Of course you want to build muscle fast. Who doesn't?

A lot of people hit the gym with no plan, hoping to get ripped. They do endless bicep curls and maybe bench presses, then gobble protein shakes and creatine pills and blahblah drinks and hope to look like Jay Cutler someday. Won't it work? I mean, that build-muscle-and-get-ripped-and-make-you-live-longer-and-be-happy-the-rest-of-your-life shake is supposed to help you put on 40 lbs of solid muscle. Right?

Unfortunately there's more to bodybuilding than curls and protein shakes. Seriously, how many skinny guys do you see doing curls and taking supplements? Yep. Lots. So what are they doing wrong? And more importantly, what might you be doing wrong that might be hindering your muscle mass gains? I'll give you a few tips here to help maximize your gains.

1. Don't neglect muscle groups.

You may think if you just want upper body strength you can get by with just upper body exercises. Don't. Please. For one thing, if you're trying to lose weight, your leg muscles are biggest and burn the most calories, so leg exercises are essential. For another, a lot of your exercises use your lower body. If you can do a 300 lb. deadlift, you'll be able to do a 100 lb. military press better. And lastly, who wants a huge upper body and spaghetti legs? If you said "I do" you lied.

2. Do compound exercises.

There are a few reasons for doing this as well. First, it's a lot faster. For example, doing front squats for lower body strength works your lower body faster than doing leg extensions, calf raises, leg curls, and a bunch of other random exercises. Second, compound exercises teach your body to work together.

Compound exercises are the best for building muscle mass. Your workout plan should always focus more on exercises like squats, deadlifts, and presses, and less on curls, triceps extensions, and other isolation exercises. Also, if you have a chance, pick a barbell or dumbbell exercise over a machine exercise. They work your stabilizer muscles a lot better.

3. Go for a slightly longer tension time sometimes.

Specific parts of your muscle will grow if it's under tension for 40 seconds or longer. For example, if you do a set of 12 reps of bench presses and take 4 seconds per rep (2 seconds up and 2 down or 1 up and 3 down) then the time under tension (TUT) will be 48 seconds.

Sure you won't be able to use as much weight, but if you're looking to gain muscle size it isn't all about lifting heavy. There are lots of super strong guys that don't have massive muscles. In my workouts, I often focus on strength (fewer, heavy reps) one month and then size (longer reps) the next.

4. Get enough rest and don't overtrain.

It's usually said that you shouldn't work on the same muscles twice within 48-72 hours. It doesn't hurt to rest even longer than that, especially if you're a natural bodybuilder. Often it takes even longer than that to fully recover and allow your body to grow as well. And you don't have to do 20 sets per muscle group; that's going to take an awful long time to recover from. I usually do 6 or 7 sets per muscle group, sometimes even less.

5. Eat properly and drink lots of water.

This shouldn't even have to be said, but I said it anyway. Chicken breast builds muscle better than pizza, and yam builds muscle better than a cheeseburger. And muscles are mostly water, so it goes without saying that water is necessary for muscle growth.

Well, there you have it. Just a few tips on building muscle mass quickly. Of course, I just barely scratched the surface on what could be said.

Watch videos on how to do deadlifts, squats, military presses, bent-over rows, and other compound exercises, and start lifting. Or search for a workout plan online - there are lots. Definitely, though, start off light and watch how you lift - doing things wrong could hurt you.

Now go train hard and break barriers. It's time to give those barbells a beating.