Fat Loss 4 Idiots Secret

Friday, April 3, 2009

Overcoming Mistakes: Essential Advice for Muscle Gain

By Brad Morgan

Starting any kind of fitness program can be difficult because of the sheer amount of advice out there. It is often hard to know where to start your muscle building efforts.

Why not start with what not to do? Here are some factors that can delay or stall your muscle building progress:

1. Buying overpriced gym memberships.

You may think that they only way to get a good workout is to go to a gym: they have stack-pulley, computerized, and hydraulic machines that you could never afford. And they're safer, right? Not necessarily. Often, the low-cost exercises that you do at home are much more effective and safe. If you are considering a gym membership, you may want to save yourself the expense.

In the comfort of your own home, you can use inexpensive free weights or totally free exercises like pushups, lunges, squats, and more. These are some of the most effective moves for building muscle, and all you need is your own body and a few free weights.

2. Not changing your workout.

When it comes to exercising and building muscle, what worked for you in the beginning may not work for you now.

Perhaps, but doing the same workout after your body has adjusted to the exercise will cause your efforts to stagnate. Your body is an incredibly efficient machine. The more you practice a move, the less your body actually has to work to execute it.

Therefore, doing the same workout routine causes your body to burn much fewer calories. Add some variation. Up the intensity. Never let your body get used to anything ? it needs constant challenges. The upside is that you won't get bored with your exercise routine.

3. Not doing any cardio.

Cardiovascular exercise is an important part of building muscle, yet it is something that many people trying to gain muscle mass usually ignore. Focusing only on weight training can halt your results.

Cardio can keep you from gaining fat and also help your body recover from weight training sessions. For optimal muscle building, perform cardio immediately after your weight training. Also, cardio should be performed with high intensity intervals for no more than twenty minutes.

4. Not resting enough.

Your body builds muscle while it is resting, so it is important to take breaks for your training regimen. Take two or three days off per week and allow your muscles to rest.

Muscle fatigue and injury are other problems that will cause you to build muscle much more slowly. To avoid this, work different muscle groups during each workout. Try working on your arms and back one day and your legs and abs the next. This will allow muscle to grow.

5. Snubbing diet.

Food is fuel, and many people who fail when building muscle do so because they are not adequately fueling their body. To put your body into muscle building mode, eat properly.

Make sure that you are getting plenty of protein. This nutrient, which is found in lean meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy, is a key to muscle growth. Try eating a protein snack after your workouts to maximize their effect.

6. Giving Up

Quitting is the biggest mistake you can make when trying to build muscle. If you have been working out and not seeing results, it is tempting to stop. Your body might just take longer to build muscle than others.

If you feel discouraged at your progress thus far, it is a good time to look at your routine. What can you do to change it? Should you add some intensity? Are you resting enough? Do you use supersets or compound moves? It may be that you simply need to stick with it a little longer in order to start seeing results.

Whatever the cause of your stagnation, don't quit. If something is not working, change it. But don't stop; it will only put you back where you started and you won't have the body you want. - 17274

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