Bodybuilding is extremely hard and like with life, nothing will come easy. So, if you are not prepared to play hard, then go home. That is not a 250 pound jock talking, that is the science. The basis of building muscles is worked around the fact that when you exercise hard enough, you will damage the muscular tissues slightly. Whilst the muscular tissues are repairing, they will become slightly stronger to ensure the same damage does not occur again when you lift the same weight. You can see the continuing pattern that will evolve here! This ultimately shows that if you are working within your comfort zone then you are not going to achieve your goals of building any substantial muscle mass. Do not be afraid to push your body to the limit!

It is always better to perform a low number of reps but with a much higher weight. There is no shame in using a weight for your final set of a particular exercise with which you can only perform two or three reps, it will do your muscles wonders and stimulate large amounts of tissue growth. Avoid performing high amount of reps with a low weight on a regular basis as this will not stimulate your muscles in a way to produce substantial muscle growth. You may here many people who say, "Doing 25 reps gives me such an incredible pump". This is true but you must resist the temptation on focusing on the effects whilst at the gym and focus on the long term effects. The pumps that are formed when completing a high number of reps will soon subside in a matter of days, even hours and you will be left with no actual gains to compensate with. Do you really want to waste hours in the gym for nothing?

I think in some respect, everybody likes to avoid the most difficult scenarios in life, right? It is the exact same whilst aiming to build muscle, people tend to avoid the more difficult exercises. The exercise which people tend to despise is squats, and it is easy to understand why! After completing a set of squats with high weight then your knees can feel weak and you can feel quite light headed, but please don't let this put you off, although it doesn't sound so nice thus far! Squats are the best overall mass building exercise there is; it will stimulate growth in the major areas of the legs, back and shoulders. If you want to build big mass then you have to buck up and endure the most difficult exercises.

Unfortunately, even by going gung-ho into the gym 4 times a week still doesn't mean the results will appear rapidly. Building muscle is a long and arduous journey as building proper muscle mass can take years. The most difficult stage is after a few months as new gains become even harder to come by, but you must knock down any barriers that stand in your way, power forward and stay strong in body, as well as mind. I have often compared building muscle to life and it is true in both scenarios that the people who put in the most work will see the most success. If you want success in the gym then you had better be prepared to put in the work to get it.