I've been lifting weights for 8 years.

If I was starting over again, here's 7 things I'd do differently to gain as much muscle in half the time.

1. Track reps & weights.

For the first couple of years, I never tracked what I was lifting.

At the start you can just walk into the gym and put another 5-10 lbs on the bar every time.

You "learn" that you're stronger every time you set foot in the gym.

Eventually this stops.

You keep trying to lift more, but you find you can no longer make progress.

What you need now is to make smaller jumps.

You need to use fractional plates to make loads like 117.5 & add reps week to week.

You must track this or you'll forget what you need to do.

2. Do less volume.

The gym doesn't make you stronger, it creates a stimulus to get stronger.

Key difference.

You're breaking your muscles down in the gym with each hard set.

There's a point where more muscle damage doesn't help you & you'll struggle to be stronger next time.

Most people will see great results with 10 hard sets per muscle group per week, and exceeding this doesn't help.

More advanced and genetically gifted individuals may do better on more, but this is not most people.

In fact, many people will progress fine on less than this.