People always ask me: “Pete, how do I get in shape, get some muscle on my body like you?” – My answer is usually the same: “Hard work, dedication, and time.” People always wince – who likes hard work, dedication and worst of all, who wants to wait – we live in a world where just about everything we want we can get instantly… waiting is now a no-no.
But, without those three components, don’t expect to get very far. I’m sorry but, gaining muscle takes time. To look like a bodybuilder – not necessarily a Pro, but just someone who trains with weights – it could take a year or more. Muscle growth is slow, but that can also be a positive because 99.9% of people won’t go the extra mile. They won’t see instant results, and they’ll stop training – meaning those who do go the extra mile will always be light years ahead of those who don’t, physically. (See; turn the negative into a positive!)
However, with some muscle growth tips, you can significantly cut down the amount of wasted time – since wasted time makes up the bulk of most peoples efforts, particularly in the beginning.
- Use compound movements: compound movements make for quick workouts, which are what you want – 45 minutes to an hour each – and also less workouts and more rest. Why? Because they work several muscle groups at once, and this helps to build a balanced, functional foundation to work with – which is important. Compound movements are squats, dead lifts, bench press, military press, bent over rows and such like. An example of an isolation exercise would be a wrist curl, or calve raises.
- Eat enough calories each and every day: Diet is 90% of training to build muscle. Why? Because it’s what you spend most of your time doing, and, if you don’t eat enough calories, and don’t do so consistently – every day – then muscle gains will be missed. I don’t have a clue how many calories you need precisely, that’s something you need to find out yourself. But – try eating 12 per lb of bodyweight as a start. If the scales move after a week or two, that’s enough. If not, eat more.
- Rest when you aren’t training: You need your rest more than you know, for two reasons. Firstly, if you are continually partaking in physical activity you are burning off calories which should be used to repair muscle. If you don’t have enough calories the muscle won’t repair and it won’t grow – and it could even decrease in size. Secondly, the muscle fibres need to repair and they won’t be able to if you are breaking them down over and over. So, train, but don’t over train. Rest, and don’t stop resting until it’s time to train again.