Most people think that in order to get that V shaped upper body like comic book super heroes, they only have to develop big broad back muscles and lats. Well, by having broad back muscles and well developed lats is only part of the equation to get a V shape upper body. For complete V shape upper body development, you will also need to build a powerful chest, big strong shoulder muscles or commonly called deltoids or delts for short and a slim waist.

We shall discuss how to build big shoulder muscles in this article. You see, you may have a wonderful six pack abs or well defined chest muscles, but when you are in your street clothes, no one can see them. But if you have that massive V shape with bulging shoulder muscles, your body frame will tell the world that under those clothes is a well defined body of a gym warrior.

As with building any muscles in your body, intensity is the key to building big deltoids. Your shoulder muscles are made up primarily of the anterior deltoid (front delt), medial deltoid (middle delt) and posterior deltoid (back delt). All 3 parts of your shoulder muscles must be targeted to build well defined and big strong deltoids that threaten to burst through your shirt. The problem here is that most people do not know that they must work on all 3 shoulder muscles and do most shoulder workouts by just concentrating on the anterior delts with exercises such as military press. Furthermore, working only on anterior delts could lead to over training your shoulder muscles because many other exercises like the bench press, dips and push ups also recruit shoulder muscles for its movements.

Your should be careful when working on your shoulder muscle exercises as your shoulders joints are very susceptible to injuries and therefore proper form in executing the exercises is crucial. Don’t let bad exercise form cause you injuries that may be permanent and put you out of the gym forever. One common injury prone exercise is the narrow grip upright row. Although this is a great trapezius and shoulder muscle exercise, it should be avoided because this exercise invokes unnatural and awkward shoulder joint movement.

So what exercises are good for building big strong deltoids? Well, besides the military presses, try Arnold Press, Lateral Raise, Bent Over Lateral Raises, Shoulder Width Upright Row and Shoulder Cable exercises. Ask your personal trainer or read up on how to perform these exercises in excellent form for great shoulder muscle development.

Remember that you must also develop other aspects such as a big broad chest, wide back muscles and flared lats as well as a slim waistline to get that much coveted V shaped upper body.

Bodybuilders have always complained that the calf muscles are the hardest to build. I am sure you have seen many big guys in the gym with incredibly out of proportion small calf muscle.

Building big strong calf muscles not only will make you lower body more pleasing to the eye, it will also help tremendously in your sports and games giving you more power in your sprints and jumps. You calf muscles along with your quadriceps will also help to support your knee joints, reducing wear and tear.

The great Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, “Everyday you walk around. When you walk you are using your calves. You are pushing at least your body weight every time you take a step. So, when you go to the gym and work out your calves with light weight, are you really stressing your muscles?”

Think about it. Whenever you walk, jump or run, your calf muscles are pushing at least your body weight. That will mean that in order to build your calf muscles, you will have to lift heavy. Real heavy. So the kids gloves are off when you want to build a strong beautiful diamond shaped calves.

The major muscles on your calves are the soleus and the gastrocnemius muscles. The soleus muscles are the wide and flat muscle located on the tibia and the fibula. The gastrocnemius muscles are the large muscles located near the middle and goes to the top of the fibula and tibia.

The gastrocnemius muscle is made up of the medial head (inner calve) and the lateral head (outer calve) muscles.

So what are good calf muscles exercises? Here are 2 of the more common calf muscle exercises.

DONKEY CALF RAISES
One of Arnold’s favorite calf muscle exercises is the Donkey Raise. He has 2 gym buddies sitting on his back whenever he does this exercise and you can imagine how big and heavy Arnold’s gym buddies are.

Just bend over and support yourself on a bench, have your gym buddy, the heavier the better to sit on your back as if you are a donkey, then raise your heels off the floor, and pause at the top and squeeze hard for full muscle contraction, then return to your original position by lowering your heels almost touching the floor. That will be one rep. If your buddy is not heavy enough, he may carry some weight plates when sitting on your back.

If you do not have gym buddies to help you, there are donkey raise machines which you can use to build your calf muscles.

SEATED CALF RAISES
This exercise is commonly preformed using a machine where you sit, and a padded section is placed above your knees.

If your gym do not have seated calf raises machines, you can still perform this exercise by sitting on a bench and putting a weighted barbell on your thighs, then raise your heels off the floor, and pause at the top and squeeze hard for full muscle contraction, then return to the original position with the heels almost touching the floor. That will be one rep. If the barbell hurt your thighs, put a towel as a cushion on your thighs.

Now remember to use heavy weights. How many sets and reps? Well, those of you who are familiar with my training methods will know that I do not believe in a pre determined number of reps. Just perform the exercises until you just cannot lift any more even if I were to holler at you. That will be one set. As for number of sets, depending on your time and your split routine for the day, do 3-6 sets of calf muscle fatigued reps.

So you want to build big and powerful chest muscles? Huge
big pectoral muscles (pecs) or chest muscles that command respect and adoration? You can be the proud owner of a big and powerful chest.

Many people actually think that there are 2 separate chest muscles, well there aren’t. The chest muscle or pecs that you see on each side of your chest is a fan shaped
one continuous muscle although they may be called by different names such as pectoralis major, minor and clavicle head to differentiate the different parts
of the same muscle. All chest exercises work your chest muscle but from different angles which places different stress on your chest. You need to use a variety of chest muscle exercises to hit your pecs at various angles to
stimulate massive muscle growth. Each different angle you use with any chest muscle exercises will reach into various different fibers in your chest muscles for effective stimulation of different areas of your pecs so that your entire chest will grow muscles fast and symmetrically giving you that broad and powerful chest that threatens to rip through your t-shirt.

For best results building your chest muscles, use free
weights, especially dumb bells instead of machines. Chest muscle workout that use any chest machines should be avoided as it has many disadvantages like it will not only produce the desired results may also cause injuries because of its narrow range of movements. Your chest muscles will also not grow fast because machine exercises lack the involvement of synergistic muscles or surpporting muscles. As with any weightlifting workout, proper lifting form and techniques are of paramount importance.

Many people typically use only 1 or 2 types of chest exercises and almost invariably, it’s the flat bench press and flys . Well, to build a powerfully big and well chiseled chest muscles, that is a fatal mistake as you do not adequately hit the pecs from all angles so as to stimulate muscle growth in your entire chest muscle. All chest muscle exercises will not only work your chest but also your delts, biceps and triceps to a lesser extent. So you need to focus, visualize and to concentrate the force on the chest. Mind and your chest muscle connection is vital here so as to make your chest work harder instead of using your triceps, delts or biceps to power your chest workout. Also work on the full range of motion and
squeeze your chest muscles hard at every top of each movement. Always lower your weight slowly and deliberately fighting gravity to provide more resistance to your chest muscles and therefore elicit more muscle fibers for
more muscle growth.

A word of caution though. You will need a spotter or a
personal trainer for safety reasons because you must lift heavy for excellent muscle gain especially so for chest muscle development. Your spotter or personal trainer will also be able to correct your mistakes and help you with
forced reps to reach into the deep tissues to elicit maximum muscle fiber stimulation.

Want to build Big Huge Muscles? Then you must Squat! The Squat will build big muscles on your entire body frame.

There are 3 types of people in this world.

First, there are those that make things happen.
They calculated and know very sure what they want, then they take action and get it no matter what happens. They single mindedly pursue their ambition and they will ultimately succeed. In bodybuilding, they want to grow big and strong with big huge muscles. They SQUAT and squat and squat again. Have you ever seen anyone who is big, have huge muscles and have a well proportioned body like a Greek god who does not squat? Never.

Then there are those who watch things happen.
They will savor the world around them. Then say, we will see what happens next. If it works, well we will decide if we are gonna do it.

These are the majority of the average Joes. They want to grow big muscles and be strong and muscular but are reluctant to make the effort to include the squat in their workout routine. Even if they do, they will do it haphazardly and will give up before they achieve their objectives. Then the excuses will flow. “Squats are too hard on my knees” or “Doing squat will stunt your growth” or “Squats are for my back” or “I just want a well toned body.” Excuses from sour grapes. That is why average joes just remain well… average. We will debunk those excuses later in this article.

Finally there are those that are always saying “Omigosh! What happened?” Needless to say, these people are the ones oblivious to what is happening around them. They will walk leisurely on a treadmill reading a book at the same time when others are raising their heart rates to improve endurance and burn fats.

They are the ones doing dumbbell curls after dumbbell curls when others are doing bench presses, dead lifts and squats. They are the ones who ask the champions why the champs are growing biiger muscles and getting fitter all the time whereas they are at the gym longer, more regular and yet not achieving any result. They will take note of the advises and the next time you see them, they are back to what they were doing. Reading that confounded book on the treadmill. They actually expect changes to take place by doing the same things. How is that possible? Then they will say, “Ah… but you are just lucky to have good genes!” What nonsense!

To build muscles fast and big, you must SQUAT! The squat is often touted as the king of exercise and is grouped together with the dead lift and bench press, collectively called the Big Three for power and muscle mass building.

If you want to build big muscles and enjoy a symmetrical physique, you must squat. Period.

In most gym, the squat rack is there collecting dust. Why? Because most people think that their legs will be hidden by their pants. Why bother? How dead wrong they are. Wait till you see them in their shorts or swim wear. You will see Spiderman ..er ..I mean spider legs.

Another reason why people avoid squatting exercises is because the squat work on many major muscles and is grueling work. When you perform squats correctly, you will huff and pant, wheeze, head spinning woozily, see stars, sweat profusely and your entire body will be screaming for you to stop.

Of course the exercise is brutal! You are working out about 75% of your entire muscular structure including your shoulders, traps, back, gluteus, hams, calf, abs and many other synergistic muscles in a single exercise, isn’t that supposed taxed your strength, endurance and your cardio health? Isn’t that the best exercise? Isn’t that why the results from squats will be astounding?

As an added bonus to building big muscles , you will be burning fats like crazy since the squat, given the intensity placed on your body, your metabolism zooms straight up! If your body fat ratio is high, it will help you lose body fat.

And because of the degree of difficulty, squats also force your body to release higher amounts of growth hormone , resulting in new muscle growth in all areas of your body. In addition, squats will cause a spillover effect, enabling you to gain strength in all of your other lifts. Awesome! It just befuddles me why, with all these benefits, people are avoiding squats like a bubonic plague. As for the hard gainers, squat will pack on pounds after pounds of muscle on your entire body! So hard gainers, you must squat to grow big!

If you squat with the correct form, heavy weight and sheer intensity, you will see good results in just weeks. Not just your lower body. Your entire frame will take on a different form. A total body transformation. Guaranteed!

You must know that since squats are performed with heavy weight, so correct form and techniques are critical and cannot be compromised. Anything less, you may sustain serious injury. However, when you adhere to the proper technique, you will be very safe and will enjoy all the benefits that come with the squat. Don’t cheat yourself and substitute squats with leg presses. They are of a different class!

Debunking Excuses!

It’s bad for the knees - In fact, it’s on the contrary. Just like the muscle tissue in your body strengthens when exposed to stress, the tendons, ligaments and other connective tissues in your body will also thicken in response to weightlifting. That means, it actually improve knee health when you squat. It also strengthens all the muscles around your knee and thus providing your knees with support when the muscles are strong and less stress is placed on the knees on your day to day activities. I know. I used to suffer from knee pain until I started squatting and now, my knees are in perfect health that I can even play competitive soccer. Knee problems only occur when you squat improperly like resting at the bottom of the movement or letting your knee protrude over your toes.

It’s bad for my back - For the same reasons about strengthening your tissues, squats also exercises your lower back. When done in correct form, it actually builds strong muscles on your lower back and not only correcting you from bad posture that results in a bad back, it may even give you a healthy strong back. Again, it will only hurt your back if done in poor form like bending forward or doing it with a rounded back instead of arching it during the movement.

It will give you high blood pressure and bad for the heart -
Sure, your blood pressure will rise as your heart will beat faster from the exercise. That is only temporary and not dangerous unless you already have those problems in the first place. Other than that you are actually exercising your heart and cardio vascular system to strengthen it. How can that be dangerous? Don’t most exercises elevate heart rate and increase blood flow? Then they should ban the treadmills and close all swimming pools! Do you buy that nonsense?

So, now that you know that squat is the king of bodybuilding exercises, are you the type that makes things happen or are still contend to be wondering what the heck happened?

In every gym that you go to, you will see people pumping their biceps. Biceps along with the pecs and abs are sometimes called vanity muscles because they are the most visible and therefore commands the most respect. Invariably, when you ask someone to show you his muscles, he will probably flex his biceps.

Before we discuss biceps development, I want to point out that the biceps make up only one third of your upper arm with triceps the other two-thirds. So to have an impressive arm, you must build your triceps too or the effort on your biceps will not show good results. Many people fail to realize this and that is why you see them doing curls after curls without much improvement. We will touch on triceps exercises in another article. For now, let’s talk about biceps.

Here are some exercises that will blast your biceps. Most of you would have done some or all of these exercises. The question I am asking is, are the exercises done in the correct form and techniques because if they are not, you will most likely be wasting your time as your biceps will not grow to its full potential. Perform each exercise for 3-5 sets once or twice a week and at reps between 6-10, but make sure that at the high end of the reps, you will not be so fatigued that you can’t perform another rep in good form.

Standing Barbell Curl/ EZY Bar

You can perform this exercise with either a straight bar or an ezy bar. This is a great mass building exercises for your biceps.

Stand with feet shoulder width apart and grasp the bar with an underhand grip, hands should also be about shoulder width apart. Curl the bar up slowly focusing intensely on the biceps contraction. Do not swing or use momentum to curl especially at the later stages when your biceps get weaker. Never swing or move your body, only your arms are moving. Keep your elbows locked to the side of your body and do not pivot them.

Then lower the weight, taking 3-4 seconds resisting the weight on the way down to emphasize the negative part of the exercise. Never let gravity pull the weights down.

At all times, do not curl or bend your wrist which must always be in a straight neutral position.

Incline Dumbbell Curls

This exercise will hit different fibre in your biceps and gives you the peak bicep look.

Sit back on an incline bench holding a dumbbell in each hand, keep your elbows well forward throughout the movement, curl the weight upward and toward the shoulder level. Then squeeze your biceps hard at the top position. Lower the weights again, slowly under full control. The speed and techniques are similar to what was described earlier.

Preacher Curl

Similar to barbell curl but using the preacher curl station. This is an excellent bicep peaking isolation exercise.

Hammer Curl

Hammer curl gives your biceps the full look and your forearms are also working hard.

Similar to incline dumbbell curl except you will be using the hammer grip on the dumbbell like holding a hammer knocking nails in and standing up instead of sitting down.

Build Biceps Tips

Focus on the movement of your biceps all throughout the motion. Don’t lift weights that are too heavy that will compromise your form and techniques to show off.

By slightly turning and squeezing, you’ll build more peak on your biceps. Like all exercises, pose and stretch the biceps between sets. This is to flush out lactic acid and help your biceps recover better for the next set.

Remember to change the order of the exercises you perform after every few weeks to shock your biceps into new growth.

Take a walk into any gym and you will see menof all shape and sizes pumping their chest insanely. Why? Because we are genetically wired up to think that by having a strong and powerful chest is a way to ward off adversaries and also a natural female magnet. The fairer sex instinctively loves to snuggle up on a strong chest as it gives them a sense of security and protection. Even in the animal kingdom, the gorilla pounds its chest to scare off foes and attract mates.

Your chest muscles or pectoralis or commonly called the pecs is a big muscle group. For your chest muscles to grow fast and massive, you will have to lift heavy and in excellent form. The fundamental exercises which you must do for your chest routine should be the flat bench press. Stay away from the machines. Use free weights. Flat presses work your entire chest muscles, and are probably the best mass chest muscles builder. Dumbbells are superior to barbells in that they allow a greater range of motion, more balancing work is required and therefore recruiting more fibres and synergistic muscles for massive growth. However you should do barbell presses for variations and shocking effect for further muscle growth.

Next will be the incline dumbbell press. Inclines work the top of your chest muscles giving you the broad and wide chest like those of comic book super heroes. The exercise is executed the same as the flat press except that you are lying on an incline bench. I do not recommend decline presses as that will develop your lower pecs and gives you a drooping chest look. We want a strong and powerful chest, not tits!

Another great mass builder for your chest is what I call the superman dip. If you do the vertical dip, you will end up working your triceps and shoulders more. If you lean forward and tuck in your chin into your chest and perform the exercise like a plane taking off or Superman flying towards the sky, then you will place major stress on your chest for a full and wide chest development. Make sure to go down to where you feel a deep stretch in your chest. The bottom part of the rep is where you chest gets the work.

Always work you chest muscles with heavy weights and in execllent form throw in some flyes and weight pushups now and then for all rounded chest muscles development.

If you are clueless at the gym and yet hungry for plain, good ‘ol professional advice to help you on the road to that sculpted physique of a Greek god, fret not! All you have to do is to have a solid commitment, use the knowledge gleaned from this article and you will attain the body you want pronto. But remember to warm up and cool down, as well as stretching before and after each session; Or even better, after each set for better muscle recovery and prevention of injuries.

Use Free Weights instead of Machines More Often

Machines will have its uses, but for a start, concentrate on free weights. That means work almost exclusively with barbells and dumb bells. Free weights recruit many stabilizing muscles for balance and control. That means you will work a lot more muscle parts other than the intended ones. That will give rise to little bumps, striations and definitions all over your body instead of one huge lump of muscle on your intended muscle. Because of the extra stimulant created, your muscles grow faster too. Why else do you think all professional bodybuilders almost exclusively use free weights?

Compound Exercises Instead Of Isolation Exercises

Use as many compound exercises as possible to your workouts. Compound exercises are exercises that involve 2 or more joint movements. Because they utilize more joints, that means greater muscle mass are involved. Greater muscle mass means heavier weights. Heavier weights means greater muscle gain.

Some excellent compound exercises are the Squat, Deadlift, Chin ups, Dips, Bench press, Barbell Press, Lunges, Bent-Over Barbell Row…etc.

Train with Intensity

You must train intensively like a mad man for your muscle to grow. Try to do more reps or add more weight than the previous session or your muscles will think, “Ah… we’ve done that. Nothing new, so no need to grow bigger and stronger.”

Because of this, it is important that every time you train hard, you give your body time to recover as it has suffered strains and actually sustained many small scarring. Your muscles grow when you rest, especially when you sleep and not in the gym. So sleep at least 8 hours a day. Also, do not train everyday or work the same muscle group more than once or twice a week. If your training was vigorous enough, do no more than an hour per session.

Try not to do cardio work on the same day as your weight lifting work. In fact, during the muscle building phase, you should do less cardio work as aerobic exercises burn muscles. You can increase your cardio work when we come to the cutting phase, to lose fats and gain rippling definition.

Correct Technique And Form

Everywhere, everyday, you will see people using wrong form and technique when training with weights. This not only compromises your growth, it will also make you susceptible to injuries.

Wrong form occurs usually when people try to lift weights that are too heavy, whether out of vanity or ignorance. As a guide, always lift with strict focus on the muscle you intend to build for that particular exercise. Feel it contract and extend. Lift the weights deliberately and slowly. Never ever swing your weights up especially when doing bicep curls or the military press. Lower the weights slowly, taking about 3 seconds instead of letting gravity pull the weight down. You must fight gravity to stimulate the muscles, if not, half of your effort is going to waste. Another common mistake is when people arch their back when they are doing their bench presses. By arching your back, you are using your spine to press the weight up. Your back must be pressed against the bench at all times for the exercise to be effectively working on your chest! However you MUST arch your back when doing squats and deadlift.

With some exceptions, as a general rule, if you can lift a weight in good form for more than 10 reps, it is too light. Conversely, if you can’t lift it more than 5 times in good form, it is too heavy.

To Grow Fast and Huge, You Must Perform Lower Body Exercises!

This is what most people don’t realize. Your lower body makes up 60-70% of your musculature. If you don’t train them, not only will you look spider-legged, your entire body will not grow as quickly and as large. Don’t think that you can hide those skinny legs in your pants! Most people do not train their legs because squats, dead lifts and lunges can be very grueling exercises. But it is precisely because of such intensity that you will produce more growth hormones when you sleep and overall muscular development is stimulated.

EAT and EAT Correctly

Losing weight and building muscles cannot happen at the same time although there are methods to do so and will be too technical to describe here. To lose weight, you must have a caloric deficit. To build muscles, you must have more calories, period! So do not be afraid to eat. Have plenty of protein, moderate complex carbs and some good oil like Omega, olive, flaxseed, fish etc., especially immediately after a workout. That is when your body is most nutrient hungry and will absorb whatever you eat very quickly. The longer you delay eating after a workout, the less effective it will be. Even better, take quick absorption protein shakes and high glycemic carbs during this time. The carbs will induce insulin production almost immediately and shuttle the protein to your muscle cells very quickly.

Eat about 2 gm of protein for each kg of your bodyweight or 1 gm per pound of your body weight. Spread your meals evenly throughout the day about 3 hours apart. It is advisable that you have supplementation of Creatine, Protein, Multivitamins and L-Glutamine.

Yes, you will probably gain weight, but a lot of it will be muscle weight because muscles are heavier than fats. You may also gain some fats because of the extra calories consumed. Don’t worry, it is a happy problem because the more muscles you have, the easier the fats are to shed when you come to the cutting up phase to get those rippling definitions.

Easy isn’t it? Now that you know the facts, the rest is up to your determination.

So you want to build muscles to look like superman. So you hit the gym frequently to workout your muscles. Two months down the road, you still look more or less the ssame without increasing any muscle mass. Why?

This is because in order to build muscles effectively, you will need to know the science of building muscles. You must know exactly what to do in order to get those toned and defined muscles. If not, you will be wasting your time in the gym or worse, even develop bodybuilding injuries because you did not approach it in a scientific way.

That said, do you know that there are a few types of different muscle fibers? Some of these fibers have the ability to grow big and provide you with massive strength while others such as endurance muscle fibers are likely to remain small but allow you to use them for many hours.

Now can you imagine what will happen if you spend most of your time in the gym working out on these smaller type muscle fibers? Do you really expect to grow big when you are doing this?

I am not saying that these smaller muscle fibers cannot increase in size, on the contrary, you can make, it is just that you need to train them a little differently. Your calves and forearms muscles are such examples.

Many a times, when people’s workout methods are wrong and their muscles don’t grow, they pin it down on genetics. Have you ever heard people exclaiming, “Oh, my muscles are not growing poor genes.” Then they whine and whine about how their parents and siblings are also small built. So it is probably the genes.

Whining about your “genetics” does nothing but instilling into your brain that “you won’t be able to build nice muscles.” And you know what? With the law of attraction, then you really won’t be able to build big muscles because you will not be working out hard enough or find out more about the science of building muscles since you think that you are in a hopeless at building muscles. Then why on earth do you go to the gym for?

While you may not be able to become a professional bodybuilder, there is no reason you why you can’t build a handsome muscular body. You can still build reasonably big of muscles and get ripped, regardless of your genes.

What will allow to build bigger muscles will be two things. How smart you work and how hard you work. If you are working out smart and hard, you will be unbeatable in getting that fabulous body which you dream about. To work smart, then you must know the science of bodybuilding and not just to lift weights randomly. You must also know how to eat correctly to feed and boost muscle growth.

So if you really and seriously want to build a body of your dream, then you must study the science of bodybuilding or hire a personal trainer to help you build muscles effectively.

The last time I gave advice to a bodybuilder was in 1981. I was a freshman in high school, and I told a friend’s brother to “slow down his reps.” I thought that was good information, seeing as how I had just read it in article by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well, this guy put the weight down and kneed me in the thigh so hard I couldn’t walk for an hour. Twenty-six years later, I can still hear him clear as day asking me, “Who’s BIGGER—me or you?”

If ever there was a significant emotional event in my life, that was it. I gave up bodybuilding that day and set my sights on being an extreme sports athlete. Over the past 26 years, I have climbed mountains, jumped out of perfectly good airplanes, surfed every tropical storm to hit the East Coast (until I got married), and wrecked my mountain bike at speeds faster than most dare to think about. Today, at age 40, I’m working on my blue belt in Brazilian Jujutsu with legendary professor Pedro Sauer.

26 years of abuse and still strong

Why am I telling you this? Because years ago I learned something that has helped me in every aspect of my physical performance and, more importantly, my ability to recover from the abuse I put my body through for all those years. If ever there was a sport that needed to hear what I’m saying, it’s the sport of bodybuilding.

So let me ask you: Do you think you know enough about bodybuilding to continue to make steady gains, stay healthy, and recover from tendonitis? Because I can tell you by the time you reach 40 you’re going to wish you had listened to me. I’m about to break a 26-year silence and share with you three very powerful tactics every bodybuilder not only needs to know but employ on a regular basis.

I’m not going to tell you what to do

One thing I have learned working with elite athletes is that you can’t tell them to stop doing their sport. Try telling a runner to stop running or a bodybuilder to stop working out. Yeah, right. But I can tell you how unexpected limitations develop that will hinder your ability to make gains and recover from injuries.

One of the main reasons why most bodybuilders hit a wall and develop injuries is that they don’t allow their muscles to recover 100 percent before they work those same muscles again. Ideally, as the body goes through the recovery process, it should lay down nice elastin and collagen tissue. Instead, with insufficient recovery time, it starts to use fibrin, which is bad—very bad.

Here’s how it works: If your body is overstressed, it instinctively tries to protect itself by using fibrin, which is very strong, to achieve that added element of stability you need. In the beginning, that extra fibrin helps your muscles recover. But over time—and I’m talking months and years—that same fibrin will stop you in your tracks.

Strength gains and recovery have one enemy

When your body adds fibrin, it’s like adding rebar to concrete; it makes something that is already strong much stronger. The downside is that you lose mobility and start to develop postural imbalances. You also lose “contractibility,” which is another way of saying strength. And that’s where many of your problems start. You see, fibrin is scar tissue similar to what you will see on a scab, and you do not want a scab on any of your connective tissue. Here’s why:

1. Excess fibrin in your muscle tissue will limit your contractibility and, ultimately, your strength through that range of motion.
2. Excess fibrin will limit your overall range of motion.
3. Excess fibrin in any of your connective tissue will create postural dysfunctions, such as rounding of the shoulders and tipping of the pelvis.
4. Excess fibrin will be responsible for many of the acute and chronic injuries you will suffer.
5. Excess fibrin will create fibrous restrictions in all of your muscles that
will keep you from getting a better pump or prevent the blood from entering that muscle.
6. Excess fibrin in your blood vessels and muscle tissue will severally hinder your recovery time—how fast you get back to 100 percent during your days off.

Of the six reasons why you do not want excess fibrin in your body, number six is the most critical as it relates to your ability to get bigger and stronger. Blood flow is key. It affects every aspect of your recovery—not just from injury but from each workout.

Proof in the form of an incredible image

Let me help you understand what I’m talking about when I say we have fibrin in our blood vessels that can slow, hinder, or even prevent the blood from getting where it needs to go.

I searched long and hard to find this incredible image (left) of red blood cells caught in a web of excess fibrin. The fibrin is causing a physical restriction. If you look closely, you can see that they’re stuck. Ultimately, those red blood cells cannot get into the capillaries to oxygenate and nourish your muscles so they will do the work you want them to do. Without that little bit of extra blood, you can say good-bye to that last rep.

I hope you can you now understand how excess fibrin can restrict blood flow, prevent you from achieving your best, and prevent you from recovering as fast as you want. The problem is, the excess fibrin is systemic, meaning it extends throughout your body and in and around all connective tissue. To get more blood flow, your heart has to work harder to get more blood where it’s needed. This is bad. It’s called high blood pressure.

Unfortunately, I do not have an image of how excess fibrin becomes scar tissue in muscle, tendons, or ligaments—but, believe me, it’s there. And you’ll feel it.

Immediate steps to take

Again, I will never tell you not to workout, but I want you to understand that there are steps you can take to help prevent or minimize the effects of excess fibrin and impaired blood flow. If you are suffering from tendonitis anywhere, it’s not going to get better by working it. You need to improve the blood flow so the pain and inflammation can be flushed out and minimal fibrin will be laid down. That way, the fibrin that is used during recovery is gradually reabsorbed.

Whether you’re looking to get a better workout, a bigger pump, or increase your size, you need to have better blood flow. Likewise, if you suffer from chronic recurring injuries that just will not get better. Here are three easy steps to improve blood flow:

1) Heat things up to get it moving
Get your ass into a hot tub or sauna at least two or more times per week. You see, heat does two things: one, it relaxes the muscle, which allows the blood to flow easier; and, two, it causes the blood to come to the surface of the skin to try to cool the body. When this happens, more blood travels through the smallest vessels you have, thereby improving your body’s overall circulation.

2) Unbind you muscles
This technique became popular back in the 1980s. A guy named John Parrillo came up with something called “fascia stretching,” which allowed some bodybuilders to add more than an inch in diameter per muscle group just minutes before the competition. Nowadays, the big boys do on a weekly basis for consistent gains and rapid recovery.

Fascia gives our muscles form, and when our fascia is too restricted, it limits the ability of the muscle to expand and fill with blood, limiting the amount of blood for the pump and recovery.

My suggestion is to find a qualified massage therapist who can perform cross-friction massage and myofascial release techniques on you. One thing to remember is that if you are fascialy bound down, these techniques will hurt like hell and you’ll be sore for up to four days after. The good news is that once you’re free, you’re free. Trust me, the results will be profound.

3) Let nature clean your pipes
The third technique is to use systemic-proteolytic enzyme, an enzyme that breaks down excess fibrin throughout your body, including your blood vessels and your muscles. Nothing else in the world can naturally break down the excess fibrin in your blood vessels and remove the scar tissue in your muscles.

The fact is, your body is constantly regulating fibrin. But as you get older (late 20s), your body will have fewer and fewer enzymes available to do the job. And when we train hard, there are simply not enough enzymes to keep up with the demand to regulate fibrin. That’s how the build-up of fibrin start and how the limitations begin.

Like most injuries or diseases, the accumulation of excess fibrin in our bodies is a process, and the removal of that fibrin is also a process. One thing that makes enzymes unique among all other supplements is that we know they work.

These enzymes are not measured in milligrams but in what are called “fibrinolytic units,” which is the amount of fibrin they break down in a set amount of time.

So, if you know the fibrinolytic units of a product, you know how much clearing or removal you will get. This will help you compare products.

But, don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of systemic enzymes, because there are very few companies in the world that sell them. They are somewhat expensive, but they possess exactly what you’re looking for: the ability to naturally increase blood flow.

So you want to gain muscles fast? So you can just simply join a gym, lift weights regularly and after a few short months, you should be able to gain enough muscle mass to take part in your neighborhood bodybuilding contest?

If it is that simple, then why is it that most people in the gym do not seem to gain much muscle even after years of weight lifting?

Well, things are not as simple as it seem or otherwise, personal trainers and muscle building books will have already gone the way of the dinosaurs, extinction.

Here below are some basic muscle mass gaining tips and of course, these are just tips and are not comprehensive:-

a) Eat And Eat - To gain muscles, you must eat and then eat again. You must consume more calories than you burn them. After all you are adding mass to your body and where do those mass come from if you have insufficient calories to build them?

However, try to choose good calories such as protein and complex carbohydrate. Calories from fats and alcohol do not count.

2) Up Protein Consumption - Proteins are muscle builders. You must make sure that you consume enough protein. You should consume about one gram of protein per pound of your body weight everyday if you want to gain muscle mass fast. If you don’t get enough protein, your muscles won’t grow since you are not feeding them.

3) Health Supplements - Many people erroneously think that they do not need to take supplement to gain muscles or supplements are not good for health. Hey, health supplements are food for your body and if chosen correctly, they can help you to gain muscles faster.

For those of you who think that supplements are harmful chemicals, then why are they called health supplements instead of drugs?

For instance, some your protein sources come from eating meat. However, too much meat can cause complications such as most meats contain saturated fat which can clog your heart and arteries. So instead of eating too much meat, you can take protein supplements to get your protein.

Also take multivitamins for anti-oxidant protection and to aid faster recovery.

4) Lift Weights - This is a bit of a misnomer. If you want to gain muscle mass fast, you must not only lift weights, you must lift heavy weights and lift them through compound exercises.

Compound exercises like deadlift and squats work many muscle parts at the same time, that means you work almost your entire musculature instead of a single muscle group like say, dumbbell bicep curls.

However, the correct lifting technique and form of lifting is very important so as to prevent injuries and make your training more effective.

5) Lift Free Weights - Use free weights like dumbells and barbells to recruit more muscle stabilizing and therefore more muscle fibers can be worked on. The more muscles you work on, the bigger they become.

6) Get Enough Sleep And Rest - Have rest days in between your workout days and do not work the same muscle group more than twice a week. This is because your muscles need to recover from your workout to grow. More is not better in this game.

You should also get more than 8 hours of sleep if possible. Contrary to popular belief, your muscle grow when you sleep, not in the gym.

If you practise the above routine consistently, you will gain muscles fast. Of course there are many more things you will need to know to gain muscle mass effectively, but the above gain muscle tips should get you started well.