How To Gain Weight And Muscle Now

Are you ready to get started on the way to getting bigger and more muscular?

Here we go...

First, throw out all the ideas in your head that you've been following. These simple rules will get you on the right path:

1. Reduce Your Reps


2. Reduce Your Sets


3. Reduce Your Workout Time


4. One Exercise Per Muscle Group


5. Strive To Increase Strength 5% Every Two Weeks

Looks like just giving up, eh? Not so, not so! You're going to be lifting heavier, resting less, and going all out in a shorter time each workout. All the while trying to increase strength each and every workout, set a new personal best every time.

Following these rules will have you packing on real muscle weight in no time.

So let's check this out...

Reduce your reps down to 10 or less. If you want to maximize strength and muscle growth, lift heavy for few reps. Once you get out past 10 reps, you are working more on the "endurance" or "slow twitch" muscle fibers, and those fibers just don't grow like the fast twitch fibers.

Those 15 reps of curls (or triceps extensions, or leg presses etc.) are doing you no good at all! When was the last time you noticed an increase in your biceps? Right, you don't remember when.

So you need to start thinking that lots of reps means not much growth.

We've got to get in to heavy lifting mode, for every single set and every single exercise, if we're going to win the war on Skinny Guy genetics!

If you can lift something 11 times, it's time to add more weight, Grasshopper!

If you are a hard gainer, and you can go for more than 5 sets, I have to wonder how intense that workout really is. Can't be doing much for each set at that rate, especially if you are in the "over 10" range, if you get my drift.

We've got to change the rules!

No more than 5 sets:

1. First Set: 85% max


2. Second Set: 90% max


3. Third Set: 95% max effort


4. Fourth Set: 100% all-out effort


5. Fifth Set: What do you think?

You are just trying to get an extra 5-10 lbs or 1-2 extra reps in those last sets. That's all. Anything more and you will just have to rest more days to recover.

The first two rules contribute to this rule, but this one is really about:

Rest.

That's right, rest. As in rest between sets.

Do you carry a stopwatch with you to time your rest periods? No, stop lying, I know you don't. You have no idea how much time you spend between sets. And you're spending too much.

Depending on how heavy you are lifting, you should be resting no more than 90 seconds between sets. And then you better be lifting enough so that you can only do 3-4 reps. If you push up to the 9-10 rep range, chop it down to 30-45 seconds if you are doing 3 sets, 60 if 4-5.

The guy who can lift the most amount of weight in the shortest amount of time is the one in better shape, and you can bet he is bigger and more muscular too.

So cut down on the rest (and get a stopwatch!) and get in, get on with it, get gone! That's the way to gain a boatload of muscle in a short short time.

Only one? Yes, only one, unless you want to buy into the notion that you must mutilate a muscle for over an hour to get any growth out of it.

Consider this typical day in the gym:

Today is your chest day. Your first exercise is bench press. You perform your first set with 185 lbs, second set with 205 lbs, third set with 225 lbs and fourth set with 245 lbs. (Well, once you've followed these rules and put on some more muscle, that is...)

Assuming this is your max weight for the desired number of reps, is it not safe to say that you have used the maximal number of muscle fibers?

Your goal is to simple spark your muscles into growth, not turn them to jelly. Once they experience a unknown assalut (stimulus), your body will be forced to adapt and create new muscle to prevent future assaults!

Therefore, your take home lesson is this: Once you have out-performed your last workout, it is time to move onto the next exercise.

It's all about personal bests.

You have to go the gym pumped up, believing that you are going to have a personal best each and every exercise, each and every day you work out.

Increase your max weight by 5%. Do 1-2 more reps if you can.

The only way to do that is to keep a strict training log, so that you know what you've been doing. All the gym rats who look the same for weeks and months and years? You know who they are -- none of them are logging their workouts. Look at the guys who use a log; they are the ones getting bigger fast!

So use a log, and always try to increase. Always. Just think, if you can deadlift 135 pounds today, if you increase by 5% every two weeks, in six months you could be twice as strong -- lifting 270 lbs!

Here's an activity for you: use the rule above and figure out what you should be lifting in 6 months, and fill out your log with goal weights in advance. That will give you something to measure progress against.