Growing bigger muscles isn't easy. It takes time, dedication, discipline, patience and hard work but if you're willing to put in the efforts, you'll be surprised how you can transform your body in just a few weeks. Some people get it totally wrong when it comes to building muscle mass. It's not uncommon to see people training several years in a gym but they still look the same. Maybe they don't have goals other than keeping fit and be healthy. But if your goal is to really pack on that hard lean muscle mass, you need to adopt a different approach. This will motivate you when you have goals also. In fact by following these 3 muscle mass gaining tips, you'll be on your way to add more solid muscle pounds to your body frame.

(1) Get more calories

It's simple as that. If your body doesn't get enough calories, you'll have a hard time building muscles. The reason is your body needs enough carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats for growth. You need carbohydrates to help you fuel your workout and also carbs make your muscles look fuller instead of flat. Without enough energy, your workout will suffer and the end result is you can't work hard enough to stimulate your muscle fibers enough. Without much stimulation, your muscles will be stagnant. Your goal is to strain your muscle fibers till they need repair so that they can grow bigger. This is where protein comes into play. You'll also need enough protein to build bigger muscles. If you weigh say 200 pounds, you'll need 200 grams of protein per day. If you divide it into 5 meals a day, that's 40 grams of protein per meal. And lastly but not least important, you'll need fats but not any kind of fats. Opt for monounsaturated fats like in olive oil, canola oil or flax seed oil or polyunsaturated fats like those found in oily fishes like salmon, sardine and herring.

Getting enough calories is crucial for growth, never forget that and it's even more important post-workout whereby you need a combination of carbohydrates and protein to repair and rebuild your depleted muscle tissues. Most people usually consume a whey protein shake during that time and it works efficiently. Don't forget your preworkout meal as well which is very important. It can be taken 1-1.5 hour before your workout. You can have a solid meal or a whey protein shake. Pre-workout nutrition should contain carbs and protein as well. It's always a good idea to have some whey protein supplements in your kitchen for example the
Gold Standard 100% Whey from Optimum Nutrition. And no matter how hard you try to train, if you aren't getting enough of the right kinds of foods and vital nutrients, you can say good bye to muscle gains. The truth is nutrition is the most important in muscle building.

(2) Have adequate rest and refuel before bedtime

The second most important muscle gaining tip is to have enough sleep and rest. It might sound weird for you but when you train, you don't grow. Yes you can say your biceps are getting pumped and it's already bigger but I hate to burst your bubble but that's just temporary. What follows after is what is more important. Of course like we discussed above, you will need to pay attention to nutrition but after that, you'll need to have adequate sleep. This is the time when your muscles grow, that is when you rest. So if you're the kind of night owl, that will be detrimental to your muscle gains. That pump you get in the gym will just vanish if you don't supplement it with proper nutrition and provide your body with enough rest.

Talking about rest, a pre-bed meal is recommended as your body will be without nutrients and protein for several hours. You want your body to stay anabolic and not catabolic. You want to prevent muscle breakdown. During this time, you don't need whey protein but rather casein protein which is a slow-digesting protein. It takes more time to break the amino acids in casein and the rate of absorption to your muscles is slower and more gradual. So your body will remain anti-catabolic during the night. There are 3 forms of casein protein ie milk protein isolate(combination of micellar casein and whey - 80% vs 20%), calcium caseinate(you can get that from casilan 90) and micellar casein(100% casein). You can also get cottage cheese which is mostly casein and a little whey. If you want some casein in your kitchen shelf which can last you for months, I recommend the Gold Standard 100% Casein from Optimum Nutrition which is Micellar Casein.

(3) Focus on compound exercises

There are two types of training exercises notaly compound exercise and isolation exercise. The first one is what you should be mostly doing. Compound exercises like bench press, military press, rows, deadlifts, squats, pull ups and dips should be the building blocks of your workout. The reason is compound exercises stimulate many different muscle groups in just one movement, increase testosterone levels and improve your metabolism to stimulate more muscle mass gain. It's also more effective in burning fats. Imagine all the energy you provide in your whole body just doing squats or deadlifts as compared to isolation exercise like barbell curls which work mostly the biceps. Have you done squats before and feel like you've run 1 kilometre, since your legs are in pain. This is how powerful compound exercises are. Also think about it. When you do compound exercises, you can lift more weights and do progressive overload effectively and the end result is the heavier you train, you'll be able to pack more muscle mass.

It's more effective for overall muscle mass by going from 150 pound bench press to 200 pound bench press than from 20 pound single arm dumbbell curl to 30 pounds. More muscle mass means you need to increase your body weight and you'll have a hard time doing it with just isolation exercises. Compound exercises target bigger muscle groups like chest, back and legs and this is where the bulk of your muscle mass comes from not from your biceps. And anyway if you want more muscle mass in your arms, just focusing on isolation exercises won't help much as your arms grow proportionately to your body weight. For example if you weigh 150 pounds, it's impossible for you to have 18 inch arms no matter how heavy barbell curls you do. On the other hand, if you increase your weight by focusing mostly on compound exercises, eat right and rest well and with time your weight becomes say 200 pounds, automatically your arms will grow bigger and having 18+ inch arms at 200 pounds is realistic. Doing compound exercises is the best way for bigger arms. It's not that you should not do any isolation exercises but just not focus too much on it.

There you have it, these 3 muscle mass gaining tips are where your main focus should be and I can guarantee you'll skyrocket your muscle gains through the roof. If you want detailed and step-by-step advice, secrets and techniques cocerning nutrition, training and more, I highly recommend The Truth About Building Muscle. You can't go wrong with the author teachings which took him from a 125 pound skinny teenager to a rock solid 190 pounds of muscle mass. Sean really knows what he is talking about when it comes to muscle building.

HOT TIPS: For your post-workout shake, you can add high glycemic index(GI) carbs like dextrose along with your whey supplement plus some creatine for best results. The fast acting carbs with high GI will create an insulin spike thus shuttling the protein faster to your muscles and will enhance the absorption of creatine and transport of nutrients in your body which will aid in recovery resulting in an effective replenishment of glycogen stores. So the combo whey + dextrose + creatine is highly effective post-workout. To give you an idea how much you need to consume, say you weigh 175 pounds, you can have 1 rounded scoop of whey(about 32 grams) + 1 rounded tablespoon of dextrose(about 15 grams) + 1 teaspoon of creatine(about 5 grams) all mixed with 12 ounces of cold water.

For pre-workout, you can also consume a whey protein shake with some oats, bananas and milk. Or simply a meal with pasta and chicken. You won't really need dextrose during this time as you prefer a slower release of energy for your workout which the bananas, oats or pasta will give you. It's optional but you can also add creatine in your pre-workout shake or simply drink 12 ounces of grape juice or water with 5 grams of creatine in it after your meal. Creatine will give you higher intensity workouts making you able to lift more weights, have better pumps and better stamina and energy. What creatine also does is filling your muscles with water and make them look bigger and fuller and it does increase your performance in the gym. So it's imperative to drink lots of water at least half a gallon a day.

When you buy creatine, you should look for creatine monohydrate called Creapure. This is the purest and best. I would go for Optimum Micronized Creatine Powder or Prolab Creatine Monohydrate. For dextrose, I recommend NOW Dextrose Powder. For easier mix of your shakes, a blender works well.

With whey, casein, dextrose and creatine in your shelf, you can create your own highly effective weight gainer shakes and bypassing the expensive weight gainer supplements. Here is a weight gainer shake that I use with great results. Ideal for breakfast. Not recommended for post-workout. Good for pre-workout. Take it 1.5 hours before your workout.

12 ounces of water
6 ice cubes
1 scoop of vanilla whey protein isolate
1 scoop of chocolate micellar casein protein
1 tablespoon of dextrose
1 teaspoon of creatine
1 cup of oats
3 tablespoons of skim milk
1 banana
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
1 tablespooon of olive oil or flaxseed oil(you won't really taste the oil at all)

But if you're looking directly for a weight gainer supplement, I recommend Optimum Serious Mass and Gaspari Nutrition REAL MASS.

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Gold Standard 100% Casein - This popular casein protein powder is one of the favorites among body builders, weight lifters, athletes and weight loss enthusiasts. Try it today and see. Click here to learn more. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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NOW Dextrose Powder