Posts Tagged ‘weight training’

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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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Posted in Muscle Building Training, Muscle building | 2 Comments »

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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Posted in Fat Loss Training, General, Muscle Building Training | 1 Comment »

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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Posted in Fat Loss Training, General, Muscle Building Training | 1 Comment »

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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Posted in Muscle Building Training | 3 Comments »

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 »

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