Why is it that so many people who have followed various muscle building programs have failed to make the muscle mass gains they desire? Well put simply, it’s usually because they’ve followed a muscle program that is completely unsuitable for building muscle. If this sounds like you and you’re not seeing regular muscle growth and improvements in the mirror then you are doing something wrong.

The reason so many people fail is because they follow the wrong muscle building program, and by that I mean a program that is not suitable for their individual needs. The result of following the wrong program can be anything to poor muscle gains to actually losing muscle, or even getting a serious injury through overtraining.

Having studied and reviewed many muscle programs over the years, here are my top 5 tips to finding a muscle building program that will suit your needs:

Training Time

A muscle building workout routine should be short, intense and hard work. Some workout programs have you doing 1 or even 2 hours in the gym. That’s only useful if you want to burn away fat AND muscle and take you down the road to a serious injury. Spending a long time in the gym does not equate to bigger muscles! Your workout program should last no more than 45 minutes.

Variety of Workouts

Keep your workout program varied and this will help to keep your muscles growing by stimulating them in different ways. Therefore re-structure your gym workouts every 8 – 12 weeks. If you don’t change routines your body will become used to the same exercises and muscle growth will slow or even stop.

Rest is Part of Your Muscle Program

You need plenty of rest to help your muscles grow and to help your body recover from your workouts. Every good muscle building program must include rest days and you should always take a week off at the end of your 8-12 weeks program.

Make Sure You Do the Exercises Correctly

When doing any sort of physical activity you must make sure that you do them safely, using the correct form and speed. Look out for muscle building programs that provide you with exercise databases that are either video or illustration based. If you are unsure of how to do an exercise correctly then don’t do it -watch the video or study the illustrations and practice with a light weight.

Diet is Very Important!

Diet is the single most important factor that you must get right. If you are eating correctly but not working out to your full potential then you can still expect to make some reasonable muscle gains. Any muscle building diet must be personalized to your size and weight. The best muscle building programs will provide you with a great selection of diet plans that include meals for all calorie levels (e.g. 2000 to 6000 calories a day). The best meal plans even cater for vegetarians.

So that’s 5 very simple but very important tips to get you on the right track to muscle building success. Make sure you find answer to all these points when you are looking at muscle building programs.