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So you've been working out for a while, but you haven't seen any results? Or maybe you've never lifted weights before, but you want to get the best results? Do yourself a favor and read the whole article.
Repetition
The proper number of reps to increase volume is 8~12. Around 4 or below focuses on strength training and more than 12 focuses on endurance. Focus on completing at least 3 sets per exercise per muscle group. Begin with the larger muscle groups before working out the smaller muscles. You must work your muscles hard, to tear them for future repair.
Your muscles grow in size when they are resting and repairing from the tears they've sustained during the work out. That is why in every session you must always grind out those 1~3 extra reps when you're at the "giving up" point. Take 3 deep breathes between each rep and grind them out!
If you can lift the weight more than 12 reps, move up a notch. Repeat the process.
Now let's move on to the core and legs.
Core and Legs
For you, "being ripped" probably means having big pecs, wide triangular lats, boulders for shoulders, and nice cut arms. Unfortunately, this usually makes people work out only their upper body. If you neglect your core and legs, you're limiting how much you can "gain" in your upper body.
There are two main core exercises in my book - the dead lift and the squat. Because your core is your foundation, the stronger your core, the stronger your other muscles become too. Your muscles are all interconnected and rely on your core.
While you can isolate muscles in the upper body, you want to do compound exercises like the dead lift for your core and legs. This is especially true since you want your upper body to look more ripped than your lower body.
When you widen your foundation, so to speak, you allow your upper body and your whole body frame to increase. Without doing your core exercises, your upper body cannot grow beyond a certain limit.
Now that we've covered the work out portion of gaining muscle, let's talk about the nutrition portion.
Eating More
Proper nutrition is the foundation for good health. But we won't be focusing too much on nutrition - so let me briefly list some conclusions:
1. Avoid eating too much simple carbs like high fructose corn syrup. Processing too much simple carbs causes insulin spikes and crashes that promote fat storage.
2. Ideally, you should eat lean protein with a complex carbohydrate every 3 hours, except when you sleep. Your muscles are in a constant state of creation or destruction. This is why it's important to maintain a protein supply, which depletes after about 3 hours.
3. Avoid saturated fats. Get your essential fatty acids from foods like soy milk and natural peanut butter.
4. Ice cream has both saturated fat and simple carb, which is a specific formula for gaining fat. Avoid it at all cost.
5. Eat more food by 20%. Separate your meals into smaller more frequent meals that you should eat every 3~4 hours.
6. Your macronutrient ratio should be 50% carbs, 30% protein, 20% fats.
To summarize this basic guideline for muscle gain, it's work out for volume, use compound exercises for the core and legs (dead lift and squats), and get your protein every 3 hours.
Where Do I Go From Here?
Tags: Health & Fitness
Tags: Health & Fitness
