Building muscle
might seem as simple as going to the gym and exercising, but sadly for some, myself included, the muscle gains do not come as easily or as quickly as we would like.
This is not because we exercise with any less intensity than those that do bulk up. If anything, we scrawnier folk probably exercise harder and more often than those that have more muscle, simply because we are not seeing the gains and think we need to workout more. This is actually one of the main reasons for not getting any real gains, because over working the body can be just as bad as not exercising at all.
The reasons for little or no muscle gains can be as varying as the people themselves; testosterone levels, metabolism, over working the body and not giving yourself enough recovery time, or it could be wrong training routines for your particular body frame etc...
But luckily there are a few important things that we can do that really make the difference between no gains and large gains, and the best thing is, it does not involve any drugs or supplements. Simply adjusting the way in which you workout and eat will dramatically change your physical appearance in the mirror very quickly.
1. Large multi-joint compound exercises
Regardless of whether you are trying to gain muscle mass or lose weight, you should always focus the majority of your workout time on big multi-joint exercises, and treat isolation exercises secondary to the rest. It is the large multi-joint exercises that should comprise the majority of your workout if you want to get lean, build muscle, get ripped and become powerful and strong. You should think of these multi-joint exercises as the major movement patterns such as those below.
-Upper body horizontal rows (1-arm dumbbell rows, seated cable rows, bent over barbell rows)
-Upper body horizontal press (bench press, dips, push ups)
-upper body vertical pull (pullups, chinups, lat pulldowns)
-upper body vertical press (dumbbell and overhead barbell presses, barbell or kettlebell clean & presses)
-lower body squatting (back squats, bodyweight squats, front squats, overhead squats, etc)
-lower body deadlifting (regular deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, sumo deadlifts)
-lower body single leg (jump lunges, lunges, set-ups, etc)
This should also include abdominal and core exercises, but these are still second priority to the major upper and lower body multi-joint exercises. Your abs will get a solid workout anyway from most major multi-joint exercises.
Some single-joint exercises that you might frequently focus on to build muscle, such as bicep curls, tricep presses, calf presses, shoulder lateral raises, etc... should again be 2nd priority to the major multi-joint routine. You can add these to your workout, but always remember that these should be treated as additions and should not be your main focus.
2. Keep your workouts short and to the point
The goal should be high intensity workouts, 3-4 days a week, 45-60 minutes per training workout.
You probably don't need to be told that you should exercise at a high intensity rate, that's something most know already, and have likely been doing since day one in the gym. On the other hand maybe you do need to be told that you should not exercise any longer than 60 minutes, as training too much beyond this point can start to trigger excess catabolism, where your body starts to use its own proteins (which are found in cells), as an alternative energy source. Basically if you over exercise, your body can start to burn tissue as fuel, and that can't be a good thing. There are supplements around that help to counter excess catabolism and protect muscle tissue, but a more efficient 45-60 minute, high intensity workout is going to give you the greatest results.
If you tend to train longer than 60 minutes in any one session, you could try a super-set style of workout program, which will condense training time and considerably increase intensity. The super-set is a very simple concept... you simply do two exercises back-to-back, with no rest break in between.
You can make them any combinations you like, for example you could combine squats with pullups, or deadlifts with bench press. The choice is yours. Your super-sets could consist of a combination between upper body and lower body workouts, or two consecutive upper body workouts, or lower body workouts. To mix it up even further you could play around with heavier weights and varying sets and reps. Remember, your workout routines should be fun so mix it up until you find some combinations that you enjoy.
You will quickly find that you will experience considerable muscle mass gains when you start using super-sets, and of course you can adjust your calorie intake to suit your goals, whether it be to lose body fat or to gain muscle. Super-sets are very effective at doing both.
3. Eat quality whole foods
Once again, we can not escape how essential nutrition is to your weight training or dieting. You should eat healthy whole foods and do your best to stay away from highly processed foods and even some of those over hyped meal replacements, supplements and bars. More often than not, a healthy, whole food diet will beat supplements hands down. Sure they have their place, but they could never be a substitute for real whole foods.
Whole foods such as eggs, meats, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts, and dairy, provided it is raw whole dairy, offer the best quality protein, as well as additional nutrition you get from vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The body can absorb these nutrients much better when they come from whole foods. The more greener, organic and grass fed this whole food, the better. This is much better than processed protein powders, bars and meal replacements.
I will go out on a limb here and make an assumption that many people who either find it difficult to pack on the muscle or find it hard to lose the excess stomach fat, will have a stack of over hyped supplements in their cupboards. Yes? Sure some of these supplements are really helpful and do make a difference, but the majority are not.
My advice, give whole foods another try. Rather than spend the excess money on six different supplements a week, start buying whole, organic and grass fed food. You will notice a difference.
So in conclusion, change what you are focusing on in the gym and spend the bulk of your training time on large multi-joint exercises, which will get you lean and ripped.
Cut back the time you are in the gym, and lift the intensity level by adding different super-set combinations to your training program. This will crank up the muscle development very quickly.
Last but not least, cut back on all the over hyped supplements, protein bars, and meal replacements. Instead seek out raw, whole, grass fed food and start giving your body what it really wants.
might seem as simple as going to the gym and exercising, but sadly for some, myself included, the muscle gains do not come as easily or as quickly as we would like.
This is not because we exercise with any less intensity than those that do bulk up. If anything, we scrawnier folk probably exercise harder and more often than those that have more muscle, simply because we are not seeing the gains and think we need to workout more. This is actually one of the main reasons for not getting any real gains, because over working the body can be just as bad as not exercising at all.
The reasons for little or no muscle gains can be as varying as the people themselves; testosterone levels, metabolism, over working the body and not giving yourself enough recovery time, or it could be wrong training routines for your particular body frame etc...
But luckily there are a few important things that we can do that really make the difference between no gains and large gains, and the best thing is, it does not involve any drugs or supplements. Simply adjusting the way in which you workout and eat will dramatically change your physical appearance in the mirror very quickly.
1. Large multi-joint compound exercises
Regardless of whether you are trying to gain muscle mass or lose weight, you should always focus the majority of your workout time on big multi-joint exercises, and treat isolation exercises secondary to the rest. It is the large multi-joint exercises that should comprise the majority of your workout if you want to get lean, build muscle, get ripped and become powerful and strong. You should think of these multi-joint exercises as the major movement patterns such as those below.
-Upper body horizontal rows (1-arm dumbbell rows, seated cable rows, bent over barbell rows)
-Upper body horizontal press (bench press, dips, push ups)
-upper body vertical pull (pullups, chinups, lat pulldowns)
-upper body vertical press (dumbbell and overhead barbell presses, barbell or kettlebell clean & presses)
-lower body squatting (back squats, bodyweight squats, front squats, overhead squats, etc)
-lower body deadlifting (regular deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, sumo deadlifts)
-lower body single leg (jump lunges, lunges, set-ups, etc)
This should also include abdominal and core exercises, but these are still second priority to the major upper and lower body multi-joint exercises. Your abs will get a solid workout anyway from most major multi-joint exercises.
Some single-joint exercises that you might frequently focus on to build muscle, such as bicep curls, tricep presses, calf presses, shoulder lateral raises, etc... should again be 2nd priority to the major multi-joint routine. You can add these to your workout, but always remember that these should be treated as additions and should not be your main focus.
2. Keep your workouts short and to the point
The goal should be high intensity workouts, 3-4 days a week, 45-60 minutes per training workout.
You probably don't need to be told that you should exercise at a high intensity rate, that's something most know already, and have likely been doing since day one in the gym. On the other hand maybe you do need to be told that you should not exercise any longer than 60 minutes, as training too much beyond this point can start to trigger excess catabolism, where your body starts to use its own proteins (which are found in cells), as an alternative energy source. Basically if you over exercise, your body can start to burn tissue as fuel, and that can't be a good thing. There are supplements around that help to counter excess catabolism and protect muscle tissue, but a more efficient 45-60 minute, high intensity workout is going to give you the greatest results.
If you tend to train longer than 60 minutes in any one session, you could try a super-set style of workout program, which will condense training time and considerably increase intensity. The super-set is a very simple concept... you simply do two exercises back-to-back, with no rest break in between.
You can make them any combinations you like, for example you could combine squats with pullups, or deadlifts with bench press. The choice is yours. Your super-sets could consist of a combination between upper body and lower body workouts, or two consecutive upper body workouts, or lower body workouts. To mix it up even further you could play around with heavier weights and varying sets and reps. Remember, your workout routines should be fun so mix it up until you find some combinations that you enjoy.
You will quickly find that you will experience considerable muscle mass gains when you start using super-sets, and of course you can adjust your calorie intake to suit your goals, whether it be to lose body fat or to gain muscle. Super-sets are very effective at doing both.
3. Eat quality whole foods
Once again, we can not escape how essential nutrition is to your weight training or dieting. You should eat healthy whole foods and do your best to stay away from highly processed foods and even some of those over hyped meal replacements, supplements and bars. More often than not, a healthy, whole food diet will beat supplements hands down. Sure they have their place, but they could never be a substitute for real whole foods.
Whole foods such as eggs, meats, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts, and dairy, provided it is raw whole dairy, offer the best quality protein, as well as additional nutrition you get from vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The body can absorb these nutrients much better when they come from whole foods. The more greener, organic and grass fed this whole food, the better. This is much better than processed protein powders, bars and meal replacements.
I will go out on a limb here and make an assumption that many people who either find it difficult to pack on the muscle or find it hard to lose the excess stomach fat, will have a stack of over hyped supplements in their cupboards. Yes? Sure some of these supplements are really helpful and do make a difference, but the majority are not.
My advice, give whole foods another try. Rather than spend the excess money on six different supplements a week, start buying whole, organic and grass fed food. You will notice a difference.
So in conclusion, change what you are focusing on in the gym and spend the bulk of your training time on large multi-joint exercises, which will get you lean and ripped.
Cut back the time you are in the gym, and lift the intensity level by adding different super-set combinations to your training program. This will crank up the muscle development very quickly.
Last but not least, cut back on all the over hyped supplements, protein bars, and meal replacements. Instead seek out raw, whole, grass fed food and start giving your body what it really wants.
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