Increasing Your Muscle Mass With 5 Simple Steps

By Russ Howe

If you are confused as to how to build muscle in the gym, today's post is specifically for you. Seriously, drop everything and read these tips. Because alongside how to lose weight effectively, this is undoubtedly the number one topic we're quizzed on at the gym by customers.

The basics work best when it comes to building lean tissue and keeping it. Today we're going to be laying down the foundations of a solid size and strength plan for you to follow.

1) Change Your Diet To Gain Size And Strength.

2) Understand Supplements Before Using Them.

3) Tailor Your Workouts.

4) Don't Forget To Rest Up.

5) Get Enough Sleep.

The five rules are very basic and, strangely, very easily overlooked in favor of needlessly more complicated techniques. Simply put, these are proven to work and have stood the test of time on the gym floor. Rule number one is about diet. That's right, you still need to diet if your goal is adding size and strength.

You're trying to build a physique the right way, after all, and there are two ways to get bigger we all know that.

Watch the video incorporated into today's post to learn how to sort out your diet. The simple system shown is proven to work.

Rule number two is about knowing your supplements. Too often, people are all too quick to take a product without truly knowing what they're actually putting into their body, what it's supposed to be doing for them or why they even need it.

When it comes to bodybuilding supplements it pays to stick to the proven basics. Creatine and whey protein, for example, are both proven and side effect free. Get the rest of your nutrients from your diet, don't over rely on pills and potions.

Tip three is about your time in the gym. If you want to get bigger, you need to train bigger. That doesn't necessarily mean longer, either. Stick to the hardcore basic exercises such as Deadlifts and Pull Ups. These multi-joint exercises are spectacular for building up strength and size.

You also need to take days off from training to maximize your gains. Rest up to size up, that's our motto. There is no point in training every single day and not letting your body to recover.

The same goes for sleep. Too few of us get anywhere near enough and as a result we unknowingly deprive ourselves of results. Growth hormone is released while you sleep, so this is an important time. Pack in eight hours each night and you have this base covered.

If anybody reading this also read our five step guide on how to lose weight fast and safely you'll notice that it was just as simple and easy to follow. Because despite all the hype and confusion surrounding how to build muscle the basics are still as good as it gets.

About the Author:

Publisher: Russ Howe PTI is the UK's most followed fitness instructor who teaches people how to build muscle and how to lose weight. Check out his free guide next to enhance your results in the gym.

Build 80 Pounds Of Muscle?

Is it possible to gain 80 pounds of shredded muscle without Steroids? Yes, but very difficult. A realistic goal for packing on muscle would be 7lbs/year....yes, 7lbs/year-without steroids. Arnold in his day (late 70's early 80's) weight around 240lbs ripped up at a height of 6'2". So if you weight 190lbs for example and you are around the same height, it could take you up to 7-8 years to get in that kind of shape.

However if you are shorter, say around 5'8"-5'10" you can actually "look" just as big with less muscle gains. A guy who's 5'9" 215lbs looks every bit as big as a guy who's 6'2" 240 in terms of muscle bulk. So the taller you are the more time it is going to take. The good thing is when you do it without steroids the muscle you gain is really your, so you keep most of it when and if you stop lifting. Another cool thing is you will get a lot stronger and harder before you really start growing. So you will FEEL great before you actually LOOK great.

One other factor, it also depends on a person's body type. There are 3 basic ones:
Endomorph: naturally bulky frame, usually with a lot of both body fat and muscle. These guys usually can put on both muscle AND fat at a rate that is faster than 7lbs/year.
Ectomorph: naturally thin. Low body fat, Also known as "Hard gainersâ Without steroids, to put on 7lbs of muscle in a year is really good. On a positive note, because hard gainers usually will have naturally low body fat, any shred of muscle they gain will show. So ectomorphs can "look" as though they weight a lot more.

Finally, Mesomorphs: These guys are the gifted one when it comes to gaining muscle. Usually they are naturally muscular with low body fat. If you are an endomorph or have some endo in your genetic pool, you can definitely pack on more than 7lbs of muscle per year....as long as you are keeping up on your nutrition which is another story.

Note: It is rare that a person is 100% of any of these body types. There is usually a mix with one type being dominate

Joel Mosley CPFT & LICENSED PRO BOXER
[http://www.buildingmorethanbodies.com/]
joel@buildingmorethanbodies.com

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What Causes Muscle Growth?

In order for muscles to grow, three things are required:
1. Stimulus - exercise is needed to make the muscles work, use energy and cause microscopic damage to the fibers.

2. Nutrition - after intense exercise the muscles need to replenish their stores of fuel.

3. Rest - it is during the rest or recovery phase that the muscles repair the microscopic damage and grow.
Muscle size increases due to hypertrophic adaptation and an increase in the cross section area of individual muscle fibers. Intensive exercise impacts more on the strength influencing fast twitch type II fibers, therefore the increase in muscle size is accompanied by greater strength.

This will deplete the muscle's energy stores and cause microscopic damage to the muscle tissue. During recovery, these stores of glycogen and phosphocreatine will replenish from carbohydrates and creatine ingested as food or supplements. Amino acids supplied in the diet will trigger the protein synthesis that repairs the damaged muscle and lead to the creation of bigger muscle fibers.

To achieve continuous improvement you will need to keep reaching for higher levels of training intensity otherwise the improvement process will grind to a halt. Fortunately, this is relatively easy to plan for provided certain basic principles and rules are clearly followed. Just be sure to build sufficient rest into your training program otherwise the hard work will go to waste. For many bodybuilders and athletes generally, it is the rest element that seems most difficult. Subsequent articles in this series will examine these principles in detail.
In the meantime you can find out more about building muscle by visiting the site listed below.

Richard Mitchell is the creator of the The Bodybuilding Blog website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to What Builds Muscles [http://www.bodybuilding-blog.com/bodybuilding-nutrition/what-builds-muscles] to learn more about the issues covered in this article.

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How to Gain Weight and Build Mass Without Getting Fat

The biggest fear when trying to gain weight and add muscle size is that the process used to reach those goals will also make you fat. It's a real concern. But, you should first realize that it is impossible to only put on muscle. If you have a calorie surplus, which is required for putting on muscle, you will also inevitably put on a little fat.

Don't feel down. Answer this question: Would you mind putting on a little fat for a lot of muscle? Well, that answer to that is the key for fixing your mentality when it comes to gaining weight and fat. It is significantly faster to lose fat than to put on new muscle mass. Of course, your goal should be to maximize muscle gains while minimizing fat gains, but try not to pay too much attention to slight fat gains during any "massbuilding" phase. If you train properly and follow a clean diet, it is possible to add significant amounts of mass without adding too much body fat.

Get Stronger
More strength means more muscle. Muscle burns more calories than fat. If you train to build muscle, you'll burn more calories which will eventually make it easier to reach a lower body fat percentage. That's why many trainers advocate focusing on maximizing strength. Keep strength as your primary goal and everything else will fall in place.

Clean Dieting
Learn your macronutrients. Eating enough to gain weight is one thing. But, eating enough food to gain GOOD weight is another thing. Altering the ratio of protein, fat, and carbohydrates is the most important thing you can alter to maximize your likelihood of reaching any fitness goal. You need to know how much of each macronutrient your body needs for a specific goal. Eating the right ratios of macronutrients when trying to add muscle will limit how many calories get stored as fat.
Eating clean also means exercising discipline even if you are trying to gain weight. Avoid junk food and eating out! Limit your cheat meals to once or twice a week.

Setting Goals
Set reasonable and attainable goals. Like I said before, putting on fat is inevitable when you are trying to gain weight. Not all of your gains can be muscle. But, your goal should be to limit fat gains while maximizing muscle gains. If you gain 10 lbs, but only 4 lbs of that are fat, I would call that a resounding success.

Everyone always wants the impossible. Don't let that get you distracted from your ultimate goal. Gaining a little bit of fat in order to gain a lot of muscle is a good trade-off. Once your body fat percentage starts to get higher than you want it, just drop into a 6-8 week cutting cycle to get rid of the excess fat while preserving the muscle you put on. For this time period, you will want to shift to a calorie restricted diet, change your macronutrient ratio and add in some cardio. If you are serious about preserving your muscle gains while losing body fat, I highly suggest using a cyclical ketogenic diet.

For further information to help guide you through your massbuilding phase, I suggest reading through the articles at Workouts for Mass Building. If you are interested in learning about the cutting diet I suggested, Keto Diet Plans provides everything you need to successfully lose body fat without sacrificing the muscle you just added.

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