Pages

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Fast Muscle Building

Fast Muscle Building


You have to give special attention and effort to finish any task and bodybuilding is no different. To build your muscles, you should follow a special routine and diet. Without relevant determination, commitment and information, muscle building cannot be achieved within few days. As it takes considerable time frame, the person's patience is of paramount importance, as being impatient can spoil the exercise agenda as well as the dietary system.


In order to add muscle tissue you must force the body to add it. Your body won’t just add a pound of muscle just because you followed a 3-set workout that you read about in Muscle + Fitness. You need to give the body a reason to make improvements – in this case add muscle tissue.

You have to provide what I call a “stimulus”. This can be done in many ways and I’ll address a few in just a moment. Basically, you need to force the body to add muscle by subjecting it to levels of stress it is not used to. Some methods are more obvious than others but all can work. Here are a few examples of how this can be done effectively.

First, the basic and common methods:

  • Increase weight or resistance
  • Perform more repetitions
  • Perform more sets
  • Move the resistance slower
  • Rest less between sets and exercises
     
Now for the more advanced methods:
  • Pre-exhaust (perform an isolation exercise first and immediately continue with no rest on a compound movement. ex. chest flye and then chest press)
  • Static holds (hold the resistance in the hardest position of the range of motion. ex. the top position during a leg extension)
  • Partial reps in weak range (perform a portion of the rep where you are weakest. ex. the top half of a rep of leg extensions)
  • Strip-set (after a warm-up set, perform 3 sets back to back with no rest while starting with the heaviest weight possible and each time strip off some weight to allow you to continue)
    1 ½ reps (perform one full rep and then on the second rep only perform half the normal range of motion and then return to starting position to begin the next rep. ex. one full rep of lat pull downs, pull second rep all the way down, resist weight back up but only half way and then pull back down)
These are just a few examples of methods of increasing intensity to ensure progress. The key point to remember is that whatever you do it must be progressive in order for it to elicit a physical change. This is even more critical for those looking to add muscle size.

Although this article is geared towards individuals who are interested in gaining muscle size, the principles can also be used for individuals who want to build strength, increase metabolism, or tighten and tone muscles.

Here are some general recommendations for different goals…




If your goal is to tighten and tone muscles:

  • Focus on increasing reps, decreasing rest, and changing exercises frequently
  • Train each muscle group twice per week
  • Perform fewer sets of many different exercises (1-2 sets per exercise)

Strength and power

If your goal is to increase strength and power:
  • Focus on increasing weight
  • Train each muscle group once every 7-10 days
  • Perform multiple sets of each exercise (2-5 sets per exercise) 


Increase muscle size
If your goal is to increase muscle size
  • Focus on shocking muscles by changing variables frequently (exercises, set and rep schemes, rest time, etc)
  • Train each muscle group on a variable schedule (experiment by training a muscle group 3 times a week and then once every ten days)
  • Perform multiple sets for a while and the perform single sets for a week or two
Some final reminders:
The recommendations above are general and of course would need to be adapted and adjusted for your personal goals and experience. For those of you who are advanced and may be thinking there’s no way you can build strength by training once every 10 days I challenge you to try it for at least 4 weeks, or those of you who think that you need to stick to the same basic movements like bench to build size I challenge you to try shocking the muscles by changing the exercises you perform each week for 4 weeks, and those of you with little experience I hope that you’ll throw away the fitness magazines and learn what really works.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Amino Acids And BCAAs Supplements

Amino Acids And BCAAs

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Bodybuilders can especially benefit from supplementing amino acids because they aid in repair, growth, and development of muscle tissue. Among the most beneficial and effective supplements in any sports nutrition program are branched chain amino acids. These are the essential aminos leucine, isoleucine, and valine. If you are looking for better results, make sure you are taking your amino acids! You'll be surprised at how well they work.

Amino acids supplements

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Natural Testosterone Boosters

 Testosterone Boosters

Raising your testosterone helps you to gain muscle, enhance your mood, maintain a healthy libido, and more! Steroids do a great job of raising test levels, but they are not legal for use. These all-natural products would be perfect for you!
You can also use these natural products when you are off of your prohormone cycle.
This category includes popular products with ZMA, Tribulus, and much more.

Testosterone supplements

Vitamin supplements

 Multi-Vitamins

Vit-supplements
You can't forget about this! It seems so basic and simple, but it's very important! If you are deficient in even one vitamin or mineral, your gains can really be hampered. A good multi-vitamin is a must for the best gains in muscle mass, not to mention good health.
People who are working out need more vitamins than the average couch potato, so your supermarket brands won't cut it.