In the previous section to this series we established that changing the composition of your body and adding muscle is not going to be easy. We also established that you must set goals and visualize your results. This is only half of the blue print to gaining muscle.

There is more to visualization than simply “seeing” the new and improved you. There is an underlying reason as to why you are working out in the first place. This reason is not to simply “be stronger” or to “be bigger.” It is something personal and impactful to your quality of life.

If you haven’t identified what the driving reason is yet, think hard. Discover what that is right now before you read any further. Got it? Great, here’s where it ties into the picture.

When you are visualizing yourself with your new body, you need to feel the emotion of what it’s like to accomplish or be victorious over that underlying reason for workout out. We are emotional creatures, like it or not. Now if you think you’re some tough guy who doesn’t feel emotion, stop being ignorant and accept your humanity.

While you’re in front of the mirror, see yourself in your new body. Feel yourself achieving the epitome of success whatever that may be. For example, if the underlying reason for you is to enter and win an incredible fitness competition, picture yourself on stage winning that 1st place award. How does it make you feel? What is the sensation like? Does your energy suddenly increase? Eyes become wider? Do your hairs stand up? Is it even possible to stop smiling?

The very thought of achieving your main goal should make your heart beat faster. Picture yourself with your new higher quality of life and how your days will be improved. Do you believe that you can obtain that vision? Are you even capable? The answer is yes you are!

If there is any hesitation in that thought and you think that you might not be able to achieve your goal then training with a workout routine to gain muscle isn’t for you. You might as well go take up knitting. In fact, don’t even do that, because you’ll never finish the sweater!

Point here is, you can do this. You will do this. Your vision will come true if you believe it to be true and commit to the path needed. Believe it. Keep that thought in the front of your mind. Building more muscle is just like any other accomplishment. It takes dedication, perseverance and focus. And most of all, you have to believe in yourself.

When I refer to visualization and “feeling the success” I am not referring to positive thinking. This is not something from “The Secret” where if you think positive thoughts you will suddenly attract whatever you want into your universe. Because guess what? You could sit there and visualize all you want with positive intentions and it won’t get you to where you want to be. You still have to go through the motions. You have to physically pay your dues. It comes down to dedicated hard work.

Keeping Yourself in Check

Let’s face it, we all get tempted to cheat at some point. When it comes to weight lifting, you might catch yourself starting to sacrifice form because you need to get that final rep in. The trick to training with a workout routine to gain muscle is all about keeping yourself honest. Here’s how to do it.

Remember in the other article how I said you will be setting ultra-short goals? I mentioned that those goals are simply weekly progression with your routine. This is where you need a workout log. It is absolutely crucial that you keep meticulous records. You must write down how many sets you did, how many reps in each set, and for what exercise. Knowing these stats will allow you to progress in a calculated fashion.

Before you get to the gym, you will already know exactly how many reps you need to do (in perfect form) to beat your record from the previous week. If you don’t have a workout log, create one on Microsoft excel. If you’re not computer savvy enough for that, print out a workout log template which can be found all over the internet.

Each and every day that you train with your workout routine to gain muscle, you are accomplishing a daily goal. This alone is going to give you a rush of endorphins. You will feel better about the day. Your energy level will increase and your ability to focus will be enhanced for the rest of the day.

Feed off of this feeling. Get to the point where you crave this state of mind. You will be able to use this as great motivation to continue your daily workouts.

Committing to the workout program itself isn’t going to get it done. An even more difficult task is staying honest with your daily nutritional needs. If you’re an ectomorph like myself, you know that it’s very difficult to eat a lot of food. It feels like force feeding. But the fact is, there is a certain amount of calories and grams of protein that you are going to need every day.

Your workout routine to gain muscle will outline exactly what your meals need to be each day. It will tell you the number of calories, grams of protein, and percentages of your macronutrients. So we won’t go over that. But you do need to know how difficult it’s going to be to hit your quotas.

This was probably the most challenging part for me personally. Eating to gain muscle mass doesn’t come naturally to me. Here’s the good news though. After a month or two you become accustomed to the new style of diet. Eating the insane amount of food needed no longer becomes a chore but rather a standard routine.

Just like a routine at the gym, you need to plan out your meals ahead of time. Before you go to bed you should know what you will be having first thing in the morning. You should know what your snack will consist of. Your lunch, next snack, dinner, and snack before bed should also be pre planned.

More good news! Your workout routine to gain muscle will already have meal plans ready for you to follow (as long as it’s a complete program anyway). So you won’t really have to worry about this stressor. All that you will have to do is to make sure that you have all of the groceries required for the meals.

Let’s recap this entire series to ensure that you know exactly what needs to be done here.

- Accept that this is going to be one of the hardest things you have ever done.

- Set long term, short term, and ultra-short term goals.

- Visualize your end result. Feel what it’s like to succeed at your reason for working out.

- Keep yourself honest with a gym log. Don’t cheat or fall to temptation.

- Eat a diet exactly outlined by your program, don’t sway from it.

- Believe in yourself!

That last point is the most important. You already know that you’re capable of this. You need to simply do it! No sense in procrastinating. No sense in saying “I’ll start tomorrow.” Forget that! Start now! You are in control here. Once you believe that you can change your body, congratulations, you are then further ahead of many guys who start working out in the first place.