by Jack Epner

Created on: October 24, 2009   Last Updated: October 26, 2009

Increasing muscle mass comes down to one matter at the heart of it all. You have to be building muscle, obviously. Weight training is traditionally the best way to do this. Diet is a focus, as well, but I will cover that second. As far as your exercise regiment is concerned, when looking to build mass, the general rule is more weight, fewer reps. If you are just getting started, you often want to determine your rep max and work from this. A simpler way to do this is find out how much weight you can lift ten times. The tenth rep should be very difficult, but you should be able to pull it off. This will be your starting point. Calculate your rep max like this: each rep constitutes about 5 pounds. This is a rough estimate, but will work well enough for our purposes. For example, if you maxed out lifting 145 lbs. 10 times, then your rep max would be 195 lbs. Your program should go something like this: 10-8-6 being the number or reps 90-95-100, being the percentage of your rep max you are lifting.

You can alter this a little, but it's highly recommended this be the base you work from. You should always try to do as many reps as possible your last set. If you can do more than 6, you've busted your set and it means you are able to lift more weight now. Your muscles are getting stronger and you increase your weight uniformly. The number of extra reps you can do, multiplied by 5, is roughly the number of pounds your rep max has increased. Just keep doing it like this. You will be building muscle this way as the old muscle is continually broken down and rebuilt. I would recommend lifting several days a week. You can cycle as far as what muscle groups you work on any day to prevent injury.

As far as diet, this is important, as well. For the muscles to be able to continually heal and rebuild, you will need to supply them with enough protein. The rule when you are lifting regularly is taking in about 1.1 grams of protein for every pound of body weight. So just multiply your weight by 1.1 and that is the number of grams of protein you need each day. This will be a much larger number than you are used to. Supplements will be helpful here.

This is where I must make a recommendation, and I do this from knowledge and experience. I am not being paid by anyone. I recommend GNC's PM Protein mix. Here is why. The PM Protein mix is a slow release formula. It means protein is continuously being supplied to your muscles over time, rather than just a quick shot of protein. It allows your muscles to heal and rebuild better. It also has a high protein content. You can get about 30g in a serving, which will be necessary for your new needs. I used to have a shake in the morning with a bowl of cereal, a couple low carb protein bars for snacks throughout the day, meat at all meals, and a shake after working out in the evening. If you are looking for low carb protein bars, again, not being paid by anyone (wouldn't that be nice), but I have found EAS Myoplex bars to be best. I'm not sure if they still make the Carb Control protein bars, but they're great if you can find them. Happy muscle building.

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