Being involved in the fitness business for over a decade, I want to give you my Top Tips on what YOU need to do to develop a stronger, firmer body and let's just say most of you are beginners at this and may NOT have very much muscle mass.

Tip#1 Stick with basic exercises- That's right! Do exercises that place a higher demand on your body, and involve more muscle groups than just one. Examples include: squats, presses, dips, chins, lunges, rows, and deadlifts. If you don't know how to do them I highly recommed a good personal trainer or visit my site at www.completephysique.info and inquire about online fitness training. If your injured and/or feel pain when you do these exercises consult an orthopedic, chiropractor, or physical therapist. These exercises in general will produce greater results.

Tip #2 Vary your repetition ranges and weights being used. The human body has different types of muscle fibers and in order to recruit these different types, you need to work with higher repetitions with lighter weights (not light weights) and low reptitions with heavier weight. Also rest intervals between sets, tempo within each set, and how hard you push yourself will greatly effect your outcome. What I mean by that is if you want just sheer strentgh, generally workout with loads between 3-5 repetitions and rest up to 3-4 minutes between sets. If it's more strength and size train with loads between 8-15 as heavy as you can and rest 90-120 seconds. Also play strict attention to how fast you move the weight (a bit slower here). And lastly for endurance seek extremely high reps 30, 50, more. This may be good for boxers and swimmers who need a lot of endurance.

Tip #3 INCREASE your Carbohydrates to 2x's your current bodyweight. You women out there are probably saying "No Way, I'll get fat". If you don't have muscle now, and want to get firmer, you have to build your foundation. You can always cut back if you feel your gaining fat. Now say your 150lbs., strive to take your carbohydrates up to 300 grams. That sounds like a lot, but if you are exercising regularly with cardio and weights it's not as much as you think. Key is INTENSE exercise not a walk in the park. Also not carbs from ice cream and pizza, but "clean carbs" from oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and whole-wheat pasta. By doing this you store energy (glycogen) in the muscles and liver that gives you killer workouts. This also gives your body a constant flow of the hormone insulin which is crucial to gain muscle.

Tip #4 Eat roughly one gram of protein per lb. of bodyweight. Eating this amount will ensure your getting in enough. Remember, your not a sedentary person and your body demands more in your diet to keep the building process going. I find that most individuals are low in protein. Quality sources include: lean steak (filet, flank, London broil), chicken breast, turkey breast, and fish. You can also supplement with a high quality whey and or casein protein (ideal before bedtime). Keep in mind that protein has a high thermic effect on the body, meaning it helps raise the metabolism because it requires a high amount of calories just to process it.

Tip #5 Get enough Sleep. I realize this may be a hard one, but is very critical for you if you want to get more muscle. You see your body releases it's repairing hormones at high levels between 10 p.m. and 2a.m. It's the PEAK time when your body is in a regenerating mode. This is a big factor in you gaining the quality muscle you want to obtain. I suggest 7-8 uninterrupted hours each night. If you can't get that in, try takin a 30 minute nap at sometime during the day before sleeping at nigh to allow the body to recover from the day's stress and workout.

We'll there you have it. My Top 5 tips for gaining muscle. There are others that are important as well, but these five are a MUST. Remember we all want to gain muscle, NOT just men. Anyway, I hope these tips help you seek the goals your striving for.