What are the Fastest Ways to Build Muscle?

Simple Ways for Building Muscle Fast

What are the fastest ways to build muscle?



As we mentioned on our homepage, there are three principles that you absolutely must follow to build muscle fast. The three main ways to build muscle fast are

1. Eat Right - Proper nutrition to fuel your workouts and enhance muscle growth.

2. Lift Weights - A solid weight lifting and workout program designed to increase muscle mass, and

3. Rest - Sufficient rest and recovery to allow time for muscle growth are repair.

Leave out any of those three categories, and your growth will fail to meet your expectations.

The muscle building tips are outlined below are separated into those three categories.

Let's get started on the fastest ways to build muscle!

Fastest Ways To Build Muscle - Eat Right

One of the fastest ways to build muscle is to make sure that you get the proper nutrition.

In business, you can have outstanding processes for building outstanding products. However, if you do not have the critical supporting elements for your processes - the right support processes, tools and people in the right places and operating at the right times - those products will fail to meet the company’s or the customer’s expectations.

Now, imagine that your weight lifting program were your process to deliver an outstanding product, the product being more lean muscle. Then those essential supporting elements are what make up proper nutrition. You have to get the right nutrients, in the right quantities, at the right times to make that process work to its fullest potential.

Let's say you designed a process to build a house. You have the blueprints and are ready to start building, when a team of lawyers shows up with screw drivers and nails to build the house. This obviously would not work. The lawyers do not really know how to build a house, and while they have some of the right tools, the tools they have are not sufficient to even begin to build the house. Getting the proper nutrition is the same way.

However, proper nutrition is one of the most overlooked way to build muscle fast. Considering the amount of conflicting information available, especially for people who are looking for the fastest ways to build muscle, it is no wonder that we often miss the target on nutrition.

Having a quality nutrition plan in place is undoubtedly one of the fastest ways to build muscle.

Click here to learn more about nutrition.

Build Muscle Fast - Make Sure You Have Enough "Raw Materials" to Build Muscle

You have to eat big to be big. Making sure you have enough calories to grow is one of the fastest ways to build muscle.

Do not run out to the nearest McDonald's just yet, though. The trick is to eat enough, without eating too much! Sure, you would build muscle fast. However, if you eat too many calories, you can be certain that you will put on fat as fast if not faster. Building that new muscle will not do us any good if it is covered by two inches of fat!

A good rule of thumb to calculate how many calories you need to gain muscle is to multiply your lean body weight by 19. For example, a 220 pound bodybuilder with 10% body fat would need approximately 3,762 calories per day (220 pounds x (100%-10%) x 19 calories)to build muscle.

Eat big to be big. Getting enough calories is definitely one of the fastest ways to build muscle.

Build Muscle Fast - Make Sure You Eat Enough Protein to Build Muscle

Simply having enough "raw material" is not enough by itself to build muscle, though. In order to be sure that the majority of our new weight is from muscle, we have to have the right mix of nutrients. If you do not have the right mix of raw materials, then you will not put on as much quality lean muscle as you would like.

We have already determined that getting enough calories is one of the fastest ways to build muscle. Now, let's build upon that concept.

While it is absolutely true that you will build muscle fast by eating enough calories, you will build muscle faster by making sure that you are getting enough of those calories from protein.

In order to build muscle, most people should eat between 1 and 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. For a 200 pound weight lifter, that is between 200 and 300 grams of protein per day.

Protein contains approximately 4 calories per gram. Therefore, 800 to 1200 calories per day should come from protein. That equates to 20% to 30% of your total caloric intake.

Making sure that you get between 1 and 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight is one of the fastest ways to build muscle.

Click here to learn more facts about protein.

Build Muscle Fast - Make Sure You Eat Enough Carbohydrates to Build Muscle

Eating enough calories, and making sure that we obtain sufficient amount of protein are two of the fastest ways to build muscle. But what about other macronutrients?

Consuming the right amount of carbohydrates is an essential way to build muscle fast. Carbohydrates are the primary source of fuel for your body. By making sure that you eat enough of your calories from carbohydrates ensures that you have fuel for your workouts and that a greater proportion of your protein is used to build muscle.

So, how many grams of carbohydrates should you eat per day. The simple rule to follow is that you should consume carbohydrates in a 2 to 1 ratio to protein.

As a result, our 200 pound bodybuilder, consuming between 200 and 300 grams of protein per day, should consume 400 to 600 grams of carbohydrates per day.

Carbohydrates also equal 4 calories per gram. Therefore, we would expect somewhere between 1600 and 2400 calories per day to come from carbohydrates. This is 40% to 60% of total calories.

Making sure that you have the amount of calories from carbohydrates to fuel your workout ensures that nearly all of your protein is used to repair and build muscle. Therefore, consuming 40% to 60% of your calories from carbohydrates is one of the fastest ways to build muscle.

Fastest Ways To Build Muscle - Lift Weights

Lifting weights is one of the three fastest ways to build muscle.

Having the right processes in place are essential for business to ensure that they maximize their profits. The more efficient the process, the faster the company realizes its profits.

In the same way, your weight lifting program is the process you will use to increase your muscle "revenues." The tips below will allow you to take your weight lifting process and make it as efficient as possible, the faster your muscle gains.

An efficient weight lifting program is one of the fastest ways to build muscle.

Build Muscle Fast - Use Compound Movements to "Multi-Task" During Your Weight Lifiting Routine

Experience Level: All

By far, one of the fastest ways to build muscle is to use compound movements (sometimes called multi-joint movements) in your weight training program.

Compound movements involve more than one joint when lifting the weight. As a result, compound movements also recruit more than one muscle group. Using more muscle groups at once is a fast way to build muscle.

Compound movements also allow you to lift heavier weights that you would be able to with single joint movements. Lifting heavier weights is essential way to build muscle fast (see the next tip).

An example of a compound movement is the bench press. The bench press involves the shoulder and elbow joints. The muscle groups involved includes the shoulders (deltoids), chest (pectorals), and the back of the arms (triceps).

To compare, a single joint movement involves only one joint and one muscle group. The triceps press down, for example, only involves the back of the arm (triceps).

Since you are working more muscle groups at the same time, and lifting heavier weights, compound movements are an efficient way to build muscle.

Build Muscle Fast - Maximize Your Workout by Lifting Heavy Weights

Experience Level: All

Another way to build muscle fast is to use as many muscle fibers as possible during a particular exercise.

Muscle grows as a response to the trauma it endures during a weight lifting routine. During your workout, the muscle fiber stretches and tears. It is only during the rest period after this trauma occurs that your body utilizes the nutrients from your diet to build muscle.

In order to maximize this muscle fiber recruitment, it is absolutely essential to lift heavy weights.

Now, how do you know if you are lifting heavy weights? After all, my heavy and your heavy may be two completely different things.

A good rule of thumb is that a weight is "heavy" you can safely handle the weight for a maximum of 8 to 12 repetitions with proper form. This weight will be somewhere between 70% and 80% of your one-rep max (1RM). If you are able to do more reps, then the weight is too light. Less repetitions means the weight is too heavy.

Lifting heavy weights allows you to maximize the number of muscle fibers used to move the weight. Maximizing the number of muscle fibers used for a body part is one of the fastest ways to build muscle.

Build Muscle Fast - Supersets

Experience Level: Advanced

Without a doubt, using supersets in your weight training routine is one of the fastest ways to build muscle.

Normally, you perform several "regular" or "straight" sets of the same exercise, performing 6 to 12 repetitions, and resting for a period of time between each set. You then move on to another exercise, such dumbbell flyes.

On the other hand, a superset allows you to speed up this process. A superset is the combination of one exercise performed immediately after another with no rest between the exercises. Completing the two exercise cycle completes the superset.

In addition to saving in your work out, super sets are a fast way to build muscle because they allow you to increase the intensity of your weight lifting routine. The increase in workout intensity occurs because you are able to squeeze more work into a shorter time frame.

There are three main ways to do superset exercises:

1. Antagonistic Supersets - Antagonistic supersets are a way to build muscle fast since it involves pairing two opposite (antagonistic) muscle groups. This allows for a period of rest for the muscle group not being worked. This allows you to handle heavier weights for each muscle group worked. Example: Working the chest (pectorals) with the back (latissimus dorsi).

2. Same Muscle Group Supersets - As the name suggests, these supersets involve working the same muscle with two different exercises. There are four flavors of same muscle group super sets.
   1. Pre-Exaust involves using an isolation movement, such as the dumbbell flye for the chest prior to a compound movement such as the barbell bench press. This allows you to achieve a level of exhaustion that may not normally occur. For example, the limiting factor in the bench press is often the shoulders or triceps, not the chest muscles. The pre-exhaust techniques ensures that you get a sufficient muscle fiber stimulus in the chest.

   2. Post-Exhaust is the similar to Pre-Exhaust, except that the isolation exercise occurs after the compound exercise. This method ensures that you can lift as heavy as possible on the compound movement portion of the superset.

   3. Compound supersets are one of the fastest ways to build muscle, but they are not for the faint of heart. As the name implies, they involve doing two compound movements during the superset. They are such a shock to your muscular and nervous systems, that most people need an extra day or two of rest before working that particular muscle group again. Additionally, special attention should be paid to safety with compound supersets due to the strain on your muscles and the tendency for form to get sloppy near the end of the superset. The classic example of a compound superset is combining squats with leg presses for your legs.

   4. Isolation supersets consist of pairing two isolation exercises. An example might be triceps pressdowns and overhead triceps extension. This method is not a fast way to build muscle and is used primarily to enhance muscular definition.

3. Staggerd Supersets - The staggered superset involves the combination of a large muscle group such as the chest or legs with an unrelated, smaller muscle group such as the abdominals. This allows you to be more productive between sets and save time in the gym.

As you can see, supersetting is definitely a fast way to build muscle in the gym.

Fastest Ways To Build Muscle - Rest

This is by far the hardest "way to build muscle fast" for people to understand. It is counter intuitive, but true, that muscle growth begins after you leave the gym.

You can have the best weight training routine and nutrition program in the world, but without allowing sufficient time for your muscles to rest and recover, you will significantly slow your muscle growth.

Even in the business world, not getting enough rest can have a negative effect on profits! For example, if companies required its employees to work 10 hours per day, 7 days per week, 52 weeks per year, the employees would burn out and become less productive. Employees need time off to recuperate. This is why companies allow most of their employees to have weekends off and use vacation time.

In the same manner, allowing your muscles to have sufficient recovery time is one of the fastest ways to build muscle. This allows your body to focus on using the protein from your nutrion plan to repair the muscle damage from your weight lifting program.

While the amount of rest needed to fully recover from an intense workout varies significantly from person to person, a good rule of thumb is to allow 4 to 5 days rest between workouts for each body part.

Not allowing your muscles to recuperate will slow or even reverse the muscle building process. Therefore, getting sufficient rest is also one of the fastest ways to build muscle.

Click here to learn more about why rest is important.

More of the Fastest Ways to Build Muscle.

Weight Lifting Exercises For All Fitness Levels

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