As you would know, the bench press should form the foundation of your mass training routine as it’s one of the best chest exercises for building masculine pecs. However, with all of the bench press variations such as the flat bench press and incline bench press, what should you focus on then?

Some people love the incline bench press, while others hate it. If you try to tell a person who benches on a flat bench press that the incline is better then you better watch your back because they might want to fight you!

What are the main advantages of the flat bench press?

Before I talk about why the incline bench press is good I thought I would get out a few nice things about the regular bench press.

The main advantage of the flat bench is that you can handle more weight. The motion is very natural and it is easy to master the technique. This usually means that you have all the elements of a good weight training workout. It is an excellent strength and power motion as it is so simple and brute forceful.

The position that your body is on when you lay on the flat bench is also very comfortable. Again, it is natural and easy to do and usually doesn’t leave you lifting a heavy weight in a strange way. You are able to push off of the bench and it supports you well. However, the incline has certain advantages. Here’s why…

Why is the incline bench press better for chest growth?

Now I move onto the dangerous waters – the incline bench press is better for your pectoral muscles than the flat bench. By far.

You see the main disadvantage of the flat bench is that it works your shoulders a lot. This is why I am not a fan of it. People think that the flat bench is all triceps and chest but they are wrong. The anterior deltoid muscles get worked quite hard and as such your pectorals get a lot of help. This is not good for muscles growth.

If you want to target your pectoral muscles you are much better off using an incline angle for your bench press. You are also better off using a pair of dumbbells instead of your barbell. Now I am really getting into controversial territory! As I mentioned in this post the dumbbell allows you to get a much better stretch and range of motion. These two things are vital for good muscle growth.

In summary, next time you want to target your pectoral muscles and remove as much shoulder work as possible try using an incline bench with some heavy dumbbells instead. Although the flat bench press has a huge role in effective strength training and muscle building, it is not the be all and end all of weight training exercises as many trainees would have you believe.

Read the other articles on this site to learn how to do the incline bench press and flat bench press with good lifting technique.

When I first got started with improving my physique much was said about the importance of high protein consumption for building muscle. If you ask any bodybuilder about why you should have a high protein intake if you want to build muscle mass, you will get a detailed response explaining the way protein builds muscle tissue. However, not much is said about the very important nutrient, carbohydrate.

Carbs, which are converted into glucose or glycogen in the body, is the only macronutrient which can provide an immediate source of energy, which is essential for any type of weight training. Just because you are consuming a lot of protein for building muscle doesn’t mean that you should exclude carbohydrates in your muscle building diet. Not only do carbohydrates provide the best source of energy required for intense weight training sessions, but they are also protein sparing because their availability allows the body to use protein for it’s primary function, which is to build muscle tissue instead of having to rely on protein to supply energy which is not as efficient.

Carbohydrates are often overlooked when planning a muscle building diet. If you want to optimize your diet for muscle gain it’s important that you know how to integrate carbohydrate foods into your diet and training. It doesn’t need to be complicated you just need to follow a few simple rules.

Eat plenty of complex carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are basically of two types. Simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates. Most of your carbohydrates should come from complex sources because they supply muscle glycogen, the long lasting fuel that your body needs to train hard. The amount of carbohydrates which are stored in muscle tissue can influence whether or not your muscles remain in an anabolic mode, which is essential for muscle building.

Just how important are muscle glycogen stores? Consuming more protein then what your body requires for building muscle tissue is not the answer and won’t increase muscle mass if glycogen stores are too low. On the contrary, if muscle glycogen stores are full it can promote muscle growth.

Good sources of complex carbs include whole foods like whole meal bread, whole grain cereal, potatoes, brown rice, pasta, fresh and tinned fruit and dried fruit.

Eat plenty of carbohydrates post workout

Post workout nutrition is very important if you want to build muscle. When you are training hard you need to replenish muscle glycogen stores. Eating a large amount of carbohydrates and at least 1 gram of protein per lb. of body weight. directly after a workout session provides your body with an insulin spike. This insulin spike puts your body into an anabolic state as it will promote a spike in growth hormone. The reason for consuming a lot of protein with the carbs post workout is that insulin increases protein synthesis by a very substantial margin.

Eat smaller amounts of carbohydrates more frequently

The best approach for gaining weight in the form of lean muscle mass is to eat smaller meals with carbohydrates more often. Instead of having 3 large meals throughout the day, make a habit of eating 5 or 6 smaller meals, and make sure you get plenty of carbohydrates with each meal to release a steady flow of insulin into the body. If you eat large amounts of carbohydrates in one sitting your body is much more likely to store them as fat.

For natural bodybuilders, carbohydrates are very important because you have to rely on the maximum efficiency of food for your energy production and muscle growth instead of using steroids. If you follow these simple rules it will enable you to build muscle faster.

When you think about gaining weight you should really think about gaining muscle. No one wants to gain weight in the form of body fat. You need to be consuming extra calories but you don’t want them hanging around as fat. You want to convert those calories into muscle. If you want to gain more muscle and not excess body fat then you really want to make sure you are not consuming additional calories then what your weight gain diet requires.

If you have skinny genetics and have a hard time gaining weight at all, gaining some fat should be the least of your concerns. You naturally have very little body fat to begin with, so gaining 5 pounds of fat won’t look unsightly at all, and with the increased muscle mass it won’t look out of proportion.

For years, the common method in the bodybuilding world to gain more muscle has been to eat everything in sight in combination with intense weight training in the “bulking” cycle, followed by a period of dramatic calorie reduction in addition with cardio exercise in the “cutting” cycle to burn off the unwanted fat covering the newly gained muscle, just before a contest. Since this has been the common methodology to gain muscle and lose fat, it must be the way to gain healthy weight and improve your physique? Well, believe it or not, there is a better way to gain muscle mass and not fat.

Realistically, you will always gain some fat when on a high calorie weight gain diet. This is an unavoidable fact and anyone who tells you differently is misleading you. Although you can’t totally prevent fat gain, you can keep it to minimal levels if you are disciplined with your diet and training.

Eat to Build Muscle, Not to Bulge

Nutrition is fundamental to gaining muscle. It makes sense that you need to eat more calories to fuel your workouts. However, this doesn’t mean eating everything and anything within your reach. The main reason I see people gain signifcant amounts of fat on a weight gain diet is usually because they are eating too many calories. Yes, you need plenty of calories to fuel muscle growth when lifting weights, but keep in mind too many calories will simply be stored as fat. Include foods in your weight gain diet which will help build lean muscle mass and avoid the bad fats.

What I recommend is increasing your calories in small increments (300-500 extra calories per day) while closely monitoring your body fat percentage. If you notice that you are starting to gain more fat, then reduce your calories slightly.

How Much Muscle Can You Expect to Gain Without Getting Fat?

There is no simple answer to this. How your body responds to implementing a weight gain diet and workout plan will be influenced by your body type, training intensity, and how strict you are with your diet. With that said, if you do eat well and train hard, you can expect to gain about 1lb of muscle per week within 8 weeks.

The question of whether genetics plays a role in bodybuilding success has been debated for years. In order to answer this question you need to define exactly what you mean by bodybuilding success? If by bodybuilding success you refer to increasing muscle mass to the point where you are bigger and have a much better physique then what you had before, then I can tell you that anybody can accomplish that.

If you have poor bodybuilding genetics it means it will take longer to see the results. A hardgainer will never get the same physique as someone with perfect bodybuilding genetics, at least not naturally. This isn’t to say hardgainers can not gain muscle mass. They just need to work harder in order to see results.

Your genetic make-up affects things like personality (introverted/extroverted), appearance, intelligence, and you guessed it, your ability to gain weight and muscle. Bodybuilding is an ego driven sport so people are not going to want to admit that they can’t look like Arnold if they weight 140 lbs. They will convince themselves if they just try a little bit harder on their diet or routine they will eventually be the biggest in their gym. It’s simply all fantasy unless you use steroids, and even then it’s probably still a dream.

If a person with hardgainer genetics lifts weights they will get more muscular, but will never look as good as someone with great genetics if they do the exact same diet and workout. People with these inferior genes won’t look as ripped or as muscular if they do exactly the same thing as someone with better genetics.

Even steroids are not a magical drug. They give you a boost and get you through plateaus, but watch what happens when you get off them after a year or two, you drastically shrink again. And you don’t want to be relying on them indefinitely for heart, liver, and sexual health reasons.

So what genetic factors affect your ability to gain muscle?

Muscle fiber type and density are influenced by genetics. The more gifted larger bodybuilders often have more muscle fibers and more of them fast twitch (anaerobic) on average. Myostatin is another factor which plays a role in muscle growth. When Myostatin was manipulated in mice they grew muscle at unbelievable rates. Testosterone levels play a huge role also. People with large testosterone levels should have a easier time building muscle and keeping lean.

So if you have been following a strict diet for a few months and a solid heavy weight lifting routine with compound exercises and you still don’t look that great, just accept that the gains will be slower. You may have to accept you’ll never reach your ideal goal in your mind. However, you will look a heck of a lot better than if you did nothing! And that is all that matters in the end.

Vegetarianism does not have one definition with as many as five different types of eating habits which qualify as being a vegetarian. For most vegetarians, their diet is primarily made up of vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, seeds, nuts, fish, and dairy products. Some vegetarians will also consume eggs or even poultry. Vegan is the strictest form of vegetarianism, their diet not only excludes all meat products but dairy products are also restricted, so basically no animal products are consumed. Due to the more limited food choices vegetarians have, it means they are required to get more creative with food to ensure their diets include enough nutrients and calories to fuel muscle growth and stay healthy.

What you eat isn’t the only factor vegetarians can look at when it comes to gaining weight. Your metabolism ensures that the calories you consume are burned and that the nutrients are processed by your body. Having a high metabolism can affect your ability to gain weight. One consideration would be to trick the body into slowing down your metabolism so that you are not burning as many calories. This is particularly useful for people with a fast metabolism to begin with. The trick is to eat a heavy meal late in the day. Consuming a high calorie meal late at night will help make sure that your body won’t be able to burn the calories off so quickly.

Protein is an important part of any weight gain diet. This is no exception for a vegetarian wanting to gain weight. Vegetarians need to make sure they get enough protein by consuming legumes, nuts and seeds in combination with whole grain breads and cereals, as well as soy products. Getting enough protein is such a critical component in repairing and building lean muscle.

Nuts such as almonds are the most healthful. They have the most mono-saturated fat and the least saturated fat. An ounce or so can be a good source of protein and healthy fats. Fresh roasted almonds can be a great substitute for bacon. If you roast or bake an ounce or so to the point where they are quite brown, but not burned, in an oven of about 375 degrees or a bit more – and serve hot, they taste crispy and slightly smoky – just like perfectly done bacon; but almonds don’t have the saturated animal fats and preservatives that bacon has; and the almonds don’t taste greasy or make a greasy mess!

Legumes like lentils and black eyed peas are the best. They tend to produce the least gas, have the lowest glycemic index and have the most soluble fiber. Both can be use for soups and stews; and, lentils can be used to make a great vegetarian chili. Any of these dishes can be made nonfat or with just a bit of olive oil when appropriate. They can be a good cold weather addition to breakfast.

Some people consider themselves semi-vegetarians and eat fish. Fish can be good one to three times a week. Salmon has by far the most healthful oil and is quite satisfying. Halibut is one of the lowest fat fishes and is also good. Tuna is good. And, if you know and like other kinds by all means try them occasionally.

It would be a good idea buying a well written raw diet cook book which provides information on tasty foods and cooking methods to help you in your quest for size. One such book I would recommend is The Raw Gourmet by Nomi Shannon, which provides good nutrition information on how to gain weight for the natural bodybuilder. It teaches you about what foods to eat, protein and carb content, tips in combining raw food dishes, facts to support raw food benefits, and how the body functions in conjunction with switching to this type of diet.

The weight lifting principles for gaining significant weight and muscle are no different for a vegetarian, so I won’t touch this topic in this post. I would advise you to check out the training articles elsewhere on this site for information regarding the training aspect of weight gain.

Steroids can increase muscle mass and performance – but they also have potentially deadly side effects. Before you start taking steroids to fast track your muscle gains, you better learn about the potential negative side effects of anabolic steroids abuse. The desire to be the best is one of the reasons some athletes turn to anabolic steroids – performance enhancing drugs that can make them stronger and faster. But no matter what the benefits, steroids can have severe negative consequences, both physical and psychological. They should never be used unless prescribed by a physician to treat a medical condition.

Exactly what makes anabolic steroids so powerful? They are the synthetic version of testosterone, the primary male sex hormone. (Anabolic steroids have no relation to corticosteroids, used to treat asthma.) Anabolic steroids appeal mainly to the competitive athlete, from high school track runners to professional bodybuilders. These athletes use steroids primarily to improve athletic performance, enhance appearance, and increase muscle mass and strength.

Steroids allow both endurance athletes, such as long-distance runners, and power athletes, such as weightlifters, to train more frequently, with higher intensity, and for longer periods of time. They also help athletes recuperate more quickly than they would without the drugs.

Because of this performance boost, there are more than one million current or former users of anabolic steroids in the United States today. Since it’s illegal for physicians to prescribe steroids for non-medical uses, most steroid users must obtain the drugs on the black market, estimated by the Drug Enforcement Administration to result in more than $400 million dollars of sales each year. Many steroids are produced in underground laboratories in Europe and South America and smuggled into North America.

Studies show that numerous steroid users start as teenagers: As many as 3 to 11 percent of high school boys and up to 2 percent of senior girls have used steroids. Steroid use involves taking several tablets a day or many injections a week, in cycles of six to 12 or more weeks.

The long-term effects of anabolic steroids haven’t been studied, but much is known about the short-term effects. In both men and women, anabolic steroid use promotes acne, muscle mass, and secondary sex characteristics, including permanent deepening of the voice and facial hair growth, as well as increased libido. Steroids are also believed to increase aggressiveness, though there’s no strong consensus as to whether “roid rage” – sudden outbursts of violent behavior – is actually caused by steroid use.

The more serious effects of steroid use depend on the form in which they are taken. There are several types of anabolic steroids: orals, injections, gels, patches, and nasal sprays. Adolescents and less sophisticated users tend to use injectible or oral steroids. Oral steroids have more negative effects than injectible; they’re associated with liver abnormalities, as well as tumors.

After several days of oral steroid use, a person’s “good” cholesterol (that is, high-density lipoproteins or HDLs) can plummet to single-digit levels, which are dangerous and can increase risk of heart disease. (Ideally, HDLs should be above 35 milligrams per deciliter of blood in adults 20 years of age or older.) However, these problems usually disappear within a month of discontinuing steroid use.

All steroids shut down the production of testosterone by the testes in males, which stop sperm production. As a result, anabolic steroids have been tested as a male contraceptive, though the findings are still inconclusive.

Studies also suggest an association between anabolic steroid use and heart attack and stroke, probably due to increased blood clotting and spasms of the arteries. There have also been a number of cases of cardiomyopathy, an enlargement of the heart muscle where it becomes weakened and can’t pump blood efficiently, sometimes leading to congestive heart failure.

Though anabolic steroids aren’t addictive in a physical sense, users can become dependent on them. Like with any drug the user can easily become psychologically addicted.

Though using anabolic steroids may sound like a recipe for health problems, they do have legitimate medical benefits in certain cases. Anabolic steroids have been used as replacement therapy for men whose testes aren’t producing testosterone, helping them maintain their sex drive and their primary sex characteristics. They’re also given to HIV-positive individuals to increase appetite, give a sense of well-being, and maintain muscle mass.

Despite the risks, without better detection, education, and treatment, anabolic steroids will continue to be the drug of choice for athletes concerned about being the best, even when their overall health is at stake. You have to ask yourself this serious question. Is the possible performance enhancement benefits worth the associated health risk? I think not.

You have already got six pack abs (eight if you count the two boxes between your navel and your pelvis). That’s the way your abdomen is configured. The good news is, if you’re like the majority of hardgainers, then you already have a very low body fat percentage and only need to focus on strengthening the abdominal region to show the muscles, instead of worrying about fat loss. However, this article will be an abs guide for all body types. If you want those boxes to pop, your plan of attack needs to be two fold; one, build your abdominal wall, and two, reduce your body fat so the muscles will show.

The formula for toning your abs is straightforward:

• crunches for the upper and frontal abs (rectus abdominis)
• rotating crunches (adding a twist), for the side abs and the waist (internal/external obliques)
• leg raises for the lower abdomen (boxes seven and eight)
• bicycle crunches which are one of the most effective abs exercises

Here’s a demonstration of how to do a bicycle crunch correctly:

The second plan of attack for a washboard stomach is to reduce your body fat.

You can reduce your body fat in two ways:

• burn more calories
• improve your diet

Cardiovascular activity burns calories. Basketball, tennis, jogging, treadmills, stairmasters, swimming, anything that gets you moving around. The more you move, the more calories you’ll burn. Cardiovascular exercise will also improve your stamina, strength, overall health and longevity. Weight training is also beneficial. Muscles burn calories even at rest, so building muscle mass will mean you will burn calories at a faster rate.

Finally, to look like an athlete you have to eat like one. Eat plenty of protein; meat, fish and poultry. Between meals opt for healthy snacks; fresh fruit, salads, protein bars or nutritional shakes for extra energy. It’s more about quality than quantity. Think of your food as the fuel that powers you. You wouldn’t run a Jaguar on low-grade gas, loaded with sugar and starch, if you knew it would perform better powered by protein, fresh fruits and vegetables. If you’re determined to have a stomach you can bounce a quarter off, combining consistent and diverse abdominal workouts, with a high protein diet and plenty of cardiovascular activity is the way to go.

Find honest answers about abdominal exercises and stomach fat loss in The Truth About Sick Pack Abs book, written by fitness expert Mike Geary. Remember, that six-pack is already in there, it’s waiting for you to bring it out with the correct diet and exercises!

These are some of the common mistakes people make when trying to build muscles.

1. Paying more attention to the quantity or weight of the lift, and not enough attention to the quality of the movement performed.

Why this is bad?
It is during the negative phase (eccentric contraction), not the positive phase (concentric contraction) that promotes blood flow to the muscles causing the micro trauma which is what builds muscles.

2. Not training their muscle groups in an organized, systematic fashion. You should always do every set and every exercise for a specific muscle group together. For example; if you chest routine consists of two or three chest exercises, do all of those chest exercises together. Do all sets of bench press, then all sets of incline bench press, until your chest routine is complete. Then you can move on to the next muscle group.

Why is this bad?
Blood is not being targeted in any one muscle group. This mistake “teases” your different muscle groups without ever targeting enough blood to cause much stimulation for improvement.

3. Eating right before your training program, or eating too soon after you program causing your heart and digestive system to work too hard.

Why is this bad?
Because digestion takes a lot of blood, eating just before or after your workout will not allow you to get enough blood into the muscles you are training. You should wait 60 minutes after eating before you start training, and 60 minutes after your session before you eat a meal.

4. Working out on an empty stomach.

Why this is bad?
The nutrients in your system will enhance performance and energy, just try to eat an hour or more before work outs. Your meal should includes food that rich in complex carbohydrates and protein, and low in fat, sugar and cholesterol.

5. Training too long. By wanting to get fast results, many people push themselves too far with 2 or 3 hour sessions.

Why this is bad?
You will lose strength in the next session. Keep your session to an hour max. any longer and you are either breaking your body down or not working hard enough to get results.

6. Doing too little or too much cardiovascular training.

Why this is bad?
Too little cardio will leave your unhealthy and unbalanced. Too much cardio will decrease your strength and muscle mass. Instead, try short, intense sessions that will spare your muscle mass and boost your metabolism more effectively.

Here is some information about foods that build muscle. When you start an exercise program with the goal of building muscle, you must change your diet accordingly. If you start exercising and burning more calories, and do not increase your food intake, you will lose muscle mass.

Protein

If you start exercising regularly, you need to eat more protein. If you aren’t getting enough protein in your diet, then your body starts using its own sources of protein for energy. 60-70% of the body’s protein is found in muscle tissue, so your body will eat away at your muscles, which will slow your metabolic rate, reduce your strength and stop all muscle growth.

In order for muscle growth to occur, you must consume more protein than you utilize. The body can store carbohydrates and glycogen, however it cannot store proteins. To maintain the optimal environment for muscle growth, complete proteins must be eaten with every meal. This explains why nutritionists recommend that we eat up to six small meals a day, equally to about every three hours.

Best sources of lean protein for building muscles:

Chicken Breast
Turkey Breast
Fish
Shellfish
Egg Whites
Lean red meats
Nonfat or low fat dairy products
Protein Powders (eg. Whey protein)

Protein myth

Some people claim that the human body can only digest 3 grams of protein per sitting. This is not true, and no research has ever proved otherwise.

Recommended daily amount

1 gram per pound of bodyweight as a starting point for daily protein needs. Many body builders go higher than this, up to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. During pre-contest phases when carbohydrates are restricted, some body builders eat as much as 2.0 grams per pound.

Example 1:
You are female
Your total body weight = 130 lbs.
Your protein requirement = 130 grams per day
If you eat 5 – 6 meals a day (like you should) that’s 22 – 26 grams of protein per meal

Example 2:
You are male
Your total body weight = 190 lbs.
Your protein requirement = 190 grams per day
Spread over 5 – 6 meals per day, that’s 32 – 38 grams of protein per meal

Carbohydrates

A low carb/high protein diet is usually the best way for body builders to get that “ripped” look. Most bodybuilders go on some version of a low carb diet when getting ready for competition. However, this is done while working towards a specific goal and is not necessarily suitable for someone just wanting to build muscle. If you are a hard gainer wanting to put on more weight, a diet high in carbs would be the way to go.

Problems with a low carb diet

A problem caused by very low carb diets is loss of lean body mass. Many people don’t realize that if you lower your carbs, you are more likely to lose muscle along with fat. Another problem with very low carb diets is that once you add carbs back in, you are likely to gain the fat back very quickly.

If you wish to significantly increase a muscle’s strength and size, you need to do resistance exercises with that muscles on a regular basis (one to three times a week).

Resistance Training
Resistance training, also called strength training, is performing an action against some kind of resistance, most commonly a weight. The resistance can also be provided by exercise resistance bands, or even the weight of your own body or body parts.

In order to be effective at increasing muscular strength and/or endurance and/or power and/or size (which is why many people resistance train) you need to make sure that the resistance is sufficiently large that you can fatigue yourself in a relatively small number of repetitions. Remember to continually push yourself to do at least 1 more rep (or more weight) than you did in your previous workout.

Less Aerobic Exercise
Too much aerobic activity can slow your muscle gain. Aerobic exercise will increase a muscle’s endurance and tone and make it slightly larger, only by a small percentage.

However, you don’t need to necessarily cut back on the total time spent on cardio, rather then number of days. Also try to do the cardio at different times in the day from your weight lifting. For example, if you are doing four sessions of cardio for 30-45 minutes a week, try instead to do two session of 1-1.5hours.

If you want to build muscles, it is important to understand exactly how muscles are built. It is also important learn how to tell if your form is correct or not.

How are Muscles Built?

Muscles are built when blood is forced into your muscles during a weightlifting program, it activates the “micro trauma” or tiny little tears in your muscles, and your muscle tissues repair and rebuild themselves bigger and stronger than they were.

However, only if you allow ample resting time. It is important never train the same muscle group two days in a row, or you will cut off the rebuilding process. It is during the Eccentric Contraction or negative phase, that promotes blood flow to the muscles and causes micro trauma which builds muscles.

Therefore it is more important to let the weight come back slowly on the negative phase, then on the concentric contraction or positive phase. The speed that is recommended is one to two seconds for each positive phase (lifting movement) and three to four seconds for each negative phase (lowering movement).

If you are doing the exercise movement correctly, you should have a feeling of warmth, some fatigue and a “burning” sensation at the end of each set. This indicates use of proper form. If you are not getting these feelings, you may need to review the proper form for your exercise as this is probably an indication that a common mistake is not allowing blood to be fully targeted to your muscles.

Best Exercises to Build Muscles

So, are these the best exercises? Well, that depends on what you want. Do you want mass or definition? Do you want width on thickness? Do you want overall mass? Do you want lower abs? Do you want upper chest?

For the back
Seated cable row
Front chin (pull-up)
Pulldown behind neck
Barbell row
Front pulldown
Narrow grip pulldown/-chin
Chin behind neck

For the chest
Dumbbell flye
Bench press
Incline bench press
Cable crossover
Parallel bar dip
[Cross bench] pullover
Dumbbell press

For the shoulders
Press behind neck
Dumbbell side lateral
Upright row
Cable side lateral (one hand)
Dumbbell press

For the abs
Roman chair sit-up
Bench/Incline leg raise
Crunch
Hanging leg raise
Incline sit-up
Cable crunch

Here is our hand picked list of best muscle building exercises:

Overall mass: Deadlift
Back width (upper lats): Front pull-up (weighted)
Back mass/thickness: Barbell row
Lower lats: Chin (narrow grip) (weighted)
Lat isolation: Stiff arm pulldown
Lower back: Back extension
Overall chest: Bench press
Upper chest: Incline press
Lower chest: Dip (weighted)
Shoulder mass: Press behind neck
Side delts: Dumbbell side lateral
Lower abs: Reverse (incline) crunch
Overall abs: Crunch (weighted)

When people train to get bigger, they must train to get muscularly stronger. No matter what you read or are told, legitimate researchers will tell you that they have all kinds of bits and pieces as to what goes on when muscle tissue is stimulated. They know what has to be done to get the muscle bigger and stronger, but they’re not sure exactly how it happens. The end result is obvious, but not so the process.

It is also very much accepted that in order to get muscularly larger, one first has to develop muscular strength. If one is as strong as possible at a particular body weight, the only way to significantly increase the amount of muscle tissue mass of any specific muscle or muscle group, is to gain body weight. Thus, most individuals, especially those not using drugs, must strive to gain weight muscular weight, but weight nonetheless in order to be stronger, and bigger.

Training for ultimate “cuts” or extreme definition is not healthy and, in my opinion, not aesthetically pleasing. A well-trained athlete with minimal body fat for any purpose other than competitive bodybuilding, looks very hard in person. However, when compared to the drug-aided, oiled, properly lighted, shaved and diuretics-assisted physiques seen in the magazines and then considered as “the norm,” they will not be so impressive, especially in photos. Most athletes are decidedly not fat. If they carry a legitimate 10-12% body fat, this is quite low, especially when one weighs 220 lbs or more. At 300 lbs, this is quite amazing and, frankly, startling in person.

What may look “fat” in clothing or even in photos, isn’t “fat” when you actually see it. It’s just a big, strong, muscular guy, albeit without the “cuts” seen in the glamor magazines. There is no correlation between being fat and strong. Some extra body fat, or a particular body build, may allow for improved leverages in some movements, but fat cannot contract and produce power, so it is a disadvantage, also serving as a friction brake during muscular contraction.

Whilst on the subject of talking about the benefits of drinking milk post workouts, it makes for a good opportunity to discuss other things you should consider post workout to make for a more efficient training routine and to encourage fast muscle gains.

Not many people think about it, but sleep is simply your best workout partner. Lack of sleep not only reduces your coordination and mental focus but also severely inhibits your muscle growth. This is because during sleep your body releases most of its growth hormones. Optimally, you should aim for 7-8 hours of sleep each night.

In fact, 90% of your growth hormones release occurs during the first 4 hours of sleep! You don’t get bigger during a workout but when you are resting. During this period your body feeds and nourishes your muscles so it’s mightily important you have an ample supply of muscle building and muscle repairing protein and nutrients.

Allow 48 hours rest per body part. You should be weight training 3-4 times a week at most. So if you could allow for 3 training workouts each week, it would be a good idea to focus 2 days doing upper body exercises and the other day dedicated to lower body. Obviously you can make adjustments to this routine, but it’s a solid starting point for beginners. Monday I would usually do upper body exercises, rest 2 days and do lower body exercises on the Wednesday, the on one of the remaining days of the week complete the upper body workout. Because you have two days of upper body exercises, you should train a different upper body part on the second day of the week.

The following 21 muscle building tips are bullet form for quick and easy reference. You’ll find more detailed discussions on each point on the rest of the site:

1. Workout your daily energy requirements and add 500k calories per day. Click here for the formula.

2. Eating enough quality protein is essential for muscle building. Aim for 1g per lb of bodyweight.

3. Eat unrefined carbohydrates with a low glycemic index i.e. whole grains.

4. Take an essential fatty acid supplement like flaxseed oil.

5. Lift heavy weights in the 6-12 rep range for muscle building.

6. Train 3-4 times a week at most.

7. Train each body part intensely, once a week.

8. Cycle your program over a 6 week period or so to avoid over-training.

9. Drink plenty of water, about 2 to 3 litres per day.

10. Consider using creatine monohydrate and weight gainers, two of the only effective muscle building supplements.

11. Keep rests between sets to about 90 seconds.

12. Limit your workouts to 45-60 minutes.

13. Free weights are superior to machines for muscle building.

14. Get plenty of rest and sleep between workouts.

15. Use a meal replacement powder if you struggle making 5-6 meals a day.

16. Accentuate the negative movement on all exercises.

17. Have one day a week off from dieting or one week every 12 weeks.

18. Concentrate on compound exercises like squats, bench press and dead lifts.

19. Avoid doing drop sets and supersets every set and every session.

20. Limit your intake of alcohol to no more than 2 units a day.

21. Stick to a muscle building program which has been proven to work, like the one by Vince Del Monte.