My Workout To Build Muscle And How To Create Your Own Workout

If you think you can only build muscle by working out more than three times a week then your wrong. Plain and simple you really only need two to three days a week of weight training to build muscle. It isn’t necessary to workout everyday to add a lot of muscle.

I know this isn’t what you may have heard in the past about working out, but it’s true. I only workout about three times a week and each workout usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes.

Why then, do so many people say you need to workout more to see results? Well, I have no clue. Maybe supplement companies want you to workout more so you can buy more of their product, I don’t know. But I do know that you only need a limited amount of stimulation to your muscles so they can actually be broken down and heal to be bigger.

The truth about building muscle doesn’t lie in the workout section of this guide; it lies in the diet section. I have found that it wasn’t the workouts I was doing that got me bigger, it was the diet I was eating, which we’ll get into. But for right now lets talk about the strategy you should use when working out to build muscle.

3 Days On, 4 Days Off

The best way to increase muscle is to practice the 3 on and 4 off a week approach. It’s sometimes even better to only workout 2 times a week. This allows the minimum amount of muscle stimulus for your body to produce muscle and it also allows your body to rest and heal itself properly.

It isn’t necessary to do any more. And each workout should generally take no more than 30 minutes. This may seem a little different from your current workouts or a little different from what people told you in the past to do. But if you aren’t currently improving in building muscle, then why continue to do something what doesn’t work?

The more you workout, the more you should space out your workouts. And to tell if you need to space them out, is if you hit a plateau. When most people hit plateaus they usually change up their workout, but if they only put more rest days into their schedule they would break through those plateaus.

Now, there are two options in which you can choose. One is to do three to two workout days in a row, which I personally like because I workout for three days and I don’t have to worry about working out for another three or four days. The other option you have is to space out your workouts every two or three days apart. So Monday you would do one workout and on Wednesday you would do another. Then on Friday you can do the workout you did on Monday or you can implement a completely new workout, depending on what you want to do.

I would recommend you start off with the first option, working out everyday in a row and resting for the rest of the week, then move to the second option. This will shock your body at first so you can increase your muscle mass fast and once your body is used to this routine you should spread the workouts out.

Starting with two rest days in between your workouts and then increasing the rest days, one day every three weeks, or once you notice your body is hitting a plateau.

The 5-5 Rule

The 5-5 rule is when you perform each repetition at 10 seconds. So for each exercise as you bring the weight down you count for 5 seconds and you count an additional 5 seconds when you bring the weight up.

This will keep the pressure on your muscles so they are at work during the whole set. Some people go too fast down and don’t get the necessary stain on their muscles to actually improve them.

Compound Vs. Isolated Movements

Most exercise that people perform involve isolated movements, such as curls, leg extensions, and calf raises. These are exercise that put a load on one joint of your body. These will usually only target one isolated muscle. This will not be one of our goals.

Instead you will want to perform exercises that focus on two or more joints (Compound Exercises). As you target more muscles in your workout you will build more muscle because this will produce more stimulus in your body and secrete more hormones that build muscle.

Small guys NEED compound exercises more than anyone else! Compound exercises include deadlifts, squats, bench press, etc. Squats expectually involve your legs which, if you perform them correctly, your body will produce large amounts of testosterone which is vital to building muscle.

I’m not saying that every exercise should be a compound exercise; I’m just saying that MOST of the exercises should be compound.

2-10 Exercises Per Workout

The general rule to every workout is around 2-10 exercises per workout. My general workout has around 4-8 exercises, which I find to be best, in my own experiences. If you follow this rule and the one above (Compound Exercises) your body will produce the most growth hormones, which will produce the most muscle. And each exercise should have three sets.

How To Create A Workout

Our goal when working out to building muscle is to produce the most growth hormones, with minimal stain on our body. The less you workout the more muscle you will gain. Sounds crazy right? It true.

If you combine the right workout with the right diet you will build muscle effortlessly. So lets get down some ground rules about how you should go about creating your own workout plan and then I’ll show you my own current workout that I use to build muscle.

First of all you should follow all the rules stated above, that’s the first step. Next you will want to find out the days that you are going to workout. Like I said before, I like to schedule my workouts three days in a row and then rest for three or four days. Or you could space those workouts a day or two apart. Use a schedule that works best for you, so you can balance your work, family or other obligations.

Now that you have a desired workout schedule it’s time to fill it with appropriate exercises. And to do that you have to schedule each day with two or more muscle groups. So for example you would schedule one day with chest and arms. And another day you would schedule lats and triceps.

Obviously the less days you are willing to workout the more exercises you will be performing a certain day. Generally 2-4 muscle groups a day is a good range.

The groups that you MUST target to build muscle are….

Chest (Upper, lower, mid)
Arms (Triceps and biceps)
Shoulders
Traps
Legs (Quads, hamstrings, calfs, glutes)
Lats
Optional: Abs (Upper, lower, obliques)

The general rue of thumb is two perform about 2-4 exercises per muscle group. So for example for chest exercise you may want to perform a regular bench, an incline bench, and then finish with a decline bench, or with fly’s. Which brings us to a workout that never fails for me.

My Workout

This actually isn’t entirely MY workout. It was inspired by this one.  The only thing I changed were a few exercise and decided to rearrange the schedule to allow me to only workout three days. This is just a template and you can create a variation of this workout or create your own using the principles above.

The Workout

(Each exercise has three sets.)

Day 1

Bent Over Row
One arm dumbbell row
Dips
Standing dumbbell tri extensions
Skull-crushers

Day 2

Barbell Shoulder Press
Side laterals
Front Dumbbell Raise
Standing bent rear delt raise (You can do the seated or standing version. I personally like the standing one.)
Barbell shrug
Plate Shrug

Day 3

Bench Press
Incline Bench
Decline Bench
Barbell Curl
Curls
Hammer Curls
Squats
Leg Extensions
Lying Leg Curl