Best methods to build muscle mass?

Darcy

Darcy

Darcy

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Joined
6 Nov 2002
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UK
Anyone? Advice / knowledge would be appreciated, i just want to now how to build muscle mass in the most efficient way (naturally).
Thanks.
 
Lift heavy, allow adequate rest, eat lots of protein and a calorie surplus :) Also, exercising your whole body will show better gains than isolating certain body parts. The body naturally wants to keep symmetry and won't overdevelop one muscle group a lot more than another.
 
What Icebus said :D

To elaborate a little more I'll point you to a fantastic starting strength routine that I used..all based on compound lifts and I've doubled some of my lifts in 4 months.

*Linky*

Now if done properly the workouts shouldn't last more than around 45 mins.The common mistake people make at the start is to over-train.Stay on a program similar to this for a few months and watch the gains roll in :D
 
IceBus said:
Lift heavy, allow adequate rest, eat lots of protein and a calorie surplus :) Also, exercising your whole body will show better gains than isolating certain body parts. The body naturally wants to keep symmetry and won't overdevelop one muscle group a lot more than another.
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What?

Whole body workouts are better at developing muscle than isolation? Um...

No.
 
Go to the gym 5 times a day - work on the weights and drink something like Muximuscle Progain with a lot of protein
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That is a little over the top. Rest is vital as that is when the muscle growth occurs. 3 or 4 heavy sessions a week should provide decent results
 
I think what Icebus meant isn't necessarily exercising the whole body in one session, but if you are doing a split routine (say over 3 days) don't neglect one area of your body.

I've started making greater gains since doing proper squats.

And also eating plenty of tuna, chicken, cottage cheese and using some decent whey protein.
 
Your body releases growth hormones which contribute to muscle growth. Working only certain parts of your body restricts your growth. You are most probably throwing away significant gains up top if you don't give your legs a good work out. FACT.
 
I think Icebus meant doing compound exercises that work more than one muscle group will add more mass to you than doing isolation exercises.
 
thebrasso said:
I think what Icebus meant isn't necessarily exercising the whole body in one session, but if you are doing a split routine (say over 3 days) don't neglect one area of your body.
Click to expand...

Bingo. I didn't word it that greatly, and also meant to write what Tony Soprano said but forgot.

I meant that you can't do what most people seem to want to do when they first ask about exercise 'How do I get huge biceps?' without working your legs/back/core/chest/shoulders etc. as you'll leave yourself open to injury and probably see very slow gains anyway.

I also was going to say to concentrate on the big compound lifts as opposed to isolation work - i.e. deadlifts, rows, squats etc.
 
My problem is through swimming and running a lot my legs are over developed. I need to catch the rest up.

Would it still inhibit me if I didn't work so much on them? I'm still doing cardio.
 
If your training *everything* hard the rest will catch up faster ;) Training legs properly will help overall testosterone release, so you're muscles throughout your body will grow at a faster rate. It'll improve your core stability majorly as well.

Even just adding heavy squats into your routine would be benefitical, if thats all you did for legs.
 
Would a leg press be sufficient? As i admit the only working on my legs i have been doing is cardio on the treadmill.
 
Squats are far better than using a leg press. :) Squats work the entire core of your body whereas a leg press isolates the legs and forces them to move in an unnatural way.
 
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