Archive for June, 2010
4 Harmful Muscle-Building Myths Uncovered
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4 Harmful Muscle-Building Myths Uncovered
If you’re serious about making a solid commitment to a muscle-building program, you need to be very careful of who you take advice from. Bodybuilding and fitness is literally a multi-billion dollar industry with new websites popping up every single day. Many of the so-called “experts” out there really don’t have a clue of what they’re talking about and are only motivated by pushing expensive pills, powders and “miracle programs” on you that you don’t really need. If you don’t watch your step you may end up falling for some fatal muscle-building pitfalls that will literally destroy your gains and prevent you from ever achieving the impressive, muscular physique you desire. In this article I’m going to expose 4 very common muscle-building myths in order to keep you on the proper path to the mind-blowing muscle and strength gains you deserve.
Myth #1: In order to build muscle, you must achieve a “pump” during your workout. The greater the pump you achieve, the more muscle you will build.
For those of you who are just starting out, a “pump” is the feeling that you get as blood becomes trapped inside the muscle tissue when you train with weights. The muscles will swell up and leave your body feeling bigger, tighter, stronger and more powerful. While a pump does feel fantastic, it has very little, if anything to do with properly stimulating your muscles to grow. A pump is simply the result of increased bloodflow to the muscle tissue and is certainly not indicative of a successful workout. A successful workout should only be gauged by the concept of progression. If you were able to lift more weight or perform more reps than you did in the previous week, then you did your job.
Myth #2: Building muscle will cause you to become slower and less flexible.
This one goes back to the old days when people described bodybuilders as being “muscle bound” and “bulky”. Contrary to what you may think, building a significant amount of lean muscle mass will actually speed you up rather than slow you down. Muscles are responsible for every movement that your body makes, from running to jumping to throwing. The bottom line is that the stronger a muscle is, the more force it can apply. Having stronger, more muscular legs means increased foot speed, just as having stronger and more muscular shoulders means the ability to throw farther. Strong muscles are able muscles, not the other way around.
Myth #3: You must always use perfect, textbook form on all exercises.
While using good form in the gym is always important, obsessing over perfect form is an entirely different matter. If you are always attempting to perform every exercise using flawless, textbook form, you will actually increase your chances of injury and simultaneously decrease the total amount of muscle stimulation you can achieve. Remember, we are not robots! It’s very important that you always move naturally when you exercise. This could mean adding a very slight sway in your back when you perform bicep curls, or using a tiny bit of body momentum when executing barbell rows. Loosen yourself up a bit and move the way your body was meant to be moved. Obsessing over perfect form will actually work against you rather than for you.
Myth #4: If you want your muscles to grow you must “feel the burn!”
This is another huge misconception in the gym. The “burning” sensation that results from intense weight training is simply the result of lactic acid (a metabolic waste product) that is secreted inside the muscle tissue as you exercise. Increased levels of lactic acid have nothing to do with muscle growth and may actually slow down your gains rather than speed them up. You can limit lactic acid production by training in a lower rep range of 5-7, rather than the traditional range of 10 and above.
2 Simple Steps To Ripped Summertime Muscles
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2 Simple Steps To Ripped Summertime Muscles
Summer is on the horizon, and the time has come to kick back and relax under the sun. It’s time for beach days, barbecues and pool parties, and for any serious weightlifter these activities also mean one thing: it’s time for the shirts to come off and to showcase that rock-solid physique they’ve been working on all year. No one wants to be walking around with a soft, smooth and flabby body, and for the next month or two, all of those serious lifters will be shifting into “get ripped” mode.
How do they usually go about this?
They lighten up the weights and perform higher reps.
This has always been a widely accepted method of “cutting down” and if you ask most trainers in the gym they’ll tell you that “heavy weights bulk up the muscle and lighter weights define the muscle”.
Do you want to know the reality behind the “light weight and high reps” method of obtaining a ripped and defined physique?
It is completely, totally and utterly DEAD WRONG.
It couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, there is no logical basis for this way of training whatsoever, and whoever dreamt up this downright ridiculous way of thinking has caused the vast majority of lifters to waste their time and impede their progress in the gym.
Let me clear this up once and for all: you CANNOT spot reduce. In other words, it is physically impossible to target fat loss from a specific area on your body. Performing bench presses with light resistance and high repetitions will not magically burn fat off of your chest or cause it to appear harder and more defined.
Every single time you wrap your hands around a barbell, dumbbell or cable, your goal is to stimulate as much muscle growth as you possibly can. There are no special, secret weightlifting exercises that will “define” your muscles or cause them to become more “ripped”.
Training with weights builds muscle mass, end of story.
So how exactly do you “define” a muscle?
The only way to “define” a muscle is by lowering your body fat level in order to make your muscles more visible. Body fat reduction can be achieved in two ways:
1) Modify your diet.
You should lower your overall caloric intake to around 15x your bodyweight and focus on consuming smaller meals more frequently throughout the day. This will keep your metabolism naturally raised at all times and will keep your body in a constant fat burning state. Limit your intake of saturated fats and simple sugars, and focus instead on consuming lean sources of protein and low glycemic carbohydrates. It is also very important to keep your water intake high at a level of around 0.6 ounces per pound of bodyweight.
2) Perform proper cardio workouts.
Let go of the traditional method of moderate intensity cardio in 30-45 minute durations. If you want to maximize your body’s fat burning capacity and also minimize the muscle loss that inevitably accompanies a fat burning cycle, focus on shorter cardio workouts performed at a high level of intensity. These types of workouts will shoot your resting metabolism through the roof and will allow you to burn maximum amounts of fat even when you are at rest. I recommend 3-5 high intensity cardio sessions per week, spaced at least 8 hours away from your weight workouts.
That’s all there is to it, folks. Take the notion of “light weight and higher reps” and throw it right out the window, down the street and around the corner. Following this misguided method will only cause you to lose muscle mass and strength, and will not assist you in burning fat or defining your physique.
All you need to do to mold those rock-solid muscles for the summer time is this:
1) Train with heavy weights and low repetitions to build maximum muscle mass.
2) Modify your diet and implement cardio workouts to eliminate body fat and create visibly harder and more defined muscles.
End of story.
I’ll see you at the beach!
15 Muscle Building Rules For Skinny Guys And Gals Part_2_
15 Muscle Building Rules For Skinny Guys And Gals! (Part 2)
WORKOUT RULES
4. Stop listening to every ridiculous piece of advice you hear in the gym or read on a message board.
Recently a client of mine informed me that someone in the gym stated that he was training all wrong and he needed to train 5-6 days a week, and aim for more reps during his workout. Somewhere in the range of 15-20 reps …
In part 1, I touched on general weight gain rules and reasons why you can’t gain weight. Now it’s time to get into workout specifics…
WORKOUT RULES
4. Stop listening to every ridiculous piece of advice you hear in the gym or read on a message board.
Recently a client of mine informed me that someone in the gym stated that he was training all wrong and he needed to train 5-6 days a week, and aim for more reps during his workout. Somewhere in the range of 15-20 reps per set.
The person giving the advice was quite confident about his recommendations, and he had an impressive physique that typically elevates him to the elusive “listen to me if you want to look like me” level in the gym. He was bigger than my client, so even though my client’s “intellectual” mind knows that advice is absurd; his “unrealistic dreamer” mind took this information very seriously. So seriously that he changed his program and didn’t inform me until a week or so later. This particular person had been making great progress on his current program, yet he allowed this one person.
15 Muscle Building Rules For Skinny Guys And Gals Part 1
15 Muscle Building Rules For Skinny Guys And Gals! (Part 1)
WHY CAN’T YOU GAIN WEIGHT?
Though there may be many reasons why you may be thin, the most apparent reason is because of your genetics. If your parents are naturally thin or have a small body frame, then you will most likely have the same small body type.
To some degree, your size can also be controlled by your metabolism. If you have a difficult time gaining weight of any kind (fat or muscle) then you most likely have a fast metabolism. That simply means that your body burns calories at a faster than normal rate. You must take this into account whenever you are considering a particular diet or training program. Is it geared towards someone with your metabolism and goal?
Now as you know, there are many ways to train. Hundreds, thousands even. Some work and some do not, but for the specific goal of gaining weight, there are a few UNIVERSAL things that all skinny guys must do.
Though much of the information I cover here is not as “magical” as you may like, I consider these rules to be the basics with regard to weight gain. These are not all of the answers, but they are definite elements that MUST be addressed in any successful weight gain program.
You should be able to easily integrate these rules into your current program to make it more suitable for your particular body and goals.
GENERAL RULES
1.Get the proper information that pertains to your SPECIFIC condition and goals.
The first big problem I find in most people is the lack of correct information. Yes you are motivated and doing things, but your effort is wasted on incorrect dieting and training information. Basically, skinny guys are taking advice from people who have never had a weight gain problem. Want to know how to gain weight? Then find someone who has walked your shoes. Someone who has been where you are.
2.Set a specific goal and create a plan of attack.
If you were to drive cross country to another city, would you just start driving randomly, or would you plan a route that would get you quickly and efficiently?
Think of your plan as a road map and your goal as your destination. Without a plan and a specific goal you will be without focus and can easily get lost or side tracked. This happens more often than you know. I see many people in the gym just doing whatever, or just eating whatever — no plan or specific goal. They wonder why they don’t make progress. They have no focus.
Having a specific program to follow allows you to take action each day. This action is focused on specifically getting you to your destination quickly. There is no thinking, debating or guessing. You just do it. A specific plan provides necessary daily structure that not only keeps you on the road moving forward, it also helps to develop good eating and training habits that will benefit you long after you have reached your destination.
3.Have confidence in yourself and belief in what you are doing.
Let
12 Secrets for Gaining Mass
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12 Secrets for gaining mass
If You really want to gain size stop reading articles out of magazines and find a trainer that knows what they are doing.
Eat organically, you are what you eat (if you give yourself a 59 cent hamburger you are giving your body 59 cent muscles that makes you look like garbage.)
Eat According to your metabolic type, “the metabolic typing diet”
Lift mainly in the 8-12 rep range
Your tempos should range from 3-1-3 to 4-1-4 and no more
You total time under tension for each lift should only last 60 sec or less (this is because you want to produce as much Testosterone and Growth Hormone.
Don’t lift longer than 45 min per workout, less at a higher intensity equals more.
This would be different if you were on pro-hormones or juice, because of the recover time.
You shouldn’t be performing any cardio
Lift according to your genetic makeup and your muscle fiber type if you tend to be more of an endurance athlete you will do better lifting a little higher reps, if you are more of a speed athlete you will do better lifting a little lower reps heavier weight.
Supplements and other things can help in achieving mass, as we all know what the pros use and most amateurs lifting in the gym.
Though follow science it can do way more for you than just taking some pill.
Mass is easy to gain when you lift correctly, don’t waste years trying to reach your goal when you can invest in a trainer that can get you tons of results now. And if they don’t get you results fire them immediately
Words of wisdom
work harder
Less is more
