Jason Maxwell is a Rocket Scientist turned Fitness Pro that has helped 43,000 men gain at least 10 lbs of muscle in the past 3 years. Here (in brevity) are 39 of the things he has learned.
- “Everything works for 6 weeks.” – Dan John. No matter what you try to do, if you stick to it for 6 weeks, it will work. This doesn’t mean that it is what you should be doing long term.
- Mechanical tension makes a muscle grow. The harder the contraction, the more tension present in the working muscle. This leads to muscle growth.
- Metabolic stress makes a muscle grow. The building up of metabolites after the “burn” in the muscle signals the body to make a muscle grow.
- Muscle damage makes a muscle grow. Intentionally damaging a muscle fibre through exercise will cause the muscle to grow larger.
- Learn to “feel” a muscle working. If you don’t feel a muscle contracting, you are not applying optimal mechanical tension.
- Get a pump in the muscle. When your muscle is pumped, its cells temporarily fill with fluid. Not only does it make you feel like your skin is going to tear, it applies mechanical tension on your muscle cells, and induces metabolic stress on the muscle, leading to more growth.
- Higher volume training leads to muscle growth. Increasing the number of sets and reps of a certain exercise, or for a certain body part leads to more muscle growth.
- Low reps build muscle. Using reps between 1 and 8 can build muscle.
- High reps build muscle. Using reps above 12 can build muscle.
- Moderate reps build muscle. Using reps between 8 and 12 can build muscle.
- Practice makes perfect. Practice good form with lots of reps. Not only will you get stronger, using good form means less potential for injury.
- If it hurts, don’t do it…yet. If you are injured or an exercise hurts, there is a good chance that you are doing it wrong, or the exercise isn’t right for you (at this time). Learn to do the exercise or movement properly, and work around the injury until the movement doesn’t hurt. Find a good physiotherapist to help get you pain-free. If a muscle is burning, keep going. Muscle burn and joint pain are completely different.
- It is easier to build muscle if you are strong. Strength will always be your foundation when it comes to building muscle. After all, who will have bigger arms: the guy who can curl 25 lbs for 10 reps, or the guy who can curl 60 lbs for 10 reps? Your end goal should be the following (or a variation of): Bench Press 315 lbs for 1 rep, Squat 405 lbs for 1 rep, Deadlift 495 lbs for 1 rep, and 10 strict bodyweight chin-ups. Everyone I’ve ever met who could do the following had a lot of muscle.
- Training frequency depends on how strong you are. If you are stronger, you can train a body part less frequently. When you are very strong, lifting weights becomes very CNS intensive. To recover optimally, you will need to train each body part less frequently. The only exception to the rule is the first month of a beginner’s training life, where sometimes, the beginner can get away with training each body part (or lift) once per week.
- If you can’t Squat & Deadlift your bodyweight for 10 reps and Bench Press 135 lbs for 1 rep, you should train each body part 3-4 times per week (generally a full body routine).
- If you can Bench Press between 135 and 225 lbs for 1 rep, Squat between 225 and 315 lbs for 1 rep, and Deadlift between 315 and 405 lbs for 1 rep, you should train each body part 2-3 times per week.
- If you can Bench Press over 225 lbs for 1 rep, Squat over 315 lbs for 1 rep, and Deadlift over 405 lbs for 1 rep, you should train each body part 1-2 times per week.
- Use a lifting tempo. As a general trend, controlling the eccentric portion and lifting the concentric portion under 1 second seems to build more muscle. If you are stumped, resort to a lifting tempo of 3010. Use a weight that is appropriate for the tempo.
- Rest periods depend on your goal. If you are lifting for strength, opt in for longer rest periods. If you are training for metabolic stress (a pump), then use shorter rest periods. Everything else is in between these two.
- Many rep ranges can hypertrophy a muscle. The ones that seem to never fail are: 6 sets of 6 (short rest), 8 sets of 8, 10 sets of 10, and 4 sets of 8-12.
- Many rep ranges can build strength and mass at the same time. The ones that seem to never fail are: 5 sets of 5, 6 sets of 6 (long rest), 5/4/3/2/1 + Challenge Set, and Poliquin’s 1-6 Contrast.
- Intensity techniques will build muscle when used occasionally. The most frequent intensity techniques used seem to be: drop sets, rest pause, forced reps, partial reps, heavy negatives, and iso-holds. They all work; you just need to learn how to push through the pain (of a burning muscle).
- It is easier to build muscle when you are lean. If you are under 13% body fat, it seems to be easier to get a pump in the muscle, feel fresh, and ultimately build muscle. If you are over 13% body fat you should first prioritize fat loss.
- You can build muscle while seeing the number on the scale descend. Many people preach that losing fat and building muscle at the same time is a myth. If you are focusing on building muscle during your workout and focusing on losing fat with your nutrition, you will obtain both goals.
What Works For Nutrition
- The most important meal is your Peri-Workout nutrition. Eat a balanced meal containing protein, carbs, and fat before and after your workout. During your workout, drink a shake containing a low-osmolality carbohydrate, and a fast digesting protein.
- Digestion is the most crucial part of nutrition. If your body has trouble digesting a food, it will not be fully used for building muscle. Instead, it will be excreted as waste, and may also cause inflammation in your body. If a food makes you feel sick, bloated, gassy, or all of the above, it is best to limit its consumption.
- “Vegetables for health, meat for strength, [carbs for muscle.]”– Paraphrasing Pavel Tsatsouline. If you follow any nutrition rule, it needs to be this one, which should be the backbone of any solid nutrition plan.
- Aim to gain 0.5 – 1lb per week. Gaining muscle should be sustainable. It takes longer to gain muscle than it does to gain fat. Small increases over short periods of time lead to large increases long term. Start off by consuming your bodyweight (lbs) x 16 in Calories. For example, if you weigh 180 lbs, you’d start off by eating approximately 180 x 16 = 2880 Calories per day. If you are not gaining 0.5-1lb per week, then adjust accordingly.
- Get at least 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight, daily. For example, if you weigh 180 lbs, then you would need at least 180 g of protein per day.
- Dieting can be flexible. Using an If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) approach can work, but it isn’t recommended to get 100% of your calories from junk food. As a general rule, as long as at least 80% of your dietary intake contains meat, eggs, fish, poultry, fruits, vegetables, potatoes, and grains (when appropriate), the other 20% can be junk food.
- Creatine is your friend. No other supplement has been studied as much as creatine. Take at least 5g of creatine monohydrate daily.
What Works for Fat Loss
- Aim to lose 0.5 – 1% of your total body weight per week. A good starting point is consuming your bodyweight (lbs) x 14 in Calories. For example, if you weigh 180 lbs, you’d start off by eating approximately 180 x 14 = 2520 Calories per day. If you are not losing 0.5-1% of your total body weight per week, then adjust accordingly.
- Consume adequate protein daily. As a general rule, ingest 1-1.4g/lb of Fat Free Mass daily. For example, if you are 180 lbs with 10% body fat, your Fat Free Mass would be 0.9 x 180 = 162 lbs. Thus, you would eat between 162 and 227g of protein per day.
- Consume adequate fat daily. Total fat should be between 15 and 30% of your total daily Calories.
- Do not skip carbohydrates. Following the advice above, the remainder of your calories should come from carbohydrates.
- Do not stress over meal frequency. Aim to eat between 3 and 6 meals per day, including your peri-workout nutrition. If you miss a meal, realize that it’s not the end of the world and that total daily protein, fats, carbs, and calories are more important in the big picture.
What Works for Building Strength
- Work up to your 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 RM. Lift an empty bar for 1-6 reps. Add weight and lift it again for another 1-6 reps. Continue until you can’t lift the weight for 1-6 reps. This will get you stronger.
- Use the “Rule of 10”. A rep scheme of 10 total reps seems to build strength. Examples of this include: 3 sets of 3, 5 sets of 2, 2 sets of 5, 6 sets of 1, and 10 sets of 1.
- Use a proper lifting tempo. What seems to work effectively is controlling the eccentric portion of the lift, and then exploding the concentric portion. Use a weight that is appropriate for the tempo.
How can you use this information to build muscle?
These techniques will dramatically ease the muscle building process and allow you to have complete control over how you want your body to look and feel, but you still need to know how to implement these techniques. That’s done by following the solution that’s helped 300,000 men gain at least 10 lbs of muscle in the past 6 years.
Get a free copy of my brand new book, Muscle, here:
We value your privacy and would never spam you