By Skip La Cour
Six-Time National Champion Bodybuilder
Success and Leadership Coach

Basic exercises or compound exercises; Heavy weight, light weight, or rotating between heavy and light weight; Forced reps or partial reps; Very strict form, cheating, or somewhere in between strict form and cheating; accentuating the concentric part of the movement or accentuating the eccentric part of the movement.

12 to 15 reps, 10 to 12 reps, or 4 to 6 reps; Supersets, trisets, or giant sets; Dumbbells or barbells; Free weights, Nautilus machines, or those gadgets on television; Feel the burn, feel the pump, or feel the pain; Short rest between sets or long rest between sets; routines for hardgainers, routines for the genetically-gifted, or routines for the Average Joe.

Predominately fast-twitch muscle fibers or predominately slow-twitch muscle fibers; different training variables for those who are steroid-enhanced or variables for those who are drug-free; Mass Machine Training, Max-OT Training, Weider Principles, Poliquin Principles; or Heavy Duty; 3 on/1 off, 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, or one-body-part once-a-week……………….

The list of training variables, philosophies, and theories seems endless, doesn’t it?

Which way is the right way to build muscle?

Keep it simple! In order to build muscle, you must do three things:

1. Overload the muscle. Training until complete failure, or until you just can’t do any more repetitions during a particular set, is absolutely mandatory! If you wanted, you could actually do that with a 10-pound dumbbell! It may take you 1,000 reps—but you could eventually overload the muscle with light weight and a whole bunch of reps. There is a better and more efficient way, however.

Training with heavier weight, with less reps, would be far more efficient with your energy and time. I try to stay within the 4 to 6 rep range. If I can do more than six reps—then the weight is too light. If I can’t do four reps—then the weight is too heavy. Remember, overloading the muscle creates hypertrophy, or in other words, muscle growth.

2. Recuperate completely. After a workout when you’ve overloaded the muscle, it will not benefit from any more intense training until it has fully recuperated. Why are steroids so effective in building muscle? They help you recover from your workout faster, and thereby, enable you to effectively train the muscle again in a shorter time period.

It takes me a full seven days before I can EFFECTIVELY train a particular muscle again.

3. Help your body recuperate with good nutritional habits. While you are waiting to be able to train a particular muscle group again, help your body’s recovering ability by eating properly. It’s important to the recuperation process that you maintain these good habits throughout the day, throughout the week, and throughout the month. Consistency is essential!

As you help your body recuperate through good nutritional habits, be certain to place a high priority on high-quality protein consumption.

I take one serving of my Mass Machine MM25 Whey isolate Protein at least four (4) times a day.

Sound like a shameless plug for my sports nutrition products, you say? You’re damn right, it is!

I’ve busted my butt fpr years to share with you the exact strategies that have worked for me and have help me take my physique to a whole new level. What am I supposed to do, tell you to buy someone else’s product that I have absolutely no clue if it’s any good? I won’t do it! I’m going to give it to you straight.

Can building muscle really be that easy? Yes!

How much muscle can you build? No one knows exactly how much. When you follow the principles I’ve outlined, you’ll put yourself in the very best position to put of the most muscle you are capable of packing on.

The hard part is doing everything you can to follow through with those strategies—without constantly looking for an easier answer or making excuses for your lack of persistence, discipline, patience, or faith.

Am I saying that there is no merit in any of the other training philosophies? No, that’s not what I’m saying. It’s just important for you to have a strong foundation of solid training habits before you get "fancy" with other programs.

Keep in mind that the bodybuilding and fitness magazines won’t sell a lot of subscriptions—and therefore advertisers won’t buy space—if they print the same, old, boring things month after month.

Everybody’s looking for something new, improved, or revolutionary. Everyone is looking for a shortcut. So don’t blame the magazines! They know what their readers want!

Train Hard. Think BIG. You are a Mass Machine Warrior!

Click here NOW to read how Skip La Cour's "Bodybuilding Mastery: Step-By-Step" Audio Seminar Course will help you reach your bodybuilding and training goals more effectively and efficiently.

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