When it comes to building muscle quickly the best people to get advice from are pro bodybuilders. Regardless of what supplements or anabolic products they consume they have the best strategies for packing on lean muscle mass quickly. They wake up each and every day with one goal on their mind – to pack on more lean muscle mass! Every time that I run into a pro bodybuilder I learn more and more. It is amazing some of the outside the box training tips and nutrition tips they have.
I recently moved to Southern California and have had the opportunity to train alongside many pro bodybuilders and pick their brain on the most efficient ways to gain lean muscle mass and pack on weight. I even ran into Mr. Olympia legend Jay Cutler at my apartment complex. He lives at my apartment complex when he is in LA – and I had an amazing 10-minute chat with him on the best way for skinny guys to build lean muscle.
I’m going to get into 3 tips that pro bodybuilders use for quick muscle gains in this article. These are 3 time-tested strategies that I have learned from some of the best physiques in the world that will help any skinny guy accelerate muscle growth quickly. If you want to gain muscle mass fast, make sure you incorporate all 3 of these tips into your training routine.
Time Under Tension
One of the biggest things that pro bodybuilders do when they are training a muscle group is they put a huge emphasis on their time under tension. Most bodybuilders will lift in a way that maximizes their time under tension and puts the muscle under stress the entire set. This is the key for explosive muscle growth. You must break down the optimal amount of lean muscle tissue and the best way to do this is TUT (Time under tension.)
Take for example the bench press. If you want to put the maximum tension on the pectoral muscle you should not lock out your repetitions but rather keep the pectoral under tension the entire time by never locking out the rep. A lot of guys won’t lift like this because they won’t be able to lift as much and their muscle will become fatigued faster.
One of the biggest tips anyone has ever told me when it comes to training is to check your ego at the door. Sometimes the best lifting style for gaining muscle is not the way that will make you appear the strongest. Sure we can all lift more weight by resting at the top of the bench press, or not going low enough on squats – but we are really only feeding our ego by doing this and we aren’t lifting for optimal muscle growth and increased strength. Check your ego at the door! This is what you have to do with time under tension training. When you perform time under tension training your only focus is to keep the muscle under tension for 30 seconds-60 seconds. There is no need to count repetitions – just time under tension. It’s a much different way of training but it is really effective for lean muscle growth.
The time under tension trick works with every muscle group and is a fantastic way to do isolated training. Take for example the dumb bell hammer curl. A lot of guys with alternate repetitions with this – but pro bodybuilders like Jay Cutler and Phil Heath will perform 5-10 slow and controlled repetitions on each side to maximize their time under tension.
Time under tension is one of the best training styles that skinny guys can do when trying to bulk up and gain lean muscle mass fast.
Don’t Major in the Minor
Pro bodybuilders are experts in maximizing their anabolic hormones. One of the easiest ways to maximize your anabolic muscle building hormones is to regularly perform compound muscle building exercises.
You should never major in the minor. What this statement means is that you should never just go in the gym and work out a small muscle group for the entire workout. You can do isolated muscle group training – but make sure you do it after you perform a compound exercise.
Take for example the bicep muscle. The biceps are actually a pretty small muscle group compared to the pectoral and quadriceps muscles. This means that it will be a lot more effective bicep workout if you first perform a compound exercise movement such as the bench press or squat. Even though you are not directly working out your biceps during these exercises you are increasing your anabolic muscle building hormones.
Now you have increased and maximized your anabolic hormones for the day and are free to train your smaller muscle groups. You will see some amazing results if you always find a way to incorporate a compound exercise into your workouts. This is the key to maximizing your muscle building potential and sculpting your smaller muscle groups such as biceps, calves, etc.
Muscle Confusion
One thing that pro bodybuilders do better than most is they incorporate the concept of muscle confusion into all of their workouts. This can be done in a few different ways. You should never repeat the same workout in the same order with the same weight. Even if you are regularly performing the same exercises you should make a point to always increase the overload and get stronger.
This is where keeping a workout log really comes in handy. If you keep a workout log you can track your workouts and push yourself past your maximum lifts each and every workout. Say for example you bench pressed 225 lbs 7 times your last workout. The next workout you should make sure that you get a spotter and FORCE yourself to pump out 8 repetitions. A workout log gives you the external accountability to push yourself past your comfort zone each and every workout. This is the key to seeing results.
Of course there are many other great ways to incorporate muscle confusion into your workout besides increased overload. There is pre fatiguing muscle groups before compound exercises, drop sets, super sets, tri sets, different muscle group training splits. There are hundreds of ways to incorporate muscle confusion into your training routine so make sure you are always switching it up and pushing your body outside its comfort zone. This is the key to seeing results on a consistent basis.
I hope you guys enjoyed 3 tips that Pro bodybuilders use to gain muscle fast. Let me know how these tips work for you guys and if you have any questions.
Keeping pushing yourself past your comfort zone and you will see some incredible results in 2014! Happy Training!
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