Building muscle might seem as easy as going to the gym and lifting
weights, but sadly for many, myself included, the gains do not come as easily
or as quickly as we would like.
This is not because we workout with any less intensity than those that do bulk up. If anything, we scrawnier folk probably workout more intensely and more often than those that have more muscle, simply because we are not seeing the gains and think we need to workout more. This is probably one of the main reasons for not getting any real gains, because over working your body can be just as bad as not working out at all.
The reasons for little or no muscle gains is as varying as the people themselves; testosterone levels, metabolism, over working the body and not giving it sufficient recovery time, or it could be wrong trainingroutines for your particular body frame etc...
But luckily there are a number of important things that we can do that really make the difference between no gains and large gains, and the best thing is, it does not involve any drugs or supplements. Simply changing the way in which you workout and eat will dramatically change your physical appearance in the mirror very quickly.
1. Large multi-joint compound exercises
Regardless of whether you are trying to gain muscle mass or lose weight, you should focus the bulk of your training time on big multi-joint exercises, and treat targeted isolation exercises as the side dish to your main meal. It is the large multi-joint exercisesthat should make up the majority of your workout if you want to get lean, build muscle, get ripped and become powerful and strong. You should think of these multi-joint exercises as the major movement patterns such as those below.
- Upper body horizontal rows (seated cable rows, 1-arm dumbbell rows, bent over barbell rows)
- Upper body horizontal press (dips, push ups, bench press)
- Upper body vertical pull (lat pulldowns, pullups, chinups)
- Upper body vertical press (overhead barbell and dumbbell presses, barbell or kettlebell clean and presses)
- Lower body squatting (back squats, bodyweight squats, front squats, overhead squats, etc)
- Lower body deadlifting (sumo deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, regular deadlifts)
- Lower body single leg (jump lunges, lunges, set-ups, etc)
This should also include abdominal and core exercises, but these are still second priority to the major upper and lower body multi-joint exercises. Your core will get a solid workout anyway from most major multi-joint exercises.
Some single-joint exercises that you might regularly focus on to build muscle, such as tricep presses, bicep curls, calf presses, shoulder lateral raises, etc... should again be second priority to the major multi-joint routine. You can still add these to your workout, but always remember that these should be treated as add-ons and should not be your main focus.
2. Keep your workouts short and to the point
The goal should be high intensity workouts, 3-4 days a week, 45-60 minutes per training workout.
You probably don't need to be told that you should workout at a high intensity rate, that's something most know already, and have likely been doing since day one in the gym. On the other hand maybe it should be mentioned that you should not exercise any longer than 60 minutes, as training too much beyond this point can start to trigger excess catabolism, where your body starts to use its own proteins (which are found in cells), as an alternative energy source. Basically if you workout too long, your body can start to burn tissue as fuel, and that can't be a good thing. There are supplements around that can help counter excess catabolism and protect muscle tissue, but a more effective 45-60 minute, high intensity workout is going to give you the greatest results.
If you do tend to train longer than 60 minutes in any one session, you could try a super-set style of workout program, which will condense training time and dramatically increase intensity. The super-set is a very simple concept... you just do two exercisesback-to-back, with no rest break in between.
You can make them any combinations you like, for example you could combine squats with pullups, or bench press with deadlifts. The choice is yours. Your super-sets could consist of a combination between upper body and lower body workouts, or two consecutive upper body workouts, or two consecutive lower body workouts. To mix it up even more you could play around with varying sets and reps and heavier weights. Remember, your workout routines should be fun so mix it up until you find some combinations that you enjoy.
You will quickly find that you will experience significant muscle mass gains when you start using super-sets, and of course you can simply adjust your calorie intake to suit your goals, whether it be to gain muscle or to lose weight. Super-sets are very effective at doing both.
3. Eat quality whole foods
Once again, we can not escape how important nutrition is to your weight training or dieting. You should eat healthy whole foods and do your best to stay away from highly processed foods and even some of those over hyped supplements, bars and meal replacements. More often than not, a healthy, whole food diet will beat supplements hands down. Sure they have their place, but they will never be a substitute for real whole foods.
Whole foods such as meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, seeds and nuts, and dairy, provided it is raw whole dairy, offer the best quality protein, as well as additional nutrition you get from vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The body can absorb these nutrients much better when they come from whole foods. The more greener, organic and grass fed this whole food, the better. This is much better than processed protein powders, bars and meal replacements.
I will go out on a limb here and make an assumption that many people who either find it difficult to pack on the muscle or find ithard to lose the excess stomach fat, will have a heap of over hyped supplements in their cupboards. Yes? Sure some of them are really helpful and do make a difference, but the majority are not.
My advice, give whole foods another try. Rather than spend the excess money on six different supplements a week, start seeking out the whole, organic and grass fed food. You will notice a huge difference.
So in conclusion, change what you are focusing on in the gym and spend the majority of your training time on large multi-jointexercises, which will get you lean and ripped.
Shorten the time you are in the gym, and lift the intensity by adding different super-set combinations to your workout program. This will fire up the muscle gains very quickly.
Last but not least, cut back on all the over hyped supplements, protein bars, and meal replacements. Instead seek out raw, whole, grass fed food and start giving your body what it truly wants.
This is not because we workout with any less intensity than those that do bulk up. If anything, we scrawnier folk probably workout more intensely and more often than those that have more muscle, simply because we are not seeing the gains and think we need to workout more. This is probably one of the main reasons for not getting any real gains, because over working your body can be just as bad as not working out at all.
The reasons for little or no muscle gains is as varying as the people themselves; testosterone levels, metabolism, over working the body and not giving it sufficient recovery time, or it could be wrong trainingroutines for your particular body frame etc...
But luckily there are a number of important things that we can do that really make the difference between no gains and large gains, and the best thing is, it does not involve any drugs or supplements. Simply changing the way in which you workout and eat will dramatically change your physical appearance in the mirror very quickly.
1. Large multi-joint compound exercises
Regardless of whether you are trying to gain muscle mass or lose weight, you should focus the bulk of your training time on big multi-joint exercises, and treat targeted isolation exercises as the side dish to your main meal. It is the large multi-joint exercisesthat should make up the majority of your workout if you want to get lean, build muscle, get ripped and become powerful and strong. You should think of these multi-joint exercises as the major movement patterns such as those below.
- Upper body horizontal rows (seated cable rows, 1-arm dumbbell rows, bent over barbell rows)
- Upper body horizontal press (dips, push ups, bench press)
- Upper body vertical pull (lat pulldowns, pullups, chinups)
- Upper body vertical press (overhead barbell and dumbbell presses, barbell or kettlebell clean and presses)
- Lower body squatting (back squats, bodyweight squats, front squats, overhead squats, etc)
- Lower body deadlifting (sumo deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, regular deadlifts)
- Lower body single leg (jump lunges, lunges, set-ups, etc)
This should also include abdominal and core exercises, but these are still second priority to the major upper and lower body multi-joint exercises. Your core will get a solid workout anyway from most major multi-joint exercises.
Some single-joint exercises that you might regularly focus on to build muscle, such as tricep presses, bicep curls, calf presses, shoulder lateral raises, etc... should again be second priority to the major multi-joint routine. You can still add these to your workout, but always remember that these should be treated as add-ons and should not be your main focus.
2. Keep your workouts short and to the point
The goal should be high intensity workouts, 3-4 days a week, 45-60 minutes per training workout.
You probably don't need to be told that you should workout at a high intensity rate, that's something most know already, and have likely been doing since day one in the gym. On the other hand maybe it should be mentioned that you should not exercise any longer than 60 minutes, as training too much beyond this point can start to trigger excess catabolism, where your body starts to use its own proteins (which are found in cells), as an alternative energy source. Basically if you workout too long, your body can start to burn tissue as fuel, and that can't be a good thing. There are supplements around that can help counter excess catabolism and protect muscle tissue, but a more effective 45-60 minute, high intensity workout is going to give you the greatest results.
If you do tend to train longer than 60 minutes in any one session, you could try a super-set style of workout program, which will condense training time and dramatically increase intensity. The super-set is a very simple concept... you just do two exercisesback-to-back, with no rest break in between.
You can make them any combinations you like, for example you could combine squats with pullups, or bench press with deadlifts. The choice is yours. Your super-sets could consist of a combination between upper body and lower body workouts, or two consecutive upper body workouts, or two consecutive lower body workouts. To mix it up even more you could play around with varying sets and reps and heavier weights. Remember, your workout routines should be fun so mix it up until you find some combinations that you enjoy.
You will quickly find that you will experience significant muscle mass gains when you start using super-sets, and of course you can simply adjust your calorie intake to suit your goals, whether it be to gain muscle or to lose weight. Super-sets are very effective at doing both.
3. Eat quality whole foods
Once again, we can not escape how important nutrition is to your weight training or dieting. You should eat healthy whole foods and do your best to stay away from highly processed foods and even some of those over hyped supplements, bars and meal replacements. More often than not, a healthy, whole food diet will beat supplements hands down. Sure they have their place, but they will never be a substitute for real whole foods.
Whole foods such as meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, seeds and nuts, and dairy, provided it is raw whole dairy, offer the best quality protein, as well as additional nutrition you get from vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The body can absorb these nutrients much better when they come from whole foods. The more greener, organic and grass fed this whole food, the better. This is much better than processed protein powders, bars and meal replacements.
I will go out on a limb here and make an assumption that many people who either find it difficult to pack on the muscle or find ithard to lose the excess stomach fat, will have a heap of over hyped supplements in their cupboards. Yes? Sure some of them are really helpful and do make a difference, but the majority are not.
My advice, give whole foods another try. Rather than spend the excess money on six different supplements a week, start seeking out the whole, organic and grass fed food. You will notice a huge difference.
So in conclusion, change what you are focusing on in the gym and spend the majority of your training time on large multi-jointexercises, which will get you lean and ripped.
Shorten the time you are in the gym, and lift the intensity by adding different super-set combinations to your workout program. This will fire up the muscle gains very quickly.
Last but not least, cut back on all the over hyped supplements, protein bars, and meal replacements. Instead seek out raw, whole, grass fed food and start giving your body what it truly wants.
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