Every single day as a Personal Trainer I am asked how to build muscle by guys looking to pack on some additional size. Some have struggled for years, others are just starting out. Either way, this is an issue which has the vast majority of gym users confused.
Now we're going to end this nonsense and nail down the basic, proven rules.
Firstly we need to establish your goal. Believe it or not, this is the area where men first lose their way. Whereas women are forthcoming in their desire to lose body fat, men tend to want the best of both worlds. How many times have we heard that somebody wishes to lose fat but also get bigger and stronger? Too many.
The fact is this goal makes it harder for you to succeed. If you're not used to training you may find that you get the best of both worlds for the first month or so but after your body adapts to your new training lifestyle those results slow down. You need to make a choice.
To put it simply, you either want to lose fat or you want to grow. It's one way or the other. To grow you need to consume more calories per day than you currently do, whereas to lose fat you need to consume less than you do now. So it makes sense that you cannot realistically do both at the same time.
Most people try to fit a workout in after a hard day at our jobs or when our family life permits us a break, so we are not able to construct a complex workout routine or the nutritional plan of a top athlete, therefore we need to decide what we want to do and stick with it.
Once you have simply decided what you want to achieve, you can begin dieting for that specific goal and then we're ready to begin looking at your actual workout routine. We'll cover the following aspects here:
* What type of exercises should you do?
* How many days per week should you use the gym?
* What reps should you do?
When it comes to strength and size there is one type of resistance exercise which stands above all others by a long, long way. We're talking, of course, about compound exercises. That's right, the basic exercises such as bench press and squat still reign supreme when it comes to muscle mass. Don't waste time isolating the lower half of your forearm, focus your time on big exercises.
Another common mistake is to train too often. When you're trying to build there is a great need for rest. Training no more than four days per week is best, and you should also be splitting each day to hit a different muscle group than the one before. You may wish to train every day once you begin enjoying the buzz from working out, but this leads nowhere. Rest days are in fact growth days.
When it comes to repetitions, this easy-to-follow system will keep you on the right track for building lean mass and keep you progressing at a good, constant pace. Your target zone is 8-12 reps. This is the fundamental training zone for growth. Start with a weight you can push out eight repetitions with and as your strength increases you'll notice you can get more reps out over the coming training sessions. Once you can push out more than twelve, increase the weight and return to eight reps. This progressive stance will keep you from reaching any kind of plateau.
The world of fitness is an often over complicated one. If you ask five trainers for tips on how to build muscle you will probably get five different answers. The tips above will help you to get down the basics!
Now we're going to end this nonsense and nail down the basic, proven rules.
Firstly we need to establish your goal. Believe it or not, this is the area where men first lose their way. Whereas women are forthcoming in their desire to lose body fat, men tend to want the best of both worlds. How many times have we heard that somebody wishes to lose fat but also get bigger and stronger? Too many.
The fact is this goal makes it harder for you to succeed. If you're not used to training you may find that you get the best of both worlds for the first month or so but after your body adapts to your new training lifestyle those results slow down. You need to make a choice.
To put it simply, you either want to lose fat or you want to grow. It's one way or the other. To grow you need to consume more calories per day than you currently do, whereas to lose fat you need to consume less than you do now. So it makes sense that you cannot realistically do both at the same time.
Most people try to fit a workout in after a hard day at our jobs or when our family life permits us a break, so we are not able to construct a complex workout routine or the nutritional plan of a top athlete, therefore we need to decide what we want to do and stick with it.
Once you have simply decided what you want to achieve, you can begin dieting for that specific goal and then we're ready to begin looking at your actual workout routine. We'll cover the following aspects here:
* What type of exercises should you do?
* How many days per week should you use the gym?
* What reps should you do?
When it comes to strength and size there is one type of resistance exercise which stands above all others by a long, long way. We're talking, of course, about compound exercises. That's right, the basic exercises such as bench press and squat still reign supreme when it comes to muscle mass. Don't waste time isolating the lower half of your forearm, focus your time on big exercises.
Another common mistake is to train too often. When you're trying to build there is a great need for rest. Training no more than four days per week is best, and you should also be splitting each day to hit a different muscle group than the one before. You may wish to train every day once you begin enjoying the buzz from working out, but this leads nowhere. Rest days are in fact growth days.
When it comes to repetitions, this easy-to-follow system will keep you on the right track for building lean mass and keep you progressing at a good, constant pace. Your target zone is 8-12 reps. This is the fundamental training zone for growth. Start with a weight you can push out eight repetitions with and as your strength increases you'll notice you can get more reps out over the coming training sessions. Once you can push out more than twelve, increase the weight and return to eight reps. This progressive stance will keep you from reaching any kind of plateau.
The world of fitness is an often over complicated one. If you ask five trainers for tips on how to build muscle you will probably get five different answers. The tips above will help you to get down the basics!
About the Author:
Writer: Russ Howe PTI is a trusted fitness coach. Learn how to build muscle with our new video guide giving the 5 steps to a more muscular body and the best shoulder building exercises.
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