In this time of the year many people are interested in building muscle mass, you could see the gyms begin to pack up by January and then again in the Spring/Summer season as everyone is wanting to attain that “Beach Body”.  Due to this, you’ll see health and fitness center parking lots usually packed with vehicles driven by people looking for the infinite advantages of good fitness health.  However, many of these people are also looking for a quick fix, and they do not realize that building muscle tissue takes incredible amounts of dedication, time and energy.  The “fast food” mentality won’t work in this area, and so a person is setting up failure if they expect to “get ripped” overnight. There are also no healthy or reputable products aimed at gaining lots of muscle fast, despite what some products may claim. Yet, there are a few ways to build muscle tissue in a short amount of time and a few of these starting points are easy to apply.

1.)    Large Muscle Groups- First thing anyone should know about gaining muscle mass is that you should focus on exercising your larger muscle groups from the outset.  Many beginners dedicate and waste lots of time trying to perfect smaller muscles like calves, stomach muscles, and biceps, not realizing that by building the larger muscle groups your smaller muscle groups will grow more substantially.  For example, working on your chest and back will automatically push your smaller muscle groups to workout too.

 2.)    Select an Appropriate Weight- Another point I want to mention is being selective in the weights you choose.  So if you want to build bigger muscle or bulk up you should utilize heavier weights, and stay about ten to twelve repetitions for each set.  Something to take note of are professional bodybuilders, notice how any exercise with heavy weights is made up of a small amount of repetitions, so it’d be smart to adopt this technique.  The reason for quicker gains with this approach is that you’re putting extra strain on each muscle area, and with more strain eventually comes larger muscle tissue over a span of time.  The saying “no pain no gain” comes to mind because in order to achieve any evolution in fitness it’s mandatory to increase resistance at higher levels but in short bursts.  In order to gain muscle mass in a reasonable amount of time the weight has to be right, so the ability to do greater than 15 repetitions (reps) for every set indicates that their too lightweight. On the other hand, if you cant complete a set with about 10 repetitions (reps) then the weight is too heavy.  So your focus should be to find a middle ground, and this would be having a tough strain on the muscle while still being able to carry out a set with the weights; having this balance would be the correct path in building up more muscle.

 3.)    Take Small Breaks-   With muscle building comes the (sometimes overlooked) process of muscle repair; it makes sense that to rest is to repair.  Resting is an essential part of bodybuilding, and the truth is that your body responds to your prior workout sessions while resting, and therefore you develop the muscle mass at these times.  Constantly pushing your muscles to the limit when exercising means that you’re “hurting” them as an advantageous result to the fact that resting will be the “recuperation” phase, the part where you make your muscles bigger and more powerful.  When referring to small breaks, typically 2-3 days spread out between your muscle building program is a good idea, but you could also choose to schedule a resting day in the week.  Another way of approaching this process is focusing on different muscle groups throughout your visits to the gym; whether it’s at home or not.  For example, when working out your chest today your legs could be resting from the previous day of working them out.

 To conclude, these are just a few of the many suggestions for beginners to learn how to build muscle the right way.  Of course further research for bodybuilding should be done; especially if you want to learn about the right nutrition, water intake, and all the things that would be helpful in paving a more resourceful path.  My main recommendation though is to focus on what really works; such as techniques and strategies that stand the test of time, rather than always searching for the next big thing.