake.

Finally, the ability to get a good pump with ease is a sign that you are well fed, well hydrated and well rested and are in an anabolic state and ready to grow. By the time you finish your first few sets you should have some kind of pump going, otherwise you probably shouldn’t be training that day.

So while there are some benefits to getting a pump you should never, ever chase the pump or be training with the sole purpose of getting a pump. Going heavy should be your focus, and if you can get a good pump with heavy weights, watch out, because you’re primed to grow!

Muscle Building Mistake #8: Using the Wrong Exercises

If you are wasting time doing triceps kickbacks, lateral raises, leg extensions, cable crossovers and Smith machine squats you can forget about ever getting big and strong. Machine training should make up a very, very small portion of your overall workout volume (if at all) and isolation exercises an even smaller percentage. In fact, isolation exercises should rarely be used by anyone with less than two years of training experience and even then they should be used sparingly.

Big muscle groups such as the back, chest, shoulders and legs should rarely be trained with any isolation movements whatsoever. The way to get big is by using big, badass compound exercises that allow you to use a lot of weight and pile the plates on.

These exercises are squats, deadlifts, cleans, bent over rows, chin ups, dips, dumbbell presses, military presses, weighted pushups and barbell curls.

Mistake #9: Trying to Build Muscle & Lose Fat Simultaneously

This is a very common mistake that I see people making all the time. Despite what the muscle mags and over hyped supplement ads may tell you, it’s physiologically impossible to gain large amounts of muscle and lose body fat at the same time. They are two contradictory goals.

To build muscle you have to eat more calories than you burn. To lose fat you have to burn more calories than you eat. While there are some other factors to consider and it’s not always that simple, that pretty much sums it up. So to get huge you know that you have to be eating a ton of food. And that’s never conducive to getting shredded. To get lean you have to diet strictly and do cardio, and that’s never conducive to getting big.

Now, that’s not to say that you can’t gain some muscle and lose some body fat at the same time, because you can. But neither one will be maximized. So if your main goal is to gain twenty pounds of mass you should put the quest for a six pack on the back shelf for a few months and just focus on getting jacked.

The only people who can gain a decent amount of muscle and get ripped at the same time are beginners, genetic freaks and steroid users. Everyone else should pick one goal or the other. My recommendation is to eat and train for size first, while doing as little cardio as is needed to keep your body fat in check without compromising your size and strength gains, then switch over to fat loss phase later.

Muscle Building Mistake #10: Not Eating Enough of the RIGHT Foods to Build Muscle

To gain muscle you need to eat a surplus of calories. Studies have shown that sumo wrestlers actually have more muscle per square inch than competitive bodybuilders do. And most sumo wrestlers don’t even lift weights! That right there goes to show you just how powerfully anabolic (muscle building) eating is. But of course, you don’t want to end up looking like a sumo wrestler. That is why you have to eat intelligently and make smart food choices.

To gain muscle while minimizing fat gain you need to eat several small meals per day. You also need to time your carbohydrate intake so that you ingest the majority of you carbs during the two critical windows of opportunity each day when your insulin sensitivity is highest and when your body is primed to grow. These two times are first thing in the morning and right after your workouts. That’s not to say that you can’t eat carbs at other times, as you should, but that you should consume the bulk of them during those two windows.

Be sure that you eat every two to three hours and have protein, fat and carbs at every meal before 6pm. At night your insulin sensitivity decreases, meaning that you should avoid starchy carbs if you don’t want to get fat.

It would also be a wise decision to eat organic foods whenever possible seeing that the majority of our food is polluted with chemicals and artificial poisons these days.

But whatever you do, make sure you eat big and eat often. Without the proper fuel for growth all the hard training you do will be a complete waste of time.

You may want to check out my other guide on: Protein Shakes and Building Mass

Build Muscle Mass

Muscle Building Mistake #11: Falling For the High Protein Scam

High protein diets are a scam that have been pushed on the bodybuilding public for decades. The first food pyramids were actually paid for by the meat and dairy industry. This explains why the recommended intakes of these foods were so high. Later, when protein powders were first created, marketers with dollar signs in their eyes began to over-hype the value of protein in the muscle building process. They couldn’t push carb powders because most people can easily shovel down enough rice and pasta on a daily basis. So they ran with the protein powders and began to promote them like they were the greatest muscle builders since steroids. Eventually many companies toned down the hype surrounding their product but not the hype about high protein diets and their positive effect on building muscle.

Friends, this is simply not true. I hate to tell you this, but you’ve been lied to. It’s all part of the scam perpetrated by big business designed to make money. Like bodybuilding legend Mike Mentzer said, “High protein diets are nonsense. Muscles are 70% water. If they could sell you a bottle of water of forty bucks they would!”

To this point, I bring up prisoners in state or federal penitentiaries who lift weights regularly. There are always tons of incredibly jacked guys in there who get no more than 50-75 grams of low quality protein per day yet still possess massive amounts of muscle.

They are not slugging down some fancy ion exchange whey shakes all day but they sure are growing. Regardless of what anyone tells you, gaining weight still does come down to calories in versus calories out; no matter how rudimentary that formula may be considered these days.

Recently a researcher named Tarnopolsky performed a study in which weight trained individuals consumed a drink containing either: 5, 10, 20 or 40 grams of protein immediately after their workout. Each of the groups increased protein synthesis, but their results were dose dependant.
Up to 20 grams, that is. While the 20 gram group significantly increased protein synthesis over the 10 gram group, the 40 gram group did not significantly increase protein synthesis over the 20 gram group. So any more than 20-30 grams of protein at one sitting isn’t necessarily going to benefit you in any significant way.

The conclusion to be drawn from this most recent study is what I have been saying all along… You don’t need all that protein. In fact, eating too much will force your body to burn protein instead of fat for energy and can make getting leaner a more difficult process.

If you want to get huge, focus on carbohydrates and stop taking out a loan to pay the butcher and wasting money on all the fancy protein powders you don’t need. Now that your diet’s on track it’s time to address the one thing that will save you boatloads of money in your quest for more muscle.

Muscle Building Mistake #12: Getting Your Advice from Bodybuilding Magazines

Bodybuilding magazines are filled with misinformation about training and nutrition. Much of this is due to the fact that many of the writers are steroid using, genetically gifted bodybuilders themselves. Those who aren’t are still in the habit of writing articles geared toward those types of people. Most of us don’t use steroids and don’t have anywhere close to the amazing muscle building genetics that most pro bodybuilders have.

For this reason, we can absolutely not afford to take the advice of those pro bodybuilders. The volume recommended in those articles is often far above and beyond anything a natural lifter or bodybuilder could recover from.

Most of what you read in the large majority of muscle mags is aimed at the guy who either has great muscle building genetics or is using steroids. All of the top bodybuilders you see in the magazines are all using upwards of $100,000 year worth of muscle building drugs. And the workouts are purposely written to overtrain you so that you get fed up and eventually feel like you need to buy their supplements.

Also, you have to understand that writers don’t necessarily get paid to tell the truth, but only to write compelling articles which will help sell more magazines. They can only rehash the same advice so many times so they have to continually keep coming up with more nonsense to sell you. Much of that nonsense includes ridiculous programs that will only lead to overtraining and injuries.

The truth is that many bodybuilding authors who write for magazines and websites are actually paid to write training programs that don’t work and lead to a state of over training. You know why that is? It’s because nearly every major muscle magazine owns a supplement company.

• Muscle Media owns EAS.
• IronMan owns Muscle-Linc.
• Muscle & Fitness and Flex own Weider.
• Muscle Mag International owns Muscle Tech.
• Muscular Development owns Twinlab.

Shocking, right? It’s quite a disgusting web of lies that thousands of guys fall prey to on a regular basis. They give you training programs that don’t work which will hopefully lead to you getting frustrated and thinking that the only answer and hope for you is to buy their newest miracle supplement. It’s a lowdown dirty business.

Muscle Building Mistake #13: Wasting Your Money on Overhyped, Bogus Supplements

If you’re like me you want to get big as fast as humanly possible and you’ve considered using supplements to help you do so. Many of you have probably used quite a few of them, in fact. And many of you, like me, probably wish you had that money back, don’t you?

The supplement industry is a billion dollar business these days and it’s run by crooks, ex-cons and soulless scam artists who will do whatever it takes to separate you from your money.

When I was younger and trying to get as big as possible I was forever trying every new miracle pill that came out. Over the course of several years I wasted close to $60,000.00 (not a misprint) on so called muscle building supplements like:

• Glutamine
• Growth Hormone Booster
• HMB
• Vanadyl Sulfate
• Ribose
• Methoxy
• Pro Hormones
• Amino Acid Pills
• Creatine Booster Formula
• Weight Gain Powders

And too many others to count…

I routinely took all of the pills that I was told to, handful after handful. And I choked down all the mixtures and drinks that would supposedly give me the physique I was after… but none of it ever did a damn thing to help me build muscle.

Eventually I got incredibly sick from the supplements I was using and ended up in the hospital on more than one occasion. I have Utah Senator Orrin Hatch to thank for that as he is the one who chose not to regulate the supplement industry so that companies can put anything they want in the bottle without FDA approval!

Many of you are probably using some of those products right now and flushing your money down the toilet while you wait for the gains that never seem to come. The honest, no BS truth is this…

97% of the Bodybuilding Supplements on the Market Today Are Completely Useless!

Not only that, but all of those supplements you are taking might actually be robbing your body of precious muscle growth. In fact they can actually:

• Damage your health
• Lower your testosterone production
• Elevate your estrogen levels
• Reduce your thyroid output
• Burn out your adrenal glands

Now, just because most supplements suck, that’s not to say they all do. Creatine is proven in multiple studies to work and has shown great results in real world cases. Omega 3 fish oil has countless benefits and should be taken by everyone interested in building muscle, losing fat and improving their overall health.

And one of the most underrated but most effective supplements are digestive enzymes. You’ll never hear much about digestive enzymes because they aren’t some high tech muscle building potion but the reality is that they may do more for you than anything else out there. As you age your enzyme pool decreases. When you don’t have enough enzymes your body can not regenerate itself as rapidly nor can you properly digest and assimilate the food you eat. This leads to less muscle and more fat.

There are a few other rarely discussed supplements that I cover in my exclusive supplement report that can make a big difference, but for now I hope that you realize the majority of supplements are a total waste of your money.

Muscle Building Mistake #14: Ignoring the Importance of Proper Recovery

One thing many people fail to realize is that you don’t build muscle while you are in the gym. You build muscle after your workout, while you are recovering. The workout is simply the stimulus, after that you need to provide your body with adequate nutrition and ample rest otherwise you will never experience an ounce of muscle growth.

Many people overlook this and never give it a second thought. But if you want to build massive muscle in the least amount of time possible, then you are going to have to pay more attention to proper recovery methods. Immediately after training you need to consume an easily digestible mixture of carbohydrates and protein and should get some rest. Ideally a nap would be best here.

The worst possible scenario would be to skip eating and head out for a late night of drinking. In fact, if you want to make rapid gains over the next 12-16 weeks you should seriously consider laying off the booze entirely.

Some other ways to boost your recovery are meditation, massage, foam rolling and stretching; all of which should be incorporated into your weekly schedule if you really want to maximize your rate of progress.

Muscle Building Mistake #15: Not Getting Enough Sleep

This goes hand in hand with number 12 and is really the most important recovery method there is. Without ample sleep you’ll never see significant muscle growth. The majority of your size gains come while you’re sleeping. That’s when your body heals and repairs the damage that has been inflicted upon it during your workout and the course of your other waking hours.

To maximize your growth potential you need between eight and ten hours of sleep per day. This can be achieved with a long slumber at night or with a shorter sleep and a nap during the day. As long as you get the required eight to ten hours it really doesn’t make a difference. Lack of sleep will lower your testosterone levels and increase your cortisol levels. For those that may have forgotten, testosterone is the hormone that builds muscle and cortisol is the hormone that eats muscle tissue and increases body fat. You do not want to screw up that ratio if you want to build a head turning physique.

Sleep deprivation also decreases your insulin sensitivity, meaning that your body’s ability to tolerate and process carbohydrates without getting fat will be severely compromised. Without sufficient sleep you will never build the big, strong, lean physique you spend so much time working to achieve. Don’t negate all the hard work you put in at the gym by staying up all night. More sleep equals more muscle.

Starting tonight you should make a conscious effort to get to bed earlier and eliminate all the distractions that screw up your ability to get a good nights sleep. Keep your room as dark as possible and always try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day.

Muscle Building Mistake #16: Not Maximizing Your Body’s Natural Testosterone Production

Did you know that men today have an average testosterone level that is 50% lower than males from 50 years ago?

Infertility rates are higher than ever and countless men suffer from impotence. (Which seems hard to believe with girls like the one pictured around, but it’s true.)

And it’s continually getting worse. This is due to countless factors too numerous to list here but needless to say this is a major epidemic and we need to do something about it immediately!

If you want to grow like the bodybuilders who are juiced to the gills on steroids and become the real alpha male type that drives women crazy, you have to turn yourself into a natural testosterone and growth-hormone producing machine.

We’ve already discussed a few ways to do this such as using exercises with a high level of neuromuscular activation, which have been scientifically proven to trigger testosterone production.
Next, you have to be sure you never exceed 45 minutes during your workouts.

We just discussed the importance of sleep. Another thing to remember is that alcohol and drugs will reduce your testosterone levels and need to be eliminated from your muscle building plan. Stress is another testosterone killer and has to be reduced.

You should also know that if you are eating the wrong foods at the wrong time you may be in for a devastating hormone crash that will cause rapid loses in muscle mass and the unwanted accumulation of body fat.

In fact, many of the foods you are consuming on a daily basis are pumping your body full of estrogen and slowly turning you into a weak, soft, girly man of the first degree. Unless you eliminate these foods from your diet right now you will never have a ripped muscular physique and might even be getting fitted for a bra (or Mansierrre to Seinfeld fans) sooner than later.
Some of these foods are saturated fat, soy and non organic meat and produce that are pumped full of hormones. Instead you should be focusing on testosterone boosting foods like wild catch, fatty fish, nuts and seeds and anti estrogenic foods like citrus fruits and cruciferous vegetables.

Finally, you should know that having sex on a regular basis has been shown to boost testosterone levels! Now go get laid!

Muscle Building Mistake # 17: Not Having a Plan

Back in the 80’s the “Instinctive Training Principle” was popular amongst a great deal of professional bodybuilders. They advised that in order to “keep your muscles guessing” and to prevent your body from ever adapting to your workouts you should do something completely different every time you entered the gym.

This would supposedly prevent stagnation and put you on the path to incredible muscle growth. The reality is that training like this leads you absolutely nowhere but to disappointment and frustration.

Unfortunately this is what the large majority of gym goers do on a regular basis and is one of the primary reasons why most people never make any progress at all. Simply going to the gym and doing whatever you feel like doing on that particular day is the worst approach to building muscle that you could possibly take. Like the old cliche goes, failing to plan is planning to fail.

In order to induce rapid muscle growth you must follow a scientifically mapped out plan which allows you to make progress at each and every workout and can be easily tracked on a daily basis in a training journal. You have to know exactly what you’re going to do at every workout, long before you ever get to the gym. And each workout has to have a specific, measureable goal that needs to be focused on and achieved in order to ensure continual progress and head turning size gains.

You simply can’t just walk into the gym and wing it if you ever expect to get great results. Without a program to follow you are basically doing just that and hoping for the best. There is also no way to quantify your progress when you take this approach.

If you decided that you wanted to become a world class guitar player you wouldn’t just randomly do whatever you felt like doing when you picked up the guitar each day in hopes that it would somehow turn you into the next Jimi Hendrix. On the contrary, you would go for lessons or buy a CD or book that teaches you exactly what to do each and every time you practice.

In other words, you would have a plan to help you achieve success no matter the endeavor that you chose to pursue. For some reason, weight training is the only activity in the world where the majority of participants don’t have a well thought out, fully detailed plan. This is a large part of the reason why so few people ever achieve the muscular physique they’re after.

Muscle Building Mistake #18: Not Cycling Your Workouts Properly

By now you know that you need to train three days per week, with each workout lasting 45 minutes and consisting of no more than 10-16 total sets. You know you need to lift heavy and strive to get stronger at every workout.

But one thing that we haven’t covered yet is the absolute necessity to cycle your workouts properly. There are three different types of muscle fibers and all of them must be trained and fully stimulated. Therefore you need to use a few specific rep ranges in every program otherwise you will leave some fibers completely dormant and untapped.

Some experts claim that training volume is the most important factor for muscle growth. Others say that it’s intensity. So who is right? They both are… to an extent.

The Secret to Achieving Rapid Muscle Growth Without Plateaus is to Combine These Two Scientific Components into One Synergistic Muscle Building System

That means that some days you are focusing on volume and other days you are focusing on intensity. You can not do both all of the time. If you do, you will overtrain in no time.

Overzealous skinny guys love to work themselves into the ground. They figure the harder they work the quicker the gains will come. The problem is that when you constantly train to failure you will eventually burn out your central nervous system and this will greatly slow down your recovery and thus the rate at which you build muscle. If you want to make long lasting gains you have to back off once in a while and give your body a break. After a period of reduced intensity you can ramp back up again and repeat the cycle. The same can be said for volume.

Through many years of painstaking research I have discovered a very unique way to combine these factors into a carefully planned muscle building program that will help you avoid both overtraining and undertraining, and assure that you always remain in the optimal training zone.
When I first employed this system I was utterly astounded at the results. All of my gym members, myself included, started building muscle faster than ever before.

If you want to experience explosive and limitless muscle growth you must capitalize on these findings and begin to plan your workouts in this precise manner ASAP!

Start writing out your workouts and planning them properly and I’ll be back to tell you what you absolutely must do every two months in order to insure long term, consistent progress… and the most overlooked factor in your overall training success. Look out for the eighth and final lesson in the next two days…

Muscle Building Mistake #19: Not Taking a Complete Week Off Every 8-12 Weeks

After several weeks of hard training your body will demand a break. Giving it the time off that it’s in desperate need of will help you avoid burnout and injuries. It will also help your body to recover and continue growing at an optimal rate. Many people fear taking a week off because they think they will shrink, however, nothing could be further from the truth.

If you need proof of why this isn’t so, you need look no further than competitive athletes who only have a few months of the year to train seriously. Football players enter camp in August and often times play until mid January. After the season they are so beat up that they need one to three months off from any physical activity whatsoever. So let’s say that they don’t pick up a weight until March or April. That leaves them with only four or five months of serious training. After that they basically go on a maintenance program throughout the season.

Yet how much muscle do you see these guys losing from one year to the next? Absolutely zero. In fact, most guys continue to build more muscle and get stronger each and every year.

The body is simply not meant to go full speed and lift heavy weights for 52 weeks straight. Twelve weeks is the longest you should ever train hard for without taking a complete week off. Many hardgainers and lifters over 35 years old will actually get even better results by taking a week off every 6-8 weeks. Others choose to take a half a week off every six weeks and a full week off every twelve. Experiment to see which option works best for you, but never go longer than twelve weeks without a full week off.

Muscle Building Mistake #20: Doubting or Not Believing in Yourself and Your Program

Let’s be honest. Everyone wants to improve their physical appearance in some way. I don’t know of too many guys that don’t want to build more muscle. It’s just human nature. You want to appeal to the opposite sex, boost your self confidence and command respect from you peers.
But wanting and doing are two entirely different things. How many people do you know that actually get off their asses and do what they say they’re going to do? Or what they say they want to do? Very few. And do you know why?

Because they don’t have the right mindset. Change your mindset and you will change your body. With the right mindset you can make gains in as little as 12 weeks that other guys don’t even make in 12 years!

People who have made unbelievable physical transformations first accepted the fact that it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park and they were willing to work for it and do whatever it took. That’s not to say that it takes an incredible amount of time. You don’t have to spend every waking hour in the gym. You can progress incredibly well in just a few short hours per week. But if you don’t possess the proper mindset and the determination to do whatever it takes during those three or four weekly hours of training you will never get anywhere.

We all have commitments and time restraints that prevent us from working out as much as we would like to. But lack of time never was and never will be an acceptable excuse. If you search hard enough and cut out the wasted hours of TV time and other useless nonsense, you will find that we all have two or three hours per week to dedicate to our health and to transforming our bodies. After all, what is more important in life than your health and your body? Very little if you ask me.

Guys like Arthur Saxon, Dorian Yates, Arnold, Bill Pearl, George Hackenshmidt and Ed Coan all had the never-say-die, take-no-prisoners attitude that is an absolute prerequisite to massive physical transformation. Bill Pearl found that he was so busy that he had to wake up at 4am every day just to get his workouts in. But that’s what it took, so he did it happily.

It doesn’t require fancy machinery and a high tech gym, it doesn’t take a lot of time each week, it doesn’t take any over hyped, over priced supplements; but it does take hard work, dedication and a burning desire to succeed. If you think you’re going to half ass your way through your workouts and still make dramatic progress you’re just lying to yourself.

Will be this be the day when you finally make the mindset change necessary to achieve greatness or will you just keep putting it off ‘til tomorrow? By Jason Ferruggia

You may want to check out my other guide on: Protein Shakes and Building Mass

Build Mass

If you are looking for a good bodybuilding routine for building mass, then I have a good one for you. There are so many routines out there, especially with the internet, that it is very easy to get confused about what works, who to listen to, how many sets, how many reps, how to to rest, the list goes on and on. However, notice that the title of this article is a simple bodybuilding routine for building mass. That is because if you have read any of my articles before, then you know how much I like to simplify things.

With that said, I have presented here a time-tested and time-honored bodybuilding routine for building mass that will guarantee results for anybody with the guts to work hard enough at it and finish it. It follows the old fashioned 5×5 system. If you have heard of it before but have never tried it, then now is the time.

This system has worked wonders for hundreds and probably thousands of weight trainers and bodybuilders alike in both building muscle and gaining strength. No matter how long and how fast bodybuilding will evolve, the 5×5 system will ALWAYS be a proven way to stack on gains like nothing else.

Here’s how it works: pick an exercise, and because compound exercises work the best, we will pick squats. Start off by doing 5 reps with relatively light weight to warm up. Next, add some more weight, and do another 5 reps. Now that you are warmed up, jump to your working weight that you can do for 5 reps and do 3 sets with this weight. Since you are looking to gain more mass, then keep your rest periods between 1 and 2 minutes; if you were looking to build more strength, then 3 minute rests would be more fitting.

Now, next time you do squats, add 5 more pounds to both your warm-up sets and your 3 working sets and do it again. The key is to keep adding five pounds each workout until you can’t complete 5 reps for one of your sets. What you would do is stay at that same weight until you can complete the 3 sets of 5 reps in good, clean form.

Remember to always keep your reps no higher then 5, even if you can do more. Staying with the 5×5 system is one of the best proven methods for building size and strength as fast as possible.

Now that you know how to perform the exercise in the 5×5 system, here is the whole bodybuilding routine for building mass that you can follow:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

1) Barbell Squats

2) Bench Press

3) Barbell Rows or T-Bar Rows

4) Overhead Barbell Shoulder Press

5) Stiff-legged Deadlifts

6) Barbell Curls

Start off doing all of the following exercises three days a week, and as soon as you feel the weight getting heavier and harder to manage, you can switch to two days a week with two to three days in-between workouts for more recovery time. These are the granddaddy of muscle mass building exercises, and just because the routine looks simple doesn’t mean it will be easy, but most importantly, it will produce RESULTS.

Stay on this program for 2 to 3 months and as long as you are continuously adding weight and getting progressively stronger, your muscle mass will follow. Arthur Jones once stated long ago, “When you can curl 200 pounds for ten reps in perfect form, your upper arms will be as large as they need to be for any purpose associated with any sport just short of wrestling bears.”

Keep this concept in mind when you are on your journey to building muscle mass, for the stronger you are, the more potential you have for building muscle mass, and the 5×5 system is one of the best of its kind for building size and strength.

9 Simple Ways to Build Mass

Muscle mass is the epitome of true bodybuilding. There are three components involved in mass building, they are: balanced dietary program, anaerobic and proper weight lifting.

There are 9 simple ways in which you can increase your body mass.

1. Concentrate on the Eccentric

Muscle growth occurs as a result of muscle contraction when you are lifting the weight. Many people pay most attention to concentric phase when you are lifting and the muscle contracts. However hypertrophy can also be caused during the eccentric phase as the muscle increases in length.
Concentrating on the eccentric phase is a simple way to overload the muscles and in the process cause an increase in muscle mass.

2. Eat red meat & fish

Fish and red meat contains the essential omega 3 fatty acids. These fatty acids are crucial for the simple fact that they sensitize the muscles to insulin absorption. They assist amino acids to enter into the muscles while at the same time help in the preservation of glutamine stores.

3. You should take more Sodium in your diet.

Although most people oppose taking more sodium in the diet as it could lead to high blood pressure, for a bodybuilder sodium is quite vital. This is due to the fact that it contains essential minerals that are useful during muscle growth. Sodium also helps by enhancing the storage of carbohydrates and the absorption of amino acids. It also sensitizes the muscles to respond to insulin. The only disadvantage to body building is that it can lead to water retention.

4. Forget aerobic exercises

Aerobic exercises damage your chances of muscle building. This is because it burns up branched chain amino acids and essential glycogen in the body while at the same time messes with your strength gains. If you want to improve on your resting metabolic rate (RMR) so as to burn more calories then adding mass is the best way to go about it.

5. Emphasize heavy and intense lifting

The amount of growth your muscle acquires is largely affected by the stress your muscles experience during your heavy lifting. Therefore in order to increase the stress in your muscles which will lead to muscle-tear, you have to train with weights intensely.

6. Increase your calories

If you are on a low calorie diet, you will never acquire a proper nitrogen balance. This is the key ingredient necessary to support muscle recovery. This should however be restricted to a two day period, to avoid unwanted fat.

7. Rest

Give your body ample time to rest, so that your body can recover and add on mass. Rest allows your body time to increase anabolism and restore glycogen level.

8. Take a meal in the middle of the night.

For anabolism to take place you calories have to be in excess. Therefore in the middle of the night you should try and take a protein drink so as to stimulate additional growth.

9. Use Proper Supplements.

If you are a healthy individual with no health problems you should try out on the recommended supplements out there. They are rich in creatine which will give you the extra boost needed to gain more muscles.

Check out my other guides on: Protein Shakes and Ab Roller

gain muscle mass

How to build muscle mass fast is just like a sport involving muscles building activity. Building body mass is a great experience involving a perfect blend of discipline and technique. Adding mass muscle is not a one time job though, instead you need more efforts to retain the achieved shape of muscle. Some people think that adding mass muscle will increase their fat also which is totally wrong. After getting some experience, you can do many fat burning workouts without affecting your muscle shape. Some people also think that building body mass at the young age will stop their overall growth but it is also a myth.

There are 3 factors that you MUST HAVE in order to build muscle mass and quickly at that. And here they are:

#1 – More Protein

If you want to build muscle mass quickly then this is a “must”. Just remember, the only thing that can build muscle in your body is Protein. So if you’re not consuming enough protein it’s IMPOSSIBLE to build lean muscle mass and stack on the pounds.

In order to maintain your weight, you should be consuming 1 gram of protein for each pound of body weight. So if you’re a 150 lb. guy then in order to maintain your muscle mass at that weight you need to consume 150 grams of protein each day. And if you want to build muscle mass, you’re going to have to consume “more” protein, to not only maintain the muscles you have now but to build more.

So if you want to build muscle mass quickly and safely a general rule of thumb is to consume 1 – 2 grams of protein for each pound of body weight. So if you’re a 150lb. guy you’d want to consume at least 150 grams of protein upward to 300 grams of protein a day.

#2 – More Carbs

Despite what Dr. Atkins said, for all us skinny guys “Carbs are GOOD”. We need carbs as a source of energy. But you don’t want to consume just any ‘ol carbs. You want to consume a lot of complex carbs rather than simple carbs.

In other words, you still want to stay away from the sweets and simple sugars that are found in a lot of our junk food, and you want to consume more complex carbs like those found in whole wheat bread, brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole grain cereals, yams, spinach etc.

Why complex carbs? Because unlike simple carbs (sugars) it’s virtually impossible to turn complex carbs into fat – which means more energy to burn (work out with) and less fat to deal with in the end.

If you want to build muscle mass fast, ideally you’d want to consume 2 – 3 grams of carbs for each pound of bodyweight a day.

#3 – Heavy Weight Training

You cannot build muscle mass without “Heavy weight training“. Let’s just put it this way “the more stress (heavy weight) you put on your muscles, the more it will grow”. And it’s simply because when you put extreme stress on your muscle by lifting heavy weights, your body responds (builds more muscle) so that next time it won’t be as hard or strenuous on your body to lift the same weight.

Ideally, if you want to build muscle mass – lean muscle mass to be more specific, you’d want to lift weights that allow you to do 6-8 reps and no more.

Of course there’s a whole lot more to building muscle mass, but if you follow these 3 key ingredients you’ll be on the road to building lean muscle mass quickly and a whole lot easier than you ever thought possible. Good luck and grow “Massive”.

3 Simple Steps to Gain Muscle Mass Fast

Despite all the hard work, protein shakes, gym visits, calories of chicken and tuna are you still struggling to gain muscle mass fast? Well lucky for you I have discovered 3 of the best ways to gain muscle mass quickly. Follow these simple steps and you will start building big muscles all over your body. So let’s get started.

1. Squats and Dead lifts. These 2 big “animal exercises” are crucial for gaining muscle mass quickly. In fact squats and dead lifts workout over 75% of your musculature, including your back, shoulders, arms, gluts, hams, calves and core muscles. Truly an all in one workout exercise. Moreover these 2 exercises also result in greater levels of growth hormones being produced which means you will gain muscle mass fast all over your body. This is because squats and dead lifts have a strong level of intensity which other exercises don’t. This is particularly relevant for skinny guys and hard gainers. The best way to gain muscle mass.

2. Focus on compound exercises such as squats, leg presses, dead lifts, bench presses, barbell rows, pull ups, chin ups, over head presses, and dips. These exercises are must do’s if you want to gain muscle mass fast because they focus on the strong muscles. A lot of people who want to know how to gain muscle mass quickly focus on things like calves and arms and wonder why they never get really bulked up. Focus on weak muscles and that’s exactly what you will get.

3. Time your rest periods. A key aspect of gaining muscle mass quickly is using a stopwatch and timing your rest periods properly. The higher the number of reps, the shorter the rest period and the lower the number of reps the longer the rest period. If you are training for maximum strength then you need to take between 3-5 minutes break between each set. If you are taking a shorter period then you are not working out properly. Further if you are trying to get maximum muscle gain this requires shorter break times of 30-90 seconds. Also if you rest times are not the same, you cannot monitor your true improvement.

Building body mass primarily needs firm determination, commitment, a well defined target and the right approach. Before you start though you need to know how to apply the right approach for gaining lean muscle or adding muscle mass without knowing the basic factors involved in building body mass.

You may want to check out my other articles on: Building Muscle and Lifetime Fitness