For bodybuilders, muscle mass is one of the most important attributes to possess, and also one of the hardest. Gaining 20 pounds in fat mass is neither impressive nor difficult. Lean muscle mass is what we want, and we will give you simple tips to help you achieve it. You must follow the following tips religiously and accurately if you want them to work. As we stated before, nutrition is the most important factor in gaining lean muscle mass. So on top of what is mentioned below, you must incorporate your proper nutrition program in with these tips to achieve the best results possible. If you have any concerns with your nutrition program, read our nutrition section or e-mail us for a personal nutrition program.

Eat enough protein - This is absolutely essential. Many people make the mistake of just eating a lot, not a lot of quality food. Protein is what builds and repairs your muscles after a workout. You must intake an adequate amount of protein to ensure your muscles will grow to their full potential. See our section on daily requirements to find out how much protein you should be consuming per day. Eating adequate amounts of protein will make gaining lean muscle mass much easier.

You do NOT need to use steroids to gain mass - There are many people out there who believe the only way to gain a lot of muscle mass is to use steroids. That is incorrect! Steroids have many side effects; short and long term: Aggression rages, acne, baldness, sore stomach, and bowel problems are just a few of the many side effects. Heart and kidney failure are some of the fatal long-term side effects of steroids. Besides the health factors, steroids put a huge burn in your wallet. It is proven that once a steroid user quits using them, they cannot gain muscle properly without the presence of steroids in their system. This is because a steroid user's body becomes dependent on the steroids to produce muscle. Once they stop using them, they will never be a "natural" bodybuilder again.

Learn to love working out - We all have favorite days to workout - usually it's chest and biceps day. Well, if that’s all you do you will look very unproportioned and have odd shaped muscles. If you are not doing so already, work all the other parts of you body like triceps, shoulders, back, legs, abs, and forearms. If you want huge arms, you must have huge triceps, not just biceps. Triceps make-up 2/3rds of your upper arm, so it is a must to have big tri's if you want huge arms. Same goes with chest, if you want a big chest, your back must be equally built.

Don’t expect to bench press a brick house after one week of weight training - What this means is, do what is heavy for you and not everyone else. Going heavy is all common sense, and it is what you can handle. Heavy to one person may be 100 pounds...to another it may be 350 pounds. The 350-pound guy has more muscle already, so he has to use more weight than you to stimulate the muscle. Just focus on cranking out 4-6 reps with whatever weight it takes. Patience is a virtue.

Don't waste your time - Don't be a socializer in the gym. It's neither the time nor the place. You are there to workout, not to talk about the hockey game. If you're doing it right, your workout should only take from 45-75 minutes. If you are there for longer, you are wasting time and burning way to many calories. Social chatting between sets is fine, but no one wants to be spoken to while they are lifting. Chat between sets but when it's time to lift, shut your mouth and hit the weights. Keep focused and train hard.

Get enough sleep - That means sleeping until you wake up without an alarm whenever possible. It is best usually to try to get around 8-12 hours of sleep a night. This may seem like a lot, but if you're working out intensely you'll need it. Oversleeping can be as harmful on your body as under-sleeping, so make sure you're getting adequate hours of sleep so that your muscles have time to repair themselves. Muscles grow and repair themselves the most during rest, so make sure your sleeping as much as possible.

Go heavy on the weight - Workout to your own level and don't try to imitate the big boys in the gym - you will just get hurt. People who try this only end up getting hurt and set themselves farther back anyway. Just use enough weight so that you have to stop at 4-6 reps. If you can do more, then you need to increase the poundage. Even a 2.5-pound increase can seem like a lot, so just go at your pace. This is the best lifting method to enhance muscle size and mass. Low reps and high weights for 4-5 sets.

Always warm-up - There are many people that go to the gym and never warm up. This is incredibly stupid, you are just asking for an injury. It is a proven fact that you can lift more when your muscles are warm and have blood flowing abundantly through them. Do a few light warm-up sets with the exercises you plan to do along with some stretches. Most weight lifters do around 15-20 reps nice and easy. Then flex and stretch, and do it again. Once you feel warm, go ahead with your program.

Get a good stretch - This means stretching as part of the actual exercise - not just during the warm-up. For example, when you do dumbbell bench press try to bring the weights down slowly and s-t-r-e-t-c-h the muscles out. Don't try to tear or rip it - just nice and easy. This will stimulate more blood flow, which allows for more strength and endurance during your workout.

Never use soreness as your ultimate goal - For the most part, if you are sore a couple of days after you worked a muscle, you probably worked it properly. But don't use soreness as your only judge as to whether you're making gains. To measure gains, use a tape measure, the scale, the mirror, etc. You don't have to be sore to have gained muscle.

Limit your alcohol intake - This does not mean never drink, just limit the amount and the frequency. Like most things, alcohol won't hurt you or your gains if done in moderation. Bodybuilders hardly ever have alcohol in their systems. We at FITMAXX don’t drink much and we have gotten excellent gains. Alcohol will not hurt you, but it definitely does not do any good. Be responsible and limit how often you slam back a 6-pack, cause you can't workout when you're hung-over.

Eliminate or at least cut back your caffeine intake - Caffeine tends to increase your metabolism. If you have a hard time gaining weight anyway, this may slow things down for you. But if you need that "fix" once a day then that's fine. Just don't overdo it.

Be patient when trying to gain mass - The average untrained male weighs around 140-170 pounds depending on height. Most trained bodybuilders usually weigh in the 190-230 pound range. Some guys can even get to around 260-300 pounds naturally - that’s impressive. The thing to realize is how long these guys have been working out. Most likely anywhere between 5 and 15 years. Professional bodybuilders can become champions at age 22 usually because they take steroids. There is NO other way to become as large as they are in such a short amount of time. The levels of growth hormone and testosterone in your body will not allow it. So just relax and have fun. If you stick with these steps and work hard there is no reason not to gain lean muscle mass.

Never compare yourself to other people - Compare yourself to what you used to look like before you began lifting. If you are comparing yourself to others, you will probably get discouraged. The purpose of bodybuilding is to better yourself. You can’t do that by comparing yourself to someone else. It’s okay to look at someone who's big, but don't obsess on it. Just do the best you can and keep making improvements. As long as you are continually progressing compared to where you used to be, then that's all that matters. If you can look at someone who is very built and use it as motivation, great! But the ultimate goal is to improve upon yourself, so look in the mirror and keep measuring yourself with a tape measure.

SQUATS, SQUATS, SQUATS! - Squatting is by far the best exercise for full body that you can do. If you want to get bigger, squats are the way to go. In particular, a 20-rep squatting program is excellent for putting on leg size and overall mass. But, look out, 20-rep squatting is a brutal workout. Try this: pick a weight you normally can do 15 reps with, and try your damnedest to get 20 reps with it. If you have to stand 30 seconds in between the final rep, do it. Do whatever it takes to get those 20 reps. If you absolutely can't get 20, then stay with that same weight until you can. Try and move up by 5-10 pounds the next week and try to hit 20 again. This really does work and puts major mass in your legs.