The Best Way to Gain Muscle Mass That Few People Ever Use

THE BEST WAY TO GAIN MUSCLE MASS THAT FEW PEOPLE EVER USE

And lest you ever forget, gaining muscle mass is the best way to lose fat and keep it off.

There are a lot of articles out there right now about gaining muscle without gaining fat. It’s “bulking season”.

But there’s one way that’s often overlooked and seldom written or talked about. And it’s often the easiest of all. Professionals know all about it and use it. And it’s simple, uncomplicated and doesn’t take a lot of time or elaborate workout routines.

Many people can gain pounds of muscle in just a few weeks.

I’ll give you a hint. Look in the mirror with a critical eye. Front, back, both sides. Better yet, have pictures taken. If you’ve been taking measurements (as you should have), look back a few months or, better yet, a year or more.

See it yet? It’s often very obvious.

You probably have entire muscle groups that are lagging behind you “mirror muscles”

You’ll find that these relatively untrained body parts will often respond much faster. Remember those great early gains when you first started training?

Re-read this article:

"Work Your Lagging Body Parts the Hardest"

The article “Working Your Lagging Body Parts the Hardest” mentions several reasons (excuses?) for your lagging body parts.

 But one of the major reasons is you just don’t like the exercises that stimulate a certain body part.

·        “But that exercise is hard”

·        “But that exercise is uncomfortable”

·        “But that exercise takes too long

·        “But the equipment I need for that exercise is always busy”

·        “But my gym doesn’t have the equipment/apparatus I need for that exercise” 

Here’s your answer…

1.     Make sure your nutrition is on point. At least 1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight (.8gr for females), 1.5 gr of carbs per pound of body weight. 1 gr for females. 25-30% of your calories should come from good fats.

2.     Make sure you get adequate rest. 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night.

3.     Pick the six exercises you least enjoy-chances are they correspond to your lagging body parts.

4.     If your gym doesn’t have the apparatus you think you need or if that equipment always seems to be busy go to http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/? and find an alternative. There are instructional videos for each exercise. Or email me at alphaedgefitness@gmail.com And I’ll help you find another one.

5.     Choose two days a week (with at least one day in between) and work on those six exercises. Little or nothing else but those six. Say, Tuesday and Thursday, for example. A routine for the six exercises is laid out below.

6.     Your regular routine is rearranged over the other three or four days. But the workouts for your lagging body parts take priority.

As a point of reference:

·        The average “untrained” upper leg muscles (1 leg) in a 160 pound male contains 10.5 pounds of lean tissue. The average for a “trained”170 pound male is 23 pounds of lean tissue (each leg). For a female, the averages are slightly higher with the average weight of the females being 136 pounds.

·        For the calf (1 leg) the numbers are 4.75 pounds untrained and over 6 pounds for trained.

See my point?

These numbers are from a sample of 100 males and 100 females using DEXA (Duel Energy x-Ray Absorptiometry)  DEXA measures the amount of bone, fat and lean tissue.

The Workouts:

6 weeks total

If you don’t know your 1 RM (1 rep max) or how to calculate it choose a weight you think you can lift for no more than 10 reps (to technical failure). Then go to the calculator here to get you calculated 1RM

Day 1

For each of the 6 exercises you’ll do 4 sets of 6 Reps using a weight of about your 8 Rep Max. That usually equates to about 70-80% of your 1 RM.     

Rest 60 seconds between sets.

Day 2

For each of your 6 chosen exercises you’ll do 3 sets of 12-15 reps using a weight of about 60-70% of your 1 RM. Rest 75 seconds between sets.

On each rep use a tempo of 2 seconds concentric (contraction phase) 2 second squeeze at the top, 3-5 seconds eccentric (stretching phase)

When you can do 6 reps on all 4 sets on Day 1 or 15 reps on all 3 sets on Day 2 raise the weight.

The program is designed for 6 weeks. If it is still working after 6 weeks, take 1 week off from this program. (Continue your normal program) Then start another 6 week cycle of this program.

As an added bonus, you’ll find that, as you strengthen you lagging body parts, all your lifts will go up!

Questions or comments? Send them to alphaedgefitness@gmail.com

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