Muscle Mass Increase

Strength training today suffers from the Starbucks effect. Just as it’s increasingly difficult to fight off the sprinkles and foam when you order a cup of joe, it’s hard to call yourself a modern muscle maker when you do a weight-lifting move without a few added kinks.

“It’s great fun to watch guys trying to do squats while standing on stability balls,” says former Olympic weight-lifting coach Harvey Newton, C.S.C.S., of newtonsports.info. “But the truth is, if they just did the basics better, they’d produce the results they want without involving all the bells and whistles.”

Now hold on, Harvey. Those big balls do a lot of good. On the other hand, all these half-caf mocha-latte workouts are starting to get on our nerves. Sometimes you just want to bust a move and make more muscle.

So we asked exercise experts to help us pinpoint ways to make the classic moves we all do—squats, rows, bench presses, and crunches—work better. Follow their advice and see fast results . . . without the sprinkles.

Tap When You Squat

Experts agree: The squat is one of the best muscle builders in a man’s portfolio because of the number of muscles the exercise engages. Experts also agree that most lifters perform it incorrectly. Namely, they don’t squat down far enough, nor do they place the emphasis on their glutes by anchoring with their heels. This means the glutes are never fully engaged.

New York City–based trainer David Kirsch, C.S.C.S., author of The Ultimate New York Body Plan, offers this solution: Stand in front of a weight bench. Squat down until your butt touches the bench, then immediately press through your heels back to the starting position. Using the bench forces you to squat all the way down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, so the exercise will yield better results.

Give ‘Em a Squeeze

As you prepare to lift, contract the muscles you’re working and keep them that way throughout the entire move. “You won’t be able to lift quite as much weight, but your muscles will be doing more work overall, so they’ll grow,” says Sam Iannetta, C.P.T., owner of Functional Fitness and Wellness Centers in Boulder, Colorado. “For instance, on the bench press, imagine you’re trying to bring your hands toward each other but don’t move them at all, so your pecs are squeezed together. You won’t believe the pump.”

Bring the Situp Back from the Dead

“Men spend entirely too much time doing crunches, which involve only a 30-degree range of motion—way too small for significant muscle building,” says Patrick Hagerman, Ed.D., C.S.C.S., a professor at the University of Tulsa. “If you want to build your abdominals, do a full situp. Your abs spend more time working dynamically under tension, so they’ll grow bigger and stronger. Full situps also strengthen the hip flexors, which can get pretty weak if all you do is crunches.” (To improve your crunches, add a Swiss ball.)

To do situps right, lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor, knees bent about 90 degrees, hands clasped lightly behind your head, and elbows out to the sides. Tuck in your chin, contract your abdominals, and roll all the way up until your chest nearly touches your knees. Then slowly roll back down.

Lose the Bench

By working while standing, you involve more muscles and burn more calories, says Douglas Lentz, C.S.C.S., director of fitness for Summit Health, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. “Except for a few sessions devoted to increasing mass, our athletes do almost everything standing,” he says. “It engages your core, so your total strength increases.”

A classic example is the bent-over dumbbell row. Most men lean over and brace themselves on a bench, then perform the exercise with one arm. Instead, assume a wide, stable stance and bend from the hips, keeping your back flat—and don’t use a bench. Perform your rows from that position. You’ll work your core for stability and do a bit more mid-section work. You won’t be able to lift quite as much weight, but your entire body will benefit from the move.

Whittle While You Wait

Instead of sitting around working your mandible between sets, exercise another body part. “Supersetting helps you use your time better,” says Lentz. And, if you do it properly, it builds more muscle. For the best results, alternate lower- and upper-body moves, such as a leg press followed by a lat pulldown. That way, each muscle group has time to recover between sets. Alternating upper- and lower-body exercises also keeps your heart rate revved up and stimulates your circulatory system, so you deliver more oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to your working muscles and burn more calories.

Don’t like blending upper- and lower-body workouts? Do ab work between sets. You’ll be less likely to blow it off than if you save it for the end.

Check out my other guides on: Weight Training Equipment and Bodybuilding Competition

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