Top 10 Mass Building Tips

Cap’n Syringe

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty.
If you are NOT supplementing  with Growth Hormone, testosterone and other steroids, then this post is for you.
However if you’re on the juice boat with Captain Syringe  and Mister GH as well as Testo-man then stop wasting your time and go save some money for your next shot and your future health problems.

Without further a due, this is how you build muscle:

1) Eat Like You Mean It

I’m guilty of this too. I see guys who are bulking and they go hours on end without food and when they eat it’s a bird portion.
To put on size you need to put on size on your plate. Eat like you mean it. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, your portions have to make your girlfriend and other male friends feel like wussies. If you have trouble gaining size then you really need to crank up the volume of what you consume. Load up the carbs at the right time and avoid overdoing it to steer clear from unwanted body fat. If you’re not a steroid junkie you really need to increase your calories to put on some size. Just make sure they’re coming from healthy sources.
If you’re in the older gentlemen’s club then you might want to be smarter about carb consumption. High protein and high fat would do, just watch the carbs a little a be clever about timing them correctly (around your workout and at night).

My personal tactic for weight gain – Enter the Shake.
Get a blender: Pour in a liter of milk, add bananas, strawberries, oats, spinach (it won’t effect the taste), a spoon of honey. Shake and down it in 10 mins. This isn’t a smoothie to enjoy, this is a quest to get bigger.
In case you have intolerance towards milk, you can replace the liter with a scoop of whey protein.

2) Do 3-4 Strength Training Sessions Per Week

This one will be bad news for bodybuilding splits followers who train 10 days a week.
If you’re an average person with no supplements arsenal and who leads a regular stressful and busy life then you’ll get excellent results with 3 – 4 sessions per week especially if you do other forms of physical activity like sprinting, fighting, sports etc. Go in, hit the weights hard, get out. Your body grows when it rests, not when it trains. That pump you see is, well, a pump. Go home and recover. Recovery = Growth.

3) Train for 45 – 60 Minutes

People fail to recognize the importance of the hormonal response to training. You want to keep your training within the 45- 60 minute mark where you are in an anabolic state (Muscle growth) before Captain Cortisol shows up its ugly face and turns you catabolic (Muscle breakdown). If you’re working out well over an hour then you are half assing it. Quit chatting to fellow members about how to develop your “inner” chest, put your phone in your locker – yapping and texting are not good gym etiquette anyway.
Get in, work hard, get out.

4) Lift Heavy – Use Compound Exercises

Walk into a random public gym and you’ll see the troops of chicken legs and flat backs lining up waiting for their turn to bench press. Because everyday is chest day when you’re too scared to lift.
Squat racks are always abandoned. Squats, deadlifts, military presses, dips, pushups, rows and chin ups should always be the bread and butter of your training. Any guy who can deadlift 200Kg will have a huge muscular back to show for it without having to do one single bent over lateral raise or pull over.
Show me a guy pressing heavy overhead and I can guarantee his shoulders would be like boulders. Squatting heavy is far superior in building huge tree trunk like legs than endless sets of leg extensions (Not hating on leg extensions, but always squat when you can)

5) Progressive Overload

Progressive overload is one of the basic and most important principles of weight training. One you cannot do without unless you plan to stay the same size and strength for years on end.
Strive to get stronger than you were yesterday (or your previous workout). Try to increase the weights you’re moving by small increments slowly, each workout. If your weights are not going up, increase a rep or two. Note that you cannot add weight to each workout, it doesn’t work like that otherwise we all would be squatting 500Kg and deadlifting thousands. Plus this would lead to injury. Be smart, listen to your body, get strong and really comfortable with the weight you’re moving, then increase it.

6) Train in the Range of 70-85% of Your Max (1RM)

If you are a drug free, genetically average kind of guy like me and you struggle to build muscle then that would mean your training should be somewhere between the range of 5 to 8 reps.
I  finish off hard heavy sets with pump work in the range of 9-12 (or even as high as 15-20 if that represents your 70%). This will aid in recruiting all motor units, giving you the anabolic benefits from the pump and the maximized growth potential from that specific workout.

7) Keep # of Work Sets between 12 – 16

Whatever your training regimen is, you will always have to do warm up sets or feeler sets before your “work” sets or “top end” sets or “heavy” sets if you may. Warming up to hit the big numbers is crucial and it might look like you’re doing 4 sets or 5 sets per exercise but the truth is, the warm up sets are not “work” sets. If you are busting 3 – 4 heavy sets per exercise per workout then it might lead your down over-training lane and it’s no fun, it’s dark and cold. Make sure your actual work sets are 2 – 3 tops. Warm up well, lift them hard, and leave it there. If you do not get a pump from it, it does not mean you have not hit your muscles hard. Stop flexing and move on to the next exercise.

8) Change Your Program Every 4-8 Weeks

Beginners or newbies can take a program and run with it for 12 weeks. Intermediate and advanced lifters need to change things up a bit more. Spice it and twist it up here and there. That does not mean that the whole basis of your program would change, just a few tweaks here and there. Those could be rep ranges, grip width, grip type, and other minor changes. It will help you avoid overuse injuries.

9) Sleep Like a Caveman

Shoot to sleep at least 8 hours per night. A good range is 8 to 10 hours of sleep. It is when you recover and grow. Deep sleep boosts your growth hormone and your testosterone and also helps manage your cortisol levels and improve your insulin sensitivity. Cut down on your sleep and your results will suffer dramatically. Prioritize it.

10) Recover, Recover, Recover

When you workout, you provide the stimulus for your muscles to grow. Without food and ample recovery time, you will not grow. Your body grows when it rests. If you have terrible recovery you won’t see any gains. Help yourself recover by stretching, icing, foam rolling, massages, meditating, going for walks, unwinding and eliminating stress. It’s a big step towards a bigger you, do it.

Bonus tips:

11) Find a Good Gym, and a Good Partner(s)

A gym that does not have a Squat Rack is a shit gym. Do not register in a gym that does not recognize the importance of a Squat/Power rack. All those so called “fitness” gyms are hustling you for your money. You’d need a good gym, that has all the necessary equipment for you to grow stronger and bigger and the right environment. Find like minded people to join you on your workouts and you will surely amplify your results and quality of your workout.

12) Be Grounded

Don’t post your topless picture on your facebook profile. Don’t take photo sessions on the beach wearing douchey Ray Bans. No pool side pictures either. Don’t buy tank tops and wear them everywhere. All this will hinder your progress. Remember your grow a stronger body and a stronger mind. Leave your mind small and you will forever look small.

Now go and make a change.