7 Ways To Gain Rock Hard Muscle

Few guys want to accept the harsh reality – muscle mass is directly related to strength gains. This isn’t just a scientific fact, but also an anecdotal one: legend Arnold Schwarzenegger and his mentor Reg Park could both Deadlift over 700lbs and developed world class physiques as a result.

Few guys understand that pump, soreness, reaching failure and even rep range do NOT matter if you’re not getting stronger. Several of my StrongLifts Members gained more muscle their first 5 months on StrongLifts 5×5 than their 5 previous years doing those silly bodybuilding split routines – while training less!

With 2011 coming closer, I ask you – are you lifting more weight today than at the start of 2010? Are you Squatting more than 6 months ago? Has your Deadlift increased? If not: what the hell have you been doing this year?

To gain muscle mass, you need to increase the resistance systematically by simply adding weight to the bar. This – Progressive Loading - is the real secret to raw muscle gains. Here are the 7 other imperatives…

BarbellsCompoundsFoodRestTechniqueConsistency 80/20 rule

Barbells – natural movements, force you to stabilize the weight yourself, allow for heavier weights than dumbbells, and the only way to Squat/Deadlift heavy.

Compounds – allow for heavier weights than isolation exercises because you’re using several muscles at a time, prevent muscle group favoritism.

Food – critical for maximum recovery and growth, eat like a horse first, then get at least 1g/lb of protein per day – and this doesn’t need to come from shakes.

Rest – most guys do way too many exercises and train way too frequently, muscle need rest for growth – less is more.

Technique – you can lift more with proper technique and gain more muscle using a full ROM than with partials because the distance the bar travels is longer.

Consistency – expect, on average, 25 pounds of raw muscle gain your first year of training, you got to be consistent, this is a marathon not a sprint.

Next time I’ll talk about the 80-20 rule. Make sure you share this post with your friends on facebook so they grasp the concept of gaining raw muscle.

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8 Responses to “”Nikola says:November 11, 2010 at 2:10 pm

I am glad, and at the same time honored that I am one of those few (yes, it is _few_ when comparing people that train against people that know how to train) that understand, and most importantly, use this simple, beautiful concept. And it works.

Chuck says:November 11, 2010 at 2:26 pm

Great one Mehdi….ever since I came to know about SL about 2 years ago, I haven’t looked back at anything else. Now granted I haven’t been consistent over those 2 years but SL is the only thing I did when I did it. I just never could get the right time of day nailed down to where it benefited me the most. Now I have, and I am seeing gains just over the past month of CONSISTENT training. I keep telling myself to be patient and the rewards WILL come. I’m slowly getting my nutrition in check, but it’s better than it was a month ago. Thanks Mehdi for this program!

Franco says:November 11, 2010 at 4:49 pm

I think 8O/20 rule is about doing 80% compound exercise while doing only 20% isolation exercise. I’m so excited for this next blog.

Keagan says:November 12, 2010 at 1:24 am

The 80/20 rule refers to food right? Thought it was 90 clean and 10 junk, maybe that’s been changed because of the extra calories you get from junk food? I swear everyone eats too little.

Gustavo Sandri Heidner says:November 12, 2010 at 1:39 am

80/20 is that rule that states that 20% of the exercises known will produce 80% of the gains. It’s an efficiency rule :)

Samuel says:November 12, 2010 at 6:46 am

Just started the 5×5 I hope I get as much out of it as every one says. I will say this program will separate the real from the fake.

Prabu says:November 12, 2010 at 8:26 am

I believe, the 80/20 rule is 80 percent of muscle gain is from rest, nutrition and recovery, while only 20 percent is from workouts :-)

Nikola says:November 12, 2010 at 10:32 am

Personally, I think it’s gonna be regarding food. As long as you eat quality food 80% of the time, you would be perfectly fine with eating 20% “crap” the rest of the time.

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