Comments on: How To Build Muscle Mass Fast – Complete Guide

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 10:09:51 +0000

@Rob. That’s fantastic to hear, buddy. Very happy for you and your results 🙂 Glad you found MuscleHack and started training correctly.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 03:40:24 +0000

Hey Mark,
Your guides have done more for me in 1year than a lifetime of fruitless workouts going nowhere.
At 62 Iam in great shape, and am happy to continue reading/learning from your articles.
Many Thanks
Rob (New Zealand)

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 20:17:45 +0000

@Caleb. Many thanks for your comment, bud 🙂
LOL no bloated steroid muscles and distended guts at MuscleHack.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 18:44:54 +0000

Great article Mark. I just want to say, all you have to do is look at your(Mark’s) physique and you will see the program works. No outrageous”20lbs of muscle in 4 weeks” claims and you(Mark) don’t look like a bloated cow with a six pack guy either if you know what I mean. Ripped, lean, jacked. All the proof you need.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 13:23:36 +0000

@Richard. Well spotted! Section 4 is about Rest Between Workouts. I’ve changed the header to reflect this.
Yes I am for the pre-exhaust technique. Though to be used sparingly. I may do an article in the future of how to implement this for all body parts.
Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 13:21:45 +0000

@Geoff. Thanks for the kind comments, buddy! 😀

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 13:15:56 +0000

LOVELY stuff 🙂 Can I give some humble feedback please.

Maybe I misunderstood, but p4 – taking enough rests between sets – then talks about rest between workouts. Can I suggest a tidy up and make it clearer what that section is about OR have two sections, one for rest between sets and one for rest between workouts. Both vital!!!

Another thing to maybe consider (to complement the THT) is a section on pre-exhaustion supersets (not antagonistic). I think you are not against that, as I’ve read your delt workout touches on side delts (iso) then all delts (comp). I would love to have your seal of approval on some perfect and focused methods of doing it for each body part. Even the best people must have some lagging body parts that could be torched with this method, at the right time/place/frequency…?

I love THT, JnR . . . but for whatever reason I’ve noticed even more growth in last two weeks of doing pre-exhaustion on arms and legs.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 13:13:48 +0000

That’s it in a nut shell. Best explanation on building muscle going. No bull to confuse anyone and try to sell products. Thanks for all your hard work and being willing to share w/ the rest of the world.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 13:12:35 +0000

@Ty. You should download the THT workout where it is all covered. Now, the amount of rest is relative to the amount of sets you do. If you do 1 or 2 sets to failure, you can hit the same body part every 48 hours. This is the basis for the THT 3-day full-body workout.
However, you can do more sets (about 8) per body part, which will necessitate a week between hitting the same muscle. This is the basis for the THT 5-day split routine.

By: Ty

Ty — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 13:04:01 +0000

For #4 you don’t mention how much optimal rest is needed before training the muscle group again? Is it 48, 72, 96 hours before you can train the same muscle group again? That is what people want to know….

By: brit

brit — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 21:39:52 +0000

thank you..;) you make it sound so simple.lol My gym doesn’t have a lying leg curl machine would a seated leg curl give benefit to the glutes as well? Also,I’d prefer to have a sprint workout in there somewhere especially w/contest prep would I just tack it onto leg day? Btw..I really appreciate your prompt response!

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:39:18 +0000

@brit. No you wouldn’t need a separate glute workout. Go deep on your squats or leg presses, do stiff leg deadlifts, and do leg curls and go as high at the top as possible. That’ll sort it out 😉

By: brit

brit — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:13:18 +0000

I’m a bikini athlete and I like your spin on things.The glutes are a prime focus when it comes to training for bikini..would you recommend I throw in a Glute Specific day maybe Saturday based on the 5 day split?

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 19:35:53 +0000

@Richard. Some exercise do recruit all fibers, especially if the load used is heavy enough. This is the reason why I recommend 2 or 3 exercises at most for body parts each training cycle. There’s no such thing as muscle confusion. I wrote about it here…
https://musclehack.com/muscle-confusion/

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 19:33:36 +0000

@Robert. Well you’re working each muscle once every 5 days as opposed to twice a week. See my diagram in point 4. If you get stronger and can make progress like that, fair enough. I’ve tried it. I was actually weaker as I wasn’t fully recovered in time. It depends on how many sets you do. You’d have to reduce the sets per body part to make this work. Therefore I’d rather reduce right down to 1-2 sets per body part and train the whole body Monday, Wednesday, Friday. You can stimulate growth and still be recovered this way.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:16:13 +0000

GREAT summary page. I still get other gym people ramming their ideas down my throat! Especially regarding ‘shocking’ the muscles with variation and new moves. Tell me if I’m wrong, but the only understanding I have of what ‘shocking’ the muscle might mean is that in most cases no single exercise can maximally recruit all the muscle fibers in the targeted area. So by changing an exercise (or doing more than one type) will ensure all the muscle fibers are blasted. E.G. supinated barbell curl might hit 90% of bicep muscles really well. But the other 10% need V-bar curl to really hit them.

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 07:37:07 +0000

Hi, Mark

I hope you have time to answer my quick question. I’ve been a subscriber and consistent reader of yours for many years now and have followed most of your HIIT protocol. Always great stuff.

I understand you recommend either a 3 day full body or 5 day split, but how do you feel about 3 day splits (I think that’s what they’re called)? Where I’m working my whole body twice a week.

This is my routine:

Monday: Chest, shoulders, abs
Tuesday: Legs, biceps
Wednesday: Back, triceps, abs
Thursday: Rest
Friday: repeat cycle

Thanks,
Rob

By: Kevin Striker

Kevin Striker — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 22:29:38 +0000

Great article Mark.
Relatively new to MuscleHack, but looking forward to catching up on some of your previous posts. Solid stuff – pun intended.

By: marianne

marianne — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 20:57:59 +0000

fantastic …always gives me inspiration thankyou so much

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:00:49 +0000

@soshiant. I like 12-15 reps for those exercises. All movements that involve a smaller range of motion are trained better with a higher rep range. Another example would be calf raises.

By: soshiant

soshiant — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 18:44:41 +0000

Hi Mark
Another masterpiece. You sum up everything anyone should know.
I have a question, in 3-day split log for 12-8 for example, for shrug and cable crunch the range is 8-12 but for 5-day split the range is 12-15 so I am wondering if I am on 3-day split and as you mentioned before some muscle need to exercised in higher range could I go for 12-15 or should i stick to 12-15?
Thanks

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 18:30:51 +0000

@Vince. Good to hear 🙂
@Matt. I do that sometimes myself if I’m going to be traveling somewhere, so it’s ok. I would advise everyone to try each workout and each rep range. If you know for sure that one works best for you, then stick with it. But you won’t know for certain unless you try the others.

By: matt

matt — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 18:11:12 +0000

How critical is it to rest at 10 weeks?
Due to holidays it would be better for me to train 12 weeks, have week off, train 13 weeks have 2 weeks off – would this be ok?

Also, do i necessarily have to change rep ranges or change from 5 to 3 day training?
I kinda like the 8-12 rep range and the 5 day a week routine…….

By: JaSoN

JaSoN — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 16:18:18 +0000

LOL!! There are some pretty dumb questions on here, Thanx Mark! I’ve gained 8kg’s of solid muscle in 2 years, I think that is good going for an ecto.

By: vince

vince — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 16:12:21 +0000

Nice to see a true free informative article written by a real person who obviously knows his subject!

I have trained like this for the best part of 10 years – injury free.

For anyone starting out stick to these principles especially the diet and rest and you will reach any goal you set.

Vince. Spain