Fastest Way To Build Muscle And Gain Weight

to naturally gain lean muscle mass and will hopefully answer your question, how do I build muscle? Lets begin..

Image Credit: RightIndex

Aspiring bodybuilders and those who are looking for the fastest way to build muscle have been growing significantly in numbers over the years and are now starting to catch up with those who strive to lose weight.

This may seem a little ironic to some and of course this begs the question, why do people want to build lean muscle fast and gain weight?

Well, in our experience those who want to add a few pounds do it for very similar reasons as to those who want to lose a few...

Confidence!.. Looking good makes you feel great and can give a massive boost to your self esteem and self confidence.

But, if you're looking for the fastest way to build muscle, there are so many more benefits besides boosting confidence. By increasing your bodies lean muscle mass it opens the door to a variety of physical health benefits which include:

• An increase in muscular strength, shape, definition and size.
• A lower body fat percentage as believe it or not muscle tissue is an active tissue meaning it burns calories even at rest! (Did you ever think watching TV could be a workout.. More on this later).
• A better posture for exercise and everyday tasks.

You're most probably now thinking, ‘well I know the benefits that's why I'm here. Just tell me how to do it!’

Look very carefully at the following information in the box below as it sums up this whole page and shows you the 3 critical areas for the fastest way to build muscle that you must get right in order to successfully build muscle and gain weight.

Print it off, put it in your training diary but make sure you remember it. It works!..

	The 3 Steps To Building Muscle
	Weight Training	Train intensely and intelligently with weights 3-5 times a week using compound exercises with a rep range of 6-12.
	Correct Nutrition	Maintain a calorie surplus ensuring you are consuming sufficient protein, carbs & EFA's to build / repair muscles.
	Rest & Recovery	7-10 hours of sleep every night and allow 5-8 days between training each muscle group for maximum recovery.

So now you know what is the fastest way to build muscle and what's required to gain weight, let's take a look at each of these in a bit more depth.

A well designed weight training routine is number one on the list and is needed to create 'the spark' for building lean muscle tissue and to make sure that all those extra calories are going towards repairing and growing your muscles and aren't heading straight for your waistline!

If you're physique tends to be naturally quite lean, you're just starting bodybuilding or you just typically find it difficult to gain weight (also known as a hard-gainer) then the fastest way to build muscle begins with your workout routine first and foremost and should be constructed by incorporating the well known muscle building exercises such as the:

• Bench Press
• Barbell Squat
• Deadlift
• Clean and press

What do they all have in common? They're all compound exercises which means they work a range of muscles at the same time and are extremely effective at building muscle mass. The barbell squat for example, works virtually every muscle in your body and is widely considered to be the most important exercise in weight training for adding size.

If you want to add muscle mass to your frame then you need to start eating big...Period.

Ask a professional bodybuilder 'What's the fastest way to build muscle?' Then your answer will most likely always be Nutrition Nutrition Nutrition! And for very good reason. Diet and nutrition accounts for a massive percentage of your success in building muscle and must be put in place whilst undergoing weight training program.

Failing to carefully plan and consider a high calorie nutrition plan for building muscle is the number one reason for why new and in-experienced bodybuilders do not gain any weight for months on end. A good analogy would be – Imagine for a second that your weight training routine is a sports car and the fuel represents your calorie intake. Now you might have the most beautiful, well put together car in the world but without the fuel it's not going to take you anywhere and it's the exact same with bodybuilding. A well designed weight training program must always be accompanied by a muscle building diet in order to succeed. Nutrition is the fuel for your muscles, allowing them to repair and grow stronger and larger with each session that passes.

It's always been a bit of a science getting the amount of calories right for gaining weight and finding the fastest way to build muscle. It all hinges on making sure that you're in a ‘calorie surplus’ i.e. ensuring that you're consuming more calories in a day than you're burning off through body maintenance and exercise. Getting this right is absolutely critical as your muscles are using calories 24/7 and even when at rest. This calorie surplus is essential for the process of muscle repair and growth allowing you to start gaining weight.

Although finding this golden number can seem like a bit of a challenge, there is a simple formula that you can use to ensure that you're consuming enough which is:

17-20 X (Bodyweight in pounds) = Daily Calorie Intake

Eating this much may sound a fairly easy task to some but it's more tricky than you think. To avoid fat gain overload, your diet should be comprised of 'clean food' and be made up of 40-50% Protein, 30-40% Carbohydrates and 20-30% Essential fatty acids. By keeping within these ratios it will help you to start gaining some lean muscle mass and along side weight training it's sure fire the fastest way to build muscle.

Do you ever think that rest days can sometimes feel like wasted time that could be much better spent as an extra training day at the gym?

Many do, but trust us.. Less is often more with bodybuilding.

Your muscles take anywhere from 7-14 days to fully repair after a heavy weights session which involves multiple exercises and sets per muscle group. Even after they've stopped hurting and aching, they are still in repair and must be given time to fully recover before targeting them again. It's important to remember..

You build muscle outside of the gym whilst at rest. NOT in the gym whilst training.

The above is one of the most important statements that you should take away with you from this page and an important one to consider when designing your workouts if you're looking for the fastest way to build muscle.

Now does this mean for example that you should ONLY train your chest every 14 days? No, of course not, this is taking it a little to the extreme. What most find works best is to train each muscle group once per week. This amount is more than enough to start seeing some decent size gains and allows for sufficient rest and avoids the possibility of overtraining.

Well to pretty much quote from the dictionary, overtraining is a physical condition that occurs when the intensity and frequency of weight training exceeds your recovery capacity. Which in basic terms means your over doing it.. If you've ever experienced it then you'll know it isn't nice. It can result in you not making any gains what so ever and worse than that it can actually cause you to lose muscle tissue in some cases. Not to mention it causes other psychological issues such as 'feeling low' as you're mentally and physically exhausted which also can result in a weakened immune system making you more susceptible to illness.

The level required to trigger overtraining is of course different for everyone and every bodybuilder will have a different opinion on what is considered to be 'overtraining'.

As mentioned earlier, stick to training each muscle group once per week as a starting point. Do this for 6 weeks and providing your training and diet plan is of a good standard you are certain to add some size and is by far the fastest way to build muscle. Once you've been training a little while you can start tweaking your training, diet and recovery times to maximise your results.