Building muscle and creating the type of body we all aspire to have takes hard work, discipline, and belief that you will achieve your goal.
You will get numerous ways and ideas on how to build muscle depending on who you talk too.
Building muscle and bodybuilding is not an exact science therefore, if you are not grounded in the basics, you can get thoroughly confused.
There are three areas that everyone wants to be sure they understand when it comes to building a leaner more muscular body.
1.
Proper Form and Body Mechanics.
There is nothing that can get you out of the weight training game faster than using poor form during exercise.
When training with weights, proper execution and form will allow you to train without exposing yourself to injury.
You want to be sure that you the muscle or muscles you are working and trying to develop, are getting the majority of the work not the secondary muscles by using poor technique.
You will build muscle more efficiently by targeting the muscle group by using the right technique and positioning your body where the stress is being placed where it was designed to go.
By using sloppy technique you dilute the exercise causing slow if not non-existent results.
This may be one of the biggest problems the beginner has to face when first starting out.
To learn properly how to lift and protect your body from injury, you would be smart to consult with the gyms personal training staff or, purchase a book that has detailed information on how to complete the exercise and what muscles are being targeted.
You can save yourself a great deal of frustration and avoid possible injury by learning how to lift correctly at the start.
2.
Weight Training Should Be Progressive.
For your muscles to grow and develop they must be stressed to the point they are forced to grow bigger and stronger to adapt to the forces that you are imposing on them.
The best way to add more progression to your weight training routine is to add weight to the basic exercises that you are currently doing.
Some individuals will add more exercises to their routine.
Maybe for the experienced bodybuilder this may work, for the beginner however, adding weight to the exercises you currently are doing is the most efficient way to do this.
Always try to add another repetition or add more weight to increase the progression.
If you can lift 50 pounds with a barbell curl for 10 repetitions, then either strive to lift the weight 11 repetitions on the next workout or add another five pounds to the bar.
Progressive training is a must to keep your body guessing and force it to get stronger by adding higher workloads to the muscle.
3.
Use Between 6-12 Repetitions To Build Muscle.
To build muscle you want to keep your repetitions between 6-12.
Scientific research has concluded that this is the number that seems to stimulate the fast twitch muscle fibers that are connected with growth.
Less than 6 repetitions you get more strength with little growth.
Power lifters for instance are more concerned with strength than with muscle size.
Therefore they train with reps from 1-5 for most of their lifts.
Repetitions over 12 begin to get more into endurance training and there is little muscle growth attached.
Sure there are always some variables to these rules but, for the most part pick and use a weight where you stay between 6-12 repetitions for the best results.
By utilizing these three rules in your muscle building and weight training efforts, you can assure yourself that you will be on the right track to muscular growth safely.