The sun is starting to shine; the birds are starting to sing and the “Johnny Bravos” among us are starting to sweat with excitement at the prospect of beach season.

Gaining muscle mass is not as complicated as many people may have you think. You will be forgiven for thinking that you need a team of scientists behind you in order to make your t-shirt that little bit tighter. Stick to these simple rules and you won’t go far wrong

1.  Work to failure

  • Aim to be doing 2/3 sets with 8/12 reps. your final rep of each set should be very hard to complete and in an ideal world, you shouldn’t be able to complete it. By doing this, you are ensuring that you are working to the maximum capacity of your muscles. This means your muscles will break down and ultimately build back stronger and bigger.

2.  Eat

  • When you are working out hard, it is vital that you are fuelling your body to continue at this intensity and allow it to grow. So, eat lots of protein (50%), reduce your fat and alcohol intake (fat 20%), and ensure you are eating enough carbs to keep you going (30%).

3.  Control your lift

  • When lifting many of us neglect to utilise the downward (eccentric) phase of the movement. To maximise the efficiency of your exercise, try lowering the weight at a slower rate (1/2s up and 4s down).

Follow these rules and people from around the globe will be bombarding you with questions about how you gained so much muscle in such a short period of time… and you will show them this blog (just like Johnny Bravo did)