In the world of bodybuilding, there is one thing that everybody wants, and that is muscle, more and more muscle.

Sure, shape and proportion are nice, but at the end of the day, it always comes down to muscle.

In fact, I don’t think there is young man out there who went to the gym for the first time wanting a better shape.

Nope, they go to the gym for one reason, to get massive.

With that thought in mind, I give you three tips that will help you build muscle.

POST WORKOUT NUTRTION

First on our list is post workout nutrition, and it is first for a reason, because it is very important.

Can you add muscle without paying attention to your post workout nutrition, sure, but who wants to grow slowly, when you can help speed up the process?

Contrary to popular opinion you do not need to go out and by one of those fancy post workout mixes, a simple whey protein isolate shake will get the job done, especially if you are looking to gain mostly muscle.

If you don’t care if you can some fat along with the muscle, you can mix your whey protein isolate shake in some juice and if you have the funds you can toss in some creatine as well.

STRENGTH LEADS SIZE

In my opinion, most young bodybuilders miss the mark when it comes to getting stronger.

I know that bodybuilding is not power lifting, however, when you get stronger on the basic lifts, like squats, dead lifts, overhead presses with dumbbells, and the like this translates into being able to use more weight when you transition back into a more traditional bodybuilding style routine.

And it is for this reason, that I recommend bodybuilders go on a mini power cycle every year for six to eight weeks where the sole focus is to get stronger on the basic lifts.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO EAT

Most bodybuilders looking to gain muscle are young, usually in there late teens or early twenties, and this is the ideal time for people to gain muscle because hormone levels as well as metabolism is high, which is the ideal time to gain some muscle.

How so?

Simple.

By eating, yes eating, too many young bodybuilders are scared of getting fat, when at this point that is the last thing they should worry about.

With their metabolisms raging combined with heavy training, most if not all of the food they take in, will either be burned off, or used to build muscle.

So if you are a young man looking to pack on some serious size, eat.

By eating I am not referring to stuffing your face with junk food, no, I mean you should eat six to seven meals per day.

Meals loaded with protein, healthy carbs, and healthy fats.

Foods like lean beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, should make up the bulk of your protein choices and things like, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and plenty of fruits and vegetables of all kinds should make up the bulk of your carbohydrates.

For fats, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish like sardines, should make up your healthy fat sources.

And of course, a few stops at your favorite fast food place are O.K., but just don’t over-do-it.

CONCLUSION

Gaining muscle, even when you do everything right, is not easy, but I know if you follow the above three tips, you will gain muscle faster and easier than every before.

TAKE CARE

You see these workouts in the magazines, where they have you work through your heavy sets, say sets of eight to twelve reps, and then they have you finish up with some kind of pump out sets of twenty reps to help end the workout with a pump.

On paper this sounds like a great concept.

After all you are hitting everything in one shot, but to my mind that is exactly the problem with this style of training.

Where is the variety?

You can’t say, go out and do sets of twenty, because you already did those.

You could do sets of five, but still.

I think you would be better served to mix things up.

For example, do a six week cycle of 10×3, that’s ten sets of three reps per set.

Followed by and six week cycle, of the popular 5 x 5 method, that’s five sets of five reps per set, followed by a more traditional bodybuilding style rep range or eight to twelve reps per set, for four sets.

Then you can do a cycle of twenty rep sets.

Everything you would do above would hit the muscles a bit differently and by my count you would have twenty-four weeks before you would go back to the 10 x 3 method.

Of course, you could also add super-sets to the mix.

A super set for those of you who are new to bodybuilding is basically doing two exercises back to back with little to no rest, think just as long as it takes you to start the second exercise.

A typical super set would be barbell curls super setted with triceps push downs.

You would do one super set and then rest for say one minute and repeat for your desired number of sets.

A COUPLE OF POINTS

I know some of you might take issue with the sets of twenty reps.

But to me one of the things that separates a muscle that grows well, from one that does not, is the ability to get a good pump in the muscle.

By doing sets of twenty you will help to really pump up the muscle you’re working, and to me this is never a bad thing.

The other thing about doing cycles like these is that you will never get bored, because just when you are looking to try something different your six week cycle will be up and you will be able to move on to another style of training.

I realize that you do not have to switch it up at strictly six weeks, you can use whatever timetable you want.

If you get bored easily, switch up every two weeks, if you don’t get bored that easy, you can stick with one style until your gains stall out, if that is two months or three or even longer that’s cool.

CONCLUSION

They say variety is the spice of life, and I see no reason why it cannot be the spice of your training as well.

So why do everything in one workout?

When you can switch back-and-forth between styles, to not only keep your body guessing, but your mind fresh as well.

Until Next Time

THINK VARIETY