Gaining Mass
By Adam B.

Here are some basic requirements for adding muscle naturally:

Eat enough quality protein! This is absolutely essential. I made the mistake at first of just eating a lot. Unfortunately, I did not realize that I was eating mostly carbohydrates. Once I began to eat lots of tuna fish, chicken, lean red meat and whey protein drinks, gaining muscle was much easier.

Learn to enjoy working out. We all have favorite days to workout usually it’s chest and biceps day! Yes, but unless you work out the rest of your body you’ll look woefully unproportionate. Try to convince yourself that you love to work legs, back, shoulder and triceps. Hell, even forearms and abs. Once you do, you’ll start seeing results, and then it becomes a cycle. Work out hard -> see results -> workout harder -> see more results -> and on, and on.

Don’t waste your time. Don’t baby yourself in the gym. It’s neither the time nor the place. You are there to WORK, not to talk or read the newspaper. If you’re doing it right, your workout should only take
from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. That’s it! If you are there for longer, then you are wasting time. Keep focused and intense.

Get enough sleep. That means sleeping until you wake up without an alarm. I usually try to get around 8-10 hours of sleep a night. This may seem like a lot, but trust me, if you’re working out intensely
you’ll need it!

Use “heavy” weight. I have the word heavy in quotes because it’s all relative to where you are right now! Don’t try to imitate the big boys in the gym – you will just get hurt. Trust me, I tried it, developed chronic tendonitis, had surgery, and had to take 2 years off. Just use enough weight so that you have to stop at 6-10 reps. If you can do more, then you need to increase the poundage. Even a 2.5 pound increase can seem like a lot, so just progress slowly.

Learn to love SQUATS. Squatting is the best full-body exercise you can do – period. If you want to get bigger, squats are the way to go. In particular, a 20-rep squatting program is excellent for putting on
leg size and overall mass. But be prepared because 20-rep squatting is BRUTAL work. Simply put, you pick a weight you normally can do 15 reps with, and try your damndest to get 20 reps with it. If you REALLY can’t get 20, then stay with that same weight until you can. Then move up by 5-10 pounds next week and try to hit 20 again. It works!

Don’t compare yourself to other people – only to what YOU used to look like. Comparing yourself to others is a great way to get discouraged and quit. The whole purpose of bodybuilding is to better yourself. How can you do that by comparing yourself to someone else? Sure, it’s okay to look at someone who’s big and say, “Man, I’d love to look like that someday…” but end it there. Don’t obsess on it. Just do the best you can and keep making improvements. As long as you are continually progressing compared to where YOU used to be, then that’s all that matters.