Archive for the ‘Muscle Building Training’ Category

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Pyramid Sets for Muscle Building

Friday, April 18th, 2008

There are many ways in which bodybuilders try to do more damage to their muscle fibres trying to produce more growth. One such technique is pyramid sets. This is basically when you start at a heavy weight and then continuously work down dropping the weight each time for five, ten or more sets. Eventually you will be struggling to lift virtually no weight as you have exhausted your muscles completely.

This ‘Pyramid’ technique is widley used among bodybuilders, so should we be following their example if we too want to build up our muscles? In my opinion no! You have to remember that alot of these ‘genetically gifted’ bodybuilders out there use drugs, steroids and other growth hormones are common. So for us natural trainers, it would be crazy to try and complete the same sort of training. Performing pyramid sets or similar techniques will extend the time that it takes for your muscles to recover.

There is no research out there to suggest that performing these pyramid sets, or even just extra sets with lighter weights at the end of your workouts, will help you build any more muscle than your usual three to five sets.

So in conclusion I would ignore what the bodybuilders are doing out there, and stick with three to five sets making sure you fail on your last rep of your last set. This should be more than enough to produce new muscle growth. 

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Reduce Post Training Muscle Pain… With Fruit?!

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

After a tough workout it is normal for people to suffer some muscle pain for a day or two during recovery. If you are a new to weight training, you will find that for the first couple of weeks you will find the muscle pain can be quite bad. I remember when I first started training with weights, many years ago! I think I had worked my arms and my chest, and I’d really pushed myself. I woke up the next day and could hardly move my upper body at all! It was even painful to touch! Even seasoned trainers still experience muscle pain after particularly hard workouts, or if they perform exercises that are new to them.

Apart from this muscle pain being uncomfortable, it can also affect performance. If you train again when you muscles are still sore, you can find that you strength will be diminished.

 There has been research done into ways of reducing this muscle soreness, and the discovery that has been made is that certain fruits taken after exercise can reduce this soreness of the muscles. Fruits such as cherries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, consumed after a workout have been proven to help with the problem of muscle soreness. These fruits are high in phytochemicals, which have an anti inflammatory effect, which seems to be behind the positive effect they have on muscle recovery.

So try adding a handful of cherries, strawberries, blackberries or  blueberries to your post workout protein shake and help reduce the time you spend suffering after a heavy training session.

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The Truth About Breathing When Weight Training…

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

I’m sure that any of you who have been inducted at a gym have been shown the ‘correct’ way of breathing when lifting weights or using resistance machines. Breath in during the negative part of the movement, then breath out during the positive or force applying movement. This is usually the breathing technique that the trainer will tell you to use, and under no circumstance should you hold you breath.

So is this true? Is holding your breath? Well in fact holding of the breath is a technique used by some powerlifters, it is known as the Valsalva maneuver. The theory behind this technique is that when you hold your breath you actual tense up your abdominal muscle, which leads to your torso become more sturdy. The only bad thing about this technique is that is does create a temporary rise in blood pressure, which is not dangerous unless you have high blood pressure anyway.

So which technique should you be using? Well in my opinion, the best way is to let your body decide naturally. Breathing is a naturally thing, your body should be able to adapt the way you breath to best fit the situation. Trust your bodys natural response.

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Progressive Overload for Muscle Gain

Monday, March 31st, 2008

Progressive overload is a must for anyone who wants to gain size or strength. So what do I mean by progressive overload? Progressive overload simple means continuously increasing the amount of stress you put on your muscles each time you workout over a period of time.

There are several ways you can do this. Firstly you every workout you could increase the weight on each exercise that you are doing. Add perhaps 5lbs on your previous workouts lifting weight. Secondly you could try and complete more repetitions than you did on your previous workout. Finally you could add extra sets to your workout, increasing the volume.

This progressive overload is the key to muscle gain. Every time you exercise your muscles, the stress you put on them actually damages the fibres within the muscle. These fibres then repair themselves stronger and thicker, so the next time they have to complete the task that damaged them, they will be able to do it with the damage. Now if you increase the stress they are put on each time, they will continue to repair stronger and thicker each time (providing you are giving them enough rest and feeding them enough proper nutrition!). 

That’s the basic theory behind progressive resistance, put in very simple terms anyway!

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How Many Reps Should I do?!

Friday, March 28th, 2008

There is much confusion out there about how many reps you should be aiming to complete when weight training. There are many different views on how many reps is best for strength, gaining size and for toning. In my opinion the following ranges are a good guide to work to:

3 to 5 reps – Increasing strength, but will also add size to your muscle.

6 to 12 reps – Increasing muscle mass.

12 reps plus – Endurance and toning.

If you follow these guide lines you should be heading in the right direction. 

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Shorten Your Time in the Gym – Part 2

Friday, March 21st, 2008

Still on the subject of cutting down the time you spend in the gym. If you are training for fat loss, here’s a tip to cut down the time you spend doing boring cardio.

Rather than spending fourty minutes to an hour doing cardio, why not try adding some interval training into your routine. The routine needs to be divided into different intensity levels, these are low, medium and high. A rough guide to these would be as follows;

Low intensity – This would be a very gentle jog or fast paced walk.

Medium intensity - Pace yourself at a steady jog, not to fast though.

High intensity - Fast jog or sprint.

I’ve based these around jogging, but you could use a rowing machine or exercise bike, or any similar equipment. 

So here’s how it works…

5 minutes – low intensity (warm up)

3 minutes – medium intensity

2 minutes – high intensity

3 miuntes – medium intensity

2 minutes – high intensity

3 minutes – medium intensity

2 minutes – high intensity

5 minutes – low intensity (warm down)

This is an excellent fat burning workout, it’s great for getting fit as it is quite challenging. Definately worth giving it a try if you are looking to shorten your workouts.

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Posted in Fat Loss Training, General, Muscle Building Training | 6 Comments »

Shorten Your Time the Gym – Part 1

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Many of us have busy lives, some times it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day. So how can we get back some time by shortening the time we spend in the gym, without affecting our results?! One answer is super setting. 

Super setting is basically when you complete a sets of a different exercise instead of resting. See the example below for how this works.

Benchpress – set 1

No Rest

Dumbell row- set 1

No Rest

Benchpress -set 2 

 No Rest

Dumbell Row – set 2

And so on…

So you can see in the example above that when you would usually be resting, between sets you are moving on with another exercise. It is important that you pick either opposite movements or none related muscles, so you are able to complete each exercise toyour full capability. In the example you can see a pushing movement for the chest, followed by a pulling movement for the back. You could also super set biceps and triceps, shoulders and calves, legs and abs, etc.

Following the superset technique will shorthen the time you spend in the gym, and also increase the intensity of your workout.

Look out for part 2 coming soon…

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The Big Three for Muscle Growth

Friday, March 7th, 2008

There are three exercises which are widely regarded as must do exercises to have in your workout when aiming to build muscle. What are these? See below…..

  • Number one on  the list is the good old bench press. The number one exercise for your chest, bar none. This compound exercise is great for putting on size on your chest. The chest is one of the most impressive areas of the body when toned and built to a good size.
  • The second on the list is the barbell squat. A very demanding exercise, both mentally and physically. Mainly targets the legs, but also strengthens all of the core (lower back and abs) . The results that can be achieved by this movement are amazing. 
  • Lastly is the deadlift. This is an exercise that is great for building a strong back. Care must be taken when performing this exercise, as the risk of injury is high if form is bad.

These are three great exercises that you should consider introducing into your workout routine, as excellent gains in muscle size and strength can be made.

The deadlift and the barbell squat can be tough on your body. If you are unable to perform any of these, perhaps due to an old injury or general discomfort. Dont worry, all is not lost. There are alternatives that can produce great results to.

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Key Points for Muscle Growth

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

If you are training to build lean muscle, and are seeing little or no results. I have created a list of key points below that you should be doing in your training and diet.

  •  Lifting heavyweights – Fairly obvious one, but you really need to be pushing yourself for muscle growth. You should be aiming for 3 to 4 sets (plus warm up sets) of 6 to 8 reps.
  • Train to failure – On the last rep of the last set on each exercise you should keep going till you fail. In other words you can’t complete anymore reps at all. This is where you will get the greatest gains.
  • Progressive resistance – Make sure you continually progress with your training, every workout try and push out an extra rep or a heavier weight than you did in your last workout.
  • Rest – I’ve recently posted about the importance of rest for muscle growth. If you don’t give your muscles enough chance to repair and recover,you will end up over training. This will halt or even start to reverse any gains.
  • Complete every workout - Don’t get into the habit of missing training sessions because your not in the mood, or finishing them early because you’re tired. For continuous progress train regularly and train hard! 
  • Eat, eat and eat! – Can’t stress this enough. If you are not consuming enough calories you won’t get bigger! This doesn’t mean that you should be eating any junk you can get your hands on. Eat good quality food. Make sure you are getting plenty of good proteins from chicken, fish, lean beef steak and egg whites. Ensure that you have plenty of energy by eating good quality carbs, found in brown rice, wholemeal pasta and potatoes. Also you want to be get enough good fats found in fish and nuts.
  •  Sleep – When you’re a sleep your muscles repair and grow. Try to get 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night.

Implement all these things into your training, diet and lifestyle and you should start seeing positive results.

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Posted in Muscle Building Diet, Muscle Building Training, Muscle building | 1 Comment »

The Importance of Resting for Muscle Growth

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

There are so many beginners out there who can’t grasp or just don’t believe the importance of resting for muscle growth. Training for hours every single day will not give you huge muscle, in fact in may even do the opposite.

If you are over training and not giving your muscles enough time to recover, your muscle will actual start to deteriorate. When you are training with weights, if you are putting enough stress on them by lifting heavy enough, you are actually damaging the fibres within the muscle. Once this has happened, with enough rest and nutrition, the muscle will begin to repair. Only it will repair itself stronger and thicker than it was before, so it will be able to handle the weight you were lifting to damage it in the first place. If you do not allow the muscle enough time to repair itself, you will continue to damage already damaged muscle tissue. This will eventually start to weaken this muscle, having negative effects on growth.

So remember, more is not always better when exercising for muscle growth. Allow enough time for the exercised muscle to repair and grow, don’t train the same body parts every day. Use Split routines and introduce sufficient rest days into your workout plan. 

Posted in Fat Loss Training, Muscle Building Training, Muscle building | No Comments »

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