3 Tips for Gaining Mass FastGaining mass is the goal of most bodybuilders and weight lifters. Sure, getting ripped is great too but building muscle is number one. After all, you'll look pretty silly if you get ripped and don't have any muscle mass to show off, right? I worked out for years before finally figuring out the correct ways to build muscle. Putting together a program that incorporates the following weight lifting tips for gaining mass will point you in the right direction. Follow them and you'll start making muscle gains you hadn't thought were possible. Gaining Mass With Progression - The number one rule of gaining mass and building muscle is progressive overload. Im the simplest terms, this means getting stronger. The most popular form of progressive overload is double progressive overload. For gaining mass this involves increasing the reps on an exercise until you hit a certain number, then adding weight to the bar, lowering the reps, work back up to the higher rep number and do it again. As an example, let's use the squat. Let's say you decide to work in the 8 to 12 rep range for gaining mass with the squat. You can currently squat 195 pounds for 8 reps. The idea with proressive overload is to keep trying to increase the reps you can do on the squat until you hit 12. When you hit 12 reps, add weight to the bar. The amount of weight you add to the bar will vary with the exercise and how much weight you are currently using. Let's add 10 pounds for squats. So the next workout you squat 205 pounds for 8 reps. Again, you work back up the rep ladder until you are squatting 205 pounds for 12 reps. Once again, you add weight to the bar. When you are a beginner gaining mass, progressive overload will happen more frequently. As you become stronger and more advanced, you will still use progressive overload but it won't happen nearly as oftern as it did as a beginning bodybuilder. If Gaining Mass is Your Goal - Train Your Legs! - You have to build your lower body if you want to gain muscle mass, even if you are interested in bigger arms. Your body will only allow itself to get so far out of wack. If you want to add muscular body weight you need to train your legs and train them hard. So what does this mean for gaining mass? You've probably seen this answer in other articles on this site, but it's worth repeating. Squat - Yes, squat. If you are at all serious about gaining weight you will begin squatting as is your life depended on it. Your ability to gain weight sure does. Squats are the absolute king of weight gain exercises, bar none. If you hate to squat you can do one of two things - you can forget about gaining lots of muscle, or you can learn to love the results you get from squatting so that you learn to love the squat itself. And the best way to make squats work for you and work fast is to do them in 20 rep breathing style. What does this mean? In short, it means be prepared to do the hardest work you've ever done in your lifting career. Progress comes with a price and that price is hard work on the squat. You need to use all the weight you can handle and then add some more. Since the squat is the toughest weight lifting exercise you can do physically, it's also the toughest mentally. Your mind gives in on the squat well before your body does. If you want to gain lots of muscle, you need to put an end to that. Everything you have has to go into your squatting program. Hard work on the squat is the single most important thing you can do to ensure your bodybuilding success. Forget about the latest greatest high tech routine or the newest supplement fad. The key component to any program you do is hard work. Hard work will take you much further than your choice of exercises, sets or reps. The key to the success of rapid weight gain by squatting is the amount of work you put into it. After your warm ups, load the bar to a weight you normally do 10 reps with. Now, do 20 reps. No, I'm not kidding. Like I said before, the squat is the most mental exercise there is. I've never seen anyone, when properly prepared mentally, fail to get 20 reps with their 10 rep weight (Continued Below).
Don't get me wrong, it's not easy and you may be taking 10 deep breaths and a half a minute between each rep toward the end, but you will do it, if you are mentally strong. By rep 10, your mind will be ready to rack the weight like you've always done. But who controls your mind? You do. So tell it not this time, take 3 deep breaths and get that 11th rep. Now you're in a world of your own. Nothing matters but the next rep. Your success or failure at this point is solely determined by the power of your mind. If your mind gives up, your body will pack it in. You're done. The last few reps will have every part of you screaming to call it quits. Block it out! Whatever it takes to get the next rep - 10 deep breaths, a promise to yourself, a make believe deal that if you complete number 20, you get a date with Carmen Garcia. I use counting tricks to help me along. I'll count 1 through 10 on the first 10 reps, then 1 through 5 on the next 5, then backwards from 5 to 1 on the next 5. Whatever helps you complete all 20 reps. When you're finished, stagger over to a bench. If you can walk, you didn't work hard enough. Flop over the bench and do a set of light pullovers, 20 reps, with no more than 25 pounds. Get a good stretch. Do this twice a week for 6 weeks. Each time add 5 pounds to the bar from your previous workout. That's 12 workouts and a 60 pound increase in your squat weight. You can do this. And you will grow. Fast. Remind yourself each time you workout, you only have X more workouts to go. Think about it, it's just 12 sets over 6 weeks. You can do that, right? Of course you can, if you want to gain weight as badly as you say you do. If you don't get your squat up to over 300 pounds on this program eventually, you aren't going to get the muscle gains that you want. Gaining Mass Requires Some Serious Eating - This may be the number one problem I see with bodybuilders who has trouble building muscle. Their nutrition program is severely lacking. Not only are they not eating the right foods, they aren't eating nearly often enough or taking in enough calories. You have to eat at least six times a day. If you're serious about gaining mass, you may want to squeeze in even more meals or snacks. In addition, you want lots of protein, quality carbs (no processed foods) and plenty of good fats like olive oil, flaxseed, and sunflower. For at least a time, you'll probably need to take in in excess of 4,000 calories a day or more if gaining mass is your number one priority. Yes, eating will becomea job for you, at least for awhile. Here's a sample weight gain drink you can whip up for gaining mass. 100 grams of protein powder (my favorite is Optimum Nutrition's 100% Whey Protein. You can get it in 5 and 10 pound containers. It's by far the highest quality whey protein around at the best price. Check it out MyBodybuildingSupplements.com 2 quarts of whole or 2% Milk 2 cups of skim milk powder 2 cups of chocolate ice cream 4 tablespoons of peanut butter 1 banana Mix in a blender and drink throughout the day, in addition to your regular food meals. Add or subtract ingredients based on individual taste preferences and number of calories needed. If your goal is gaining mass and you give everything you've got to these muscle building tips, you will add muscular body weight. Gaining mass is not easy, but it can be done, even for the skinniest among us. I used to weigh 141 pounds at a height of 6 feet! That's skinny! I've bulked up to as high as 197 and am at my best body weight at around 180 pounds. Gaining mass can be done! Go for it!
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