By James Druman
I was always looking for ways to build muscle fast. This article hits close to home for me. I was a skinny guy who always wanted to get ripped, but never was able to. ... until I learned a couple key lessons that I want to share with you today.
In today's day and age, there is so much focus on losing weight and burning fat that often there is nowhere to turn for the skinny guy who wants to gain muscle. Then the skinny guy finds weight gainers and tries them, or some other worthless supplement, and never really understands why he is not big and muscular like the other guys at the gym.
Well, hard-gainers there is hope for you! Here are my 5 ways to build muscle fast for skinny guys:
1) 10 Reps Max
If you are lifting beyond 10 reps then you are actually using more of your slow twitch muscles. Keep your weights heavy and don't go beyond 10 reps. You need to hit the maximum amount of muscle fibers. If your goal is really to get ripped, then you have to get into heavy weight mode.
2) Quick and Intense
Hard-gainer workouts need to be intense. You don't need to spend two hours a day at the gym for your skinny muscles to grow. Your sets need to be done closer together. I generally believe in a 30-60 second rest between sets. Between different exercises, try to get it set up and start your first rep in about 2 min. In the beginning you may feel out of your comfort zone. Trust me, though, this one tip alone will increase your muscle density dramatically over the next month or two.
3) Max Out Only Once Per Muscle Group
You don't have to go to failure every time you pick up a weight. You want to keep your muscles stimulated and in growth mode. You don't, however, want to rip them to shreds so that it takes 2 weeks for them to recoup. This is not effective muscle building and is not one of the ways to build muscle fast. If you take one heavy exercise and go to failure on it, then you aim for about 90% of failure for the rest, you will be doing more than enough to stimulate your muscles. For example, if you are working your shoulders (doing presses and upright rows) in one day -- Pick your presses and go to failure on them. Don't, however, go to failure on your upright rows and whatever else you are doing for your shoulders.
4) Focus On Compound Exercises
You will never build the muscles you want to by doing shoulder shrugs and leg extensions. This is not one of the ways to build muscle fast. Sure there is a time for these but lets face it, you are doing these because they are easier than what you should be doing. Your hard-gainer workouts need to center around the following kind of exercise: Legs -- Squats and Deadlifts (these are the most important of all), Chest -- Bench press and Dips, Back -- Rows and Pull ups or Pull Downs, Shoulders -- Presses.
It's that simple. You can vary these exercises by doing them at different angles and in different orders, but these are the exercises that are going to beef you up. Simple as that.
Want the best advice on exercise that provides the best way to build muscle fast?
5) Put On More Plates
You should be keeping a log, so I suggest that you take a little log book around with you at the gym. Keep a routine and track your reps/sets and weights. You can also put little notes down, like how your muscles felt, etc. This way you can track your progress. You should be trying to increase your weight by about 5% every other week. You simply must keep improving to keep building and stimulating those muscles. ... Especially if you are a hard-gainer trying to get ripped.
