• 1) Consuming a large amount of calories is a must if you want to pack on muscle mass for a larger, stronger, more powerful frame. However, food alone won’t get you to the promised land. To achieve this sought-after balance of muscular harmony, you need to build quality muscle mass through a combination of diet and exercise. Combined with the right nutritional approach, the following exercise tips will better serve you towards achieving the goal of developing greater lean muscle mass.

    2) Use dumbbells instead of the Smith machine or cables. Resistance machines are great to add definition, but for real size, use the free weights section. Dumbbells will make your ancillary muscles work as well and they will build compound mass. The greater range of motion (possible with the dumbbells) increases the number of muscles used in the training, therefore yielding better results.

    3) Utilize the following compound exercises to increase the size of every muscle fiber in your body: Flat Bench Muscles Worked: Pectoralis, Major Pectoralis, Minor Anterior Deltoid, Triceps Brachii Serratus, Anterior Coracobrachialis

    Squat: Muscles Worked: Quadriceps, Glutes, Adductors, Hamstrings, Erector Spinae, Rectus Abdominis

    Deadlift: Muscles Worked: Erector Spinae, Trapezius, Glutes, Quadriceps, Rectus Abdominis

    Clean and Press: Muscles Worked: Deltoids, Triceps Brachii, Biceps Brachii, Erector Spinae, Hamstrings Glutes, Calves, Rectus Abdominis

     4) Every few weeks, add as much weight on to a certain exercise and see what your 1 rep max is. This will give you a rough guide to see how far you have come along in your off-season in regard to overall strength (as well as slightly boosting the ego).
    5) You need protein for your muscles to grow; the more, the better. Include lean red meats in your daily diet, as they contain the right nutrients to make muscles grow. It’s actually quite simple: the combination of a high protein diet and the right kind of workout will make your muscles grow like you never thought possible. The general rule of thumb in bodybuilding is that you need a minimum of 1-1.8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to build quality muscle (eg: 180-lb. person needs to eat between 180-270 grams of protein per day).
    6) In addition to training and eating properly, remember your BCAA’s (Brain Chain Amino Acids)The benefits of BCAAs are:

    support protein synthesis
    better testosterone to cortisol ratio for muscle building
    leucine can help increase strength
    glutamine can help aid recovery and assist in curing DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)