How To Build Muscle Fast:

41 Tips to Gain 41 Pounds Of Rock-Solid Lean Muscle Mass in 6 Months

By Vince DelMonte - Author of No-Nonsense Muscle Building

This article will give you at least 41 tips and ideas for gaining more muscle and getting more ripped than you can imagine.
Muscle building expert Vince DelMonte has helped over 50,000 skinny guys and consults with fitness experts all around the world on the most critical and supporting elements to build muscle mass and to experience consistent muscle growth.
In this article, Vince unmasks his own secrets that he used for building 41 pounds of solid muscle in only 6 months – without any drugs or steroids, without bogus supplements, and while training less total hours than before.
Find out his advanced muscle building strategies on how to build muscle, fast!
Whether you approach your physique as a hobby or a job, you should not leave any element to chance and hope it works.  In order to defeat plateaus and forge a ripped and muscular body you need all the tips and tricks you can get.  None of these techniques will work alone but by combining as many together as possible you’ll see a huge difference in your muscle growth – faster than before.
1. Begin with 3-4 full body weight training workouts per week.  Max of one hour per session.  This is a great level to make sure you don't overtrain and harm your results.  Any more than this could be counterproductive.
2. Take your body weight in pounds and multiply it by 15 to determine your daily caloric intake if you want to gain weight.

3. Perform only 1 exercise per body part each full-body workout but perform a different exercise for each body part every workout.  By the end of the week you’ll have hit each muscle group three times from three different angles.

4. Consume carbohydrates in a 2:1 ratio to protein after your workout in liquid form (a good post workout shake).

5. Perform each set to muscular failure.

6. Use a training journal and track your progress.

7. Drink at least 4-6 liters of water each day.

8. Vary your rep and set schemes more frequently than any other training variable.

9. Focus on exploding up on the concentric portion of your movement and taking 3-4 seconds for the eccentric portion of your program.  Most people lower the weight way too fast!

10. Aim to build about 4-6 pounds of lean muscle mass each 1-2 months.  Anything more will be fat gain.

11. Eat at least 10-15 serving of fruits and vegetables each day.  Some veggies even contain specific phytonutrients that can fight abdominal fat

12. Focus on compound movements for 80-90% of your workouts.

13. Alternate between dumbbells and barbells every 2 weeks.

14. Only change an exercise when you plateau on two workouts in a row.

15. Enter a fitness model or bodybuilding show or transformation contest to keep you motivated.  Don't underestimate the power of a deadline to meet your goals!

16. Follow a specific program for at least 12-16 weeks before trying your next one.

17. Pyramiding your sets to consistently increase your strength 5% each week.

18. Consume a variety of whole eggs, chicken, lean beef, fish and whole-milk throughout the day for high quality (bioavailable) muscle building protein.  And yes, whole eggs are better for you than egg whites, explained here.

19. Use a training partner for motivation and an extra push to experience faster muscular growth.

20. Never train hungry if you want to build muscle fast.
Before we get to tips 21 - 41, make sure to sign up for Mike Geary's fat burning email tips... you don't want to miss these if you want to get lean and ripped:

21. Concentrate your carbohydrates when your body needs them most –- breakfast, pre-workout and post workout.

22. Ensure you do the squat and the deadlift each week to increase the release of growth hormone and testosterone.

23. Hire a personal trainer if you have never received professional coaching on technique and form.

24. Stretch at least half the amount of time that you lift.  If you lift 3 hours a week, schedule at least 1.5 hours of yoga or static stretching. 

25. Train a muscle group through it's entire range of motion to stimulate muscle size.  There is a time and place for partial range of motion training, but most of the time full ROM wins.

26. Use a 3-day a week 20-minute interval cardio plan, post-workout, to maximize the muscle to fat ratio while bulking.

27. Train your most underdeveloped muscle group first in each workout.

28. Avoid processed food, packaged food and fast food.

29. Avoid protein bars and any muscle building supplement that has sucralose, aspartame, or other artificial sweeteners.  Also avoid bars that have soy protein or any corn syrups.  If you haven't heard, eating too much processed soy can harm your hormone levels. 

30. Get at least 8-hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.  You'd be suprised how important this is for keeping balanced hormones.

31. Don’t be afraid to overload your muscles with maximal resistance and miss your goal reps.

32. Consume a combination of olive oil, fish oil (or the more powerful Krill Oil), coconut oil, mixed nuts and natural peanut butter or almond butter each day to make sure you get ample healthy fats for testosterone and other muscle building hormone production.  Getting enough fats is key to keeping high testosterone levels.

33. Take a complete week off after 12-16 weeks of training.  This is vitally important for allowing your body to recover and not burn out.

34. Get a spotter to help you with your heaviest set.

35. Have a training program.  Never go to the gym without a plan.

36. Perform 5-10 minutes of dynamic stretching before each weight training workout.

37. Schedule regular ART-therapy or massage therapy to avoid injuries.

38. Cold shower after every intense weight training workout.  It sucks, but it works. Some studies show increased muscle recovery from this technique.

39. Eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass each day.  I know there's conflicting info about the proper amount of protein, but results speak, and I know plenty of bodybuilders who swear by this rule.

40. The core of your workout should revolve around the major multi-joint lifts: squats, deadlifts, rows, presses, pull ups, dips and weighted core work. 

41. Train with someone bigger and stronger than you. You'll be challenged and motivated to work out harder.

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Body Part Isolation vs. Complex Movements in Strength Training

What you need to know about Weight Training for a strong lean body that both looks good and is injury resistant
by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

Working as a personal trainer & fitness professional, there is one type of question I get all the time that shows that many people are missing the big picture regarding the benefits of strength training. This popular question usually goes something like this:
“What exercise can I do to isolate my _______ (insert your muscle of choice – abs, quads, biceps, triceps, etc)?”
It doesn’t matter which muscle someone is asking about, they always seem to be asking how to ‘isolate’ it. My first response to this question is always – “Why in the world would you want to isolate it?”
The first thing I try to teach my clients is that the body does not work well in muscle isolation. Rather, it works better in movements along a kinetic chain; that is, large portions of the body assist other portions of the body in completing a complex movement. In fact, there really is no such thing as true muscle isolation. There is almost always a nearby muscle group that will assist in some way with whatever movement you are doing. However, this article compares attempting to ‘isolate’ body parts via single-joint exercises to the much more effective strategy of performing multi-joint complex movements.
When you attempt to ‘isolate’ muscles by performing single-joint exercises, you are actually creating a body that is non-functional and will be more prone to injury. Essentially, you are creating a body that is a compilation of body parts, instead of a powerful, functional unit that works together.
Now if you really want to end up hobbling around in a body bandaged up with joint problems, tendonitis, and excess body fat, then by all means, continue trying to ‘isolate’ body parts. On the other hand, if you would rather have a lean, muscular, injury-free, functional body that works as a complete powerful unit to perform complex movements (in athletics or even everyday tasks), then you need to shift your focus away from muscle isolation.
Believe me, focusing on how well your body functions will give you the side effect of a body that looks even better than it would have if you focused on muscle isolation. For example, take a look at the physiques of any NFL running backs, wide receivers, or even world class sprinters. Trust me when I say that these guys pretty much NEVER train for muscle isolation (their strength coaches wouldn’t be crazy enough to let them), yet they are absolutely ripped to shreds! Just look at guys like Maurice Green or Terrell Owens and tell me who wouldn’t want a physique like those guys.
Another benefit to moving away from the ‘muscle isolation’ mindset in weight training to a more ‘complex movement’ mindset is that you will find it much easier to lose body fat. The reason is that by focusing more on multi-joint complex movements as opposed to single-joint muscle isolation lifts, you not only burn a lot more calories during each workout, but you also increase your metabolic rate, and stimulate production of more fat burning and muscle building hormones such as growth hormone and testosterone.
Let’s look at an example. The machine leg extension is a single joint exercise that works mainly the quadriceps, can potentially cause knee joint instability in the long run, and doesn’t even burn that many calories. On the other hand, exercises like squats, lunges, step-ups, and deadlifts are all multi-joint complex movements that work hundreds of muscles in the body (including the quadriceps) as a functional unit, create more stable and strong joints in the long run (when done properly), and also burn massive quantities of calories compared to the single-joint exercises. 
Now although I do feel that multi-joint exercises should comprise the majority of your weight training workouts, I also think that there can be some benefits with just minor inclusions of single-joint exercises for variety, etc.  I choose to build my training programs with about 90-95% multi-joint exercises and about 5-10% single-joint exercises at most.

If you’re interested in discovering more ways to create a body that looks as good as it functions, pick up a copy of my innovative book The Truth About Six Pack Abs

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