Posts Tagged ‘muscle gain’
Bodybuilding Tips, How To Gain Muscle And Avoid The Fat
For most of the bodybuilding population, the eventual goal is nothing less than a strong, muscular physique with impressive, razor-sharp definition.
You want to be huge, and you want to be shredded as well. Because of the strong desire for this “ideal body”, most people eagerly dive into their programs headfirst. Everyone is motivated to bulk up, but at the same time are afraid of putting on excess body fat.
If you want to add a significant amount of muscle to your frame over as short a period of time as you can, you will always end up gaining some extra body fat along with it.
This is just one of the realities of the bodybuilding process. If you’re truly committed to bulking up, there’s no other way around it: It’s a fact you’ll have to accept.
The reason for this is because in order to gain muscle mass, you have to consume a surplus of calories to support the necessary protein synthesis. The difficulty is that there’s no way to ensure that 100% of all these extra calories go towards muscle growth. Some of it will inevitably end up as stored body fat.
As all bodybuilders know, in order to make dramatically change your appearance in the quickest amount of time, the most effective way to do so is to focus on gaining size. For a set period of time, gaining size will be your goal. Only then can your priority shift to focus on losing body fat.
You never want to lose body fat during the bulking phase. You simply want to gain as little as possible.
This can be accomplished in 3 main ways:
1) Use a precise caloric surplus. A caloric surplus is required to fuel muscle growth, but haphazardly cramming more food down your throat beyond what is necessary to build muscle tissue will simply cause you to gain more fat.
Generally speaking, the caloric surplus necessary for supporting muscle growth is approximately 15-20% more calories than you’d eat to maintain your current weight. If you’re already at that level of consumption, you don’t need to go any higher.
2) Pay attention to your food choices. The vast majority of your food intake should be coming from lean, high quality proteins, natural/high fiber carbohydrates and healthy/unsaturated fats.
Instead of thoughtlessly eating every food item at hand, be sure that you’re primarily keeping to lean protein sources. It’s also important to keep your blood sugar levels stable by choosing the right kinds of carbohydrates and avoiding large amounts of saturated fats.
3) Implement cardio sessions. While you don’t have to push yourself too hard, having a few cardio sessions during the week is a good way to minimize fat gains during a bulking cycle.
Stick to exercises of 10-20 minutes of high intensity, as they have less likelihood of muscle loss compared to the longer forms.
Once you’ve gained an amount of muscle size that you’re happy with (and this is totally up to the individual), you can then shift into a fat loss cycle and focus on stripping off body fat while maintaining muscle size.
However, just keep in mind that while bulking up, gaining some body fat is inevitable and the trick is simply to minimize it rather than totally avoid it.
Stop wasting your time, effort and money on B.S. “Miracle Programs” that don’t deliver results! Learn the honest truth revealed by a genuine Body Building expert and finally start noticing the gains you want. Visit us if you want to read more Fitness Articles
Steroids Used For Muscle Gain Can Be Dangerous
Steroids are somewhat considered as synthetic derivatives found in male sex hormones which are known to man as testosterone and are usually taken in order to improve the size and strength of muscles. Though some may not admit it but there are a lot of bodybuilders and also known personalities that uses steroids in order to get muscle gain. Testosterones are the ones which are responsible muscle and tissue growth for the males. Steroids are the ones that boost the building process of muscles by enhancing the number of testosterone in the body.
Steroids also affect the growth of organs for reproductive in order to enlarge the penile length and prevent the development of facial and pubic hair. Some people would opt to using steroids because of the rate or degree of faster mass increase and fat loss. Despite that, steroids are also believed to cause several effects which contribute problems to the body which is usually the reason why it is incorporated in bodybuilding phases. Psychological and physical damage can be the effects of steroids in the body and this reason overshadows the need for superficial disadvantages.
Steroids are also used in health-care facilities to reduce the effects of any inflammatory process going inside the body. It can also cause some symptoms of certain diseases to be diminished. Inhalers made from steroids decreases deaths due to asthma and other respiratory obstruction; injections of steroids can be useful in treating pains from ligaments and joints. As a matter of fact steroid is considered as an anti-inflammatory drug as they are also also responsible for making the body’s immune system less active.
Effects of abused steroid use can result to the following side effects:
• Increased blood pressure
• Reduce the level of high density lipoprotein which is considered as good fats
• Obliteration of the liver
• Testicle contraction in males
• Uterus and breast contraction in females
• Impotency and infertility in both females and males
• Mood swings that are irrepressible which includes belligerence and irritability
No matter how you see it, steroid use should be avoided because of the possible adverse effects that it might contribute to your body in the long run. The effect is irreparable. It is more advisable that you be included in an exercise program that is steadily healthy, educated, and gives the chance for the person to improve muscle growth in the most natural way.
After mentioning these side effects, do you still want to do it the hard way or the easy way out which can be pretty life threatening. Some of the other side effects due to muscle gaining that can be acquired through the use of steroids are:
• Anaphylactic shock
• Unusual bleeding or hemorrhage
• Unpleasant breath odor
• Headaches that are persistent
• Cholesterol levels which are fluctuating
• Fetal damage (if pregnant)
• Regurgitation with blood
• Diarrhea
• Morbid fluid accumulation or edema
• Low calcium levels or excessive calcium levels
• Injuries that are delayed
• Impotence
• Irregularity in menstrual periods
• Jaundice
• Breast swelling or soreness that may eventually lead to breast cancer
• Atrophy of the testicles
• Injuries of the ligaments
• Stones in gallbladder
• Nausea plus vomiting
• Blood poisoning or septic shock
• Abnormal urinary retention or excretion
• Painful reproductive organs (male)
• Insomnia
• Sex related problems
Discover Three Ways For Gaining Muscle
Apart from what others would say, there are only three important things that you have to know in order to gain muscle fast. But first, you have to have a lot of discipline sliding through your veins in order to start a program that will benefit your well-being. You should have proper nutrition and diet, an exercise or training program, and lots of rest. Easy, right? So, just pay attention and you’ll be all set to enjoy muscles in a jiffy.
Know your nutritional status
Body building is more on adhering to the proper diet. Training those abs and muscles would only be secondary. No kidding. Proper promotion of nutrition and diet can greatly help and not put your dreams of gaining the mass that you need in jeopardy. Unless you set the proper eating habit, your program will never work.
If you’re stuck with the conventional habit of eating, then change it. It is said that instead of eating meals in large amounts, you can do it by small frequent meals. You can eat 3 to 4 times a day but in small amounts.
Furthermore, you would want to keep head track on the things that you eat. You can do this for a week. Tracking will keep you update with what you are putting inside your system. You will soon figure out the calories, proteins, fats, etc. Eventually, you will know what to increase or decrease in your diet. After you have figured out what your diet should be, you have to enroll in a rigid training program that offers less time for more muscles.
Enroll in a muscle fitness program
A muscle fitness program will be helpful for you to increase the chances of getting those muscles more efficiently and effectively. Don’t settle with the things that you would want to do inside the gym because that would be insufficient. There are numerous programs which are specifically designed for you to loose or gain your weight.
Once you have chosen the muscle fitness program, you have to discipline yourself on being consistent. You should follow the schedule that was given to you by your gym instructor. The usual work out schedule would only consist of 3 or 4 days every week. Unless you are not part of any advanced program, you have no any reason to be irregular with your exercises.
Always stick to the plan. Never let a day pass without working out. One more thing, you have to avoid exercises which will isolate you. You have to stick to the tried and tested, basic compounds of exercises and movements.
Rest
After a tiring day at the gym, it’s time to give your muscles some rest. They require it badly. Fact is, muscle growth happens after gym which is during rest periods. When you weight lifts, you muscles tend to extend and fibers are torn apart. The process of repair is the reason why your muscles become stronger and bigger.
You can rest your muscles by simply sleeping. You should have at least 6 to 7 hours of sleep. This will do you more than extending hours inside the gym. After sleep, you’ll realize that you are more energized and alert and you’ll find your self satisfied with the results.
Do not stick to the thoughts that muscle gain is one heck of a hassle because it’s not. You should not result to complicating things in terms of gaining muscles. You should have all three in order to speed up the formation of your dream muscles.
Free Weights Exercises Vs. Machines Exercises
A lot of people debate about which one is effective when it comes to exercising and producing muscles. They some time debate on this point that whether machines are more effective or free weights. Basically, free weights and barbells are classified as free weights. On the other hand exercises that have pulleys or cables to help you lift the weight are machines.
In order to gain muscles, you need to focus more on free weight exercises. For all machine enthusiasts out there, you might rethink about which one is more effective. Free weights are really more effective in promoting the growth of the muscles. Although the exercises here are much more difficult to execute because nothing is actually assisting you to employ the correct execution, this fact alone is why free weight exercise is much more effective.
Free weight exercises are able to stimulate most of the muscle fibers as possible. It is impossible to do with the help of a machine. Why?
Basically, machines lack in promoting stabilizers and synergistic muscle development. Basically, these two muscles are what support the main muscles when you are performing a complex lift. For example, if you need to do bench presses, you need to be able to make use of the stabilizers and the synergistic muscles in order for you to achieve lift. Plus, you require a lot of it. If you bench press using a machine, it will not really need any assistance from the stabilizers as the machine itself is already supporting your main muscles.
Machines basically fail to stimulate the muscles around the area you are working on, which are the stabilizers. You need to remember that in order for your main muscles to grow, the stabilizers should be strong. And, the only way to do this is by doing as much free weight exercises as you can.
Free weight exercises, such as squats, dumbbell presses, dumbbell fly, bench presses, bent over dumbbell row, and others put a lot of stress in the supporting muscle groups, which is why you get tired really fast doing free weight exercises. However, even if you do get tired really fast, you will gain more muscles and you will become a lot stronger at a very fast rate.
You can include machine exercises in your program but you need to do it after you execute all the free weight exercises. This way, you will be able to take advantage of the strength you have on free weight exercises and not deplete it on machine exercises.
If you are a beginner, concentrate on lighter weights. Your primary goal is not muscle gain yet. You first need to properly execute the free weight exercises you have in your program in order for you to move on to heavier weights.
Concentrate on strengthening the supporting muscles first and when it is able to support the weight you are lifting and that you are able to execute the free weight exercises properly, then it’s time for you to concentrate on the primary muscles.
Also, in order to build muscle mass, you need to lift heavier weights. What heavy means is that weights that are challenging for you and weights that you will be able to lift with 8 to 12 repetitions for 3 sets. If you can do more than 15 repetitions before temporary failure sets in, then it will be considered as light weight.
Remember these tips and you can be sure that you will be able to gain muscles fast. Always remember that one of the keys to muscle gain is to strengthen the supporting muscles. And, only doing free weight exercises will be able to do this efficiently.
Important Tips For Promoting Muscle Growth
A body building workout program should be tailored to your body type in order to get positive results. You have to remember that your body is different from other people. You have different metabolism rate and you also have a different body structure that will require a different body building program. If your friend has a great body building program, don’t expect that the same program will work for you.
One mistake that most people make when it comes to body building is that they stick to a program that doesn’t work at all. Besides, if you see that your body building program is not working, why should you stick to it at all? Why should you keep on doing it? It’s a complete waste of time and energy.
Try to give a work out program a week or two. This way, you will be able to see if there are any improvements or not. Do not use the same work out program for three months if you don’t see any positive results right after two weeks of using the program.
Here are some tips that will be able to maximize efficiency when you work out and also maximize your body building exercises.
First of all, you need to remember that half reps will not cut it. Do only full reps even if it is strenuous. However, you have to avoid over-training at the same time. Always remember that in body building, resting is very important. Try to rest for at least a day between workout sessions. By this, you will able to give rest to your muscles that it needs in order to grow.
You also need to keep in mind that when you go on a body building exercise, you are deliberately injuring your muscles. What you are actually doing is injuring your muscles in order for it to grow. When you injure your muscles through body building, you are letting the body adjust to your activities and let it grow stronger and bigger muscle tissues. This is what actually happens when you go body building.
If you are overweight or you are fat, then you have to remember that the best way to reduce fat is by adding cardiovascular exercises in your body building program. Cardiovascular exercises burn calories and fat as it is an aerobic exercise. Weight lifting is considered to be anaerobic exercises which mean that it burns sugar.
The correct execution of the exercises is also very important in promoting muscle growth. A lot of people make a mistake of doing each exercise too fast. Some just allows the weight to drop. This is not correct. Going slow on each repetition is actually more beneficial as you are concentrating. For example, if you are doing the exercise standing barbell curls, do not do it very fast. In its place, lift the barbell up till the time your biceps are fully contracted and slowly lower it down to the initial position. The lowering motion actually is more effective than the curling motion or the lifting motion in promoting muscle growth.
With slow, smooth, and controlled motion, you will concentrate on the muscles more which means that it is more effective in promoting muscle growth.
These are just some of the many ways on how you can gain muscle at a fast rate. Always remember that with the proper diet, proper execution of the exercises, and the right amount of rest, you will be able to get the results you want fast.
Muscle Gain Benefits For Women
Women who are into fit slim and anorexic bodies won’t even consider looking at the sides of healthy exercise. Again, muscle gain is not only meant for those who wanted to have muscles but also for those who wanted to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Living is not just eating right and achieving the right sleep hours. You have to make your body work in order to get firmer and increase your body’s circulating status.
Nowadays, there are a lot of women who go into body building to achieve a body that is familiar among the masses. Besides, bodybuilding can contribute to a more positive energy. It gives out negative aspects of work and stresses and changes it with a rejuvenating feeling.
Really, there are no bad effects if you tighten up those muscles every once in a while. Generally, people wanted to exert muscle growth in order to gain, lose and increase. What are the different reasons why women wanted to get into bodybuilding?
Reason # 1 – Burn unnecessary fats
For women who weigh more than their expected size, bodybuilding is a way to decrease the fats inside their body. This will decrease their chances of getting diseases and disorders like liver problems and heart problems which is the end result of being fat or eating unhealthy. Some women who are successful in burning fats tend to produce muscles that are also prevalent in men. And because men has an increased level of testosterone, it is expected that they would have the greater bulk of muscles compared to women.Women, are toned easier, on the other hand.
Reason # 2 – Competition purposes
For women who are into bodybuilding, one of the major reasons why they wanted to gain muscles is to join in bodybuilding competitions. By winning in competitions like these, women challenged and at the same time satisfied with themselves. For athletes, being skinny is not an option because it is only applicable to models that need to maintain flesh and bones just to stay in the business.
In order to understand your goals, you have to set them up. In case if you have the will to go for competitions, you have to make plans that are suitable in achieving your target. Your goal is to bulk up which means that you have to go into careful sculpturing of your body. Your diet must be at a limit and calories should be maximized in order to give your body additional energy for muscles to grow.
Bodybuilding has become popular to women because of the personal benefits that they expect to gain. Weight lifting has also become popular. In order to be fit in all aspects, one much first practice exercising parts so that it won’t strain the body. Soon, you will notice how your body can adapt to the exercises and you can also add up to the minimal exercise.
After you have gained the body according to your desire, all you have to do is to maintain it properly. It is also important that one introduces different exercises in order to let your body experience other exercises and let your body tone even more. By this benefits, there are lots of women getting into building muscle and some even promote the trend in order to continue muscle growth and strengthening.