8 Important things to do for maximum muscle gain
1) Train With Weights and Focus On Freeweight, Compound Movements.
While "train with weights" may seem like an obvious point, you'd be surprised at how many people believe that they can make significant muscular gains using only body weight exercises. If you want to make solid, noteworthy gains in muscle size and strength, you absolutely must train with weights. While body weight exercises can help you achieve some modest results to start off with, these gains will eventually plateau and your progress will come to a grinding halt. The plain fact of the matter is that nothing can come close to the overall anabolic effect of heavy, compound, free weight exercises. What is a compound exercise, you ask? A compound exercise is any lift that stimulates more than one major muscle group at a time. Examples of these lifts are the squat, deadlift, bench press, chin up,
barbell row, overhead press, dip and lunge. Compound movements allow you to handle the most weight and will stimulate the greatest amount of total muscle fibers. If you are looking to pack on some serious muscular weight, you absolutely must make these basic compound movements the cornerstone of your routine.
2) Be Prepared To Train Hard.
If you think that building muscle is a complete walk in the park, you're in for a huge disappointment! One of the biggest factors that separates those who make modest gains from those who make serious gains is their level of training intensity. The reality is that most people just plain don't train hard enough. In order to stimulate your muscle fibers to their utmost potential, you must be willing to take every set you perform in the gym to the point of muscular failure.
Muscular Failure: The point at which no further repetitions can be completed using proper form. Training to failure requires alot of discipline and you absolutely must be willing to drive through the pain barriers it takes to get there. Remember, your body does not want to build muscle mass! When it comes to the overall survival of your body as an organism, piling on slabs of excess muscle tissue is quite low on the priority list. You must force your body to build muscle! Submaximal training intensity will leave you with submaximal results, plain and simple.
3) Track Your Progress In The Gym From Week To Week.
This muscle-building technique is absolutely critical to your success. If there's one thing that I want you to take away from this book, that is it. Our bodies build muscle because of an adaptive response to the environment. When you go to the gym, you break down your muscle fibers by training with weights. Your body senses this as a potential threat to its survival and will react accordingly by rebuilding the damaged fibers larger and stronger in order to protect against any possible future threat. Therefore, in order to make continual gains in muscle size and strength, you must focus on progressing in the gym from week to week. This could mean performing 1 or 2 more reps for each exercise or adding more weight to the bar. Don't try to improve by leaps and bounds every time you workout, but rather focus on making small, steady increases. Over the course of a few months, those small increases will add up more than you think, and your body will continually adapt and grow to the ever increasing stress.
4) Avoid Overtraining.
Overtraining is your number one enemy when it comes to building muscle size and strength. When most people begin a workout program, they are stuck with the misguided notion that more is better. They naturally assume that the more time they spend in the gym, the better results they will achieve. And who could blame them? In most aspects of life this basic logic seems to hold true. The more time we spend trying to reach a certain goal, the faster we tend to reach it.
When it comes to building muscle, nothing could be farther from the truth! If you spend too much time in the gym, you will actually take yourself farther away from your goals rather than closer to them. Remember, your muscles do not grow in the gym. They grow out of the gym, while you are resting and eating. Recovery is absolutely vital to the muscle growth process. If you don't provide your body with the proper recovery time in between workouts, your muscles will never have a chance to grow. Overtraining will also decrease your energy levels and will promote an increase in certain hormones that stimulate muscular breakdown.
5) Eat More Frequently.
The main area where most people fail miserably on their muscle-building mission is on the all too important task of proper nutrition. Training with weights is only half of the equation! You break down your muscle fibers in the gym, but if you don't provide your body with the proper nutrients at the proper times, the muscle growth process will be next to impossible. You wouldn't be able to build a house without bricks, and building muscle is no different. Nutrition is just as important as what you accomplish in the gym, and it's very important that you keep this in mind at all times. The most important concept when it comes to proper nutrition is meal frequency. If you want to build the greatest amount of muscle mass that you possibly can, you must consume a small meal at least every 2-3 hours. If you fail to do so, your body will enter into a "starvation mode". The body treats this lack of food as a potential threat to its survival and will begin literally eating away at your muscles in order to obtain a source of protein. This process is known as "muscle catabolism", and if you're looking for serious results you must avoid it like the plague! Eating every 2-3 hours will to prevent this from happening.
6) Increase Your Protein Intake.
Of the 3 major nutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats) protein is without a doubt the most important for those who are looking to gain muscle size and strength. Protein is found in literally every single one of the 30 trillion cells that your body is made up and its main role is to build and repair bodily tissues. Without sufficient protein intake, it will be physically impossible for your body to synthesize a significant amount of muscle mass. If your body were a house, think of protein as the bricks. You can obtain protein from a variety of foods including fish, poultry, eggs, beef, milk, peanut butter and cottage cheese. Every meal that you eat should contain around 30-40 grams of protein. How much protein is enough? A general guideline is to consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If you weigh 145 pounds, you should be consuming 145-218 grams of protein daily.
7) Increase Your Water Intake.
Most people say that they drink plenty of water, but how many actually do? Pay close attention to the amount of water you drink each day, and you may be surprised at how little you actually consume. If you want a simple, easy and highly effective way to maximize your muscle gains, drinking more water is it. Water plays so many vital roles in the body and its importance cannot be overstated. In fact, your muscles alone are made up of 70% water! Not only will drinking more water cause your muscles to appear fuller and more vascular, but it will also increase your strength as well. Research has shown that merely a 3-4% drop in your body's water levels can impact muscle contractions by 10-20%! Not only does water play a very important role in muscle performance and growth, but it also contributes to overall health in numerous ways.
- Aids in the digestion process.
- Lubricates the joints.
- Transports important nutrients around the body.
This is just to name a small few! Aim to consume 0.6 ounces for every pound of bodyweight
each day.
8) Be Consistent!
Consistency is everything. Those who make the greatest gains in muscular size and strength are the ones who are able to implement the proper techniques on a highly consistent basis. Simply knowing is not enough, you must apply! Building muscle is a result of the cumulative effect of small steps. Sure, performing 1 extra rep on your bench press will not make a huge difference to your overall results, and neither will consuming a single meal. However, over the long haul, all of those extra reps you perform and all of those small meals you consume will decide your overall success. If you work hard and complete all of your muscle-building tasks in a consistent fashion, all of those individual steps will equate to massive gains in overall size and strength. It is those who are willing to persevere that will succeed. It is those who are willing to rise above laziness that will end up with impressive results. I mean let's face it, everyone wants to be strong and muscular. If this is the case, why isn't everyone strong and muscular? It's because only certain people have the proper drive and motivation that it takes to get there.
While "train with weights" may seem like an obvious point, you'd be surprised at how many people believe that they can make significant muscular gains using only body weight exercises. If you want to make solid, noteworthy gains in muscle size and strength, you absolutely must train with weights. While body weight exercises can help you achieve some modest results to start off with, these gains will eventually plateau and your progress will come to a grinding halt. The plain fact of the matter is that nothing can come close to the overall anabolic effect of heavy, compound, free weight exercises. What is a compound exercise, you ask? A compound exercise is any lift that stimulates more than one major muscle group at a time. Examples of these lifts are the squat, deadlift, bench press, chin up,barbell row, overhead press, dip and lunge. Compound movements allow you to handle the most weight and will stimulate the greatest amount of total muscle fibers. If you are looking to pack on some serious muscular weight, you absolutely must make these basic compound movements the cornerstone of your routine.
2) Be Prepared To Train Hard.
If you think that building muscle is a complete walk in the park, you're in for a huge disappointment! One of the biggest factors that separates those who make modest gains from those who make serious gains is their level of training intensity. The reality is that most people just plain don't train hard enough. In order to stimulate your muscle fibers to their utmost potential, you must be willing to take every set you perform in the gym to the point of muscular failure.
Muscular Failure: The point at which no further repetitions can be completed using proper form. Training to failure requires alot of discipline and you absolutely must be willing to drive through the pain barriers it takes to get there. Remember, your body does not want to build muscle mass! When it comes to the overall survival of your body as an organism, piling on slabs of excess muscle tissue is quite low on the priority list. You must force your body to build muscle! Submaximal training intensity will leave you with submaximal results, plain and simple.
3) Track Your Progress In The Gym From Week To Week.
This muscle-building technique is absolutely critical to your success. If there's one thing that I want you to take away from this book, that is it. Our bodies build muscle because of an adaptive response to the environment. When you go to the gym, you break down your muscle fibers by training with weights. Your body senses this as a potential threat to its survival and will react accordingly by rebuilding the damaged fibers larger and stronger in order to protect against any possible future threat. Therefore, in order to make continual gains in muscle size and strength, you must focus on progressing in the gym from week to week. This could mean performing 1 or 2 more reps for each exercise or adding more weight to the bar. Don't try to improve by leaps and bounds every time you workout, but rather focus on making small, steady increases. Over the course of a few months, those small increases will add up more than you think, and your body will continually adapt and grow to the ever increasing stress.4) Avoid Overtraining.
Overtraining is your number one enemy when it comes to building muscle size and strength. When most people begin a workout program, they are stuck with the misguided notion that more is better. They naturally assume that the more time they spend in the gym, the better results they will achieve. And who could blame them? In most aspects of life this basic logic seems to hold true. The more time we spend trying to reach a certain goal, the faster we tend to reach it.
When it comes to building muscle, nothing could be farther from the truth! If you spend too much time in the gym, you will actually take yourself farther away from your goals rather than closer to them. Remember, your muscles do not grow in the gym. They grow out of the gym, while you are resting and eating. Recovery is absolutely vital to the muscle growth process. If you don't provide your body with the proper recovery time in between workouts, your muscles will never have a chance to grow. Overtraining will also decrease your energy levels and will promote an increase in certain hormones that stimulate muscular breakdown.
5) Eat More Frequently.
The main area where most people fail miserably on their muscle-building mission is on the all too important task of proper nutrition. Training with weights is only half of the equation! You break down your muscle fibers in the gym, but if you don't provide your body with the proper nutrients at the proper times, the muscle growth process will be next to impossible. You wouldn't be able to build a house without bricks, and building muscle is no different. Nutrition is just as important as what you accomplish in the gym, and it's very important that you keep this in mind at all times. The most important concept when it comes to proper nutrition is meal frequency. If you want to build the greatest amount of muscle mass that you possibly can, you must consume a small meal at least every 2-3 hours. If you fail to do so, your body will enter into a "starvation mode". The body treats this lack of food as a potential threat to its survival and will begin literally eating away at your muscles in order to obtain a source of protein. This process is known as "muscle catabolism", and if you're looking for serious results you must avoid it like the plague! Eating every 2-3 hours will to prevent this from happening.6) Increase Your Protein Intake.
Of the 3 major nutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats) protein is without a doubt the most important for those who are looking to gain muscle size and strength. Protein is found in literally every single one of the 30 trillion cells that your body is made up and its main role is to build and repair bodily tissues. Without sufficient protein intake, it will be physically impossible for your body to synthesize a significant amount of muscle mass. If your body were a house, think of protein as the bricks. You can obtain protein from a variety of foods including fish, poultry, eggs, beef, milk, peanut butter and cottage cheese. Every meal that you eat should contain around 30-40 grams of protein. How much protein is enough? A general guideline is to consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If you weigh 145 pounds, you should be consuming 145-218 grams of protein daily.
7) Increase Your Water Intake.
Most people say that they drink plenty of water, but how many actually do? Pay close attention to the amount of water you drink each day, and you may be surprised at how little you actually consume. If you want a simple, easy and highly effective way to maximize your muscle gains, drinking more water is it. Water plays so many vital roles in the body and its importance cannot be overstated. In fact, your muscles alone are made up of 70% water! Not only will drinking more water cause your muscles to appear fuller and more vascular, but it will also increase your strength as well. Research has shown that merely a 3-4% drop in your body's water levels can impact muscle contractions by 10-20%! Not only does water play a very important role in muscle performance and growth, but it also contributes to overall health in numerous ways.
- Aids in the digestion process.
- Lubricates the joints.
- Transports important nutrients around the body.
This is just to name a small few! Aim to consume 0.6 ounces for every pound of bodyweight
each day.
8) Be Consistent!
Consistency is everything. Those who make the greatest gains in muscular size and strength are the ones who are able to implement the proper techniques on a highly consistent basis. Simply knowing is not enough, you must apply! Building muscle is a result of the cumulative effect of small steps. Sure, performing 1 extra rep on your bench press will not make a huge difference to your overall results, and neither will consuming a single meal. However, over the long haul, all of those extra reps you perform and all of those small meals you consume will decide your overall success. If you work hard and complete all of your muscle-building tasks in a consistent fashion, all of those individual steps will equate to massive gains in overall size and strength. It is those who are willing to persevere that will succeed. It is those who are willing to rise above laziness that will end up with impressive results. I mean let's face it, everyone wants to be strong and muscular. If this is the case, why isn't everyone strong and muscular? It's because only certain people have the proper drive and motivation that it takes to get there.
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