Building Muscle Tips : #1.  Track Your Calories!

It’s critical that you always count your calories on a daily basis if you want to ensure you get the best results for the time you’re spending in the gym.  There’s no way to know if you’re on the right track or not or what adjustments you may need to make if you’re not tracking your calories.  It may take some effort, but it is essential for any serious bodybuilder.  One of the best places to do this is at Fitday.com.

Building Muscle Tips : #2.  Measure Your Progress

Something as simple as measuring your body and seeing how it progresses from week to week can provide you with some great feedback.  If for instance you realize one week that your back has grown by 1” you may be able to think back on what you did the past week and work on repeating that in the following week to keep the gains going.

Also if you find a body part has not grown, that will give you the necessary feedback to alter your routine.

Building Muscle Tips : #3.  Set Goals

Another great thing to do is set some short and long term goals so you have something to shoot for.  It helps to give you focus and motivation and you tend to get more accomplished when you know what your aim is as you step into the gym.

These are just a few tips you can start using to improve your results, but one of the most important things is that you have a killer routine and diet setup for maximum gains.  If you want to get a killer body in the least amount of time possible, Vince’s No-Nonsense system is one of the best (Warning: not for the feint of heart) check it out for yourself: click here for more info.

1.    Calories In vs. Calories Out

One of the biggest muscle building tips I can give you is to always ensure you’re taking in more calories than you’re using up, but to be more specific, take in 500 to 1000 calories over your maintenance each day.

If you’re not gaining weight, it’s not because you’re genetically predisposed to be skinny, it’s because you’re simply not eating enough!  Even if you think you’re eating enough, if you’re not growing, it’s not genetics, it’s just that you’re NOT EATING ENOUGH!

Sorry, but I’ve been here and I know that this is a hard point to get, but it’s the truth.  I would recommend you start taking some weight gain shakes on a consistent basis, the more of a hardgainer you are, the more calories over maintenance you should be taking to see a difference.  And by the way, maintenance calories is [bodyweight x 15].

2.     Don’t Be Discouraged By Plateaus!

Sometimes even when your diet is perfect, you’re weight training is on target and you’re busting your butt, you don’t see any progress and it baffles the mind!  It sucks, but the key is not to get discouraged and instead try switching up your routine and just keep going at it.  As long as your diet is right and you keep going up in weights or reps you will EVENTUALLY see the scale start moving again.  You’ve just got to be able to take putting in 100% and not seeing results for 2-3 weeks.

Now if you’re looking for more muscle building tips and want to learn how to put on a lean 10 pounds of muscle mass in only 2 weeks, you don’t want to miss this: Click here to find out how.

1.     Switch Your Routine Up Every Month

One of my muscle building secrets is to continuously be switching up my routine to avoid the dreaded plateau.  When I say change the routine up, this is what I mean:

a.    Take shorter rests between sets
b.    Take shorter rests between exercises
c.    Try different exercises

If none of those do the trick, here’s another secret that helps bust through plateaus:

2.    Try drop sets

What’s a drop set?  It’s switching to a lighter weight after you’ve reached exhaustion with your current weight.

Ex: Do a bicep curl to failure with a 80 pound barbell, then switch to a 60 pound barbell and do that until failure, then switch to a 40 pound barbell and do that to failure.

3.    The Mind/Muscle Connection

This is one of the most powerful muscle building secrets of all.  If you can totally focus in on your muscles when doing the exercise and really focus on breaking that down, you will have better results than if you were to lift weights mindlessly.  It’s hard to explain, but all pro bodybuilders have this mind to muscle connection that allows them to work their muscles that extra bit better.

The best way I can help you develop this is to ask you to close your eyes the next time you’re training and really focus on the muscle you’re working out.  Ensure that through the range of motion, it is getting worked out to the fullest extent possible and milk it for as many reps as you can!

That’s just a few of my most potent muscle building secrets, but if you’re seriously looking for an edge, you need a good weightlifting system to train by.  One of the best systems that has helped me to pack on 31 pounds of muscle in 96 days is Vince’s No Nonsense system.  I won’t lie, It’s pretty hardcore, but if you can take it you’ll see awesome results: Click this link for more info.

1.    If You Want To Bulk, Don’t Do Cardio!

Ok, out of all the tips to gain weight I’m going to go over, I’m surprised by how many people still make this mistake.  Some people like to argue that you should still do some cardio to keep you in good physical health, but the problem is it goes directly against what we’re trying to accomplish.  It is cutting down our caloric surplus and making it harder for us to put on the pounds.

So if you’re serious about putting on mass, and especially if you’re a hardgainer, cut out ALL CARDIO!

2.    Drink Tons Of Water

This is another huge one.  Water is needed for dieting, that’s for sure, but also for bulking up.  Even a 2% reduction in bodily fluids can result in your gym performance decreasing by 15-20%.  To prevent this, you need to drink at least 1 ½ gallons of water  a day.  Ya, I said gallons, if you’re peeing clear and frequently, you’re on the right track!

3.    Drink Your Calories

Often times people find it hard to get in all their daily calories, so one thing you can do to make things easier is drink them.  Make some shakes out of oatmeal, protein powder, skim milk and all natural peanut butter.  This is a great mix which blended can equal one easy 300-500 extra calories.

Now while these are some great tips to gain weight, to really get swole, you’re going to need a weight training system that really kicks butt.  It’s tough to find the gems out there, but a year ago I came across a system that has helped me to pack on 30 solid pounds in only 3 months.  It’s a program I’d highly recommend, it’s tough, but it gets you results, FAST!  Check it out for yourself: Click here for more info.

1.    Motivation, Get Pumped!

Need some weight gaining tips?  Try watching some vids on the net of Lee Priest, Dorian Yates, Jay Cutler or Ronnie Coleman training to psyche you up…YEAAAHHH BUDDDDIEEEE! Ain’t Nuttin but a peanut.

OR, try watching Pumping Iron with Arnold, look it up.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched that show right before heading out to the gym, especially on the days I didn’t want to go that got me fired up!

2.    Phase Out

This is for when you’re in the gym lifting.  When you have your eyes open while lifting, you have a lot of visual stimulus to distract you, you have people walking by you, looking at you and other annoyances that can disrupt your concentration and focus.  To deal with this, shut it all out by closing your eyes and focusing fully on lifting the weight.

3.     Be Accountable

One thing which will help you to keep on track is to setup a diary of your bodybuilding, preferably on an online forum where other people are watching your daily entries for encouragement.  It really helps you to stay on course when you know others are waiting for your updates and will be disappointed if you get off track.

Those are just a few of my weight gaining tips, but there is one major secret that can mean the difference between success and failure.  Many people don’t have this part of their training down and that’s why every time you see them in the gym they always look the same size, never growing.  To avoid falling into that trap, check out this killer secret weapon: click here for more info