Muscle Gain Visualization Tips

We now move into an area that is far too neglected by mainstream health and fitness professionals, the mind.  Most books or courses concentrate on the physical side of weight gain and completely neglect the mental side of things. 

Visualization can play an important part in gaining weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  Gaining weight can be difficult for many people who don’t use their minds to help in the process. 

Visualization is a powerful technique that can help you make lasting lifestyle changes. Just by "day dreaming", you can significantly improve your chances in achieving your goals. 

Visualization is a great weight gain tool and its as simple as visualizing your body as you want your body to look like. This mental image of yourself is then transferred to your subconscious mind, which in turn starts to work on your body, shaping it in accordance with your mental image. 

This means that if you program your subconscious with a mental image of yourself as a more muscular person, through persistence your mind will accept this and aid your body to conform to this mental image.

Once your mind is programmed with the proper mental images, it will start to work in assisting you to gain weight. I can't stress enough how important it is for you to believe in your visualization goals. You have to let go of your past failures and refuse to entertain any negative images that come into your mind. 

If you can visualize your body at its perfect proportions, the subconscious mind will work to make it become a reality. It will then begin to positively reinforce your body into aiding the metabolism and eating habits. 

Programming your mind into believing that you can gain weight, and to visualize yourself with your perfect proportions is of the greatest importance. 

Try to think of a different image of yourself, then let your subconscious do the work for you. If you think of your body as being out of shape all the time, then the subconscious mind will find ways to make it so. 

The sub-conscious looks after all of all your vital functions, it is the cause of all your good and bad habits, and also regulates the muscles of the body (The muscles are controlled by the sub-conscious) and body-fat composition on the body.

Try to visualize your body as lean and as muscular as you would like, and your mind will work on that image. The mind can be a great partner in gaining weight. 

                 

Relaxation

Relaxation the best way to reach the sub-conscious and will slow down the mind, turn off the exterior world so as to tune in to one's inner self. The best times for these sessions are in the morning and late at night right, just before going to sleep. 

Perform two sessions, one in the afternoon (Primary) and the other before going to sleep (Secondary) but once a day is quite sufficient. Sessions usually last 20 minutes, which isn't time consuming especially when taking in the benefits received. 

It has been stated that one of these sessions is equivalent to 2 hours of deep sleep and upon waking you will feel revitalized and full of energy. Believe me instead of worrying about time constraints; you will be looking forward to the next session. 

When you begin your relaxation sessions, make sure you won't be disturbed - lock the door, take the phone off the hook and loosen all clothing. Now find a comfortable position, whether it is lying down or sitting in a comfortable chair. 

Sitting may be preferable as you may fall asleep if you become too comfortable. You want to be conscious and not asleep in order to tap into your sub-conscious mind. 

Try to exhale all the air from your lungs completely and then breathing in through the nose.  Take ten seconds to fill the lungs with air (not to capacity, but comfortable) hold for ten seconds and then exhale slowly through the nose for another ten seconds.  

Each one of these breathing cycles should last for 30 seconds, complete five cycles and after each cycle you will be feeling more and more relaxed.  

Having reaching this calm relaxed state, start your visualizations.  Put together images that power your emotions. Make them alive and colourful. Make the scenes as real as possible and imagine yourself as muscular and toned as possible. 

Picture yourself ten weeks from now on the beach, walking briskly and confidently to your favourite spot, your breathing is normal and relaxed. You smile to yourself; you could keep walking like this for miles without feeling fatigued. 

You lay your towel out and begin to take your clothes off revealing a muscular, toned, well conditioned body. You have just bought a brand new swimming suit which just weeks before would have been lying in your closet waiting to be used. 

Glancing around you notice the beach is busy, you catch the eye of someone of the opposite sex, they smile at you and you smile back. You walk confidently to the water and swim a couple of hundred yards with no problem or fatigue. 

Or try this:

Visualize your family and friends complimenting you about how good your body looks. Try to view the scene as it is happening this instant - in the present, not in the future. 

Using these visualizations you can construct in your mind any scene that desire. See yourself exercising, socializing, in the company of friends. Try and hear people complimenting you about your new muscular body, and watch their admiring glances. Make the mental image as real as possible. 

 Remember set a goal for your ideal weight

     

 You must want to gain weight

     

 Visualize yourself at your ideal weight

 Use positive images at every opportunity 

Practice these sessions on a daily basis and over a period of ten weeks you’ll be on your way to become more fulfilled, happier and muscular.

The Top 10 Muscle Building Facts You Need to Know!

1. Building muscle has a lot to do with genetics.

If your parents are naturally thin or have a small body frame then most likely you will have the same traits. This doesn’t mean you have no chance of building a strong muscular body. It just means you are going to have to work hard.

2. Your metabolism has an effect on your size.

If you have difficulty gaining weight whether it’s fat or muscle, then you most likely have a fast metabolism. Your body is burning calories faster than you can consume them.

3. There is no universal weight training program that is going to get massive results for every individual person.

The best way to find a program that works for you is to find someone who had the same type of body as you before and start walking their walk. There are certainly standard exercises that will build muscle but there is more to building muscle than weight lifting.

4. More training doesn’t mean more muscle.

This is one of the most difficult concepts for many to grasp. The purpose of weight training is to stimulate muscle growth… that’s all. Once that has been done, your muscles need to repair and new muscle needs to be built which only happens when you are resting.

5. Isolation exercises aren’t going to get you big fast.

The best exercises to put on the most amount of overall size are multi-muscle exercises. These are exercises that require more than one muscle or muscle group to get the job done. These lifts put the most amount of stress on your body. This is the stress that will shock your nervous system into releasing the greatest amount of muscle building hormones.

6. Free weights build muscle quicker.

Free weights are preferred over machines because they make your body work harder. They require greater concentration and allow the stimulation of supporting muscles. Machines are good for beginners to help with form and basic control, but limit the effectiveness of the exercise.

7. No Pain, No Gain.

Lifting the same weights over and over isn’t going to get you big. In fact it will do the exact opposite.

To build muscle you need to go heavy. This stimulates Type IIB muscle fibers which cause the most amount of muscle gain. Lifting heavy is when your body fails after 4-8 reps.

8. Long training sessions are a NO-GO

The idea is to stimulate muscle, not hit it from every angle possible. This is only a concern for developed body builders looking to tone muscle. Long training sessions cause catabolic hormone levels to rise dramatically. Catabolic hormones are responsible for breaking down muscle tissue resulting in MUSCLE LOSS. Your weight training sessions should go for no longer than 60-75 minutes maximum.

9. You don’t need aerobic activity to lose fat.

The time spent running or swimming is muscle building and recovery time lost. Building muscle is the fastest way to lose fat. Aerobic activities will help you lose fat but not so if you are on a high calorie mass diet for building muscle.

10. 3 square meals a day isn’t going to help you build muscle.

Eating is an important part of muscle building. You need to eat more often and eat more protein. You should be eating roughly every 2.5 hours which is about 6 meals per day. Spreading your meals throughout the day will improve muscle assimilation, and make sure that your body always has the calories it needs for muscle building and repair.

For more information on weight training and to meet others like you looking to make a difference to their physique, then head on over to http://muscle-body.com

The Secrets to Building Muscle in Less than Ten Seconds

An Introduction to Isometrics

In 7 SECONDS you can develop new muscle tissue. That mean in less than 4 hours a year you can develop a whole new body adding anything from 12 – 25 lbs of muscle on to your frame while substantially reducing your body fat.

A statement like that seems unrealistic. Fantastic - a figment of a delusional comic book writer explaining how a superhero became incredibly strong.  I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that. I though the same and I’m approaching it form the cynicism of a seasoned fitness instructor and personal trainer. 

There’s just one little, teeny-tiny problem though. It’s possible. More so that that it’s a reality for thousands of people everyday. 

And no, they’re not on steroids or drugs or part of military experiment creating super soldiers. They are everyday people like you and me. They hold down 9-5 jobs and don’t have time for exercise between the kids and mortgage payments. 

So how are they doing it?

The answer is Isometrics and I’m going to explain what Isometrics is and how you can start doing it as you read the rest of this article. That’s right. By the time you have finished this you will have completed two exercises, the first to trim and tone your waistline the second to tone and firm your chest. 

Ready ?

Isometric Abs

1. Sit up tall and straight in your chair. 

2. Breathe in deep and suck in your stomach as hard as you can.

3. Now tense your stomach hard as though bracing for a punch – still keeping it sucked in

4. You feel that tightness, a slight quiver in the muscles? Good, that’s the start.

5. Breath out tightly making an SSSSSSSSS sound. You’ll feel your abs getting tighter.

6. As you breathe out crunch your abs really hard rotating your pelvis upwards and your rid cage inwards. 

7. Breathe all the way out

8. Relax

How did that feel? If you did it right it should feel great. Yours abs will be warm, worked, feel relaxed and slightly tired. Now do it again and repeat until you’ve finished this article. Your abs will be tighter, firmer and more toned tomorrow morning then they are right now. Diligent practice of this one exercise will tighten and tone your stomach faster than 1,000 sit ups.

Now to give you something entertaining to read as your tighten and tone your stomach here’s the fascinating and scintillating science behind Isometrics.

Iso (meaning the same) and metric (meaning distance) is a method of tensing the muscles without moving the angle of the joint they are connected to. The abs exercise above is an example of this. So is pushing against an immovable object. Try as hard as you can, tense every ounce of muscle fibre against something that can’t move, you’ll feel you’ve done great workout and in many ways you have!

Back in the old school days of physical culture, the Victorian era’s introduction to bodybuilding and strong men Isometrics was all the rage. Skinny weak sickly kids turned to tensing their muscles in a specific way and transformed themselves into well toned living Greek Statues, strong enough to press grown men over their heads with one arm. Their feats of strength astonished the men of the time and women marvelled at their physiques. Okay, they couldn’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, or hold back a locomotive but they could easily walk up walls lift horse over head and in one demonstration lift a platform on top on which ten men were standing.

One such guy was Maxick. Maxick, born Max Sick was a very weak child from birth and was not supposed to live. But he fought on and survived. A young Max once saw a strong man at the circus and determined to be as strong as the Greek Hero Hercules (their equivalent of Superman).  So little Max started lifting weights. 

Fortunately his parent soon put an end to this – as he was too weak and fragile to take the strain. Still determined Max began to experiment with his body. Tensing his various muscles as hard as could and learning to control each one individually. Soon Max started to get stronger, more muscular.  

One day in his teens Max went in to a local gym, too young to join he just watched. Then on invitation from one of the chief  physical culturists (an old school name for bodybuilders) tried to lift a weight. Of course they were expecting Max to fail and have a good laugh at his expense. Max out-lifted the strong man. 

People were stunned. Max became a local celebrity in his home time, demonstrating feats of unbelievable strength and muscle control. He could make his muscles jump and dance with a simple thought. And lift seemingly impossible weights.

He travelled to England where he developed a reputation as being incredibly strong. It was here he teamed up with fellow strong man Saldo and developed his Isometric Training system called Maxalding. You didn’t lift weights; you did Isometric Exercises where you tensed and relaxed your muscles, just like your abs.

How are they doing by the way? Pretty tired? Okay give it a rest. Instead let’s try this one for the chest. 

Isometric Hand Press

1. Stand tall and straight

2. Hold your arms out in front of your chest

3. Make a slight bend at the elbow, creating a triangle from the wrist to the elbows

4. Press your palms together

5. As you do so concentrate on making your chest as tight and hard as possible.

6. After a few seconds you should feel you’re chest and arms shaking all over – this is the muscles tiring as they work really hard – this is Isometrics.

7. Hold this Position for 30 seconds.

8. Slowly release – this is important, after intense contraction your body needs time to unwind.

Now how does that feel. Repeat it ten times as you scroll down.

The Maxalding system was an early whole body Isometric Training system. His students got stunning results, and they weren’t the only ones. Years later, a man named Charles Atlas achieved phenomenal fame as the Worlds Most Perfect Man while promoting an Isometric System he called Dynamic Tension. It’s still around.

However time advances, people on the look out for new fads move on and Isometrics was forgotten until recently. With a new fitness and physical culture renaissance approaching people are turning back to the old methods. And science is discovering some amazing things.

Like it only takes 7 Seconds to stimulate new muscle growth. 

That said, there is one small detail – it has to be incredibly intense stimulus. Isometrics just happens to be the most intense exercise in the world and in a little as 7 seconds you can completely exhaust your muscles. The wonderful thing is it doesn’t matter what your current level of fitness is, because the force you generate while doing Isometrics is in direct proportion to your current level. You can’t really go too far. Isometrics is also incredibly safe because it does not require any weights (except at very advance levels) making it ideal for rehabilitation, seniors and everyone else too busy to get to the gym.

If you’ve followed the directions in this article you will have just worked out two of the biggest muscle groups in the body, the chest and the core muscles of abs. In future articles I’ll explain a little more about some of the specific benefits of Isometrics and give you some more exercises, as well as reveal how it blowtorches fat, and strengthen your digestion system, your internal organs and even reverse the again process.  For now enjoy, the feeling of a firm toned waist and a lean powerful chest. Practice these two techniques every second day and remember to breath correctly.

If you can’t wait for the next article and need to know how to get in the best shape of your life RIGHT NOW, check out my website – the largest online resource dedicated to Isometric Training – http://www.isometric-training.com/article1

Your Isometric Expert and Personal Trainer,

Paul J.O’Brien

The Role Of Whey Protein In Achieving Significant Muscle Gain

Most bodybuilders would agree that supplementing with whey protein is an important element in achieving serious muscle gains. This article will examine the facts relating to whey protein as a supplement and help you decide whether you need to follow this particular strategy.

Whey protein is produced during the process that sees milk turned into cheese. It is also found naturally in dairy products, eggs, soy and vegetable proteins but none of these compares in quality to whey protein powder. It also scores highly in providing the branched chain amino acids (BCAA's) that are important in the building and retention of muscle.

Whey protein is highly favored by bodybuilders because it provides the necessary building blocks to produce the amino acids that the body uses to build lean muscle tissue. Many studies have shown that whey protein contains the perfect combination of amino acids, in just the right concentration for optimal performance in the body. It is also thought that whey protein has a role as an anti-oxidant and immune system builder.

It is best taken in powder form mixed in juice or milk, spread throughout the day to maintain a positive nitrogen balance. Serious bodybuilders often consume up to 150 grams each day but as a rule of thumb, daily protein intake for active trainers can be calculated by taking your weight in pounds and multiplying by 1 or 1.5. But remember, you need to work out how much protein is taken from food and other sources, and then spread the remaining whey protein balance over the day.

Whey protein is a relatively safe supplement but no more than 30 grams of protein should be taken at one sitting as excessive single doses could overload the liver. The safety of whey protein has been well documented in many scientific studies and there is clear proof that taken consistently, coupled with regular exercise, it will result in meaningful muscle gain.

Build Muscles And Smash Plateau For Beginners

Five times a week, two hours each visit. You've been more faithful to your gym schedule than you've ever been to any girlfriend you've had. And for a while it paid off: those muscles started rippling and the girls started paying attention.

But then, like a bad dream you wake up from, your muscles suddenly wasn't growing like what it used to do. Your muscles stop responding to your heavy workout no matter how intensely you've been training. So you said to yourself, now I will train harder. So now you put in three hours a session and but even as you upped your gym dosage, horrors of horrors, your muscles are actually shrinking.

Ahhhhh, the Gym Plateau. It afflicts all of us and few of us ever gotten out of it. In fact, most people don't even know that they have hit the dreaded plateau and thought that their muscles can only grow so much due to inherent genetic factors. Not to worry though, if you read the following fitness tips, and follow these tips to the latter, I can assure you that your muscles will start growing again and grow bigger they will.

Here are your free fitness tips.

Fitness Tip #1

Take A Break

This tip is easy to comply for most of us but very difficult for some gym rats. Simply take a break from your workout. Do not step into the gym or do any workout for 2 weeks. Its time to let your body recover from the punishments you are dishing out to your muscles. Some bodybuilders may find this difficult to do because working out is addictive. You produce endorphin when you workout and endorphin is also known as happy hormone. The same hormone you produce when having sex.

Professional bodybuilders take a break after every 4-5 months of hard training and when they are back in the gym, they shock their well rested but complacent muscles back into massive muscle gain.

Fitness Tip #2

Are you training too often?

If your exercises are intense enough, you need only to train each muscle group once or twice a week. Your training schedule shouldn't repeat muscle groups in the same week. Every time you train, you do your muscles damage. Muscles need time to repair and it does so in the after your training when you are resting. This means that if you lift weights on consecutive days, there isn't sufficient time for the body to recover. Try to have one day rest between each weight lifting day.

If your routine requires intensive weight training, remember not to prolong your gym time longer than an hour. This is because your cortisol, a muscle eating hormone level will be elevated and thus will be counter productive to your efforts. It eats your muscles.

Most of all, you must sleep! Eight hours or even better, go for ten hours. Muscles do not grow in the gym; they grow when you sleep. When you sleep, you are secreting growth hormones for many bodily functions and one of those functions is to build muscles. That is why they called it beauty sleep!

Fitness Tip #3

Are you using the correct weight lifting techniques?

If your technique or form is incorrect, not only is your training retarded, you are also inviting injury. Don't laugh. But when you exercise you must think and focus, instead of mindlessly repeating the motions, do take note of how you perform each exercise and rep. Do so with deliberation and at the beginning and end of every lift, pause and squeeze the muscles you are exercising. Mind and muscle must connect! Never never use momentum of the swing to lift the weights and let gravity pull the weight down. That is why you must lift slowly and lower slowly feeling the tension in your muscles and resisting the load all the time.

In order for muscles to want to grow, you have to stress them to the maximum, and then further. Do enough repetitions until you feel you cannot go any further using good form. You must then either increase the weight or the number of repetitions at the next session. This is called progressive overload, and progressive overload is what forces your muscles to grow. As a general guide, if you can lift more than 12 reps the weight is probably too light and it is too heavy if your muscles fail you in less than 5 reps. You may wish to consult your physical fitness trainer on the correct form and technique for each exercise.

Fitness Tip #4

Are you using free weights?

Most machines do not involve as much of the synergistic muscles (supporting muscles) as free weights do. And, therefore, do not build as much muscle mass. Synergistic muscles are the smaller muscles that aid the main muscles in balance and strength in each lift. Machines has its uses, but for beginners and for smashing plateaus, use free weights.

Fitness Tip#5

Workout with compound exercises

Compound exercises are exercises that involve 2 or more joint movements and thereby employing bigger muscles and more synergistic muscles . Bench presses, dead lifts, squats, and barbell curls amongst others are fantastic compound exercises . For example, when you squat , all the muscles in your lower body get a workout and that alone is about 60 percent of your overall musculature . Squat also works your back and abs too. Using more muscles at one go means that you get a better overall workout. To add icing to the cake, because of the massive utilization of your muscles , you will pant, huff and sweat more. That means your routine also has a cardio effect and you will burn calories even hours after you stepped out of the gym . 

Fitness Tip#6

Are you working out your legs?

Your body is programmed to grow proportionately with only slight variations. If you do not train your legs, your upper body mass will stop growing before it becomes large. Surely, you've heard of chicken legs! Just because leg training can be brutal, it doesn't give you reason to hide your legs in your pants. To get that super hero X-frame, pepper your routine with squats . A word of caution though: compound exercises such as dead lifts, squats, and bench presses must be done in excellent form and a spotter is highly recommended. This is where your physical fitness trainer will come in handy as your spotter. If not, injuries are bound to happen and that may put you permanently out of the gym.

Fitness Tip#7

What are you eating?

Muscle building requires protein - the more, the better. Meat, especially red meats and fish, are the best source. It is in your food that your body will draw nutrients from, for strength and necessary fats for joint and organ protection.

To have massive muscle gain and help in muscle preservation , you need about 2-3 grams of good protein per kilogram of your body weight . If you want to get serious about muscles , you may need to supplement them with protein shakes . Eating a meal and having a protein shake immediately after your workout also maximizes the window for rapid absorption of nutrients. This is important as you need to feed the muscles now that you have damaged them. You should also 6 small meals a day so your muscles are constantly fed throughout the day. This will help rev up your metabolism to burn fat too. This will tremendously help you in your build muscle lose weight program. Remember to take your protein shake half an hour before you workout too. 

Fitness Tip#8

How about Carbs?

Glycogen is the main energy source for any muscle-building exercise. The body stores whatever carbohydrates you eat as glycogen and muscles use it to give you energy during your workout. After an intense workout, do consume carbohydrates immediately to replace the used glycogen. You can even indulge in high glycemic carbs such as ice creams and white bread as these will turn into insulin and shuttles nutrients such as protein to your muscle cells quickly.

Fitness Tip #9

And Fats?

Yes, your body do need do need fats . But try to avoid saturated fats such as animal fats or worse, trans fats which are artificial fats found in pastries, confectionaries and preserved food. Consume healthy unsaturated fats such as olive oil, canola oil, fish oils, flax seed oil.

Fitness Tip#10

Water Water is essential.

Water is essential. It is the most underrated macronutrient. You need at least eight glasses of water every day but when you exercise , you lose even more water because of the sweating. So drink before, during and after your workout. Weigh yourself before and after the workout, and compensate for the loss by drinking at least 16 ounces of fluid for every pound or half a kg lost.

Fitness Tip#11

Creatine

While meats are the best source for creatine, which is a nutrient that helps speed up muscle gain and power you up during workouts, those who do not get enough from their regular diet must be supplemented. Creatine puts volume into your muscle cells and gives you that muscle pump thus your muscles feels tighter, look bigger and overall illusion of superb muscularity . It also helps to prevent muscle breakdown.

Fitness Tip#12

Glutamine

When supplemented, it may help bodybuilders reduce the amount of muscle wasting away or used up as energy. It also helps in muscle recovery. 

Fitness Tip #13

Do you change your routine?

The human body is fantastic at adaptation. So whatever routine you are on, your body will get used to it. So do change your routine every 6-8 weeks. For example, instead of working out your chest muscles at the start of your workout, work your back muscles instead. You can reverse your whole routine or change the variations of your exercises or add new ones and take away some old ones. By changing your routines, you not only shock your muscles to new growth, it will also prevent boredom by doing the same thing all the time.

Build Muscle & Lose Fat Easier by Manipulating Your Training Variables

Everyone will inadvertently hit a frustrating plateau in their training at one time or another. You're cruising along for a while, gaining strength, losing fat, looking better, and then all of the sudden it hits. Suddenly, you find yourself even weaker than before on your lifts, or you find that you've gained back a couple of pounds. It happens to everyone. Most of the time, these plateaus occur because people rarely change their training variables over time. Many people stick to the same types of exercises for the same basic sets and reps and rest periods with the same boring cardio routine. Well, I hope to open your mind and bring some creativity to your workouts with this article!

There are many ways that you can strategically modify your training variables to assure that you maximize your fat loss and/or muscle building response to exercise. Most people only think about changing their sets and reps performed, if they even think about changing their routine at all. However, other variables that can dramatically affect your results are changing the order of exercises (sequence), exercise grouping (super-setting, circuit training, tri-sets, etc.), exercise type (multi-joint or single joint, free-weight or machine based), the number of exercises per workout, the amount of resistance, the time under tension, the base of stability (standing, seated, on stability ball, one-legged, etc.), the volume of work (sets x reps x distance moved), rest periods between sets, repetition speed, range of motion, exercise angle (inclined, flat, declined, bent over, upright, etc), training duration per workout, and training frequency per week. Sounds like a lot of different training aspects to consider in order to obtain the best results from your workouts, doesn't it? Well, that's where a knowledgeable personal trainer can make sense of all of this for you to make sure that your training doesn't get stale. Below are a few examples to get your mind working to come up with more creative and result producing workouts.

Most people stick to workouts where they do something along the lines of 3 sets of 10-12 reps per exercise, with 2-3 minutes rest between sets. Booooorrrrring! Here are a few examples of different methods to spice up your routine.

•Try 10 sets of 3, with only 20 seconds rest between sets.

•Try using a moderately heavy weight and complete 6 sets of 6 reps, doing a 3 minute treadmill sprint between each weight lifting set.

•Try using a near maximum weight and do 10 sets of 1 rep, with 30 seconds rest between sets.

•Try using a lighter than normal weight and do 1 set of 50 reps for each exercise

•Try a workout based on only one full body exercise, such as barbell clean & presses or dumbbell squat & presses, and do nothing but that exercise for an intense 20 minutes. With this example, you could try sets of 5 reps at a moderately heavy weight every 2 minutes until you reach 20 minutes.

•Try a workout based on all bodyweight exercises such as pushups, pull-ups, chin-ups, dips, bodyweight squats, lunges, step-ups, etc.

•Try a circuit of 12 different exercises covering the entire body without any rest between exercises.

•Try that same 12 exercise circuit on your subsequent workout, but do the entire circuit in the reverse order.

•Try your usual exercises at a faster repetition speed on one workout and then at a super-slow speed on your next workout.

•Try completing five 30 minute workouts one week, followed by three 1-hr workouts the next week.

•Try doing drop sets of all of your exercises, where you drop the weight between each set and keep doing repetitions without any rest until complete muscular fatigue (usually about 5-6 sets in a row).

There are many more ways to continue to change your training variables. I hope this article gave you some ideas on methods for you to take your body to the next level.  Keep in mind that no matter what style of training you are using at any given time, progression on subsequent workouts should be your goal. Work hard and train smart and watch your body change!

How To Gain Weight And Increase Muscle Mass

If you want to increase muscle mass and gain weight, remember that in order to effectively bulk up, you will need to be persistent in your efforts. Increasing your caloric intake is an important part of gaining weight and building new muscle tissue. When you feed your body more food than it can burn, you gain weight. Weight training is also an important part of gaining weight and increasing your muscle mass. Weight training stimulates the muscles and promotes growth. The combination of weight training and proper diet is the best, most effective way to gain weight and increase muscle mass.

Failure to eat properly while weight training could result in loss of muscle tissue. Make certain you get plenty of protein, fats, and carbs and in large enough quantities to allow your body to gain weight. Supplements can play a role in building body mass if taken while adjusting your diet and training with weights. Meal replacement bars, powders, and protein drinks can be an excellent way to increase your daily caloric intake. In order to increase muscle mass, you must give your body approximately 500 more calories per day than the number of calories your body uses.

Exercise and diet are the most important things to consider when attempting to gain weight and increase muscle mass. Weight training and the adequate food intake will leave your body with no choice but to gain weight and add mass. Make sure to get enough rest between workouts to give your body time to recuperate and build new muscle tissue.

If you want to get the maximum benefit from your mass building routine, you must avoid the most common reasons that cause people to fail at building muscle and gaining weight. A quality mass building routine combined with proper nutrition and plenty of rest can produce results that you never dreamed possible. Consistency, smart eating habits, the proper weight lifting techniques, and lots of rest are the common elements shared by every successful body builder.

Building muscle is a slow process and it could possibly take several months before you see noticeable results. If you are determined and consistent in your muscle mass building routine and your eating habits, you efforts will pay off in time. Nutrition is also crucial in building muscle mass. The right amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats must be included in your diet in order to give your body the fuel it needs to add muscle tissue. The trick to building muscle is to find the combination of foods that allow you to add new muscle mass. Trial and error combined with sound dietary guidelines will allow you to find just the right nutritional plan for you.

The proper weight lifting techniques are a very important part of a muscle mass building routine. If you don't work your muscles, they won't grow. You will need to find the right amount of weight and the right weight lifting exercises for your body. Determination, trial and error, and a consistent effort will eventually give you the results you want. The most important thing is to stay focused and realize your reward is waiting for you down the line.