As the saying goes, “methods are many, principles are few, methods may change, but principles never change”, this holds as true with weight training and bodybuilding as it does with anything else. Every day we hear about revolutionary new training programs, exercises, tricks, quick fixes, you name it. While I can’t say I agree with many of the different “methods” for gaining weight and building muscle mass these days, the principles for achieving your goals will always remain the same.

As a result, I have created what I call “The Ten Success Principles for Building Muscle Mass Rapidly.” I have listed these principles so that even the skinniest and hardest gainer can apply them and grow. Follow these principles, stick them in your mind, and you’ll be on the right track for long-term success in your endeavors. If you’re wondering what the best way to build muscle fast is, your answers are below. All you have to do is apply these principles.

Principle 1: You don’t know what you don’t know – Become a student

When we realize that you don’t know what you don’t know, we can become more teachable and absorb knowledge that we can apply to improve our results in the gym. If you have the “know-it-all” attitude, that simply means that you are stuck and your mind will never grow beyond its current state. Become a lifelong student of weight training and bodybuilding, read as much material as you can on every subject: training, diet, supplements, all the work. A word of warning is this: be careful where you get your opinions and information. Only look for those with proven results and beware of “armchair experts” and “magazine bodybuilders”.

Principle 2: Begin with the end in mind

Too many trainees today just wander around the gym doing the exercise they love and exercising when they feel like it. If you don’t have a target, you will hit it with incredible precision! In other words, if you don’t know EXACTLY what you’re trying to accomplish by going to the gym every day, you’ll never get anywhere. Always make sure you are on a show and stick with it until the end. Find out your “why” and you can overcome any “how”. Always go to the gym knowing exactly what you are going to do until the last rep of the last exercise.

Principle 3: You get what you imagine

As David Schwartz says in his fantastic book, The Magic of Thinking Big, “Belief, strong belief, causes the mind to discover ways and means and how… Disbelief is a negative power. When the mind does not believe or doubts , the mind attracts “reasons” to support disbelief”. Always go to the gym with a positive attitude and with the firm belief that little by little you are gaining muscle mass. Eliminate all negative beliefs about your success or you will pay the price of getting exactly what you envisioned.

Principle 4: There is no great success without great commitment

If you are not committed, you can let yourself go. Fix in your mind exactly the results you want and make a commitment to yourself to do whatever it takes to get them. When you are committed, truly committed, no small or inconvenient thought will ever stop you on your way to your goal. You will be unstoppable and your end in mind will be a foregone conclusion. As Yoda said, “There’s no try, just do it.”

Principle 5: You are only defeated when you accept defeat as reality and decide to stop trying.

Failure is a HUGE key to success. The price of success is thousands of failures. Those who are not willing to pay that price will not be able to obtain the body they want. As long as you learn from your experience, you will always be moving forward. Keep learning and performing, and do this cycle over and over and over again until you are successful. Success is usually right after most people give up. Remember, “Quitters never win, winners never quit.”

Principle 6: Less is more – Quality, not quantity

When your goal is to gain weight and/or build muscle mass, always keep your workouts short. All your muscles need is intense training with compound exercises and 110% effort, a few days a week. Do not think that training 7 days a week for 2 or 3 hours a day will get better results. Focus on a few exercises a couple of days a week for no more than 1 1/2 hours, tops. Overtraining is one of the leading causes of failure when it comes to gaining weight and building muscle. Don’t confuse ambition with training time, it’s not how much time you spend in the gym that counts, but the desire you put into the time you spend in the gym.

Principle 7: Specialization in compound exercises

Although there are literally thousands of training programs you can find today, one truth that will never change for gaining muscle mass is that compound exercises have and always will be the best of the best. Exercises like squats, bench presses, and incline rows will always remain at the top of any successful bodybuilder’s list. Focus on these and other basic compound exercises and you’ll never be disappointed with your results.

Principle 8: Hard Work

There is nothing better than good old fashioned hard work and what better way to express it than weight training. Unfortunately, today’s media is always trying to make your training and exercises “easier.” If you want to build muscle mass, you’ll have to draw some blood, sweat and tears, there are no two ways to do it. As long as you follow some solid workouts for muscle mass and are using common sense and safety precautions, then push yourself to your limit in every workout. You’re never going to make your way to true muscle mass easy, even if you trained easy for a thousand years.

Principle 9: Progressive overload

If you want more muscle mass, you’re going to have to keep gaining weight regularly, period. This is one of the most basic yet overlooked principles of gaining muscle mass. Get in the habit of gradually adding weight whenever you can. The moment you calm down and stop exerting yourself is the moment your muscle mass gains will start to plateau. Resistance is the only opportunity for growth. The worst thing you can do is reach a goal without setting another one beforehand.

Principle 10: A Proper Diet

I couldn’t leave this one out. After all, the food you eat is the direct fuel for your muscles to grow. You can exercise until the cows come home, but without a proper diet plan to build muscle mass, your body simply won’t grow, which is also not physically possible! It is an absolute necessity to know the correct foods to eat in order to build muscles properly. Check out the first principle and learn as much as you can about dieting for muscle mass so you can get the most out of your efforts in the gym.