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How to Get Bigger
Hypertrophy is the increase in size of muscle cells. There are a number of theories as to which form of hypertrophy training is the most effective. Some say that focusing on a rep count is best – usually around 8-12 reps – others say that time under tension (TUT) is what you should be focusing on within each set, while others feel that it’s the total TUT of the workout that’s most important, not just the set.
No matter what your theory, you need variation to see consistent gains.
Do you need to deprive yourself of everything that is tasty, and enjoyable in order to build an awesome body and get in great shape?
That’s what most people struggle with, myself included early on in my training. We think that you have to deprive ourselves. That building lean muscle, and getting a six-pack is about deprivation, and saying no to the treats and the things we enjoy most.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. Much of the fitness industry will have you think that you have to stick to a strict meal plan, that you can’t consume any alcohol, or that you have to eat boring foods that aren’t all that tasty. Well that simply isn’t true.
Blue steel? Lesson #1: don’t take yourself too seriously.
I’m not ‘naturally’ like this
If you’re frustrated because you feel like you can’t build muscle or lose fat, and you feel like no matter how hard you work and train, you can’t build the body you want. Know that I was born with a body that was the furthest thing from my ideal.
For my first 7 years in the gym I gained ZERO pounds of lean muscle. Had minimal strength gains and was about the most frustrated human being on the face of the earth. But, things happen for a reason. When I finally figured out what I was doing wrong, my gains skyrocketed and I haven’t looked back since. The thing is, without those years of failure, feeling like I was cursed by shitty genetics, I wouldn’t be able to help other guys with the same problems, reach their goals.
I gained 32 pounds of lean muscle in 32 weeks. Here are a few things I did to get there.
If you’re a naturally skinny guy like myself – or an ectomorph (bodytype) – then you need to have everything going your way if you’re going to build the body you want. And, if you’re like me (or like I was), the body you want it stronger, faster, leaner, and has about 20-40 extra pounds of lean muscle.
We, the skinny guys who work harder but see fewer gains than our mesomorphic (naturally muscular) friends, need to make sure our workouts, nutrition, and even our hormones are all helping us reach our goals, not hindering our progress.
My guess is that if you have spent some time working out, you’ve achieved some results. You may have improved your strength, lost a bit of weight, or gained a bit of muscle, but in maintaining consistent improvements is where you found a problem.
I was there with you. I tried for 7 years, gaining, and then losing, constantly hitting plateaus like a flies hit my high beams. That is, until I figured things out. Here are 7 strategies that will help you consistently build lean and athletic muscle mass.
1. Change your goals.
Having a goal to build 32 pounds to your skinny frame in “x” amount of days is a great goal, so keep that as your vision of where you want to be down the road. But rather than being focused on the end result – the muscle or the strength you want to gain – identify specific tasks or steps you need to take, that will get you there. Make those steps your weekly and monthly goals.
For example, if you are doing the PowerHowse Challenge, you could have a goal of following the program word-for-word for 2 full months. Follow that up with a week off. You could also have a goal of not missing 1 workout for a 2-month period, or only having 1 cheat-day each week.
Keep your goals short, and focused. By focusing on the things that will get you to your goals, you’ll be less likely to get ‘tripped up’. But if you’re always focused on the end-point, you can get discouraged and sidetracked because it seems so far away. You may think that missing one workout isn’t the end of the world. But it reality, missing one workout will make it more acceptable to miss other workouts later on down the road.
Gaining a pound of lean muscle a week isn’t the hardest thing to do in the world. But if you told me that before I had ever gained a single pound, I would have called bullshit. It seemed like an impossible thing for me to do when I first started training – and for the next 7 years for that matter. However, once I gained those first few pounds as I started the new system – The PowerHowse Challenge – a light-bulb went off in my head, and I realized thatthis could be done.
