Weight Training Routines For Building Muscle

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Muscle building/development:learn to train smart!

6th part

 

Read 5th part here:
MUSCLE BUILDING AND NUTRITION:DISGUISED UNHEALTHY FOODS

 

Till now in this series of articles devoted to effective muscle building we saw :

 

 

- that muscle building concerns the general population and not only certain groups of people.We saw in other words that it is not a luxury but a real necessity.

 

-some strategic principles of supportive nutrition which we accepted as a very important determinant for proper muscle building.

 

 -that supplementation is a real waste of money-at least for the ordinary fitness enthusiasts.

 

 -the biggest nutrition no-nos

 

-the most important nutrition yes-yes

 

-and finally the top nutrition traps which are unhealthy foods disguised as healthy, usually for humble profit seeking reasons.

 

Now it is high time to speak about the training part of the equation. Strategic principles of strength training

 

1. General axiom:aim for simplicity.Learn to appreciate the magnificence of simplicity.

 

2. Prefer free weights which can tax the totality of your muscles in the most appropriate way. A pair of adjustable dumbbells would be fine.

 

3. Keep your workouts short:20′-30′.But they should be really intense:decent loading of the muscles and minimal breaks.

 

 4. Aim for three workouts per week.If it is hard for you, go at least for two and never for less.

 

 5. Forget about split workouts.You are not a bodybuilder!Go for total body workouts.

 

 6. The best range of repetitions if you want to build some muscle mass is 6-8 per set. So you will have to adjust your weights accordingly.

 

If you aim for strength development you should go for less.Conversely ,if you seek muscle endurance you should go for more repetitions.

 

Attention!:a big number of repetitions won’t bring muscle definition as many people erroneously thing.

Muscle definition is mostly a matter of low fat percentage. Make sure that you read my article: “Muscle definition:the absolute article”.

 

 7. Prefer to perform only compound/multijoint exercises which tax big muscle groups and more joints .These exercises are the best investment for your limited time.

 

The best movements are the classic ones: squats,lunges,deadlifts,presses and rows.

 

Things are simple and it’s contrary to our interests to make them seem more complex!

 

8.Don’t forget symmetry.If you train one group of muscles don’t forget to train the antagonists as well.

 

9. Don’t fall into the trap of overtraining.Balance quality with quantity.

 

10. Challenge yourself to brake some records.Excellent motivation indeed! You will need to coordinate body and mind. Make full exploitation of your most powerful weapon:your mind!

 

11. Pay due attention to the basics:excellent style,warm up and cooling down with some static stretching,blah blah blah.. ..

 

12. Last but not least:if you are struggling to build muscle you will have to limit long ,strenuous cardio.Opt instead for short but real intense HIIT workouts.These workouts will help you save muscle while shedding fat.Sprints are excellent!

 

 Conclusion Lousy nutrition habits are a conspicuous violation of the muscle building laws. Eat right ,train smart,watch your cardio ritual and muscle development will be a logical consequence!

 

Don’t omit to read all six instalments of this article!

 

End of 6th part

 

Chris Strogilis

 

 

Muscle building/development:the absolute article

Building muscle mass is not a luxury.It is a necessity!!

Chris

Whether you are a 20 year stallion or a 60 year housewife you will need muscle mass to confront small everyday challenges and fulfil your duties however humble might they be!

I consider strength training and muscle mass development as an absolute must for every man and woman of whatever age!

The reasons are firm:

-better physical appearance(any volunteers?),improved posture.

-better physical performance.

-enhanced self -confidence,self-esteem,self-worth!

-higher basal metabolic rate since muscle mass is much more metabolically active than fat!

-fat reduction usually accompanies muscle gain

-muscles are the engines of our body!With stronger engines we are bound to have a better performance in our work,common daily duties and chores,beloved hobbies and sports,sexual activities (I have just blushed scarlet!),etc.

With a more efficient powerhouse we can feel and be more alive!

-stronger and denser bones,stronger tendons and ligaments.Reduced danger for osteoporosis.

-improved cardiovascular health.Strength training has been found to help reduce Low Density Lipoprotein or LPL (the bad guy,what we call bad cholesterol).At the same time it is beneficial for the good guy:LDL

-lower blood pressure

-as we age-we won’t be young for ever,shall we?-muscle loss and body fat increase are inevitable consequences as long as we are not engaged in some kind of strength training. I strongly urge you to keep this in mind since years flow like water!

Muscle loss decreases life quality in a dramatic way!

I have a strong conviction that all people can enjoy a vibrant life until their very late years!But they will have to include strength training in their every day rituals!

-stronger muscles and joints will function as shock absorbers to prevent from injuries. This is critical for aged people

-improved balance ,stability and coordination

-strength trainining shows an inverse correlation with obesity.

As one can easily conclude strength training is not an option but a must!

Muscle development needs mainly two things:

- the right supportive nutrition

-an effective strength training program

Nutrition is a domain that many people ignore.Nutritional mistakes halt the progress towards muscle development for many fitness enthusiasts.
What’s more, nutrition is by far the most important parameter for novices at muscle building.These people could achieve spectacular results with only minor adjustments to their nutrition strategy and tactics!!

Muscle development and nutrition

1. If you need to gain some muscle mass your first concern is to create a slight caloric surplus.

Though,you will have to move very cautiously if you want to minimize the possibilities of fat storage.

Thus,while some fat gain is inevitable in this phase, you could control it by taking the appropriate measures:

-the caloric surplus should be slight

-the caloric surplus should be gradual :start with a 10% increase over your caloric maintenance level and make it bigger when and if you reach a plateau.

2. Meals frequency is of strategic importance.

Spread your daily caloric intake into 5-6 equivalent meals and try to eat every about 3 hours.Include a premium protein source in every meal otherwise your body might cannibalize its own muscle tissue!Some benefits of frequent eating-among many else-are:

-your metabolism is boosted into high gear

-you are never hungry and the danger to pig-out is minimal

-you have a constant flow of nutritional constituents and energy

-your blood sugar and insulin levels are kept under control

-there are less possibilities for fat storage

3. How much protein? For an average fitness enthusiast-who is actually the “target group” of my articles-2gr of premium source protein per kg of body weight will suffice.

If you are a bodybuilder you will definetely need more (but these articles are not addressed to bodybuilders anyway!)

4. Protein sources:just good plain food.Please refer to my article:”Fitness/exercise:nutrition to boost your results”.

I am a strong opponent of any kind of supplementation and a fervent advocate of feeding only on unprocessed,unrefined,natural foods!!

5. Supplementation:

I will put it explicitly: don’t be suckers!Don’t even touch the chemical,man-made supplements!

You can perfectly -and you should – receive all the necessary micronutrients from whole,real foods amply provided by mother nature.

A real food is something much more complex than the total of its constituents.It is a unique combination of nutrients which work synergistically to satisfy our nutritional needs in the most efficient and idoneous way.

You don’t have to part with your hard-earned money only to buy garbage that eventually will harm you!

Eat abundant quantities of vegetables and if you have some money to spare go for organics.

6. And what should my nutrition base be?

We have touched on this subject many times. Please take a look here:

FITNESS/EXERCISE:NUTRITION TO BOOST YOUR RESULTS

I will limit myself here to the biggest no-nos and yes-yes.

Supportive nutrition:biggest no-nos

-white flour

-table sugar

-high fructose corn syrup

-artificial sweeteners

-hydrogenated oils(trans fats)

-sodas and all typical sugary refreshments

-visible fat in red meats

-processed meats and fish that contain sodium nitrite.Also sausages,hot dogs and the like

- all candies and pastries

-white bread

-white pasta

-white rice

-fried oils

-margarin

-all foods that contain substantial amounts of monosodium glutamate

-all deep fried foods:French fries,potato chips,doughnuts etc.They are full with acrylamide and trans-fats

-all types of canned soups

-mayonnaise and similar oily condiments and dressings

-all commercial baked foods:biscuits,cookies,cakes,bagels,croissants etc.

Supportive nutrition:biggest yes-yes

-all kinds of vegetables in season.I eat broccoli nearly every day.

-all fruits but in moderation due to their high sugar content.Prefer to take your antioxidants from vegetables which are nutritionally denser

exceptions(you can eat more from these):cranberries and most types of berries,pomegranates

-whole eggs:you can eat at least two yolks/day.Yolk protein is really valuable.

Additionally yolk contains precious choline for your mind as well as lutein and zeaxanthin which can play a serious role in the prevention of macular degeneration.

Don’t buy into the myth of high cholesterol! This myth has been debunked from the findings of multiple studies.

Try to find omega-3 eggs.

-sunflower and pumpkin seeds(I keep a reservation for flax seeds)

- mixed raw nuts

-avocados(they belong to fruits!)

-extra virgin(cold pressed) olive oil

-turkey and chicken breasts

-low fat cottage cheese

-low fat plain yogurt with active live cultures.Avoid funny alternatives as frozen yogurt,yogurt with fruits and tons of artificial sweeteners etc.

If you have a creative imagination you can try endless combinations with yogurt,raw nuts,seeds,fresh or dried berries etc.

-wild fatty fish and especially the miraculous,humble sardines.

Sardines are a real food treasure: they contain omega -3 fatty acids, the much rare coenzyme Q10,selenium,calcium,phosphorus ,iron,potassium vitamin D and premium quality protein.

The best thing is that they contain practically zero mercury, a poison that has completely changed our tuna-eating habits.

6. In the third part of this comprehensive article on the appropriate nutrition for muscle building we recited very succintly and explicitly the big nutrition no-nos.

It’s much easier to fight an enemy if you can see him!

But what happens if the enemy is lurking in the durk seeking to devour on first chance your precious muscle earnings?

And-much worse-if he is disguised as a caring friend?

This is our subject for today!

Unhealthy foods disguised as healthy

6.1. Tuna fish:

I quote its name and my heart pains because tuna is -or better was-one of my most favourite dishes.Cheap,convenient,available everywhere and highly nutritional.
The big concern with tuna is its relatively high content in toxic mercury. Recent research both in Europe and in the USA have found mercury levels in tuna fish to be alarmingly high.

I suggest that you should do your own research because mercury levels differ from sea to sea and from kind to kind.Depending on your weight, check your safe consumption rate.

I have switched to sardines. Luckily in Greece they are abundant,cheap and of excellent quality.

Sardines practically contain zero mercury because of their small size and their short life. They are a gift from the sea for us.Humble but of inestimable value!

6.2. Protein bars or energy bars

While you can find few products with a decent quality and nutritional value ,most of them are mere rubbish.
They are full with table sugar,artificial sweeteners,high fructose corn syrup,highly processed soya protein isolate,hydrogenated oils(trans-fats) and the like!

Search very carefully in order to find bars of acceptable quality. Double check the labels!

Most producers market energy/protein bars as nutritionally sound alternatives of meals with real food.

Alas,this is far from the truth!

Unprocessed,unrefined,natural food is what our bodies really need and deserve!Our human engines need the right kind of quality fuel in order to function well and to their maximum potential.

Why eat a bar with added protein and fiber of questionable quality when we can have the real thing naturally packed with excellent quality protein while accompanied by tenths of indispensable micronutrients?

Keep protein or energy bars only for emergency situations and plan ahead so as these emergency situations should be kept to a minimum.Don’t use them to justify your lousy eating habits!!

6.3. Sports drinks:

Most sports drinks are nothing more than artificially colored,sugary water.

The only established fact with these products is that they bring crazy profits to their producers!

Ah,another one is that they make your wallet lighter!

Or is it the same thing?

It doesn’t stop to amaze me how easily,evidently sane people leave themselves to be deliberately misled!!

Is it a kind of collective paranoia the fact that we deny to discern the obvious , namely that we are overtly suckered?

Or is it our illogical,extravagant desire for quick and easy fixes?

In a future entry we will see simple recipes for nice,homemade sports drinks.

6.4. Breakfast cereals

Despite their pretentious and highly pompous claims many breakfast cereals are nothing else but well concealed cereal killers.

Those marketed more heavily have most often the poorer nutritional value.

The majority of the products :

-are based on refined grains and the quantity of fibers is minimal

-have excessive sugar content

-use fancy artificial colorings

-contain big amounts of salts(sodium)

-contain saturated or/and hydrogenated fats

Be very careful to select breakfast cereals of the proper quality. Leave taste aside and search for nutrition.They should be based on whole grains with minimal salt ,sugar and trans fats content.Don’t fall victims to the marketing hype!

6.5.Many fat free products:

To compensate for the lack of taste these products are loaded with sugar,high fructose corn syrup-brrrr!- or artificial sweeteners.

6.7. Many sugar free products:

They are packed with saturated fats or trans fats from hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.

6.8. Commercially packaged fruit juices:

Though generally they won’t harm you,they have very little to offer you either. No fibers,very few vitamins and quite a lot of empty calories.

You can instead opt for homemade, freshly squeezed juices. By far the best option is to eat the whole fruit .

This will give you valuable fibers plus a satiety feeling.

In general try to avoid liquid calories.

6.9. Fruit smoothies:

Usually they won’t differ a lot from a milk shake,packed with sugars,fats and dead calories.

6.10. Liquid meal replacements:

Use them sparingly and only in case of emergency. One or two meals at the most per week. If you want real results go for real food!

Till now in this series of articles devoted to effective muscle building we saw :

- that muscle building concerns the general population and not only certain groups of people.We saw in other words that it is not a luxury but a real necessity.

-some strategic principles of supportive nutrition which we accepted as a very important determinant for proper muscle building.

-that supplementation is a real waste of money-at least for the ordinary fitness enthusiasts.

-the biggest nutrition no-nos

-the most important nutrition yes-yes

-and finally the top nutrition traps which are unhealthy foods disguised as healthy, usually for humble profit seeking reasons.

Now it is high time to speak about the training part of the equation.

Strategic principles of strength training

1. General axiom:aim for simplicity.Learn to appreciate the magnificence of simplicity.

2. Prefer free weights which can tax the totality of your muscles in the most appropriate way. A pair of adjustable dumbbells would be fine.

3. Keep your workouts short:20′-30′.But they should be really intense:decent loading of the muscles and minimal breaks.

4. Aim for three workouts per week.If it is hard for you, go at least for two and never for less.

5. Forget about split workouts.You are not a bodybuilder!Go for total body workouts.

6. The best range of repetitions if you want to build some muscle mass is 6-8 per set. So you will have to adjust your weights accordingly.

If you aim for strength development you should go for less.Conversely ,if you seek muscle endurance you should go for more repetitions.

Attention!:a big number of repetitions won’t bring muscle definition as many people erroneously thing.

Muscle definition is mostly a matter of low fat percentage.
Make sure that you read my article: “Muscle definition:the absolute article”.

7. Prefer to perform only compound/multijoint exercises which tax big muscle groups and more joints .These exercises are the best investment for your limited time.

The best movements are the classic ones: squats,lunges,deadlifts,presses and rows.

Things are simple and it’s contrary to our interests to make them seem more complex!

8.Don’t forget symmetry.If you train one group of muscles don’t forget to train the antagonists as well.

9. Don’t fall into the trap of overtraining.Balance quality with quantity.

10. Challenge yourself to brake some records.Excellent motivation indeed! You will need to coordinate body and mind. Make full exploitation of your most powerful weapon:your mind!

11. Pay due attention to the basics:excellent style,warm up and cooling down with some static stretching,blah blah blah..
..

12. Last but not least:if you are struggling to build muscle you will have to limit long ,strenuous cardio.Opt instead for short but real intense HIIT workouts.These workouts will help you save muscle while shedding fat.Sprints are excellent!

Conclusion

Lousy nutrition habits are a conspicuous violation of the muscle building laws.
Eat right ,train smart,watch your cardio ritual and muscle development will be a logical consequence!

Chris Strogilis

The Best Tool For Losing Fat And Building Muscle

Resistance training is the best long-term tool for losing fat and building muscle.

The more lean muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn at rest and on the move. The more muscle tissue you possess, the more energy your body will require to maintain that muscle.

It gets that needed energy from burning and utilizing calories. And again, the more calories you burn, the more likely fat loss to occur.

Muscle is a very metabolically active tissue. It takes a lot of work for your body to maintain it. Fat, on the other hand, takes no work to maintain. It just sits there, lumped together like, well, fat.

This is an important concept in weight loss because the more lean muscle tissue you can build, the more calories that will be burned off, without you having to do any extra work. Your muscle will burn off more calories 24/7 than if you didn’t have that extra lean muscle.

This makes the case for why weight training, also known as resistance training, is so important to include in any weight loss program. Simply because if you can add a couple pounds of lean muscle to your frame, you’re going to burn off more calories, even while sleeping, than if you didn’t have that extra muscle.

The more calories you burn off at rest, the more likely that the calories burned off during exercise will create a calorie deficit in your body. A calorie deficit is a must for weight loss to occur.

Remember how weight gain occurs from consuming more calories than your body burns off during the day. Since there is no deficit of calories, your body does not have to dip into stored body fat to get energy. In fact, due to the surplus, it stores the extra calories as body fat.

If you create a calorie deficit, meaning, your body has used all of the energy from calories it has received from food and it still needs more (like to support muscle tissue) it is going to go after your fat stores to get that energy.

Fat is a highly condensed form of energy. So, when your body starts taking fat from fat stores to use as energy, that is how weight loss occurs.

Weight training may benefit any weight loss program, possibly more than any other component.

Weight training can be a future investment for permanent weight loss and weight maintenance because as you continue to lose stored body fat and gain lean muscle, your muscle will continue to aid in the calorie burning process.

As there becomes less stored body fat to use as energy, the muscle tissue will start to directly utilize the calories you consume on a daily basis.

Since there is now more muscle tissue than there is fat to utilize calories, chances of storing any excess calories as body fat is greatly reduced.

Resistance training may offer the most benefit of all to women past the age of menopause. It can help prevent or reverse the effects of osteoporosis by strengthening and maintaining bone density often lost by diet alone.

So how much resistance training is necessary for long-term weight loss to be successful and to increase your lean muscle and strength? Not as much as you would probably think.

In fact, any more weight/resistance training than 2 to 3 hours a week may be counterproductive.

The best results I have witnessed while in the personal training field come from 3 sessions a week with weights, less than an hour each session.

Most people like the Monday, Wednesday, Friday approach to weight training. This leaves Tuesday and Thursday for cardio, which should be done separately from weight training.

Keep your weight training routine simple. It is more productive to focus effectively on a few tasks (exercises) than it is to work out with less intensity on many different ones.

On each set, try to progressively add a little more weight each time. Keep records of your weight lifts so you can try to outdo (progress) each and every workout!

Again, for the many weight loss and weight management benefits of weight training to occur, you do not have to stay for hours in the gym.

Give yourself 2 hours a week to do some form of resistance training.

If you cannot make it to a gym, invest in a pair of weight-adjustable dumbbells purchased from a nearby department store that you can use at home.

In fact, for less than the cost of a 3 month gym membership, you could probably purchase a great home gym set up with a couple pairs of dumbbells and maybe a bench and mat.

If that is even not within budget, simply lift what you have around the house, like water jugs (full, of course) or soup cans, or rocks from the garden.

Resistance is resistance and having your body progressively lift heavier weight will force it to become stronger and adapt to this demand placed upon it.

When you force your body to adapt to this resistance, it does so by creating new muscle tissue growth to handle the weight.

With this new tissue growth comes a new need for energy to maintain this muscle tissue. That is when stored fat is used and burned off.

That’s why weight training is the best tool for losing fat and building muscle.

Building Muscle And Losing Belly Fat Fast

Resistance training is the best long-term tool for losing fat and building muscle.

The more lean muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn at rest and on the move. The more muscle tissue you possess, the more energy your body will require to maintain that muscle.

It gets that needed energy from burning and utilizing calories. And again, the more calories you burn, the more likely fat loss to occur.

Muscle is a very metabolically active tissue. It takes a lot of work for your body to maintain it. Fat, on the other hand, takes no work to maintain. It just sits there, lumped together like, well, fat.

This is an important concept in weight loss because the more lean muscle tissue you can build, the more calories that will be burned off, without you having to do any extra work. Your muscle will burn off more calories 24/7 than if you didn’t have that extra lean muscle.

This makes the case for why weight training, also known as resistance training, is so important to include in any weight loss program. Simply because if you can add a couple pounds of lean muscle to your frame, you’re going to burn off more calories, even while sleeping, than if you didn’t have that extra muscle.

The more calories you burn off at rest, the more likely that the calories burned off during exercise will create a calorie deficit in your body. A calorie deficit is a must for weight loss to occur.

Click to Get Best Calorie Shifting Fat Burning System

Remember how weight gain occurs from consuming more calories than your body burns off during the day. Since there is no deficit of calories, your body does not have to dip into stored body fat to get energy. In fact, due to the surplus, it stores the extra calories as body fat.

If you create a calorie deficit, meaning, your body has used all of the energy from calories it has received from food and it still needs more (like to support muscle tissue) it is going to go after your fat stores to get that energy.

Fat is a highly condensed form of energy. So, when your body starts taking fat from fat stores to use as energy, that is how weight loss occurs.

Weight training may benefit any weight loss program, possibly more than any other component.

Weight training can be a future investment for permanent weight loss and weight maintenance because as you continue to lose stored body fat and gain lean muscle, your muscle will continue to aid in the calorie burning process.

As there becomes less stored body fat to use as energy, the muscle tissue will start to directly utilize the calories you consume on a daily basis.

Since there is now more muscle tissue than there is fat to utilize calories, chances of storing any excess calories as body fat is greatly reduced.

Resistance training may offer the most benefit of all to women past the age of menopause. It can help prevent or reverse the effects of osteoporosis by strengthening and maintaining bone density often lost by diet alone.

So how much resistance training is necessary for long-term weight loss to be successful and to increase your lean muscle and strength? Not as much as you would probably think.

In fact, any more weight/resistance training than 2 to 3 hours a week may be counterproductive.

The best results I have witnessed while in the personal training field come from 3 sessions a week with weights, less than an hour each session.

Most people like the Monday, Wednesday, Friday approach to weight training. This leaves Tuesday and Thursday for cardio, which should be done separately from weight training.

Click to Get Best Calorie Shifting Fat Burning System

Keep your weight training routine simple. It is more productive to focus effectively on a few tasks (exercises) than it is to work out with less intensity on many different ones.

On each set, try to progressively add a little more weight each time. Keep records of your weight lifts so you can try to outdo (progress) each and every workout!

Again, for the many weight loss and weight management benefits of weight training to occur, you do not have to stay for hours in the gym.

Give yourself 2 hours a week to do some form of resistance training.

If you cannot make it to a gym, invest in a pair of weight-adjustable dumbbells purchased from a nearby department store that you can use at home.

In fact, for less than the cost of a 3 month gym membership, you could probably purchase a great home gym set up with a couple pairs of dumbbells and maybe a bench and mat.

If that is even not within budget, simply lift what you have around the house, like water jugs (full, of course) or soup cans, or rocks from the garden.

Resistance is resistance and having your body progressively lift heavier weight will force it to become stronger and adapt to this demand placed upon it.

When you force your body to adapt to this resistance, it does so by creating new muscle tissue growth to handle the weight.

With this new tissue growth comes a new need for energy to maintain this muscle tissue. That is when stored fat is used and burned off.

That’s why weight training is the best tool for losing fat and building muscle.

Click to Get Best Calorie Shifting Fat Burning System

Supersets Weight lifting For Massive Muscle Growth

If you have been lifting weights for sometime or have been reading bodybuilding magazines and journals, you would have probably heard of super setting. However, how often have you seen people super setting when weight lifting? If you did, did you notice those guys who were super setting were almost invariably the bigger boys. If you want to be big, then why didn’t you superset like them?

What is weight lifting superset? A superset is when you perform two exercises back to back with
no rest in between the exercises. There are a few variations of superset such as, antagonistic muscle superset, pre-exhaustion superset and post exhaustion superset…..etc. We will discuss just these 3 of the more popular supersets in this article.

• Antagonistic Muscle Superset

An antagonistic super set is when you exercise opposite muscle group. Although they are opposite muscles, they actually support each muscle during your movements. For example, when you do dumb bell curls for your biceps, when you lower the dumb bells, your triceps are called into action as well. Similarly for the negative movement of a bench press, your back is working too like when you are doing the bent over row.

So for example of an antagonistic superset on your, say chest and back day, do a bench press routine then follow up with a bent over row or vice versa. That will be one superset. Rest for 2-3 minutes and then proceed with the second set and so on. This will work the muscles involved more deeply than mere straight sets.

• Pre-exhaustion Superset

In a pre-exhaustion superset, you work on the same muscle group with an isolation exercise and then follow up with a compound exercise without rest in between sets. For example, still on your chest and back day, you work out with dumb bell flyes (chest isolation exercise) then immediately thereafter with a bench press (chest compound exercise).

By performing with an isolation exercise first (flyes), you pre-exhuast the targeted muscles you are working on, which in this instance are your pectorals (pecs) and then hit your pecs hard again with a compound movement (bench press) that allows other muscles that are still fresh such as your deltoids and triceps to assist your pecs in the exercise.

• Post – Exhaustion Superset

Another version of super setting is the post-exhaustion method. It is the exact reverse of the pre-exhaustion. In other words, lift compound exercise first and then follow up with an isolation exercise for the same muscle group. It will allow you to lift heavier weight for the compound exercise because your targeted muscle group is not pre-exhausted yet.

Vary each of these various forms of superset every 2 – 3 months and watch your muscles explode with massive growth.

Getting No Results From Cardio? Try a Weight Lifting Muscle Building Program Instead

If you are finding it difficult to get the body you desire by doing cardio alone, you might want to look at beginning a weight lifting muscle building routine. You can actually improve your body’s fat burning ability and add muscle mass by starting an effective weight lifting program. Let’s look at why adding lean muscle mass is so important and sought after.

Why Lean Muscle Mass Is Crucial

The desire for men wanting to add muscle mass is well known.  A great looking physique with big shoulders and big arms is desired by most men and admired by women. Unfortunately, most women avoid adding muscle mass, fearing that it will make them appear bulky or huge. This is utterly not the case. Adding lean muscle makes women look toned, sculpted, and lean. Instead of thinking about looking like a female bodybuilder, you should picture the body of an athlete or fitness model.

It is possible to add roughly one pound of muscle per week to your body. Because muscle burns more calories than fat, adding this one pound means that you will burn approximately 50 extra calories a day just while resting. It’s a shock to most to discover that while sleeping or resting your body actually burns calories. The amount of lean muscle mass on your body plays a huge factor in the amount of calories that you burn. Over the course of a few months you can see how this can truly add together.

You’ll Look And Feel Wonderful

In addition to increasing your fat burning power and your appearance, a weight lifting muscle building routine makes you feel good!

You’ll be in a brighter mood and have a more positive outlook on life in addition to the increase in energy and strength. This effect also grows over time. You’ll have increased motivation and more amazing and quicker results based on the amount of effort you put in.

Imagine feeling fantastic every singe day both mentally and physically! This is possible for anyone to accomplish and is the ultimate goal.

You Can Do it!

You can be on the route to a new body both physically and mentally by starting a weight lifting muscle building plan. I invite you to give a weight lifting routine a shot if you are not happy with your current exercise and cardio plan. I guarantee that if you stick with it you’ll not only feel great, but will look better than you ever have before.

Four Weight Lifting Tips To Help You Lose Weight and Gain Muscle

Are you working your hardest to loss fat and gain muscle, but nothing seems to work? I feel your pain. I’ve worked out for years but did not get the results I was looking for. But after years of failure I finally learned that the weight lifting tips taught by most professional bodybuilders does not work for most people.

This article will give you four weight lifting tips to help you lose weight and gain muscle fast.

Tip 1- The most important weight lifting tip I can give you is when you are working out try to train briefly. When lifting weights try not to do a weight lifting routine that takes over an hour. If you are able to do a workout routine for much more than an hour there is something wrong with your intensity, which will be addressed in tip 2. Just remember, quality is more important than quantity. Work short and hard and you will get better results.

Tip 2- Bring your hardest, most intense workout each time. Do the most reps you can do with perfect form. If you do an 8 rep program but can do 12 you should either add more weight or do the 12 reps. The reason you need to do this is because your body needs to be challenged or it will never adapt to the new muscles being built or the fat being lost.

Tip 3- Do not get into a routine and never change it. You need to add weight and or reps frequently. If you never progress you will never gain more muscle. I would suggest adding 10 lbs a week, so if you do 160 lbs one week, go up to 170 lbs.

Tip 4- Never train the same muscle two days in a row. Your muscles need time to recover so that they can grow. I would recommend either working ever muscle every other day or working a specific muscle group, like legs or chest, every day, six days a week, taking one day off. this will allow your muscles to recover while you work a different muscle group each day.

If you do the above weight lifting tips you should see a dramatic change in how your muscles grow or how you lose weight. It is important that you do all of the above tips because they will help you to achieve the best possible workout that you can get.

Too Skinny? Build Lean Muscle Through Weight Lifting

What do you see when you look in the mirror in the mornings? A skinny body devoid of all muscle? Do you look like a long distance runner that has not had a good meal in a long time? Are you fed up with the laughs at the beach and pool when you take off your shirt? No worry, you can start making a difference today through a simple, but effective weight lifting program. Follow these steps and you will be on your way to a stronger, more muscular body.

First let’s talk about where you are at now. There are many young men who have a difficult time building their muscles. Sometimes it is due to genetics. Sometimes it is a hormone issue. No matter what the challenge is skinny guys must take a different path to building lean muscle mass. These guys must use a somewhat different weight lifting strategy than those who have been blessed with great genes and can build muscle quickly.

You are doing the right thing by doing your homework on weight lifting and how it can help you make the transition from a skinny pushover to a ripped, muscular stud.

Here are the steps for you to follow to develop that lean muscle mass that will have the ladies lining up to be with you. My friend Vince Delmonte calls them the No-Nonsense Steps to Muscle Building.

GET IN AND GET OUT!

Get in the gym do your workout, then get out. Weight lifting burns a huge amount of calories, so as a muscle-challenged young man you need all the calories you can get. You won’t grow lean muscle if you are constantly burning up your calories. Remember Get In and Get Out; no exceptions!

You need your rest, young man. Muscle growth takes place when you are resting, particularly when you are a very skinny person.

We need to get one thing straight. I am not telling you to become a couch potato between workouts. That would be self-defeating to your plan. You cannot keep doing set after set of grueling weight lifting and expect to build muscles that you will be proud to show off on South Beach.

If you are going to put on serious muscle mass you have to have big workouts with heavier weights. You have to be pushing yourself constantly. You are not strength training here; you are body, or more correctly, you are muscle building. You need to be working to your maximum each and every workout, then get out of the gym and get some rest. Let your muscles recover after you have broken them down.

FOCUS ON COMPOUND LIFTS

As a thin man with understated muscles, you do not need to be doing any exercises that isolate specific muscles. You will have plenty of time to work on those exercises once you have packed on some quality muscle.

So focus on doing compound weight lifting exercises like squats, military press, bench press, deadlifts and rows. These will work several muscles at the same time and give you more return on your invested time. Stay away from doing things like bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, leg extensions, chest flys and other exercises that work specific muscles. These isolation exercises take time and burn lots of calories that skinny guys cannot afford to burn.

Build your bulk first, then you will have plenty of mass to chisel into that neatly-defined hunk of a man you want to be. Focus on a full body workout program and steer clear of the five-day split programs. With this plan, you will begin to see new muscle mass developing all over your body in a few months.

LIMIT YOUR CARDIO WORK

What? Limit cardio work?

I know you do not want to become fat, but that is really not something you need to be concerned about with your high-metabolism, skinny body. Cardio burns far too many calories that you need to use to build solid muscle. Doing cardio exercises is not going to help you acomplish your ultimate goal of growing your muscle mass.

It is fine to do some cardio work to maintain your overall fitness, but limit it to a few twenty minute workouts each week. You are not training for a marathon here, so your cardio workouts need to light to moderate in intensity. Use your hard-core intensity in the the weight room only.

By the way, the main problem most overweight people have has nothing to do with their lack of cardio exrecise, but has everything to do with their poor eating habits. So if you eat a healthy, well-balanced diet and become a beast in the weight room you will not have to worry about becoming fat. Muscle, baby, that is the name of game!

GET PLENTY OF REST

So far, you have learned how to get your muscle- building machine going; you know what you need to work on in the gym and you know what to avoid, now you need to rest. Those intense workouts and the proper nutition are going to pay huge dividends, but ONLY if you give your body time to recover.

You have to get lots of quality sleep to allow for your muscles to repair and rebuild themselves. You do not want to do all of that work in the gym and not get the full results you expect. Rest is truly the key to building solid muscle mass. Remember you tear down the muscle in the weight room so it can rebuild itself bigger and better than before.

You do not have to say goodbye to your social life completely, but too much late night drinking and partying will undermine your muscle-building efforts very quickly. Simply put, you need your rest young man, so chill out and go to sleep to wake up with bulging muscles. Okay, it is not that easy, but the rest is an important part of the process.

PROPER TECHNIQUE MATTERS

We have all seen the guys in the gym slinging their barbells up and down, backwards and forwards using the momentum of the weight to get it above his head or to his side. That will not get you anything, but a bad back and deflated mental attitude when the results do not come.

Technique in weightlifting really matters. Having proper form will get you measurable gains faster and help you to avoid injuries. No form; No results! If you are not sure what the proper form for each exercise is you need to find a good weight training book or seek advice from an experienced trainer who can help you.

And that leads me to my final point.

FIND A MENTOR

Going from a skinny kid who gets pushed around a lot to a totally ripped hard-body takes time, effort and focus. You probably are going to need someone to guide you that has been where you are now and has accomplished what you want to do. A mentor can make the process easier and more productive.

When I was a skinny little guy I did not want another skinny cardio geek trying to tell me how to build serious muscle mass. What did he know about muscle building? His body was devoid of muscle from what I could tell.

I found a buff hard-body guy that understood what I was going through and really wanted to help me. My mentor helped me to stay focused and motivated during those days I was trying to avoid working out.

He challenged me and showed me things that I would have never have know without his guidance. A mentor who is an experienced, muscle-building gym rat will save you lots of time and effort in your process to get that ripped body.

Put that skinny, muscle-less body behind you by taking some very simple, but effective steps. Get in the gym, workout hard by doing compound lifts and using proper technique. Limit your cardio work so you do not burn precious calories, then get out of the gym. Rest those hard worked muscles by getting lots of quality sleep. And maximize your results by finding a mentor who has been there and done that.

Following these steps over the next few months will having you looking into the mirror to see a ripped, well-muscled physique looking back at you.

Is A Weight Lifting Spotter Required For Substantial Muscle Gain?

One of the most important bodybuilding concepts for maximum muscle building is failure, where a bodybuilder takes a certain weight lifting exercise to the point where no additional repetitions are possible, and this requires some form of spotting on certain exercises, especially those involving the chest and legs, so many opt to pair up with a weight training partner so that they can always have a safety mechanism to protect against injury.

Even bodybuilders who otherwise prefer performing bodybuilding workouts alone decide to seek out a partner specifically to allow failure on certain weight training exercises, and for those who cannot find a friend for such a purpose, they will inevitably join a gym and bother other busy weight lifters to spot them during various sets, which is not only frustrating to any bodybuilder who is attempting to complete a workout without distractions, but finding such a spotter is not always easy depending on the time of day and type of training facility. Although there are some bodybuilders who can locate reliable weight training partners to accompany them for each workout, the chances are far greater that this will not be possible, leaving either the random spotter technique, asking others for a watchful eye, which as mentioned is quite rude and distracting to others, or requires using machines exclusively, which naturally prevents the need for any spotting whatsoever.

But what if a bodybuilder wishes to train with free weights on workout exercises such as the bench press, shoulder press, and triceps press, and wishes to perform these specific weight lifting exercises alone, without the benefit of a partner or spotter? This is easily possible through use of a power rack (also referred to as a spotting cage), where two beams allow positioning at various locations to protect a bodybuilder from becoming trapped underneath of a heavy weight during his or her workout session. Since the power rack has adjustable spotting bars, the unit is not only useful for upper body weight training exercises such as the bench press, but also for the squat and calf raise, lower body movements which many prefer performing with a free weight barbell as opposed to using machines.

Some opt for a squat rack instead of a spotting cage, and this is a serious mistake given that the spotting beams offered by a power rack are designed specifically to serve as a protective mechanism in case a bodybuilder happens to lose control of the weight during his or her set, while a squat rack does not allow this heightened level of protection. The best function of the power rack is that spotting is possible without the aid of a partner, as you can place the weight on a separate, smaller set of pegs for initial lift off, and the large, long spotting beams are positioned lower for complete protection during the weight lifting set. Many gyms offer power racks, although some may only provide one, and bodybuilders who understand the value of this particular piece of workout equipment will quickly monopolize the device, which requires others to either try and “work in” (which is very inconvenient unless both bodybuilders are using the same amount of weight and performing identical workout exercises), or wait for the power rack to become available, which is wasted time (and others may then ask to “work in” as well). So, if space permits, purchasing a power rack for the home is a far better alternative, as along with a workout bench, barbell, two dumbbell collars and free weight plates, amazing results are possible at home, alone, while reaching failure safely on all weight lifting exercises, without need of a spotter.

The other issue with attempting to find a weight lifting partner to spot during heavy bench pressing and other similar workout exercises is that, unless you train with an army of other very strong bodybuilders, it’s quite possible to become trapped underneath a weight even when a spotter is watching you train, as reaching failure, by its very definition, requires that you can no longer muster the energy to complete a repetition on your own power, and for a spotter to lift dead weight from a standing position is extremely difficult, to the point where he or she may be unable to help you avoid becoming stuck underneath a barbell as your energy reserves decline during a workout set. With a power rack, this is never an issue, as you adjust the spotting beams to a position where the barbell cannot cause you to become trapped underneath, regardless of how heavy a weight you may be using for your bodybuilding workouts, so I strongly recommend, even if you train with a reliable and very strong partner, to always use a power rack for spotting during all pressing exercises so that you can ensure safety and maximum intensity without needlessly risking severe injury.

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