How To Gain Muscle Fast

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

I’m a perfectionist.

When I want something done, I want it done right. I want to pour all of my focused effort into it until it’s perfect and without flaws.

When something goes wrong, I get frustrated. I’ll still be willing to work hard at it, but when things don’t go exactly as planned it can drive me crazy.

After years and years of serious and consistent training in the gym, I’ve realized that this way of thinking can be disastrous for a natural bodybuilder.

If you’re serious about achieving a strong, muscular physique, leave your perfectionist attitude at the door. Perfectionism does not exist in bodybuilding. Bodybuilding is not a project that you work hard on for a set amount of time, finish, and then sit back and admire.

Bodybuilding is an ongoing, lifelong process filled with ups and downs, triumphs and setbacks, peaks and recessions. You’re never finished working. There is no point B. It takes hard, focused effort to build muscle, and it takes hard, focused effort to maintain it.

Hard work in the gym and dedication to your eating plan is a continual price you must pay in exchange for the dream body you want to build or maintain.

So if you’re getting ready to begin a bodybuilding program or have been training for some time now, you must sit back and make some realizations about your awaiting/continuing journey.

You must realize that no journey is perfect.

If you’re expecting to eat and train consistently without any problems or setbacks, you’re in for a huge disappointment. Those who expect perfection from their programs are doomed for frustration, because a perfect program does not exist.

This is one of the fine lines that separates the champions from the wannabes; the line that separates those who experience long term success from those who die and fall off along the way. You must treat your setbacks as an inevitable part of the entire muscle-building process.

Sometimes you’ll be at your peak and will be marching your way to new grounds of success, and other times your progress will be receding and moving backwards because of various factors, many of which will be beyond your control.

All kinds of bumps in the road will present themselves along the way…

There will be times when you catch a cold or flu and lose 10 pounds.

There will be times when you go on vacation and have limited access to a gym or to proper bodybuilding foods.

There will be times where you are struck down with an injury and will have to take time away from the gym.

There will be times where you skip meals.

There will be times where you skip workouts.

There will be times when you give in to temptations that will harm your bodybuilding progress.

There will be times when your motivation dips down and you’ll question your entire purpose and whether or not the whole bodybuilding thing is even worth it.

This is the reality of it all, and as a serious natural bodybuilder for many years I can say with certainty that all of the above scenarios have presented themselves to me on many, many occasions.

The difference between a successful bodybuilder and an unsuccessful one is in the way that they handle adversity.

Both your progress and motivation will rise and fall along the way, but will you make a stand and accept these swings for what they are, and continue training hard despite them? Or will you piss and pout and toss in the towel when things don’t go your way?

You must accept that no journey is perfect. You are a human being, and you will make blunders along the way.

Whether or not you choose to accept and implement this way of thinking will make the difference between long term success and failure.

Successful lifters get thrown into holes and dig themselves out. Unsuccessful lifters get discouraged and remain buried.

After years and years of training, I’ve seen more people come and go in the gym than I could possibly begin to count. But despite this, I’m still here.

Will you be?

If you’ve got what it takes to make a stand and take control of your body, visitwww.MuscleGainTruth.com. I’ll teach you exactly how you can accomplish this as quickly and efficiently as possible using a simple, step-by-step system I’ve devised over many years of successful training in the gym.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

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By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

There are 3 types of people in this world… 

1) The ones who say they’re going to accomplish something yet they never even attempt it.

They talk the talk and never walk the walk. They spend their lives making excuses for their problems and never actually getting off of their asses to do something about it.

They will waste their years wishing but never having. They will resent and criticize those who succeed because they know that they will never succeed themselves.

They lack willpower and discipline. They are doomed to a life of mediocrity but will never accept responsibility for this.

2) The ones who say they’re going to accomplish something, attempt it, and quit soon thereafter.

They talk the talk, begin to walk the walk, but fall down in exhaustion, never reaching their goals or enjoying the fruits of their labour on any kind of long term basis.

They lack patience. They lack perseverance. They too will never stand among the elite and will struggle time and time again but continually fall short.

They deserve some credit for their attempts at success, but simply do not possess the tools needed to follow through.

3) The ones who say they’re going to accomplish something, form a blueprint for how they will get there, and then, quite simply, they get there.

They make firm decisions that contain no hints of “maybe” or “try”. They understand that there are 2 possible outcomes in any decision: success or failure. They crave success, and they will do anything they have to do to achieve it.

When they make a decision to accomplish something, they already know that they will succeed. They don’t question their ability to achieve a goal, they only question the time that it will take to get there.

They understand that within their minds lies all of the tools necessary to accomplish anything in the external world. They have faith in their talents and beliefs and truly feel that they can accomplish anything they want.

They make no excuses. They understand that they are in complete and total control of their destiny, and that every man and woman is responsible for their own lives.

They are ready and willing to battle through setbacks, physical and mental pain, discomfort and exhaustion. They know that anything worth having does not come easy, and that no man or woman ever achieved anything great without a struggle.

They are willing to struggle to be great.

They never fail in the long run. They only experience momentary setbacks and bumps in the road. When a setback or bump in the road presents itself, they form a plan for how they will get past it.

They don’t stop, stare and question whether to quit or keep going. Quitting is not an option in their minds, and they thrive on the battle and understand that setbacks and mistakes serve no other purpose than to make their inevitable victory that much sweeter.

They see the big picture.

And when the smoke clears and dust settles, they stand among the elite. They soak up the satisfaction of their victories and look back on their accomplishments with a feeling of pride and fulfillment. They gain the respect and envy of others and know that they deserve it.

Which category do you fall under?

True bodybuilding success is only reserved for category 3.

It is an ongoing battle that does not lend itself to those who seek instant gratification. It will not be had by those who are unwilling to dedicate themselves to a goal and work hard to achieve it.

If you have any doubts about your ability to succeed, eliminate them.

Dissolve your questioning, your fears and your wondering.

Make firm decisions for what you want to achieve, create a map for how to get there, and then… quite simply, get there.

Only when your decisions contain questions of “when can I reach this goal” rather than “will I reach this goal” will you ever truly succeed both in bodybuilding and in life.

I can’t make the decision for you, I can only teach you how to get there. Your choice comes from within, and not a single person in this world can make those choices but you.

Take the leap of faith.

If you’ve got the will, I’ve got the way.

Visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com for step-by-step details on how you can put your energy and willpower to work and finally develop that head-turning dream body you deserve. You can gain instant access to my renowned “Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System” as well as sign up for my free 8-part muscle building email course.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: muscle gain truth, muscle-building success

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

The saying says, “if you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail”, and the same holds true for each and every one of your workouts.

Every session in the gym should be treated as a battle, and just like any other battle in life you must enter it with proper mental and physical readiness.

This article will deal with the physical side and will teach you exactly how to prime your body before battling the weights with proper pre-workout nutrition.

A carefully planned pre-workout meal will ensure that you always enter the gym at peak strength and will provide your body with the necessary tools to battle the weights as effectively as possible.

The 3 main goals of the pre-workout meal are as follows:

1) Maximize your strength potential. 

2) Provide a steady stream of balanced energy for your mind and muscles throughout the workout. 

3) Minimize muscle breakdown and provide the raw tools for your body to begin the recovery process once the workout is over.

The first thing to make sure of is that you are properly hydrated before beginning your workout. Water plays a vital role in keeping strength and energy levels peaked, so always ensure that you’ve consumed an adequate amount of water in the few hours before you train.

Around 30-45 minutes prior to entering the gym you should consume your pre-workout meal. The first component of this meal is, you guessed it, protein. This protein will keep your body in an anabolic state throughout your workout and will help to prevent muscle breakdown as you train.

I would recommend that you consume 30-40 grams of high quality protein, ideally coming from a mix of whey protein and casein. This can best be accomplished by mixing 25-30 grams of whey protein in 300-400ml of skim milk.

Whey protein makes for a great pre-workout choice because it is naturally high in BCAA’s, which help to prevent muscle catabolism during your workout. Mixing your whey with milk is a good idea because this will slow down the release of the protein and provide your body with a steady stream of amino acids throughout your workout.

Along with your protein shake you should also consume 1-2 portions of low-glycemic carbohydrates. Low glycemic carbohydrates are ideal before the workout because they are broken down and absorbed gradually in the bloodstream, providing your body with a steady stream of energy throughout your workout.

When you consume high glycemic carbohydrates that are rapidly released into your bloodstream, your body will release a surge of insulin in an effort to level out your blood sugar. This will result in a quick rise in insulin levels followed by a sharp fall.

The fall in insulin levels will leave you feeling weak, tired and sluggish. This is the last thing you want in the middle of a high intensity workout, so choose carbohydrates that won’t cause this rapid fluctuation in insulin levels.

Pre-workout carbohydrate choices such as oatmeal, apples or brown rice will provide your body with a steady stream of sugars throughout the workout and will keep your energy levels peaked at all times.

This pre-workout meal should be fairly small to allow for easy digestion and to prevent you from feeling sick when you train. You should never workout without having a meal in you first.

So, just to recap:

30-45 minutes before your workout:

1) 25-30 grams of whey protein mixed with 300-400ml of milk 
2) 1-2 servings of slow release carbohydrates (i.e. Oatmeal, brown rice, apple)

I also like to throw in a cup or two of coffee before my workouts as I find that this increases my energy and amplifies my focus nicely.

There are also 3 other highly important times throughout the day to pay special attention to the foods and supplements that you consume. Visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com to find out what they are, and how to properly approach these periods for the best possible results.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: muscle gain truth, pre-workout nutrition

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

We all know that in order to maximize our gains in muscle size and strength, eating frequently throughout the day is incredibly important. 

A well balanced muscle building meal consumed every 2-3 hours will keep the body in an anabolic state, raise the fat burning metabolism, stabilize energy levels and improve digestion all at the same time.

Maintaining this eating approach is simple throughout the waking hours of the day…

But when happens when we go to sleep at night?

Let’s assume that we consume our last meal of the day one hour before heading to bed… sleep for 8 hours… and then have our breakfast half an hour after awakening…

That’s a full 9.5 hours with absolutely zero muscle building nutrition!

If we place so much emphasis on consuming high quality, growth-supporting nutrients at frequent intervals during the day, why do we simply throw this logic out the window during the night?

Wouldn’t it make sense to ensure that our muscles are receiving all of the protein, carbohydrates and fats that they require during the time period where muscle recuperation and growth is at its peak?

Why would we deliberately allow our body to enter into a starved, catabolic state for such an extended period of time if it is within our control to do something about it?

While this method may not be for everyone, consuming a properly balanced muscle building meal about mid-way through your sleep just might be one of the key ways to accelerate your bodybuilding progress to even higher levels.

It may seem like somewhat of a “hardcore” method that only the most obsessive of lifters would incorporate, but a quick examination of this approach and you’ll see that it’s quite realistic for the majority of people to implement.

Now first of all, this doesn’t have to be a regular solid-food bodybuilding meal that you might typically consume during the day. I’m not talking about waking up and sitting at the kitchen table to eat a plate of chicken and potatoes or a steak with rice.

Eating solid foods in the middle of the night will probably disrupt your sleep quite a bit, and it isn’t really a realistic long-term approach to carry out. 

Instead, this meal should be in liquid form so that you can wake up, chug it back very quickly and easily, and then head right back to bed. 

My recommendation is to mix 30-40 grams of whey protein (or any other high quality form of protein powder, such as casein or egg) with 1-2 cups of skim milk. This will provide you with a good shot of slow release protein without forcing you to be awake for long or worry about any unnecessary chewing or meal preparation.

You can also mix in a tablespoon of a healthy unsaturated oil source, such as flaxseed oil or extra virgin olive oil. This will further slow down the release of the shake and will provide your body with valuable essential fatty acids that are also critical to proper recovery and growth.

When is the best time to consume this shake?

Ideally I would aim to consume it about halfway through your sleep, but whenever you wake up naturally during the night is fine. I don’t recommend forcing yourself out of bed with the use of an alarm clock, as this will disrupt your sleeping pattern and could leave you feeling fatigued the following day.

Now, is this middle-of-the-night-feeding method for everyone? 

Of course not, but I would encourage you to try it out and see how it works. I’ve implemented this method both personally and with my clients and have found that in the majority of cases, the effects have been measurably positive. 

After all, if you wake up naturally during the night to use the bathroom anyway, how hard could it really be to make a quick detour to the kitchen to drink a simple protein shake? 

If you’re looking for an extra boost to your nutritional program, then that one shake alone might be just what you need. A few hundred calories can sometimes make the difference between maintaining your weight and gaining it.

If you really want to get the most out of your muscle building nutrition plan, this is a method you should definitely try.

If you’re interested in learning more highly effective natural bodybuilding strategies like this one, go ahead and visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com right now. You can sign up for my free 8-part muscle building email course to help accelerate your gains even further.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

 

Technorati Tags: muscle gain truth, muscle gains

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

Everybody knows that consuming sufficient amounts of vitamins through their diet is an important way to maintain overall health and to keep the muscle building and fat burning processes functioning optimally.

If you are deficient in just a single vitamin, it can potentially have negative effects on literally thousands of different processes within your body.

While every individual vitamin plays an important role in the overall picture, there is one that definitely stands out among the rest… especially when it comes to the specific needs of a hard training bodybuilder.

I’m talking about the water-soluble Vitamin C; the one vitamin that no serious lifter should be short on.

Here are 6 ways in which sufficient Vitamin C intake will benefit you both in and out of the gym…

1) It is a powerful antioxidant.

When oxygen combines with other compounds as a result of intense exercise and natural bodily processes, it can form what are known as “free radicals”. Free radicals are metabolic waste products that attack cells, mutate cell membranes and that have also been linked with many diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

Antioxidants battle against free radicals by either preventing their formation in the first place, or by latching on and neutralizing their effects. Through its effects as an antioxidant, Vitamin C protects the body from free radical damage.

2) It suppresses cortisol production.

Cortisol is a powerful catabolic hormone that is triggered as a result of stress, both from your workouts and from everyday life. Cortisol stimulates the breakdown of muscle tissue for use as energy, increases fat storage (particularly in the abdominal area), impairs nutrient transport into the muscles and inhibits muscle recovery in between workouts.

Vitamin C appears to have a measurable impact on reducing cortisol secretion in the body.

3) It assists in the formation of steroid hormones.

One of the major limiting factors that determines how much muscle a person can build is their natural anabolic hormone levels. Vitamin C assists in the formation of these hormones. 

4) It enhances the absorption of iron.

Iron is what allows oxygen to bind to hemoglobin in the blood, which is then delivered to the muscles to enhance performance. Low iron levels will decrease the amount of weight you are able to lift in the gym and how long you are able to maintain a high level of intensity during your workouts.

5) It increases the integrity of the immune system.

Those following an intense training program should always be concerned with keeping their immune system functioning at optimal levels. This will help you to prevent sickness and to maintain top levels of performance throughout the week.

6) It reduces muscle soreness. 

When taken close to workouts, Vitamin C has been shown to reduce muscle soreness in the days following a training session. While this doesn’t really have any direct positive physiological implications, it can be beneficial for those who would prefer to eliminate that deep aching that is usually felt in the muscles following a hard workout. 

It should be clear by now that consuming adequate amounts of Vitamin C each day is an important part of maximizing the results from your program, whether your goal is to build muscle or to burn fat.

The recommend daily allowance for Vitamin C is just 60mg, however, this is a guideline set out for average everyday individuals and not for hard training athletes. Those who are following an intense muscle building and/or fat burning program will obviously require far higher amounts.

On the flipside, there are those who recommend taking “mega doses” of Vitamin C. Although Vitamin C is water-soluble (meaning the body can simply flush out an excess through the sweat and urine), mega-dosing is not natural to our biochemistry and could possibly interrupt other important bodily functions.

All things considered, I would recommend consuming Vitamin C in supplemental form in the range of 500mg-1500mg daily, spread out over 2-3 doses.

Try taking one dose in the morning, and another with your pre-workout meal. Most multivitamins will contain a small dose of Vitamin C in the range of 50-200mg, so purchasing a separate Vitamin C supplement is usually the best way to go.

You can also bump up your daily Vitamin C intake by increasing your consumption of natural foods such as tomatoes, apples, oranges and red/green peppers. 

While you probably aren’t going to notice any immediate effects to your bottom line progress as a simple result of Vitamin C supplementation, it still can and should be part of an effective overall plan that will maximize your results over the long term.

If you want to gain access to more highly effective muscle building tips just like this, make sure to visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com. You can read all about my hugely popular natural bodybuilding program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System“, and read my unbiased reviews on all of the top muscle building supplements available today.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: muscle gain truth, vitamin

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

Simply put, squats are the most difficult, intimidating and painful exercise you could possibly have in your arsenal. They require massive amounts of discipline and willpower to perform correctly.

After you have performed a set of squats to failure, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. They are also a challenging exercise to master from a technical standpoint.

All this aside, squats are one of, if not THE most effective, growth-producing exercises you could possibly include in your workout routine.

They will pack more size and strength onto your lower body than any other exercise out there, and due to their high level of difficulty, they also force your body to release higher amounts of important anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone. This increased secretion of hormones will pack muscle size onto your entire upper body as well.

In addition, squats cause what is known as a “spillover effect”: a strength gain in almost all of your other exercises. When I started squatting to failure, my bench press virtually increased by 20 pounds overnight. If you’re looking for serious muscle gains and you don’t already squat, you’d better get started.

Quite simply, they really, really work.

Unfortunately, many people have yet to experience the benefits of heavy squatting. It seems that people will come up with just about any excuse they possibly can in order to steer clear form the squat rack.

How many times have you heard the all too common “They’re too hard on my knees”, or “I heard they stunt your growth.” What do I say to that? Nonsense!

If you’re in the gym with the goal of maximizing your total body muscle gains, squats are an absolute must.

Proper Squatting Technique

For safety reasons you should always perform your squats in a power rack or cage. This way you can adjust the height at which you clear the bar, and you can drop the bar on the safety pins if you need to bail. The safety pins should be set at just below the depth you are squatting and the J Hooks should be set at about the level of your nipples.

At all times during the squat your head should be pulled back, your chest raised and you should have a slight arch in your lower back. You should always be looking straight ahead, and at no time should you be leaning too far forward, or be looking up or down.

Step up to the bar, placing your hands at about the same width as a bench press. Before clearing the bar, make sure it is placed evenly along your traps. The bar should rest on the lower portion of your traps and across your rear delts. It should almost feel as if the bar is going to roll off your back.

Now that you have cleared the bar, take only as many steps back as necessary. Most squat injuries occur when backing up, so make sure that you only back up as far as you need to. Your feet should be placed about shoulder width apart or slightly wider, and they should point out at a 45-degree angle.

Take a big, deep breath, and make your descent. You should not lower yourself straight down, but rather as if you were sitting in a chair behind you. At all times your knee must remain in line with your feet, and they should never bow in. Lower yourself until your thighs are at least parallel to the ground.

As soon as you have reached the bottom position, rise up immediately. Do not relax in the bottom position! Drive up with your heels and straighten your back as quickly as possible.

Once you are in the upright position again, take another deep breath, and continue the lift until you have completed the desired number of reps.

Final Thoughts

You have all the reason in the world to get into the squat rack, so go ahead and do it. Treat this lift with respect and you’ll be shocked at the resulting muscle gains. I would recommend performing your squats once per week, for 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps. Focus on pushing yourself hard on this exercise and continually strive for more weight and more reps.

To learn about more highly effective, growth-producing exercises that you can include in your routine, visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com. Most trainees have no idea how to pick and choose the proper exercises and they dramatically limit their gains as a result.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: muscle gain truth, squat

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

Everyone wants a huge chest, plain and simple.

It is all too common to see inexperienced lifters slaving away on endless sets of bench presses and cable crossovers in search of full, thick pecs. The reality is that there is nothing complicated about building an impressive chest.

The bottom line for huge chest gains is consistency, effort and steady progression in weight and repetitions.

To stimulate the chest using weights you will be using one of two motions: a press or a flye. If you want the greatest bang for your buck from your chest workouts, the true gains lie in your pressing movements.

Flyes may have their place from time to time, but nothing can compare to the overall anabolic effect of high intensity pressing movements. I’m talking about the basic, bread-and-butter lifts such as heavy barbell presses, dumbbell presses and wide-grip dips.

There are no secrets, magic formulas or killer techniques that will “shock” your chest into massive growth. Stick to your basic presses, focus on overload and progression, and I promise that you will see impressive gains.

Here are the most effective lifts for packing muscle onto the chest:

Flat/Incline/Decline Barbell Bench Press

A standard barbell press is the meat and potatoes of any effective chest routine. This basic compound movement will allow you to handle the most weight through the given range of motion.

The incline press will shift more of the stress to the upper region of the chest while the decline does the opposite, targeting the lower/outer region. The flat bench press works the upper and lower regions equally. I highly recommend a standard barbell press as a basic component of your chest routine.

Flat/Incline/Decline Dumbbell Press

Dumbbell presses are another basic and highly effective movement for stimulating chest development. The main advantage that they have over the barbell is that they allow you to move through a more natural range of motion, helping to prevent shoulder injuries.

They also prevent strength imbalances from occurring since one arm can’t cheat for the other. The only drawback is that you are not able to handle as much weight. In any case, a standard dumbbell press is an awesome movement that allows for great chest stimulation.

Wide-Grip Dips

An amazing movement for the chest that is often overlooked. Make sure to use a wider grip and lean forward to shift the stress from the triceps onto the pectorals.

If pressing your own body weight is not sufficient then you can always add resistance using a weight belt. Dips are an excellent compound movement for overall chest development.

Sample Chest Routines

Chest Routine# 1

Flat Barbell Bench Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps 
Incline Dumbbell Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps 
Wide-Grip Dips: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

Chest Routine# 2

Incline Barbell Bench Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps 
Wide-Grip Dips: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps 
Flat Dumbbell Press: 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

All sets should stay within the 5-7 rep range and should be taken to concentric muscular failure. Write down the details of each workout you perform and focus on progressing in either weight or reps from week to week.

To learn the proper methods for training all of your other muscle groups, make sure to visitwww.MuscleGainTruth.com. You can gain instant access to a complete online video lesson series outlining the most effective techniques for training your shoulders, arms, back, legs and abs, all in step-by-step detail.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System“. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

 

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

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By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

The muscle-building debates will never end.

The endless arguments over how an effective muscle-building program should be structured will most likely continue until the end of time. Just scour the Internet message boards, flip through any muscle magazine or talk to the sales rep at your local supplement store. No matter who you talk to or what you read, it seems that everyone is an expert these days.

If everyone is an expert, confident in their own ideas and beliefs, how can the average beginner possibly know who to listen to? He or she is instantly confronted with endless questions that seem to have no clear-cut answer.

How many days should I train per week? How many sets should I perform for each muscle group? What type of rep range should I be using? What are the most effective exercises for stimulating muscle growth? How long should my workouts last?

Believe me, there are answers to these important questions, and if you are willing to put in the time and effort you will most definitely find them. But that’s not what this article is about.

You see, amidst all of the confusion and endless debating, the majority of lifters end up losing sight of the big picture. Beyond all of the specific workout principles, such as rep range and exercise selection, remains one crucial principle, a principle that lies at the very heart of the muscle growth process.

If this principle is not given full attention, or even worse, completely ignored, building muscle becomes next to impossible.

The bottom line is that muscles grow as they adapt to stress. When you go to the gym and lift weights, you create “micro-tears” within the muscle tissue. Your body perceives this as a potential threat to its survival and reacts accordingly by increasing the size and strength of the muscle fibers in order to protect against a possible future “attack”.

Therefore, in order to continually increase the size and strength of the muscles, you must focus on progressing each week on all of your exercises by either lifting slightly more weight or performing an extra rep or two. In doing this, your body will continue to adapt and grow to the ever-increasing stress.

Building muscle is all about building strength!

So what is the most powerful muscle-building tool available?

Quite simply, it is a pen and a piece of paper!

The specifics of building muscle are important to understand and implement, but regardless of what style of training you’re currently using the ultimate deciding factor between success and failure is progression.

You can sit around all day obsessing over specific principles, but the bottom line is that if you aren’t getting stronger every week, you absolutely will not be getting any bigger.

Examine your training approach closely. If you haven’t been paying laser-like attention to the amount of weight you’ve been using, the number of reps you’ve been performing, and then striving with every ounce of your energy to improve upon those numbers each week, you are completely ignoring the very foundation of the muscle growth process.

If you want to see the best gains in muscle mass and strength that you possibly can, a pen and a piece of paper is the most important tool you could possibly have in your arsenal.

Once you’ve accepted and implemented this basic rule of building muscle, you can then move on and learn about the specific principles of how to structure an effective workout. Visitwww.MuscleGainTruth.com if you’re ready to learn more.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: muscle gain truth, powerful muscle-building

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

The more work you put into something, the better results you will achieve. This has always been a widely accepted truth that applies to most areas in life.

The harder you study, the better grades you will achieve. The more time you spend fine-tuning your athletic skills, the better athlete you will become. The longer you spend learning to play an instrument, the better musician you will become.

Therefore, it only makes sense that the more time you spend in the gym, the stronger and more muscular your physique will become, correct?

Contrary to what you might think, the answer to this question is a gigantic, definite, absolute no! It is in this area of bodybuilding that conventional wisdom goes straight out the window, down the street and around the corner.

I know what you might be asking yourself…

“What? Spending less time in the gym will actually make me bigger and stronger?”

The answer is yes! It really will, and when we examine the muscle-growth process from its most basic roots, it becomes quite clear why this is the case.

Every single process that occurs within the human body is centered around keeping you alive and healthy. Through thousands of years of evolution the human body has become quite a fine-tuned organism that can adapt well to the specific conditions that are placed upon it.

We become uncomfortable when we are hungry or thirsty, we acquire a suntan when high amounts of UV rays are present, we build calluses to protect our skin, etc.

So what happens when we break down muscle tissue in the gym?

If you answered something to the effect of “the muscles get bigger and stronger”, then congratulations! You are absolutely correct.

By battling against resistance beyond the muscle’s present capacity we have posed a threat to the musculature. The body recognizes this as potentially harmful and as a natural adaptive response the muscles will hypertrophy (increase in size) to protect the body against this threat. As we consistently increase the workload from week to week the body will continue to adapt and grow.

Sound simple?

Ultimately it is, but the most important thing to realize in relation to all of this is that the muscles can only grow bigger and stronger if they are provided with sufficient recovery time. Without the proper recovery time, the muscle growth process simply cannot take place.

Your goal in the gym should be to train with the minimum amount of volume needed to yield an adaptive response. Once you have pushed your muscles beyond their present capacity and have triggered your thousand-year-old evolutionary alarm system, you have done your job. Any further stress to the body will simply increase your recovery time.

Most people train way too often and with far more sets than they really need to. High intensity weight training is much more stressful to the body than most people think. The majority of people structure their workout programs in a manner that actually hinders their gains and prevents them from making the progress that they deserve.

Here are 3 basic guidelines that you should follow if you want to achieve maximum gains:

1) Train no more than 3 days per week.

2) Do not let your workouts last for longer then 1 hour. 

3) Perform 5-7 sets for large muscle groups (chest, back, thighs) and 2-4 sets for smaller muscle groups (shoulders, biceps, triceps, calves, abs).

Take all sets to the point of concentric muscular failure and focus on progressing in either weight or reps each week. If you truly train hard and are consistent, training more often or any longer than this will be counterproductive to your gains.

To learn how to combine all of these principles into an effective step-by-step routine, visitwww.MuscleGainTruth.com for details. You can gain instant access to my renowned “Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System” and sign up for my free 8-part natural bodybuilding email course. 

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

Technorati Tags: gain more muscle, muscle gain truth

By Sean Nalewanyj
Natural Bodybuilding Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author
www.MuscleGainTruth.com

It’s no secret that every serious lifter out there desires an impressive pair of strong, muscular arms.

Who wouldn’t be happy with tall, peaking biceps sitting on top of rock-hard, horse-shoe-shaped triceps? Who wouldn’t love to have a pair of ripped, well-developed guns forcefully bursting through the sleeves of their shirt?

While developing muscular arms is usually at the top of many peoples’ agenda, the reality is that the majority of lifters out there have a very poor understanding of how to properly train their arms for maximum gains.

In order to gain the proper insight into effectively stimulating arm growth, we must first recognize three basic truths:

1) Relatively speaking, the biceps and triceps are small muscle groups.
2) The biceps receive heavy stimulation during all basic pulling movements for the back.
3) The triceps receive heavy stimulation during all basic pressing movements for the chest and shoulders.

What do these 3 points tell us about effective arm training?

The most important thing for you to realize is this:

For maximum gains in muscle size and strength, the biceps and triceps requ

ire only a very small amount of direct stimulation!

So why is it that every time I enter the gym I see the same misinformed people, week in and week out, slaving away on endless sets of bicep curls and tricep extensions?

It’s very important to understand that the biceps and triceps receive a very large amount of stimulation from all of your chest and back training. Couple this with the fact that your biceps and triceps are already small muscle groups to begin with and it becomes quite clear that direct arm training is of minor importance.

Remember, your muscles do not grow in the gym. The work that you accomplish as you train with weights is merely the “spark” that sets the wheels of the muscle growth process into motion. The real magic takes place out of the gym while you are resting and eating, as this is the time when your body will actually be synthesizing new muscle tissue.

Because of this, it is vital that you do not overtrain your muscles. You must always make sure to provide them with sufficient recovery time if you want to see impressive results. Overtraining can actually make your muscles smaller and weaker.

If you’re looking to achieve serious arm growth, you must stop placing so much emphasis on direct arm movements. Forget about performing endless sets of concentration curls and tricep pressdowns. Strong, muscular arms are mostly a product of heavy chest and back training.

This is not to say that no direct arm training is necessary; just not very much. Here are 2 sample arm routines that you can use as a part of your program…

Arm Routine #1

Barbell Curls – 2 sets of 5-7 reps
Standing Dumbbell Curls – 1 set of 5-7 reps

Arm Routine #2

Close-Grip Bench Press – 2 sets of 5-7 reps
Standing Cable Pushdowns – 1 set of 5-7 reps

Take all sets to concentric muscular failure and focus on progressing each week by using slightly more weight or performing an extra rep or 2.

If you can incorporate this way of thinking into your arm training, you will achieve arm size beyond anything you previously thought possible.

To learn the proper methods for training your chest, back, legs, shoulders and abs as well, visit www.MuscleGainTruth.com. You can gain instant access to a complete online video lesson series outlining these techniques in detail, and can also sign up for my free 8-part muscle building email course.

About The Author

Once an awkward, pencil-necked “social reject”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned natural bodybuilding and fat loss expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online muscle building program, “The Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail System”. Learn how to build muscle and gain weight in just 24 minutes a day by visiting: www.MuscleGainTruth.com.

Sean is also the owner and operator of the web’s premier muscle building and fat loss support community, currently accepting new members at www.FitnessInnerCircle.com.

Note to the reader: You are free to reprint and redistribute this article as long as the content is not altered in any way, the links remain live and the author resource box (including this message) is left intact.

 

Technorati Tags: massive biceps and triceps, muscle gain truth