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10 Tips on Gaining Muscle Mass.

Ever think how nice it would be if you could burn calories just by sitting on the couch?  Well, by adding some lean muscle to your body, you will be doing just that.  Granted, there is some work that goes along with it but as long as you take an educated attempt, you'll already be ahead.  Here are ten easy tips that will help you gain muscle, build lean muscle mass and help you get ripped as fast as possible.

1. Progressive Overload

Progressive overload is a routine that says that you must raise the number of repetitions that you do or the amount of weight that you lift each time that you workout, or close to it, for you to boost your muscle growth.  Since the body adapts to the strain of weightlifting so quickly and then has a tendency to plateau as far as muscle mass growth is concerned, you have to use this ability to your advantage.  The key to doing this is to place a steadily increasing demand on your body, forcing it to adapt constantly.  Weight training can be the best way to do this.  By knowing exactly how much weight your body can lift, you can make small incremental changes over time to gain muscle growth. 

Just think about it, if you use the same amount of weights and do the same number of repetitions each time that you workout, you will begin to slow your progress and it will eventually stop all together.  For example, if your goal is to have bigger biceps, then you have to increase the amount of weight that you are lifting or the number of repetitions that you are doing consistently with every workout session.  Progressive Overload equals muscle growth.

2. Start off with eight to twelve repetitions

Eight to twelve repetitions of any given exercise will begin to stimulate muscle growth.  Lifting for smaller repetition amounts of three to six will work on strength building but will not necessarily build muscle mass.  Lifting for more repetitions, such as fifteen to twenty, will stimulate muscle mass growth, but not to your bodies full potential.  The amount of weight that you should be lifting should be heavy enough to restrict you to only doing a max of twelve repetitions but light enough that it will allow you to finish at least 8 repetitions.

3. Only do between six to nine sets.

That’s all you need to be doing per muscle group/body part to stimulate lean muscle mass growth.  This will allow you to keep your workout time around forty-five minutes.  Therefore, only perform a maximum of nine sets on any particular body part.

4. Eat right

When you work a muscle out, the strain that you exert on that muscle causes the muscle fibers to tear.  These small tears repair themselves over the next week or so causing your muscle to grow in size.  In order for your muscles to heal correctly though, they must be fed in order to grow.  An ideal bodybuilding diet allows you to grow muscle without adding to your fat intake at the same time.

5. Increase the Amount of Protein in your Diet

The best sources of protein are chicken, pork, steak, cheese, nuts, eggs, and seeds such as sunflower seeds.  You can also buy various whey protein powders for making high protein shakes.  In order for your body’s muscle tissue to heal itself after each workout session, it has to have the protein to do so.  Some lifters take in too little protein while others take in huge amounts of protein, but where is the happy medium of just the right amount?  Here is how to calculate the daily protein requirements that your body will need.

A good rule of thumb to know what your protein intake should be is to eat one gram of protein for each pound of your total body weight.  Therefore, if you weigh a hundred and eighty pounds, then you should intake about one hundred and eighty grams of protein a day.

6. Contrary to what most people think, you do need to eat some fat.

For bodybuilders, a low-fat diet is not desirable.  Fat intake increases the anabolic hormones, or muscle building chemicals in your body such as testosterone, growth hormone, and insulin like growth factor {IGF-1}.  Some people also may resort to anabolic steroid use to speed the muscle growth rate, but some studies deem this an unhealthy practice just to get faster results than eating a correct diet.

7. Drink plenty of water.

Water is critical in reaching high energy levels and your potential strength level.  Drinking at least ten to twelve eight-ounce glasses of water a day is recommended.  Protein drinks and shakes can be included in your daily water intake.

8. Watch your cardiovascular workout amount.

Cardiovascular workouts can lessen your muscle gains.  If losing fat is your goal then you should be doing cardio workouts immediately after you weight train doing a “high intensity interval training” form of cardio for twenty minutes maximum.  Too much cardio releases catabolic hormones, which break down your muscle tissue.

9. Get plenty of sleep.

Sleep is extremely important when building muscle mass.  During rest periods, muscle tissue makes needed repairs to itself, which causes the muscles to get thicker, more than when awake.  This is because during deep sleep, the body releases growth hormones, and your metabolic rate slows down to the ideal rate for muscle repair and growth.  There is an increase in the body’s blood flow rate as well.

10. Reduce stress.

Stress makes the body enter a catabolic state, which begins to break down muscle.  A calm and relaxed person tends to build muscle faster than his easily upset and hot-tempered counterpart.  Try not to let stress steal your weightlifting gains from you.