Sorry for not writing as soon as I got back from Vegas last Thursday night. It’s hard to believe a place like that actually exists!
I honestly don’t think I could do anymore than the 48 hours I spent but I had an amazing time with 10 of my fitness buddies, some of whom you know from my newsletters like Mike Geary, Ryan Lee, Craig Ballantyne, Jeff Anderson and some other great guys.
Last Wednesday night we went to LAX night club in the Luxor and saw Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson and Nikki Hilton who all recognized me and invited me into their private booth guarded by a 6’9 bouncer so they could ask me for some muscle building advice. LOL I wish! However, if I did get the chance to share some muscle building tips with Jordan and Hilton who are both classic hard gainers, here is where I would start:
1. Treat each set like an all out sprint.
Have you ever tried sprinting as fast as you can for 400 meters, which is one time around a high school track? You’ll be lucky to get to 300 meters before you start sucking for air. Training to failure during an exercise is like sprinting all out around the track. You’ll probably only be able to do 8-10 repeats which is why your muscle building workouts should be shorter. The harder you train, the less you can stand. Typically, you will only need 3-4 super intense workouts per week to maintain your muscle mass or grow new muscle mass depending on your caloric intake.
2. Rotate your reps around every few weeks.
Your body will adjust to reps and sets faster than any other training variable like rest periods, tempos or exercises. The more variety you can incorporate into your program, the less chance of your body plateauing and adapting. During some of my muscle building workouts, I’ll have you rotate through workouts that consist of 5×5, 4×10, 3×15, 6×6, 4×12, 2×20, 10×3, 5×8 etc You’ll constantly be stimulating all your different muscle fibers to ensure maximal muscle growth. With the first tip above, treat each set like it’s an all out sprint and stop “pacing” yourself. Your weight training workouts should not be treated like a marathon.
3. Stick to the bread and butter movements.
Anybody who has used my No Nonsense Muscle Building program with loads of muscle building tips will know that my exercise selection is not very fancy. I stick to all the “bread and butter” movements that emphasize horizontal pushing (chest), horizontal pulling (mid back), vertical pushing (shoulders), vertical pulling (lats), hip dominant (deadlift variations) and quad dominant (quad variations) exercises. You’re not going to see any Bosu balls or balance boards or rocking chairs in my mass programs. Just the good old fashioned exercises that allow you to load up the bar with the most weight and “give her.”
I nicknamed Vegas, the “City of Superficial” since so much emphasis is stressed on out ward appearance but I have to admit that it feels pretty good chilling by the pool, cruising the strip and hitting the clubs and feeling confident about your appearance and physique.
I don’t think “Skinny Vinny” (my nickname before I gained 41 pounds of muscle) would have enjoyed himself in Vegas as much because I still remember how insecure I was about my scrawny frame and never being able to find a shirt that “made me look big.” Now, I don’t worry about that.
Click here to learn my muscle building techniques.
I used the first 29-week program to gain 41 pounds of drug free muscle in six months and now it’s your turn. Especially, since it’s already September!
Train hard and train even smarter.
Vince DelMonte
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