Many of us spend hours in the gym trying to achieve our goals.
Building muscle and increasing strength limits is a long-term procedure and requires commitment, patience, persistence and above all the will to overcome your body's natural limits.
Only a small percentage of those who originally start training continue working out after three or four months.
Fewer find themselves in the gym after a year.
If you think that you belong to the ones who are willing to adopt training as a part of their daily life then you might want to avoid some common mistakes and improve your workouts dramatically.
1) Focus on High Intensity I have covered the importance of High Intensity Training in previous articles.
Just remember that real muscle growth only occurs as long you push your muscles close to failure during your workout.
Do not remain inside the tight limit of your training schedule that tells you to do eight, ten or twelve reps.
Search for your muscle failure point where you just can't lift anymore.
2) Use Cheating Wisely Cheating in some exercises can be beneficial.
I know that this will sound strange to some of you.
However, if you use it wisely it can be a good tool in your hands.
For certain exercises, cheating during the positive movement allow you to gain more from the negative part of the exercise.
For example, you can cheat while you push a barbell with a heavy weight load and then you focus on the downward movement by performing it disciplined and slowly.
This will give your muscles an extraordinary "pumped" feeling.
3) Importance of Resting A hard and intensive workout destroys muscle cells.
During night sleep these muscle cells regenerate and new muscle fiber is being created.
Eight to ten hours of sleep a day is what you need for the muscle recovery process.
Insufficient rest will limit your muscle growth.
4) Provide Nutrients and Water Before you begin exercising, make sure that you are sufficiently hydrated and that you followed your bodybuilding meal plan thoroughly.
Muscle cells contain water and dehydration will shrink them.
Keeping glycogen levels high prior to your workout is also critical since glycogen will be the "burning fuel" for the hard workout that follows.
Protein supplies from protein shakes and daily nutrition will help you capitalize in muscle gain from each and every single workout.
5) Stretching This is another common mistake that even experienced bodybuilders make.
Stretching before and during your workout gives your muscle fibers flexibility, helps avoid injuries and reduces the next day soreness you often feel.
6) Mental Concentration Whenever you are in the gym, try to be there with both mind and body.
Every time you perform an exercise focus on the muscle that is being trained and don't let your mind slip away.
It has been scientifically proven that mental concentration actually promotes muscle growth.
As a conclusion, I would recommend you follow the above-mentioned guidelines and try from time to time to locate mistakes in your workout that are holding you back from your goals.
Keep those muscles pumping!