I was 25. On a diving boat off the coast of the Philippines. It was my first diving expedition. As we sailed further into the ocean and the island of Boracay sunk into the distance, I thought to myself that life couldn’t be better.
Everything around me was picture perfect – deep blue ocean, jaw-dropping landscape, and a bunch of backpackers I had met a day before while trekking through the rice terraces in the northern Philippines.
Everything was perfect… until I hit my biggest insecurity.
As we anchored at the diving site, everyone started taking their tank tops and T-shirts off to get into the swimsuits. And underneath those tops and T-shirts were the perfect beach bodies: muscular and ripped. In that instance, I almost recoiled, closing myself up, feeling even smaller than I have ever had.
If you are a skinny guy, you know how I felt. You know what I’m talking about.
You might have gone to a beach several times and found yourself gawking at men more than women. Insecure of taking your shirt off, you’ve found yourself wishing that you were more muscular.
Or even more so, every time you look at yourself in the mirror in that S-size T-shirt, you find that the circumference of the sleeves is larger than your arms. You hate how thin your arms look dangling from the rim of the T-shirt.
To be fair, you might have even tried. More than once, maybe.
You might have bought the protein shake, made a gym schedule, and even spent a month or two lifting weights before giving up every time because of lack of progress.
You concluded that your genes are not ideal to get bulky, and it would take you 1-2 years of dedicated effort: 1 hour in the gym, 5 days week. So once you are done with your exams or the all-important work project, you will start again.
How wrong are you?
Well, not entirely. You are 50% right. Your genes are different. You are, what science calls, an Ectomorph. Popularly known as hard-gainers or skinny guys.

But the thought that it will take you 1-2 years of dedicated effort with an hour every day for 5 days a week couldn’t be further from the truth.
If you follow this uncommon workout routine, let’s call it the TDX Workout routine, it will take you 30-Days with just 30-min in the gym, twice a week. And you will gain between 6-7 Kg of Muscle.
If you continue with this TDX Workout routine for 3 months, you will gain around 11-12 Kg. Unreal, right?
I started with a bodyweight of 69 Kg. After 30 Days, I was at 75.3 Kg, and within 3 months, I reached 81 Kg.
And I was able to lift 300+ pounds in Deadlift.
But most importantly, I had to overcome my lifelong insecurity of being shirtless on the beach, so here it is 😉
Disclaimer: The exercises shown in the video are not part of the TDX Workout. They are only there to look cool! (*rolls eyes*)
Before
I spent most of my youth as a skinny guy. Till the age of 25, I weighed a mere 62 Kg (136 Lbs) at 180 cm (5 ft 11).

Not that I was starving myself. Far from it. I ate everything. All the time – including McDonald’s Big Mac meal 15 times a week while in university.
On the other hand, I was fit and sporty as well. Training with half a dozen different sports teams. These trainings included callisthenics and what not.
During the university years, I joined the gym twice, but after a month of banging my head against the machines without any progress, I made the classic excuse of exams and left it, telling myself that I will return more determined. We all know how that works!
But 2 years after graduation, on the diving boat, off the coast of the Philippines, I made the resolution that I would transform myself.
Early Experiments in Bulking Up, resulting in frustration
On my return, I bought a yearly membership of the gym, made the classic workout schedule for 5 days – divided into chest day, back day, legs day, arms day, and shoulder day – and bought 2 canisters of Whey Protein (well, to be honest, there was a 2-for-1 deal going on).
For each of the days, I had 4-5 exercises with 3-5 sets of 10-12 reps each. It used to take about 90 minutes in the gym for each session.
For example, on Chest Day, there were exercises like bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press, fly, and dips.
I was not going to leave any stone unturned… or more like, any muscle unworked.
3 months passed by, and the results were, at best, laughable.
I gained around 3 Kg in 3 months. That’s a mere 1 Kg per month, after putting in 30 hours a month on average.
To be fair, a lot of people think that’s how much you should expect to gain. That is true – but only after you have already reached 90% of your muscle-building capacity, you will experience diminishing returns.
In everything in life, what takes you from zero to 90% is different than what takes you from 90% to 100%.
For instance, learning swimming requires a different set of training, as compared to becoming a world-class swimmer once you’ve learnt swimming.
Similarly, going from being a bad photographer to good photographer requires a different approach than going from being a good photographer to National Geographic level photographer.
I needed disproportionate results in muscle gain. I wanted to achieve 5-10X faster results than the masses.
In the next few months, I did several experiments with different workout routines. I experimented with HST, P90X, and 3-Day workout routine divided between Pull, Push, and Legs.
In each case, I collected data and took weekly measurements.
Different routines produced different results, with HST showing better results than the others.
However, the results were still dismal. After a total of 6 months in my training, I had gained 7 Kg overall, reaching 69 Kg (152 Lbs).

At this stage, I burned out and gave up on the idea of working out altogether. I was disappointed with my uninspiring and very average progress.
After
At the end of 2016, as I was finalizing the idea of starting the 30DayExperiment brand, I stumbled upon the ever-famous quote by Mark Twain, which has brought me back, several times since, out of the grinding mindset.
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority. Pause and reflect.”
I thought to myself that I’ve tried every routine under the sun, but I’ve not really tried to understand the biology of muscle gain and break it down to its first principles.
That’s where the journey started that led to this TDX Workout routine.
Stumbling Upon The First Principles of Muscle Gain
I spent the next several months studying everything I can about the science of muscle building.
From the research papers to books. I even went out and spoke to a dozen fitness trainers. You’d be surprised to know how much conflicting information is out there. Most of it is passed on as conventional wisdom.
It is true that if you stick to any one routine, you will gain a lot of muscle in 2-3 years, and probably even become a professional bodybuilder in 4-5 years.
But that’s not what I was looking for. I was searching for the fastest way to build muscle for an Ectomorph body type.
I was looking for the strategies and principles that will produce disproportionate results.
What I uncovered formed the basis of my transformation.
In simple words, here are the 5 Principles of Building Muscle Fast:
- Focus on Compound Exercises Instead of Isolation Exercises
Compound Exercises are the movements that require multiple joints and muscle groups to perform the action.
For example, a Chest Press is a compound exercise, because it primarily trains the chest, but also involves shoulders and triceps.
A Deadlift is a great example of compound exercise as it utilises the muscles in your entire posterior chain (upper back, lower back, gluteus, hamstrings, and even biceps).
- Number of Sets and Reps Don’t Matter. Reaching Failure Matters.
“The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
Next time you visit the gym, look around you. How many people are actually reaching failure? Probably less than 10% in your gym. More importantly, what is failure?
Failure is when you are unable to carry the weight anymore, and it falls over.
Most people put the weight back in the rack, just before reaching failure, out of the fear that it will fall on them.
Even worse, many people use trainer buddies to assist them during those last few reps. Having a buddy means that you will never hit a failure.
Failure is a stage when your muscle fibres have broken enough that you can’t keep holding the weight, or you can’t lift the weight up once it’s on the rack.
For the fastest muscle growth, you need to hit the failure in each of the compound exercises in each gym session.
I’ve shared the compound exercises and how to perform them below.
- Increase Weights in Each Session. Measure Strength.
Each next workout session should have a higher load than the previous one.
Muscles are anti-fragile, meaning that when you break them, they repair to be stronger than before.
How do you know you are building muscle? By measuring strength increase.
It is very easy to see Before and After pictures, and say to yourself that you’ve come a long way. But when you are in the process of building muscles, you don’t notice the difference much as you are accustomed to looking at your body every day.
The only reliable way to gauge progress is to measure your increase in strength.
If you are able to lift heavier weights in the next session or the next week, then you’ve gained more muscle.
In the 30 Days, I was able to increase my strength by more than 100% in some cases.
Imagine how would your performance change in sports once your strength is doubled, seemingly overnight? I saw my bowling speed (in cricket) or racket speed (in squash) increase almost magically.
- 72 Hours Rest. No Overtraining.
Probably the single most important principle. You need to take at least 3 days gap. By going to the gym every day, you hinder your muscle’s fast growth.
A muscle takes roughly 3 days to repair to be stronger.
And you can test it. If you reach failure in, for example, Chest Press one day, you will not be able to lift the same weight for the similar reps the next day or even the day after.
But 3 days later, you will be able to lift an even heavier weight for Chest Press.
Training every day is great for endurance, and burning fat to get ripped. But you are not in that stage yet. You need to first pack a large amount of muscle, and break your decades-long struggle with being a skinny guy.
An ideal schedule for you could be training just twice a week (Mon & Thurs, or Tues & Fri), for roughly 30 minutes each (only 5 compound exercises to failure).
- Eat Everything but Junk.
We are not going for Dirty Bulking, which loosely defined is 50% fat and 50% muscle.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t eat carbs. You need carbs (rice, dairy, etc.) to replenish Glycogen in your muscles that would be depleted after each workout session.
And you need to eat A LOT.
I ate 5 times a day, roughly 600-700 calories in each meal.
Each meal would be your standard portion with proteins, fats, and carbs.
In fact, the number one differentiator in whether you will be able to increase your strength and lift heavier weights in the next gym session would be your diet.
At least 3000 calories, spread around in minimum of 4 meals is a must. Anything more than this would be even better.
Avoid empty junk calories like fast food or nachos. They are worthless and will only lead to fat gain.
With these 5 Principles, let’s get into the TDX Workout routine that helped me pack 6.3 Kg of Muscle in 30 Days and 12 Kg in 3 Months.
The TDX Workout Routine
This routine is deceptively simple… but not easy. Breaking your muscles to the point of failure twice a week will require high pain tolerance.
In fact, if you don’t leave the gym feeling totally depleted and satisfied, you have not pushed it to the limits.
The Exercises
The 5 compound exercises you are going to do in each session are (in this order preferably):
- Deadlift
- Chest Press
- Leg Press
- Shoulder Press
- Reverse Bicep Curl
The trick here is to use Machines for Chest Press, Shoulder Press, and Leg Press.
This is absolutely critical because you are going to do each exercise to failure. This means that in the last rep, you will not even have the energy to put the weight back in the rack, and it will fall over you.
The machines are designed in a way that the weight doesn’t fall on you (diagrams below).
In order to avoid falling over, people put them back in the rack before reaching failure or use a trainer buddy to assist them. Both these approaches mean you give up a few seconds before the actual failure.
The Protocol
For each of the exercises, you are going to do only 2 sets.
First set with heavy enough weights that you should only be able to do a maximum of 7 reps before getting tired out.
In practice, you will be using the first gym session to test out and form your baseline. Your baseline is the weight you can carry for a maximum of 7 reps.
After the set of 7 reps, take a 1-minute break.
This is important for creatine phosphate to get replenished in your muscles, giving you the strength to lift again.
Then you will increase the weight by 2-5 Kg for all the exercises.
Usually, for the bigger muscles groups, e.g. chest and back, the increments can be of 5 Kg, while for the other 3 exercises, increase the weight by 2-2.5 Kg.
With the heavier weight, you will do only 3 reps, and hold the last of those 3 reps in mid-air until your muscle completely fails, and you are not able to help the weight from falling.
Key here is to do each of the reps in both the sets with zero momentum. Take 4 seconds to go up, and 4 seconds to come down.
You will notice that a lot of beginners in the gym are swinging their arms with momentum, rather than controlling both the upwards and downwards motion precisely.
After each exercise, take 3 minutes rest, before moving on to the next.
When you return after 3 days for your second workout for the week, do all the same exercises, but start with higher weight for each of the exercises.
Here’s my exact 30-Day chart with weights, and body mass measurements.
You will notice that towards the end, for some exercises, I was not able to increase weights in every gym session, and had to do both 7-reps set and a 3-reps set with the same weight.
This is typical. As your muscle size grows, you will start seeing diminishing returns. The law of diminishing returns applies to everything in life.
The growth will be explosive initially and will slow down later.
That is why I gained 6.3 Kg in the first 30 Days (explosive growth period), and a total of 12 Kg in 3 Months (diminishing returns period).
Details of Performing The 5 Exercises
Deadlift
Notice that in the diagram, the Deadlift is starting from the knee height, rather than from the ground. This modification makes sure that the primary muscles being trained in this exercise are the back muscles.
Most often when you are starting out, your leg muscles aren’t developed to lift heavy weights from the ground. Since the barbell is raised off the floor, you can use more weight than you can with the traditional Deadlift.

Performing Deadlift
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Place the barbell on the safety pins of the power rack, or any raised platform. The barbell should be just under the knee height.
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Load the barbell with your starting weight.
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Stand with your legs close to the barbell, and your feet shoulder-width apart.
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Grasp the barbell with an overhand grip, with your hands shoulder-width apart.
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While bent, keep your back straight and look forward.
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Keeping your head looking forward and your back and arms straight, exhale as you lift slowly (taking 4 seconds).
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When lifting, push your hips forward and drag the barbell up the front of your legs until you are fully standing.
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At the top of the lift, squeeze your hips and pull your shoulders back.
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Stay there for 2 seconds.
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Inhale as you slowly (~4 seconds) lower the barbell down the front of your legs to the safety rack in a controlled manner.
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Repeat.
Tips when lifting heavy
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When lifting very heavy, hold your breath as you make the lift. This helps to stabilize your body. Exhale when at the top.
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If your grip starts to fail when lifting heavy, use one hand in overhead grip and the other in an underhand grip.
Chest Press
There are various types of Chest Press machines in the gyms. Choose one (either incline, decline, or straight back) and stick to it for 30 Days.
Note down the height of the seat in your first gym session, and keep it consistent. Make sure that all the variables are constant in every gym session, and you only change the weights.

Performing Chest Press
- Adjust the seat height so that the handles are approximately at chest height.
- Load the machine with your starting weight.
- Sit with your back pressed firmly against the back-rest.
- Grasp the handles with an overhand grip.
- Exhale as you push the handles out, taking 4 seconds, until your arms are fully extended.
- Hold the position for 2 seconds. Make sure not to lock your elbows. Keep a little bit of bend in your arms.
- Inhale as you bring the weight down in a slow and controlled manner (~4 seconds).
- At the lowest position, hold for 1 second without letting the weight touch the rack.
- Repeat.
Tips
- Do not lock your elbows when fully extended.
- Also, don’t let the weight touch the rack when at the lowest position.
- Either of these things will mean that you’ll be taking the pressure off your chest. You want your chest muscles to be supporting the weight for all 7 reps in set 1, and 3 reps in set 2.
Leg Press
For Leg Press, use the machine that has safety bars in your hand grips. This is absolutely critical when reaching failure in the 2nd set.

Performing Leg Press
- Load the Leg Press machine with your starting weight.
- Sit with your back pressed firmly against the back support.
- Place your feet hip-width apart on the platform.
- Release the safety bars.
- Inhale as you bend your legs and lower the platform until your knees are fully flexed.
- Driving with your heels, push the platform back up, in 4 seconds, to the starting position as you exhale.
- Hold the stretched position for 2 seconds, without locking your knees. Keep a slight bend in your legs.
- Inhale as you bend your legs again, lowering the platform in a slow and controlled manner (~4 seconds).
- At the lowest position, hold it for 1 second.
- Repeat.
Tips
- As you lower the platform, do not allow your lower back to curl up. Keep it in firm contact with the support.
- Do not lock your knees at the fully stretched position. That will take the pressure off your leg muscles.
Shoulder Press
There are various types of Shoulder Press machines in the gym. Choose one and stick to it for 30 Days.
Note down the height of the seat in your first gym session, and keep it consistent. Make sure that all the variables are constant in every gym session, and you only change the weights.

Performing Shoulder Press
- Adjust the seat height so that the handles are approximately at shoulder height.
- Load the machine with your starting weight.
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Sit with your back pressed firmly against the back-rest.
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Grasp the handles with an overhand grip. Exhale as you push the handles out, taking 4 seconds, until your arms are fully extended.
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Hold the position for 2 seconds. Make sure not to lock your elbows. Keep a little bit of bend in your arms.
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Inhale as you bring the weight down in a slow and controlled manner (~4 seconds).
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At the lowest position, hold for 1 second without letting the weight touch the rack.
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Repeat.
Tips
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Do not look up. Keep your head facing forward.
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Do not lock your elbows at the fully extended position, or let the weight touch the rack at the lowest position.
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At the top, you can shrug your shoulders to raise the weight even higher. This will get your traps involved as well, and help you to get even more out of this exercise.
Reverse Bicep Curl
During this exercise, you will face the tension in both your forearms and biceps. That’s what makes it the most holistic arms exercise.

Performing Reverse Bicep Curl
- Load the barbell with your starting weight.
- Stand holding the barbell using a shoulder-width overhand grip.
- Exhale as you curl the barbell up, taking 4 seconds, until your forearms reach the highest possible position.
- Hold that position for 2 seconds.
- Inhale as you lower the barbell back to the starting position in a slow and controlled manner (~4 seconds).
- At the lowest position, hold for 1 second. Keep it controlled, instead of letting it dangle freely using your shoulders.
- Repeat.
Tips
- Keep your body still and arms a bit outside (see starting picture above).
- Do not swing the barbell with momentum.
- When starting out, you can use the barbell without any extra weight.
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And that’s it!
Your total time in the gym will be 20% of what most people spend, and your gains will be 80% more than those of average people.
There are a few key strategies that are crucial for this TDX Workout routine to work wonders for you. Especially, these 3 strategies:
- Everyone has opinions when it comes to gaining muscle or losing fat. Your friends, acquaintances, and every other person in the gym will give you advice. And once you go the uncommon route, people will try to berate you with their conventional wisdom. Avoid listening to anyone for 30 Days, and then blow their expectations with your results.
- Collect data and tabulate it in the Progress Table in every gym session. We overestimate our ability to remember. Treat it as an experiment in which all the variables have to be controlled, and all readings have to be noted.
- The idea of this blog is to deconstruct complex skills and routines into their first principles and reassemble them to get disproportionate results. If I’ve promised you 6-7 Kg of Muscle Gain in 30 Days, and you get 3-4 Kg instead, that’s still more than what most people get in 6 fucking months! Over time, you will start getting a grip on the nuances of diet, discipline, hitting failure, and other variables. Keep an open mind, and keep learning.
So what’s it gonna be? Are you going to stay at the level you currently are? Or are you going to transform yourself in 30 Days?
The choice shouldn’t be hard 😉
When you achieve your transformation, do send me your pictures and story at [email protected].
I love hearing awesome stories 🙂