You Can't Just Show Up, Do a Few Sets, and Expect to Make Gains. Here Are the Four Tenets To Muscle Building. (2025)

FOR MOST GUYS, the main purpose of hitting the gym is building muscle. There might be different reasons driving this goal, since maximizing good health and longevity and sculpting your body into a superhero-worthy physique come down to muscle mass—but you'll find that you might have achieving your gains might take more strategy than just performing a generic workout plan day in and day out.

"Yes, we can do our cardio; yes, we can lean out, but on some level, what you want to do is build muscle," says Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., Men’s Health fitness director and author of this program. “[Adding muscle] is going to help us live longer, it’s going to make us stronger, it’s going to help us burn more calories, and it’s going to help us be that much stronger and more active in our everyday lives."

If you’re unsure exactly where to start, Samuel has crafted this four-week program to optimize muscle growth. Every training session is based on modern exercise science, utilizing intensity techniques, novel exercises, and tried-and-true training principles to ensure you get the most out of your bulking block.

How You’ll Train to Build More Muscle

YOU CAN’T JUST show up, do a few sets of your favorite exercise, and expect to make gains. To ensure optimal results, adhere to these four tenets of our muscle-building plan.

Attack Exercises With Aggression

No, we’re not talking about hurling plates at people who don’t re-rack their weights. By “aggression”, we mean the intensity with which you lift. You must take your sets close to failure for this plan to work, which means approaching every set with focus and grit. As for what “close to failure” means, Samuel says:

“I want you to take your sets to the limit, especially the final two sets of every exercise,” If you think you can get to rep eight, nine, or 10 on a set that’s supposed to be eight to 10 reps without doubting it a little bit, then you’re probably not using the weight that you should be challenging yourself with.”

Eat In a Calorie Surplus

“It’s possible to build muscle while in a slight caloric deficit, but it’s a lot harder,” says Samuel. “You won’t be able to train as hard, you’re going to be a little bit more tired, and you’re not going to have the extra calories you need to rebuild.”

Start by consuming an additional 250 calories above your maintenance levels per day. You’ll gain half a pound weekly, a nice spot for muscle growth. You won’t forge new tissue at a snail's pace, nor will you gain significant body fat. Weigh yourself each week and adjust your calories up or down so you’re hitting that half-pound weight gain goal (check out our video on eating for muscle growth, Eatsplainer, here).

Use Progressive Overload Training

Muscle growth is a physical adaptation, and the only way to drive that adaptation is to expose your muscles to more work every training session. Enter: progressive overload, a linear increase in your training frequency, volume, and intensity. Each week, you’ll lift the same weight for more reps or perform more weight for the same reps weekly. That’s it. You just do more.

“If we were just training for strength, we could keep everything low rep and work on going as heavy as we can,” says Samuel. “But with this progressive overload program, we want to make sure we have volume and are hitting key muscle groups.”

Your approach to progressive overload for this program will be a mix of load and volume increases. (See the directions under “Your Muscle-Building Workout Plan” for more details on how to progress.) Push for the top end of the rep ranges Samuel has programmed, using various intensity techniques to help you hit higher rep counts with relatively heavy weights. (See below.)

Including Cardio

“You do not want to get super strong and have all this size and become this bodybuilder who can’t make it up the stairs,” says Samuel. “We want to make sure we have some cardio.”

Why This Program Works for Muscle-Building

You'll Use Multiple Rep Schemes

YOU’LL BLEND HIGH and low rep schemes together in this plan. “When we look at hypertrophy science, the training rep range we can use to grow muscles is anywhere from five reps to 30 reps,” says Samuel. “A lot of us were taught to stay between eight to 12 reps, and that’s the perfect [rep range] to build muscle, what we want to do is experiment in all of these rep ranges.” Each workout has you perform compound movements for as few as six reps and into the more moderate rep range of eight to 12 reps. You’ll also reach reps as high as 20, implementing intensity techniques so you’re still moving heavy weight.

You'll Prioritize Reps in Lengthened Positions

“What we want to do is find exercises where we create tension and put our muscles face tension in the lengthened position,” says Samuel. “Science has shown us if we spend a lot of time training in that range, we’re going to achieve a lot of muscle growth.” This program contains plenty of exercises that facilitate a deep stretch of your target muscle—front-foot elevated Bulgarian split squats, incline dumbbell curls, and the back-supported chest fly are just a few. Samuel also encourages demands that you control the eccentric (or lowering) phase of every lift to accumulate tension in that lengthened position.

You'll Ramp Up Intensity With Smart Techniques

“We want to make sure that we’re continuing to push each set to the limit, and very often that means doing more than your average eight to 12 rep [sets],” Samuel explains. “To do that, we want to use some advanced techniques.” The specific intensity techniques you’ll find in this program include:

• Drop Sets: After you perform all the prescribed reps in a set, you’ll immediately reduce the weight by about 15 percent and perform another all-out set.
• Rest-Pause Sets: This technique is a great way to handle a heavier load for high-rep (15+) sets. You’ll choose a weight that has you failing approximately five reps short of your target. Once you can’t eke out another rep, rest for five to 10 seconds and perform another set. You should only get a couple. Repeat this technique until you hit your rep goal.
• Lengthened Partials: Recent research has shown that partial reps performed in the bottom half of an exercise—when the muscle is most stretched—are as effective as full range of motion reps for building muscle. When you reach failure on an exercise, perform two to four more lengthened partials.

Your Muscle-Building Workout Plan

How to Warm Up

WALK ON A treadmill for five to 10 minutes before every workout to get warm. You can also perform a quick circuit of joint mobilization exercises, like arm circles, hip circles, trunk twists, and lunges to prep your body for the work ahead.

Otherwise, the first set or two of each exercise will prepare your body for your working sets. Lift relatively lighter weight, performing all the prescribed reps with a load that has you reaching close to failure at the top-end of each prescribed rep range. During your last two sets—your working sets—lift as heavy as possible to reach failure toward the bottom end of the rep range. These sets should feel very hard.

How to Progress

During Week 1, you’ll establish a baseline, finding the heaviest amount of weight you can lift with good form within the given rep ranges. In Week 2, don’t change too much. If you feel good, you can add five to 10 pounds to the final set of at least the first exercise you do on each training day. During Week 3, you’ll perform a drop set after the final set of the first exercise on each training day. Drop the load to 60 percent of your working weight and perform an additional eight to 10 reps. For Week 4, keep that drop set. Also, add five to 10 pounds on the third and fourth exercises of every workout.

REST: Prescribed rest times are usually, ahem, slept on. But pay attention to them. If you rush through your rest, you’ll become too fatigued to lift heavy enough and stimulate growth. If you wait too long between sets, you’ll feel "cold."

DAY 1:

Lower Body Workout 1

Trap-Bar Deadlift

SAMUEL SAYS: "One of the reasons we like the trap bar deadlift is that it’s going to be, point blank, the heaviest exercise you do in this program. It’ll hit your glutes; it’ll hit your hamstrings, and it really puts you in an optimal position to hit everything."

SETS AND REPS: 4 sets of 4 to 6 reps, rest 2 minutes between sets

HOW TO DO IT:

• Position yourself inside the trap bar, with your shins aligned with (or just in front of) the center of the bar.
• Push your butt back as far as possible, bend your knees, and reach down to grip the handles. Grip as tightly as possible.
• Keep your head neutral, keeping your gaze fixed on something in front of you. Squeeze your shoulder blades to create tension, and turn the pits of your elbows forward, facing out.
• Make sure your hips are lower than your shoulders, then prepare to initiate the lift.
• Push your feet through the floor to stand straight up, squeezing your glutes at the top.
• To finish the rep, push your butt back as far as you can, then bend your knees to set the weight down.

Front-Foot Elevated Bulgarian Split Squat

SAMUEL SAYS: "What I like to do is place the front foot on a slight elevation, like two to three inches; you can use plates, you can use platforms. What that’s going to do is when you lower in the bottom of your Bulgarian split squat…you’re getting a little bit more stretch on our quads thanks to the added knee flexion, and we get a little more stretch on our glutes thanks to the added drop we’re able to take."

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps, rest 90 seconds between sets on each side

HOW TO DO IT:

• Place your front foot on a small platform (two to four inches high) and position your back foot on a bench behind you.
• Hold a dumbbell in each hand, and keep your torso upright.
• Lower your back knee toward the ground by bending your front leg, keeping your weight on the heel of your front foot. Go as low as you’re comfortable going.
• Push through your front foot to return to the starting position, maintaining balance and control.

Leg Press

SAMUEL SAYS: "Pick a weight that makes 10 to 12 reps incredibly hard, and remember that this is a leg press. I want you to do as many reps as you can. Then you’re going to rest for five very deep breaths (about 10 seconds), and you get right back to work, getting as many reps as possible. What I’m hoping you can do is get to the point where you’re piling up 16, 17, 18 reps in a set. If you wind up doing 10 to 12 reps on the front end, and then you take your breaths and do another 10 to 12 reps, you didn’t pick a weight that’s heavy enough."

SETS AND REPS: 2 sets of as many reps as possible (AMRAP) with 1 rest-pause mid-set, resting two minutes between sets

HOW TO DO IT:

• Sit on the leg press machine and place your feet shoulder-width apart on the platform.
• Unrack the weight and lower the platform by bending your knees. Aim to get as deep as you can comfortably go.
• Press through your feet to extend your legs, keeping a slight bend in your knees at the top.
• For the rest-pause technique: Perform reps until failure, rest for 10 seconds, then perform as many additional reps as possible before reracking the weight.

DAY 2:

Upper Body Workout 1

Dumbbell Low-Incline Pause Bench Press

SAMUEL SAYS: "Because we’re getting that pause in the bottom position, you get a little extra time in that stretched position. And then it’s that much harder for you to drive up, so you get more mechanical tension on our chest."

SETS AND REPS: 4 sets of 6 to 10 reps

HOW TO DO IT:

• Sit on the incline bench set to a 30-degree angle holding a set of dumbbells. Drive your feet into the floor, drive your glutes into the seat, squeeze your abs, and drive your shoulders into the back pad.
• Raise the dumbbells to your shoulders. If the weight is too heavy, use your knees to kick the bell up. Your forearms should be perpendicular to the floor.
• Press the weight straight up, keeping your upper arms perpendicular to the ground.
• Once the weight is up, drive your shoulders down to create tension. Shift the angle of your arms by turning your hands slightly in.
• Lower the weight back down toward your chest as your chest flexibility allows, at least until your elbows are below your shoulders.

Incline EZ-Bar Row

SAMUEL SAYS: "The one benefit of this row, even though we’re short on that range of motion at maximum contraction, is that we can still get a really good stretch at the bottom of the incline row. Because we’re on an incline bench, we’re in a safe position to go heavy, and because you’re using the EZ-bar, you can really load this up. Ideally, you have more weight than you were pressing on either side of the bar."

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps

HOW TO DO IT:

• Sit on an incline bench facing forward, so you can rest your chest against the pad.
• Use a supinated (or underhand) grip to grab the EZ bar. Engage your glutes and abs, then squeeze your shoulder blades to create tension.
• Pull the weight up to the bench. Think about driving the EZ bar straight through the bench as quickly and explosively as possible.
• Return the bar to the ground without allowing it to slam on the floor.

Super-Set: Back-Supported Cable Fly + Seated Cable Row

SAMUEL SAYS: “We’ve got two machine exercises back-to-back, so you’re going to get a lot of good volume here, get a lot of good stretch potential here, and you should be able to train relatively heavy.”

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps + 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps, rest 60 to 90 seconds between supersets

HOW TO DO THE BACK-SUPPORTED CABLE FLY:

• Adjust the pulleys to chest height and attach D-handles. Position an adjustable bench between the cables set nearly all the way upright.
• Grab the handles with your elbows slightly bent and palms facing forward. Walk them around so you’re in front of the bench, and then plant your back firmly against the pad.
• Press the handles forward until they meet in front of your chest
• Slowly open your arms, allowing a deep stretch in your chest. Let your arms travel as far back as is comfortable for your shoulders.
• Squeeze your chest and bring the handles back together.

HOW TO DO THE SEATED CABLE ROW:

• Sit on the machine with your feet planted, slightly wider than shoulder width. Drive the heels, and squeeze the glutes. Grab onto the cable handle.
• Sit tall with a slight bend in the knees. Tighten your abs and lower back to maintain a perpendicular angle to the floor with your torso.
• Roll the shoulders back and down. Squeeze them together as you row, thinking about pinching a pencil in between them. As you do this, pull the handle back towards you, landing right above your belly button.
• Pause here momentarily before returning the handle, still squeezing the shoulder blades. Once you've returned the weight to the stack, allow the shoulder blades to relax, without pulling the torso forward.
• Repeat to go for another rep.

Super-Set: Incline Dumbbell Curl + Incline Dumbbell Triceps Extension

SAMUEL SAYS: "If you’re tight on time, you can skip this. The incline dumbbell curl is one of the most underrated exercises if you want to grow your arms because we have a stretch on the biceps at both the elbow joint and at the shoulder joint. Again, we’re getting a stretch on our triceps at the elbow joint and at the shoulder joint."

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps for both exercises + 2 to 4 partial reps, resting 60 to 90 seconds between supersets

HOW TO DO THE INCLINE DUMBBELL CURL:

• Set an adjustable bench to a 45- or 60-degree incline (whichever is more comfortable for you) and sit back with a dumbbell in each hand.
• Let your arms hang straight down with your palms facing forward.
• Curl the dumbbells toward your shoulders, keeping your elbows close to your torso.
• Slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position, maintaining control throughout the movement.
• Once you complete all eight to 10 reps, do another two to four lengthened partials, lifting the weight from the fully stretched position halfway up until your arm is bent about 90 degrees.

HOW TO DO THE INCLINE DUMBBELL TRICEPS EXTENSION:

• Adjust an incline bench to about 30 to 45 degrees and sit back on it with a dumbbell in each hand.
• Lie back and extend your arms straight up, palms facing each other, keeping a slight bend in your elbows.
• Keeping your elbows stationary, slowly lower the dumbbells behind your head by bending at the elbows.
• Lower until you feel a deep stretch in your triceps, then extend your arms back to the starting position by pressing the dumbbells up.
• Once you complete all eight to 10 reps, do another two to four lengthened partials, lifting the weight from the fully stretched position halfway up until your arm is bent about 90 degrees.

DAY 3:

Lower Body Workout 2

Heels-Elevated Zercher Squat

SAMUEL SAYS: "The great thing about the Zercher squat is that it puts our back in a nice safe position. It’s going to help us keep an upright torso. And because we have our heels elevated, our knees are going to push out in front of our toes for a whole bunch of quad soreness."

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, resting 2 minutes between sets

HOW TO DO IT:

• Set the rack at about waist height. Squat down to get the barbell into the crux of your elbows. Make sure your upper arms are perpendicular to the ground, and squeeze your elbows close together. Step back so your heels are propped onto a wedge or a couple of five-pound plates.
• Roll the shoulder blades down and back to create that mid-back tension. Make fists with your palms facing each other, or clasp your hands together to create tension throughout your arms.
• Stand up from the rack and step back. Find your ideal squat stance so that your knees are wider than shoulder width as you come down, creating space for your elbows.
• Just like your standard squat, keep your weight even between your toes and heels. Squeeze your shoulder blades, abs, and glutes, and take a deep breath. Hold that breath as you push your butt back, then bend at the knee and lower down to keep your torso upright. Hold that bottom position for a second or two, but don't rest your elbows on your knees.
• Squeeze your glutes to return to standing.

Split-Stance Romanian Deadlift

SAMUEL SAYS: "You’re going to ideally do this with a barbell, though dumbbells work as well. Even though this is a muscle-building program, we want to ensure we’re hitting a couple of other notes just so we’re bullet-proofing ourselves. Here, we’re a little more unilateral, working from an offset athletic stance."

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps on each leg, resting 90 seconds between sides

HOW TO DO IT:

• Stand tall, feet set shoulder-width apart, with a dumbbell in your right hand. Stagger one right foot back until your toes are just behind the heel of your left foot. Lift the heel of your right foot slightly off the ground.
• Maintaining a slight bend in your left leg, simultaneously drive your hips back and lean your torso toward the floor. Stop when the dumbbell is just below your left knee.
• Pause for one second and then push your hips forward to return to the starting position.

Front-Rack Curtsy Lunge

SAMUEL SAYS: "This is filling in a little bit of a blank here. We want to get a little bit of rotation in our lives, and this gets us that rotation in our lives. At the bottom of that curtsy lunge, you’ll wind up getting a little bit of extra stretch on the glutes… adding a little more growth potential to the movement."

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps per side, resting 60 seconds between sides

HOW TO DO IT:

• Hold a pair of kettlebells in the front-rack position, resting them on your shoulders with your elbows up.
• Step one leg diagonally behind your body, crossing it behind your front leg as you lower into a lunge.
• Keep your torso upright as you lower into the lunge until your back knee nearly touches the ground.
• Drive through your front foot to return to the starting position, keeping your core engaged and maintaining balance.
• Complete all the reps on one side before moving to the other leg.

Single-Leg Leg Extension

SAMUEL SAYS: "You want to hit eight to 10 reps—make sure these are heavy—on the left leg. Then you will do an eccentric overload rep (see directions). It’s going to be grueling, and it’s going to be an underrated heart rate challenge for you, but it’s a great way to finish off your leg day."

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps per side + 2 to 4 eccentric overload reps, no rest between legs

HOW TO DO IT:

• Sit in a leg extension machine and adjust the pad so it sits right on top of your ankles, in the crux where your feet seem to connect to your lower leg. Set the back pad so you can lean back farther than you’re used to, which puts your quads into a more stretched position for the entirety of the set. Grip the handle firmly.
• Flex your quads and lift the pad with one leg until your knee is completely locked out.
• Once you’ve completed all the prescribed reps, use your other leg to help you lift the pad and then let your original working leg lower the weight back down on its own. This is called an eccentric overload rep. Do two to four of them.
• Keep switching between legs, resting as little as possible until all of your sets are complete.

DAY 4:

Upper Body Workout 2

Super-Set: Dumbbell Seal Row + Dumbbell Incline Press

SAMUEL SAYS: "This is a really good row that’ll help us get a nice stretch at the bottom. It’s also a back-safe row because it's supported, so you can go super heavy, focus on the eccentric, and not have any back risk. You’ll then move on to the standard incline dumbbell press."

SETS AND REPS: 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps + 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps, resting 2 minutes between supersets

HOW TO DO THE DUMBBELL SEAL ROW:

• Position a flat high enough off the ground so your arms can fully extend without the dumbbells touching the ground. Your best bet is to stack a couple of bumper plates on each other on either end of the bench and then rest the bench on those.
• Lie belly-down on the bench with your chest supported, feet off the ground, and hold a dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip (palms facing each other).
• Pull the dumbbells toward your torso by driving your elbows back and squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top.
• Slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position, fully extending your arms while maintaining tension in your back.

HOW TO DO THE INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS:

• Sit on the incline bench set to a 45- to 60-degree angle, holding a set of dumbbells. Drive your feet into the floor, drive your glutes into the seat, squeeze your abs, and drive your shoulders into the back pad.
• Raise the dumbbells to your shoulders. If the weight is too heavy, use your knees to kick the bell up. Your forearms should be perpendicular to the floor.
• Press the weight straight up, keeping your upper arms perpendicular to the ground.
• Once the weight is up, drive your shoulders down to create tension. Turn your hands slightly in to shift the angle of your arms.
• Lower the weight back down toward your chest as your chest flexibility allows, at least until your elbows are below your shoulders.

Super-Set: Flat Barbell/Dumbbell Pause Bench Press + TRX Rotational Row

SAMUEL SAYS: "[With the pause], we get to spend some extra time in that stretched position. If you go with the barbell, you get to go heavier, and that’s never a bad thing as long as we’re in a safe position. The TRX rotational row is a slightly different move, but, again, we want to make sure we’re filling in blanks [with our training]. This adds a little rotation to our life and gives you a really good chance to get a stretch at the shoulder joint."

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps + 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps each side reps, resting 2 minutes between supersets

HOW TO DO THE BARBELL PAUSE BENCH PRESS:

• Lie on a flat bench with your feet planted firmly on the ground. Grip a loaded bar slightly wider than shoulder-width and unrack it until it’s over your nipple line.
• Slowly lower the barbell to just below your chest, keeping your elbows tucked at about 45 degrees, or, put simply, pointing diagonally out.
• Once the bar touches your chest, hold it there while maintaining tension on your muscles for one Mississippi second.
• Drive through your feet and press the bar back up to full extension.

HOW TO DO THE TRX ROTATIONAL ROW

• Adjust the TRX straps to mid-length and grab one handle with an underhand grip. Position your feet under the anchor point so your body is set at roughly a 45-degree angle.
• Extend your free arm toward the floor as you lower yourself, allowing your torso to rotate naturally.
• Pull yourself up, rotating your torso and bringing your free arm across your body toward the anchor point.
• Slowly lower yourself back to the starting position, keeping tension in your core and lats.
• Complete the desired reps on one side before switching arms and repeating.

Tri-Set: Wide-Grip Pulldown + Incline lateral Raise + Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press

SAMUEL SAYS: "This is a no-rest tri-set, which is a little bit of a heart rate challenge. When you do the pulldown, if you can find a neutral handle, use this as it’ll put your shoulders and your wrists in a comfortable position. When we’re going up for that pulldown, go up slowly and really try to get that stretch in your lats."

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps for all exercises, no rest between exercises or sets

HOW TO DO THE WIDE-GRIP PULLDOWN:

• Adjust the thigh pad to secure your legs and grip the bar with a wide, overhand grip (hands wider than shoulder-width).
• Lean slightly back and pull the bar down toward your upper chest, driving your elbows down and back.
• Slowly extend your arms back to the starting position, keeping tension in your lats.
• Avoid using momentum or excessively leaning back to ensure your lats are doing the work.

HOW TO DO THE INCLINE LATERAL RAISE

• Adjust an incline bench to about 30-45 degrees and sit back with a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing inward.
• Let your arms hang naturally by your sides with a slight bend in your elbows.
• Lift the weights out to your sides until they reach shoulder height, keeping a controlled movement.
• Slowly bring the dumbbells back down to the starting position without letting them drop.

HOW TO DO THE SEATED DUMBBELL OVERHEAD PRESS

• Sit on a bench with back support, feet flat on the ground, and hold a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height.
• Drive the dumbbells overhead until your arms are fully extended, keeping your elbows slightly in front of your shoulders.
• Slowly bring the dumbbells back down to shoulder level, maintaining control throughout the movement.
• Keep your core tight and avoid arching your lower back as you press.

Superset: Dumbbell/EZ-Bar Preacher Curl + X Pressdown

SAMUEL SAYS: "This is an optional superset. The beauty of the preacher curl is that when we’re in the lengthened position, there is tension on our biceps, and we have to own that tension. The X pressdown is less about lengthened position tension… you’ll get to focus on really contracting your triceps."

SETS AND REPS: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps + 3 sets of 15 reps, no rest between exercises or sets

HOW TO DO THE EZ-BAR PREACHER CURL

• Adjust the preacher bench so your upper arms rest flat against the pad. Grip the EZ-bar with a shoulder-width underhand grip.
• Slowly lower your arms until your elbows are straight, focusing on keeping tension on your biceps.
• Squeeze your biceps and curl the bar back up to the top, stopping just before your forearms are vertical.
• Keep your upper arms pressed against the pad and avoid using momentum to lift the weight.

HOW TO DO THE X PRESSDOWN

• Attach two D-handles to the high pulleys on a cable machine and cross them over so the left handle is in your right hand and vice versa.
• Lean forward slightly with your elbows tucked close to your sides.
• Extend your arms downward in an "X" motion, fully locking out your elbows at the bottom.
• Slowly bring your hands back to the starting position, keeping constant tension on your triceps.

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