Build Muscle Mass - 6 Keys to Muscle Building Success

Almost everyone who's ever picked up a weight is looking for that one perfect muscle building routine that is going to instantly transform them from the 98 pound weakling to a walking freak of nature. Well, I'm here to tell you that the magic muscle building routine doesn't exist. Not as a specific set in stone weight training routine, anyway. So how can you build muscle mass as quickly as you'd like?While I believe there are a set of principles that you need to follow, because bodybuilding is a science, it's also those principles that make it impossible to have a perfect muscle building routine. Not because it can't exist but because it's always training. Some of the factors involved in creating a productive weight training routine include:Your muscle fiber typeYour bone structureYour ability to recover from weight training workoutsHow strong you areHow much sleep you getYour nutrition programAnd moreA number of these things are always changing, a big one being your recovery ability. See, the stronger you get, the more stress your body endures, and the move time you need to recover and grow from your previous workout.Let's say you've been performing a full body weight lifting workout three days per week, 12 exercises per workout, 2 working sets per exercise. So you've been blasting your muscles on this routine for about 12 weeks. You've managed to double your strength and put on an amazing 30 pounds of muscle! Guess what? This weight lifting routine is no longer the ideal routine for you because you've gotten so strong.While the typical person has the ability to increase their strength by about 300%, the body has the ability to increase its ability to recover from those workouts by about 50%. So, the stronger you get, the more rest your body needs to recover and grow. This mean, over time, even the most effective muscle building weight training program will need to be changed.
* Make sure you warm upThis sounds pretty simple but most people I see lifting weights in the gym completely ignore proper warm up. And then others warm up way too much, which negatively affects their actual workout. Warm up just enough to be able to allow your muscles to fully contract during your working sets. Studies have shown that a properly warmed up muscle can achieve 20 percent more muscle stimulation.A warm up should do just that - warm the muscle and flush blood into it. Your warm up shouldn't have you exerting yourself or working hard. Here's a good example using the bench press. Let's say you will be bench pressing 250 pounds for 3 sets of 3 reps.
Your warm up could go as follows:
Bar x 20 reps95 pounds x 12 reps135 pounds x 6 reps185 pounds x 3 reps220 pounds x 2 repsWork Sets250 x 3250 x 3250 x 3
* Cycle Your TrainingNow, I'm not talking about some complicated and convoluted periodization plan. I'm talking about keeping things simple by going all out in your workouts for four to six weeks and then having either a very low intensity week or even staying out of the gym completely for a week before getting into another all out phase of four to six weeks. This will help your muscle building efforts by allowing you to recover completely and avoid overtraining.
* Use Variation In Your TrainingThis is more for staying fresh mentally than an absolute requirement for building muscle. But if you get bored from your workout, you won't work out with as much intensity, even if just subconsciously. A good way to use variety is to incorporate it into your phase training. Every time you start up a new four to six week training phase, consider using a slightly different routine so you stay motivated and challenged.

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Thanks and God Bless!
Lee Harris