If you’re serious about wanting to know how to build up muscle, here are some suggestions based upon experience with ways that have worked for many others. It makes no difference whether you are already working out and would like to vary your routine, or you are recently interested in simply building up muscle, the following tips will help you on your way.

Great Tip No. 1. Work each exercise till exhaustion. It’s important that your muscle fibers are worked to the point where they need repair, which builds up the muscle mass. Make sure that you work your muscles to the point where the last rep is so difficult that you require at least a small break before you can do any more. This is how to build up muscle fast.

Great Tip No. 2. Increase your intake of protein. Without protein you will never see any increase in muscle mass. Protein is an essential building block for building and repairing the muscle which has been challenged by the exercise.

Great Tip No. 3. Perform from eight to twelve reps per exercise set. If you do not do enough reps, you’re resting too much and not efficiently building muscle. If you are doing too many reps, it means that the muscles are not being challenged, and more weight is required to build mass. Make sure that you perform no fewer than eight reps and no more than twelve.

Great Tip No. 4. Eat cottage cheese. Yes. Cottage cheese is a miracle food for body builders. It’s low in carbs and fats and it’s filled with needed protein. If you find that the flavor of the natural type is too strange, flavored versions are available, and can be included in many different recipes.

Great Tip No. 5. Use free weights. Sure, you can build muscle using weight machines, but free weights are far more effective for a number of reasons. Free weights require you to provide balance. Machines are stable and offer no balancing challenges. Free weights also give you the opportunity to perform compound movement where you can work more than one muscle group at a time. Those who know how to build up muscle fast, use free weights.

Great Tip No. 6. Eat often! Eating smaller meals more often is a far better practice than the traditional three big meals a day. Eating a small meal every three hours or so will help build muscle more quickly. Bring a lunch big enough for one big meal, and then split it up into two sessions.

If you’ve been working out diligently in your local gym and still don’t look like Mr. Universe, don’t despair. It takes time to learn how to build up muscle efficiently, but if you follow the steps given above, the task will be easier, and you’ll begin to see progress sooner than you think.