I know we're all in a hurry to get big, lose body fat, and otherwise enhance our athletic performance. In that light, I'm starting a series, a Top Ten if you will, on getting things done better and faster.

The first part of this Top Ten is all about building muscle: What are the tricks, tips, and techniques for building muscles that are bigger, faster, and stronger?

Without further ado, here they are:

1. Do compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, rows, pull-ups, and overhead presses. In that order of preference. These exercises stimulate more muscle growth because they employ more muscle fibers at once, cause increased growth hormone production, and also facilitate the mind-muscle connection.
2. Do 2-4 sets of each exercise.
3. Do sets of 6-10 reps.
4. Train to concentric failure on the last "heavy" set of at least one exercise per workout. This means that if you work chest, back, and shoulders, do at least one set of Bench Presses, for example, until you cannot do another rep without help.
5. Throw in a forced rep or two every few weeks.
6. Cycle your training. Don't go stale. I suggest using mini-cycles of 3-6 weeks on, one week off. The harder you train, the fewer weeks of hard training you do before a rest.
7. Cycle your supplementation. I suggest 3 days on, 1 day off. Repeat. Make your diet coincide with your training. This means that every 3 to 6 weeks, you take some time off.
8. Work toward progress. A little progress is better than none at all. Tweak here and there to keep progress moving. There's no sense in trying to build Rome in a day. It won't work and you'll get hurt and/or disappointed.
9. Get plenty of rest and drink a ton of water. Reduce inflammation by cutting out junk food including sugar, high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, and other crap. It does you no good. Even if it tastes really yummy and gives you a killer buzz. Nothing in life comes easy.
10. Everything is subject to change. Nothing is written in stone. Including these "rules."

That's it for now. Next up: Fat-loss Top Ten.

Here's a video of a school teacher doing 46 reps with 225 in the bench press. This is quite impressive. Thanks, Charles Lloyd Fitness for the link!

My friend Nick Nilsson just put out an audio explaining his Muscle Explosion program. It's an hour long, so I suggest you download it and find some time to play it in its entirety.

In this audio download, Nick details everything you're going to learn and do in the Muscle Explosion program. It's a great program for building muscle while simultaneously losing body fat. It will totally kick your a** but it's well worth it.

Nick's also throwing in 3 special bonuses with this one if you buy before Friday.

1. The Best Ab Exercises You've Never Heard Of – Core Strength
Edition

This book is FULL of exercises designed to target only core
strength (shocker there), helping you develop steel girder
strength throughout your abdominal area, which will come in VERY
handy with the Muscle Explosion program, believe me.

2. Top Secret Arm Training

Since Nick started training 18 years ago, he's been keeping
journals, recording all his exercise notes, tips and techniques.
They're like his "mad scientist" lab books and this one is all
about arm training…biceps, triceps and forearms. This is raw
stuff…no pictures or video but a TON of training info without
an ounce of fluff.

3. Top Secret Chest Training

Same deal as #2 but with chest exercises and training
techniques. It's like distilling YEARS of training experience
into a neat package that you can print out, take to the gym and
totally freak everybody out with.

If you're on the fence about this program, download the file. What do you have to lose? Oh, yeah, a bunch of body fat! And you'll buff right up, too!

Muscle Explosion program

I've set up a special bonus package if you buy the program through my affiliate link. Check it out here.

I just put up a review of "The Rotater" over at Muscle-Build.com. It's a simple tool that will help you maintain, strengthen, and stretch your should girdle, minimizing the risk of rotator cuff injury.

Here's a funny video about how squats can cure cancer, as told to a young man by a powerlifting robot.

WARNING: Contains potentially offensive language and is somewhat negative towards bodybuilders and powerlifters at the same time (which I didn't think was possible).