Muscle Mass: Increase Yours With These 20 Tips

Posted in Muscle Mass on 17. Feb, 2010

20 Mass Gaining Tips for the Hard Gainer. If you are having a hard time gaining muscle mass or, if you just want to have a little more information on how to stay on track with continuing gains in your muscle mass, here are 20 tried and true bodybuilding tips. Learn these 20 tips and apply them to your bodybuilding program regularly.

1. Increase resistance regularly. Your muscles will grow in response to increased demand upon them. You must regularly increase your weight, reps, or intensity in order to increase your muscle mass.

2. Use Moderate Reps. Sets of 6 to 10 reps are best for bodybuilders. Sets of five or less reps tend to build more strength than muscle mass and sets greater than 10 reps tend to increase endurance in a muscle, rather than cause it to grow in size. (The exceptions to this rule are calves, abdominals, and forearms, which tend to respond best in rep ranges of 10 to 15).

3. Use Basic Exercises. Build your workouts around compound multi-joint movements such as squats, deadlifts, barbell rows, military presses, and bench presses (inclined, flat and decline).

4. Eat Protein Frequently. Every day you should consume 1 to 1.5 grams of quality protein for each pound of body weight. Divide this intake into five or six meals that are spaced no more than three hours apart. Try to get most of this protein from animal sources like beef, fish, dairy and high quality protein supplements.

5. Do Not Use Shortcuts. Avoid trying to speed up your progress by working out too much without sufficient rest, taking steroids, eating too many unnecessary calories and using weights that are too heavy. These methods will do more harm than good in the long run.

6. Evaluate Your Physique. Take a good look at yourself in a mirror and do an honest assessment of your weak points and strong points. Arrange your exercises to hit your lagging muscles first when you are strong, and hit your best bodyparts last. If your shoulders tend to be narrow, be sure to emphasize deltoid movements, especially lateral raises. If your hips tend to be wide, you may need to prioritize your lats to create the V- taper.

7. Get Enough Rest. You grow when you are resting, not when you are training. Allow four days of rest between workouts for each muscle group to recover and grow. Be sure to get seven to eight hours of sleep each night for maximal muscle growth.

8. Create Intensity. Use advanced techniques such as partial reps, drop sets, and forced reps on most of your sets. This will all allow you to push your muscles past failure and trigger even more muscle growth.

9. Try New Equipment. You should base your bodybuilding program around compound free weight exercises as mentioned in Tip number 3, but don't be afraid to experiment with some of the machines that are available in your gym. Some machines can stress your muscles in new and different ways which can stimulate new muscle growth.

10. Make Periodic Changes. Every month or two alter the order in which you do your exercises, or alter the exercises you do for a particular body part, or alter the number of sets and reps. Your muscles will become accustomed to the same workouts if they are repeated over and over again. Periodic changes will keep your muscles from adapting and therefore continue to stimulate new muscular growth.

11. Know Your Limits. Understand what your realistic potential is in the sport of bodybuilding. If you are unlikely to compete at a champion level, be realistic about how much money you spend on supplements, how much time you spend in the gym, and how much effort you put into your training. There is no sense in going broke, alienating your family, and risking injury f there is realistically no real possibility of ever making it to the pro level.

12. Supplement Your Diet. As a bodybuilder, you need much more protein and other nutrients than your average person. Be sure to supplement your diet with protein powder, creatine, multivitamins, glutamine, etc. in order to meet the additional demands on your muscles.

13. Prevent Injuries. One of the biggest potential roadblocks to your muscle building success is a training injury. A serious muscle tear or tending injury will not only halt your progress in the short term, but in some cases can limit your long term success as a bodybuilder. Always warm up and stretch before getting to your heavy sets. Start with a relatively light weight and pyramid up from there to your heaviest set. Be sure to use a spotter or power rack on your heaviest sets.

14. Limit Your Volume. Don't do more than about 15 working sets for your larger body parts (quadriceps, back, chest) and no more than 12 working sets for smaller muscle groups (biceps, triceps, forearms, hamstrings, cabs and abdominals).

15. Prioritize your Weakest Muscle Groups. Whenever possible, train your weakest body parts first, when you have more energy and strength. If certain muscle groups continually lag behind, increase the volume on those body parts, and possibly decreased the volume in your strongest body parts until your body reaches a better balance.

16. Train Your Entire Body. Do not neglect any body part. Be sure to train your forearms, legs, and lower back just as vigorously as you