Don't settle for an average body...use these techniques to build much bigger muscles in half the time. Simple to deploy yet very powerful, they will truly accelerate your progress.
Simple Way to Gain Muscle Fast
If you are going to spend hours in the gym every week pumping iron, you want some results, right? After all, working out takes up a lot of your time, so you naturally want to see that investment rewarded with bulging biceps and mighty pecs.
But sometimes, working out can be frustrating. Like a hamster stuck in a wheel, you can find yourself working furiously but not getting anywhere.
Don’t panic! The problem can be fixed. Here are ten tips that will accelerate your muscle growth into another dimension of success.
#1. Work the Largest Muscle Groups Harder
This isn’t rocket science. If you work smaller muscles like your biceps, then there is a limit to how much additional mass you can build in a certain amount of time. But if you focus on the big muscle groups – like your chest, back and legs – you can work your body harder overall and build up a lot of additional muscle.
Exercises such as the chest press, deadlift, squats, pull ups and dips are perfect for this task. These favorites have all stood the test of time, because they produce amazing results. Here is some advice on how to get those exercises working optimally for you…
#2. Keep Ringing the Changes in Your Workouts
One of the main reasons why people fail to make progress in their muscle growth is because they get stuck in a proven workout routine. They lift the same weights in the same sequence every week, because in the first few weeks this routine worked well.
The problem is that the body is very good at adapting to regular routines. Once your body adapts to you established workout routine, muscle growth slows dramatically – and will soon stop altogether.
Remember that weight training is called progressive resistance training for a reason. You need to progressively increase the weights as your body adapts. When you find that you can lift a certain weight comfortably for a given number of reps, increase the weight.
Remember that if you increase the number of reps without stepping up the weight, you may be improving endurance, but you will not be doing much for muscle mass. To build big muscle, you need to lift heavier and heavier weights.
You should also change your workout routine regularly, so that your body does not get the chance to adapt to a fixed routine. Every few weeks, switch up your choice of exercises, the order in which you do them, and even the time at which you go to the gym.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was famous for his system of ‘shocking the muscles’ in this way, and his system won him seven Mr. Olympia titles – so it is fair to say that it works!
#3. Push Yourself to the Limit
Another common rookie error is failing to push yourself to the limit. They say ‘no pain, no gain’ and they are right! In order to build muscle, you need to tire your muscle fibers to the point where they can’t do anymore.
This forces your body to recruit additional muscle fibers to help with the arduous task, and this is the key to making muscle grow. So you should complete every exercise to the point where you really can’t do another rep with good form. That is, you should train to failure.
Even when you reach that point of failure, there is still more you can do. You may be able to squeeze out one or two more partial reps, or ask a friend to ‘spot’ while you do forced reps.
Your friend helps you to lift the weight, but you do the negative rep alone, controlling the weight back to rest. All of this forces your muscles beyond their established limits, and forces your body to build more muscle to cope with the overload.
Remember to use free weights extensively, too. These need to be balanced and stabilized, so they require the use of more assistance muscles to get the job done. The more muscles you use, the more mass you put on.
#4. Increase the Intensity
Another great way to put your body under pressure is to increase the intensity of your workouts. You might do a regular workout most days of the week, but go for a high-intensity workout once or twice a week.
On these days, you can shorten the rest time between sets, do supersets or even do some cardio during your rest time. Again, you are preventing your body from getting too comfortable in one routine, and pushing muscle, bone and your nervous system to new limits.
#5. Measure your Progress
Sometimes bodybuilders give up simply because they cannot see fast progress in the mirror. But building a fantastic body is like running a marathon, rather than doing a sprint.
You may well be making gains that you just can’t see yet in the mirror. So take accurate measurements of your biceps size, waist size and other key factors. Get your body fat percentage measured, too.
Record all of these using a workout app, or by putting them in an old-fashioned training diary. If you look back after a couple of months, you will be amazed at how much progress you have made. Seeing how much progress you are making will incentivize you to keep going.
#6. Make Sure you are Eating a Calorific Surplus
Your body is always in one of two states – anabolic, where it is building body tissue, or catabolic, where it is breaking down tissue. To build muscle mass, we clearly want the body to be in anabolic mode as much as possible.
But that can only happen if you are providing the body with enough energy to both fuel your metabolism and your muscle growth. Otherwise your body will turn catabolic, and start breaking down protein (especially muscle) to provide the energy your body needs.
So when planning your diet, be sure to get the balance right. You must ensure that you are eating enough to provide all your energy needs, without eating a surplus of junk calories that get turned into fat. Getting that balance right is not always easy, but it is always important.
#7. Consume Plenty of Muscle-Building Protein
Your body needs protein to build muscle, and if you are working out regularly, it needs a heck of a lot. While whey protein shakes are a good source of this macronutrient, you should not be too dependent on them.
You need to eat a good mix of regular high-protein foods – such as lean beef, skinless chicken, cottage cheese, eggs and tuna.
#8. Use the Right Supplements
While you should not be too dependent on supplements, they certainly have their place. Consuming a whey protein shake both before and after a workout is a great way to get high-quality protein into your system fast when it is needed most.
Taking slow-digesting casein before going to sleep can help to keep your system anabolic through the night, while creatine is known to accelerate the fiber-building processes within muscle cells.
#9. Keep Showing Up
Consistency is the key when it comes to growing muscle mass. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you are not going to achieve a champion-style body in a few weeks.
You must be committed to following your workout schedule week in, week out for many years. If you keep showing up at the gym and workout correctly, massive muscle growth is guaranteed – it is a mathematical certainty.
#10. Don’t Give Up
In your first few months of bodybuilding, you may find that you make gains quickly. But after a while, the pace of gains will start to slow down. While this is frustrating, you must remember that everyone hits this ‘plateau’ stage sooner or later.
If you keep turning up and working out, you will get through this phase and find that your muscle growth resumes. So don’t give up when the job is only half complete!
A Great Time to Build Muscle
As a bodybuilder today, you are in a very fortunate position. Never before in history have bodybuilders had access to so many wonderful tools.
As well as modern gyms packed with very sophisticated equipment, you also have access to a wealth of scientific information on training and nutrition. Plus you can deploy advanced supplements to help you get even more amazing results.
To give you some more inspiration, here is another great video that shows you five effective ways to build muscle fast that work today:
So if you want to build bigger, better muscles, the opportunity is there. Now you just need to get down to the gym and make it happen. Although there is a lot involved in building great muscles, the fundamental element is doing harder workouts more often.
With a little commitment and a lot of hard work, you can build a body to be truly proud of. It won't happen overnight, but if you start today, you will soon see the results of your efforts.
