Tips for building muscles quickly
Yes you can do.
That’s the best tip that I can give you for building muscle quickly.
Sure. You CAN pack on pounds of muscle in a relatively short amount of time by going crazy at the gym, sleeping 10–11 hours a night, using SARMs or anabolic steroids, and eating like a fucking lion.
But it’s not healthy.
You’ll screw up your tendons, ligaments, and joints and probably end up feeling like crap most of the time.
Realistically, if you want to build serious amounts of muscle (20 lbs.+) it’s going to take 12–24 months.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s true.
It took me several years to get to my dream physique (6′ tall at about 185 lbs. and 10% bodyfat), but it was well worth it.
All that being said…
There are many things you can do to build muscle FASTER than you otherwise would.
These tips won’t result in a captain America like transformation.
But they will help you avoid the traps that most people fall into that cause them to spin their wheels for years without ever making real progress.
The first 3–4 tips are admittedly boring but essential to building your best body.
The last few tips are more advanced level hacks you can use to pack on more muscle in a relatively short amount of time.
So without any further ado, here are the 7 best ways to build muscle faster and more consistently than you’ve ever done before.
1. Track The Shit Out of Your Workouts, Diet, and Sleep
When it comes to building muscle, there are only three core components that impact muscle growth.
So what’s the solution?
Track every important metric!
Starting today, you’re going to buy a small notebook and a pen and keep track of the following things.
You are GOING to hit muscle gain plateaus. You’re going to have weeks where you don’t gain as much muscle as you should based on your training.
And by tracking all of the above items, you’ll be able to figure out WHY.
By keeping tabs on your bodyweight and fat measurements, you’ll be able to make sure that you’re gaining muscle at the right pace without packing on too much bodyfat.
If you notice that you aren’t gaining enough muscle, increase the amount of calories you’re eating or push yourself harder at the gym.
If you aren’t gaining muscle fast enough but are eating well and training hard, try to get more sleep and better quality sleep.
The more meticulously you can track these items, the better your results will be.
Hey… I said these tips would help you gain muscle faster, I didn’t say they’d be easy.
2. Progressively Overload Your Muscles Using the Right Rep Ranges and the Right Exercises.
Getting big means you need to lift big… PERIOD.
But you also need to lift RIGHT.
All of the guys you see in the fitness magazines telling you to lift in the 15–20 rep range with isolation exercises are full of crap.
They’re on steroids and could gain muscle no matter how they lift.
If you’re planning on gaining muscle without PEDs (my recommendation), then you need to use the right rep range for your exercises and progressively increase the weight or number of reps that you use.
Most studies have concluded that lifting in the 4–8 rep range is ideal for building muscle and strength at the same time.
Any higher and you’re in the land of muscular endurance. Any lower and you’re only building strength but not eliciting hypertrophy.
But just as important as the number of reps you do is the types of exercises you use.
Namely, compound multi joint exercises like:
When you can hit 8 reps with a specific weight, add 5–10 lbs. (depending on whether you’re using dumbbells or barbells) and then rinse and repeat once you hit 8 reps again.
People like to complicate muscle growth (because they can make more money that way) but the truth is, it’s simple.
Lift heavy weights. Do compound exercises that strain the whole body. And progressively increase the amount of weight you’re lifting.
That’s it.
3. Focus on Macronutrients vs. Calories
Calories matter.
Some people say that they don’t, but it’s darn near impossible to gain muscle when you aren’t in a caloric surplus.
But what matters even more than calories is the quality of the macronutrients you consume.
For example, you can eat 3,000 calories worth of pop tarts, oven baked pizzas, and candy.
But that’s not ideal for gaining muscle.
Ideally, you want to get 80% of your macronutrients from whole food sources (things that had a face or grew in the ground) and the other 20% you can cheat on.
The “ideal” macronutrient breakdown (every body is different so you need to experiment to see what works for you) is:
4. Prioritize Recovery More than You Think You Should
Look…
Muscles might be broken down in the gym, but they’re built in the bed and in the kitchen.
You can do everything right with your diet and training, but if you are’t getting enough high quality sleep and time to recover, you will not gain muscle as fast as you otherwise would.
When you’re just starting out, try to complete 4 days of resistance training each week with a day of rest in between days 2 and 3.
Sleep at least 8 hours (probably more like 9–10).
But getting enough sleep isn’t enough. You need to get HIGH QUALITY sleep and prioritize your recovery in other ways.
Here are a few ideas to help you get started.
5. Use Topical DHEA to Support Muscle Growth
This is a trick I picked up from Tim Ferriss and all I can say is, it works.
I don’t know how much science is behind this particular strategy, but I’ve found that using topical DHEA (cream) before bed helped me increase my muscle gains and reduce soreness the next day.
Give it a go for yourself and see what results you get.
6. Do Loaded Carries More Regularly
Farmers walks, barbell lunges, sand bag carries…
Anytime that you increase the load on your entire body and then move around with that load, you’re going to speed up muscle gains.
These are some of the most powerful yet underrated exercises in existence and they’ll be your secret weapon to building a strong powerful body.
Do these 2–3 times a week (never more as they’re incredibly taxing on the nervous system) and you’ll be astounded by your results.
Pair them with a few high rep front squats (one of the few exercises that’s worth doing in the higher rep range) and you’ll be packing on muscle faster than any of the guys following cookie cutter body building programs.
7. Don’t Forget Your Mobility, Flexibility, and Conditioning
Even if your only goal is to gain muscle, you should still sprint for at least 30 minutes a week, do a few yoga sessions, and plenty of mobility work.
Why?
Because a balanced body is a strong body.
Nothing will stunt your muscle gains faster than getting injured because of improper recovery or building up so much muscle that you lose your mobility.
And nothing is more embrassing than looking like the incredible hulk but getting winded after a walk up the steps or a romp around in the sack.
I recommend that you sprint once a week (do 15 seconds on 45 seconds of walking and repeat for 20–30 minutes), do yoga for 60–120 minutes a week, and work in at least 10–15 minutes of mobility work before or after your workouts.
It’s not sexy, but it will help you stay strong, injury free, and balanced while you bulk up.
Hope this helps.
That’s the best tip that I can give you for building muscle quickly.
Sure. You CAN pack on pounds of muscle in a relatively short amount of time by going crazy at the gym, sleeping 10–11 hours a night, using SARMs or anabolic steroids, and eating like a fucking lion.
But it’s not healthy.
You’ll screw up your tendons, ligaments, and joints and probably end up feeling like crap most of the time.
Realistically, if you want to build serious amounts of muscle (20 lbs.+) it’s going to take 12–24 months.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s true.
It took me several years to get to my dream physique (6′ tall at about 185 lbs. and 10% bodyfat), but it was well worth it.
All that being said…
There are many things you can do to build muscle FASTER than you otherwise would.
These tips won’t result in a captain America like transformation.
But they will help you avoid the traps that most people fall into that cause them to spin their wheels for years without ever making real progress.
The first 3–4 tips are admittedly boring but essential to building your best body.
The last few tips are more advanced level hacks you can use to pack on more muscle in a relatively short amount of time.
So without any further ado, here are the 7 best ways to build muscle faster and more consistently than you’ve ever done before.
1. Track The Shit Out of Your Workouts, Diet, and Sleep
When it comes to building muscle, there are only three core components that impact muscle growth.
- Time under tension (a.k.a. training)
- Nutrition
- Recovery
So what’s the solution?
Track every important metric!
Starting today, you’re going to buy a small notebook and a pen and keep track of the following things.
- Your bodyweight (hop on a scale every morning butt naked after using the bathroom and average your weight out each week)
- Your body fat (use bodyfat calipers to get the most accurate reading)
- The quality of your work outs (record the weight lifted, reps, rest times, and take note of your form and how your body feels)
- Your food intake and macronutrient breakdown (you don’t HAVE to weigh out your food forever, but doing this for a month will help you understand the nutrient breakdown of your meals better)
- The amount of sleep you get and your overall sleep quality (you can use the free Sleep Cycle or the more expensive and accurate Oura Ring)
You are GOING to hit muscle gain plateaus. You’re going to have weeks where you don’t gain as much muscle as you should based on your training.
And by tracking all of the above items, you’ll be able to figure out WHY.
By keeping tabs on your bodyweight and fat measurements, you’ll be able to make sure that you’re gaining muscle at the right pace without packing on too much bodyfat.
If you notice that you aren’t gaining enough muscle, increase the amount of calories you’re eating or push yourself harder at the gym.
If you aren’t gaining muscle fast enough but are eating well and training hard, try to get more sleep and better quality sleep.
The more meticulously you can track these items, the better your results will be.
Hey… I said these tips would help you gain muscle faster, I didn’t say they’d be easy.
2. Progressively Overload Your Muscles Using the Right Rep Ranges and the Right Exercises.
Getting big means you need to lift big… PERIOD.
But you also need to lift RIGHT.
All of the guys you see in the fitness magazines telling you to lift in the 15–20 rep range with isolation exercises are full of crap.
They’re on steroids and could gain muscle no matter how they lift.
If you’re planning on gaining muscle without PEDs (my recommendation), then you need to use the right rep range for your exercises and progressively increase the weight or number of reps that you use.
Most studies have concluded that lifting in the 4–8 rep range is ideal for building muscle and strength at the same time.
Any higher and you’re in the land of muscular endurance. Any lower and you’re only building strength but not eliciting hypertrophy.
But just as important as the number of reps you do is the types of exercises you use.
Namely, compound multi joint exercises like:
- The deadlift
- The squat
- Bench press
- Military press
- Loaded carries (more on those in a minute)
- Hang cleans
When you can hit 8 reps with a specific weight, add 5–10 lbs. (depending on whether you’re using dumbbells or barbells) and then rinse and repeat once you hit 8 reps again.
People like to complicate muscle growth (because they can make more money that way) but the truth is, it’s simple.
Lift heavy weights. Do compound exercises that strain the whole body. And progressively increase the amount of weight you’re lifting.
That’s it.
3. Focus on Macronutrients vs. Calories
Calories matter.
Some people say that they don’t, but it’s darn near impossible to gain muscle when you aren’t in a caloric surplus.
But what matters even more than calories is the quality of the macronutrients you consume.
For example, you can eat 3,000 calories worth of pop tarts, oven baked pizzas, and candy.
But that’s not ideal for gaining muscle.
Ideally, you want to get 80% of your macronutrients from whole food sources (things that had a face or grew in the ground) and the other 20% you can cheat on.
The “ideal” macronutrient breakdown (every body is different so you need to experiment to see what works for you) is:
- 1 g of protein/lbs. of bodyweight
- 0.5–0.8g/fat/lbs. of body weight
- 3–4 grams of carbs/lbs. of bodyweight
4. Prioritize Recovery More than You Think You Should
Look…
Muscles might be broken down in the gym, but they’re built in the bed and in the kitchen.
You can do everything right with your diet and training, but if you are’t getting enough high quality sleep and time to recover, you will not gain muscle as fast as you otherwise would.
When you’re just starting out, try to complete 4 days of resistance training each week with a day of rest in between days 2 and 3.
Sleep at least 8 hours (probably more like 9–10).
But getting enough sleep isn’t enough. You need to get HIGH QUALITY sleep and prioritize your recovery in other ways.
Here are a few ideas to help you get started.
- Buy blackout shades, a sleep master sleep mask, ear plugs, and a humidifier for your room (make it a sleep sanctuary)
- Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day
- Go to bed before 11 p.m. (this is when your body begins to release hormones designed to aid in recovery)
- Stop eating 3 hours before bed or have a light bedtime snack of a few celery sticks and some almond butter with a tea of your choice (I like Kava)
- Supplement with 50 mg of zinc, 1000 mg of Magnesium, 100 mg of L-theanine, valerian root, 100 mg of 5-HTP, and a few drops of CBD
- Avoid alcohol 3 hours before bed
- Meditate for 15 minutes a day (It sounds weird but it can help you build muscle)
- Turn off the TV and all electronics 2 hours before bed and pick up a relaxing book instead
- Take a 15 minute epsom salt soak or do contrast therapy (a 15 minute shower alternating between 2 minutes cold and 3 minutes hot) after a workout
5. Use Topical DHEA to Support Muscle Growth
This is a trick I picked up from Tim Ferriss and all I can say is, it works.
I don’t know how much science is behind this particular strategy, but I’ve found that using topical DHEA (cream) before bed helped me increase my muscle gains and reduce soreness the next day.
Give it a go for yourself and see what results you get.
6. Do Loaded Carries More Regularly
Farmers walks, barbell lunges, sand bag carries…
Anytime that you increase the load on your entire body and then move around with that load, you’re going to speed up muscle gains.
These are some of the most powerful yet underrated exercises in existence and they’ll be your secret weapon to building a strong powerful body.
Do these 2–3 times a week (never more as they’re incredibly taxing on the nervous system) and you’ll be astounded by your results.
Pair them with a few high rep front squats (one of the few exercises that’s worth doing in the higher rep range) and you’ll be packing on muscle faster than any of the guys following cookie cutter body building programs.
7. Don’t Forget Your Mobility, Flexibility, and Conditioning
Even if your only goal is to gain muscle, you should still sprint for at least 30 minutes a week, do a few yoga sessions, and plenty of mobility work.
Why?
Because a balanced body is a strong body.
Nothing will stunt your muscle gains faster than getting injured because of improper recovery or building up so much muscle that you lose your mobility.
And nothing is more embrassing than looking like the incredible hulk but getting winded after a walk up the steps or a romp around in the sack.
I recommend that you sprint once a week (do 15 seconds on 45 seconds of walking and repeat for 20–30 minutes), do yoga for 60–120 minutes a week, and work in at least 10–15 minutes of mobility work before or after your workouts.
It’s not sexy, but it will help you stay strong, injury free, and balanced while you bulk up.
Hope this helps.
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