Posts Tagged ‘how to build muscle’

There is much advice floating around both on and offline about how to build muscle fast. As a personal trainer myself here are a few little known facts and secrets that I personally consider worth your while contemplating on your quest to build muscle mass:

I often hear that you should train each muscle group just once a week. Whilst this may produce optimal progress for extreme hardgainers it is not true for most people. Of course you need to avoid overtraining but in life generally you get good at things by doing them  more often not less and this is true to some extent in bodybuilding too. Muscle groups should be hit at least twice a week, no less. Ideally you should rotate your workouts through periods when you are near overtraining and periods where you near undertraining. This provides times of great stress for the body and also times when the body has more time for growth and repair than necessary. This will prevent you from hitting training plateaus.

Ensure that your training sessions don’t exceed 45 minutes. If you think that is not long enough then either your routine is too long or you don’t workout intensely enough. 45 minutes will be plenty if you really focus on intensity and avoid distractions. If your workouts last longer then this then testosterone levels drop dramatically due to the increased production of cortisol which actually causes the body to eat muscle tissue and store fat. exactly the opposite to what we want.

You should cycle your training. after a while a workout loses its ability to stimulate growth as your body has already adapted to it. Vary your routine before your gains start to diminsh. You should also try not to alter your routine too often either. Doing so could confuse your bodies muscles overly so and stop it working its way into a nice groove.

Big gains are unlikely to occur for you if you don’t use the correct exercises. The classic time proven muscle building exercises are the multi-joint exercises otherwise known as compound exercises. The time proven exercises being: bench presses, rows, squats, pull ups, shoulder presses plus any exercise that moves your entire bod through air ie, not just moving individual limbs. If you use these exercises, with a few of their variations and correct muscle building nutrition then you can’t help but stimulate muscle mass growth. With those guidelines in mind, go pump some iron, eat correctly and get huge.

Normally bodybuilding articles talk about how to build muscle, diet, training workouts, muscle building nutrition and so on, however whilst these are all really important there is one things slightly different I would like to introduce to you and your muscle building armoury. It is the reticular activating system (RAV).

The RAV works alongside the visual parts of our brain and directs our attention to certain things that our sub conscious has programmed into it, to be important to achieve our goals. This sub-conscious program that we have is literally what makes us notice and therefore see, hear and take action on the things that we do on a day to day basis.

Neuroscientists have now proven this and as such it proves the vaildity of positive thinking and the law of attraction. If you do not know what the law of attraction is it is basically the premise that ‘what you think about, you bring about’ or ‘thoughts become things’. Now in the past this was thought of as being a bit to new agey for the majority of people however there is an increasing acceptance of this mental approach worldwide.

Now it doesn’t really matter if you take the neuro-scientists approach about it or the new age approach to this as it will still work. Therefore by reprogramming our subconscious mind it is possible to activate our RAV which in turn will ensure that we take the correct steps to achieve our goals as we will simply be recognisiing the most effective way to get there more easily. Some people will come across strange co-incidences that will help there progress which is not uncommon and often gives this ‘law of attraction’ an unearthly feel whereas the truth is those things were probably there waiting to be found all along!

So how is this of any use to a bodybuilder? Well consider now your present thought patterns. In your mind, what exactly are you saying to yourself on a daily basis. Are they thoughts like ‘losing weight is too difficult’ or ‘I never grow muscle fast’ for if they are then that is exactly what your RAV system is choosing for you to notice and act upon on a daily basis. It is therefore your sub conscious thought patterns that you need to change to positive muscle building patterns such as: ‘muscle gains come quickly and easily’ or ‘I am getting ripped fast’ and so on.

How can you alter these patterns? Here are a couple of things to try:

1)       Visualisation: first you need to set aside 5 minutes or so each day to do this. Very simply find a quiet spot and close your eyes and paint a realistic and crystal clear picture of precisely how you desire your physique to be. Large biceps, huge chest muscle, massive quads and such like, ensure that you can see as vividly as possible this vision and keep it in your mind with a sense of strong self belief.’

2)       Speak out aloud clearly and confidently simple statements like: I am extremely fit and healthy, I am huge and muscular, I am growing more and more each day and so on.

Go through these everyday. For most people just 21-30 days is all that is required to over ride the old thought patterns and to start operating on the new ones. Following that, keep doing them in order to continually reaffirm your new thought patterns.

If you don’t believe that this stuff works then I suggest that you take a look at a few sportsmens autobiographies or sports studies books, I gaurantee that you will find these processes talked about in depth, particularly visualisation which is an amazingly productive technique that should get daily usage!

Ok with these positive thoughts and feelings in mind, go build muscle mass!

As we are all aware a good muscle building diet is critical to build muscle mass. The timing of your meals is also important. Two hours before your workout is when I advise you to eat your meal.This should provide plentyof time to so that you don’t start your workout when you are bloated or still feeling full and sluggish.

Ideally this preworkout meal should be something that you are used to and that you know won’t make you feel heavy and bloated as you want to be at your best to give your all in the gym. You should try to include some slow burning energy such as oatmeal but make sure that you have some protein first. If you don’t eat protein first then you are putting yourself at risk of becoming tired. This happens because both the protein and carbohydrate cause the body to release certain chemicals that affect the brain. Protein stimulates the release of tyrosine which signals your brain to be alert and energetic as opposed to the carbohydrate which stimulates the release of tryptophan and instructs the brain to make you feel tired. Therefore always consume the carbohydrate last.

If you really want to know how to build muscle fast then great advice is to drink a protein and carbohydrate shake about half an hour before you workout. This will give you a good boost of ebergy for your session. Ingredients ought to include whey protein, maltodextrin, wxymaize or dextrose. Try to aim for 25 grams of protein and around 40 grams of carbohydrate. Doing this will increase your bodies insulin levels which is one of the bodies strongest muscle building hormones. Furthermore it will also stifle the amount of cortisol that is made by your body which has a very bad impact on muscle building.

Remember that you aren’t going to breaking any personal bests in the gym if you are feeling tired and hungry when you start your workout. Always try to have fruit or meal replacement powders or bars handy should you not have time for a proper pre-workout meal.

Try and wean yourself off the coffee with green tea which has many more health benefits whilst also providing some caffeine. One more thing, don’t forget to keep taking on board the water all day. Ok bear those things in mind and you’ll be hitting the gym in peak mode for an awesome muscle stimulating workout which you will be able to grow from because you will have had the correct muscle building nutrition.

Everyone knows to build muscle mass one of the best exercises for the upper body is the bench press. One of the first questions you are likely to be asked by another bodybuilder is ‘how much can you bench press?’. Of course i is probably not the best measurement of total all round body strength it does naturally have a very macho feel to it and of course is very impressive. So lets cut to the chase and find out how to build muscle fast and get a bigger bench press:

Grow your triceps. As much as two thirds of the complete muscle mass on your arms is made up of the tricep muscle. it is more than possible that under developed tris are stopping your bench press from increasing. The best exercises to build muscle mass on your triceps are using barbells and dumbells: close grip bench-presses and skull crushers. Isolation exercises like tricep press-downs are less effective. They will definetely help add weit to your bench press.

Why not try training your triceps individually by themselves. Usually bodybuilding programs recommend that you train the chest in the same session as the triceps. Try training them on their own for a change. Doing this means that you can train them very inensely and trigger muscle growth in the process. Do this for a number of weeks and see how much more poundage you can press.

Variety. have you been following the same routine for a number of weeks or months? time to change it up then. Your muscle won’. Keep changing things, they can be subtle changes like altering the grip width or reversing the order of your routine or they can be larger changes like doing super sets, compound sets and so on, these will give you a real pump by the way.

Make sure you are not doing too much! While with most things in life more is better, in muscle building this is not quite true. Overtraining your chest muscles means it takes longer for them to recover and develop. Always focus on technique and intensity above quantity. A short intense workout is much more effective than a long drawn out one.

Quality rest. Your muscles are not going to grow in the gym! They grow when they are at rest. If you don’t allow enough time to rest then you simply won’t grow. Of course, never train when your muscles are sore and a good guideline is only do 6-9 sets each session for the chest, more than this risks over training.

Take some time-off. if you have hit a chest muscle mass building plateau then have a break. let your body fully recover, get rid of all the niggles aches and pains and then comeback fresh a week or two later with renewed energy and motivation.

Use negatives as a form of pushing your chest muscle harder during a bench press workout. Negatives are when you get the help from two spotters to intially aid you to press the weight upwards but who then let you take the full weight and lower it by yourself under control. This is done because people are able to lower more than they can lift. Therefore if we can get the body lowering more weight it is probable that this will aid us for the effort phase also. The lowering/negative phase also stimulates more muscle growth than the effort phase.

Do a diet review. Are you consuming around 6 meals a day with at least 1 gram of protein for each pound of bodyweight that you have? If you are not then it may well be the case that you are limiting your gains by not following a muscle building diet strictly enough. In each meal try to get the proportions of them to be 50% carbohydrate, 30% protein and the rest can be made up of fats. Use supplements if you can such as whey protein, essential fatty acids and multi-vitamins.

Focus on your technique. Are you pressing correctly. Poor technique can shift the focus away from the chest muscles and can also put you at increased risk of injury. Check that you are not constantly moving your feet up off the floor and that your grip is not too narrow or too broad, these are two mistakes that are easy to make.

By following the guidelines above you will be giving yourself the best chance to build muscle mass on your chest fast. Go do it!

In this in-depth Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle review, we will take a look at whether or not this type of program truly works and what it can do for you and your weight loss goals. The biggest hindrance of learning how to build muscle mass is trying to rid the body of unwanted fat. Te process of burning fat and feeding your muscle tissue at the same time takes hard work and dedication as well as stamina on your part. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is certainly not for the faint of heart, it is packed full of information about the kinds of foods you should eat, the types of exercises you should be doing and, most importantly, muscle building.

Impressivley enough, the main essence of the Burn the fat feed the muscle program is to do as it is called- help you burn your fat tissue. This is all done while you keep youe muscle tissue. As you read through this Burn the fat feed the muscle review, you will noticve that many people claim to have a big drop in their weight at the beginnig of the program, this is due to losing water as well as some fat and lean muscle tissue. The goal of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is to ultimately reduce the amount of lean tissue that’s lost and produce real, recognizable fat loss.

Everyone can benefit from the Burn the fat feed the muscle program, as it is designes for everyone from huge weigtlifters to stay at home moms and teenagers. As you’ll learn in this Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle review, this program is designed to educate and provide a lifetime of knowledge to its readers. You will learn about successful eating habits, the best elements to get and stay healthy as well as helpful information about the how and why of fat loss.

This program is not a diet, you will not be restricted to the kinds of foods you can and cannot eat, and you won’t be reduced to eating only protein. Instead, as you can see from this Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle review, this program give you the knowledge you need to make informed, educated decisions about the kinds of food you eat. The overall best aspect of this program is the chapter on goal setting.If You are trying pills, potions or any other gimmics to try and lose weight you are weisting your time on thhings that never work. If you’re committed to being in the best shape you can be then this program is what you’ve been looking for.

‘Why am I not getting bigger?’ is one of the most common question from bodybuilders around the world. After all you are training hard, with good muscle building nutrition in your diet, yet your gains are still minimal. Your motivation can be dramatically reduced by the sense of frustration after months of effort. So, what precisely is the answer? Well, there are a few likely causes, see if any of these ring a bell with you, together they show you how to build muscle:

1) Are you eating lots? Under eaters could be the real name for many hardgainers. As this really is a massive cause of lack of muscle mass. The key to building muscle mass is frequent high calorie meals! Consuming food every two hours is a very useful guideline that will help you intake the required amount of calories. Make sure you snack lots on food such as: dried fruit and nuts, yoghurt, cottage cheese,  cereal and milk, protein bars, fresh fruit, and protein shakes, etc

2) Are you getting enough protein? To build muscle mass fast you should aim for 1.Each day you should get per pound of body weight 5 grams of protein. Superb source of protein for muscle building are: chicken, fish, turkey as well as dairy products. As you want to bulk up do not by the low fat variety for every product you need the excess calories. Sure you need quality calories but make your life easier and eat everything, remember you can go through a cutting up stage in a few months time. making use of whey protein shakes is an excellent way to increase your protein intake, the larger tubs of course are normally better value of money.

3) Has your workout become unstimulating? If you can reel off your routine from the top of your head then that probably means you have been doing the same for thing for quite a while now. If you do not stimulate your muscle in a variety of ways then it will stop growing. What about really mixing things up with aided lifts, negatives, partials, super sets and so on. You could try 10 sets of 10 reps for any major exercise like squats, simply reverse your workout order, do more supersets (get ready to be sore!) how about taking a week off from your session to allow your body to completely recover. There are endless variations that are possible make sure you use them.

4) Are you getting enough down time? Have you ever witnessed someone go to the gym and then come out with more muscle than when they entered? Never. Obviously, your muscles grow when you are at home resting, not when you are pounding iron in the gym. If you are not resting lots then you are limiting the amount of time available for the muscle to grow. If anything you should be giving yourself too much time to grow as opposed to too little. Try limiting your workouts to one muscle group per week. Also reducing the number of sets per body part, how about a maximum of 3-5 really intense sets per body part per workout. Why not try them yourself, you might be pleasantly suprised by your progress!

5) Are you consuming enough water? If you don’t drink plenty of water then your progress won’t be as fast it should be. In order to grow, your muscles need copious amounts of water. Carry a bottle with you in the car and never stop drinking from it.

So the question we began with: “Why am I not growing quicker?’as you now know has potentially many answers. Answer the list of question in this article and if you need to adjust something then start doing it today. If you are not meeting just one of the above points then you may well have found the reason for your limited growth. If there are more than one of these points that your bodybuilding lifestyle does not meet then urgent change is required. Of course there may well be other reasons why you might aren’t growing but they are are the usual suspects. Now hit the gym and go get massive!