Online coach and YouTuber Mike Thurston has been lifting for 18 years, achieving a strong and muscular physique as a result. It’s taken hard graft in the gym for him to get to where he has, and he’s learned a lot of lessons along the way.

But what if he had to start all over again? Thurston says he would focus on 10 fundamentals to regain his muscle.

‘These are my 10 rules from my 18 years of lifting which I feel are the most important and are going to have the biggest contribution to you building muscle,’ Thurston said in a recent YouTube video. ‘I think it’s pretty straightforward.’

1. Maximise Mechanical Tension

To build muscle, avoid simply going through the motions: you want to focus in on the muscle you’re working, and make sure you’re putting it under as much force as possible. It’s all about creating that mind-muscle connection; rather than simply moving the weight from A to B in a bench press, for example, you would focus on placing as much emphasis as you can on your chest muscles.

‘You want to be able to place as much mechanical tension as possible onto the working muscle,’ he says. ‘The goal should be to try to focus as much of that tension created onto the working muscle group.’

2. Progressively Overload Every Session

‘If you want to grow, you’ve got to progressively overload every single session. The best way to do that is lift a little bit more, or add more load. Even if it’s a very small percentage, it still counts. That should be the absolute goal every time you go to the gym,’ Thurston explains.

Even by adding just one extra rep to a single set, or sticking a 0.5kg plate on either side of a barbell, you’re forcing your muscles to work harder than they have previously. That’s progressive overload, and that’s what will build strength.

3. Control the Weight

There’s a time and a place to use momentum when lifting, but for the most part, completing movements under control will help maximise mechanical tension and force more growth. Plus, it’s a lot safer for your muscles, tendons and ligaments to control the weight rather than swing. Going a bit slower helps achieve this control.

‘I’m going at that set tempo because it’s the tempo which allows me to keep the weight under control. I’m not using momentum to try and make it easier,’ Thurston says.

4. Rest as Needed

Research from a recent meta-analysis suggests that rest period of around 1.5 minutes are optimal for hypertrophy, while 3 to 5 minutes between sets is best for greater strength gains. These periods allow your muscles to recover somewhat and attack the next set with force.

But even if it’s optimal, the time shouldn’t be a target. Sometimes, you might just need a little more time to catch your breath – and that’s OK.

‘When it comes to building muscle, you do not want to be rushing through your workouts. You want to rest as much as possible so that you can match or improve upon the previous set’s intensity,’ Thurston argues.

5. Train with Intensity

‘Get fucking nasty,’ Thurston demands. ‘You need to get uncomfortable. You do not grow by staying in your comfort zone.’

It’s as simple as that. Every set needs to mean something, otherwise you’re just working through the motions and just lifting for the sake of moving. Try not to leave many, if any, reps in reserve, and fight your way through each set with strong form as best as you can – that’s where more muscle is built.

6. Use a Full Range of Motion

Lengthened partials and half-reps have their place, but for a pure muscle-building stimulus, using a full range of motion helps elicit the most gains overall. It also ensures proper form, provided you’re using a safe-enough weight.

‘You want to try and stretch the target muscle as much as possible for every single rep and then contract,’ the YouTuber says. ‘You can’t go wrong by having a full range of motion.’

7. Master Techniques

‘Every exercise needs to be executed to absolute perfection,’ Thurston adds. ‘Every time I lift, I’m always thinking to myself, “How can I execute this exercise to my very best ability?” I’m very self-critical. I want to make every single repetition count.’

It’s a great attitude to implement in your own training. Though it takes time to fully achieve technique mastery, striving to achieve it will not only make your workouts more efficient by hitting the intended muscle even better, but also ensures lifts are safer, too.

8. Track Progress – And Have a Plan

We’ve all walked into the gym before not really knowing what we’ve got planned that day. Inevitably, most people settle on hitting some form of upper body exercise, though without knowing what weight to use or why we’re even doing it. It’s an approach massively holding you back – without a plan, this aimlessness is limiting progress.

So, use a programme and track your workouts. You need to know what you’re doing each session, and what weight you should be adding to the bar or rep range to be aiming for. This not only improves progress, but also provides confidence – at times you might not think you’re developing that much, but the data will prove to you that you are.

‘When you come to do that session again, you look back at the weights you did and you’re like, “This is what I did last week. This week I need to improve upon it.” Without a doubt, the amount of progress that I make in terms of growth, strength, and just overall performance is always at its very best when I’m religiously following a programme,’ Thurston says.

9. Eliminate Distractions

Rather than sitting down and scrolling mindlessly on your phone for large potions of the workout, Thurston says you need to ‘get into some sort of a flow state‘. Interacting with others just removes your focus away from the workout you’re doing, and also uses up unnecessary time.

‘Put your phone on Do Not Disturb,’ he says. ‘Nothing’s going to distract you. You can focus on getting the session done.’

10. Breathe Properly

Knowing how to breathe correctly while lifting can help you to eke out a couple more reps without you even realising it. The general rule of thumb is to exhale on the eccentric movement and inhale on the concentric.

‘If you can actually master your breathing, without a doubt, you’ll be able to get a couple more reps in,’ Thurston says. ‘If you’re holding your breath and you’re not feeding your muscles oxygen, they’re going to fatigue quicker. If you can actually master your breathing, without a doubt, you’ll be able to get a couple more reps in, which is the aim of the game, right? You don’t want to fail too early.’

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