How to Build Muscle 101: 50 Principles To Get A 1% Body

Let’s keep this short and sweet shall we.

I can’t and won’t promise you’ll look like Arnold tomorrow BUT getting it is POSSIBLE if you do things right over time.  Genetics help, of course.

1. Get Testosterone levels checked yesterday.
   1. If under 600, take immediate action to rectify. There are infinite resources on this subject matter. If you’re overwhelmed with the magnitude of information, email me at showmestrength@gmail.com and we can discuss.
2. Sleep quality > quantity. Emphasize the former if the latter is difficult due to work schedule but few of you work 80+ hours a week so no excuse.
3. Eat your bodyweight in protein each day. Nutrition becomes infinitely easier doing this.
4. Satiation (feeling full) is imperative on a diet. Dense protein, veggies, and clean carbs are your friends.
5. Corollary: If you’re not hungry prior to going to bed, you’re not doing a good enough job dieting.
6. Get lean before emphasizing building muscle. If you are skinny-fat, emphasize both.
7. Progressive overload is still the greatest muscle-building tool. Either you get stronger and the weights increase or you’re not building muscle.
8. The pump builds muscle. Ignore at your own peril.
9. Your diet should not create inflammation. Eat real food like an adult.
10. Abs are made by your lifestyle not in the kitchen.
11. Drop friends and/or influences that make you into an alcoholic.
12. Limit social media, aimlessly cruising the web, and eliminate porn. You’ll be surprised at the newfound gain in motivation. Protect dopamine.
13. Breathing right is the best warm-up. Doing so will make foam rolling and sticking a lacrosse ball in your ass redundant.
14. Stop chasing being sore. Soreness impedes your ability to maximize your next training session. Minimal effective dose is best.
15. Use a bright light to wake up in the winter months. It’ll be a lot easier to get into Top 1% shape when you don’t have to lose 3 months of sloth each spring.
16. Do cardio because you enjoy it, not to lose fat. Your body will fight you the more you try and burn calories off.
17. More muscle is the best diet.
18. A 10-minute warm-up is better than 6 months in physical therapy.
19. Do more reverse flys than chest flys. Your shoulder girdle will thank you. Add face pulls as well.
20. There are no rules, only principles. There are no best programs, only ones based on the principles customized to fit what you need today.
21. What works for you today may not work for you in a year.
22. It’s smart to always maintain a semblance of the basics. You may renovate your house but you don’t remove the foundation.
23. Hiring a coach will cost you money but save you time. Value your time more.
24. A good training environment will do more than you know. A training partner better than you is invaluable.
25. Put stakes on your transformation. Reward yourself when you accomplish what you set out to do.
26. Process over outcome but have a clear vision of where you want to go. It will drive you in the darkness.
27. Sleep, adequate nutrients, and blood flow are the best recovery tools. Saunas, massage, and cold therapy are useful tools.
28. Schedule days you drink for off-days. Break a sweat on days you go out. It will give you more of a cushion if you’re a bigger than anticipated shithead.
29. The best training programs and advice isn’t found on instagram.
30. If you’re a beginner, identify one person and go all-in on their training and nutrition philosophies. Take what works, scrap what doesn’t, and move onto the next. You do not have enough context to discern what will work for you from 17 different blogs.
31. Don’t neglect your rear delts. Everyone usually does. Cable lateral raises are a money exercise. There is no one I’ve learned more about shoulder training than John Meadows.
32. MASS & MASS 2 are the best programs I’ve found to wage mental warfare against yourself training. Maybe more important, they are impeccable at building mass.
    1. Your knowledge will grow exponentially by reading everything by Pat Davidson and Ben House. I’ve worked with both and was humbled by their knowledge and means to apply said knowledge.
33. Optimize your brain and your body will follow.
34. Will this help or hurt my brain become a performance machine is a good maxim to guide your decisions. Corollary: vices are sometimes necessary to maintaining your sanity.
35. The journey to a 1% body usually begins as a means to enhance other aspects of your life, e.g. health, woman, confidence. Do not let it become an obsession if it’s not how you make your money.
36. There will always be someone with more muscle and leaner. Do not let this detract from your mission to becoming your best self. It is the one quest that matters absolutely.
37. A 1% body won’t give you confidence but everything it took to get there probably will.
38. As a man, never go on a low fat diet. Your testosterone levels are far too important. Corollary: carb cycling where lower fat intake is cycled through can be a useful fat loss tool.
39. Do not romanticize intermittent fasting. It may provide mental clarity and aid fat loss or it may slow you down. and cause binges at night. Breakfast can be a tool. There are no absolutes.
40. Gaining muscle requires an uncomfortable amount of food. Few “big” guys exist in the gym for a reason. Do not use bulking as an excuse to eat like an asshole and get fat.
41. A higher level of cardio fitness will help you build muscle. Running a marathon will not. Strike a balance. Remember maximizing recovery is your chief aim.
42. Recovery starts prior to your training session. What you did the night before WILL impact what you can do today.
43. Don’t train fasted. At minimum have BCAAs but the most cost effective solution is a 20-40 g protein shake prior to your workout.
44. The next level is having the majority of your calories (>50% daily intake) around your training window. Don’t worry about this if you struggle to get your bodyweight in protein.
45. There are no excuses, only extreme dedication and results. Transformations have happened on 4 hours of sleep and regular 80 hour work weeks.
46. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. The only T boosters worth purchasing are illegal.
47. Don’t underestimate the devastation inflammation and chronic stress can have on progress. Clean up the fundamentals and get healthy before focusing on aesthetics.
48. The older you get, the harder it is to affect change. Build a foundation in your 20s and 30s. Don’t embarrass yourself with a dad bod.
49. You won’t notice eating vegetables and a good multi-vitamin tomorrow but you will in 10-20 years.
50. Take massive action. Otherwise, all your reading and knowledge garnered is simply mental masturbation.

If you’re left with more questions than answers after reading this list, email Chad and I at showmestrength@gmail.com. We have 3 spots open in our online coaching program where we implement EVERYTHING in a manner that meets you where you are and where you’re going.

 

Be well,

Andrew