Muscle building tip #1 – are you over training? Comparing overtraining to not training at all, I don’t know what’s worse. Do you feel sluggish while working out? Do you feel you’re not lifting as heavy as you could? Are you performing way too many reps, sets, exercises, and are your workouts way too long? An easy way to tell if you’re overtraining is that your performance seems to get worse, even though you maybe be training as hard as ever.
When you overtrain, you do not allow enough time for a full recovery before working those muscles again. You may be spending way too much time in the gym, performing way too many exercises and sets, leading to counter-productive results. If you suspect you’re overtraining, stop! Simply take a week off. Regardless if you’re overtrained or not, taking a week off after every six to eight weeks of intense training is always a good idea. Most people are afraid of taking long one week breaks, thinking that they’ll come back weaker. However, the opposite is often true. With a full weeks of rest, your body is able to completely recuperate from weeks of intense training. You’ll usually find that after a week of off time, you’ll come back more energized, and even stronger than before.
Muscle building tip #2 – is your diet and nutrition up to par? Are you getting enough calories, proteins, and carbs each day to support muscle growth? You should aim to consume 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. To build muscle, you need to ensure that you have a calorie surplus. The only way to grow is by consuming more calories than the amount of calories you burn.
Muscle building tip #3 – what kinds of exercises do you perform? Is most of your training comprised of isolation movements, or compound exercises? The best, fastest, and most efficient way to build muscle and strength is to consistently overload your muscles using compound exercises. What are compound exercises? They are exercises that involve multiple muscle groups, and in some cases, then entire body. For example, the deadlift, or the clean and press. Some of the best compound exercises include bench press, squats, deadlifts, and clean and presses.
If you’ve had limited success with your training, put the above tips for building muscle to use. Be honest about your own assessment of your training methods and progress, and never be afraid of taking a week off for proper resting and always use heavy enough weights that deliver the needed stimulus for muscle growth.
Muscle building tip #4 – are you using heavy enough weights and low number of reps to deliver the stimulus needed for building muscle and strength? Performing a high number of reps with a light weight or even moderate amount of weight will not do much for building muscle, and performing excessive number of sets will just lead to overtraining.
For building muscle and strength training, a general rule I like to follow is never use a weight that would allow me to perform more than 6 or so reps – meaning that use a heavy enough weight, that you reach failure by the sixth rep.
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