Gain Weight and Build Muscle Mass Fast
Have you been having trouble gaining weight and building
some real, quality muscle consistently? Or maybe when you
first started weight training, did you gain a little muscle
and body-weight but then suddenly it came to a stop? If you
are not gaining any weight or getting any bigger, then I
suggest you take a serious look at your poundage's.
I see so many weight trainers, easy and hardgainers alike
go day after day, week after week, and month after month
pushing the same weight they were doing last month, and the
month before.
They feel satisfied that they had a "good workout" because
their muscles are pumped and well exhausted by the end of
their workout after doing a bunch of sets of a bunch of
different exercises for one muscle group. This is a BIG
mistake.
No matter what you've read or heard, getting a good pump
has very little to do with muscle growth. All the "pump"
means is that there is a temporary increased blood flow in
your muscle tissue. Though getting a good pump has a few
benefits for building muscle, you certainly shouldn't gauge
your workouts by them, especially if you are a hardgainer.
What's a hardgainer? Any naturally skinny body type with a
fast metabolism that finds it near impossible to gain
weight or build muscle mass no matter what they do.
So if you're looking for the fastest way to build muscle,
then you must progressively add weight to your exercises.
This is one of the most basic rules in weight training
called progressive overload. I don't care who you are, you
can't expect to build bigger muscles if you are using the
same weight over and over again. You have to get STRONGER
if you want to get bigger, and I don't mean increasing the
weight once a month. If you want to bulk up as fast as
humanly possible, then focus strictly on getting stronger
every week. You can't expect to look like the Incredible
Hulk if your sister is pushing the same weight you are.
Whenever you finish a heavy workout, your muscle fibers
adapt by recruiting more fibers so they can cope with the
weight if it is forced to try to handle it again. As a
result, your muscles will grow bigger. As soon as your body
becomes accustomed to a certain weight, it will no longer
grow. It will no longer need to! You must constantly
overload it with more weight then it is used to handling.
From now on if you want to do a workout program for fast
results, measure your progress by your strength, NOT how
good of a pump you get. Keep track of exactly how much
weight you use for each set on each exercise, how many reps
you did, and make it a goal to slightly increase that
weight at least every other week.
It doesn't matter if you write it down on a palm pilot or
the piece of toilet paper stuck to your shoe when you walk
out of the bathroom, as long as you know exactly how much
weight you used and how many reps you did your last workout
so you can add a little more on the next.
Don't try to remember how much weight you used, because if
you forget you will hold back your progress each week by
using the same or less weight and therefore not getting any
stronger, or by adding too much weight too soon which will
lead to set-backs. If this happens constantly, you will
waste days, weeks, and even months out of your year in
training. Can you see how important it is to keep track of
your poundage's?
When first starting out, you may discover that adding
weight each week is not so tough and find you can be pretty
consistent. However, as you continue to weight train for a
while you will sooner or later hit what's called a
"sticking point" on one or more of your exercises. This is
completely normal. From here, your increase in strength
will have to be slightly more gradual then before.
So instead of, say, increasing 5 pounds again next week,
just stick with the weight you are stuck at until you can
complete the full pre-determined reps. As soon as you can,
try adding 2.5 pounds this time, or even 1 pound, instead
of 5. Remember, for long term results, slowly but surely is
the way to go.
You will always be much stronger after one year if you
continue to add weight in this fashion rather then trying
to add too much weight too fast and being stuck at that
weight for weeks and even months at a time.
Now that you know that in order to get bigger you must get
stronger, what is the fastest way to get stronger? Keep
your workouts SHORT and SIMPLE. Marathon type workouts will
only limit your growth and may even cause you to lose
weight if you train too much for too long. You don't need
to do 5 different exercises for your chest with 5 sets for
each.
In fact, you will get a heck of a lot better results
sticking to just 1 or 2 compound exercises such as flat or
incline bench presses and just doing 2 to 5 sets each, 1 or
2 days a week. Why? Because you will allow yourself enough
rest to increase the weight each week by focusing on just a
few hard sets of heavy weight on one or two major exercises.
So if you've been having trouble figuring out how to gain
muscle and weight fast, this may have been the major factor
holding you back. Make up your mind right now that you will
train to become stronger each and every workout, and you
will be on the right path to building some real quality
muscle, whether you're a hardgainer or not.
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Derek Manuel is the author of the best-selling How to Gain
Weight and Build Muscle for Hardgainers. If you want to
learn how you too can gain 20 to 30 pounds of solid muscle
in as short as 8 weeks, or if you just want more quality
information on how to gain weight and build muscle, please
visit http://www.hardgainers-weight-tips.com
