If your goal is to gain lean mass, there are a few underlying methods of training that are constants in effective, proven workouts. These methods combine to increase lean body mass in a safe, healthy and natural way, providing all the benefits that can accrued from working out.
Lift Big to Be Big
Step 1
Do five sets of five repetitions of barbell squats. Use a weight as heavy as you can handle while squatting down until the fronts of your thighs are parallel to the floor.
Step 2
Perform your squats prior to any other exercise in your workout. Due to the heavy metabolic demand of squatting, if you perform other exercises first, it will reduce the workload that you body can handle for the squats.
Step 3
Execute three to five sets of power cleans or deadlifts. Limit your repetitions on these exercises to no more than three per set. This will reduce the risk of energy from lifting heavy weight during these skill-intensive exercises. These two exercises strengthen the entire posterior chain. This is the chain of muscles that runs from your Achilles' Tendon upward to your trapezius muscles.
Perform the power clean by explosively lifting the barbell from the floor to a resting position across the front of your shoulders. The deadlift is simpler. Grasp the barbell as it rests on the floor, then stand up. The bar should end up resting across the front of your thighs.
Step 4
Perform five sets of five or six repetitions of an upper back exercise as well. This exercise should be the bent-over barbell row, pulling the loaded bar from your knees up to your belly-button, according to Stuart McRoberts' book, "Brawn."
Step 5
Choose an upper body pushing exercise like the bench press or overhead press. These exercises, pushing the weight away from the body, strengthen the entire shoulder girdle area. Perform the bench press by laying supine on your bench and pressing the weight straight up from there. It should end up directly above your chest.
Eat Big to Be Big
Step 1
Increase your daily caloric intake to at least 5000 calories per day. Consume as many healthy calories as possible, in the form of green vegetables, lean meats, eggs, and dairy.
These should comprise the foundation of your nutrition program, as squats comprise the foundation of your lifting program.
Step 2
Add a post-workout protein shake with at least 50 grams of protein every day. This provides you the burst of carbohydrates and protein needed to ensure rapid recovery of the muscles after intense lifting.
Step 3
Make up the difference between healthy eating and your post-exercise protein shake with something that will help you attain the 5000 calories per day mark. Mark Rippetoe, author of "Starting Strength," points out that you can't get big on 3000 calories per day and you can't eat 5000-6000 calories per day by eating "clean." Do not be afraid of high-fat content foods like McDonald's Double-Quarter-Pounders with Cheese and Domino's Pizza if your goal is to gain mass. Make sure you get the requisite calories.
Step 4
Consider supplementing your food intake further with scientifically tested supplements like Creatine. Creatine is the single most researched supplement in history. While there are some anecdotal claims made about negative side-effects, there has been no evidence of these in the scientific research that has been undertaken.
References
- Huge in a Hurry; Chad Waterbury; 2008
- Beyond Brawn: The Insider's Encyclopedia on How to Build Muscle and Might; Stuart McRoberts; 2007
- Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 2d ed; Mark Rippetoe; 2007
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