Suprisingly correct: 10 Ways to Build Muscle Mass Fast [Ririan Project]

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10 Ways to Build Muscle Mass Fast

“Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must

set yourself on fire.”

- Arnold H. Glasow

Note: This guest post was written by Mark McManus. Check out his website

here.

Want to look better and burn more calories even when resting?

You will if you add some muscle to your frame.

Whether you want to be the next Ronnie or just want a more defined /

toned physique like Brad Pitt or Aniston, you’ll need to build

some muscle mass.

So here’s 10 tips to help you build pounds of lean muscle and get the

body of your dreams.

1. Pursue Progressive Overload.

The law of progressive

overload simply says that you must increase the amount of reps or the

weight lifted every single workout (or as close to this as humanly possible) in

order to ignite muscle growth.

The body adapts to stimuli, so how do we use this to our advantage? Well the

key is to place ever increasing demand on the body, thereby forcing it to

continually adapt. Training with weights is undoubtedly the best way to achieve

this. You can know precisely how much weight you can handle and can also make

incremental increases over time to spark muscle growth.

If you workout with the exact same weight every session and perform the same

number of repetitions, how can you expect your body to grow? So, if you want

bigger biceps, you must increase the weight you are lifting every session or

the amount of repetitions. Remember:

Progressive Overload = Muscle Growth.

2. Perform 8-12 reps.

8-12 reps on any given exercise will stimulate

most muscle growth. Lower rep ranges of say 3-6 work well for building

strength but not necessarily muscle hypertrophy (growth). Higher reps e.g. 15 -

20 can indeed stimulate muscle growth but it is far from optimal. You should be

lifting a weight so heavy that you can’t get more than 12 reps but light

enough to allow you to get at least 8 reps.

3. Perform 6-9 sets.

Yes just 6-9 sets per body part. If you are working out with good form

this is all you need to stimulate muscle growth. You want to keep your workouts

under 45 minutes to avoid the release of hormones that actually break your

muscle tissue down (catabolic hormones). Luckily, you can easily accomplish

this by performing a maximum of 9 sets per body part.

4. Eat Eat Eat.

Working a muscle tears the tissue, it then repairs and grows. Muscles need

fed in order to allow them to grow. Basically you need to eat big to get big. A

good bodybuilding diet will allow you to grow without adding fat at the same

time.

5. Increase the Amount of Protein in your Diet.

Muscle = protein. In order for muscle tissue to repair itself after your

weight-training sessions it needs an abundance of protein. Some beginners

don’t take enough protein and some more experienced guys take

ridiculously extreme amounts of protein. So how much protein is enough to

supply those hungry muscles? Use the following formula for the most accurate

daily protein requirements.

Lean Mass Weight (Kg) x 2.75 = Daily Protein Requirement

Your lean weight is your total body weight minus the amount of fat you are

carrying. You will need to know your body fat percentage for this. If you are

unsure about this, you can get a good estimate by using the ‘Body Fat

Calculator’ in the sidebar at MuscleHack.com site. Another good rule of

thumb is to take 1 gram of protein for every pound of total body weight. So a

160 lb man would take around 160 grams of protein per day. My favorite sources

of protein include

* Chicken

* Steak

* Pork

* Eggs

* Cheese

* Whey Protein Powder Shakes

* Seafood - tuna, prawns, salmon…

* Nuts

* Seeds

Here’s a good post showing great vegetarian

sources of protein.

6. Eat Fat.

A Low-Fat diet is not desirable in bodybuilding. Eating fat increases the

amount of anabolic (muscle building) hormones in your body. These are:

1. Testosterone

2. Growth

Hormone

3. Insulin-like

growth factor (IGF-1)

Some people resort to taking anabolic steroids in order to accelerate muscle

growth but you can get great results by implementing the ultimate

bodybuilding diet.

7. Make Sure you Drink Enough Water.

Getting enough water is crucial for peak strength and energy levels. You

should shoot for around 12 x 8 ounce glasses of water per day. Remember you can

include your protein shakes towards your daily water intake.

8. Avoid Too Much Cardio.

Cardiovascular work will rob you of muscle gains. Yes if your goal is to

lose fat you should do cardio but make sure it is:

(a) Performed immediately after your weight training

( ‘High Intensity Interval Training’ form of

cardio for a maximum of 20 minutes.

The reason that too much cardio isn’t desirable when your goal is to

build muscle is that too much cardio releases catabolic hormones in the

body, breaking down your muscle tissue; obviously this is

counter-productive.

9.

Sleep.

Sleep is so important for building muscle. We know that muscle tissue

repairs itself and grows during rest periods but sleep is more important than

waking rest periods.

Here’s why:

1. The release of growth hormone reaches its peak during

deep sleep

2. Your metabolic rate slows which is perfect for muscle

tissue repair and growth

3. Increased blood flow to the muscles

10. Relax.

Being stressed out results in a catabolic (muscle breakdown) environment in

the body. One such hormone is cortisol. Remember that a calm, relaxed person

builds more muscle than the hot-head (assuming

all other factors are equal).

Keep it positive and stay motivated!

About

Mark McManus:

Mark runs MuscleHack.com, a blog he started as a

way to share insights into the oftentimes confusing world of building muscle

and losing fat.

If you would like to get started today he has a free muscle building

workout plan here.

You can also download it as a free

bodybuilding ebook.

If you liked this article, please bookmark it on del.icio.us

or vote for it on Digg. Thank you!

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