5 Muscle Building Tips That Always Work

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All I wanna do is build muscle.

So does everyone else it seems because if you type in “how to build muscle” into Google you get millions of sites.

With all this information at your finger tips you can see how easy it can be to get confused.

You see, back in the day, Arnold and those guys weren't bombarded with a shitload of info.

They just went into the gym and worked really hard.

The Old School bodybuilders entered the gym with mental clarity.

Guys today enter the gym today not knowing if they should do a high volume program or do a 5/3/1 program.

Too much info.

I'm here to give you 5 muscle building tips that will always work.

When in doubt, just come back to this list and you can't go wrong.

1.  Intensity Trumps Program Design.

Train like you are about to go to prison.

If you knew you had a few months until you served some serious time in prison how hard do you think you'd train?

Pretty damn hard.

Well, that's how you should be training.

Train like your life depends on it.

If you look around your gym you will see that most guys are simply going through the motions.

You can have the best program on paper, but if you aren't lifting with intensity you won't get any results.

On the other hand, you can have a crappy program on paper, but if you lift with balls-out intensity you will get good results.

So, instead of trying to find the “perfect” program, start working out with 100% intensity.

2.  Frequency is Better Than Volume.

Most programs followed today have you hitting each muscle group once-a-week with a ton of volume.

This is far from optimal.

It is far better to break up that massive session into multiple smaller sessions.

For example, lets say that you perform 120 reps for your Back every Monday.

Instead, you will build more muscle faster, if you split that up into 2 weekly sessions of 60 reps per session or 3 weekly sessions of 40 reps per session.

The idea is to stimulate a muscle as often as possible without exceeding your recovery abilities.

3.  Double Progression Works.

To keep building muscle over time you must progress.

There are many ways to measure progression.

You can add reps with the same weight, add weight with the same reps, increase the number of sets, or decrease the amount of time it takes to complete the same amount of work.

A sure-fire progression system to keep packing on slabs of muscle is the double progression system.

Pick a rep range that's separated by 2 or 3 reps.

So, rep ranges like 6-8, 9-12, 12-14.

Those are just 3 rep range examples.

Perform your sets using your selected rep range.

Once you hit all your sets in the top of that rep range, add weight.

For example, let's use lat pulldowns.

Let's also use the 6-8 rep range and let's use 4 sets.

Set 1 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 2 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 3 – 120 lbs x 7 reps

Set 4 – 120 lbs x 6 reps

You hit your 8 reps on the first 2 sets, but failed to hit your 8 reps on your second 2 sets.

Your next session might look like this:

Set 1 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 2 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 3 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 4 – 120 lbs x 7 reps

You hit your 8 reps on all but the last set.

Your next session might look like this:

Set 1 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 2 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 3 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Set 4 – 120 lbs x 8 reps

Here, you hit all 8 reps on all your sets.

Congrats.

Now, it's time to add weight.

So, next time you would use 130 lbs for all your sets for the 6-8 rep range and try to hit 8 reps for all your sets.

This progression system works every time for building muscle.

4.  Get Lean and Stay Lean.

You are more anabolic the leaner you are.

The leaner you are the more likely it is for your body to use excess calories to build muscle.

Conversely, the fatter you are, the more likely it is that your body will store excess calories as fat.

With all things being equal, you will always build more muscle if you are leaner.

5.  Perform at Least 90% of Your Work in the 8-12 Rep Range.

Most rep ranges are effective for muscle building.

I have found that the 8-12 rep range is the sweet spot.

Perform most of your work in this 8-12 rep range.

Add weight when you can.

The confusion ends now.

And the muscle building begins.


 

photo credit:  Anton Mukhametchin

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Look, I know how hard it is to build muscle. Trust me when I tell you it took me 20+ years to figure it out. But once I did--BAM!--muscle appeared almost overnight. Give me your email address and I'll send you the keys.


Bill Davis
 

Bill Davis has been an avid weight trainer since the age of 12. He started out as a skinny teenager and finally made his training breakthrough in his late 20s when he discovered how to pack on lean muscle in short order.

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