More muscle and faster is pretty much the goal of most weight lifters. The extra self-confidence, improved health and respect from others that can be achieved from gaining a more muscular body is always worth pursuing. So with that in mind here are three great tips to build muscle up fast:

1) Train for one hour or less. Training for more than this moves the body towards a hormonal state more favourable to the destruction of muscle mass. Workouts of less than one hour ensure that the body remains in an anabolic muscle building state for the entire workout. If your workout is too long then you could actually be decreasing their size not increasing. Ensure that it is intense but less than 60 minutes.

2) Time your protein intake. The best times to consume protein are immediately after training, just before bed and immediately on waking. These are the moments when your body is in need of it the most. Your muscles have just been torn and broken down in your training sessions so this is when they need protein most. At night time your body is doing most of its growing and so it is crucial it has an adequate supply of protein available to do just that. great sources of protein are milk, tuna and lean white meats such as chicken and turkey.

3) Plan ahead. Keep a training diary and organise training sessions with a partner for safety and motivation. These two simple things can help keep you on track even when you really do not feel like working out. It could well prove to be the long term difference between muscle building success and failure. Including some variety in your workouts is also great for ensuring that your motivation is kept at a high level. Try alternative exercises like barbells instead of dumbbells, inclines instead of declines even small variations like this can keep the interest and challenge going for longer.

If you are interested in lean muscle building then why not try the No Nonsense Muscle Building plan for great results!

Ok, so you want to build up muscles, you want to look like a Brad Pitt in the movie ‘Troy’ so you can get heaps of attention from the ladies on the beach or too impress your mates. You are aware of the essential rules of muscle building but you are after something extra to give you that additional boost to make even more muscle gains. Well, these tips are provided to ensure you do precisly that!

1) Train for no more than one hour. This is because when you are working out your body releases a hormone called cortisone that helps the body to recover and build up muscle. However after 45 minutes of training the body releases another hormone that pretty much does the opposite and is not good for muscle building. So, you are not likely to make a great deal of muscle gain if you pump iron for any longer than 60 minutes. The main point to realise here is that you ought not to work out for longer than an hour and that you must do so intensely.

2) Double the size of your meal portions. The biggest single mistake that people trying to gain muscle mass make is to not consume enough calories. To build up muscles it is essential that you eat more calories than you burn off during the day. If you do not have these extra calories you cannot build up muscle regardless how hard you train! A good idea is to buy plates and dishes that are twice the size of normal plates. Ok, this sounds strange but I’m sure you will never fail to remember that you should be eating more calories in order to build up your muscles.

3) Ingest a higher amount of protein. Ingest protein just before you sleep and straight after your workout. After your workouts you may experiences muscle soreness which is when you have torn your muscle fibres so this is when protein is needed.Immediately before sleeping is an extremely important time to consume protein as your body is about to go 8 hours before sleeping. You should be eating as a minimum one gram of protein per kilogram of body weight.

These are only three tips and there are a great deal more but these deal with a few of of the most common errors made. Now go ahead put them into practice and build muscle up with this no nonsense muscle building approach!

Depending on where you look there is a lot of great information out there on how to build muscle up. However what follows are a number of tips that can really aid you in terms of stacking on muscle mass. Here they are:

Try drinking green tea. This can inhibit the enzyme that inhibits nor-epinephrine which mean that you should experience raised levels of this muscle building metabolic hormone which can also aid in weight loss. It is also full of anti-oxidants and can help significantly in terms of post workout recovery and also general health.

Take on board healthy fats. These are critical to the safe functioning of many part sof the body such as the heart, brain, energy production and hormone regulation. Great sources of this are: oily fish, natural peanut butter, avocado,  and oily dressings.

Consume casein protein. This type of protein takes longer to digest and breakdown so therefore supplies an ongoing release of protein. This is excellent if you eat it before going to sleep as your body can make use of it throughout the night for growth and repair.

Take on board at least 20 grams of protein as soon as you wake up. As soon as you awake have a protein shake. This will put a stop to the catabolic state of your body that you may have been experiencing whilst you were asleep and also give you a solid start on achieving your protein intake target for the day.

Try drop sets for difficult to grow body parts. This intense technique can produce growth in even very stubborn hard to grow muscle groups. Firstly, complete your set as you would normally and when you have pushed out your final rep lower the weight by around 20 percent and perform more reps, then decrease the weight once again and do more reps. Continue repeating this process as many times as you can bear but the next day you are likely to experience significant muscle soreness and a tremendous burn at the time.

Drink water. Do not underestimate the benefits of reaming well hydrated during the day. water is critical for many reactions in the body especially muscle building ones.

Keep learning and educate yourself. there are a wide variety of ways to make your muscles grow. experiment and find out what helps you build muscle up the best and stick with those.

So, by applying some of the above weight gain tips you should be able to build up muscle even faster than before. Good luck.

Most people are aware nowadays of the most common guidelines to build muscle up fast so here we are going to focus on a few of the more overlooked pieces of advice that are gauranteed to put you on the fast track to muscle mass.

1) Don’t pump iron for more than 45 minutes per session. This is because training for long periods of time causes the body to release a hormone called cortisol. This hormone basically makes the body use muscle as a form of energy rather than the bodys supplies of carbohydrate or fat. Of course this is far from what you are wanting to achieve. Also the testosterone level which aids muscle growth drops at around the 45 minute mark also. This double combination will stop muscle growth in its tracks. So hit the gym train hard and intensely and then leave and rest. Corisol levels are also considerably lower when you are at rest sleeping so getting plenty of sleep will aid you in muscle growth.

2) Perform squats. This is the king of all exercises but how often do you actually see people doing these in the gym? Not very often. This exercise is truly a total body movement that needs maximum effort from the entire leg muscles, back and also the upper body muscles in terms of maintaining balance of the body, holding the bar and maintiaining correct posture throughout. It obviously creates huge quad muscles but also your back muscles are stressed a great deal and it is also a great response to the how to get big biceps question too as they also work hard to help keep the bar steady, if you don’t believe me, then try it at least. You can also really use a lot of weight on this exercise which is great for packing on mass. What is more it has a unique and powerful systemic effect and uses the aerobic system a lot. If you have probelms doing this exercise then the only exercise that comes anywhere near close is the deadlift.

3) In terms of gaining muscle mass less is more. Most people find it hard to cosnume enough calories to build muscle up. In order to build muscle up your body requires and excess amount of calories available. You will need top eat a lot of calories if youare working out hard. Some people will never grow because they never do this. Taking on board more calories is going to help but by also reducing the amount of training you do you will also reduce the amount of calories you require to build muscle up. As previously mentioned workouts that last 45 intense minutes are more than enough and many people will make better gains in even shorter workouts. You may wish to include cardio training in your schedule to maintain good general health which I agree with but don’t overdo it as this type of workout will again reduce that amount of calories available for building muscle.

If you have not previously been doing any of these three things then put these weight gain tips into action starting today and I am sure that you will see the difference very soon.

Spending hours in the gym to build muscle up and not making progress? Excellent news! There is a real cahce that just this one oversight is stopping you from building muscle up fast. The knowledge of this can significantly increase your ability to build muscle up. For a lot of people this little known truth can easily help them build muscle up fast.

So precisely what is this well kept secret? A new amazing routine or something?

No definitly not. It has been ignored by many a weightrainer even though it has been known about for a long time.

What precisely is cortisol?

Cortisol is a human hormone secreted throughout the day and produced in response to weight training or other types of stress. Cortisol levels are greater in the morning and drop slightly through the day.

What does it do?

Well, it actually improves short term memory, helps detoxify the liver and aids in regulating the blodds sugar levels. However it can raise blood pressure and decrease bone density if your cortisol levels get too high, however this would be unusual. However it will restrict muscle mass as it increases the use of muscle as energy and not fat stores. This is why your workouts should not be more than one hour in duration. After this they will be doing more harm than good!

Here are a few guidelines to ensure that you are not wasting your time trying to build muscle up:

1) limit your cardio workouts, too much cardio causes the body to release cortisol which as explained is not what we need.

2) Attempt to restrict your caffeine intake as this also makes cortisol levels increase.

3) Keep your workouts down to one hour in the gym. Stay foccussed, consider wearing headphones if this helps.

4) Stress causes the body to release more cortisol too so try to relax, although granted this is easier said than done.

5) Consume small frequent meals as infrequent meals make the body assume it is starving and will thus try and use muscle mass as a form of energy before it makes use of fat reserves by releasing more cortisol.

6) Sleep. This is the time when your muscle mass building hormones are highest and your level of cortisol is lowest therefore attempt to get 8 hours sleep.

With those building muscle tips in mind you should be able to give your workouts a great boost and help you to build up muscle more efficiently.

There are many reasons that people want to know how to get bigger biceps. For the majority of people a day at work involves wearing a tie. This of course means that no-one an see your ripped abs, massive chest however they can see your biceps. Maybe this could be one of the reasons can become obsessed with growing huge biceps. It seems a little strange then that lots of people seem to be able to get big pectoral and shoulder muscles but struggle with increasing bicep muscle mass.

Are you also making this common bicep training mistake?

Moving heavy weight is how your muscles grow. The more weight you can lift the more strength and therefore size your muscles will have. However if the bicep muscle is worked in isolation individually it is not very easy to shift much weight at all. This then increases the difficulty in stimulating muscle growth. In short many trainers are doing the wrong exercises to build bicep muscle mass.

So why do bodybuilders train with concentration curls?

Well, quite simply concentration curls are really an exercise for sculpting and shaping the biceps and not for mass. If you have no mass on your guns then you have very little to shape therefore quit doing these type of exercises for good!

OK then, what exercises should I be doing for biceps?

Experiment with underhand grip pullups, bent over rows and indeed any other multi-joint back exercise as these allow you to shift much heavier weight which is exactly what you need to do to in order to build bicep mass. These exercises all utilise much heavier weight. Yes, that is partly because they are training the back muscle too but the side affect is to stress the guns hard. Furthermore have you ever seen anyone with big biceps who did not have impressive back muscles? No, big guns come hand in hand with big back muscles.

So, in brief conclusion use the major compound back exercises and perhaps standing barbell curls also in order to give yourself the best chance of increasing your bicep muscle mass! When you do have big guns then you can use the concentration curls.

So if you want to build up muscles on your biceps train your back hard, eat lots and rest plenty! Indeed if you want to know how to gain weight for skinny guys the above recommendations still apply but you will need to make doubly sure you are eating plenty of calories, now go for it!

Holding down two jobs, meetings to get too, kids to pick up from school and so on there are so many distractions, pressures and time constraints that if we are not careful can only lead to one thing… {not sufficient time to plan and arrange your meals}. As regards muscle building nutrition then this is the ultimate crime. The main reason is that it can lead to eating junk fast food.

Fast food is exactly what you don’t want to eat to build muscle up. Too much fat content that contains very little fat content mixed with very little in the way of quality energy. So, how is it possible to not go to fast food joints when you have all of these limiting time constraints and how cane we eat properly if we do go there?

Here are a few golden rules for eating at fast food restaurants in order to build muscle up:

Avoid the apparently good value for money drink and fries. A portion of medium fries can get up to as much as 400 calories with around 20 grams of fat and the drink we are looking at around 200 calories with bags of sugary content!

Select the grilled option always. You can save around 80 calories coming mostly from fat by eating a McDonald’s grilled chicken sandwich as opposed to a premium crispy chicken. A simple selection choice but often not stuck to.

Skip the dessert if at all possible. There are so many sugary delights in store for you at fast food joints but if you really must try them go for the kiddies size.

Make sure that you don’t go over the top with the sauces. Many of these have very little muscle building nutrition that are high in fat content. You know what I mean, those small little packages containing mayo, tartar sauce and so on. Do yourself a service and give it a miss.

Is there anything I can eat if a fast food joint really is the only option?

If you want to build muscle food that you could eat at McDonalds would be:

For the bulk of your dinner/lunch a Premium Grilled Chicken Sandwich will nourish you with 10 grams of fat, 51grams of carbohydrates, 420 calories, and 32 grams of protein. A Honey Mustard grilled Snack Wrap would gibe your body 260 calories, 9g fat, 27g carbs and 18g of protein. The Asian Salad Grilled Chicken would give you 390 calories, 12.5g fat, 38g carbs, 33g protein with the low fat Sesame Ginger Dressing. Probably the premium option would be the Caesar Salad Grilled Chicken that, yields 220 calories, 6g fat, 12g carbs and 30g of protein.

If you are on of those lucky people living in Australia then your choices may well be:
A Lean Beef Burger: 250 calories, 8g fat, 25g carbs, 18g protein or a Herb Fusion Chicken Salad: 100 calories, 2g fat, 3g carbs 20g protein.

A decent breakfast selection would be: 12 grams of fat, 300 calories, 30g carbs and 18 grams of protein. Possibly a Sausage Burrito including 300 calories, 16g fat, 26g carbs, 12grams of protein or If you are looking for just a snack then how about the Fruit ‘n Yogurt Parfait which beaks down into 160 calories, 2g fat, 31g carbs, 4g protein.

I hope that shows you that you can indeed find a fairly good muscle building meal even at a fast food joint like McDonalds. Of course it would be better to allocate some time for planning decent meals throughout the week but if you can’t do this then the above selections should be a good guide and on some level help you burn the fat feed the muscle.

The aim of a large portion of people new to weight training is to try and both build muscle mass and lose fat. If you ask a newbie what their goals are they will often say burn fat and build muscle. here we are going to take a look at whether this is actually possible or not.

So are people really able to increase muscle mass and reduce their body fat?

Well, yes is the answer to that one. However there is a but and it is because it is a very difficult thing to do. If you want to burn fat and build muscle then you must be very careful when you work out how many calories you need to eat and then keep to that amount strictly.

Why do we have to do that? The reasons behine why we ought to do that is because if you want to build muscle mass and not put on fat you have to take on board just enough calories to support muscle growth but not so many that you will have a surplus of excess calories that will become stored as fat tissue.

Can I calculate the number of calories I need to consume to achieve that?

yes you may although bear in mind that these calculations are based on assumptions from data based on the general population. This makes them inaccurate as most people are different to the norm in someway, usually this is in terms of how fast their bodies metabolism is which makes a big difference to the amount of calories that you should actually take on board. You ought to google: ‘ Katch-McArdle muscle building nutrition formula’ if you want to do this calculation.

Is there an easier way than this?

Yes, in fact however you will find it far easier to burn fat and build muscle in a two step process. this mean that 3-6 months would first be spent increasing muscle mass and bulking up, this would then be followed by a 3-6 month period whereby you train to get ripped and lose body fay. This period is then followed by a 3-6 monthS period of losing weight and ripping.

This way is a lot easier because losing weight and gaining muscle are actually opposites so by attempting to do just one of these at a time you stand a much better chance of succeeding. This is one of the best weight gain tips around.

Whilst you may still wish to work out how many calories you should be eating as a minimum you requirement to build muscle up you do not have to worry about going over this amount thus making it easier to achieve. If you consume to few an amount of calories then you will reduce your bodyfat but you will not be able to support any muscle growth therefore a two stage process is far more reliable.

At the end of the day you can use either approach and achieve the same results however most experienced bodybuilders will tell you that the two step approach is the simplest and easiest to get fast results with. One excellent program entitled burn the fat feed the muscle can be found here which guides you through the entire above process.

Developing good habits is crucial to build muscle up on a long term basis. It is essential to be doing the right things to build muscle as a matter of course in order to build muscle up continuously. Unfortunately many bad habits are often picked up by bodybuilders who perhaps do not realise they are restricting their progress or putting their health at risk. Here we have outlined the top 7 worst muscle building habits and included a few build muscles tips too:

1) The worst of all! Taking steroids, this is dangerous for a whole variety of reasons take your pick from any of the following: different coloured spots on the body, acne, swelling of the legs and feet, bad smelling breath and yellowing of the skin, dizziness, trembling, nausea, vomiting, mood swings, premature balding, aching joints, liver damage, high blood pressure, palpitations, cardiovascular disease and reduction of your final adult height. If you want even more reason not to take steroids how about: testicular shrinkage, impotence, pain on urination, breast development and even sterility. I’m sure no more needs to be said about that.

2) Trying to lift excessive amounts of weight. Yes, trying to beat you training partner is great motivation but be really careful. Lifting too much weight can cause you to lose form and increase the chances of injury and won’t help you build muscles quickly. If you cannot lift and lower the weight under complete control of if you have to make use of momentum then you ought to be lowering the amount.

3) Taking on board too much protein. The protein intake of the average person ought to be 0.8-1 gram of protein/kilo of bodyweight/day and a muscle building athlete ought not to take on board more than 1.7 grams per bodyweight kilo. Consuming more than this can cause irreversible problems for your kidneys and increase the likelihood of getting osteoporosis. Also homo-cysteine, a by-product of protein metabolism is a risk factor for heart disease so be careful!

4) Using stimulants like ephedrine has potentially dangerous side effects such as heart attack, heart palpitations, and stroke. Whilst these are not banned you should exercise extreme caution and even better don’t use them. you may wish to give the much less dangerous caffeine pills a try. If you have any doubts at all make sure you ask a health care specialist.

5) Some people think that they will be able to burn off more fat if they work out on an empty stomach. However energy comes from carbohydrate so if you haven’t eaten you will probably have little energy and your workout will not be very effective. You will not be able to lift more than your previous personal best and you will most likely be left jittery, shaking and even dizzy after your training session possibly due to low blood sugar levels. Instead of this it is far better to have a small pre workout meal containing fruits, vegetables and such like.

6) Neglecting to stretch or warm up adequately.Getting your body ready for exercise is essentail in order to prevent injuries like muscle tears and strains, what’s more it enhances your range of motion, flexibility, performance, and posture. It takes only around 10 minutes to do a decent warm up and it is time very well spent. 

7) Not keeping a training diary. If you don’t have this how can you tell if you are making progress or not? How are you able to monitor your increases in strength. Recording your progress in a training diary is simple, easy and highly motivating. Why are you not using one.

OK, the above are a few pointers but mainly relax be safe and enjoy your workouts most of the time a healthy dose of common sense is enough to ensure your safety.

What is a Superset?

A superset is when two exercises are performed back to back with no break in between. The exercises selected have to be working opposite muscle groups. For example a set of squats immediately followed by hamstring curlstricep or a set of tricep press downs followed by barbell curls.

Why perform Supersets?

First of all they are a break from the normal type of weight training you may have grown used to. They place a new type of stress on your muscles which provides additional stimulus to grow. After removing the pause between exercises you will be distracted a lot less easily. Also after completing a superset you will probably experience a powerful muscle pump as the muscles are literally being flooded full of oxygenated blood to help keep up with the muscles demands which is a great feeling. Overall they are a great way to build muscle up fast. 

Doing supersets prevents you from cooling down to quickly and keeps your heart rate higher creating an almost aerobic workout too. Another wonderful aspect of supersetting is that they inject in to your training session great variety, excitment and also a real challenge.

What supersets can I try?

The following combinations are some of my favourite and provide a tough but satisfying workout: Bent bar curl/lying tricep extension, Dumbbell incline press/dumbbell pullover/seated lat row, Leg extension/leg curl/calf raise, Dumbbell alternate curl/overhead tricep extension, Bench press/wide grip pulldown, Chins/dips/rope tuck, Steep dumbbell shoulder press/sidearm lateral raise,

What tips can you give me when doing them?

Well, when you do them be sure to keep good technique. It is all to easy to get carried away with it and start using sloppy form. This is particularly true as you will be jumping from one exercise to another very quickly and also due to the fact that you will be out of breathe even more than usual. Keeping good form will prevent injury and ensure the muscles you want to hit will be trained properly.

Anything else I should know in order to build muscle now with supersets?

Bearing in mind supersets are very intense you may not really want to be doing more than a couple of supersets, although this will vary on your fitness and experience levels. use a different superset every workout between your normal sets to prevent yourself from becoming worn out.

It should also go without saying that you will have to continue to eat a lot of quality build muscle food, we all know muscle comes from excess calories so keep eating quality foods and also make sure you keep your water intake high. Finally, the number one reason for lack of muscle growth is overtraining so be aware of this. Training each muscle group twice a week will be plenty for most people and for hard gainers even once a week maybe enough. Ok then, why not go ahead and build muscle up with supersets just make sure you bear the above guidance in mind. I can near enough gaurantee you will not be disappointed!