Building muscle might seem as simple as going to the gym and lifting weights, but unfortunately for many, myself included, the gains do not come as easily as we would like.

This is not because we workout with any less intensity than those that do bulk up. If anything, we scrawnier folk probably workout more intensely and more often than those that have more muscle, simply because we do not see the gains and think we need to workout more. This is actually one of the main reasons for not getting any real gains, because over working the body can be just as bad as not exercising at all.

The reasons for smaller than average muscle gains is as varying as the people themselves; testosterone levels, metabolism, over working the body and not giving yourself sufficient recovery time, or it could be wrong training routines for your particular body frame etc…  
But luckily there are a few important things that we can do that really make the difference between no gains and large gains, and the best part is, it does not involve any supplements or drug. Simply adjusting the way in which you workout and eat will change your reflection in the mirror very quickly.

1.    Large multi-joint compound exercises

Regardless of whether you are trying to lose body fat or are trying to gain muscle mass, you should always focus the majority of your training time on big multi-joint exercises, and treat isolation exercises as the side dish to your main meal. It is the large multi-joint exercises that should comprise the majority of your workout if you want to get lean, build muscle, get ripped and become stronger and more powerful. Think of these multi-joint exercises as the major movement patterns such as those below.

-Upper body horizontal rows (seated cable rows, 1-arm dumbbell rows, bent over barbell rows)
-Upper body horizontal press (dips, push ups, bench press)
-upper body vertical pull (chinups, pullups, lat pulldowns)
-upper body vertical press (dumbbell and overhead barbell presses, barbell or kettlebell clean & presses)
-lower body squatting (front squats, overhead squats, bodyweight squats, back squats, etc)
-lower body deadlifting (sumo deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, regular deadlifts)
-lower body single leg (jump lunges, lunges, set-ups, etc)

This should also include abdominal and core exercises, but these are still second priority to the major upper and lower body multi-joint exercises. Your abs will get a solid workout anyway from most major multi-joint exercises.

Some of the single-joint exercises that you might often focus on to build muscle, such as tricep presses, bicep curls, calf presses, shoulder lateral raises, etc… should again be second priority to the major multi-joint routine. You can still add these to your main workout, but always remember that these should be treated as add-ons and should not be your main focus.

2.    Keep your workouts short and to the point

The goal should be high intensity workouts, 3-4 days a week, 45-60 minutes per training workout.
You probably don’t need to be told that you should exercise at a high intensity rate, that’s something you know already, and have likely been doing since day one in the gym. On the other hand maybe it should be mentioned that you should not workout any longer than 60 minutes, as training too much beyond this point can start to trigger excess catabolism, where your body starts to use its own proteins (which are found in cells), as a substitute energy source. Basically if you workout too long, your body can start to burn tissue as fuel, and that can’t be a good thing. There are supplements around that can help counter excess catabolism and protect muscle tissue, but a more efficient 45-60 minute, high intensity workout is going to give you the greatest results.

If you do tend to train longer than 60 minutes in any one session, you could try a super-set style of workout program, which will help to condense training time and considerably increase intensity. The super-set is a very simple concept… you simply do two exercises back-to-back, with no rest break in between.

You can make them any combinations you like, for example you could combine pullups with squats, or bench press with deadlifts. The choice is yours. Your super-sets could consist of a combination between upper body and lower body workouts, or two consecutive upper body workouts, or lower body workouts. To mix it up even more you could play around with varying sets and reps and heavier weights. Remember, your workout routines should be fun so mix it up until you find some combinations that you enjoy.

You will quickly find that you will experience significant muscle mass gains when you start adding super-sets to your workout program, and of course you can adjust your calorie intake to suit your goals, whether it be to lose body fat or to gain muscle. Super-sets are very effective at doing both.

3.    Eat quality whole foods

Again, we can not escape how essential nutrition is to your weight training or dieting. You should eat healthy whole foods and stay away from highly processed foods and even some of those over hyped supplements, bars and meal replacements. More often than not, a healthy, whole food diet will beat supplements hands down. Sure they have their place, but they could never be a substitute for real whole foods.

Whole foods such as meats, eggs, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts, and dairy, provided it is raw whole dairy, offer the best quality protein, as well as additional nutrition you get from vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The body absorbs these best when they come from whole foods. The more greener, organic and grass fed this whole food, the better. This is much better than processed bars, meal replacements and protein powders.

I will go out on a limb here and make an assumption that many people who either find it difficult to pack on the muscle or find it hard to lose the excess stomach fat, will have a heap of over hyped supplements in their cupboards. Yes? Sure some of these supplements are really helpful and do make a difference, but the majority are not.

My advice, give whole foods another try. Rather than spend the excess money on eight different supplements a week, start seeking out the whole, organic and grass fed food. You will notice a difference.

So in conclusion, change what exercises you focus on in the gym and spend the majority of your training time on large multi-joint exercises, which will get you lean and ripped.
Cut back the time you are in the gym, and lift the intensity by adding different super-set combinations to your training program. This will fire up the muscle development in no time flat.
Last but not least, cut back on all the over hyped protein bars, supplements, and meal replacements. Instead seek out raw, whole, grass fed food and start giving your body what it really wants.

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