Building large amounts of muscle is actually a very complex phenomenon. It is the result of placing intense demands on your body and attempting to illicit certain desirable responses, specifically to increase size, strength, endurance, and appearance. In order to do so, you have to maximize the effects of your training, the nutrients you ingest, your body’s  ability to repair and heal itself, and the natural daily responses by your hormones and chemical functions.

Luckily for you, the basics of gaining muscle is not nearly as tough as you might think. All it really takes is  implementing a series of short changes to your diet and workout habits and a little dedication. The following set of rules will demonstrate the most important things you must know to make your workouts and diet more effective and start gaining size and strength.

Rule # 1- Train your Whole Body

Did you know that squats and leg presses can actually make your chest and arms grow bigger?

There is more to gaining muscle than just curling a weight and watching your biceps get huge. One of the most important factors is the hormones that are released in your body on a daily basis. These hormones are all connected and are responsible for most of your bodily functions, but they can be very useful for gaining muscle. The most essential to weightlifters is obviously testosterone, but Growth Hormone (GH) and insulin are equally as notable. The release of these hormones is what makes muscle growth possible at all, and it allows for the muscle to heal and strengthen as you grow stronger.

To maximize your own testosterone output you HAVE to train every muscle. The amount of testosterone you produce is directly related to the size of the muscle being worked and the intensity of the workout. For this reason, working larger muscle groups and performing compound lifts, like squats and deadlifts, can cause spikes in your body’s overall testosterone and GH production, creating an anabolic environment. This means that working large muscle groups can actually allow other untrained muscles to grow larger and stronger as a side effect.

Now consider this – the largest trainable muscles in the body are the gluteus and the quadriceps – the two comprise the distance from your waist to your knees and make up the largest portion of your body. (Squats actually engage about 70% of all the muscles in the body and are one of the most effective compound movements for both weight loss and weight gain)

In addition, smaller muscles like calves and forearms actually contribute to your overall strength and success with other lifts. Forearms affect your grip strength and thus dictate how much control you have over any barbell or free weights you hold – strong forearms can mean strength increases in every other upper body lift. The core is equally as important, as these muscles keep your form rigid and your body in place and also directly affect your overall strength and performance. Keep in mind that much of the power comes from your core, and you can transfer much of this when necessary; when bench pressing, for instance.

Contrary to common beliefs, all aspects of your body are linked – your muscles most of all. If you want to increase strength in any of them, you need to train them all.

If that still isn’t enough motivation, well then do you really want to be the guy with a huge upper body and the legs of a 12 year old girl? I have a hard time looking at these people without pushing them just to see if they topple over.