Bodybuilding Workout

Posts Tagged ‘build muscle mass’

Stressing your muscles in different ways is one of the keys to continuous and uninterrupted growth to build muscles mass. If you do the same workout over and over again your muscles become used to the stress and gradually the workout will become less and less effective at stimulating muscle growth. Luckily there are a number of tactics that can be employed in order to mix things up a bit to build your muscles mass and get your muscles growing once more.

1) Progressive Overload. Well really you should be doing this as a matter of course. You can simply keep increasing the poundage each workout or keep increasing the number of reps you do. A combination of the two is fine also

2) Giant sets. This is done by following one set of an exercise with another exercise that targets the exact same muscle group. For example, side lateral raises done after shoulder presses. You may then break for a couple of minutes and do another a set.

3) A superset is where you do one regular set immediately followed by an exercise for the opposing muscle group. A great pump is often felt in those muscles after doing this. Such as, rows after bench presses, tricep pushdowns followed by bicep curls.

4) Reps that are forced. On a regular set, instead of failing on the last rep you basically get a friend to asisst you in completing the final rep and then to help you in doing a further 2 or 3 reps. The assistance should mean that you can still only just do it yourself and should be minimal.

5) Negatives. This is when you do a normal regular set to failure and then with the help of a partner complete another rep but then you have to lower the weight under complete control and slowly yourself.

6) Drop sets. Do a regular set until failure, lower the amount on the bar and do a few more repetitions, decrease the amount of weight lifted once more and continue doing more reps and keep doing this. This is a very intense technique that creates a real burn and can help build muscle mass a great deal.

This is just a start on the different varieties of exercise that can be done to build muscles mass but be warned these can leave you feeling quite sore for the next few days so always ensure that you allow sufficient rest between exercises.

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When  a personal trainer first asks a new gym attendee what their goals are, they most often hear replies such as: “Build muscle lose fat”,  “build muscle then lose“, “burn fat build muscle”, ”build muscle and burn fat”. So it seems that most people want to get bigger muscles but also reduce their waistline and lose fat. In the next few paragraphs I discuss if it is really possible to do this or is it something that only professional bodybuilders and marketing companies believe is possible?

Is it really possible to increase muscle mass and lose fat simultaneously?

The answer is a resounding ‘yes’ although it is only possible with a good deal of discipline, calorie counting and with a fair amount of difficulty! To build muscle you need to take on excess calories than you work off throughout each leaving enough left to build muscle but not so much that they get stored as fat. Without excess calories you will not build muscle, with too many excess calories you may build muscle but also add some extra body fat as you do so. The trick is too eat just enough calories to build muscle but not enough so that you put on fat. There are

If you wish to avoid adding fat at the same time as building muscle then you really have to work out your exact calorie requirements and then stick to them. to work out your calorie requirements then use the following simple equation that provides an approximate answer:

Find out your body weight and you percentage body fat e.g. 10% bod fat at 200 pounds in weight.

Figure out what your body’s lean mass is.g. 200 pounds minus your 10% body fat equals 190.

Multiply your lend body mass by 19 e.g. 190 multiplied by 19 equals = 3610

This is then the amount of calories you approximately need to eat to gain muscle mass provided you are doing effective workouts too. Whilst this is a rough figure if you consumed 500-1000 more calories then you would certainly increase your muscle gains and put on some body fat. This method provides an approximate figure only and it would be rather difficult to track how many calories you are going to eat.

So I am assuming the you do not relish the prospect of trying to master the tricky process just outlined and are perhaps wandering if there are any easier alternatives. The second option comes highly recommended and is what most bodybuilders do. Firstly you need to build muscle then you lose weight. You will hear this also called a bulking phase followed by a cutting phase. this is a great deal easier as you can just eat lots of good quality food and you don’t need to bother counting calories. All you need ensure is that you consume more calories than the above figure. This bulking phase which should last 3-6 months will see you put on a few kilos in body fat but mainly you will gain muscle mass. Now you start to eat less calories and increase the cardio-vascular sessions so that you work off more calories per day than you take on.

Maintaining your muscle mass and burning off excess calories will thus be the main focus of the newxt few months. So in actuality looking at the results a year later you will have indee have built muscle and burnt fat but you will have achieved this by going through two stages. The overall effect is the same only it is just a lot easier to do but takes two phases.

So if you do wish to build muscle and burn fat I highly recommend that you build muscle then lose fat in two separate stages. Expert author Tom Venuto has the entire process and more broken down into simple steps for you, read the ‘Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle E-book’ Review here for more information on how to build muscle then lose fat.

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Ok great, so you have decided now is the time in your life that you would like to pack on some muscle mass. Whether it is because you want to look lean and trim for your holidays or you have just seen another ‘Rocky’ film or you just wish to make a bigger impact on the sports field. So clearly you know that weight training is going to be necessary. However you may not be aware of what you are supposed to be eating for muscle building nutrition. This short guide will show you precisely what to consume but intially we’ll walk through a few of the basic ground rules for a sensible muscle building diet.

Firstly to build muscle eat more often. Attempt to eat 5-6 meals every single day. This is because your body is going to be needing extra calories in order for it to have supplies to actually build muscle mass with. You will not be able to build any muscle mass if your body is running short on calories. 5-6 small meals every day will ensure that you can get enough calories without filling yourself overly at any single particular meal.

Secondly, cutting out or severly reducing the amount of junk food in your diet is a must. Go admit it, we are all at times prone to eating junk food at some time and it is these measl that we need to cut out.

Thirdly, you will be needing to drink much more water than previously. try to keep a bottle of water to hand at all times, perhaps leave one in your car. nearly all reactions in the body require water to some degree and that includes muscle building reactions also.

Fourthly, split your small meals into the following amounts of fats, carbohydrate and protein. Try to divide them into 30% protein, 50% carbohydrate with the remainder coming from fats.

Fifthly, you will need to educate yourself as to the kinds of foods that you should be eating. Here is a start to illustrate what some of the best muscle building foods are:

For protein: turkey, chicken, fish and shellfish, eggs, red meats, dairy products. These are great sources of protein so try and include them in your diet. However caution is advised as these foods are high in saturated fat so it would be sensible to mix them with the following foods that supply protein but with a great deal less fat: Egg whites, Lean meats like poultry and fish, Non-fat or low-fat milk and dairy products (skim milk and cottage cheese are terrific foods), turkey breast, lean cuts of red meat and skinless chicken breast.

For carbohydrates and long term release energy: bread, brown rice, oatmeal, bagel, pasta cereals and potatoes. For instant hits of energy take on board: fruits such as grapes, bananas, apple, raisins, orange and sports drinks.

The fat portion of the meal will naturally come from the foods that you will be consuming and will thus take care of itself. Also make sure you include plentiful lefy green vegetables which are packed full of vital vitmains and minerals. If you wish to give yourself a boost with supplements then I suggest you go with: a decent multi-vitamin, whey protein, essential fatty acids and possibly creatine.

Finally a few words of advice on exactly when to eat. To build muscle eat within one hour of finishing your workout, before bed and immediately on rising. If you wish to pack on muscle mass then these are very important times. With the above muscle building diet guidelines in place then you are in an excellent position to start building muscle mass fast.

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There are numerous articles, websites, blogs, magazine columns and such like that all give information and advice about the easiest ways to stimulate muscle growth. so, if there are all these varied methods to stimulate muscle growth then how come it is so such a difficult task for certain people? Well, the answer is partly supplied by the question itself. With so much conflicting and individualistic advice about, both on the net and in bookstores and magazines, how on earth is someone new to bodybuilding supposed to know what to do?

Whilst some of this advice is good, much of it is irrelevant to the novice bodybuilder who just needs to get the basics down properly to start making progress. So with that in mind here are three sure fire steps to help anyone build muscle easily.

1) Train intensely. Make use of the all time classic muscle mass building exercises such as: deadlifts, rows, squats, benchpresses and pull ups. These time proven exercises will help you build muscle mass easily. Try to veer away from exercises that promote isolation of individual muscles, these are really for muscle carving and defining and not for building mass. Remain focused in the weight room, push yourself hard for no longer than 45 minutes then leave.

2) Pay attention to muscle building nutrition. For decades now experienced and successful trainers have been quoted as saying that at least 80% of muscle growth success is due to correct muscle building nutrition. This is very true even today! As a general guide half of your food should come in the form of carbohydrates, protein should make up 30% and the remainder should come from fats.

The following source of food come highly recommended, for carbs: rice, potatoes, pasta, brown breads. For protein: chicken, turkey, beef and fish, especially mackerel and tuna. naturally these foods will supply all the fats that you need. If you have a few spare dollars to spend then try supplementing with: whey protein, essential fatty, acids, creatine and a good multi-vitamin product.

3) Rest. Muscle recovers and grows whilst you are at rest so naturally you should spend sufficient time allowing your body to grow. This sounds such simple advice but so many people out there do not give their body enough time to recover from their last session and grow. Training each body part twice a week will be more then enough for most people.

Ok, I said it was simpie and it is. If you just stick to those basics you too can build muscle easy. Of course you can go into as much detail as you like within any one of those subject areas but in essence that is all you need to know to grow. With that in mind get out there, train hard, eat well and grow!

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Just before I tackle the main purpose of this article which is to show how to build muscle vegetarian style I will briefly outline the different types of vegetarians. Vegans won’t eat dairy products or any other products of animals, pesco-vegetarians will cosume fish and other dairy products whereas lacto-ovo vegetarians will both consume milk and eat eggs but won’t eat meat. This is enough detail for our purposes here although bear in mind there are a few other types.

Why be vegetarian?

Due to the nature of the food that vegetarians avoid they are at a significantly reduced risk of the following potentially life threatening diseases :coronary artery disease, hypertension, cancers and diabetes mellitus. As you may agree the reasons for changing to be vegetarian are compelling indeed and that is before we even discuss the idealistic side of things such as being less cruel to animals, saving food for others, preserving the rainforest, becoming more enviromentally friendly and such like.

Alright then, as regards protein where am I going to get sufficient muscle building supplies from?

Well the answer is pretty straightforward, Soy. Soy contains all eight essential amino acids and in fact has higher levels of protein than beef. Particularly good sources of soy include: seitan, miso, soy milk, tempeh, textured soy protein and of course tofu. These ingredients can form the basis of a good deal of tasty dishes. Furthermore to ensure you never go short on protein beans, legumes, seeds, rice and even vegetables all supply decent amounts of amino acids.

Alright so that is protein deficiency crossed off the myth list now how about vitamins and minerals like: zinc, vitamin D, calcium, iron and vitamin B12?

Well a supplement would actually be appropriate for a vegan here. Vitamin B 12 is found easily in dairy products making this no cause for concern for other types of vegetarians. The others can easily be gotten from a decent meal replacement powder. Of course however many minerals and vitamins are easily available in the form of leafy green vegetables and fruit that you should not overlook if you wish to build muscle vegetarian style. 

So, overall there are many health benefits to being a vegetarian and being a vegetarian need not prevent you from achieving your bodybuilding goals. Planning is the key and this is just as true for none vegetarian bodybuilders also. With the above guidelines in mind go ahead and build muscle vegetarian style!! 

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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. Although this might produce solid progress for extreme hardgainers it is not going to be true for most people. Sure, you should avoid overtraining but like most things in life you won’t get good at something by practicing it just once a week, this is true to a certain extent in weight lifting also. Muscle should be trained more than once a week, twice would be ideal for most people. 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. Training plateaus can be avoided by doing this.

Ensure that your training sessions don’t exceed 45 minutes. If you deem that time limit to short then possibly your routine is too lengthy or you are not remaining focused and intense in your workout efforts. If you really focus on quality and intensity and avoiding distractions 45 minutes ought to be plenty. 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. completely the opposite to what we are after.

Ideally you should cycle your training. after a while a workout loses its ability to stimulate growth as your body has already adapted to it. You should change your routine before your gains diminish completely. You need to ensure that you don’t change your training sessions to frequently either. Doing so could confuse your bodies muscles overly so and stop it working its way into a nice groove.

If you use the wrong exercises you are unlikely ever to make big gains. The right exercises are exercises that allow you to perform multi-joint movements and are know 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 the above recommendations in mind and allied to correct muscle building nutrition it is time for you to go get huge.

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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. The day to day actions, sights, sounds, preferences and so on that we get daily are all because of our sub conscious thought process that is continually operating.

Neuroscientists have now proven the vaildity of positive thinking and the law of attraction through various skeptic proof experiments. If you have never heard of the law of attraction before it is basically the asumption that ‘what you think about, you bring about’ or ‘thoughts become things’. Now previously this was considered a bit to new agey for most people however there is a growing acceptance of this approach worldwide.

Now it doesn’t matter if you take the neuro-scientists approach about it or the metaphysical approach to it because it will work either way. 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 experience beneficial co-incidences that will significantly aid there progress, this is from uncommon but often gives this ‘law of attraction’ a slightly magical feel whereas in reality those things were probably there all the while anyway!

So how is this of any use to a bodybuilder? Well think about your current thought patterns. Precisely what is it that you are running through your mind 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 everyday sub conscious thought process that you need to alter to positive muscle building thought processes such as: ‘muscle mass come quickly and easily’ or ‘I am getting huge fast’ and so on.

How exactly can these thought patterns be replaced? 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.

Do these every day. It will take a minimum of 30 days to start over riding your old thought patterns and to imprint the new ones but it will happen. Following that, keep doing them in order to continually reaffirm your new thought patterns.

If you doubt that this is effective 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, especially visualisation which is an awesomely effective technique that deserves daily usage!

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

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As we are all aware a good muscle building diet is critical to build muscle mass. What is also important is the timing of your meals. Around two hours prior to your workout is when I recommend you eat your meal. This should give enough time to mean that you don’t hit the gym when you are bloated or still feeling full and sluggish.

In an ideal world this preworkout snack ought to be something that you are used to and that you know won’t make you feel heavy and bloated as you want to be feeling your best to give your all in the gym. Make sure it contains slow burning energy such as that found in rice and oatmeal and that you consume the protein part 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 releases tyrosine which signals your brain to be alert and energetic whereas the carbohydrate triggers the release of tryptophan that tells the brain to become sleepy. Therefore always eat the protein first.

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 significantly boost your energy for your workout. Ingredients should include whey protein, maltodextrin, wxymaize or dextrose. Try to shoot for about 25 grams of protein and about 40 grams worth of carbohydrate. Doing this will raise your insulin levels which is one of the bodies strongest and most effective 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 keep fruit or meal replacement powders or bars to hand should you ever not have time for a proper solid pre-workout meal.

Try and substitte your caffeine intake with green tea rather than a cup of coffee this is loaded with lots of anti oxidants aswell as having many other valuable health benefits. Finally, don’t forget to keep drinking water throughout the day also. 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.

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Everyone knows to build muscle mass one of the best exercises for the upper body is the bench press. As always certainly one of the questions most bodybuilders want to know the answer to is: how much can you bench press?’. Whilst it may not be the best measure of overall strength it does have a certain macho feel to it and a big bench press is certainly 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 may well be that under-developed triceps are restricting your bench press progress. The best exercises to build muscle mass on your triceps are using barbells and dumbells: close grip bench-presses and skull crushers. Less effective are isolation type exercises such as tricep press downs. 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 over a period of weeks and then go back and see how many more kilograms you can press.

Variety. have you been repeating the same old workout for months? time to switch things around a bit. After your muscles have done the same workout a few times, they have already adapted to it and therefore the need to grow has been removed. 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. If you do too much and overtrain your chest then it can struggle to recover and find it hard to grow more. Do not focus on quantity rather go for intensity and quality instead. A short intense workout is much more effective than a long drawn out one.

Good rest periods. Muscles are not about to grow whilst you are working out! At rest is when they grow. You won’t grow if you don’t allow enough time to grow. Of course do not workout again when your muscles are still, a fair rule of thumb is to limit yourself to 6-9 sets each workout for each muscle group, any more and you may be at risk overtraining.

Take a prolonged training break. Try taking a break if you reach a training plateau. 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.

Give your chest muscles a much more intense hit by doing negatives. Negatives are when you get the help from two spotters to intially help you press the weight up but who the allow you to take the weight completely to lower it. We do this because you can actually lower more weight than you can lift. So if we can get the body used to lowering more weight this will help you get stronger for the lifting/effort phase. The lowering/negative phase also stimulates more muscle growth than the effort phase.

Do a diet review. Are you taking on board a minumum of 5 meals a day whilst consuming at least 1 gram of protein per each lb of bodymass? 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. Each meal should be roughly 50% carbohydrate, 30% protein and the rest made-up of fats. Take supplements if you have the money to, things like: 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. Make sure you are not lifting your feet off the ground and that your hands are not too close together, these are two very common errors.

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

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Every muscle builder wants to grow faster. Fast gains is the name of the game , no-one likes waiting. So it is very frustrating that it takes months or years to build muscle mass. However we can significantly decreas the amount of time it takes to build muscle mass. So here are 10 hot tips that show you how to build muscles fast. They follow now:

1. The Concept of Overload. This really means that you should be aiming to improve in the workload in any way at every workout. You must constantly strive for improvements in order to keep pushing your muscle to the limits to stimulate growth. By placing ever increasing demands on the body we can force it to continually grow and adapt to the new demands each workout in order to build muscle fast.

2. The ideal rep range is between 8-12. This repa range is proven to be the most efficient for increasing muscle size. Although the 3-6 rep range is good for increasing strength it is not the best for increasing size. If you are doing over 15 reps whilst your muscles will increase in endurance they won’t increase in size as much because a different type of muscle fibre is being stimulated.

3. No more than 6-9 sets should be done for any particular bodypart per session. You risk overtraining by doing more than that. This will keep your sessions more intense and prevent the body secreting catabolic hormones which adversely affect muscle growth. Try to keep your workout as short as 45 mins and keep the intensity high.

4. Consume enough calories. You must support your muscle growth with an excess amount of quality calories. Muscle doesn’t just grow out of thin air it requires the excess calories to build it. Quality calories are needed and can be gotten from rice, breads, pasta for carbs, fish, lean white meat for protein and fresh leafy green fruit and vegetables for vitamins and minerals.

5. Raise the level of protein that you eat. Protein repairs and builds muscle so is definetely required. You cannot build muscle fast without enough protein. You can figure out the amount of protein you need by:
Lean Mass Body Weight in kg times 2.75 = your per day protein requirement

To workout your lean mass weight you need to know your percentage body fat. This can be undertaken at any gym or an easier way is to eat one gram of protein per pound of your bodyweight.

6. Take on fat! This is a good recommendation due to the fact that it will increase the anabolic muscle building hormone that is released by the body. Some people increase this by taking steroids but a good bodybuilding diet can do this to some extent naturally and fats play a role in this.

7. Liquids. Muscle building chemical reactions require a great deal of water to occur efficiently. It is much better therefore to increase the amount of water you take on board. This is an excellent tip often overlooked when people try to build muscles fast.

8. Lay off on the cardio workouts. This is because cardio workouts release the catabolic hormone that actually can lead to muscle tissue being broken down, the exact opposite of what you want. it will at the same time decrease the number of calories that your body has that you wish to conserve so that you can build muscle as you are resting.

9. Sleep, this is my favourite. Rest is a critical part of muscle growth, especially sleep this is when your muscles will do their growing. Make sure you take a good protein shake before you turn in. Starving your body overnight is the last thing you should be doing if you want muscle growth. During sleep growth hormones are released, your muscles experience increased blood flow and your metabolic rate slows down. All of which are very good for building muscles fast.

10. Stay committed. Don’t give up on your goals. You won’t be turning in to. Over a three month period if you follow the above guidelines then you will experience an increase in muscle mass which could be considerable. The above tips are practiced by many experienced bodybuilders and I assure you they really do show you how to build muscle fast.

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