Gaining muscles requires 5 main principals, which everyone needs to be aware of, and master them, in this article we will show you how you can gain muscles, either you are a female or a male, after reading this article, you will officially get a Phd in the science of gaining muscles. The 5 main principals will give you a deep understanding about how your body works regarding the muscle growth, also you will relearn the facts about dieting and training with the true efficient way. In this article we are not giving false hopes like - gaining muscles fast and easy - time is irrelevant when it comes to muscle growth. I introduce you the 5 main principals you need to apply in order to gain muscles :

1.WHAT IS THE FIRST STEP TO GAIN MUSCLE ?

Learning about you body is the first step, we will mention some of the important topics you need to master, and it's up to you to master that and dig deeper, until you have a precise deduction:

Metabolism: is the chemical processes that occurs in your body in order to keep the lights on, meaning, it's the mechanism that turns your food intakes into fuel, to be used afterwards, by your muscles and organs.

Caloric Deficit: it is a way to calculate your calories' daily intake, thus you will know how many calories you need in order to gain muscle or lose weight, CALCULATE YOUR CALORIC DEFICIT.

Fat Loss: the majority get confused when it comes to bulking up, thinking that while gaining muscles, the fat comes with it, that's a true deduction, but it is not a safe way to gain muscles, professionals do that, for us, the amateurs, it will take longer than we think to gain lean muscles, years are the norm when it comes to gain muscles. Thus slow progress is required, without putting on any extra fat.

☣LEAVE YOUR EGO HOME AND DON'T KNOCK ON SNAP CITY'S DOOR☣

2.SHOULD I LIFT HEAVY WEIGHTS TO GAIN MUSCLE ?

This is a mistake that each one of us do and/or did, after hitting the gym for a long time, we think that we know all about it, we think that we are the best, the strongest, at that moment, you have to reconsider and reboot your system and start from scratch. Lifting at your capacity is critical when it comes to gaining muscles, thus don't ever go above and/or below your capacity when you lift weights, i.e. lifting heavy weights needs to be done smartly, especially in the compound movements (deadlift, squat, and bench press, click this link to learn more ... how to be successful in the deadlift, the squat, and the bench press).

3.WHICH DIET IS THE BEST ?

Eating is the keystone to gain muscles, don't waste your time looking for a magical diet that will give you muscles fast, it doesn't exist, it depends on your metabolism, body type, and other factors regarding the muscle growth, you can't make the cells grow faster than the normal natural rate. Thus, stick with the basics, by eating organic foods, and having a healthy intake of proteins, carbs, fats, and all the necessary nutrients. The protein is the star of all diets, so here is some numbers to help you calculate your personal needed intake; for a grown individual, 0.8 grams per kilogram ( 0.36 grams per pounds ) is enough to keep the one alive, when it comes to a bodybuilder who wants to gain muscles, the pattern it needs to be followed, is to increase that amount by 30%, then see the outcome and the impact on your body, then increase it by 10% each time you feel the need to.

⁕EATING FAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU GAIN FAT, THE LIVER IS THE ORGAN RESPONSIBLE OF TURNING SUGAR INTO FATS, THUS, IN ORDER TO NOT PRODUCE EXTRA FAT IN YOUR BODY, CUT THE SUGAR LIT BIT⁕

4.WHICH PROGRAM IS THE BEST TO GAIN MUSCLES ?

Now, let's talk about the real deal. When you hit the gym, the way you train, will impact the result you will get, regarding the intensity, and consistency, meaning, maybe you will not see the wanted results as fast as you think, depends on your body type, the muscle gain varies, some can see changes after several months, and for others, the changes come within years, the bottom line, you cannot quit, keep on hitting the gym, and forget about time. Another important concept, regarding the sets, the reps, and the chosen exercises, do not follow other bodybuilders' plans, learn from them, and try various training programs, until you find the exercises that match your needs and give you the wanted results, however, sticking with the basics is a must, until you become aware about how your body reacts with each exercise, then you will put a customized training program. The rest days are a critical matter also, it is as important as training, always give your body time to recover and reboot.

5.DO I NEED SUPPLEMENTS TO GAIN MUSCLES ?

When it comes to supplements, it is a personal choice, some believe that they can gain muscles without any kind of supplements, others believe that without supplements, your body can not surpass the natural limits. I believe that the name speaks on itself, they named them supplements, because they are just "supplements", so putting them as a priority over natural food is a mistake, of course you can gain muscles without using supplements, thus, do not think about supplements as a magical solution for gaining 

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Everyone wants great arms, rather you are a man or a woman, having great sculpted arms is a must. Training the guns has various patterns, you can find millions of articles lecturing about that. Depends on your goals, your body type, and the way you train, will give you different results, however, having proportional arms is main thing we have to consider. 

Before going any further, let us mention some mistakes that you could be doing. 

Over-training your arms can lead to injuries, you are already taking them to their limits while doing other compound movements, so training them once a week or even once every two weeks, is more than enough to give you great arms.

Lifting above your capacity will not give you good results. The arms has small muscles, they are designed for fast/mobility performance, thus a perfect form is required to get optimum results, also, respecting a good form will protect you muscles to get torn.  

Here is the best exercises for mass, strength, and sculpting your arms:

Biceps 

Barbell Curls: 5 SETS / 5-15 REPS (Progressive Overload)

Preacher Curls: 3 SETS / 8-10 REPS (Progressive Overload)

Hammer Curls: 2 SETS / 10 REPS (Progressive Overload)

Triceps

EZ-Bar Skull-crusher: 6 SETS / 6-12 REPS (Progressive Overload)

Close Grip Barbell Bench Press: 3 SETS / 15 REPS (Progressive Overload)

Rope Press-down: 2 SETS / 10-15 REPS (Progressive Overload)

Either you're a novice or an intermediate in this field that required dedication and a 24/7 commitment, you have come to the right place, in this article you will find all the concepts and the principals, in order to put the guidelines for your road to achieve a sculpted body, lose weight, and/or get mass with class, generally speaking you will get the body you always wanted, by following these solid facts and principals about lifting you will be able to have a clean start at the gym if you are novice, if you are already hitting the gym for a while, this article will help you to correct your lifting skills in case there is some anomalies. This article is little bit longer than usual, so grab a drink ( water preferably ) ... chill back, focus, and happy reading.

We will mention the principals of lifting, not rules, the difference lies in capturing the right pattern that will suits your requirements, rules are standards, so following them may not be a good choice, depending on your goals and body type, the rules can not work, so processing your program based on principals will give better results.

Principal N°1 : Fat Loss

How does the body burn the stored fat ?

Metabolism it's what keeping the wheels rolling, it's the engine room of your machine,your never-ending calorie burn. Food being turned into energy and that energy being burned off to keep your hair growing, your heart beating, your liver pumping out bile, your lungs transferring oxygen into your bloodstream.

It's all the various chemical reactions that  happen inside your body, 24/7, that keeping you alive. With a simple move, such as decreasing the food intake, will lead to a fat burn process, and that is called "Caloric Deficit", but some will not lose weight even if their food intake is at the lowest, here is the main reasons why you are not losing weight :
*The secrets about losing weight.

*5 reasons why you are not losing weight.

Principal N°2 : Hypertrophy

The majority think that there is a secret behind building muscles, while few of us hold that secret so tight and decline to share it. The scientific fact is clear and loud, Hypertrophy Specific Training "HST" is the mechanism responsible for the muscle growth. The foundation and principles came from laboratory research, without any boring details ... they deducted from various experiments, that progressive overload, compound movements (Squat,Deadlift and Bench-Press), and low-volume workouts are the basis of HST. Ergo the cells become larger, and the muscles look bigger.

Principal N°3 : Obstacles

You will find various obstacles, especially if you are a novice lifter, here is a list of some stuff you need to watch out from :

Capacity : You can go heavy of course, it is necessary, but going above your capacity is a mistake, don't ever sacrifice the form in order to lift heavier, ego does not make you stronger or fit.

Joints' pains : It can caused by many reasons, but the best choice you can make is to prevent this kind ob obstacles by stretching a lot, and doing a proper warm up, these two tips are more than enough to prevent joints' pain.

Recovery : Rest is very important when it come to muscle growth, thus, always listen to your body and don't rush yourself by training day in day out, take the rest you need until you feel that you're ready for a good workout.

Flexibility : When it comes to full range of motion, this late is the cornerstone for muscle growth, fat loss, and strength purposes. Having an average flexible muscles is more than enough to prevent injuries and have a good proportional body, also it will give you a healthy posture.

Principal N°4: Muscle Mechanisms 

Understanding the muscle mechanisms, the motion concepts, contractions, and neutral control is a must. The muscles are dull entities, meaning that they don't understand the impact you apply on them when you exercise, but they react to it, ergo, depends on which pattern you use in the gym, your muscles will react differently, it has been already mentioned in this article the fat loss and hypertrophy principals, now we will talk about how to train your muscles in order to validate those principals.

Hypertrophy : In order to achieve an optimum muscle growth, the training needs to be intense, consisting with moderated sets and reps, meaning that you reach a respectable pump, the workout is short -45 minute 1 hour max-, and the nutrition pattern consists of an above average protein intake.

Fat Loss : The training consists of long sets and fast reps, in order to burn the intake calories, and reaching the failure barrier, it's the only way to burn the extra fats.

Strength : A lot of sets with minimum reps - from 3 to 5 reps per set -, and taking long period of rest between each set, will allow you to hit heavy lifts, thus your muscles will get denser and stronger.

The muscle memory exists, your muscles get used to a certain motion and exercises, so shocking them from once a while with different exercises will allow you to surpass the limits they achieve after a particular period of continuous training, i.e. you need to change the program and customize a new one after certain period of time (personally I change my training program after each 8 months). Also when it comes to choosing to kind of training, you need to find an optimum solution for your needs, meaning that the workouts must validate the fat loss, strength, and hypertrophy principals.

There is two kinds of movements you can do, bilateral and unilateral. The bilateral 

movements are the ones when you use two hand or two legs to perform the exercise (For 

example, biceps barbell curls), the unilateral movements are the ones when you use one 

hand or one leg to perform the exercise ( For example, hammer curls ). Sometimes, a 

muscle grow bigger than the other one on the other side, depends on which dominant 

side you have - Left or Right - when you perform a movements, your dominant side is 

always trying to override and do all the work ( for example if you are right handed, your 

right arm will act first then followed by the left hand ). Here is some tips and "NOT 

DO" to prevent in order fix these flaws:

PREVENT DOING EXERCISES AT THE  MACHINES

The machines are not an exact science, they have calculus incertitude, and even if the 

machine is a high standard one, the floor can be uneven, one inch of length can make 

your right pec work harder than your left one for example. Doing exercises with the free 

weight will allow you to balance your movement naturally.

DON'T DO EXTRA WORK FOR YOUR SUBMISSIVE SIDE

Trying to work your submissive side harder, will not fix the muscle imbalances, it will 

escalate to flip the order, and your submissive side will become your dominant side, 

instead, try to put a mind-muscle connection where the movement is parallel on both of 

your sides, meaning that both arms and/or both legs are doing the same amount of work.

DO NOT IGNORE YOUR CORE EXERCISES 

Concentrating only on basic will make your outer muscles big and strong - But what about 

the inner muscles and the ligaments ? - The ligaments holding your joints together, and 

the inner muscles making your posture straight and safe, those must be the prime goal in 

building muscles. Strong superficial muscles with weak ligaments and a weak core is like 

constructing a 120 floor building on a moving boat. Thus, you need to focus on your core 

strength with the same intensity you apply on your basic training pattern. 

*Here is some exercises you can do to strengthen up your ligaments and core :

(These are just examples of many, you can find the ones that suits you)

SHOULDERS LIGAMENTS:

via exercisegoals.com

CORE:

Barbell Side Bend

via bodybuilding.com

Flat Bench Leg Pull-In

via bodybuilding.com

Jackknife Sit-UP

via bodybuilding.com

WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR BODY WHEN YOU EXERCISE ?

Muscles : The use the glucose as fuel for the muscles to move and contract, creating ATP 

( Adenosine Tiphosphate), your body require more oxygen, thus the breathing increases 

and your heart starts pumping blood to the muscles.

Heart : As the heart rate increases to supply your muscles with the needed oxygen, 

depending on the efficiency of your heart to pump blood, your intensity during the 

workout will be high, meaning you will be able to train harder and longer.

Bones : Your bone mass reach it's peak when you become and adult, afterward it starts a 

slow decline as you get older, exercising can help maintain a healthy strong bone mass, 

when you lift your body weight or more at the compound movements ( Squat, Deadlift, 

and Bench Press), a bone hypertrophy takes place, meaning that your bones get denser 

and stronger.

via stronginathong.com

WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR BRAIN WHEN YOU EXERCISE ?

The increase of blood flow allow your brain to function better, thus you feel more 

focused, also regular exercising leads to improve the survival rate of the neurons. Intense 

workout trigger the production of endorphin, this late is the main factor of mood 

boosting, it also sharpen your cognition. Endorphin impact is the same as morphine, but 

because it's natural, there is no side effects, exercising regularly allow to maintain  a 

high amount of endorphin in your system, ergo the depression feelings will fade away.

Losing weight as extra fat while gaining muscles is what everyone dreams about, many think that it's impossible or unreal, but the science is clear and loud, understanding the mechanism of how your body creates fat will make things clearer. The body is an engine that needs fuel 24/7, so it is safe to say that the fats get burn as fuel, the problem is that fats are the last resort for the body to call as a fuel, misleading concepts make people wondering what diet they should believe in, i say don't believe in any diet, just follow these two simple principles down bellow and you'll get the wanted results :

Some Motivational Stuff To Break The Boredom of Reading 

Following a low fat diet does not work

If you take the fats out of foods, it tastes like cardboard - so what do they do ? - they dump the food in sugar, thus you start getting first level fuel intakes, not only you give your body a big amount of first level calories, but you get sugar rushes, and your liver transform all the extra sugar into fat, ergo following a low fat diet makes your fat.

Following a high protein diet does not make you big

The trending norm, says that you need 2.5 grams per 1 Kg ... it's wrong, and right at the same time. The pro Bodybuilders can follow that norm, they train twice a day, each workout is so intense and last for hours, no vacations ... so they need a lot of protein intakes, in order to fix the damaged cells in their muscles, but for us amateurs, we don't need that much protein, training 4 or 5 times per week, working out for 2 hours max ...  the extra protein intake will be transformed into fat, and/or become residues, thus you will be wasting money and time, also your digestive system, and metabolism could get shocked and decrease their performance.