How To Rapidly Build Muscle Mass The Natural Way

Many weight lifters have a difficult time gaining muscle weight and, more often than not, these same people end up gaining more body fat in the process of trying to gain muscle. Discovering the correct diet and weight lifting plan to gain lean muscle mass tends to be a difficult process for many people. Fortunately, the solution is actually much more simple than most people imagine.

Because illegal drugs like steroids tend to be readily available, many people will go after this "easy fix" forgetting the dangerous side effects that steroids often inflict upon users. Steroids are simply not the answer to gaining muscle weight fast, assuming of course that your overall health and well being is of some importance to you.

So what exactly can you do?

The answer is your workout and diet plan. Gaining lean muscle mass while minimizing body fat necessarily requires the right diet as well as the proper mix of cardio exercises and weight lifting. Most fitness enthusiasts believe that loading up on quality protein is the best solution. While protein certainly is very important, you should not fall into the trap of ignoring other vital nutrients.

Your body needs a good amount of carbohydrates in addition to vitamins A,B, and D in order to stimulate and sustain muscle growth. This being said, always make sure your carbohydrate intake does not mainly come from refined flour foods as these kinds of foods are very high in bad carbs and sugars. As an alternative, try eating whole grain past instead or even broccoli and potatoes.

While engaged in your workout routines, try using intervals to trick your body to allow more muscle development. Performing the same "5 sets of 6" will teach your body to simply cut off growth because your body will adapt to repetitive motion. As an alternative, mix up your routine by doing 2 sets of 10 one day and 4 sets of 6 the next. So long as you keep your body guessing as to what is coming next you will see much better and faster muscle gains.

Building Lean Muscle Mass - How Much Muscle Mass Can You Really Build?

The average amateur weight lifter expects to build tons of lean muscle mass in a very short period of time. That is to say that the average weight lifter expects to get ripped in a flash. Getting a ripped physique fast is largely a myth. You can not realistically build dozens of pounds of lean muscle mass really fast. The vast majority of my clients and men I encounter at the gym simply have unrealistic expectations when it comes to building muscle mass.

It's difficult to actually say how much muscle you can add to your body but the average weight lifter seems to believe that they can add 25 pounds of muscle in 90 days. It's remarkable how often I meet someone who has been hitting the gym for three or four months and is disappointed that they haven't added twenty or more pounds of muscle. You surely can gain 20 or more pounds of body weight in just a few months but there is a big difference between body weight and muscle mass.

You can gain weight by simply taking in lots of carbs, calories, and weight gainer and doing little aerobic exercise. But again, in following this kind of diet plan you will only be adding body mass not lean muscle mass and there is a big difference between the two. Adding lean muscle mass means adding pure muscle tissue, not water weight or glycogen weight. And adding lean muscle mass takes the three P's: persistence, perseverance, and patience.

Under the ideal circumstances, the average male can add a maximum of 2 pounds of lean muscle mass in a single month. Remember that this is under the best possible conditions, more than likely you will be fortunate if you can add half this much muscle mass each and every week. This may be discouraging or upsetting to some but it's important to be realistic in your goal otherwise you could end up wasting your time or worse, doing things that may actually be harmful.

Train hard, eat right, get a good nights sleep each night, and you will inevitably get the body of your dreams!

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How To Build Muscle Mass The Right Way

There are countless weight training mistakes that individuals periodically fall victim to from time to time all of which can bring your muscle building efforts to a screeching halt. As with just about all things in life, building muscle mass requires learning and one of the ways we learn is from trial and error. More than likely though the mistakes you've made are not your fault are likely the result of being downright lied to by self-proclaimed experts.

There is a ton of money being made in the bodybuilding industry and all of this money has caused the lies and misinformation to proliferate dramatically in recent years. In many ways the bodybuilding industry and those who believe call themselves experts are actually robbing you of your hard work and muscle building efforts and literally robbing you of your hard earned money.

That being said, here are the 2 most common bodybuilding mistakes:

1. Cardio Will Have A Negative Effect On Your Muscle Gains - Many experts claim not only that weight training is just as good for your body as cardio exercises but that too much cardio can actually deter muscle growth. First of all, weight lifting is practically useless for stimulating your heart and cardiovascular system. Secondly, cardio exercise can only affect your muscle gains if you do cardio exercises to excess. Twenty minutes of cardio each day will do wonders for your health and cardiovascular system and will not affect your muscular development.

2. It's Good To Do A Lot Of Reps On Arm Exercises - I can not exaggerate how frequently I see men at the gym spend a full hour or more training their biceps and triceps. In reality, the biceps and triceps require the least amount of stimulation because of their small size (small relative to your other muscle groups). More often than not, less is actually more when it comes to your biceps and triceps.

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Gain More Muscle By Adding More Weight To The Bar

With a seemingly endless array of articles, "amazing" techniques, impassioned debates, and throngs of self proclaimed muscle building experts who claim to know the secrets to massive muscle growth, it's difficult to uncover what really works. While there are many nuances and details that constitute a successful workout routine, the simple truth of the matter is that consistently adding more weight to your exercises is the foundation of any winning weight lifting routine.

If, for example, you take all of the most basic weight lifting exercises like squats, curls, and bench press, increasing your weight from week to week will by itself yield the most profound muscle building results. Adding 100 pounds to your bench press or dead lift will cause you to become significantly bigger and stronger provided you have a proper nutrition plan in place. Granted, you won't be able to add this kind of weight overnight (unless you want to risk serious injury) because building your physique takes time and patience.

Many of the self proclaimed experts are reluctant to tell you that lifting heavier weights is the essential key to dramatic results because they either don't know or, more than likely, because they want to sell you their bogus gizmo, gadget, or program. Instead, these "experts" would rather have you dancing around the gym super-setting from exercise to exercise, focusing on isolation movements, and feeling the burn rather than simply focus on the foundation required to increase your strength. And that foundation is consistently increasing your weight from workout to workout.

If you are able to stimulate an adaptive response from the muscles by training intensively, recover and rest properly, eat a proper diet, and repeat from week to week then you will gradually become bigger and stronger. If your strength and muscle size is not increasing then you are more than likely doing something wrong, whatever you may have read.

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How Depriving Your Body Of Sleep Can Inhibit Your Muscle Gains

Providing your tired and strained body with enough sleep every night may seem like a trivial issue to some but in reality, giving your body proper rest each and every night is a very important step in maximizing your strength and muscle growth. A good nights sleep is critical if you want to see substantial changes in your physique in the shortest time frame possible.

So why exactly is sleep so important in facilitating muscle growth and increased levels of strength?

To answer this question properly lets first take a look at what happens to your body when you don't obtain enough sleep every night:

1. Deterioration Of Mental Alertness - One of the most profound effects sleep deprivation will have on your body has little to do with your muscles and strength and everything to do with your mental state of mind. Repeated scientific studies have demonstrated that even a single night with insufficient sleep plays havoc with your focus and mental alertness. It's difficult to give it your all at the gym if you are unable to really stay focused.

2. Decline Of Physical Performance - Your strength levels will actually decrease each and every time you rob your body of sleep. In addition, your body weight will also decline and increasing your body weight is essential to bulking up and building muscle mass.

3. Recovery Time Will Be Hindered - Contrary to popular belief, muscle tissue does not actually grow while lifting weights but rather while you are eating and sleeping. Indeed, the time you spend asleep is the primary period for your muscles to rebuild, grow, and develop.

While I generally recommend 8-10 hours of sleep following a heavy workout, exactly how many hours of sleep you should obtain is an individual factor and tends to vary from body builder to bodybuilder. If you don't feel completely energized and rested following your sleep then you are probably not sleeping enough. You should never feel drowsy or fatigued regardless of how intense your individual workouts are.

If you find that you are not able to sleep properly every night or if you simply have trouble becoming tired, then I recommend taking a sleep aid. Sleep aids can be purchased over the counter at your local pharmacy or grocery store and are fairly inexpensive. But bear in mind that most sleep aids have the potential for abuse and should only be used no more than every other day. If you take them more frequently your tolerance will build and more will be required to have the same effect.

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Gaining Muscle Without Gaining Body Fat - Is It Really Possible?

If you are anything like me or the other 99% of the muscle building population, your goal from lifting weights is to develop an awe inspiring physique and the strength to match. Because of the impassioned desire to achieve the ideal body type, many fitness enthusiasts begin trying to build muscles with only a vague idea of what they are doing. They simply want to get ripped as fast as possible and with as little work as possible.

Those who are motivated to bulk up know they need to take in carbohydrates and calories but at the same time are afraid of gaining unwanted body fat in the process. Unfortunately, when you are trying to add muscle mass in a relatively short period of time you will almost always end up gaining additional body fat in the process. Gaining some body fat while bulking up is basically how the entire process of building process works and if you are unwilling to accept it then bulking up may not be for you.

Gaining muscle size and strength means consuming a surplus of calories in order to facilitate the process known as protein synthesis. But there is no way to convert 100% of your caloric intake into protein synthesis because it is simply not biologically possible. A certain amount of the calories you take in in order to bulk up will inevitably become stored fat on and within your body. In order to reconstruct your body according to your specifications it is really best to focus on gaining muscle mass through heavy lifting and caloric intake followed by time off centered around shedding excess body fat.

Your levels of muscle mass play a large role in determining your metabolism rate and therefore it is always far easier to shed body fat once you have significantly bulked up. This is precisely why bulking up first and then shredding body fat later is nearly always the best and most efficient path. Your primary goal while building muscle it to never lose body fat but rather only to gain as little excess body fat as possible.

Here are a few good ways to accomplish this:

1. Calculate an exact surplus of calories - A surplus of calories is essential to fuel proper muscle growth but cramming mass quantities of food and supplements down your throat indiscriminately will more than likely cause you to gain more body fat than is necessary. According to fitness and nutrition experts taking in 15-20% more calories than is needed to sustain your present body weight is ideal for muscle development while minimizing accumulation of fat.

2. Scrutinize Your Food Choices - The overwhelming majority of your food choices should come from high quality proteins and healthy unsaturated fats. Foods high in protein include things like eggs, 1% milk (soy milk if you prefer), fish, beef, chicken, and fish. Healthy unsaturated fats include things like corn, sunflower, soybean, and flaxseed oils as well as foods like nuts and fish.

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Building Lean Muscle Mass - Why Resting Helps Build Muscle

Resting properly between workouts and between sets is essential to building lean muscle mass. Between sets, you need to wait enough time so that your muscles are rested enough to perform as well as you did on your first heavy lifting set. Your second set of repetitions needs to be nearly as intense as your first set so that the overload to each muscle involved is nearly the same as the previous set.

For example, lets suppose you do a set of six repetitions and then right afterward are only able to do a set of 3 repetitions. This means you are either doing far too much weight or you haven't rested properly enough between sets. Overload refers to the ability to lift a weight a certain amount of times over and over again.

Now lets say you do six repetitions of a given weight and then on the next set increase the weight slightly and rest for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. You should be able to do six more repetitions which in turn enhances the likelihood of new muscle forming.
 
The amount of rest required between sets is generally different for each and every weight lifter because not everyone's muscles are the same. Some individuals require little rest between sets while others may require more than two minutes. You ultimately have to find your own rhythm to find what works for you. Generally speaking, 90 seconds between sets is usually sufficient for the average weight lifter. I have found that about 7 deep breaths tends to approximate 90 seconds although, if you want to measure your resting period exactly, you can always purchase a stop watch for just a couple of dollars.

A given muscle needs to recover fully from a previous workout before it can handle the additional stress in the future. For most muscle groups adequate recovery time can take several days. If you lift weights with sore or overworked muscles you risk reversing your muscle gains as well as the risk of encountering serious injury. This is why you should only train a given muscle group no more than twice per week and only once if you are doing very heavy weights. Additionally, you should strive to sleep 8-10 hours every night and a few naps here and there aren't a bad idea either.

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Build More Muscle Mass By Training Less Frequently

It's common knowledge that the harder you work at something the better your results be. Perhaps we believe this and accept it as one of our central doctrines because it simply seems so obvious. While working hard to achieve superior results may be true much of the time it certainly isn't true all the time.

In school you are told study hard so your grades will be better. In sports you are told to practice harder and longer so you will be a great athlete. But when it comes to weight lifting spending long hours in the gym doesn't translate to better physical development and more muscle mass. What seems like a truism for many of us simply isn't true when it comes to building more muscle, precisely why so many weight lifters unnecessarily spend dozens of hours in the gym.

"So will spending less time working out actually help me develop more strength and muscle mass?"

The answer is absolutely yes. Over the course of tens of thousands of years the human body has evolved to become a highly adaptable organism that can adapt to nearly any external conditions that are placed upon it. For example, we perspire to cool ourselves down when the temperature rises and develop a sun tan when we are exposed to excessive UV light. And when we break down muscle tissue by lifting heavy weights are muscles respond by becoming bigger and stronger.

By resistance training the muscle is strained beyond its present capacity and the body immediately recognizes the threat and responds by gradually increasing the muscles size (called hypertrophy) in order to prevent harm. As you increase the weight and repetitions performed each week (called progressive overload) the body is forced to adapt and grow in response until the body's strength and development limits are reached.

Building muscle is basically that simple but what is often forgotten is that muscle tissue can only develop and become bigger provided that they also have sufficient recovery time. If your muscles are deprived of sufficient rest between workouts then muscle growth can not really take place. Once you have stressed your muscles beyond their current capacity you have essentially done your job. Adding additional stress (working out longer than you should) only increases the recovery time necessary for muscle growth.

Here are 4 basic guidelines to maximize your muscle gains:

1. Limit your heavy workout sessions to a maximum of 4 sessions per week.
2. Limit your heavy workout sessions to no more than 90 minutes per session
3. Get at least 8 hours of sleep each night
4. Limit yourself to 4 sets on smaller muscle groups such as the shoulders, biceps, and triceps

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Benefits Of Weight Lifting - Why Lifting Weights Is Good For You

According to the American Medical Association approximately 66.3% of the American population over the age of 20 are overweight and more than a third are obese. Further research has found that many foods consumed by Americans contains large quantities of fats, cholesterol, and sugars. Building muscle is one of the most effective ways of burning fat and shedding excess calories.

There are actually several benefits that can be derived from lifting weights on a regular basis. The first and the most obvious benefit you will get from weight lifting is the physical development. As a result, you will look better and feel better and have more confidence in yourself. Regular exercise has also been shown to mitigate the effects of depression.

Here are a couple of other benefits that can be derived from weight lifting:

1. Gives The Immune System A Boost - Believe it or not, you will actually get less sick, less often when you are lifting weights on a regular basis. This is due to increased blood circulation and the increase in white blood cells that result from weight training

2. Decreases Cholesterol Levels - When you engage in physical exercise your body naturally has to burn energy to fuel your muscle gains. Some of the energy that your body expends is derived from the bad fats contained within your body. Some of these fats are the ones responsible for producing cholesterol.

3. Increases Flexibility - Exercising the muscles allows the body to become more flexible due to the stresses and strains placed on the body during physical exercise. While being more flexible may not sound like much of a benefit, in reality increased flexibility will reduce the risk of injury during normal activities. People who do not exercise at all are far more likely to suffer joint and back injuries than those who lift weights on a regular basis.

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Strengthening Back Muscles - 4 Keys To Getting A Massive Back

Having been immersed in physical fitness for nearly 5 years, it always surprises me how totally clueless many people I run into at the gym are. I see people trying desperately to obtain a wide, intimidating back but surprisingly few seem to actually know how to accomplish this. The average new, aspiring lifter usually want to build their chest and arm muscles. After all, these muscle are the ones that drive the opposite sex crazy.

Unfortunately, many of amateur muscle building enthusiasts never really develop the chest and arm muscle gains they are seeking. While muscular chest and arms are a very important part of any physique, they play a comparatively small role when compared to the lats, traps, spinal erectors, rhomboids, and lower back. These muscle groups comprise the entirety of the back.

Many lifters neglect the highly important back muscles because:

1. The back muscles are not particularly flashy and are not easily seen in the mirror
2. Building the back muscles is more tedious than training the chest or biceps muscles
3. The average amateur bodybuilder doesn't understand how important and complex the back muscles really are.

The truth is that if you want to look as muscular, strong, and thick as possible then nothing will allow you to achieve these goals faster than a finely tuned, ripped back. Indeed, nearly 70% of the body's muscles actually reside in the back. So it only makes sense to spend a proportional amount of of your workout time developing your back muscles.

Here are the 4 keys to getting a massive back:

1. Deadlifts - This is the most basic and effective of back exercises. There are few other exercises that offer the extreme effectiveness of the dead lift. The dead lift will exercise many muscles of the body, from your fingers and arms to feet and toes. The deadlift will actually stimulate muscle development throughout all of the back muscles and should therefore be the foundation of any back workout routine.

2. Vertical Pulling - Vertical pulling exercises stimulate the lat muscle group and will likewise help you develop that wide "V" shape.

3. Horizontal Pulling - Horizontal pulling is usually referred to as rows by fitness professionals. This movement targets the upper and middle sections of the back. A wide variety of rowing exercises exist including bent over rows, dumbbell rows, seated rows, cable rows, incline rows, and many others.

4. Shrugs - These movements should be performed at the end of every back workout in order to target the upper back and to better develop the "V" shape. A set of dumbbell or barbell shrugs will do.

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Muscle Building Workout Programs - How To Fuel And Maintain Your Workouts

To understand muscle building is to understand what reaching your peak performance and physical appearance is all about, something that few people really understand. Most people who want to build muscle intend to do so in a relatively short time frame.

But muscle building and physical fitness should be a way of life and this can only be accomplished by establishing realistic strength and fitness goals. As an avid fitness enthusiast I believe that transforming the body to meet our subjective specifications is one of the greatest gifts nature gave us. In addition, how we take care of our bodies and express ourselves on the outside is kind of like an indicator of who we really are on the inside.

Here are a few guidelines to increase your strength and enhance your individual fitness training:

1. Don't Set Goals That Are Not Realistic - The fitness goals you set for yourself should be somewhat difficult but at the same time somewhat realistic. If you set goals for yourself that are not actually achievable for the average person, like gaining 20 pounds of muscle in 8 weeks, then you will actually discourage yourself from finishing your workout routines. Don't let yourself be fooled by the glitzy ads you have seen on TV and across the Internet that make outrageous fitness claims. Always remember that physical fitness and muscle gains require both time and patience and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

2 Stay Focused - It's always a good idea to keep track of your daily calorie, carbohydrate, and protein consumption. You can do this with either an online journal or a printable journal, whatever your personal preference. I prefer a pocket notepad because it's easily portable and can be taken anywhere. You should always try to drink plenty of water through out the day preferably filtered or spring water. Adequate hydration alone will help you maximize your strength and muscle gains.

3. Listen Carefully To Professionals - Expert fitness professionals know how the body works and the right ways to go about building muscle and staying in peak physical condition. The only trouble is identifying who is and who is not a fitness professional. Some people call themselves experts simply because they workout 15 hours a week and subscribe to several fitness magazines. If someone calls themselves a professional you should inquire what their qualifications are. Generally, most personal trainers have a pretty good idea of how to help you achieve your fitness goals.

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How To Build Chest Muscles - Maximizing Your Chest Gains

Just about every guy who goes to the gym to build muscle wants to get a huge chest. This is hardly surprising considering the effect that a ripped chest has on the opposite sex (not to mention on other men). There isn't anything really terribly complicated about building a ripped, attention grabbing chest. The foundation for developing your chest muscles is consistency and progressive overloading. If you are willing to put in the effort you too can have a ripped, sexy chest in no time.

The chest muscles actually consist of two sub muscle groups: the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor. These two sub groups of muscles contained within the chest are where the slang term "pecs" come from, in case you were curious. The secret to maximizing your chest muscle gains lies in the pressing movements used in lifting weights during exercise.

Chest flyes certainly have their occasional place in an overall chest workout program but they pale in comparison to the dramatic anabolic effect of pressing movements. Pressing movements include such exercises as incline chest press, decline chest press, flat bench press, dumbbell presses, and seated dips.

The big secret to getting a ripped chest is that there really are no big secrets or magic spells or mind blowing techniques to stimulate your chest muscles into extraordinary growth. So long as you focus on pressing movements and progressive overloading you will almost certainly see substantial muscular development in your chest area.

In my professional opinion, the following lifts are the most effective for muscle gains in the chest area:

1. Bench Press - This includes all three varieties of bench press including flat, decline, and incline bench press. The bench press is essentially a basic compound movement that will allow you to handle the maximum amount of weight through a specified range of motion. The incline press targets the upper region of the chest while the decline press focuses stress on the lower portion of the chest. The flat bench press simultaneously targets both the upper and lower chest muscles.

2. Dumbbell Bench Press - Again, this includes all three varieties of bench press. The primary advantage of the dumbbell press over the standard bench press is that dumbbells allow for a much more natural range of motion and as such help to prevent shoulder injuries. Additionally, dumbbells also help to prevent strength imbalances since each muscle must work on their own rather than in conjunction with each other. Unfortunately, you will not be able to do as much weight with dumbbells as you would with normal bench press.

3. Seated Dips - If possible make sure to use a wider grip while leaning slightly forward so as to alleviate the stress on the triceps and better target the chest muscles. Seated dips are great because you can adjust the weight according to your specifications in contrast to standing dips where the weight is limited to your body weight.

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Get In Shape Exercise Tips - Getting In Shape By Setting Goals

If you have never heard of the book "7 Habits Of Highly Effective People" I strongly suggest that you take a look at it some time. While the book is mainly intended as a business book there are nonetheless some very good points that apply to life in general. According to the book, one of the habits of highly effective people is setting goals and sticking to them.

Goal setting is easily one of the greatest keys to attaining success, whether it is financial success or physical fitness success. If it helps, you can kind of your goals as sort of a road map. After all, if you don't have a destination in mind then you are probably never going to get anywhere or make anything happen.

But once you do know where you are going actually getting there and planning the journey becomes much easier. Written goals will help develop your motivation and your persistence to attain those goals. Taking the time to write out your goals will also help you envision the future self that you want to become and light a fire under your rear to actually achieve what you have envisioned.

So what is the best way to go about setting your goals so that you can get in shape and pack on muscle mass? One of the best ways is to follow the formula laid in "7 Habits Of Highly Effective People."

Here is how the formula breaks down:

1. Define exactly what is that you want and don't scrimp on the details
2. Determine what it is you intend to sacrifice to attain what you desire. And yes, attaining goals usually entails sacrifice.
3. Set a realistic date that you intend to achieve your goals.
4. Create a detailed plan of how exactly you intend to achieve your goals and, as with defining your goals, don't scrimp on the details.
5. Compile all of the above into just a few sentences
6. Read the compiled statement out loud at least twice a week.

By following this tried and true goal setting formula you will essentially be implanting into your subconscious mind your conscious goals. In so doing, your muscle building goals will become next to impossible to shake, increasing the probability of actually achieving those goals.

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Bodybuilding Supplements Review - Do Bodybuilders Actually Need To Take Supplements?

If you read through the latest issue of just about any muscle building or fitness magazine you will likely be bombarded by more than 150 ads for a wide variety of dietary supplements. According to the advertisements, every bodybuilder needs to take mass quantities of supplements in order to achieve spectacular muscle gains. But as you surely know, you can not trust what you read in advertisements. The question then is, "are supplements really necessary for big muscle gains?"

This question really depends on how you interpret the word "necessary." Supplements of just about any variety are not necessary for you to become bigger and stronger. High tech supplements are simply not necessary for the average weight lifter to experience substantial muscle gains, regardless of what glitzy ads would have you believe. If you spend 10 or more hours a week training and adhere to a strict diet high in protein and carbs and low in saturated fat and simple sugars you will almost certainly experience an increase in muscle size.

Now lets look at this question another way.

If by the word "necessary" you mean "...necessary to achieve maximum size and strength" then the answer is absolutely yes. Many supplements have been scientifically shown to offer superior muscle gains than bodybuilders who take no supplements at all. Building muscle and spending hours at the gym is very hard work and it therefore seems to make sense to spend an extra few dollars a week on supplements in order to maximize your muscle mass gains.

Ultimately your decision to take supplements depends upon whether or not you want to achieve your maximum size and strength and, if so, how much you are willing to pay to achieve your desired results. Muscle building supplements can be very pricey and it is not uncommon for bodybuilders to spend hundreds of dollars a month on dietary supplements.

The supplements that are the most common amongst bodybuilders are:

1. Muscle Milk Protein
2. Creatine Monohydrate
3. Multivitamins
4. Amino Acids

Also, if you would like to save as much as 50% on supplements then you should take a look on Ebay. An Ebay membership is free and you can easily save a thousand or more dollars a year by buying your supplements on Ebay as opposed to your local vitamin store.


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Weight Lifting Fitness Myths – 4 Muscle Building Lies

The defining characteristic of human beings is our ability to freely communicate and share knowledge with one another. Unfortunately, the knowledge we share with each other sometimes isn't really knowledge at all but false and potentially damaging information. Having been a fitness enthusiast for more than 5 years I have heard all kinds of myths and misconceptions being preached as practical advice.

Sometimes this misleading advice is basically benign and won't harm your muscle building efforts. Other times, however, weight lifting fitness myths can actually prevent you from achieving the results that you have likely been working very hard for. Always remember to exercise common sense and your own intuition when taking advice from fellow weight lifters even if that individual happens to be a personal trainer and certified expert.

Here are 3 muscle building lies that you may have encountered at some time or another:

1. No Pain, No Gain – This one is actually half true. When an exercise is new or you have increased the amount of weight being lifted you will likely feel muscle pain in the effected area within a few hours of working out. But this is the only time you should feel pain from weight training. Feeling intense pain during a workout or chronic pain following a workout is not normal and is your body's way of telling you somethings wrong. If you experience this kind of pain you should consider serious changes in your workout routine as you are likely putting yourself at very high risk for serious injury.

2. Steroids Will Help You Bulk Up Like A Balloon – There is no such thing as a magic bullet that will grow muscle on your body without you having to lift a finger. Steroids will only grow muscle if taken in conjunction with a high intensity workout routine. At the same, a proper diet combined with a few supplements will produce similar results but without the dangerous side effects of steroids. If taken for prolonged periods steroids can cause serious health problems including kidney failure which is often failure.

3. Taking Time Off Will Cause You To Lose Your Muscle Gains – I was once told that if you take more than a few days off from working out your body will begin to convert your muscle tissue into fat and thus reverse your muscle gains. Not only is this not true at all but taking a week off every 8-10 weeks is actually a good thing and will heal those small and perhaps unfelt injuries throughout your body. When you do take time off always mix in a couple of hours of cardio per week.

4. More Protein Means More Muscle – It is true that you need lots of protein in your diet to build muscle but protein is not all important. To build muscle mass you need to stimulate muscles beyond their normal levels of resistance and take in more calories than you burn off. Muscles actually work on calories not on protein and the calories you do take in should be derived from carbohydrates.

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Natural Muscle Growth – What Causes Muscles To Grow?

If you are reading this article then you are probably interested in bulking up and building muscle mass. But have you ever wondered what causes muscles to grow? In other words, have you ever wondered why it is that the body builds muscle in response to lifting heavy weights repetitiously? Or why some people seem to develop muscle mass easily while others seem to struggle?

There are actually a variety of reasons that determine how fast your muscles will develop and how strong you can become. Of these the important reasons are your genes, the amount of growth hormones present in your body, types and quantity of food consumed, and the type and intensity of exercises performed.

Within the individual muscle fibers are cells involved in a process called protein turnover. Under normal circumstances your body is actively engaged in breaking down muscle tissue and building the tissue back up again. Exactly how and when your body performs protein turnover is regulated by your genes and unless interrupted by some other factor such as exercise keeps the muscle tissue and fibers at more or less the same mass and strength level.

Your genetic structure acts like a blueprint and designs the conditions for your specific physiology and there is little that can be done to reconfigure your body's basic architecture. However, by learning how your body is genetically hardwired you can determine how to reliably use other factors such as diet and exercise. If, for example, you are hardwired to have slow metabolism then you will require less eating and supplements then someone with high metabolism.

Growth hormones like testosterone act like messengers within the body and give messages to individual cells to repair themselves. When the amount of physical activity is increased there is a corresponding increase in the level of hormones present in the body. Muscles start to grow faster as the level of growth hormones rises.

Protein and water are the main ingredients required for muscle growth. This being the case you need to always make sure you supply your body with an adequate amount of high protein food and also keep your body properly hydrated. Protein is to muscles what a foundation is to a home or building. If the foundation is made from poor materials or built improperly the building will be very weak. Likewise, if you don't consume high quality protein or not enough then your muscles will be very weak.

To maintain proper hydration levels drink at least 3 tall glasses of water each day and when working out replace every ounce of lost body weight with 2 ounces of water.


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How To Gain Muscle Mass – 3 Common Myths Exposed

The overwhelming majority of misconceptions about gaining muscle mass originate from many places including casual conversations at the gym and self proclaimed experts who don't really know what they are talking about.

Unfortunately, the these misconceptions more often than not lead to wasted time and extraordinary frustration. Indeed, many muscle gain myths can actually substantially set back your progress. You shouldn't listen to and believe every thing you hear at the gym when it comes to building muscle mass.
Very basic principles apply to all muscle gain such as overloading, adjusted frequency of repetition, and heavy weight workouts.

Let's take a look at some of the frequent misconceptions commonly found circulating around gyms:

1. A High Amount Of Repetitions Burn Fat While High Intensity, Low Repetition Workouts Build Muscle – Muscles actually get bigger by a process known as “progressive overload.” This means that you must be able to do more reps than you did the last time you did that particular exercise. If the weight doesn't change and the amount of reps remains constant then nothing really changes on you other than to maintain your present level of strength. If your goal is to burn fat and not build muscle, then your time is better spent on the elliptical machine or in the swimming pool.

2. You MUST Eat Meat To Build Muscle – Before the advent of dietary supplements it was true that you needed lots of meat to build muscle because there were few alternative that could offer as much protein as beef, poultry and fish. Scientific studies have confirmed that athletes who strictly consume protein supplements as opposed to meat generally experience identical muscle gains to those athletes who do eat meat. In other words, you can be a vegetarian and still pack on plenty of muscle mass.

3. Weight Lifting Speeds Up The Metabolism So Efficiently That You Can Eat Whatever You Want- This is actually true provided that you don't give a damn how you look or whether or not you actually gain muscle mass. While intense weight lifting certainly does burn many calories it is by no means an open license to eat anything you like. In reality you should avoid manufactured sugars (those found in soda and snacks) like the plague and always balance your caloric intake with your energy expenditure. A few departures here and there won't hurt you too bad but for the most part you will have to closely monitor your eating habits if building muscle is your goal.

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Lean Muscle Gains And Muscle Pumps - Why Pumps Won't Help You Gain Muscle

For those of you who have been working out for more than a little while you know that a pump feels great. For those of you who are relatively new to weight training, a pump is that fuzzy feeling you get as blood engorges your muscle tissue as a result of weight lifting. The muscles being exercised will grow in size and tightness.

To be clear, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with a pump and more often than not a pump is a natural consequence of resistance training. But a muscle pump is not a good barometer of the effectiveness of a workout and believing so could actually be a costly error. Having easily spent thousands of hours in the gym, I have often heard other weight lifters raving about the crazy muscle pumps they experience as they share their personal methodology for achieving such pumps.

Simply put, a pump is the result of excess blood circulating in and around the muscle fibers.

Building serious muscle mass and incredible strength means training very intensely on every workout routine and set. In addition, you need to practice something called "progressive overloading" so that you improve from week to week. Progressive overloading is a fancy term that simply means doing more reps with a given weight than you did the previous time.

If you religiously do these two things then your muscle mass and strength will naturally increase at a speed that you probably never thought possible. Pumps are great but they likely won't help achieve the muscle mass you desire. Focus on intense workouts and gradually increasing your reps and you will get ripped before you know it.

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How To Gain Muscle Mass – Common Myths Exposed - Part 1

The overwhelming majority of misconceptions about gaining muscle mass originate from many places including casual conversations at the gym and self proclaimed experts who don't really know what they are talking about. 

Unfortunately, the these misconceptions more often than not lead to wasted time and extraordinary frustration. Indeed, many muscle gain myths can actually substantially set back your progress. You shouldn't listen to and believe every thing you hear at the gym when it comes to building muscle mass.
Very basic principles apply to all muscle gain such as overloading, adjusted frequency of repetition, and heavy weight workouts.

Let's take a look at some of the frequent misconceptions commonly found circulating around gyms:

1.A High Amount Of Repetitions Burn Fat While High Intensity, Low Repetition Workouts Build Muscle – Muscles actually get bigger by a process known as “progressive overload.” This means that you must be able to do more reps than you did the last time you did that particular exercise. If the weight doesn't change and the amount of reps remains constant then nothing really changes on you other than to maintain your present level of strength. If your goal is to burn fat and not build muscle, then your time is better spent on the elliptical machine or in the swimming pool.

2.You MUST Eat Meat To Build Muscle – Before the advent of dietary supplements it was true that you needed lots of meat to build muscle because there were few alternative that could offer as much protein as beef, poultry and fish. Scientific studies have confirmed that athletes who strictly consume protein supplements as opposed to meat generally experience identical muscle gains to those athletes who do eat meat. In other words, you can be a vegetarian and still pack on plenty of muscle mass.

3.Weight Lifting Speeds Up The Metabolism So Efficiently That You Can Eat Whatever You Want- This is actually true provided that you don't give a damn how you look or whether or not you actually gain muscle mass. While intense weight lifting certainly does burn many calories it is by no means an open license to eat anything you like. In reality you should avoid manufactured sugars (those found in soda and snacks) like the plague and always balance your caloric intake with your energy expenditure. A few departures here and there won't hurt you too bad but for the most part you will have to closely monitor your eating habits if building muscle is your goal. 

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The Truth About Building Muscle – A Few Secrets To Getting Ripped!

It's impossible to exaggerate how angry I get when I see bogus ads and sales letters claiming to offer divinely inspired muscle building secrets for a one time fee of $20, $30, or even $40 or more. If you're looking for a quick fix to getting ripped in a flash then you are doomed to lose money to these phonies and are likewise doomed to never really get anywhere with overall muscle building efforts.

The truth is (and you're not going to like this) getting really ripped and looking great takes a heck of a lot of work, patience, strict dieting, and dedication. But the great news is that the average male has the potential to look really great and achieve massive muscle gains. Never believe for a minute though that there is some secret sauce recipe that will allow you to look like a bodybuilder in only a few months and only require a couple of hours of work per week.

That being said, here are a few secrets to getting really ripped that I have used over the years to pack on more than 30 pounds of lean muscle:  

1.Sleep – Getting the right amount of sleep every day is probably the easiest task in the world and yet is one of the most overlooked by muscle building enthusiasts. You should aim for 9-10 hours of sleep per day following each and every intense workout. A few naps here and there certainly don't hurt either.

2.Supplements – There are millions of supplements out there which claim to do everything under the sun. The only ones you really need are: Muscle Milk, Creatine, Amino Acids, and multivitamins. If your joints have a tendency to get sore after a workout you may also want to include joint soother supplements into the mix.

3.Protein – Protein is to muscle building what cement is to building sturdy homes. You need to get 1.5 grams of protein per day per pound of body weight e.g., if you weigh 150 pounds you will need around 225 grams of protein per day.

4.Occasional Light Weight Workouts – It's very unsafe to do heavy weight workouts each and every time you go the gym. Aside from being painful and very debilitating, a serious injury could keep you out of the gym for months which could in turn easily erase you muscle gains. To prevent this from happening, you should do 1 light weight workout for every 3 heavy workouts . A weight is considered light if you can do10 or more reps.

5.Workout Partner – Your own laziness can be easily be your biggest obstacle in building muscle. A workout partner who shares your common goals will keep you and them on track and provide you both with encouragement when each of you need it. Yes, even bodybuilders need positive encouragement from time to time.

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