If you’re reading this, there are two things I already know about you…
You want a better physique…
And you want a method to the madness of building that better physique.
So you came to the right pyramid, I mean, place…
Over my own muscle building journey, which started out by adding 27 pounds of muscle in 3 months, I’ve studied the best physiques the world has ever known – golden age and modern era bodybuilders – and have wrapped their methods all into one package in my bestselling book, Muscle…
A book that’s devoted to helping skinny guys naturally put on eye-popping and aesthetically appealing proportions of muscle mass in the shortest amount of time possible.
So where does this condensed madness of systematic muscle building begin?
With the pyramid.
The Pyramid
Have you ever heard of the “80/20 rule”?
The premise is pretty simple: According to the 80/20 rule, 80% of your best results will come from 20% of what you do…
Inside a training context, if you really nail the 20% of your training that is most advantageous to building muscle, you’ll see 80% of your muscle growth through that tried and true dedication to the 20%…
Like I mention in my book, Muscle, the Muscle Pyramid is based on the 20% you’ll need to nail to get the chiseled physique of a your favorite Marvel hero.
This muscle building pyramid has 5 parts: Compliance, strength training, nutrition and recovery, hypertrophy, and everything else.
Check it out…
Compliance
You’re probably familiar with the term “compliance” from school or work…
Compliance is the act of agreeing on a particular plan or rule and acting on that agreement consistently and with integrity.
And compliance is the foundation of the Muscle Pyramid…
See, every bodybuilder thinks his or her workout plan is your golden ticket to a top-notch physique…
That’s why you can find hundreds of different workout plans online, each one promising the same results… To get jacked, fast.
But at the root of every successfully aesthetic physique is compliance.
Whatever workout plan you take on, whether it’s mine in Muscle, or another one you pick out from another source, your faithfulness to the plan will be the first and greatest cause of your success.
How do you stay compliant the program?
Make a schedule for the week: Plan out what days you’ll workout, and when you’ll workout on those days.
When you do get in the gym, have a prepared list of workouts you’ll complete during your session that day… And then do them.
You can even get a training partner that’ll motivate you to remain compliant to your program. You both can even go through Muscle together and become the anomaly that everyone in the gym is taking about as a result…
Whatever you need to do to remain compliant… Do it.
Strength Training
The next block in the muscle building pyramid is strength training.
The most appealing physiques are built on the grounds of strength training, because the stronger you get the more your muscles need to adapt…
And the more they’re forced to adapt, the more they’ll grow.
It’s a simple sequence of A leads to B, which then leads to C.
Here’s my philosophy on the gym in general…
And I hope you’ll adopt it for yourself as well…
The gym is a place to get strong.
When that’s your philosophy, the rest will follow: bigger strength, more muscle, and fat loss.
So train with the heaviest weights that you can without breaking your form or dropping reps.
I’ll have more tips on strength training when you grab your free copy of Muscle, here.
Nutrition & Recovery
The Muscle pyramid will crumble if you don’t fine-tune the essential aspects of muscle building that take place outside of the gym: Nutrition and recovery.
What you eat directly affects how your muscles recover after a workout.
And I’m not just talking about your post-workout meal…
I mean all of your nutrition in general.
I’m a major advocate of flexible dieting…
Why?
Because flexible dieting allows you much needed wiggle-room, and as a result dispels discouragement when you can’t cook all of your meals everyday.
Remember compliance? (If not see first point)
Compliance applies to your nutrition just as much as it does your training.
In Muscle, I break down flexible dieting like this: 60%-80% of your diet should come from “jacked foods” – eggs, meat, fish, avocado, butter, potatoes, Ezekiel bread, beans, and whole bunch of other foods that you can check out when you grab the book.
The other 20%-40% of your diet can come from whatever foods you want.
Aside from nutrition, another essential element of this pyramid block is recovery.
Recovery is nature’s anabolic steroid…
In fact, sleep itself is one of the most anabolic (muscle building) activities you can do.
So if you want to reach your peak physique, you need to prioritize sleep.
Sleep is the most important aspect of recovery, and too often it’s the last thing we think about in our day…
So set up a sleep schedule…
Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning.
And just like anything else, the more compliant you are with this element of recovery, the more natural it’ll become for you to float off to la-la land once your head hits the pillow – plus, you’ll wake up with plenty of energy after a regenerative rest.
Hypertrophy
Hypertrophy is simply building muscle.
The whole Muscle Pyramid is built to help you build the most amount of muscle in the shortest time, to yield an uncanny physique in an unbelievably short amount of time.
Unlike strength, which is built through increasing the amount of tension during an exercise, hypertrophy is developed through mechanical tension, metabolic stress (getting a big “pump”), and muscle damage…
In other words my earlier emphasis on building strength prepares the way for hypertrophy…
Let me set up a short scenario…
Say Bill performs 15 lb. side lateral raises for 3 sets of 10 reps.
And Rob performs 25 lb. side lateral raises for 3 sets of 10 reps…
Who is going to get the bigger pump?
It’ll be Rob of course, because he is stronger.
He’s lifting more weight, which has prepared him for better hypertrophy.
Remember from the strength block A leads to B, which leads to C.
Everything Else
This is the junk drawer term for those components of your training that shouldn’t steal your attention away from the major stuff.
It includes injury prevention, repetition tempo, rest periods and even exercise selection.
Though these aspects are vitally important to consider and even to keep track of (rep tempo, and rest periods for example), you shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to plan it out with the rest of your workout…
Now What?
This muscle building pyramid will give you the peak physique that you’re striving for…
Write down all five aspects of the pyramid if you haven’t already (compliance, strength training, nutrition and recovery, hypertrophy and everything else) and put them into practice.
Remember, when you commit yourself to doing these things well, your body will have no choice but to respond…
And before you know it you’ll have the most appealing physique in gym, on the beach and everywhere else.
Remember to check out my new book Muscle, where I’ll cover the Muscle Pyramid and plenty more so that you can get your physique to where you want it to be…
You can grab your copy of Muscle for free, at www.jmaxfitness.com/freemusclebook.
Until next time, keep up the muscle!
About the Author
Rocket Scientist turned fitness professional, muscle building expert, creator of JMax Fitness and author of the new book Muscle, Jason Maxwell is determined to help guys build their dream body and life. Be sure to claim your FREE copy of Muscle.
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