How would you like to know a few easy but vital secrets to building lean muscle mass and putting on that needed weight? If you are reading this article, I'm going to assume that you've been the blunt of many a skinny joke in your time and would appreciate knowing the way to make those comments stop - permanently.
Knowing how to put on the needed weight in your journey to becoming fit and muscular is the key and working out with weights is part of the hidden secret.
If you allow the "slow-go" numbers on a scale to irritate you because they have not been pumping upwards even though you've been pumping that iron, then knowing these simple secrets will ease your frustration.
My son-in-law, we will call him "Joey" (pseudo name to protect the once-skinny innocent), had become extremely frustrated when he saw little to no gain after training hours in the gym and gulping down one protein shake after another ...
not to mention the dough he'd spent on bodybuilding gadgets that were over-priced.
If you are like Joey, you are one in thousands who are missing these few, secret keys to effective weight gain and muscle mass.
Remember, if you are a guy or gal who tends to swim at the skinny end of your gene pool, you need a game plan suited especially for your body type.
It just doesn't make good sense to follow a generic muscle-building, weight-gaining program designed for those who are not in the "hard-gainer" category.
If you are one of the smart people who choose to train drug-free, then taking bodybuilding advice from someone who spends mega bucks each month on steroids is foolhardy, wouldn't you agree? If you want to build muscle mass that will turn heads in your direction when you walk into a room, your first step is to prepare yourself to abide by a different set of training rules.
Taking advantage of these few key tricks can help you build insane muscle and gain weight, quickly.

• First of all, when you train, you must treat every single set you do as if it were your last - this isn't your hobby, it's your JOB - and you want to stand out in a crowd because you are eye-appealing, not eye-appalling, right

• Treat every rep as if your life depended upon it; going for the gold in the Olympics is an all-out effort - and your intent with your workout should be no different.
  

• Don't wimp out when you take a break; wear a stop watch to keep yourself honest during rest periods

• Don't allow the gym mirror to become a distraction; quit staring at yourself during your workout.
  

• Wear a head set & have the volume up enough so that it signals the others in the gym that you're serious about what you're doing and you do NOT want to be disturbed.
  

• Keep the girl friends & wimpy guy friends at bay: This sounds insane but its been proven time and time again that having pals around when you're working out is something that compromises the intensity of a routine, with the usual outcome being that you go at it too heavy, quit too early, and then go out to grab something 'not nutritious' to eat.
  

• Work alone and train with a fervor that scares the gym socks off anyone who crosses your path at the gym.
  

• Give your muscles a reason to bulk up: pace yourself so that every training workout is at a little higher intensity level than the previous one.
  Be careful not to get sucked into the latest bodybuilding fad touted by those fitness magazines, because most of it is simply old news that has been re-written and packaged into a 'shiny sell'

Every successful bodybuilding program utilizing weight training has only two key elements:

1. Make it HEAVY - put your "all" into lifting increasingly heavier weights to become as strong and fit as you possibly can.
   Focus your intention on a 5% increase in strength from one week to the next, using only one compound exercise for each major muscle group.
   This little trick targets the fast-twitch muscle fibers have the highest ability for growth.
   
2. VOLUME, man...
   VOLUME!! Doing as much work as possible in the shortest period of time will place your muscles under more tension ...
   and more tension results in under-developed muscle fiber being brought into play for building more muscle mass! Success in becoming fit and muscular begins when you find the correct balance between your time in the gym and your workout routine.
   Just remember, volume training doesn't mean a long, four-hour workout where you lift girlie weights (this applies to you gals, as well).
   

There really is no secret formula ...
but if there was, it would be to lift those heavy weights close to your max threshold, take shorter rests between reps, and take it slow and easy.
If you've tried other programs on the market, you know how easy it is to try one out for a few weeks then complain that it isn't working for you so you can justify moving on to the next fad program that promises the results you desire.
But I'm sure that by now you've come to realize that blaming the program is simply neglecting to take responsibility for your own desired outcome because there is no magic potion, undiscovered goldmine or hidden trick to gaining weight and building muscle mass - it's simply YOU working the program and paying close attention to the right coach and/or mentor.
Stay on-track with the program, exploit the hell out of all its benefits and grab every opportunity to workout to the best of your ability and you will succeed - because the truth is that most decent programs work ifdone with the right intensity & with a coach and/or mentor who has "been there, done that".
One of the best programs that ensures your success will be one in which the program author has (or had) the same goals as you do and therefore can lead you by example.
The results you'll gain from such a program will be priceless, because it will SHOW YOU THE MUSCLE results!