5 Easy Ways To Pack on Lean Muscle

Let me guess you’re either:

a) Hitting the gym consistently and just can’t seem to make any gains OR b) You’re new to the whole lifting thing and are just looking to get as big as possible as fast as possible.

Either way, you’re probably looking for an easy solution to your problem.

Well, I hate to break it to you but there’s not. There simply is no easy way to pack on muscle besides busting your ass.

With that said, there are certain things you can do to move the process along.

If you do nothing else, just try these five things and I promise you’ll see some sort of result. You’ll have to bust your ass but these are literally the same things I do to pack on lean muscle when I need to and they haven’t steered me wrong yet.

So what are they you ask?

#1 Lift Heavy Weight

Do you lift heavy weight? And I mean HEAVY ass weight. You probably think you do, but I guarantee you it’s not enough. The thing I see so many guys doing in the gym that “don’t see any gains” is not going up in weight.

A lot of people don’t understand this simple concept. Going up in weight on ALL of your lifts is imperative to seeing results. This is especially true if you are trying to pack on some serious muscle.

The whole basis of lifting weights is to get stronger right? Well if you don’t lift heavier weight and see progress in your strength each workout, you simply are not getting stronger. Or progressing. Your muscles need to be over loaded to grow bigger.

Look at it like this: You walk everyday and you use your legs to support that weight but the reason you don’t have massive legs from walking everyday is simply because they are not being overloaded. Your legs are used to the weight of supporting your body so they don’t need to grow any larger to do so.

This same concept can apply to all of your lifts. A good rule of thumb I use to see if I’m lifting enough weight is to be sure that I can get 6-8 reps but heavy enough where anything more than 8 reps is too much.

#2 Eat more

What you feed your body is just as important as your training (maybe even MORE important!). Think of your body as an engine. An engine without oil breaks the entire thing. There is nothing worse you can do to an engine than not put oil in it.

Well, your body is the same way. Think of the food you eat as the oil. If you are working out hard and consistent and not feeding your body enough food, your doing the same thing to your body that an engine without oil experiences. Your breaking down that muscle but not giving it the nutrients it needs to repair itself and grow bigger and stronger.

A common theme I see with people “not seeing any gains” is they don’t realize how much they actually need to eat. I’m guilty of this as well sometimes. But sometimes the ridiculous amount of food you need to eat to gain mass (muscle) seems ridiculous. However, I can assure you it’s not. Just to stay at your current weight you need to eat at least 2000 calories per day. To gain muscle you should be eating at LEAST 3000 calories per day. Minimum.

As far as eating clean goes…if you really are simply trying to put on muscle and it’s hard for you to gain mass than keep it simple and just EAT. Don’t get caught up trying to eat clean and miss out on hundreds of calories.

#3 Pre-workout

Pre-workouts are awesome. Really though, you get super amped up and motivated when your in the gym. Not only is there usually caffeine in them to wake you up and keep you alert but there is often times a lot of other nutrients as well. Usually you’ll find creatine, BCAA’s and a bunch of vitamins in the more common powders. Just mix it up with a little bit of water and slurp it down. A lot of times they will taste like shit though, so be prepared for that.

Taking a good pre-workout will keep you focused in the gym too. When I first started taking Mesomorph, I would literally be in the gym for 2-3 hours. You don’t want to leave when you’re on the stuff. It’s nuts.

The first time I hit a slump/plateau in my workouts I took my first pre workout and I honestly don’t think I have been to the gym without it since. It really makes that much of a difference. With that said, make sure you do your research before you buy one. Don’t ever put something in your body without knowing exactly what it is first.

Some of the Pre-workouts that I have taken are: Mesomorph, HyperFX, Assault.

There are countless, you just have to find one that hits you good.

#4 Sleep more

Sleeping is when your body recovers and repairs itself. It’s as simple as that. The reason we lift weights to increase the size of our muscles is that the very action of lifting a heavy weight physically tears and breaks down a select muscle. We do this so when they repair themselves they grow back stronger and bigger than they were before.

Well when you sleep, your body does that repairing. It does it while your awake too but sleeping is where it kicks the repairs into overdrive. When your asleep growth hormones are released inside your body to repair itself and protein synthesis is taking place.

If you really need to stay up late to finish some work then take a nap the next day. Naps are great for repairing your body as well. They’ll also keep you refreshed and ready for your next workout. Some of the best bodybuilders take naps an a consistent basis. They are not just for kids trust me.

If you really want to take your sleep to the next level try taking a ZMA supplement. They are just all around awesome in general. It will aid your body in keeping you in your most restful and regenerative sleep state (REM).

#5 Stay consistent

The biggest and most important factor to seeing results (gains) and breaking through plateaus in the gym is simply staying consistent. It may sound cliche but there truly is nothing more important than this. Anyone can go to the gym for a couple weeks and go really hard and lift heavy. But the ones that do that day in and day out for months (if not years) on end are the ones that have the physiques everyone else wants.

There is no supplement for dedication. If there was everyone would look like gods and goddesses and nothing would have to be earned. There are certain things in life that you just have to earn. And a nice physique is one of them.

I’ve said this before but I’ll reiterate myself here again the golden rule to getting big is consistency. Transforming your body simply will NOT happen over night. But if you bust your ass on a consistent basis. There is no doubt in my mind that you will see results. and massive ones at that.

Conclusion:

Listen, if you’re like most guys, you’ve probably came to a point in your life where you have made the executive decision that it’s time to gain some muscle. It’s just male nature. Well deciding it’s time and actually going out an getting gains in the gym is two different beasts…

The good news is that deciding it’s time to start lifting is the first step on the path to unleashing and achieving your maximum athletic potential. In other words getting as big as your heart desires.