Posts Tagged ‘build muscle mass’
So, how many kilos can you bench? It is one of the most often asked questions by strength athletes and bodybuilders the world over. 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) Do Drop Sets. These are really effective for giving your chest a massive muscle burn and really stressing the muscles. 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 once more take some more weight off the bar and perform as many more reps as you possibly can. Keep reducing the weight on the bar in this fashion until their is no weight left or until you are not able to complete any more reps. This is one method that is very intense and will leave you feeling very sore for a number of days to come. Ensure that your protein intake remains at a high level in order to aid you in building the muscle back stronger.
2) Quit training your chest. Rather train the triceps by themselves for a change. 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. As your triceps do a great deal of the work along with your chest muscles when benchpressing it stands to reason that you will be able to press more.
3) 10 sets of 10 repetitions. This is one more intense and tough technique, indeed Arnold Schwarzenegger was a big fan of this technique. Basically you lift as much as you can for ten reps rest and do another ten reps. Repeat this until you have done ten sets of ten reps. 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. Again expect to be sore for a week after this workout but also expect to increase your benchpress when you do return to bench pressing again. This is perhaps the fastest way to gain muscle on your chest if done correctly nd is great no no nonsense muscle building.
OK, I hope you found that useful so why not go ahead and give those tips a try in your next pecs workout.
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.
Take on board 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. Great sources of this are: oily fish, natural peanut butter, avocado, and oily dressings.
Take on board casein protein. This type of protein takes a greater length of time to digest so therefore it creates an ongoing release of protein. 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.
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 is a severely intense technique that can trigger muscle growth even in very hard to grow muscles. Simply do your set as normal and when you have squeezed out your last rep reduce the weight by 10 percent and do more reps, then reduce the weight once more. Keep going with this process as many times as you can but be aware that you will experience extreme burn and be very sore the following day.
Drink water. It is wise not to understimate the benefits of being well hydrated during the entire day. water is critical for many reactions in the body especially muscle building ones.
Keep educating yourself. There are many new ways, techniques and strategies to try in developing 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. If you wanto to look lean and ripped we highly recommend the following burn the fat build the muscle ebook. Finally, good luck.
Perhaps you have been through this type of thing before where by you have decided to improve your health and fitness and in the beginning you felt really motivated. Maybe you sat and watched an inspiring film that prompted you to do something, perhaps a friend of yours you hadn’t seen for a while turned up having lost a lot of weight or having gained a good deal of muscle mass or perhaps you were simply fed up of feeling unhealthy. Whatever the reason you started exercising and continued to do so for a few weeks.
However after a while your motivation decreased, you got busy at work, you got tired of making the effort or the results weren’t as good as you’d hoped for and you unconsciously quit your healthy exercise lifestyle. If that all sounds familiar then here are a few easy ways to help regain and sustain your motivation for a healthier lifestyle:
Try setting an enjoyable goal. For example how about planning a walking holiday to the canadian Rockies, the himalayas or a mountain biking or kayaking trip to some other similar exotic adventurous destination. Now with this trip in your future plans you really do have something to aim for. In order to make the most your trip to the you really ought to be in the best physical shape possible. If you plan your trip for say 5 months in advance then straight away you have a sensible goal to hang your fitness plans around.
Optin to take part in a local area event. Is there a local fun run, half marathon or something else similar, I’ll bet there is, gte online and find out. Work towards one of these events as a goal to aim for. Think about informing a close friend who can then come along to watch and encourage you on the day and provide you with encouragement beforehand.
Take up a sport or hobby, this doesn’t have to be an ultra serious thing just a light hearted game of soccer or hockey at the weekends but it gives you an easy and enjoyable way to monitor your fitness levels. The first few sessions you will feel the strain but over the course of a few weeks you will get noticeably better.
Visualise. Although this may sound a little strange at first, find a few minutes every day to draw a picture in your imagination of exactly how you want your life to be. Carrying this out trigger powerful signals to be sent to your sub conscious mind that are about your everyday decisions and day to day actions. Continue to do this and your behaviour will begin to modify itself naturally to lead you towards your goals. Many top sports men use this technique mainly because it works.
Get your pet dog, friends and family involved. The more that you get involved the less likely you are to throw the towel in and quit. You are a great deal less likely to be lazy and be inactive at home if your mates are phoning and texting you to get you to go to join them.
Educate yourself. Be curious find out about how to build muscle up, find out how to get a 6 pack, find out how to shed pounds, find out what muscle building nutrition you need for no nonsense muscle building and so on. By growing your knowledge you are quite probably going to improve the speed of your fitness improvement which in turn will serve to enhance your motivation.
Don’t compare yourself to others. I don’t care who exactly you are there is aways going to be people fitter, sexier, more muscular or whatever than you are. Acknowledge this fact and realise that we all travel through this life process each from our own different perspectives. Only compare yourself to yourself using accirate statistics such as percentage body fat and so on but remember the crucial thing here is not the numbers it is do you feel good, if you do the chances are you are fitter and will kepp exercising.
So, with those tips in mind go hit the gym and do whatever it is that you enjoy doing to keep fit, build lean muscle mass or whatever else you want to do, you can do it, just keep it fun. The following is highly recommended for lean muslc growth burn the fat build the muscle book.
Muscle building nutrition is actually very simple and is a major factor in your bodybuilding success. However many people seem to get confused when they are putting together a muscle building diet. For that reason here is a simple and easy to understand and implement set of guidelines that anyone can use to build muscle up. Here they are:
1) Eat 5-7 small meals each day. This give your muscle a constant supply of energy and lowers tha chances of your body retaining food a fat. Scrap your three meals per day mindset. This is definitly one of the most important weight gain tips going.
2) Each meal should contain around 30 grams of protein in it and also quality carbohydrates. rice, potatoes, past and bread ensure that carbs are readily available. Tuna, red meats, egg whites and milk are excellent sources of protein.
3) Use supplements. The most basic supplement required is a whey protein supplement that should be taken immediately after training and prior to sleeping.
4) Do not eat simple carbohydrates (sugary items). although they provide an immediate boost of energy this will drop off very soon leaving you flat. It can upset your insulin metabolism and also increase that chances of fat storage.
5) Steer clear of too much salt and fats. Good fats originating from olive oil, peanut butter and fish are healthy for you and ought to be included in your diet however fats originating from vegetable oil, butter and animal fats need to be removed totally, that takes any junk food out of the equation too!
6) Eat a pre workout meal. This should take the form of a good size portion of carbohydrates, protein and a hydrating liquid about an hour before your session. this will provide ample energy for your workout and also ensure that protein is there instantly for your muscle growth and repair.
7) Be sure to get post workout nutrition. Carbs and protein are essential at this time due to that fact that the muscle have just been broken down. A whey protein shake is ideal for this. Be sure to get 40 grams of protein at this critical time.
Always drink enough water. This is the single most important part of your diet. Your muscle tissue quality is reliant upon this and it is also critical for all reactions that take place within the body.
And finally, make sure you are eating plenty of calories. To build muscle you have to take in an excess amount of calories than you burn off. If you do not eat enough then you will not build muscle up at all. So now you know how to get bigger muscles know excuses go do it!
There are hundreds of different exercises you can do with free weights and resistance machines or with just your body weight to build up muscles. 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. Try and include them in your workouts now and again for variety. new reasons for your muscles to grow and the prevention of boredom setting in are achieved by adding variation to your workouts.
For skinny calve muscles have a go at skipping with a jump rope, donkey raises and running on the beach to trigger muscle growth. You will get a real burn in your calves and get good growth from running on sand and or from skipping using a jump rope. 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. A training partner or two then jump on to your back and you raise your body up and down by flexing your calf muscles. 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.
Can you remember the last time you performed dips to hit your chest muscles? The entire chest region and triceps can be hit by doing dips. Some of the older gyms have parallel bars installed in them for this precise exercise. Often they form a v shape which allows you to use different grips. This allows you to really target various areas of the chest muscle and triceps effectively.
Try hitting your hamstrings with stiff legged deadlifts. This exercise is used very little which is surprising being as it is so effective. The motion is the same as deadlifts but you must maintain straight legs throughout by bending at the waist, keeping a straight back and lifting the barbell upwards. Keep control of the weight by ensuring that it is close to your legs whilst raising it and be warned that this exercise can make your hamstrings very sore for the following day.
Experiment with hammer curls for bicep growth! these are basically the same as normal curls with one significant difference, you must keep the palm of the hand facing towards the body at all times. This directs much stress on to an inner bicep muscle giving it both thickness and size throughout and is named the brachialis muscle, the exercise also hits the main bicep muscle too.To prevent yourself from using momentum when curl stand with your back firmly against the corner of a wall.
When was the last time you noticed anyone hitting their quads with lunges in the weights room? These are awesome for your quads providing both 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. That is a real killer of a mass builder!
so go ahead and switch your workout around a little to include some of these great exercises for building lean muscle mass.
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 doing a muscle building routine build muscle fastest whilst still doing cardio, indeed is it even possible?
Well often you will read that in order to build muscles fastest you should keep cardio workouts to a minimum. 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. Both of these two things contribute to the same problem, namely, not getting enough calories on board. This leads to the question of how many calories should I therefore be eating?
Well, to keep at the same weight every day you would be required to consume enough calories to cover the energy usage of your body as if it were resting (basal metabolic rate), then eat enough extra calories to provide energy for your workouts. Each day you need to eat a further 500 calories if you wish to build muscle mass.
Is there a method to work out this number?
Yes, there definitely is and one way of finding this total is by following the Katch-McArdle formula (BMR based on lean body weight). Here it is:
Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wght in kg) + (5 X hght 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 equals BMR X 1.55 (sports 3-5 days/wk/moderate exercise)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/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 amount will cover your daily energy needs. To suit your specific goals you should then adjust this total. If your target is to build muscle mass then you will need to consume a further 500 calories each and everyday.
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!
Ok, awesome, you have made the decision that it is about time you bulked up and put on some muscle mass. Whether it is because you want to look good at the beach or you have just watched another ‘Rocky’ movie or you just want to improve your sporting performance. So clearly you know that weight training is going to be necessary. However you may not be aware of what to eat to build muscle and of the correct muscle building nutrition. This short guide will show you exactly what to eat but first we’ll go through a few of the basic guidelines for a sensible muscle building diet.
Firstly to build muscle, eat more often. Try eating 5-7 small meals per 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. It will will be impossible to build muscle if you do not take on enough excess calories. 5-6 small meals every day will mean that you can take on enough calories without stuffing yourself too much at any single meal.
Secondly, you will need to cut out a lot of the junk food that you are probably eating at the moment. 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 need to drink a good deal more water than you had been doing before. try to keep a bottle of water to hand at all times, perhaps leave one in your car. nearly all of the bodies reactions require water to some degree or other and that includes muscle growing reactions too.
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. Include these sources of protein in your meals as much as you can as these are all great for muscle building. Be aware that these are high in saturated fat so you would be wise to mix them with the following foods that supply protein but with much 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 short term energy to be consumed near your workouts try fruits such as apple, raisins, orange, grapes, bananas and sports drinks.
The fat portion of your meals will come naturally from the above foods. Also make sure you include plentiful lefy green vegetables which are packed full of vital vitmains and minerals. If you have spare cash for supplements then shoot for a decent multi-vitamin, whey protein, essential fatty acids and possibly creatine.
Finally a word on timing of your meals. 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.
Everyone knows to build muscle up one of the best exercises for the upper body is the bench press. One of the first questions you are likely to be asked by another bodybuilder 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 now and get a bigger bench press:
Grow your triceps. As musch as two thirds of the entire muscle mass on your arms comes from the tricep muscle. it is more than likely that weak tris 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. Isolation exercises like tricep press-downs are less effective. They can certainly aid in increasing your benchpress.
Why not experiment by doing a seperate session for your triceps alone. More often than not muscle building programs will suggest that you train the triceps along with the chest. Try training them on their own for a change. Doing so enables you to really shred them intensely and stimulate that muscle to grow. Do this over a period of a few weeks and then go back and see how many more weight discs you can press.
Variety. have you been doing the same old routine for months on end? time to vary it up. 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. Too much training for your chest muscles means it takes longer for them to recover and develop. 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.
Quality rest. Your muscles are not going to grow in the gym! They grow when they are resting. You won’t grow if you don’t allow enough time to grow. Of course, never train when your muscles are sore and a good guideline is only do 6-9 sets each session for the chest, more than this risks over training.
Take some time-off. if you have hit a chest muscle mass building plateau then have a break. 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.
Use negatives as a form of pushing your chest muscle harder during a bench press workout. Negatives are when you get the help from two spotters to intially aid you to press the weight upwards but who then let you take the full weight and lower it by yourself under control. This is done because people are able to lower more than they can lift. Therefore if we are able to make the body lower more weight it is probable that this will aid us for the lifting phase too. The negative portion of the lift is proven to develop more muscle growth than the effort phase.
Double check your diet. Are you eating 5-7 meals a day with approximately 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight? If you are not then it is quite possible that you are restricting your gains by not adopting fully a muscle building diet. 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: essential fatty acids, whey protein and multi-vitamins are great starting points.
Focus on your technique. Are you pressing correctly. Bad technique can move the focus away from the chest muscles and put you at a greater risk of getting injured. Ensure you are not moving your feet up off the floor and that your hands are not grasping the bar too closely together, these are two easy and often made errors.
By following the guidelines above you should be able to answer the question of how to get a big chest and you will be giving yourself the best chance to build up muscle on your chest fast. Go get them!
As you have already gotten past the headline you probably know what a hardgainer is. If you are not aware of the term that basically it kind be defined as some one who has immense difficulty putting on weight in the form of fat or muscle! Often this is put down to the fact that that person has a really fast metabolism.
Metabolism also called metabolic rate is the rate at which your body uses up calories whilst performing the natural reactions required by the body to live. If your metabolic rate is very slow then it is easy to gain fat tissue as you are not using up as many calories at rest as someone who has a higher metabolic rate.
For supporting muscle gains we should be trying to creat a surplus amount of calories, this is difficult for hardgainers as they rapaidly use up their calories even at rest. So, what actions can hardgainers take to overcome this? Here is our how to build muscle quickly guide for hardgainers:
1) Keep the cardio workouts to a minimum. Aerobic workouts will clearly consume calories during the exercise but will also increase your metabolic rate so that you continue to burn off calories at a faster speed even when resting. You do not want this as you are trying to create surplus calories.
2) Consume enough for two! You need to consume lots of calories. You can try to do this by simply increasing your portions two fold from that which you would normally eat. Buying extra large bowls, plates and cups will help you not to forget this.
3) Take on board every day 5-7 meals. This is critical to build up muscle. Your body is only capable of extracting out of the food a certain amount of nutrients at any given time so small frequently meals are necessary to make the most of its capacity. Eating 2-3 meals per day is claimed to slow down the bodies metabolism which is true but this doesn’t mean it is something that hardgainers sould do. Why? Because your body may slip into starvation mode and release muscle building inhibiting chemicals.
4) Take supplements. Make use of the fantastic meal replacement powders and protein drinks that are readily available nowadays. These contain large amounts of precisely the things you need. Excellent moments to consume them are immediately post training and immediately prior to training a this is when your body needs them the most.
Stop performing exercises like concentration curls and stick with classic compound mass building exercises. Your workout has to include: dead lifts, pull ups, squats and bench presses. These are the best and quickest method to build muscle mass in the right places fastest.
6) Stop performing so many exercises and sets. Muscle mass growth can be ignited by performing just 10 sets per session with only 3 sets per body part. More generally does not equal success for hardgainers! ignite growth then shoot out of the gym and keep your calories available for growing.
7) Drink ample amounts of water. It is crucial for many important reactions in the body so don’t forget to do this. Drink lots and often.
There we go, give those muscle building tips a try. Be persistent with these for a couple of months before your judge them. Simply try them out and see what happens? I hope you found our how to build muscle up tips useful.
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 sufficient categorisation for now although there are several further types of vegetarians.
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 begin to discuss the idealistic side of things such as being less cruel to animals, saving food for starving others, conserving the rainforest, becoming more friendly to the enviroment 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 actually contains more higher levels of protein than beef and is also a complete protein meaning that it contains all eight essential amino acids. Soy is easy to get you hands on in forms such as: seitan, miso, tempeh, textured soy protein, soy milk and of course tofu. These can all be included in a variety of tasty recipes and dishes. Decent amounts of amino acids and proteins can also be found in rice, beans, seeds, legumes, nuts and even in vegetables.
Ok so straight away that is protein deficiency taken off the myth list now what about vitamins and minerals like: calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin D, and vitamin B12?
Well, supplements should be taken by vegans for this. Vitamin B 12 is found in dairy products so other types of vegetarians ought to never go short of this. As regards the others a decent meal replacement powder will see you through to getting adequate supplies of these. 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 up 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. Of course a key factor to your diet succes will be the ability to plan, however this is just as crucial for meat eating bodybuilders also. With the above guidelines in mind go ahead and build muscle vegetarian style!!