Muscle Building

Shawn Lebrun asked:


If you’re looking to pack on solid muscle mass, you’ll definitely want to read this article.

Because there’s a lot of confusion on how to gain muscle mass and what it really takes. I want to give you 6 areas you absolutely, positively must focus on in any muscle building program you decide to use:

1: The proper amount of calories.

Since your diet is one of the most important keys to gaining muscle mass, you really need to know HOW many calories to eat, WHAT types of food to eat, and WHEN you should be eating them!

If you consistently under eat, you will NOT gain muscle mass. However, if you tend to overeat a lot, you will likely gain body fat.

So you have to be pretty accurate with your calorie intake in order to gain muscle mass without a lot of fat.

2: The correct approach to training in the gym.

Any muscle building program should give you MASS building techniques so that you can gain quality muscle weight, not just fat.

You want to make sure you’re not training too many days. That will stop your body from recovering and your muscles from repairing themselves.

You also want to make sure you’re not doing too many exercises, reps, and sets because that too could lead to overtraining.

We’ll touch more on it below, but the best approach for building muscle is to stick with the basic compound exercises (bench, squats, deadlifts, barbell curls) and use lower reps and just a few heavy sets.

3: The best possible supplements to help pack on weight.

Let’s get this straight…you do NOT need supplements to gain muscle. You need calories. And I’ve used just about every supplement on the market and many are a complete waste of money! However, there are a few exceptions and some can help you in the muscle gaining process, if you decide to use them.

The main supplements worth taking to gain quality muscle would have to be protein (whey, milk, or egg), creatine, glutamine, EFA’s, a multivitamin, and meal replacements.

Save your hard-earned money and time by avoiding the useless ones.

4: The proper amount of sets and reps for muscle growth without muscle breakdown.

Like we talked about above, you want to make sure you’re setting up your weight training to be the best use of your time and energy.

Most people train the wrong way for muscle growth. What I mean is, they do way too many reps and sets, thinking more is better.

A lower rep and set range is proven to speed up lean muscle growth while minimizing muscle breakdown.

After all, muscle growth occurs from overload. And it makes sense that one of the quickest ways to increase overload (weight lifted) is to lessen the amount of reps and increase the amount of weight.

5: The right balance of protein, carbs, and fats.

If you don’t get enough protein, you WILL NOT gain muscle. If you consume too many fat calories, you’ll gain mostly fat and not muscle. So it’s important that you get the right breakdown of protein, fats, and carbs for your specific body type.

Most advice shows that 50% of your calories should come from protein, 40% from carbs, 10 % from fats. But this is just a guideline. Find what works best for you and stick with that.

6: The right approach to cardio so that you do not burn off all your hard earned muscle weight.

Depending on your goals, cardio may help or actually hurt your chances of gaining weight. If you’re really looking to gain more weight fast, you may not want to be doing cardio at all.

That way, you don’t risk losing weight and muscle by expending calories that could have been used for muscle building.

If you’re looking to lose body fat while still gaining muscle, 3 to 5 cardio sessions a week is plenty.

For someone wanting to pack on the weight, I’d stick with just a couple sessions, none if you’re really desperately trying to gain weight.

Those are 6 basic areas you want to focus on with any muscle building program you use.

The main points again are:

1. Find out the proper amount of calories you need to gain muscle weight without adding a lot of fat.

2. You want to set up your weight training to be the best use of time and energy in the gym. This includes how often to train, how many muscle groups, and how long to rest, both between sets and between workouts.

3. If you decide to invest in supplements, stick with the proven ones like protein, creatine, and glutamine.

4. Using lower reps and fewer sets means you can use more intensity and overload on the muscles. High reps with low weight does nothing for muscle building.

5. Out of your total daily calorie needs, you want to ensure you’re getting the proper ratio of protein, carbs, and fats. You can start with the 50-40-10 ratio or 40-40-20 and go from there, depending on your results.

6. If you want to gain mass quickly, you may want to consider dropping cardio altogether. Or else, 3 to 5 sessions should be more than enough to continue gaining muscle while shedding fat.



Elijah

Dan Miller asked:


spending hours and hours on doing your routine can be driven by your desire to achieve the body that you have been dreaming about. However, you should be aware that getting there does not mean all work. You have to maintain recovery time every time you do workout. The recommended hours of recovery time is approximately 8 to 10 hours sleep each night. But when we talk about sleep, we mean quality sleep. There are actually sleep stages that one must reach so the body achieves quality rest. Remember that sleep cannot be stored or saved for later. The importance of keeping the body well rested amplifies when he is trying to gain muscle mass for it is in this period that the muscle building hormones work at their peak.

Aside from feeling refreshed and relieved from all the workout routines, keeping the body well rested has its advantages. Did you know that when you body is at its sleeping phase, the muscles that were torn and broken while you were doing your exercise is repaired? During deep sleep, the body actually builds bigger and stronger muscles, keeping your body up for more killer reps of workout. What’s great about this period is that it uses fat, your body’s stored fat, to repair muscles. Hence, rest periods allow your body to consume and burn fat while building some real muscles.

Since all training programs starts from light to failure points of intensities, allowing your body the privilege of rest periods improves its muscle recovery rate. This means that getting the recommended time of rest pauses at every routine helps increase the body or the muscle’s capacity to bear with the increasing load of your routine. This way, the muscle increases the rate on which it regains its energy and strength, deriving energy from muscle contraction which also happens during rest periods.

It is okay to be committed to your program. However, it does not necessarily mean that overdoing it allows you to build muscles faster. That is not exactly the case. Overtraining poses serious health risks as it subjects the body in an overwhelming load of physical activities. It is very dangerous for it causes the body to incur damage at rates faster than how it recovers. For instance, when training with weights, initiating small tears on the developed muscle tissues is good for it teaches the body to build stronger muscles. However, lack of rest affects the manner by which the body rebuilds and repairs muscle tissues. Hence, doing trainings beyond your body’s repair capabilities does more harm than good.

Building muscles takes more discipline and effort to attain. The truth is, it takes more than diet and killer routines to sculpting your body into its ripped look. When you are already convinced that building muscles is all doing routines, strict diet and routine changes, you are perhaps overlooking the most important part of the process of building muscles. That is, getting rest. Allowing your body to get sufficient rest is crucial to speeding up the rate on which you safely develop or gains muscle mass. In every impressive physique that you see in the gym is a person who knows well the important of getting enough rest. Putting so much effort into doing killer reps of training routines till failure is good, but don’t forget to take time to rest for it is at this period that the muscle breathes, relaxes and builds.



Emma

Gerry Marsh asked:


In todays hectic lifestyle it is sometimes hard to fit in everything we need to do. But whatever you do, don’t give up your regular exercising routines. Muscle building exercises are your own private, built in energy source. The time you take to do your regular exercise routine will be given back many times over with increased energy and reduced stress.

The following 8 tips will help you get the most out of your muscle building exercises:

Use Proper Techniques

Be sure your form isolates the muscles or parts of the body you want to target. Short periods of high intensity are needed to ensure maximum muscle building.

Use A Full Range Of Motion

Don’t restrict your movement without reason. For example free weights permit your back and legs to work while a weight machine restricts your movement. Stimulating and working your muscles will help to strengthen your joints.

Mix Up Your Cadence

Slow movements will force your muscles to contract over a longer period of time and give you the maximum benefit. In sports type training, mixing up your cadence with fast an slow cycles is the way to go.

Watch Your Angles

Isolate your target muscles using the best angles to maximize the muscle exercise while minimizing the risk of injury. We all know that we should lift with our legs and not our back but it is easy to forget when we are doing a muscle building workout.

Mix Up Your Routines

Try a dumbbell press lying on an exercise ball. You will be working your abs, chest and triceps in addition to your biceps. This type of exercise may challenge you until you get used to it nut then you will find an refreshing and rewarding break from your normal routines.

Add Some Cardio

Cardio done right will increase your heart rate and strengthen both your heart and lungs. When you get into the fat burning zone you will almost feel the fat melting away. Muscle building exercises that strengthen your heart and lungs together with burning the fat is a sure formula for charging up your energy supply.

Don’t Skip The Warmup

Always start slow and give your muscles time to warm up. Stretching and mild exercise will help get the blood flowing and loosen up your muscles. Working stiff, cold muscles and joints is a sure road to injury. You need that extra blood flow to help carry the nutrients to your muscles to supply the energy needed by your workout. Without the warmup your body won’t be ready to tackle the more vigorous routines.

Alternate Days

Don’t do the same muscle building routine two days in a row. An ideal schedule may be to work on the weights on Monday, Wednesday and Friday filling in with cardio on the off days. Saturdays are good for a run or for an extra day of rest.

Don’t fall into the trap of “being too busy” to get in your muscle building exercise. Even if muscle building isn’t your primary goal, you will get so many other benefits from your workout routine and have more energy to tackle all of those other items on your must do list. Muscle building exercises are really your personal energy battery. Use it and it will never be empty.



Evan

bobby s asked:


What results did they give you etc? im wanting to buy a muscle building supplement and would like to know which is the best. thanks.

Serena

Sean Nalewanyj asked:


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.



Maria

Jerold Smith asked:


Pro body builder Shawn Ray once said he could do the weights and the training in his sleep because it’s fun and relatively easy. It is only the other factors such as dieting and supplementing that really demands discipline.

 

It is also the primary reason why so many people are trying so hard in the gym only to see a small reward of muscle gain.

 

Are you one of them? If you are, it is high likely that the problem is not with your routines or workouts but rather your consumption of nutrition.

 

 

The great Larry Scott, the first ever Mr. Olympia in 1965 stated that body building is 90% what you eat. At that time, people thought that he was making an overstatement only for us to realize that he knew what he was talking about many years later.

 

 

Thus, knowing, it means that if you wish to build muscle successfully, you have to prioritize in your nutrition intake.

 

Here are 5 pitfalls to avoid on your nutrition intake:

 

 

1) Not Enough Protein

 

While pumping away and tearing away your muscle cells happens in the gym, muscles are formed outside of the gym. And since protein is a main source of building muscle, you must consume protein consistently as you are working out in the gym. Protein consumed must be lean and fat free for example: egg whites, fish, read meats, chicken breast and whey protein. It is ideal that for every pound of your body weight, that you consume one gram of protein.

 

 

2) Not Eating Frequently Enough.

 

Eat every 3 to 4 hours with small balance meals. Many think that it’s not important and they rather have 2 to 3 meals due to laziness. As mentioned earlier, discipline plays a big role in body building and will make a big difference on where you are and what you do. The reason why you should be eating frequently is that firstly, it will accelerate your metabolism rate, resulting in your body burning fat naturally. Secondly, protein cannot be stored in the body and will usually only last for 3 hours in your body. So by consuming protein frequently, there is a constant supply to build your muscles as your muscles recover.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

3) Not Drinking Enough Water

 

Workouts in the gym can lead to dehydration easily. It is extremely important to replace the fluids that you lost during your training. As 67% of the body is made from water, your muscles will have a hard time repairing itself if they are dehydrated. At the same time, without enough water, your kidneys will also struggle to remove unwanted waste as a result of your increase intake of protein and other substance from your frequent meals per day. So drink as much water as possible starting from today.

 

 

4) Drinking Alcohol

 

One advice that all body builders speaks about is not to consume alcohol. Why? Alcohol contains 7 calorie per gram. Apart from fat which is 9 calorie per gram, alcohol is the second most calorie dense nutrient. By consuming alcohol, it will greatly affect your body’s capability to burn fat. Not only that it will quickly dehydrate your body and also reduce the productivity of testosterone. In conclusion, avoid alcohol at all cost.

 

 

5) Consuming Too Much Sugar

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger calls sugar the “white death”. It suppresses the immune system of your body and has been shown to decrease the number of white cells in the body. Sugar can cause your blood to be also more acidic, which increases vulnerability to toxins, bacteria and viruses. While your body is busy repairing its muscle, anymore more unnecessary stress will cause your muscle building process slow down, thus avoid sugar too.

 

 

If you have a proper lifestyle and proper nutrition intake, it is safe to say that you have already won most of the battle to a healthier, and learner body you desire. In a way, you can force your body to gain muscles by working out in the gym, and the only missing ingredient you will need is fuel your body with the right nutrition regularly.



Ava

Akalanze A asked:


Perhaps you have tried to gain weight and build some muscles in the past and fialed. It could be you just want to look and feel better or perhap you want to look more like the professional fitness people such as Vince Delmonte. Truth is you are not alone!

Several years ago, I was skinny and not able to find the right size pants for myself. Even though I was not happy with my situation, I did not know what to do about it. I was not looking to be like a professional fitness trainer or anything like that. I just wanted to be thick enough to find the right size pants for my age. But you don’t have to be like me. By reading this review of No-nonsense Muscle Building today, you are pointing yourself toward success.

There are no shortages of books, equipment, diets and organization that purport to help you build muscle and gain weight, but there is an acute shortage of ones that can really deliver on the promises and your desires. It takes discretion and some due diligence to be able to find these valuable few. Vince Delmonte’s No-nonsense Muscle Building book appears to be a handy and useful resource for anyone who desires to build muscle and loose fat.

In his book Vince takes you through the whole range of what you need to do to loose the fat and build the muscle that you so much desire. He takes you through everything from the what, when and how of exercises, diet, rest and recuperation to the nine growth principles and the role of hormones in your quest to loose fat and gain muscles.

What exercises you need, when and how much of each, what foods to eat, how much and when to eat, when to rest and how much rest is necessary are all covered.

No-nonsense Muscle Building workout methods are couched on what Vince call the nine growth principles. Vince is careful to drill into you the need to understand and properly implement each and every one of your workouts to ensure proper gains. As part of the 9 growth principles, Vince Delmonte explains the importance of rest and recovery in your path of Fat loss, muscle building and muscle gain, giving attention to techniques for speeding up recovery.

No-nonsense Muscle Building also teaches that hormones play a crucial role in muscle building and does not ignore this importance. It actually devotes a whole section to this and gives you tips on diet and training that enhance muscle building hormones.

One basic and obvious fact that we tend to forget, that Vince Delmonte points out is that the muscle we are looking for has always been there. When we talk about building muscle, we seem to forget that the muscles have always been there, but being covered by fat. It is when we burn the fat and feed the muscles as Vince points out that we are able to reveal the ripped body that we so much desire.

No-nonsense Muscle Building is more like a plug and play type program. Everything is worked out in detail for the user and all you have to do is to follow his lead.

Be warned that you might have to re-read some sections to get the proper understanding of what No-nonsense Muscle building is talking about.

That could be negative or positive depending on how you look at it. It is positive if you think of it as giving you detail and a better understanding of what you have to do to achieve your goal and negative if you think of it as more work.

Altogether, Vince Delmonte has done a great job with this resource for fat loss and muscle gain. For anyone desiring to loose fat, gain muscle, Vince Delmonte’s No-nonsense Muscle Building would be a valuable to there resource base.



Justin

Shawn Lebrun asked:


Beginning a muscle building program can be a little confusing, since there’s so much information out there. There are so many opinions floating around and most of them come from people who are not even qualified to give you advice.

So if you’re just starting out yourself, you really want to take the time to learn how to weight train and work out correctly. If not, you’ll have to “undo” alot of stuff you’ve done. So, no matter what you do, learn correctly the first time.

I feel that one of the main factors people don’t stick with their muscle building routine is a lack of guidance in the beginning. They have no idea where to begin, so they get discouraged before they give themselves a chance to see results.

You need to have some basic understandings about how to work out and build muscle in general. This will make your time in the gym more productive and enjoyable.

In order to build muscle and lose fat, you need a combination of weight training, nutritional planning, and cardio.

Let’s take a look at the role each of these plays in your physique development.

Weight Training

Weight training is the stimulus for building muscle. By overloading the muscle with resistance, you send a signal to your muscle to get bigger and stronger to handle the load that’s been placed on it.

When you lift a heavier weight, over time, your body adapts to this by increasing the amount of muscle mass you have.

But weight training is only the first step you need to complete to maximize your results.

Proper nutrition

Good nutrition is extremely important when getting started on a workout program. You can have the most intense muscle building workouts you’ve ever had, but if you don’t have good nutrition, you’ll only see a fraction of the results.

You need to supply your body with the fuel it needs to respond and grow from weight training. You need protein and carbs in order to refuel your muscles after training. You also need quality, healthy fats for cell regeneration and organ protection.

Cardio

Cardio is important for getting lean as well as for your overall health. Cardio helps in reducing body fat because it helps you expend more calories than you consume.

Your body burns excess fat to be used as energy throughout the day. So, by eating clean and doing cardio, you create a calorie shortage in which fat is burned.

Start your muscle building program by working out 3 days per week and training each muscle group 1 time per week. It isn’t a good idea to start a weight training program by going to the gym 7 days a week. This can lead to overtraining and stopping all your chances of building muscle.

Use higher reps and lighter weights so you get accustomed to the exercises and the weight you should be using. Start slow and build a strong foundation here.

If you’re doing the exercises wrong, you’re going to have to change a lot later on, so start with light weight and learn how to do each exercise correctly. You can always add more weight later.

There’s no need to kill yourself in the gym right now, you’ll have plenty of time to increase the weight and intensity as you continue.

Before you perform your first exercises, you need to warm up by doing 3 or 4 warm ups where you use a heavier weight but don’t tire the muscle. Once you feel ready, do 2 heavy sets with as much weight as you can comfortably handle for 8 to 10 reps.

Again, you want to start your program with lighter weights, so you can learn the form. From here, you can increase the weight over time.

Only train 2 muscle groups each time, doing 2 to 3 exercises for each muscle group. Your total time spent on your muscle building program each workout should be under 1 hour. Don’t think that more time spent is better. It’s the quality of the time that matters.

This is how you want to set up your muscle building program to start. From here, your main goal is to get stronger on each exercise. Increase the amount of weight and intensity you use and you’ll soon start building more muscle than you ever thought possible.



Samantha

CCJ1989 asked:


Alright, so Im on a new Navy SEAL workout program and all I gotta say is WOW it has challenged me to work out in a whole new way and pushed myself to my utter limits. What are good foods to consume while on this workout plan? I know protein and carbs are important but what other suppliments can I use to feed my body & build muscle? Also…any tips on building muscle and endurance? Thanx

Gerald

Kizus Staffordshire Bull Terrier asked:


I have a Staffordshire Terrier,I want to give him some body and muscle to make him hard, he is now 15 months old and I want to get him in top condition when entering the show ring as this breed have more than one mentioning of muscle in its breed standard.What exercise is the best for body building this great breed?

Matthew