To know what really works when it comes to bodybuilding and muscle gain is everything.

There is one mistake though that lots of people do which keeps them from gaining the body that they are dreaming about having.

What is it? – Overtraining

A lot of people and especially those that are new to bodybuilding might think that the fastest way to achieve huge muscle gain is to work out like crazy, and begin going to the gym each day of the week for over an hour each time. They work out and work out and then they work out a bit more until their muscles really ache.

Then they begin to wonder why they don’t get the results they are looking for and maybe they add an extra session a day and think that it will give them the success they’re seeking. Wrong!

After a few weeks, their bodies will likely be so stiff and aching that they won’t even be able to do a work out, and this is probably the best thing that has happened to them in a while in regards to their muscle building progress.

The secret to gain a muscular body is directly related to how often you work out and how much time you are spending at the gym. And believe me, less is more in this case. Overtraining will not add to your muscle mass at all, instead it will create tired, overworked and broken muscle tissue that will requireall the energy you’re giving your body to simply keep it alive.

Knowing how often to work out is essential if you’re really serious about your muscle gain, and should not be overlooked. In this report I will give you the guidelines that tells you how often I recommend you to work out and also how long your sessions should be each time.

First: How often?

You want to make sure that each muscle group you are working out gets enough rest in between each work-out session. Make it a minimum of 72 hours as a rule and stick to it, then you’ll make sure that your muscles get the amount of time they need to fully repair.

Why is it that you shouldn’t train more often?

Most people don’t get it that you don’t gain muscles while you’re at the gym working out. The muscles grow afterwards when you are resting. If you work out the muscles too often, they get stressed, won’t be able to build new muscle tissue (which is want you want for muscle growth) and you’ll end up with little or no improvement.

You have to wait until the muscles are fully repaired and then you can give them a new work out which will add to what you gained since your last session. By giving the muscles a good workout at the gym and then letting them recover, you’ll ensure that your body adds the extra muscle tissues.

You always want to make sure that you don’t overdo your muscle gain training. You want to make sure that you never train more than two days in a row. Preferable is to do the ‘every second day training’, but if it fits better into your schedule, two days in a row with a day’s rest afterwards works too.  It is very important to let your body recover fully after a work-out session, and I’ll talk more about this in the chapter ‘recovery and resting.’

When it comes to muscle gain, the rule goes something like this; less time and more intensity. This means; don’t spend hours at the gym; it serves your purpose not at all. You should spend no more than 45 minutes at the most each session. However, while you’re there it is in your best interest to work out with great intensity, to lift weights that are just as much as you’re able to lift and that’s it.

As I said, the time spent at the gym should be less than 45 minutes. This is due to the fact that your body otherwise won’t have more stored energy to supply you with to perform the work-out. Instead, it will begin to use the energy that’s stored within the muscles, which means that those last 15 minutes that you spend to make it an hour actually are counter-productive to what it is you want. Professional bodybuilders don’t waste their energy, they do their training and then they allow the result to come to them.

There is another reason why this is the optimum time to spend at the gym. Studies have shown that the muscle building hormones begin to spike after about 30-45 minutes into your training. After that, they will decrease and there will not be as much effect as you would like. By Stopping when they’re spiking, you’ll ensure that they are able to perform their tasks in the most efficient way. By doing a lot of intense workouts and exercises that increases the testosterone naturally in the 45 minutes you’re training, you’ll be able to create the best conditions for your muscle building hormones to work properly.

The way you do your work out determines whether you’ll be able to be in the first or the second group. Here I will explain how the best way to build your muscles big goes.

The mistake a lot of people do is that they do too many reps but with too light weights.

If your purpose simply is to stay fit and in shape there’s of course nothing wrong with it, the exercise your body gets can surely be part of a healthy lifestyle. But if you want to build, you’d better off doing fewer reps with high weights.

Your purpose should be to stretch your ability to lift and to go for weights that you almost aren’t able to bear. Do no more than 10 reps at the most; between 6-8 is the optimal amount for most muscles in the body.

The reason why you should go for high weights to build muscle mass is that this speeds up the break-down and build-up process in the muscles. The muscle fibers tears down faster and so the amount of growth hormones will naturally increase and give signals to the muscular cells to build up faster and to increase the amount of muscle cells to be able to handle the new conditions.

This is why it is also of great importance to give the body a higher amount of [TAG-Tec]protein[/TAG-Tec] then usually, since protein is the main part of the [TAG-Tec]muscles[/TAG-Tec]. Make sure to invest in a good protein powder to give your body what it needs to be able to build those lean muscles.

By following those guidelines, you will find that what might have been a struggle before, suddenly becomes so easy. Your goal should be to spend no longer than 45 minutes at the most each time at the gym and to decrease the number of sessions each week to no more than 4. Have each session target different muscle groups. While working on the muscles, make sure you do intense lifts over a short amount of time. Don’t pause between reps for more than 1 minute and your muscles will gain the most.

As long as you know the tricks, building muscles can become quite an easy task. With some focus and a determined mind you’ll be able to gain sooner than you’d expect.

If you have set your mind on increasing your muscle mass

If you are aiming for big muscles and fast growth, do fewer reps with heavier weights. To do 6-8 reps with high weights stimulates the muscles much more than doing 10 with medium weights. I learned some valuable secrets from a buddy of mine who won the Canadian Natural Bodybuilding Championship a few years back. He told me that if I want to get big, I needed to do 3 sets with 6-8 reps once a week for each muscle group. Once a week?! I thought, but decided to try it and was very pleased with the results.

Another thing to look at is to check whether you are increasing the weight in a good pace. Within 10 days of training you should be able to put on more weight. If that is not the case, you are simply not putting in enough effort.

If you think that spending a lot of time in the gym is the way to get muscles, think again. The best way is to do short, intense workouts. Do 3 sets of 6-8 reps on each muscle group you want to train, and don’t rest longer than one minute between each rep. To work the mucles as much as possible in a certain period of time is how you make them grow the most.

And one of the most important things that can not be overlooked; don’t miss out on the resting in between workout sessions. The combination of hard workouts and good rest, including a good nights sleep is essential. The muscles grow the most at night while you are asleep, and without rest you will only give yourself a week and tired body. Have at least two days off a week. This will make it easier for you to work harder when you actually are at the gym and when you are resting your body adjust to the new conditions it’s facing.

To aid the muscle growth you can also try changing you diet. Since the muscles are built up by protein, you should increase your intake of high-protein food, or compliment your diet with protein-shakes inbetween meals. Even though protein is what makes the muscles grow, you also have to give the cells the energy they need to be able to renew themselves and increase in number. Therefore a balanced diet with carbohydrates and fat in good proportion to protein is the right way to go.

By following this guidelines you will be surprised to see how fast the results can come to you.