How To Gain Muscle?

One of the top questions people ask concerning fitness is "how can I build muscle?" The basic principle to gaining muscle mass is to cause micro trauma, tiny micro tears in the muscle fibers, by weight training. When micro trauma occurs the human body responds by overcompensating, replacing  the damaged tissue and adding more. The human body will adapt to exercising at the same intensity very quickly so it has to be constantly challenged to produce muscle gain. The main method that bodybuilders use to challenge there body is progressive overloading. Progressive overloading is the gradual increase of stress placed upon the body during weight training. This process takes advantage of the bodies natural instinct to try and adapt to the new demands placed on the body. Some ways to go about progressive overloading are to...

1. Increase Resistance-
Increasing the weight of a lift as you get stronger forces the body to adapt to the ever increasing amount of stress. If you stay at the same weight for weeks or months the body will not be challenged enough to stimulate muscle growth. This is the most important principle to gain muscle size and strength.

2. Super Sets and Drop Sets-
A super set is performing one exercise and upon completion starting a second exercise immediately usually working the same muscle in the first exercise. For example performing flat bench for 10 reps the immediately performing 10 push ups on a exercise ball. A drop set is when you perform an exercise usually to failure or a predetermined number and then dropping the weight 10% to 20% and performing the same exercise again, to failure, with as little rest as possible. Each time you drop its called a tier. So a two tier drop set would be dropping the weight twice from the original weight. By adding drop sets and super sets you are increasing the intensity of an exercise and causing more tears to the muscle. I would not recommend doing theses if you are a beginner but after 4-6 weeks of lifting add a drop or super set to one of your exercises. Over time the body will become more a custom to lifting and you can add these to almost any exercise.

3. Increase Frequency-
If you find that you are able to heal completely before your next scheduled day to workout then consider increasing the frequency, number of days you lift the same muscle group per week. As a beginner you will be able to train a muscle once a week and see muscle strength gains and maybe some size. Overtime the body will be able to recover quicker from training so increasing the frequency might be a good choice. However, be careful not to over train! Always allow enough time for the muscle to heal. Some people can work chest three days a week others two days. Learn to listen to your body and make adjustments as needed.

4. Increase Exercises-
Doing one exercise per muscle might be a good technique for a beginner but over time this will not be effective for muscle gain. Adding exercises will help tear down muscle so they can be repaired and grow. However, use caution when adding exercises because over training is possible. You wouldn't want to be performing the same number of sets for your biceps as you would for your chest. The chest muscles are bigger and it takes more stress to tear them down fully. Often times people thing more is always better but this can lead to injury and over training. So listen to your body.

5. Decrease Rest Time-
Rest time is often overlooked but in my experience is one of the most important variables. For muscle gain aim for 45 seconds to 90 seconds of rest time between lifts. Shorter rest time yields more towards muscle endurance and longer rest times towards muscle strength. When adjusting rest times at first you may have to drop weight on a lift but over time you will be able to lift more weight in a shorter rest period. The shorter rest time will help keep the "pump" in the muscle and keep the muscle from fully recovering before the next time you lift.

These are the basic principles to gaining muscle mass. There is no training secrets that will get you there faster ,unless you take steroids which I don't condone, just hard work.

I hope you enjoyed this post and there is more good stuff coming soon. Stay Tough!

It's Official!!! I'm a NASM CPT

Well it is official :) I am a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Certified Personal Trainer! After many hours of studying over the past 2 months all my work was paid off  yesterday when I passed my exam. I feel so accomplished and ecstatic about earning my certificate. I love fitness and I am so excited about the opportunities to help other people reach there fitness goals and inform people of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

                   (I know it kinda looks stupid with that paper on it but it covers up my personal address)

                (This is my temporary certificate until my real when arrives in a couple of weeks)

Now that I am certified I am going to be posting fitness related articles on this blog on a regular basis. I have a ton of ideas that I am wanting to do so be sure to check back to see my latest posts. If you are interested in becoming a personal trainer or would like more info click the link below to take you to NASM's website or feel free to ask me any questions that you may have.

NASM Website

More fitness fun coming soon.