Adding muscle seems to be
a mystery to most, yet if
you pick up a copy of any
fitness or bodybuilding magazine
and you’ll almost always
see a headline like this:
"I Gained 15 Pounds of
Muscle in 6 Weeks!"
If it were so easy you’d
have millions of muscle-heads
running around. Even though
building muscle tissue can
be a challenge, I’m going
to outline some very specific
principles that can pack on
the muscle faster than you
can throw away that copy of
Muscle and Fiction!
Before we get started though
I want to clarify a few points.
1. The ridiculous claims
made by most fitness and bodybuilding
magazines are only there to
get you to buy that issue
nothing more!
2. If you are serious about
strength training you need
to be reading books and NOT
cheesy fitness magazines
Ok, here we go.
In order to add muscle tissue
you must force the body to
add it. Your body won’t
just add a pound of muscle
just because you followed
a 3-set workout that you read
about in Muscle Fitness. You
need to give the body a reason
to make improvements in this
case add muscle tissue.
You have to provide what
I call a stimulus. This can
be done in many ways and I’ll
address a few in just a moment.
Basically, you need to force
the body to add muscle by
subjecting it to levels of
stress it is not used to.
Some methods are more obvious
than others but all can work.
Here are a few examples of
how this can be done effectively.
First, the basic and common
methods:
1. Increase weight or resistance
2. Perform more repetitions
3. Perform more sets
4. Move the resistance slower
5. Rest less between sets
and exercises
Now for the more advanced
methods:
1. Pre-exhaust (perform an
isolation exercise first and
immediately continue with
no rest on a compound movement.
ex. chest flye and then chest
press)
2. Static holds (hold the
resistance in the hardest
position of the range of motion.
ex. the top position during
a leg extension)
3. Partial reps in weak range
(perform a portion of the
rep where you are weakest.
ex. the top half of a rep
of leg extensions)
4. Strip-set (after a warm-up
set, perform 3 sets back to
back with no rest while starting
with the heaviest weight possible
and each time strip off some
weight to allow you to continue)
5. 1 ½ reps (perform
one full rep and then on the
second rep only perform half
the normal range of motion
and then return to starting
position to begin the next
rep. ex. one full rep of lat
pulldowns, pull second rep
all the way down, resist weight
back up but only half way
and then pull back down)
These are just a few examples
of methods of increasing intensity
to ensure progress. The key
point to remember is that
whatever you do it must be
progressive in order for it
to elicit a physical change.
This is even more critical
for those looking to add muscle
size.
Although this article is
geared towards individuals
who are interested in gaining
muscle size, the principles
can also be used for individuals
who want to build strength,
increase metabolism, or tighten
and tone muscles.
Here are some general recommendations
for different goals…
If your goal is to tighten
and tone muscles:
- Focus on increasing reps,
decreasing rest, and changing
exercises frequently
- Train each muscle group
twice per week
- Perform fewer sets of many
different exercises (1-2 sets
per exercise)
If your goal is to increase
strength and power:
- Focus on increasing weight
- Train each muscle group
once every 7-10 days 
- Perform multiple sets of
each exercise (2-5 sets per
exercise)
If your goal is to increase
muscle size:
- Focus on shocking muscles
by changing variables frequently
(exercises, set and rep schemes,
rest time, etc)
- Train each muscle group
on a variable schedule (experiment
by training a muscle group
3 times a week and then once
every ten days)
- Perform multiple sets for
a while and the perform single
sets for a week or two
Some final reminders:
The recommendations above
are general and of course
would need to be adapted and
adjusted for your personal
goals and experience. For
those of you who are advanced
and may be thinking there’s
no way you can build strength
by training once every 10
days I challenge you to try
it for at least 4 weeks, or
those of you who think that
you need to stick to the same
basic movements like bench
to build size I challenge
you to try shocking the muscles
by changing the exercises
you perform each week for
4 weeks, and those of you
with little experience I hope
that you’ll throw away
the fitness magazines and
learn what really works.
If you have any questions
about the techniques described
in this article please feel
free to contact me, or call
240-731-3724. I highly recommend
you get a copy of APEX as
it covers so much ground including
advanced training techniques,
mental training preparation,
body transformations competitive
bodybuilding, nutrition and
recovery, too much to even
try and list here. Do yourself
a favor and get a copy of
APEX now - you'll save yourself
time, money, energy, and frustration.
To order your copy go to http://www.seriousstrengthtraining.com/real_muscle.htm
Jesse Cannone is a certified
personal trainer, nutritionist,
and best-selling fitness author.
Sign up to receive his free
email course, Muscle Building
Tips which is full of powerful
tips and techniques for maximizing
strength and size. http://www.seriousstrengthtraining.com.
JESSE
CANNONE
