If you are clueless at the gym and yet hungry for
plain, good 'ol professional advice to help you on the road to that sculpted
physique of a Greek god, fret not! All you have to do is to have a solid
commitment, use the knowledge gleaned from this article and you will attain
the body you want pronto. But remember to warm up and cool down, as well as
stretching before and after each session; Or even better, after each set for
better muscle recovery and prevention of injuries.
Use Free Weights instead of Machines More Often
Machines will have its uses, but for a start, concentrate on free weights.
That means work almost exclusively with barbells and dumb bells. Free
weights recruit many stabilizing muscles for balance and control. That means
you will work a lot more muscle parts other than the intended ones. That
will give rise to little bumps, striations and definitions all over your
body instead of one huge lump of muscle on your intended muscle. Because of
the extra stimulant created, your muscles grow faster too. Why else do you
think all professional body builders almost exclusively use free weights?
Compound Exercises Instead Of Isolation Exercises
Use as many compound exercises as possible to your workouts. Compound
exercises are exercises that involve 2 or more joint movements. Because they
utilize more joints, that means greater muscle mass are involved. Greater
muscle mass means heavier weights. Heavier weights means greater muscle
gain.
Some excellent compound exercises are the Squat, Deadlift, Chin ups, Dips,
Bench press, Barbell Press, Lunges, Bent-Over Barbell Row...etc.
Train with Intensity
You must train intensively like a mad man for your muscle to grow. Try to do
more reps or add more weight than the previous session or your muscles will
think, "Ah... we've done that. Nothing new, so no need to grow bigger and
stronger."
Because of this, it is important that every time you train hard, you give
your body time to recover as it has suffered strains and actually sustained
many small scarring. Your muscles grow when you rest, especially when you
sleep and not in the gym. So sleep at least 8 hours a day. Also, do not
train everyday or work the same muscle group more than once or twice a week.
If your training was vigorous enough, do no more than an hour per session.
Try not to do cardio work on the same day as your weight lifting work. In
fact, during the muscle building phase, you should do less cardio work as
aerobic exercises burn muscles. You can increase your cardio work when we
come to the cutting phase, to lose fats and gain rippling definition.
Correct Technique And Form
Everywhere, everyday, you will see people using wrong form and technique
when training with weights. This not only compromises your growth, it will
also make you susceptible to injuries.
Wrong form occurs usually when people try to lift weights that are too
heavy, whether out of vanity or ignorance. As a guide, always lift with
strict focus on the muscle you intend to build for that particular exercise.
Feel it contract and extend. Lift the weights deliberately and slowly. Never
ever swing your weights up especially when doing bicep curls or the military
press. Lower the weights slowly, taking about 3 seconds instead of letting
gravity pull the weight down. You must fight gravity to stimulate the
muscles, if not, half of your effort is going to waste. Another common
mistake is when people arch their back when they are doing their bench
presses. By arching your back, you are using your spine to press the weight
up. Your back must be pressed against the bench at all times for the
exercise to be effectively working on your chest! However you MUST arch your
back when doing squats and deadlift.
With some exceptions, as a general rule, if you can lift a weight in good
form for more than 10 reps, it is too light. Conversely, if you can't lift
it more than 5 times in good form, it is too heavy.
To Grow Fast and Huge, You Must Perform Lower Body Exercises!
This is what most people don't realize. Your lower body makes up 60-70% of
your musculature. If you don't train them, not only will you look
spider-legged, your entire body will not grow as quickly and as large. Don't
think that you can hide those skinny legs in your pants! Most people do not
train their legs because squats, dead lifts and lunges can be very grueling
exercises. But it is precisely because of such intensity that you will
produce more growth hormones when you sleep and overall muscular development
is stimulated.
EAT and EAT Correctly
Losing weight and building muscles cannot happen at the same time although
there are methods to do so and will be too technical to describe here. To
lose weight, you must have a caloric deficit. To build muscles, you must
have more calories, period! So do not be afraid to eat. Have plenty of
protein, moderate complex carbs and some good oil like Omega, olive,
flaxseed, fish etc., especially immediately after a workout. That is when
your body is most nutrient hungry and will absorb whatever you eat very
quickly. The longer you delay eating after a workout, the less effective it
will be. Even better, take quick absorption protein shakes and high glycemic
carbs during this time. The carbs will induce insulin production almost
immediately and shuttle the protein to your muscle cells very quickly.
Eat about 2 gm of protein for each kg of your bodyweight or 1 gm per pound
of your body weight. Spread your meals evenly throughout the day about 3
hours apart. It is advisable that you have supplementation of Creatine,
Protein, Multivitamins and L-Glutamine.
Yes, you will probably gain weight, but a lot of it will be muscle weight
because muscles are heavier than fats. You may also gain some fats because
of the extra calories consumed. Don't worry, it is a happy problem because
the more muscles you have, the easier the fats are to shed when you come to
the cutting up phase to get those rippling definitions.
Easy isn't it? Now that you know the facts, the rest is up to your
determination.
Author Info:
Chris Chew: Chris Chew is a personal trainer and
count actors, pageant winners, models and other celebrities as his clients.
He runs a fitness training school in Singapore at
http://www.sgfitnessonline.com and has written the
book "Burn Fat Build Muscles Fast." See his books at
http://www.sgfitness.com
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Most people will say that bodybuilding
supplements are vital to any bodybuilder's training program. Among the top
of the bodybuilding supplements is creatine. Bodybuilder's believe that
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supplements. As a bodybuiler I consistently interact with people
supplementing their diet with creatine.