1. Fix in your mind the exact amount of muscle you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say, “I want plenty of muscle.” Be definite as to the amount.
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the muscle you desire.
3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the muscle you desire.
4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
5. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of muscle you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the muscle, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night and once after arising in the morning. AS YOU READ, SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MUSCLE.

• First, it is not easy to check the level of trustworthiness of the posts
• Second, that one good post is just one of a few dozens posts you have read that day about training—there is no way you can fully appreciate everything in that post.

A whole book and all of its teaching can always be summarized in one paragraph, but there is a huge difference between actually reading the book from cover to cover and reading just the summary. Just think about this: “Dorothy Gale is swept away to a magical land in a tornado and embarks on a quest to see the Wizard who can help her return home” (IMDB). Is it the same as watching the whole movie (Wizard of Oz)? Same thing with reading a book on training instead of reading a post on training.

So, you should read a book on training. The question is: how to determine which book deserves your time and money?

• Look at reviews:
  • Amazon is the best source to look up reviews on books.
  • Goodreads also provide good reviews
  • Just go to Google product search and you can see reviews from both sources
  • Go to websites like forum.bodybuilding.com to look for reviews of the book.
  • Just Google for the reviews
• Look at the quality of the reviews:
  • Are there a lot of people who find these reviews useful? You can easily check that out with Amazon or by looking at the comments people made.
  • Who are the reviewers (i.e. do they know what they are talking about)?
  • Check to see if the reviewers are trying to promote the book for some selfish motives.
• Look at the level of popularity of the book
  • How many people on forums (or on the Internet in general) talk about the book. Again, forums like that of bodybuilding.com are good places to check out first.
  • The position of the book on Amazon.com is also a good indication, as are the number of reviews and the number of people who find these reviews useful.
• Look at the result of the program advocated by the book
  • Talk to people who have done the program. In most cases they will not have any incentive to lie to you.
  • Forums are a good place to find these people.
• Have a sneak peek of the book
  • Try to see if you can read part of the book using Google Book Reader.
  • In many cases, the reviews give you a good sense of how the book will be like.
  • A popular book should be the topic of many discussions on forums. Conducting some quick search on these forums should give you a post summarize the program of the book

It should not take too long to do all of that. Just sit down one evening and concentrate on doing just that. Remember: a little research now will always save you so much time later. Once you have found a good book, BUY THE BOOK! You don’t know NOTHING just based on that research. The purpose of the research is to prove whether the program is good, not so that you don’t need to read the book anymore.

Also, you don’t have to follow all the steps above. Just research until you are fully convinced that a book is good/bad.

One last note:

There is no “secret” principle to getting big. That’s just a marketing effort. There are not a million ways to get big either. That’s just how the bodybuilding industry makes money. There are only a few simple principles that you HAVE to follow.

Remember: it’s not about the idea; it’s all about the execution. Don’t get fooled by those “fancy” new machines and programs. They are all BS! A good book will show you why these same old principles that you may have heard a dozen times will help you gain massive muscle and get super strong.

For me personally, I read Starting Strength to get the basics of training down, then Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle to learn the basics of nutrition, then Beyond Brawn and its Weight-Training Technique Handbook to learn how to gain muscle. These are ALL you will need in order to get big. Nothing you read from anywhere else, nothing anyone says to you will ever be new after that. Then, all you need to do is EXECUTE.

• Squat: It is not easy to Squat. In fact, none of the exercises listed here are easy to perform. They all require at least 3 sessions of practice with careful supervision from an experienced trainer (can be personal trainers or friends who know the techniques well). You will also have to read about the techniques before even practicing any exercise for the first time (because not all trainers know the right techniques; you cannot just follow them blindly. Also, unless you pay for a personal trainer, no friend will have the patience to show you all the techniques). There are no other way around it. You HAVE to do these exercises to get big. And because of that, you HAVE to get the right techniques to prevent injury (with such heavy weights that you can lift with deadlift or squat, injury from bad forms may last for years or maybe forever).
• Deadlift: You can lift extremely heavy weights with deadlift, but you can also mess up your back so badly you can never walk normal again. The thing is, with the right techniques, you can train with these exercises well until your late 40s or 50s. Doesn’t it feel good to be able to lift massive weights? You are training to get big, but you are also training to be stronger. After all, that’s the reason why most of us at least at one point or another bench press 225 pounds when our spotters were doing most of the lifting instead of ourselves.
• Benchpress (or dips): You already have enough experience with bench pressing. Dips is a bit harder in technique but it is a great exercise when you are stuck with your bench press. If you think bench press is important, squat and deadlift are both way more important in terms of helping you get stronger and bigger. If you feel great for being able to bench press 180 pounds, you will feel even better for being able to squat 300 pounds and deadlift 320 pounds. Overall, benchpress receives more attention and energy than it deserves. If you want to train right and train smart, then make squat and deadlift your priorities instead of bench press.
• Press: Have you seen some guys with big arms but small shoulders? They are everywhere. That’s because they pump up their biceps too much while ignoring to do any press. You don’t look good with big arms and small shoulders, but you look great with big shoulders and moderately big arms. Just look at any great physique and pay some attention to the proportion of the arms to the shoulder, and you will see what I mean. And press is the best exercise to train for bigger shoulder.

These four exercises are called Compound Exercises. They work multiple muscles of your body so that not only will you gain a lot of muscles with just these four exercises, you will also become a lot stronger (and by stronger, I mean “functionally stronger,” being able to lift much heavier objects of all shapes). Of course there are other assistant exercises like calf-raises and bicep curls, etc, that you must also perform in order to have a completely great physique. However, in terms of importance, these four exercises MUST be the ones that you focus most of your attention and energy on, especially early in your work out program. In other words, if for some reasons you can only work out once a week for a month or so, then it is these four exercises that you must perform in that one session instead of anything else.

There is no way this short post can do justice to the importance of these exercises. But if you do some more research on these four exercises, the reasons for why you HAVE to include them in your program will become clearer. Also, these exercises MUST be performed with barbell in their traditional variations. Easier variations or variations with the dumbbell for the sake of easier techniques will give you no result, or if any at all, much smaller benefits than the correct variations will (in some cases, certain variations can be done if the trainer has some injury or abnormal body structure. But these cases are extremely rare. You should not be among that group).

Read this “Starting Strength” is your Bible for training. It is a great book that will show you all the right techniques for these four exercises. You should be able to train like a pro after that.

RECAP: The four compound exercises: Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press (or Dips), and Press must be included in your training program if you want to get bigger and stronger. There is simply no exercise more important than these four.

Once you have set your goal, say to look as good as Brad Pitt in Fight Club, you will never be completely happy with yourself until you have achieved that goal. This is the motivation that keeps pushing you through hard training sessions and ridicules from other people. You don’t settle until you reach your goal. It defines whether you are the winner or the loser. You cannot live with yourself if you are not doing anything to get closer to your goal.

If person Z makes 10 million dollars before turning 30, would he be happy? Obviously NO. He’d be very unhappy in fact. Even if he makes 80 million dollars, that will still not be enough. His goal is to make 100 million dollars. Anything less than that is a failure to him.

There lies the dilemma of dreaming big. Setting big goals mean raising the standard and expectation of yourself. It should be one of the decisions that change your life. You are setting the benchmarks for everything you do in life. And these benchmarks dictate whether you should be happy or miserable about your performance.

However, most people don’t even dare to dream. They don’t know that they have the ability to achieve every single dream of their childhood. They settle for a normal house, a normal wife, a normal job, and a normal life. They play it safe. But deep down, they will never be completely at peace, because their childhood dreams are still there. They’d look at someone with a beautiful wife, a great job, and a big house, and they feel bad about themselves. They may accept it as their destiny, but they will still think: “Wouldn’t it be nice if I can live like that for one day?”

You use your own measurements in life thus far to assess everything. A dream may be really big for you now, but it may not be so 3 months from now. You don’t even know your potentials/limitations until you have tried to do something seriously for quite some time. For example, when you are 120 pounds, gaining 80 pounds of muscles seems impossible. But once you have gained 30 pounds of muscle to get to 150 pounds, gaining 50 more pounds of muscle is only a matter of time and consistent effort. Will you ever know that if you have not dared to dream big and really try to achieve it?

Setting big dreams is not easy. That is not what you have been taught at school or by your friends and families. But dare to dream, try your best, and you will never regret anything in life.

Note: you may want to check out this book The Magic of Thinking Big. It is an easy read, but it will eliminate any doubts you may have about daring to think big.

RECAP: Dare to set big goals. It’s risky business, but it’s totally worth it. Don’t let your current limitations and measurements in life dictate what you can achieve in the future.

I shouldn’t have to promote this book; just look at the reviews on Amazon. At the time of this writing, the book gets 166 reviews, 159 of which are 5 stars. 7 reviews are 4 stars. No 3-star review. No 2-star review. No 1-star review. Can you find any other book on training with this level of reputation?

Read any book on training for muscles, and you will see the same principle: do big compound exercises: Squat, Deadlift, Press, Bench Press or Dips. Those exercises are the core of any training program. If you wanna get big, if you wanna get strong, if you wanna be functional, you must do these exercises. You think that they are only for these crazy huge football players? You are wrong. These exercises turn you into football players! My legs used to be all sticks and bones. I started out Squatting 115 pounds, now I am doing  3 sets 3 reps 305 pounds. All in less than 8 months. My legs are even a bit too muscular now.

The contribution of this book is to show you what REAL training is all about. You are trying to become much stronger and bigger than what you naturally are. And you are an ectomorph! Training is no laughing matter. Of course it doesn’t have to be difficult either. This book will help you train professionally, save your energy while gaining massive strength every workout. No it is not a joke. It is possible. You just have to learn HOW to do it.

Do you keep a notebook just for logging in your reps, sets, weights and rest time? Do you know EXACTLY what you are going to lift, how heavy, how many reps, sets even BEFORE you walk into the gym? Do you know how often you should squat? Do you know how much strength gain you can expect of your body? Do you know what to do if you get stuck at the same weights for a month (not to mention years)? Do you know the techniques for Squat, Deadlift…? If you say no to any of these questions, you need to read this book. There are BIG gaps in your knowledge of training.

Progressive weights with good form. ‘Starting Strength’ will show you the science of training. Consistency, discipline, determination. You will never overtrain yourself again. You will never get stuck at the same weights again. You will never have to do some crazy hard exercises without seeing any gain ever again.

If you want to run faster, jump higher, read the book. If you want to stand in a concert with your girlfriend sitting ON your shoulder (no, that’s too easy, with TWO medium to heavy weights people sitting on your shoulder), read the book. If you want to lift crazy heavy objects easily without worrying about your poor back, read the book.

Do the right exercises. Lift massive weights. End every workout session quickly. Feel fresh after every workout. Read Starting Strength (2nd edition)

Note: this book is mostly about the techniques of the exercises. It is imperative that you follow the guidance closely to prevent injury. The sets and reps range and the frequency of training in this book is to help you gain strength quickly. You should get to a certain strength base on these exercises before working on gaining muscle (same exercises but different rep/set range and nutrition needs). Don’t worry, it is not long. Only 3 months and you will be twice or three times as strong as you were at the beginning.

RECAP: Progressive weights with good form is the key to training. This book teaches you the form and the science of gaining weights every workout session.

“Think and Grow Rich” was the result of decades of work and hundreds of interviews with the most successful people at the time. Here are just a few of those people who changed the world forever not only through their work but also by making this book possible:

HENRY FORD                                 JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER

THOMAS A. EDISON                    EDWIN C. BARNES

THEODORE ROOSEVELT           WOODROW WILSON

CHARLES M. SCHWAB                 JOHN WANAMAKER

And the list goes on.

Say what you want, but you cannot deny the success and significance of these people. If you listen to tips on how to get bigger from some random big dude (who was born big and doesn’t know squat about how an ectomorph can gain muscle) at the gym, why would you be hesitant to listen to these people?

The book will show you just exactly how to get what you want in life (in the case of this book, money). It took me quite a while to completely digest just how important the ideas in this book are. Even now, I cannot say that I have fully appreciated the book. I seriously began to apply the ideas in this book when I made the conscious decision to gain muscle. Here are the 6 steps from the book that I follow rigidly and faithfully. These 6 simple steps alone account for much of my success in life thus far:

1. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say, “I want plenty of money.” Be definite as to the amount.
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire.
3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.
4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
5. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night and once after arising in the morning. AS YOU READ, SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.

These 6 steps are exactly as they were presented in the book. Follow these 6 steps alone (replacing money with muscle) and you will get the muscle you want. Remember all the other muscle-gaining books you have read? They all started with one or two chapters that made you follow these 6 steps. And not just bodybuilding books. Any books that promise to help you attain anything will start out with something like that.

Again, I am not implying that the ideas in this book are original. After all, this book got its core ideas from all the successful people that Napoleon Hill interviewed anyway. However, this is the BEST book on teaching you how to achieve whatever you want in life, no matter what it maybe.

That’s it. Buy the book and read it. You will keep it for life. All of the education I have got from school thus far in life cannot be put next to what I have learnt from this book. And it will be the same for you too.

RECAP: Think and Grow Rich shows you EXACTLY how to get ANYTHING you want in life. Classic book. No question about it.

For whatever reasons, you may think that reading self-help books like these is lame. You may contend that you learn more from living life than from reading some silly books. Ok, I respect that. But hear me out, because I think that I can at least prove to you that these two books are worth a read, regardless of how you think about self-help books in general.

First of all, I don’t want you to associate these two books with self-help books. The business of writing self-help books has blossomed exponentially in the last few decades. More books are written to help your life in some ways this year than the last. But when you come to think about it, most books are new but not necessarily better presentations of some old ideas. There are only a certain numbers of principles for you to understand and master. All the new books are just some lame attempts to present these principles in some new lights but do not really help you in just how to master these principles. Thus, you may have read quite a few self-help books, but never get anywhere. So I understand if you think self-help books are a waste of time. I do too.

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” was written by Stephen R. Covey. I am not saying that the ideas and principles in this book are original. That is not my concern, nor should it be yours. What I like about this book is its comprehensiveness. Forget about all the crazy self-help books you have read before. All you need to know and master are the 7 habits listed in this books:

1. Be Proactive: take responsibility for everything you do and never blame anyone or anything
2. Begin with the End in Mind: always think of what you want to achieve before doing anything
3. Put First thing First: finish the most important and most urgent task first
4. Think Win/Win
5. Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

Anything that you will see in other self-help books is just some variations of these 7 habits. I am not implying that it is easy to completely digest and master these 7 habits after one or two reading. It takes years! You may have one or two habits already. Thats’ great. But if not, then hurry up and read this book. You may think, ’7 habits in a book, is that enough to change my life?Just 7 simple habits that I have already heard of?’ Well yeah. It is that simple because it should be simple. All the other  books are just messing everything up to get your money. You say it is simple, but how many of these 7 habits have you mastered? Remember, there is a HUGE different between knowing and doing. Read the book so that at least you are aware of these 7 habits. And if you know about them already, read it to clearly understand them and to be convinced that even mastering one or two of these 7 habits is enough to make you a very effective person already.

I am very lucky to have come across this book at the age of 16. As a teenager, I did not have any of these habits. I was blaming my teachers for my grades, my girlfriend for my miseries, my body for being so skinny. I was playing computer games and skipping meals and homework. I had no idea what I would be like in the close future. I was jealous of people; I’d rather see someone go down than having a win/win situation. You know, just a lot of petty thoughts. What this book helped me immediately was to stop complaining. It was tough, and I DO still complain sometimes, but it is definitely 1/100000 of how much other people complain. I don’t blame anyone or anything for my failure either. And now I know exactly what I will be like in the next 1 year, 5 years and 10 years. So:

• Do you still complain and blame others?
• Do you have a clear vision of your life and a sense of purpose?
• Is procrastination the only thing you are good at?
• Do you know how to listen to others?

Read the book, damn it!

RECAP: Every single successful person has at least some of these 7 habits. How many do you have?