How to Get Lean Muscle Without Lifting Weights

Is it too good to be true? Do you necessarily have to lift weights to gain lean muscle? Weights are just the most handy item that helps people gain lean muscle, but when people are just starting off learning how to get lean muscle, can they do something else and still experience muscle gains? The answer is yes and no. It depends on the kind of muscle you want.

See, I myself started off just doing push ups and sit ups. I increased my abdominal strength (you'd be surprised at the amount of exercise you can do lying down!), as well as increasing the volume of my chest and the strength and size of my arms. In fact, my profile picture is of me when I was just doing those exercises. After a while, I could do more and more sit ups and push ups without getting tired as quickly... BUT I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy because I wasn't getting any bigger. I didn't understand. Surely, by doing the exercises longer, I would gain more lean muscle?

Unfortunately no, as I realized later when doing some research. I later learned the failproof way to to get lean muscle. You have to work with increasingly bigger weight and work out for shorter periods of time. The logic was actually quite simple and I don't know why so many guys still don't understand.

When you work out and feel pain, your muscles get bigger as a result. Why? To better oppose the pain they might feel if they experience that work out again, they get bigger. If you impose a bigger mass, your muscles will feel pain again and will have to get bigger... you get the point now.

But why do you have to work out for short periods of time? Again, it's got something to do with pain and how it makes your muscles grow. If you're working out slowly, your muscles have time to "regroup", ie. when you're working out slowly, the energy you put into the work out isn't focused. If you work out quickly, you might use more energy, but your muscles will be aching from the continual movement.

So you don't really have to use weights. You can use anything else you'd like that's heavy. Lift boxes, for example. It's just that weights are designed for lifting so they're easier to train with. Hopefully now you know how to get lean muscle and why body weight exercises don't help for very long. Many people find that gym equipment is much more convenient and you can still apply a high amount of force to your muscles.