Fastest Way Build Muscle

Let’s face it, the fastest way to build muscle is to take illegal steroids, spend countless hours in the gym and gorge on humongous amounts of food and protein supplements.

We’ll get to the fastest way to build muscle in a sane and natural way in a moment. But first, let’s dispense with the idea of illegal steroids.

If you go the hardcore route like today’s professional bodybuilders:

Men and Women alike risk:

• Severe acne, oily skin and hair.
• Hair loss.
• Liver disease, tumors and cysts.
• Kidney disease.
• Heart disease, heart attack, stroke.
• Altered mood, irritability, aggression, depression or suicide 
• Huge distended bellies
• Arrest

And just for the guys, we can add:

• Breasts (“bitch tits”)
• Painful erections
• Shrunken testicles 
• Decreased sperm count
• Infertility
• Impotence

Women have a special list of their own:

• “Man Face” caused by male hormones, extreme dieting
• Facial and body hair
• Baldness
• Enlarged clitoris
• Shrunken breasts
• Drier, coarser skin

Still, some people will take those risks in the quest to get big. Testosterone Nation says at least 30 professional bodybuilders have died prematurely due to things caused by the use of steroids.

Plus, the effects don’t last if you stop taking them. You’ve probably seen pictures on the web of pro bodybuilders while on steroids and then what they look like when permanently off the juice.

If not, Google for it. It’s shocking. They basically shrink back down to mere mortals and in some cases show the irreversible damage caused by the hormones.

Natural is the Only Sane Way to Build Muscle.

Let’s set the expectations:

1. Realize you’re not going to look like one of the 300 pound pros – be glad you will be healthy
2. You can definitely pack on some quality muscle, look and feel great
3. You can do it without illegal drugs

Supplements

There’s nothing wrong with considering legal supplements, as long as you use them according to directions and heed any health warnings. Check out this post for my recommendations on the two that have been generally proven to work best: Whey Protein and Creatine.

The post talks about men over 40, but these two items can work for women and younger/older men as well. Neither of them is a steroid or hormone, so there aren’t the side effects noted above.

How to Train

Recent study after study has shown that higher reps with lighter weight is the fastest way to build muscle. The evidence is becoming overwhelming. This is especially true for those of us training without steroids. And for people who are north of 40 in age.

The absolutely huge poundages that you see pro bodybuilders throwing around are not possible or advisable for drug-free mortals. Plus it’s just not necessary.

The Formula That Works is Easy

Try to screen out all the hype on the web and the fitness industry for a moment and view this with fresh eyes. There is absolutely nothing complicated about building muscle.

It does NOT require a complex course of action covered in a thick book with a ton of jargon, 12 DVDs, expensive equipment, compound movements, HIT, Cross Fit, giant tractor tires, rope rigs or coaches preaching at you.

Lighter Weights, Higher Reps

The old school belief that only heavy weights can build muscle is being pushed aside by growing evidence that the fastest way to build muscle is with lighter weights and higher reps. This doesn’t mean light weights. It means a level of resistance that takes you to failure in the 8 – 12 rep range.

If you’d like to see further backup, please see this post. There are several links at the bottom of the article to both scientific studies and articles in popular bodybuilding magazines. It’s compelling stuff by objective experts and all agree — lighter weights/higher reps is best.

My own life experience

I’m in my early 60’s and have been resistance training for nearly 5 decades. I’ve never used illegal steroids. At the same time, I’ve never been super lean, ripped or shredded, either. I have managed to build muscle mass and keep it.

Over the years, I’ve done just about every method and style of training, from Olympic to Power to Bodybuilding and hybrids in between.

For many of those years, my goals were at least partly ego-driven. I wanted to lift ever-heavier amounts of weight to prove I was stronger. It was always the way. Progressive resistance meant progressively heavier weights.

You can get away with training that way for a long time in your life. But there comes a day when your joints can’t handle it and your body just can’t recover like it used to do.

Here’s me pushing heavy weight on the leverage bench in my mid-50’s. I screwed up the math in the video, but it’s a total of 520 pounds x 7 reps. My ego loved it, my shoulders are still complaining. 

Once it became obvious the days of heavy weights were over, I was forced to either adopt a new, more sane method of training or give up my lifelong passion.

The result? I had to try lighter weights, higher reps. Today, I have more quality muscle than I did at any other age. And I’m not beating myself up anymore trying to lift ever-heavier weights. 

I adopted the 8 – 12 Rep to Failure method, using weights only heavy enough to cause failure in those final reps. And only increasing the weight when I could do more than 12 good reps in the first set.

Turns out, I could have been doing that style all along and spared my shoulders a ton of grief. Oh well, live and learn.

There is a Trick to making lighter weights work

There is definitely a trick to this style of working out. It really requires that you get your head in the game and dialed into what you’re doing.

It is critical with this method to properly calibrate the amount of resistance so that you are able to do 8 – 12 repetitions per set and no more. Lighter doesn’t mean super light. Your goal is muscle exhaustion or failure on each set. That won’t happen by waving around super light weights.

Maintain high quality repetitions. No cheating or swinging the weights around. Your goal is to keep constant tension on that target muscle and exhaust it. The key is to feel that muscle, especially as you bring it to failure.

And ‘failure’ doesn’t mean passing out. It just means you can’t do another clean rep without a cheating movement. Don’t cheat.

Here’s the Trick

That can be easier said than done. After all, our minds are involved in this process, as well, and it is our mind that will determine if we’ve exhausted the muscle or not.

You’re focus is not increasing the amount of weight you use. It is on taking the target muscle to “failure” in each set. You can adjust the number of reps and the amount of resistance as you work through your sets.

You are not focusing on numbers. You are focusing on the feeling in your muscle.

You want to get into a mental groove called the Mind/Body Connection. Feel the pump. The amount of weight and the number of sets are just tools to get you to the pump.

One day, 12 reps might seem impossible. On another, you might find yourself doing 15 or more to reach exhaustion in that first set.

Decrease the number of reps as necessary to finish the final sets. If you can only do 5 reps on the final set, so what? As long as you feel the pump, you’re good.

Rest as briefly as possible in between sets.

Why Does This Work Fastest?

The real formula for building muscle has never changed. It goes like this: Muscle fibers grow in response to controlled damage that we do to them through exercises targeting specific muscles.

The muscle fibers ‘tear’ on a microscopic level. This damage is repaired while we sleep using the good nutrition we’ve put in our bodies as fuel. This is also where supplements like Whey Protein and Creatine come into play.

Exercise + Good Nutrition + Rest & Recovery = Muscle Growth.

It’s not about “No Pain, No Gain.” Forget pain. 

If you’re working hard enough, you will feel a bit sore. Think of that soreness as the “Pump.“ Get to know it as a good feeling. It’s a signal your body is sending blood into the muscle fibers with healing nutrients to build and repair them. Pump is good. Pain is bad.

If You’re Ready to Get Started

Try this workout. It will work the entire body over a 4 day period. You can do this workout at home with something as simple as a set of resistance bands, or a nicely equipped home gym or commercial operation. The equipment doesn’t really matter that much. It’s all about that mind/muscle connection.

A Note on the Featured Photo: It’s a classic Ford Coupe built up with a lot of muscle and fast. Like the car, I’m a life-long Detroiter. Not as old as that Ford, but still in good shape and running strong.

Thanks for visiting. How do you feel about lighter weights and higher reps?Please share your thoughts in the comments below. And sign up for email updates to get the latest.

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Best Ways Build Muscle

Lighter weights with higher reps is among the best ways to build muscle — if not the absolute best way — especially if you’re north of 50 in age.

It’s becoming the consensus opinion among experts (lots of links below to studies and articles). And its pushing aside the old school belief that only heavier and heavier weights can build muscle.

I know its right from experience. I’ve been training for nearly 5 decades now. Up till my mid-50’s, I focused on pushing the heaviest weights I could possibly handle. Heavier meant progress. Failing to progressively add weight felt like failure. Lighter weights were for aerobics people, not real lifters.

Here’s me back in the day. I include this video as proof that I really was an adherent of the hardcore, old school way of training. Heavy. Alone in the basement. (I messed up the math at the time. It’s a total of 610 pounds x 2 reps.)  

I found out the hard way that aging joints cannot recover from the extreme punishment that heavyweights can bring as quickly or as thoroughly as they did when we were younger. My shoulders ached and started making knuckle-cracking sounds when I moved.

Fast forward to today, in my early 60’s I have more muscle mass than I did at any other age. And no pain. It’s because I stopped lifting for my ego and started lifting smart.

I’ve been at the ‘new way’ now for about 6 years. It’s more fun training this way and it takes less time. You do feel soreness as a result, but not the pain of getting pounded by heavy weights.

That soreness is the legendary “Pump,” as blood rushes into the target muscles bringing healing nutrients and flushing out waste. The Pump is a great feeling. Soreness is good. Pain is bad.

In a nutshell the formula goes like this:

• 8 – 12 reps to failure in every set
• 30 – 40 seconds rest between sets
• High volume of work: 3 – 5 sets per exercise, 3 or more exercises per target muscle group
• Focus on one muscle group/area per workout
• Muscle exhaustion is the goal — feel the pump
• See the link at the bottom of this post for a sample 4 day routine

Big Distinction: Old School vs New Way

There’s still no end to the debate on this subject. And you’ll still find lots of arguments for the old school way. I’d argue for it myself just a few years ago.

Some of those arguments will be made by younger guys who imbibe on steroids. That’s a whole different ballgame. The juice helps them recover faster and no doubt packs on the mass. But it’s also extremely dangerous to your health and illegal.

We’re talking legal, natural methods on this site, and we lean toward what’s best for the older person.

Lighter Does Not Mean Light

At the same time, we’re not talking about aerobicizing here. When I say “lighter weights, higher reps” I don’t mean waving a tiny dumbbell around for 100 reps.

It does mean finding the right level of resistance to cause your muscle to fail between 8 – 12 reps. In this case, failure is a good thing. It means you can’t do another clean rep without cheating because you’re taking the target muscle to exhaustion. You take a brief rest and do it again. This is how we cause hypertrophy.

Hypertrophy is the process of causing microscopic damage to the targeted muscle fibers so that as they repair, and with proper rest and good nutrition, they grow just a bit larger each day.

Want More Proof?

Below are a sampling of studies and articles on this subject. They range from the academic to traditionally hardcore bodybuilding publications. All share in the conclusion that lighter weights & higher reps to failure is the best way to build muscle.

Remember: Lighter Weight does not mean Light Weight. It means a level of resistance that causes your muscles to fail in the 8 – 12 rep range (some say 12 – 15 reps, but it’s essentially the same idea).

MAYO CLINIC

The prestigious Clinic says that a single set of 12 repetitions with the proper weight can build muscle efficiently in most people and can be as effective as three sets of the same exercise. It recommends choosing a resistance level that causes failure to your muscles between 12-15 reps.

Going to failure is a common theme in each of these reports.

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA BIRMINGHAM:

As reported by the New York Times:

“Dr. (Marcus) Bamman says, you should push your muscles until they are exhausted.”

In this study, lifters used enough resistance to cause failure in the 8-12 rep range. Failure, or muscle fatigue, was noted as the key driver for muscle growth.

MUSCLE & FITNESS

5 Advantages to Lifting Light

“Studies show that decreasing the load on your lifts can lead to greater muscle gain…”

This article points out that not only does going lighter produce results, it provides a number of distance advantages vs. lifting heavy weights. Me and my aching shoulders could attest to that!

FLEX online

Flex tackles the age-old question of light vs. heavy and comes out squarely on the lighter side.

Flex says that the majority of your workouts should be in the 8–15 range for best results.

McMASTER UNIVERSITY, Hamilton, Ontario:

Excerpts from a 2010 study:

“These results suggest that low-load high volume resistance exercise is more effective in inducing acute muscle anabolism than high-load low volume or work matched resistance exercise modes…”

Again in this study, failure was recognized as the driver for muscular growth.

SCIENCE DAILY 2016

An article on McMaster University’s latest study in 2016:

Lighter weights are just as effective as heavier weights to gain muscle and build strength.

This is one of the latest studies (2016) on the subject. It points out that it is becoming apparent that lighter is better, contradicting decades of old-school messages that heavy weight was the only path to muscular growth.

So what are you waiting for?

If you’re not already working out, it’s time to get started. No excuses. You don’t need expensive gear or a gym membership to get going. And you don’t need to lift Herculean amounts of weight.

There are lots of “how to” articles on this site under the menu category “Workout Guides.” Check them out. This one shows a 4 day routine that can be done with with just about any equipment, including inexpensive resistance bands.

What are your thoughts on light vs. heavy?

Please share them in the Comments below. You can also drop me a line at Brian@BoomerMuscle.com. I’ll be glad to help if I can.

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Can I Build Muscle?

Yes, regardless of your age.

Assuming your health is generally ok, of course. Virtually anyone can build muscle.

The question back to you is: Are you willing to devote 30 – 40 minutes for 3 – 4 days every week to do it?

If you can’t muster that consistent discipline, you will not build much muscle. If you can, you will.

One of the problems holding people back today is the over-abundance of training routines getting pitched constantly. There are times when too much information is not helpful, it’s just adding confusion. This is one of those times. The fitness industry is choking with methods, gurus and hype.

Tune it out.

The art and science of building muscle hasn’t changed much at all from the old school days (except of course for the dangerous devotion to drugs in the pro bodybuilder ranks).

Try to screen out all the hype for a moment and view this with fresh eyes. There is absolutely nothing complicated about building muscle. It does NOT require a complex course of action and coaches yelling at you.

It does not require Insanity, Confusion or Bootcamps — or Pain.

The real formula has never changed. It goes like this: Muscle fibers grow in response to controlled damage that we do to them through specific exercises. The muscle fibers tear on a microscopic level. This damage is repaired while we sleep using the good nutrition we’ve put in our bodies as fuel. IT IS NOT ABOUT PAIN. Forget the old saying, “no pain, no gain.” Think NO PAIN EVER.

Exercise + Good Nutrition + Rest & Recovery = Muscle Growth.

If you’re working hard enough, you will feel a bit sore. Think of that soreness as the “Pump.” That’s a good feeling. That’s your body sending blood into the muscle fibers with healing nutrients. Pump is good. Pain is bad.

We create that muscle “damage” by targeting specific muscles with various types of resistance exercises. These can be done with weights or with resistance bands or even with bodyweight movements. Our muscles don’t think. They just respond to resistance and don’t care where it comes from.

The ideal amount of resistance is one that you can finish 8 to 12 clean repetitions with before reaching “failure.” By “clean” I mean no cheating. No swinging the weights around or using body english. “Failure” means you can’t do the next rep in a clean way.

Do 3 – 5 sets per exercise. Decrease the number of reps as necessary to finish the final sets. Rest as briefly as possible in between sets. If you’re first starting out, this time will slowly decrease as you get in better shape. 30 – 40 seconds rest is ideal.

You’re main focus is not increasing the amount of weight you use. It is on taking the target muscle to “failure” in each set. You can adjust the number of reps and the amount of resistance as you work through your sets. You are not focusing on numbers. You are focusing on the feeling in your muscle.

You want to get into a mental groove called the Mind/Body Connection. Feel the pump. The amount of weight and the number of sets are just tools to get you to the pump.

Once you’re in shape, you want to have a good amount of “volume” in your workout plan. Volume relates to how much work you’re putting in. Personally, I find 3-5 sets of each exercise is ideal with up to 3 – 5 exercises per body part. In other words, if I’m working my biceps, I do 3 different exercises, with 5 sets for each:

Standing biceps curls X 5 Sets
Standing concentration curls with dumbbells X 5 Sets
Standing cable curls using the triceps rope X 5 Sets
That’s 15 sets in all for the biceps and that’s considered a lot of Volume. But I am an experienced lifter and can handle it. If you’re new, start smaller and build your way up over time.

If you want big arms, you’ll be doing a variety of bicep curls, triceps work and some work on the forearms and wrists. My arm workout consists of the above Biceps routine, plus a similar routine for the Triceps (back of the arm) and I do some specialty work for forearms with a “wrist roller,” and some “gripper” devices.
I recommended targeting one area per workout day. That gives that area several days of rest and recovery before the next workout.

That’s it in a nutshell. We can get into lots more details, but secret to building muscle is not complicated. It’s simple.

Doing it consistently is the hard part.

Thanks for stopping by!

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