Posts Tagged ‘Mass Building Workouts’

Muscle building is a continuum. There is no “end” to it. You can always build more muscle than you have. What makes this really challenging is that the process by which you efficiently build muscle changes as you move through the continuum. Beginning lifters should use different training parameters than professionals. A further complicating factor is that your body is a variable as well. How do you account for that?For example your body type makes a huge difference in the type of training you should do. So as you can see finding that right mix becomes very difficult. This is one of the reasons that I struggle with the “Programs” that so many offer. I would never suggest that anybodies program doesn’t work. Of course it did for them. That’s why they offer it up to you. But with all the variables at play will they work for you? Very possibly. Or not.The point is you have to know how muscle works, how it is built and then given your body type, goals, experience and many other things, try different techniques until you find some that work for you and that you enjoy doing. My guess is that it will be some of this and some of that.But one of the greatest challenges you will face is the one of age. That is one variable that will stand everything else on its head. You see a professional at 30 will HAVE to train differently at 50, all else equal. Now THAT becomes challenging. When something has been working, possibly for years, doesn’t anymore what are you to do? I am not talking about plateau busting, this isn’t that simple. No I am talking about the two biggest factors (possibly) in muscle building, your definition of 100% effort for a workout and your recovery time. Granted these variables change gradually but they also change dramatically. At 50 gone are the two a day splits and blasting chest 3 times a week. Actually these have been gone for a while, but you get my point. So how do you teach an old dog new tricks?Square 1. If you’ve been paying attention, I am not about “programs”. Knowledge is King! As I write this Greg Norman at 53 years old, is leading the British Open Golf Tournament, beating every other player in the world (except Tiger who isn’t playing). This includes the best in the world that’s half his age. You think Norman prepared for this event the same way he did when he was 30(and won it)? You think his routine at the event is the same now as it was then? Now he probably won’t win, but he doesn’t need to. He’s made his point already. At his age, at this point in his career, what he needs to be successful and how he got there are DIFFERENT then when he was 30. So how do you find the right weight lifting routine for muscle building at 50? The same way you would at 30. Learn what works for you. Now.

People walk right past the most important item in the gym everyday without even realizing that it is the key to mass building success. If you use this every time you workout you will actually begin to obtain the body that you think you are building, but probably aren’t, and can’t figure out why.The entire field of muscle building boils down to one very simple concept. Break the muscle down with X amount of weight so that when it recovers it can do that same amount of work the next time without breaking down again. So to get bigger, you must use X plus weight to break the muscle down, it recovers to handle this amount and on and on.Now there are many variables that factor in to this process. Things like nutrition, supplements, amount of rest and so on. But the concept is fixed. Many things affect the process but only by understanding the concept and then following through with it again and again can you even have a chance at muscle mass gains. It’s obvious that you can do all the variable things involved in muscle building, but if you don’t hit the gym and understand this concept, there will be no gain.Understanding this concept then means lifting X plus weight in every workout for the same body part right? Do you? Probably not. Why? Well lots of reasons. But the REAL reason is ego, and not REALLY understanding the concept of muscle building. If you can bench 200 today for x reps and x sets. Your goal for the very next chest workout is what? It should be x reps and x sets at 200 PLUS! So the most important part is the PLUS! Which leads me to the most important item in the gym.The 1 pound weight plate.Do you EVER use it? I didn’t think so. Using the bench example, when you tear the muscle down with 200 and it recovers to handle the same load again do you need to tear it down with 210? 225? 245? Let’s say 225. When it recovers in a couple days and you work chest again can you handle the 225 easy? So this workout let’s use 250 and then 275 and then 300. See, it doesn’t work that way. If it did you would be benching tons in months. So why lift that way?So why don’t people use 1 pound weights? Not impressive enough? The reason I hear a lot is that they are TOO light and don’t make any difference. They can’t even tell they are on the bar. Isn’t that the POINT? If you add a 1 pound plate to each side every workout, and you train chest say ONCE a week, in a year you’ll be benching a 100 pounds more than today. Are you benching 100 pounds more today than a year ago? Why again are you in the gym?

Next to “how many reps should I be doing”, “how often should I train” is the most often asked question in gyms by the people who are trying to be serious about building muscle. And for good reason. It is probably the least understood and most complex ingredient to a muscle building plan. It might also be the most important. Here is the answer.The first thing you must know is that muscle building is a continuum and therefore by definition you are never “done”. Hence where along the time line continuum are you, because that is the first variable that makes this a complex situation. The second variable is the related mass continuum. Muscle is a very metabolically active tissue. It takes a lot of work for your body to maintain it. Therefore the more muscle you have, the more it needs to be trained. The old “use it or lose it” philosophy. But you aren’t trying to simply not LOSE it you are trying to ADD to it, which now becomes the third variable. So as you can see the answer to how often to train can become quite complex very quickly. But there are some general guidelines that can help most people become more efficient at muscle building.The first is, if you are a beginning lifter (depending on age this is someone lifting for less than 6 months, 20 something’s and teenagers 3 months), train your whole body in each workout and try and do this every other day for 3 sessions then take two days in a row off. Secondly, if you have a base of lifting (not a beginner as defined above), stop training your whole body in each workout. Instead divide your sessions into 4 groups, legs, back, chest and shoulders. Train each of these twice a week, doing two groups at a time. Now you are at 4 training sessions every 7 days instead of 3.Thirdly, after plateauing, break arms out as a fifth group and train each group 3 times a week, doing 3 groups in each workout. This means each of your training sessions will be longer than before and there will be 5 workouts every 7 days. If this starts to sound like a lot of training, you are right. Remember, the more muscle you have the more it has to be trained to grow. Obviously, regardless of your level never isolate the same body part on consecutive days. Don’t work your chest two days in a row, for example. Fit abdominal work in as many days as you would like. For most people this is a body part that can’t be over trained. For advanced lifters, abs becomes the sixth group and gets trained 3 times a week like any other muscle group. Now you can see why professional bodybuilders have split sessions daily and train, basically every day. You can also see why “how often should I workout to build muscle” is a very complex question and really is unique to everyone.

There are a number of steps involved in a successful muscle building program.  To be successful all must be given equal amounts of attention. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link right?  The difficult aspect of this is that one variable in muscle building is addition by subtraction.  That’s a hard concept for most serious lifters to get their mind around.I am talking about the overlooked key to muscle building, rest and not over training.  If you’re serious enough about lifting to do it regularly in the first place, then you don’t have to be told to hit the gym, lift hard, eat right and get rest.  You already know these things, and you try and do them as best as possible.  But here’s where most people make the big mistake.Does it not make sense that, if you are doing everything “right”, that every chest work out you have, you lift exactly the same as before OR MORE?  That is the point of muscle building, right, to get stronger and bigger.  Does that happen?  Probably not.  Most people write it off to having an off day, or “being tired”.  Well duh.  Then it’s obvious that you didn’t allow yourself enough recovery time or you haven’t gotten the proper amount or quality of rest. People justify this lack of progress in each workout as “doing something is better than doing nothing”.  WRONG.The entire concept of muscle building is to build the muscle.  Not wear it out.  Sessions in the gym that do not make your muscles bigger and stronger are making them weaker and smaller!  That’s over training!  A perfect illustration of this is boxers.  After they have trained and peaked for a fight they take an extended period of time off.  One fight doesn’t make them that tired.  It’s a matter of not over training their bodies.If you use being tired, whether it’s from a day at work or a lousy night’s sleep, as a reason for not being able to match previous workouts, then again, you miss the point of muscle building.  It requires a maximum effort to exhaust the muscle, so that it can recover and grow.  Without the ability to exhaust the muscle because of a lack of energy means no growth.  Why again are you in the gym?So ask yourself going in how do I really feel?  Don’t fall victim to the age old trap of mediocrity, “movement equals progress”.  It doesn’t.  Only movement in the correct direction does.

You see the same people in the gym day after day, week after week, and they never look any different, which is okay if that is their goal. But for most it isn’t. Most people lift weights to get bigger and stronger. After years of seeing these types of people come and go, but never grow, I’ve identified the 5 most common muscle building mistakes that will hold you back forever.The first and probably the most common is doing too many reps. If doing a lot of reps was the way to build size wouldn’t carpenters have arms like Arnold did? Or wouldn’t marathon runners have huge legs? Only doing high rep (anything over work outs will NEVER allow you to add size and mass. Secondly most people do not use enough weight. This is partially because of the high rep counts they do. The idea of “lifting big to get big” seems so obvious, yet few do it. Who is bigger and stronger, the person who lifts 500 lbs once or the person who lifts 100 lbs 5 times? They both move 500 lbs of weight, but the mass building effect of each is totally different. You will never add mass or get stronger if you don’t try lifting weight amounts that you presently can’t! How does anybody ever think their muscles will grow to handle loads that they never try to lift? It is the essence of muscle building.Thirdly, most people lack the workout routine necessary to build muscle. The workouts they do seem to have no rhyme or reason. Building muscle requires a plan. Your workouts should follow that plan. You can not show up at the gym and begin doing stuff and expect it to have a positive effect on your physique. Until you adopt a muscle building plan and stick to it any gain you get will be by sheer effort and luck.The fourth common error I see is you can not, efficiently build mass and lose weight/fat at the same time. One, the other, but most likely both, will fail. This means lifting for mass gains and doing a lot of cardio exercise simultaneously will undermine your efforts. And not why you think. It has nothing to do with calorie burn. Adding muscle to your body requires a MAXIMUM effort in the weight room. If you have the energy to do a bunch of cardio before or after your lifting, then you left mass building in the gym. You should be physically spent after a muscle building session. And most definitely don’t dilute a lifting session by doing cardio first.The last common mistake I see people make is related to the previous one. Some people try to make the case that cardio workouts done on non-lifting days is the answer to the above problem. I will say it’s better than doing it the same day, but the truth really is that you need to rest 100% on your non-lifting days because it is on these days that your muscles actually do their growing. Allowing your muscles to recover is the only way you are strong enough to go back in the gym and lift more than you did before. Which is what muscle building is all about, isn’t it?