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Posts Tagged ‘build muscle mass’

Normally bodybuilding articles talk about how to build muscle up, diet, training workouts, muscle building nutrition and so on, however whilst these are all really important there is one things slightly different I would like to introduce to you and your muscle building armoury. It is known as the reticular activating system (RAV).

The RAV works together with the visual componenet of our brain and diverts our attention to specific things that our sub conscious has programmed into it, to be important to achieve our goals. The day to day actions, sights, sounds, preferences and so on that we get daily are all because of our sub conscious thought process that is continually operating.

Neuroscientists now have evidence to prove this and therefore even skeptics should belive now that positive thinking and the law of attraction work. If you have never heard of the law of attraction before it is basically the asumption that ‘what you think about, you bring about’ or ‘thoughts become things’. Now in the past this was thought of as being a bit to new agey for the majority of people however there is an increasing acceptance of this mental approach worldwide.

Now it doesn’t really matter if you take the neuro-scientists approach about it or the new age approach to this as it will still work. Therefore by reprogramming our subconscious mind it is possible to activate our RAV which in turn will ensure that we take the correct steps to achieve our goals as we will simply be recognisiing the most effective way to get there more easily. Some people will experience beneficial co-incidences that will significantly aid there progress, this is from uncommon but often gives this ‘law of attraction’ a slightly magical feel whereas in reality those things were probably there all the while anyway!

So how exactly is a bodybuilder meant to benefit from this? Well consider now your present thought patterns. Exactly what thoughst do you have running through your mind on a day to day basis. Are they thoughts like ‘losing weight is too difficult’ or ‘I never grow muscle fast’ for if they are then that is exactly what your RAV system is choosing for you to notice and act upon on a daily basis. It is therefore your everyday sub conscious thought process that you need to alter to positive muscle building thought processes such as: ‘muscle mass come quickly and easily’ or ‘I am getting huge fast’ and so on.

How can these thought patterns be altered? Here are a couple of things to try:

1)       Visualisation: first you need to set aside 5 minutes or so each day to do this. Simply shut your eyes and visualise in your minds eye exactly how you want your physiques to be. Large biceps, lean 6 pack and such like, make sure you are as clear as possible about this vision and hold it with a sense of belief.’

2)       Speak out aloud clearly and confidently simple statements like: I am extremely fit and healthy, I am huge and muscular, I am growing more and more each day and so on.

Go through these everyday. It will take a minimum of 30 days to start over riding your old thought patterns and to imprint the new ones but it will happen. Following that, don’t stop doing them keep going to continually reaffirm your new thought patterns.

If you doubt that this is effective then I suggest that you take a look at a few sportsmens autobiographies or sports studies books, I gaurantee that you will find these processes talked about in depth, especially visualisation which is an awesomely effective technique that deserves daily usage!

Ok with these positive thoughts and feelings in mind, go build muscle mass!

We all know that top of the list for most body builders is a huge impressive set of biceps. They are extremely visible and eye catching and will win you heaps of admiration quickly. So, why do few people get huge biceps and instead wander around with only modestly sized guns espite years of dedication.

Well, it may come as a suprise that this set of muscles are one of the most poorly trained set of muscles. By that I mean that many people go about building biceps muscle in completely the wrong way.

Here a number of guidelines will be put firmly down that will ensure that you can grow big biceps in the shortest possible time. So here is out brief biceps guide how to build muscle up fast.

1) Your guns get loads of work already in rowing exercises that you will probably have in your back routine. Therefore concentrate on progressing on these exercises and you will automatically get bigger biceps.

2) Don’t punish your biceps too much. This is suprisingly easy to do because of the back workouts so don’t do more than a max of 4 sets for your biceps.

3) Select the best exercises. The number one bicep mass builders are underhand pull ups and rowing movements. Standing barbell curls will be the only option if you really do feel the need to do more sets. Steer clear of shaping exercises like seated concentration curls which are designed as exercise to shape and carve already large muscles. if that doesn’t sound like you then there are much better exercises out there for you to get big guns with.

4) Keep the rep range in the 5-7 category for maximium muscle size gains. Make sure you keep progressing by using a training log to track your progress. This ensures you will have motivation as you are trying to beat your previous pbs. Next up muscle building nutrition.

5) Are you getting the required amount of calories in your body. You need to be taking on enough calories to ensure that you can support the muscle growth you want. eat at least 5 times per day measl containing: pastas, fruits, leafy greens, lean white meats and such like. These are the exact types of nutritionally high foods that will help you pack on bicep size.

6) Ensure you are resting enough. You are probably aware of the fact that muscles don’t increase in size and grow whilst you are actually working out, they do it whilst you are resting. Therefore it is only common sense to give them enough rest. If you are not then your attempts to build muscle will be wasted.

So thats, it our brief guide on how to build bicep muscle mass fast. Check you are following those guidelines and you may just boost your bicep size and build muscle mass quicker than you expected. Go hit it!

You may already be aware what a hardgainer is. If you are not aware of the term that basically it kind be defined as some one who has immense difficulty putting on weight in the form of fat or muscle! Often this may be due to that person having an overly speedy metabolism.

Metabolism or metabolic rate refers to the rate at which your body burns up the calories it has taken on whilst performing the natural reactions of the body. If your metabolic rate is very slow then it is easy to gain fat tissue as you are not using up as many calories at rest as someone who has a higher metabolic rate.

For muscle mass building we have to develop an extra amount of calories however for hardgainers this can be hard as they have a high metabolic rate which rapidly burns up calories. So, what actions can hardgainers take to overcome this? Here is our how to build muscle up guide for hardgainers:

1) Keep the cardio workouts to a minimum. Cardio work actually speeds up the bodies metabolism, as well as using up calories whilst doing the exercises, you will also be increasing the rate at which you are burning up calories at rest after your workout. You do not want this as you are trying to create surplus calories.

2) Eat for two people! You need to take on board heaps of calories. To do so, double the portion of food that you would normally consume. Use oversized bowls so it is impossible to forget this.

3) Eat 5-7 meals per day. This is critical to build muscle mass. Your body can absorb only a fixed amount of nutrients at any given time that is why spreading out meals is necessary and to ensure the body is never waiting for food. consuming 2-3 meals/snacks a day is said to slow down the bodies metabolic rate which is true but that does not mean it is something that you should do. Why? Because your body goes into starvation mode releasing certain chemicals that are counter productive to muscle building especially for hardgainers.

4) Make use of supplemements. Take advantage of some of the excellent meal replacement powders and protein shakes that are available. These include extremely high amounts of exactly the correct ingredients you require. Great times to take them are just after training and just before bed as these are times when your body is going to need the nutrients most.

Quit performing exercise movements that are not mult joint exercises like concentration curls, only do compound exercises. Your program should include: Squats, dead lifts, pull ups and bench presses. These are the most efficient way to put muscle in all the right places with the least amount of effort.

6) Quit doing so many sets. Muscle mass growth can be ignited by performing just 10 sets per session with only 3 sets per body part. More is generally worse for hardgainers! Stimulate growth then leave the gym as soon as possible and asve your calories for supporting muscle growth.

7) Consume plenty of water. It is crucial for many important reactions in the body so don’t forget to do this. Consume liquids regularly.

There we are, give those tips a try. Do not turn around after a couple of weeks and say they don’t work, be persistent and stick with it for a couple of months and see what the results are. Simply try them out and see what happens? I hope you found our how to build muscle up tips useful.

Every bodybuilder wants to grow faster. No-one wants to wait for results, we all want results now or if not then yesterday. So it is very frustrating that it takes months or years to build muscle mass. However we are able to decrease the time it takes to build muscle. So here are 10 hot tips that show you how to build muscle up fast. They follow now:

1. The Concept of Overload. This means that at each workout you have to increase the workload that you are using. You must constantly strive for improvements in order to keep pushing your muscle to the limits to stimulate growth. Growth can be repeatedly stimulated by continually altering the stress placed on the muscle.

2. Keep your reps between 8-12. This rep range has been proven to build muscle for size fastest. Although the 3-6 rep range is good for increasing strength it is not the best for increasing size. In the 15 plus category you can create muscle growth but it will be in a different type of muscle fiber which doesn’t increase in size so much, although your body will gain endurance.

3. Each session should consist of no more than 6-9 sets per muscle group. More than that and you risk overtraining. This will keep your sessions more intense and prevent the body secreting catabolic hormones which adversely affect muscle growth. Ideally limit your workout to 45 mins so that you can keep it intense.

4. Get enough calories inside you. If you wish to build muscle mass then you need to consume excess calories which can then be used to build muscle mass. Muscle doesn’t just grow out of thin air it requires the excess calories to build it. You need to consume plenty of rice, pasta, breads, fish, and lean whit meat ast these are sources of quality calories.

5. Increase your protein intake. Protein is required for muscle to be repaired and built. If you are low on protein you won’t build muscle. You can get an approximate calculation of the protein you need by:
Lean Mass Body Weight in kg times 2.75 = Your protein requirement per day

To calculate your lean mass weight you need to first workout your percentage of bodyfat. This can be undertaken at any gym or an easier way is to eat one gram of protein per pound of your bodyweight.

6. Consume Fat! This is good advice because it increases the muscle building anabolic hormone in your body. Some people use steroids to increaese this however a good bodybuilding diet will do this naturally to some extent.

7. Liquids. A great deal of chemical reactions in the body, such as those responsible for muscle building, require copious amounts of water in order to take place. it is therefore much better to increase the amount of water that you take on. This is often overlooked by people looking to build muscle fast.

8. Take it easy on the aerobic exercise and cardio workouts. This is because cardio workouts release the catabolic hormone that actually can lead to muscle tissue being broken down, the exact opposite of what you want. It will leave less calories available for muscle building which are required for when you are building muscle at rest.

9. Sleep, this is my favourite. Rest is a critical part of muscle growth, especially sleep this is when your muscles will do their growing. Ensure you drink a protein chake before you sleep. Starving your body overnight is the last thing you should be doing if you want muscle growth. During sleep growth hormones are released, your muscles experience increased blood flow and your metabolic rate slows down. All of these are ideal conditions for building muscle fast.

10. Remain dedicated. Never quit trying to achieve your goals. You won’t be turning in to. Olympia overnight but if you follow the above guidelines over a three month period then you can experience significant gains in muscle mass. The above tips are practiced by many experienced bodybuilders and I assure you they really do show you how to build muscle up fast.

Every muscle builder wants to grow faster. Fast gains is the name of the game , no-one likes waiting. So it is very frustrating that it takes months or years to build muscle mass. However we are able to decrease the time it takes to build muscle. So here are 10 hot tips that show you how to build muscle up fast. Here they are:

1. The Overload Principle. This really means that you should be aiming to improve in the workload in any way at every workout. You must constantly strive for improvements in order to keep pushing your muscle to the limits to stimulate growth. By placing ever increasing demands on the body we can force it to continually grow and adapt to the new demands each workout in order to build muscle fast.

2. Your rep range should be between 8 and 12 reps. This range of reps is proven to stimulate the most muscle growth for size. Whilst the 3-6 rep range will increase strength it doesn’t always lead to massive size increases. In the rep range over 15 you will stimulate muscle growth for endurance which will not increase the muscle size greatly as it activates a different type of muscle fibre.

3. 6-9 sets should be the maximum done for any particular bodypart per workout. More than that can lead to overtraining. This will keep your sessions more intense and prevent the body secreting catabolic hormones which adversely affect muscle growth. Try to keep your workout as short as 45 mins and keep the intensity high.

4. Eat plenty of calories to support growth. Muscle growth has to be supported by an intake of excess calories. Excess calories are needed for muscle to grow. You need to consume plenty of rice, pasta, breads, fish, and lean whit meat ast these are sources of quality calories.

5. Increase your protein intake. Muscles require protein to be repaired and to build more. If you are low on protein you won’t build muscle. You can get an approximate calculation of the protein you need by:
Your Lean Weight Mass in kg multiplied by 2.75 = your per day protein requirement

To workout your lean mass weight you need to know your percentage body fat. This can be done at many gyms or an easier method is to simply take one gram of protein for each pound of bodyweight that you have, this is also a suitable guideline.

6. Consume Fat! This is solid advice as increases the amount of anabolic muscle building hormones released by the body. Steroids are used by some people to do this naturally however a good bodybuilding diet will also help do this.

7. Liquids. A great deal of chemical reactions in the body, such as those responsible for muscle building, require copious amounts of water in order to take place. It is much better therefore to increase the amount of water you take on board. This is often overlooked by people looking to build muscle fast.

8. Limit the number of aerobic workouts you do. This is because cardio workouts release the catabolic hormone that actually can lead to muscle tissue being broken down, the exact opposite of what you want. It will leave less calories available for muscle building which are required for when you are building muscle at rest.

9. My personal favourite is sleep. Rest is an essential part of muscle growth especially sleep which is when your muscle will grow. Brink a protein shake before retiring. Te worst thing you can do is limit your body of nutrients whilst it is resting as it is the perfect time to grow. At sleep your muscles have an increased supply of blood, your metabolism slows down and muscle growth hormones are released. All of these are ideal conditions for building muscle fast.

10. Remain dedicated. Don’t quit on chasing your goals. You are going to turn into Mr. Olympia overnight but if you follow the above guidelines over a three month period then you can experience significant gains in muscle mass. The above tips are practiced by many experienced bodybuilders and I assure you they really do show you how to build muscle up fast.

‘Why am I not getting any bigger?’ is one of the most often questions asked globally from bodybuilders. After all you are training hard, with good muscle building nutrition in your diet, yet your gains are still minimal. Your motivation can be dramatically reduced by the sense of frustration after months of effort. So precisely what is the answer? Well, there are a few likely causes, see if any of these ring a bell with you, together they show you how to build muscle up:

1) Are you eating enough? Under eaters could be the real name for many hardgainers. As this really is a massive cause of lack of muscle mass. In bodybuilding the key to weight gain is eating, lots and often! Eating every two hours is a good guideline and will enable you to take on board as many calories as possible. Make sure you snack lots on food such as: dried fruit and nuts, yoghurt, cottage cheese,  cereal and milk, protein bars, fresh fruit, and protein shakes, etc

2) Are you getting enough protein? To build muscle mass fast you should aim for 1.Each day you should get per pound of body weight 5 grams of protein. Superb source of protein for muscle building are: chicken, fish, turkey as well as dairy products. You need the excess calories in order to grow so don’t be overly worried about purchasing the low fat type. of course you require decent quality calories but you can do a ripping stage at a later date to remove excess body fat. Taking whey protein shakes  is another great way to get on board quality protein, purchase the big 5 pound tubs to get the most for your money.

3) Have your routines become unproductive? If you can dictate out loud your session off the cuff then that likely means you have been using the same workout for a decent length of time already. Lots of variety is required in order to keep your muscles growing. Trying playing around with things like drop sets, partials, negatives, aided lifts and such like. You can even just reverse the order of your routine and see what difference that makes, how about 10 sets of 10 reps to failure on just one major exercise such as the bench press (get ready to be sore!) how about taking a week off from your session to allow your body to completely recover. As you can see there are endless variations, make sure you use them.

4) Are you managing to take enough rest? Did you ever see anyone walk into a fitness centre workout and then come out having put on half a stone of muscle? Never. Clearly then you build muscle mass when you are at home and not when you are lifting barbells. You will certainly be limiting your muscle growth if you are not getting enough rest time. If anything you ought to be giving yourself too much time to grow rather than too little. Try reducing your workouts to working out once muscle group per week. Also reducing the number of sets per body part, how about a maximum of 3-5 really intense sets per body part per workout. Why not try them yourself, you might be pleasantly suprised by your progress!

5) Is your water intake high enough? You will limit your progress if you don’t get an adequate supply of water. To build muscle mass copious amount of water is required. Carry a bottle with you in the car and never stop drinking from it.

So the initial question: ‘Why am I not getting bigger?’as you now know has potentially many answers. Answer with extreme honesty the above questions and if you need to make a few changes then do so. If you are not hitting just one of the above guidelines then you may possibly have found the probelm underlying your limited growth. If there are more than one of these points that your bodybuilding lifestyle does not meet then urgent change is required. Of course there are heaps of other reasons why you might not be growing but the above are the usual culprits. Now go pump some iron and start growing!

One common question often asked is: “Do I need to go to join a gym in order to workout and build muscle?. The answer to that question is a resounding ‘no’. Positives and negatives exist for training at home or in a fitness centre. You can easily build muscle home.

Working out in a regular gym allows you access to all sorts of new and different types of equipment, you can get professional advice easily as well, plus it is likely to be much safer. However training in a gym can be annoying sometimes if you have to wait for a particular piece of equipment or the other gym users are sat around gossipping and not really interested in getting big.

There a lot of good points out hoe workouts: minimal very low cost, zero travelling time, train without a shirt if that’s what you like to do, you get to play your own tunes, there will never be any waiting for equipment and you can get to scream at the bar and no one will think you are mad.

The negatives are the intial outlay of money at that is required to purchase the equipment although this will likely last a for ages and can be sold again second hand, you may also incur the wrath of your housemates/partner if you use up too much room.

Working-out at home allows you to build muscle mass at your convenience and if you go by the following how to build muscles fast at home guidelines you should not have a problem working-out at home:

1)Find a suitably large space, such as a garage, basement or spare room. The floor needs should be firm and strong making a ground floor a better option. A bonus would be a well ventilated area. If it is a garage make sure it is fully water-proof so your equipment does not get rusty.

2) Permanently remove any easily damaged objects. Ample warning is provided byt youtube where a guy doing barbell curls unfortunately lets his barbell nudge his large fish tank with a barbell just a little too hard! humourous to view unless it is your tank. A permanent location will avoid problems like this, imagine putting a barbell through a plasma tv screen or dropping a weight disc on a laptop computer, not fun.

3)Get the following pieces of equipment as a minimum: a set of cast iron dumbells and barbells, a weight bench, squat stand, a mat and a pull-up bar. The choice of home gym equipment is very good so shop around a bit but place high importance the durability and strength of the equipment because it will take a lot of hammer over the next few years!

4) Set out a decent workout. The top muscle building exercises can all be done with that equipment. Bench-presses, pull-ups, squats, dead lifts are all must have multi-joint exercises which should be used followed by exercises such as: barbell curls, upright rows, shrugs, lunges, shoulder presses, lateral raises and bent over rows are also great to include.

5) Be aware of the dangers. You are likely to be working out out on your own, so avoid one rep maximum exercises unsupervised and get a friend to come over and assist if you wan to do some. Always make sure that all weight discs are securely fastened to the barbell. most weight benches let you insert a pin at the bottom of your lift when the barbell is at the height slightly above your chest, ensure you insert this as if you cannot make the lift it can take the pressure for you, do the same in the squat stand too.

So, by following the above ‘how to build muscle home guidelines’ you can have a great workout, build heaps of muscle mass and all in the convenience of your own home.

Everyone knows to build muscle up one of the best exercises for the upper body is the bench press. As always certainly one of the questions near the top of bodybuilders lists is: how much can you bench press?’. Whilst it may not be the best measure of overall strength it does have a certain macho feel to it and a big bench press is certainly very impressive. So lets cut to the chase and find out how to build muscle now and get a bigger bench press:

Grow your triceps. Up to two thirds of the muscle mass on your arms is made up the tricep muscle alone. it is possible that under developed triceps are limiting your bench press total. The best exercises to build muscle mass on your triceps are using barbells and dumbells: close grip bench-presses and skull crushers. Less effective are isolation type exercises such as tricep press downs. They can certainly aid in increasing your benchpress.

Why not try training your triceps individually by themselves. More often than not muscle building programs will suggest that you train the triceps along with the chest. Try training them on their own for a change. Doing this allows you to attack them when they are fresh and really concentrate and focus on hammering them to stimulate growth. Do this for a number of weeks and see how much more poundage you can press.

Variety. have you been doing the same old routine for months on end? time to mix it up then. After your muscles have done the same workout a few times, they have already adapted to it and therefore the need to grow has been removed. Keep changing things, they can be subtle changes like altering the grip width or reversing the order of your routine or they can be larger changes like doing super sets, compound sets and so on, these will give you a real pump by the way.

Make sure you are not doing too much! While with most things in life more is better, in muscle building this is not quite true. Too much training for your chest muscles means it takes longer for them to recover and develop. Always focus on technique and intensity above quantity. A short intense workout is much more effective than a long drawn out one.

Quality rest. Muscles are not about to grow whilst you are working out! At rest is when they grow. If you don’t give enough time for growing then you simply won’t grow. Of course do not return to the gym when your muscles are still sore and a fair guideline is to limit yourself to 6-9 sets each session for each muscle group, any more and you risk overtraining.

Take a break from training. If you hit a training plateau then consider taking a complete break. let your body fully recover, get rid of all the niggles aches and pains and then comeback fresh a week or two later with renewed energy and motivation.

Push your chest muscle harder by doing negatives on the weight bench. Negatives are when two spotters (gym partners) help you press the weight up but then let you lower it under full control. We do this because you can actually lower more weight than you can lift. Therefore if we can manage to get the body lowering more weight it is likely that this will help us on the effort phase also. The negative portion of the lift is proven to develop more muscle growth than the effort phase.

Review your diet. Are you consuming around 6 meals a day with at least 1 gram of protein for each pound of bodyweight that you have? If you are not then it may well be the case that you are limiting your gains by not following a muscle building diet strictly enough. Each meal should be roughly 50% carbohydrate, 30% protein and the rest made-up of fats. Use supplements if you can such as whey protein, essential fatty acids and multi-vitamins.

Focus on your technique. Are you pressing correctly. Bad technique can move the focus away from the chest muscles and put you at a greater risk of getting injured. Ensure you are not moving your feet up off the floor and that your grip is not too narrow, these are two mistakes that are easy to make.

By following the guidelines above you will be giving yourself the best chance to build muscle mass on your chest fast. Just do it!