The 10 Universal Rules for Building Muscle!

By Ben Pakulski & Vince Del Monte

1) A muscle is WEAKEST at its EXTREMES of the range. SO, learn to isolate these points of the strength curve and make it stronger. As a result, you will become proportionally stronger in the mid-range and GROWTH WILL OCCUR!

2) Always try to work a muscle through its complete CONTROLLABLE Range of Motion (ROM), although that may not be possible within ONE exercise. It is always possible within a given workout!

3) Muscles DO NOT recognize weight! Muscle recognize TENSION! Increase tension, increase growth!

4) Focus on training DISADVANTAGES, not advantages. Training disadvantages = bigger muscles.  Every workout you should be learning how to make every exercise HARDER by manipulating body position, slowing the movement down, maintaining tension in both directions… BEFORE you even think about adding weight. Often times, adding weight just leads to your body seeking out training advantages, in other words, cheating.

5) ALWAYS INITIATE with the working muscle! (if you're training your delts, the first movement MUST come from the delt, not somewhere else or momentum!)

6) CONTROL through the entire range is a must. A negative (eccentric) rep should be under such conscious control that you can change direction at ANY point of that ROM, and start coming back up (concentric).  Control is the CURRENCY of muscle growth. If you can’t control the muscle, you can’t challenge it.

7) Larger muscle require more stimulus to reach exhaustion. But also take longer to recover between workouts. Smaller muscle groups can recover faster so can be trained more frequently.

8) KNOW which muscles are PRIMARILY fast twitch and which are PRIMARILY slow twitch! This will ALWAYS affect the number of reps, sets, loads and rest periods.

9) Work a variety of rep ranges within each workout. Different rep ranges allow you to vary your TUT (time under tension), and ensure you're working all types of muscle fibers.

10) SQUEEZE IT LIKE IT OWES YOU MONEY!! (my personal favorite! ;)) Another way to say this is to “Contract AGAINST the resistance.” You can fatigue a muscle simply by contracting the life out of it. Often times more weight only stresses your joints more than your muscles.
Now, print these! Tape them to your wall, stick em to your forehead, whatever it takes to learn them and know them and remember, KNOWING = DOING and having something to show for the knowledge.