The Three Key Rules To Building Lean Muscle Fast

As a fitness instructor, people regularly ask me how to build muscle quickly. Today's article will give you a quick overview on the simple things you need to focus on if your goal is to build a bigger body over the next couple of months.

Indeed, you read that correctly. We said a couple of months, not the rest of your life. 

For most people the main obstacle which has held them back over the years is not lack of potential but rather lack of solid advice. Everywhere they turn they see somebody telling them they need to do something different or buy the next big supplement.

If you want to get bigger and stronger, you need to know just a few proven rules.

#1 Compound exercises out perform isolation exercises.

#2 The rep range you aim for will help to determine what type of results you get.

#3 Make sure you get the basics of your diet in place.

It might seem quite simple, given the number of next big thing plans out there which promise to give the the 'secrets' of building a better body, but those three rules are dynamite in your pocket. If you can take advantage of those three steps you will not have any issues building the body you desire.

First let's take a look at point number one, which asks you to use compound movements in the gym. It has been shown time and time again that big compound exercises like shoulder press and bench press force more muscular growth than small isolation movements.

Don't spend hours working smaller muscles. For example, there will be countless guys at your local gym doing endless sets of bicep curls or triceps pushdowns. You will notice far better results if you focus your time on the big movements which recruit more muscle fibers to perform.

Of course, there is more to this than just knowing which exercises will get you the results. You also need to know how many repetitions to aim for and have a system in place to consistently progress you to new levels.

Studies show that optimum strength gains are achieved when we try to hit the hypertrophy zone, which means pushing for 8-12 reps with your main resistance exercises. If you're smart you can also use that as a system to tell you when you need to increase the weight. Think about it for a second, when you can get more than 12 reps out you are no longer in the ideal zone for building, therefore you should think about increasing the weights.

Diet is where most folks go wrong in the gym. Your ideal physique, in particular your abs, are going to be carved in the kitchen rather than in the gym. Remember that. People often forget the importance of dieting and believe it's only for people who are trying to lose weight.

All calories are not creating on an equal playing field. It's important to realize that two people eating the same number of calories could get totally different results, as one could be feasting on junk food whereas the other is quite healthy. A split of 30%, 50% and 20% between protein, carbs and fats respectively will be a good start.

The three rules in this article will answer most of the issues affecting people who can't get results with their existing exercise program. So before looking for the best shoulder building exercises or trying to figure out why you can't add size to your calves, try going back to basics and the results should take care of themselves.

As you can see, it becomes far easier to learn how to build muscle when you begin to break things down and set out this easy three point strategy.