Training for Massive Gains: Really Powerful Tips

How to Really Train to Unlock Massive Gains Training for massive gains is different than strength training, power lifting, endurance training, or any other fitness program. Your goal is to pack on pounds and gain muscle. Focus on that.

In my post about how to Gain Mass Quickly with Basics that Actually Empower You, Training is listed as one of the three basic building blocks. However, as skinny folks, we often spend a lot of time trying out different weight lifting programs we find online, copying jacked guys we see in the gym, or listening to some comment in an online forum. Most of that information is not actually advice for specifically for skinny people trying to gain mass. It is general workout advice that might work for others, but not you.

You need a structured routine that will increase the time under tension for your muscles and promote your muscles to grow. I will always sing the praises of German Volume Training (GVT). The linked article was written by Charles R. Poliquin, who is often credited with renewing interest in this established method in the 2000s. However, I do deviate from the typical advice you’ll see in GVT articles in some important ways.

Here are 5 key areas to focus on for your training.

Choose Exercises Geared Toward Training for Massive Gains

We need to rip the band-aid here. Skinny people do not gain muscle quickly by doing burpees or trying out the latest cross-fit exercise. All of these new and complicated exercises either attempt to get you excited again or mask the fact that you’re scared of the big moves like squats and bench press.

You are determined to grow. You want to pack on muscle. You are ready to start training for massive gains. There’s no shortcut here. You have to commit to the fundamental moves that explode muscle growth. This includes the king of exercises- the squat.

Select Exercises that Meet 2 Criteria

The goal is to pick exercises that target large muscles and also recruit muscle groups when training for massive gains.

Why target large muscles? If you want to put on weight and look massive, you would not focus on the tiny muscles that support your chest, you would focus your chest. So, put aside those little dumbbell moves to get your forearms on fire and commit to hitting the big muscles in your body.

Why recruit muscle groups? Isn’t it better to isolate to focus? You still want to maximize the muscle growth in your body by using compound movements that recruit groups of muscles to work. However, that doesn’t mean you pick an exercise that mainly targets minor muscles at the expense of large primary muscles. For example, the squat will hit your quads and supporting stabilizing muscles.

Once you find the right mix of exercises, stick with them or you can’t track progress. Here’s a hint, there aren’t really that many to choose from, so just steal from my list of essential lifts per week below and commit.

• Squats
• Romanian Deadlifts
• Bench Press
• Skull Crushers
• Military Press
• Barbell Curl
• Bent Over Rows

Training Frequency Matters for Massive Gains

The GVT program will naturally force you to rest 4 days at least before hitting a muscle group again. I’d recommend sticking to a weekly workout program that is easy to track. This will give you enough time to rest and your body to recover (which is when you actually grow), while keeping momentum. If you’re able to hit your muscles much more frequently than that, you’re probably not challenging your body enough in the first place. Your weights are too low or you’re missing the proper form. Aim to train each major muscle group one time per week.

When Selecting Weight, Heavier Isn’t Better

Remember this not strength training, which will constantly focus on pushing the top limit of what you can lift. Getting bigger and getting stronger go hand in hand in many ways, but they are different. When training for massive gains, failure to focus on your goal will leave gains on the table.

With GVT, for each exercise start with 60% of your one rep max and then use that as your weight for reps. For example, 135 * 60% = 81, which rounds to 80. So, if you can bench 135 pounds one time with proper form, you would use 80 pounds as the weight to rep when you bench. That might seem too easy and light. First, 100 reps of a light weight will be challenging as you get into later sets. Second, lighter weight early on will give you room to hone into perfect form before you start lifting heavy. When the weight gets heavier, you’ll be tempted to lose the fundamentals to just get the plates up.

Drop the ego, Drop the weight

Personally, I felt insecure benching 65 pounds and squatting just the bar. However, when I did just that, my gains shot through the roof. Also, I easily surpassed my previous bench and squat limits, because strength came along with the size.

With 60% of your one rep max, you’ll get your form right and probably get through sets 1-3 pretty easily. Set 4 will start to feel like you’re doing work. Set 5 and 6 is where many people to fail, but you need to push through, and Sets 7-10 will feel challenging but you’ll get to the end. When you’re able to cleanly complete 10 sets of 10 reps with that same weight, you’ll be ready to increase the weight 5-10% for that exercise in the next session.

Slow Down Your Reps with the Right Tempo

Fast Reps Cheat Your Gains

Speed kills! How many times have you curled a dumbbell and just got in the zone to keep pushing that weight up? I’ve been told by a buff guy in the gym to think of benching like a machine that doesn’t stop. When the weight comes down, immediately push it right back up. That’s not great advice for a skinny guy trying to gain weight. You need to slow it down to let your muscles actually work and build.

Fast reps use momentum to move weights. Essentially, the weight is moving itself up and down. You start swinging your body or the weight without realizing it. This means the muscles you are targeting don’t actually do much work. This means they don’t grow.

Time Under Tension (TUT) is an important concept for skinny people training for massive gains. It’s not just about how many times you lift a weight, but the time your muscles spend under the stress of lifting the weight. This tells them it’s time to grow.

Counting Seconds Leads to Massive Gains

The way to combat this problem is to focus on the tempo of your exercises. You’ll usually see tempo for lifts expressed in 2 to 3 numbers in this format: x-y-z. This stands for concentric-pause-eccentric, and each number represents the seconds to spend in each phase of a single rep.

• Concentric: This is the part of the rep where the target muscle shortens. Imagine when you lift the weight up during a bicep curl.
• Pause: This is the moment between lifting the weight up and dropping it back down. There can be benefits to pausing and continuing to squeeze the muscle.
• Eccentric: This is the part of the rep where the target muscle lengthens. Imagine when the weight is at the top during a bicep curl, and you bring it back down to your side again. As you bring your arm back down, the bicep is lengthening. There are a ton of people who like to focus on Eccentric training.

For example, if a tempo is written as 2-1-2, the idea is to spend 2 complete seconds lifting the weight, pause for 1 second, and then spend 2 seconds returning the weight to the starting position. If there are only 2 numbers written, the pause that’s been taken out. For example, 2-2 just means the same as the previous example, except there is no pause in the middle.

Find Your Right Tempo (Hint- it’s 1-0-1)

Many GVT articles will advise you to use a 3-0-2 or 4-0-2 tempo. Give it a try and see how you feel. While I agree that this will absolutely shred your muscles, even with light weight, I don’t think most people will stay engaged with this type of routine. Simply put, you’ll get bored and eager to progress to higher weight soon. Instead, I suggest using a 1-0-1 approach.

People are not robots. Much of the GVT advice out there doesn’t really account for the human element of fatigue, mental stamina, and simple boredom. I think it’s better to give a little bit on the strictest interpretation of GVT to gain consistency and excitement in your workouts.

Before you knock 1-0-1 as too fast, I urge you to try it. Don’t just assume you take 1 second to lift the weight. Actually count for a full “Mississippi”, “One Thousand”, or whatever else you use to keep yourself honest. 1 second with weight is longer than you think. The importance of this practice is to actually make yourself pace each rep so that you focus on proper form and allow the muscle to do real work.

Time Your Training

Time is on your side, if you are paying attention. Timing is important in two ways- ensure your total workout is no longer than 1 hour and ensure your rest between sets is 60-90 seconds when training for massive gains.

Limit the Total Time of Your Training

It’s important to limit the time your workout takes to 1 hour because that is an indication of the intensity of your work. If you’re bragging about spending 2-3 hours in the gym, that means none of your lifts are actually challenging enough to tire out your muscles. Maybe you’re wasting a lot of time chatting with old gym buddies or walking aimlessly looking for another machine. You need to increase the intensity so that you’re begging for mercy in 60 minutes.

If you need to stretch it a little bit longer to 75 minutes to accommodate for time spent waiting on shared equipment and warming up, that’s fine. Just don’t push past that. Know the exact time you started your training or walked into the gym, and know the exact time you need to leave. Having a proper box around your time will also make you more likely to commit to training instead of using the “I didn’t have time” excuse.

Strictly Timed Rest Periods Unlock Massive Gains

Rest periods between sets should be 60 to 90 seconds. Don’t drop below 60 seconds, or you’ll just rush your muscles and never progress. Don’t take longer than 90 seconds, because you are losing that critical emphasis on time under tension. I prefer 60 seconds of rest because it gets me out of the gym quicker and feels like an appropriate challenge. Whatever you choose, pick one and stick with it. You can’t compare your progress over time if sometimes you rest 60 seconds, sometimes 85 seconds, and sometimes 70 seconds.

Time the rest periods. Use a stop watch, ask Siri to help, or keep your eyes on the clock like a hawk. I usually rely on Siri for this. It’s easy enough to “set timer for 60 seconds” and have her clearly let you know when it’s time to go again. Don’t rely on counting the seconds in your head or guessing. As you get tired, you’ll be tempted to extend your rest periods, so this will keep you honest.

I choose to use 60 second rest periods. The way I implement this is to use that same period between every set for every exercise. The moment I finish one set, I ask Siri to set time for 50 seconds to alert me that’s it’s time for the next set. I assume I’ll eat up about 10 seconds getting back into position and setting up properly with the weights again, which will then get me to a 60 second rest period before the next set starts.