Bodybuilding Workout

Posts Tagged ‘build muscle mass’

So, what’s your maximum bench press? It is one of the most frequently asked questions around the country by gym enthusiasts. In fact the amount you can bench is a great yardstick for over all strength and is probably the best way to gain muscle mass on your upper body and therefore the exercise has reached almost mythical status. So in this article we will provide you with three tips for developing your bench press.

1) Make use of drop sets. These are fantastic in giving you a real burn and really forcing your muscles into new muscle growth. To do these quite simply do your bench-press exercise as normal but once you can no longer do anymore reps simply take off a weight disc and bang out as many more reps as you possibly can. Then reduce the weight once more and pump out as many more as you possibly can. Keep reducing the weight on the bar in this style until their is no weight left on the bar or until you cannot complete any more repetitions. This technique will leave you rather sore for quite a few more days than normal as it is very intense. Keep your protein intake at a high level to ensure your muscle grow back stronger as soon as possible and to get rid of the muscle soreness.

2) Stop training your chest. Instead train your triceps on their own. By doing as suggested you can indeed really focus on increasing the strength of your triceps. Once you have done this for 3-4 weeks go back to your benchpress and I can you will more than likely beat your previous best. This is due to the fact that your chest will have had a really good rest period to completely recover from all of your previous workouts and also your triceps will now possess greater strength. Because you triceps take a great deal of the work load during benchpressing it is obvious that you will be able to press more if you strengthen your tricep muscles.

3) 10 sets of 10 reps. This is another really hard core technique, indeed Arnold Schwarzenegger was a fan of this. Basically you benchpress as much weight as you can handle for ten reps and then complete another ten repetitions. Proceed once more until you have finally completed ten sets of ten repetitions each. You ought to be lowering the weight gradually from one set to the next and you’ll probably be needing two to three minute breaks in between sets. The reason for doing this is to try and give your pecs some new varied stimulus to trigger muscle growth. Once more expect to be particularly sore for maybe a week or so following this workout but also expect increase your maximum bench-press on your return to the gym. This is perhaps the fastest way to gain muscle on your chest if done correctly.

OK, I hope you found that useful so why not go ahead and give those tips a try in your next pecs workout.

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Depending on where you look there is a lot of great information out there on how to build muscle up. However what follows are a number of tips that can really aid you in terms of stacking on muscle mass. Here they are:

Try drinking green tea. This can inhibit the enzyme that inhibits nor-epinephrine which mean that you should experience raised levels of this muscle building metabolic hormone which can also aid in weight loss. what’s more it is also stacked full with anti oxidants that can aid a great deal with post workout recovery and general health.

Eat healthy fats. These are crucial for correct working of many parts of the human body for example the heart, brain, production of energy and the regulation of hormones too. Oily fish, natural peanut butter, avocado and oily dressings are all excellent sources of this.

Consume casein protein. This specific protein is digested by the body very slowly and is therefore released in to the body gradually. This is excellent if you eat it before going to sleep as your body can make use of it throughout the night for growth and repair.

Consume 20 grams or more of whey protein immediately upon rising. As soon as you arise drink a whey protein shake. This will put a stop to the catabolic state of your body that you may have been experiencing whilst you were asleep and also give you a solid start on achieving your protein intake target for the day.

Try making use of dropsets on body parts that you struggle to grow. This technique is very intense and can be used to stimulate growth effectively in any weaker areas that you struggle to grow. Firstly, complete your set as you would normally and when you have pushed out your final rep lower the weight by around 20 percent and perform more reps, then decrease the weight once again and do more reps. Continue this as long as you can it will give you an extreme burn and in all likelihood leave you particularly sore the next day.

Ingest lots of water. Do not underestimate the benefits of reaming well hydrated during the day. water is of upmost importance to all muscle building reactions in the body and that includes reactions for muscle growth.

Keep learning and educate yourself. There a great variety of alternative strategies to develop your physique. try different things see what works for you and what doesn’t and take the best.

So, by applying some of the above weight gain tips you should be able to build up muscle even faster than before. Good luck.

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Spending hours in the gym to build muscle up and not making progress? Great news! There is a good chance that you are not making incredible gains for just one simple reason. Just this simple knowledge can help increase your power to build muscle up. For most begiiner bodybuilders and some intermediate trainers this is a little known secret that will help them immensly.

So what is this unique secret? A new amazing routine or something?

No definitly not. It has been ignored by many a weightrainer even though it has been known about for a long time.

What actually is cortisol?

Cortisol is a human hormone secreted throughout the day and produced in response to weight training or other types of stress. Levels of cortisol drop slightly from their peak in the morning.

What exactly does it do?

Well it increases short term memory, helps rid the liver of toxins and helps regulate blood sugar levels. However it can increase blood pressure and reduce bone density if your cortisol levels are excessive, although this is not normal. However it will decrease muscle mass as it promotes the use of muscle as energy and not fat. This is the primary reason why training sessions should be less than one hour duration. After this they will actually be inhibiting their progress not speeding it up!

Here are a few guidelines to ensure that you are not wasting your time trying to build muscle up:

1) limit your cardio workouts, too much cardio causes the body to release cortisol which as explained is not what we need.

2) Cortisol levels also increase due to caffeine intake so try to keep this to a minimum.

3) Ensure your sessions are kept below one hour. Stay foccussed, consider wearing headphones if this helps.

4) Try to relax as stress causes the body to release more cortisol.

5) Eat small regular meals because infrequent meals make the body think it is starving and will thus try and use uneccesary muscle for energy before using fat reserves by releasing more cortisol.

6) Sleep. This is the time when your muscle mass building hormones are highest and your level of cortisol is lowest therefore attempt to get 8 hours sleep.

With those building muscle tips in mind you should be able to give your workouts a great boost and help you to build up muscle more efficiently.

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Depending on where you look there is a lot of great information out there on how to build muscle up. However what follows are a number of tips that can really aid you in terms of stacking on muscle mass. Here they are:

Try drinking green tea. This can inhibit the enzyme that inhibits nor-epinephrine which mean that you should experience increased levels of this muscle building metabolic hormone which can also help in fat loss too. what’s more it is also stacked full with anti oxidants that can aid a great deal with post workout recovery and general health.

Ingest the healthy fats. These are essential for correct functioning of many parts of the human body like the brain, heart, production of energy and the regulation of hormones too. Oily fish, oily dressings, natural peanut butter and avocado are all fantastic sources of this.

Take on board casein protein. This particular protein is released more slowly in to the body as it takes time to ingest it properly. This is great news if you consume it just before retiring to bed as your body can then use it to build muscle up whilst you sleep.

Ingest 20 to 30 grams of whey protein first thing. As soon as you awake have a protein shake. This will put a stop to the catabolic state of your body that you may have been going through whilst you were sleeping and furthermore give you a great start on achieving your daily protein intake target.

On body parts you find difficult to grow try using dropsets. This intense technique can produce growth in even very stubborn hard to grow muscle groups. Firstly, complete your set as you would normally and when you have pushed out your final rep lower the weight by around 20 percent and perform more reps, then decrease the weight once again and do more reps. Continue this as long as you can it will provide you with an extreme burn and probably leave you extremely sore the next day.

Consume plenty of water. Don’t underestimate the beneficial effects of remaining well hydrated throughout the day. water is critical for many reactions in the body especially muscle building ones.

Stay educated and keep learning. There are a great deal of different methods to stimulating muscle growth. try out alternative methods and find out which one helps you build muscle the most.

So, by applying some of the above weight gain tips you should be able to build muscle mass even faster than before. Finally, good luck.

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Spending hours in the gym to build muscle up and not making progress? Excellent news! There is a real cahce that just this one oversight is stopping you from building muscle up fast. this knowledge alone will help you enormously in your attempts to build muscle up. For a lot of people this little known truth can easily help them build muscle up fast.

So what is the secret? A new amazing routine or something?

No certainly not. It has been ignored by many a weightrainer even though it has been known about for a long time.

What actually is cortisol?

Cortisol is a human hormone secreted throughout the day and produced in response to weight training or other types of stress. Cortisol levels are greater in the morning and drop slightly through the day.

What exactly does it do?

Well, it actually improves short term memory, helps detoxify the liver and aids in regulating the blodds sugar levels. However it can raise blood pressure and decrease bone density if your cortisol levels get too high, however this would be unusual. However critically it does diminish muscle because it aids in the body using muscle for energy rather than fat. This is why your workouts should not be more than one hour in duration. After this time period they will actually be restricting their growth!

Here are a few guidelines to ensure that you are not wasting your time trying to build muscle up:

1) limit your cardio workouts, too much cardio causes the body to release cortisol which as explained is not what we need.

2) Try to not consume too much caffeine as this will increase your cortisol levels.

3) Keep your workouts down to one hour in the gym. Stay foccussed, consider wearing headphones if this helps.

4) Try to relax as stress causes the body to release more cortisol.

5) Eat small regular meals because infrequent meals make the body think it is starving and will thus try and use uneccesary muscle for energy before using fat reserves by releasing more cortisol.

6) Sleep. This is the time when your muscle mass building hormones are highest and your level of cortisol is lowest therefore attempt to get 8 hours sleep.

With those building muscle tips in mind you should be able to give your workouts a great boost and help you to build muscle mass more efficiently.

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We hear loads of advice and guidance on what to do to build up muscle but much of it is conflicting. For that reason we are going to clear up a few things right now about what not to do to build up muscles. Here we go, 7 things not to do when trying to build muscle up:

1) Train for more than 45 minutes. training longer than this can be counter productive as at this point a hormone is released that actually inhibits the muscle building process, train for less than this and the hormones are at the right level for building muscle.

2) Eat lots of all types of food. Frequently you hear others say to consume as much of all types of food as you possibly can. Well sure we need excess calories to build muscle mass but do you really think that stuffing yourself full of E numbers, simple carbs (sugars), fatty red meats, fast food and so on is going to benefit you long term. Of course not, stick to sensible nutritious foods and you will put on lean muscle mass and save your body from long term health problems too.

3) Isolation muscle building exercises. That refers to movements such as tricep kick backs that isolate one individual muscle alone. This is not an efficient use of time and energy. Stay with compound multi joint exercises such as squats, pull ups,presses and so on. These exercises stimulate muscle growth in more than just one muscle at a time.

4) Do not ignore aerobic exercise. I’m sure you have heard that you should steer clear of aerobic stuff as it consumes valuable calories that could be put towards building muscle. yes this is correct but come on there is a sensible balance to be had. Sure get big, but do you really not want to be able to walk up a few flights of stairs without losing your breathe. For long term health include aerobic exercise 2-3 times a week in your program and eat more calories to make up for this energy use-age.

5) Switch exercises a lot. You may know that variety keeps the muscles growing, that is true but at the same time not allowing your muscle to establish an exercise groovecan also stop you from making the progress you otherwise could do. Stick with an exercise for a couple of months before dropping it.

6) Lift too often. A major cause of limited muscle building progress is over training. One to two workouts a week for each muscle group should sufficient fro most people.

7) Stop trying. Way too many people stop working out just because there muscle growth eases up somewhat. This is the exact time when you should be rising to the challenge and training with more intensity, paying attention to muscle building nutrition and showing determination.

Go get huge!

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Just as a tree cannot grow with out sufficient water, sunlight and soil no matter what else you give it, to build up muscle your body also has several things that you absolutely must provide it with in order to grow. No amount of fancy exercise equipment, supplement or outfit will allow you to grow muscle if you do not take the following essential steps:

1) Eat big. Some people just do not appear to embrace this point fully! If you desire more muscle then you have to give your body something to built it out of, like more calories. If you are not taking on extra calories then your body has nothing to build up muscleswith. One method of making a habit of eating a lot is buy a set of large sized plates and dishes. This way at each meal you are always reminded of your increase need for calories. Breaking your meals down into 5-6 each day will allow you to take on board the calories more easily also.

2) Train hard and intensely. If you are not pushing yourself in the gym then your muscles have no reason to grow. Give your muscle a reason to grow by working out hard for no longer than 45 minutes. Make use of the proven mass building exercises: squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses. These stimulate more muscle growth than many others.

3) Consume plenty of water. Just as your body needs excess calories to grow you r body also requires water for all of the muscle building reactions to take place. Your fluid intake will need to be higher because of your workouts. Take a bottle of water around with you.

And of course just as you cannot expect a plant to grow if you throw harmful substances and so on on it there are several things you absolutely must not do in order to build up muscles

1) Do not over-train. Pushing your body too hard and too often can actually decrease your strength. Why? Well, micro tears in the muscle actually occur after every intense workout. The over the subsequent few days it builds itself back up bigger and stronger. If you do not allow it time to grow back and repair itself then you are never going to get bigger. Rest is vital. 

2) Do not stuff your body full of useless calories. Sure your body needs a lot of calories but it also needs then to be of decent quality in order to build up muscle. Food like: fish, chicken, potatoes, leafy green vegetables, eggs, pasta, fruit, rice and so on should be the norm. These are all ideal in order to build up muscles.

3) Do not quit ever. What works for one person might not work for you. If progress is not apparent then mix things up and experiment with different exercises, a different diet in fact do anything you can but never ever give up. Stick to your goal and you will achieve it. remember to relax and enjoy the process of building muscle up, you will not turn into Arnie in a few weeks it will take sometime, keep a training diary to track your progress and for motivation.

So ask yourself honestly and sincerely if you really are adhering to these guidelines as best as you can. If you are not then if you really want to build muscle up then wouldn’t now be a good time to change?

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A typical dilemma for any active sportsmen who lifts weights and wants to gain muscle mass is that they know there goal to build muscle up conflicts with the fact that they do a lot of cardio-vascular work. How can someone like this build muscle fastest whilst still doing cardio, indeed is it even possible?

Quite often it is suggested that in order to build muscles fastest you have to keep cardio training down to as limited an amount as possible. This is regularly stated because of the fact that aerobic training does two particular things that may restrict muscle growth, they are: 1) burn an abundance of calories 2) speed up your metabolism. These two things both add weight to the problem of consuming enough calories. The next question to naturally consider is that of how many calories should I be taking on board each day?

Well, to maintain weight each day you must eat enough calories to cover the energy expenditures of your body as if it were at rest (this is known as the basal metabolic rate), then consume enough extra calories to cover the exercise that you will do. If you want to add muscle mass on top of this then you have to add an extra 500 calories every day.

Is it possible to work this number out?

Yes, certainly one method of doing so is by using the Katch-McArdle formula (BMR based on lean body weight). Here it is:

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)

Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X hght in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Once you have gotten this figure you should then multiply it by one of the following to allow for your daily activity levels:

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (1-3 days/wk sports/light exercise )
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (sports 3-5 days/wk/moderate exercise)
Very active equals BMR X 1.725 (sports 6-7 days/hard exercise/wk)
Extr. active equals BMR X 1.{9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i}.e marathon, contest etc

So, should you be doing cardio and weights frequently then you should multiply this by at least 1.725. This will cover the amount of energy for your daily needs. This amount then needs to be altered to suit your goals. Presuming it is muscle building, you would need to add at least a further 500 calories per day.

So, for arguments sake lets say the number you figure out is 3000 calories then that would mean 6 meals everyday which each contain 500 calories. To follow this strategy one snack or meal would be based around 11 gram coming from fat, 62 grams coming from carbohydrate and 37 grams coming from protein. This is due to the fact that a gram of protein or carbohydrate equals 4 calories where as a gram of fat equals 9 calories.

Correct muscle building nutrition and working out your calorie needs like this is what is going to ensure you build muscles fastest, not any miracle new exercise!

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There are hundreds of different exercises you can do with free weights and resistance machines or with just your body weight to build muscle mass. You should include mainly multi-joint compound exercises in your workout as they build muscle fastest. The time proven classic mass builders are: bench press, pull ups, dead lifts, squats, shoulder presses and rows.

Whilst they are very effective your body needs to be constantly challenged in new and different ways if your goal is building lean muscle mass. Here are a few awesome exercises that are often overlooked yet work really well. From time to time try and include these exercises in your workouts. Workout routines can be prevented from getting boring and can stimulate more muscle growth by introducing variety.

why not try using a jump rope and skipping, running on the beach or donkey raises for stimulating muscle growth. making use of ajump rope for skipping and also running on a sandy place bear foot will place great pressure on your calves to grow. Calf muscles are often stimulated into growth more by more endurance related training as that is what they are primarily used to. donkey raises involves placing your feet on the edge of a block of wood, weights disc or step bending over at the waist to 90 degrees and resting your hands on a solid surface for support. have a training buddy jump on to your back so that you can pump your calve muscles up and down shifting two lots of body weight. This exercise is more difficult than the usual machine calve exercises as you have to use stabiliser muscles to keep you steady whilst performing them.

When was the last time you did dips for your chest muscles? A classic mass builder for the chest muscle is dips which are an awesome workout for triceps too. Many older gyms have installed parallel bars for when this exercise was really popular in the past. Different grips can be experimented with as they often form a v shape. This means you can really hit different areas of the chest and triceps effectively.

How about using stiff legged deadlifts for your hamstrings. This exercise is used very little which is surprising being as it is so effective. Simply do deadlifts but you legs have to remain straight throughout meaning you bend at the waist and keep a straight back to lift the barbell or dumbbell. Maintain control of the weight by keeping it close to your legs whilst raising it and be warned that this exercise can leave your hamstrings very sore the next day.

Experiment with hammer curls for bicep growth! The only difference between these and normal dumb bell curls is that the palm of your hand is kept facing in towards your body at all times. This places great stress on the inner bicep muscle that gives it thickness and size throughout called the brachialis muscle whilst also still developing the main bicep too.Stand with your back against the corner of a wall whilst curling to prevent yourself from swinging the bar.

When was the last time you saw anyone do lunges in the gym? These are particularly good for giving your quads mass and shape. With a dumb bell in either hand take a good stride straight ahead and then bend both knees down to around 90 degress, step backwards returning to the start position and repeat on the other side. Am awesome alternative to regular squats.

For creating muscle definition and for a superb aerobic workout why not try boxing padwork it is very effective for the hitting the entire upper body or do uphill sprints to shred your leg muscles or even get on an exercise bike for uphill intervals immediately following a leg workout. Thats is a real beauty of a muscle maker!

with those group of classic exercises in your thoughts change your routine around a bit to build more lean muscle mass.

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What follows are a few excellent tips to make sure you build muscle mass as fast as possible. No messing around here seven top build muscles tips:

1) Eat frequently and often. For people new to weight training and bodybuilding you may have some problems actually eating enough calories to grow. Eat between 5 and 7 meals and snacks each day and try to eat double your previous portions this will help overcome the problem.

2) Get plenty of rest. Your body’s muscles need plenty of time at rest if you want to increase their mass. They do not increase in muscle mass in the weights room. So just as you should workout to build muscle mass you should also rest a lot to get big.

3) Do not workout for more than 45 minutes per session. This is because training longer than this causes your body to release a hormone that is detrimental to muscle building. Finishing your workout after 30 to 45 minutes means that your body’s hormones are at an optimum level to support muscle growth.

4) Keep an up to date training log. tracking your progress provides information on what workouts work well for you. You can then use them again at a later date. They also mean that you can have positive targets to aim at in each gym session this enhances your motivation and shows that you are making progress.

5) Supplement your diet. If you have cash spare use the following supplements to improve your development: essential fatty acids, whey protein, multivitamins and possibly creatine. If you do not have money for this do not fear, you can make fantastic progress with correct muscle building nutrition.

6) Workout with intensity and determination. Maintain intensity in your workouts by using techniques like: negatives, super sets, giant sets and drop sets.

7) Don’t ever give in! You are in this for the long haul. Of course you want to build huge muscles mass as soon as you can but don’t forget the journey is half of the fun. So with those brutally effective building muscle tips in mind go out and get huge.

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