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If you want to gain muscles but seem to be getting nowhere no matter how hard
you try, check out these four basics. And you’ll be safe. No weird supplements or
drugs required.

1. The Correct Weightlifting Routine to Help You Gain Muscles

Muscles will only grow bigger if they’re stressed. They think that by growing
they’ll avoid more stress. You knew that. But did you know the right way to really
trick them into growing bigger and bigger? Here it is:

-Lift weights four times weekly for one hour each session.
-Do two upper and two lower body workouts, alternating every other session.
-Don’t miss a week or a session and you should start seeing some measurable
results.

2. The Right Stretching Routine to Help You Gain Muscles

Shirking this step is one of the biggest mistakes people make when working to
gain muscles. The second biggest mistake is stretching but not long enough. You
need to stretch your muscles 30 minutes for every hour of weightlifting. Without
stretching, your muscle tissues will shorten. The result is slower muscle gain,
weaker muscle strength and vulnerability to injury. You can avoid this by making
it a habit to stretch half the amount of time you put into weightlifting.

3. The Correct Diet to Help You Gain Muscles

You’ll need to eat as often as five to seven times daily in order to build lean
muscle. Three of your meals should consist of whole foods in these ratios:

• 35 percent protein

• 45 percent carbohydrates, preferably from raw vegetables; no white flour

• products or white rice.

• 20 percent polyunsaturated fat from avocados, nuts, olive oil, marine oil and

• natural peanut butter.

The rest of your meals should be high protein shakes.

4. The Correct Nutritional Supplements to Help You Gain Muscles

All you need are these four standbys: a whole food multivitamin, omega-3 krill oil
or fish oil capsules, powdered creatine and protein powder. Together they
support muscle mass, strength, body fat composition and overall health. Whole
food vitamins are not too plentiful on the market but it’s very important you
search them out because everything else is synthetic and your body won’t
metabolize synthetics. If you’re tempted to add any other supplements, you really
don’t need them but if you insist, they must have at least a three-year track record
on the market. Don’t risk putting anything in your body that isn’t proven safe.

And that’s the four simple basics to help you gain muscles. No big secret, but
often overlooked.

In a previous article we discussed how repetitions contribute to the muscle building process, but is the stance regarding sets really as obvious? Sadly, the answer to this is no as some fitness professionals feel one set to failure is adequate, while others maintain that multiple sets are needed to make sure maximum muscle gains.

Research to date suggests that, when using six to eight reps to failure at 75-80% 1RM, there is not much difference between training with one and multiple sets in terms of increasing either strength or muscle size. Any minute differences that have been recorded suggest that a single set completed to failure promotes strength increases but succeeding sets have a slightly greater effect on muscle size. What is obvious is that the law of diminishing returns applies, so you have to question if the marginal progress in size justify the added time and effort spent.

Like everything else in life, bodybuilding does not remain static and several cutting edge fitness professionals have redefined the limits of achievement. Increasingly, intense athletes are using methods that give the set beyond the point of failure. This includes forcing the muscle to achieve more work despite having experienced failure in the previous repetition. In practice, you complete one final forced repetition with the help of a workout partner.

This obviously calls for enormous dedication and high motivation but the benefit include better mass gains thanks to the more muscular overload. Such intensive training places further significance on the need to lift with sound technique and to incorporate enough recovery time into your muscle building routine.

About the Author: Rod Watson, Certified Personal Trainer, http://WatsonPersonalTraining.com, Rod is a retired Navy Officer who is dedicated to help other improve their health and fitness level. Need help getting started contact Rod at rod@TailoredWorkouts.com for a customized workout, tailored just for you.