If you want to build muscle fast, your body has to be in the correct hormonal blance – i.e. in an anabolic state. Intensely performed resistance training is a huge part of stimulating muscular growth, but to attain the maximum amount of muscle mass possible, depends on a few things being “just right”.

Much of this is as a result of your diet being in check, which includes various things you can do to ensure your body being put into an anabolic state:

1 – Like you probably learned in school, protein is necessary when wanting to build muscle fast, as muscle is essentially comprised of protein. Amino acids repair and rebuild muscle tissue after hard resistance training, and these amino acids are supplied by protein. You should strive to consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day from clean sources like fish, chicken, red meat, whey, and low-fat dairy. Eat 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day to spread out your protein intake so that your body can take advantage of more of it and not overtax the liver.

2 – The body derives energy from carbohydrates, so if you want to build muscle fast, ensure you get adequate carbohydrate intake. Insulin basically ‘pushes’ amino acids into muscle cells to begin the muscular repair process, and insulin is release in the presence of carbohydrates. Since the body does use carbs for energy, if you consume too few, the body will then start to use protein as an energy source instead of using it for muscle repair and growth. Eating 1.-1.5 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight per day is a good rule. Get your carbs from foods like potatoes, pasta, rice, fruit, all the vegetables you can eat, and good sources of whole grains.

3 – Simply put – take in more calories. Unless you’re trying to lose bodyfat, you need to be in a caloric surplus in order to build muscle fast (this means you take in more calories than you burn up). A good rule of thumb is to figure your daily caloric maintenance level and add 10% to account for gaining muscle, getting your split of calories from 50% carbs, 40% protein, and 10% fat.

4 – Muscle growth doesn’t happen during your workouts – it happens while you rest. That said, you have to make sure you’re getting enough rest – both in terms of days off training between workouts, and getting enough sleep each night. Muscle growth just won’t happen if there’s not enough recovery time built into your overall program. At the same time, your body’s testosterone and growth hormone levels will only have a chance to be optimal if you sleep enough.

5 – Adding good supplements to a sound diet is never a bad idea. Most of the time, all you’ll ever need would be a good whey protein, creatine, and l-glutamine.

6 – If you want to build muscle fast, don’t do too much aerobic exercise. Since you need to be in a caloric surplus to add muscle, burning too many extra calories by doing cardio could easily turn counterproductive.

7 – Drink plenty of water. If you don’t drink enough water, you can end up in a case (even if it be a mild one) of dehydration, and this adversely affects the muscular growth process. After all, remember that a muscle is comprised of roughly 70% water, so getting enough water will ensure proper volume in the muscle itself.

Are you a new bodybuilder looking to build muscle fast? If so, you can just do any old random workout. A structured workout with built-in progressions and planned variation will get you the best results.

Most training “noobs” fall into one of two possible traps. Many just hit the gym with no other real goal in mind except to get a “burn” or “pump”. Then the guy will typically spend the entire time benching and curling – maybe using the random set of machines…all in the name of getting a “pump”. On the other side of the spectrum, “noobs” will get the latest hardcore bodybuilding magazine, and stick themselves on a 6-day, double split (or something else just as stupid), thinking that if it’s good for pro bodybuilders, it will be good for them. In all reality – both methods completely suck.

For anybody that’s completely new to training, the best way to build muscle fast is to concentrate on the basic, compouund lifts, and making slow, incremental progress. By “incremental progress”, I mean to steadily work on the basic exercises with a given set and rep range, striving to add extra weight to the bar every single workout.

Here is a sample program:

Workout #1:

Squat – 3 sets x 5 reps

Bench Press – 3 x 5

Deadlift – 1 x 5

Workout #2:

Squat – 3 sets x 5 reps

Standing Overhead Press – 3 x 5

Power Cleans – 3 x 5

Workouts are performed 3 days per week, alternating days training with days off. So your weeks would look something like this:

Monday – Workout #1

Wednesday – Workout #2

Friday – Workout #1

Week 2:

Monday – Workout #2

Wednesday – Workout #1

Friday – Workout #2

If you want to build muscle fast, the critical key to success with this kind of workout is constant progression – always be adding weight to the bar. While putting another 10 pounds on the bar for the deadlift and squat, 5-15 for the bench, and 5-10 for the overhead presses every workout would be ideal, it very well could be as little as 2.5-5 pounds each workout.

Eventually, you’re going to get to a point where you can’t put more weight on the bar, and still get all your sets/reps with good form, and you’ll have to assess yourself:

1 – You’re not fully recovering from your workouts. This could mean something wrong in your diet, not getting enough vitamins, not resting enough, etc.

2 – You’re trying to add too much weight, too soon. You don’t need to concern yourself with what anybody else in the gym thinks – as long as there’s more weight on the bar (even if it is only 2.5 pounds), then you’re progressing, and that’s what is important.

3 – You added exercises or changed the workout…therefore goofing it up.

4 – You’re doing everything right, but you’re simply just hitting a peak of what you’re capable of at your current bodyweight.

If it’s anything but the last scenario, just fix it and keep on keeping on.

Learning how to build muscle fast is something that new bodybuilders always aspire to do. These days, most people want their results as quickly as possible. Here are four basic steps you can use to build muscle fast and get results as quickly as you can.

Tip 1

One of the biggest mistakes any trainee makes is not keeping a training log to document your workouts. If you want to build muscle fast, then you’re going to need to monitor the details of your progress so that you can go back and determine exactly what part(s) of your program have been effective. Part of getting bigger should be getting stronger – meaning adding weight to the bar on a regular basis. Keeping a training log will not only let you ensure that you’re doing this, but will let you go back into past segments of your training, and analyze what type of program(s), set/rep combinations, and even exercises produced the most muscle growth (and strength gain) for you.

Tip 2

Don’t try to kill yourself in just one set. After going through a few (say 3-5) sets of an exercise, each should be progressively harder – generally with more weight. This protocol – many times called “progressive overload” – is key when stimulating muscle growth. By your last set, the cumulative fatigue from the tonnage (weight x reps x sets) lifted should be sufficient stimulus to trigger growth. You can keep sets constant from workout to workout, just ensure that you’re always striving to put more weight on the bar (of course, keeping form on point).

Tip 3

You don’t need to perform ultra-long workouts. Too many times people get caught up in the whole idea of “more is better” (and seeing the marathon workouts pro bodybuilders used to do back in the ’70s doesn’t help). In addition to progressive overload, one thing you should strive to increase is workout density – or, in other words, doing the same amount of work in less time. This will cause you to build muscle fast as your intensity levels increase dramatically. So believe it or not, more productive workouts can actually take you *less* time overall!

Tip 4

Don’t do a ton of reps. For muscle growth (whilst still training for strength), a rep count of 6-8 per set works well. Some bodybuiders like to do a lot of ‘pumping’ to flush the muscle with blood, but this generally doesn’t lead to long-term muscular gain (even if the ‘pump’ is great). Instead, stick to shorter, heavier workouts that tend to build very dense, hard muscle. This muscle is generally much more solid, and even will have a different ‘look’ to it.

Work these four basic ideas/principles into your overall program, and you will be down the path of building muscle much more quickly and achieving success!

Not everybody can make it to a gym, but that’s Ok, because you can still build muscle fast at home. Most people think that they can’t get a good workout at home (at least not compared to the workout they get in a gym) and that’s just not true.

One of the first things to consider if obtaining the necessary equipment for your home. While it’s not necessary, if your training partner can also come over to your place to work out, then there’s no reason you can’t build muscle fast at home. But then again, you have to be able to afford the stuff to equip your own home-gym setup…

Some people might need the “atmosphere” they find at a gym…but those are the ones that need to just work on their own intrinsic motivation. If you want to build muscle fast at home, most of the time, all you really need is a spare room, your garage, basement, or even just some space in the corner. (After all, you’ll likely be working out by yourself, anyway.) Since this is the most common, this is what we’ll consider. Besides, many (myself included) like training at home, if for no other reason, than there are too many distractions at a gym (not to mention the driving time).

In order to build muscle fast, you’re going to need to lift heavy, and to do that, the minimum equipment you should really look for would be a squat rack (or power rack or even squat stands), adjustable bench, barbell, plates, and adjustable dumbbell handles. This will allow you to pretty much any basic exercise (which is really all you need, anyway) – squats, deadlifts, overhead work, benches, rows, cleans, pulls, etc.

Some exercises can be dangerous to use maximum weight on (e.g. – bench presses) if you don’t have a partner or spotter, but this is why having a power rack to lift inside of is optimal for at home training. But with most movements, a spotter just isn’t necessary – especially if you know your limits.

One of the big advantages of training at home (and one of my favorite things) is that you can basically work out whenever you want. You don’t have to wait on equipment, can rest as little (or as long) as you want, and more. The biggest thing that working out home offers me is the fact that I’m not constantly having to share equipment, being asked questions by others, or having some trainer bugging me.

If all else fails (and you can’t afford a decent home gym setup), you can still get good workouts in by doing basic bodyweight exercises – pushups, pullups, bodyweight squats, etc. You can get a minimal amount of equipment (pullup bar, weight vest, jump rope, medicine ball) and not only get great workouts, but still build muscle fast.