Let’s talk about 3 VERY vital factors. In fact, possibly the most vital in building muscle mass.
Without these you simply will not build anywhere near the required amount of muscle mass to look good naked.
Due to the complexity of muscle tissue, it often takes years for many of you to develop quality muscle mass. The key is to be consistent and be aware of the following principles:
Bodybuilding & body shaping are built on three factors:
- Nutrition
- Consistent and Intense Exercise
- Rest
If you leave out any of those 3, your gains will be minimal. As I stated above these are the three “vital factors” in getting the body of your dreams.
First off, nutrition. Nutrition is by far the most important factor, and sadly most people neglect this part the most! No wonder the gym is full of fat or skinny guys doing curls!. The majority of trainees focus soley on weight training. Although weight training is a large component of adding musculature, better than average nutrition is extremely important as well.
By going to the gym frequently, and training your muscles to the point of “momentary muscular failure”, you create microscopic tearing in the muscle tissue and this is what stimulates them to grow, strengthen, and of course, improve!
Many of you seem to try to hit failure at some point between the 8th and 12th rep. it is important to make sure your form stays strict. Consistency is also very important. Weight training gains are analgous to pushing a car up a hill. If you stop, the car starts to roll back. Muscles only grow and improve if they’re constantly stressed. When the stress stops, or stays the same, they stop improving or even shrink. Yep, those 16 inch biceps will soon be turning to 15 inches, maybe 14! Yikes! Change your routine frequently to help prevent this and continue to grow.
Do not take long periods off for the gym. I’ve missed the gym less than 5 times in 10 years. What’s your excuse?
Now that you’ve stressed your muscles in the gym, you, of course, have to provide them with quality building materials to repair.
What are quality building materials? Well it’s certainly not fries and ice cream! This is where most people fail. This is where the nutrition comes in. Building muscle is like building a house. The food you eat are the bricks and mortar for building the house. If you plan out your meals in advance, eating every 2-3 hours while you’re awake, and carefully monitoring your protein, carbohydrate and fat intake, you can maximize your muscle growth without gaining noticeable body fat. You’ve heard the saying “you are what you eat.” What would you rather build your house with, concrete or PlayDoh?
Lastly is rest. The “builders of your house” need time to make the repairs. Now this doesn’t mean you need to only train a muscle group once per week as many do. The more often you train the quicker you recover. It’s common for many athletes to train a body part 3 times per week to great result. But simply training the bench press 3 times per week will not make you “huge.” Make sure your workout routine is well structured, and that adequate rest is advised.
If you are struggling with a routine join our forums and ask for help.
But you should do your best to get a good 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. Your body starts releasing growth hormone about 2 hours after you go to sleep. This prompts the body’s systems to repair themselves. The more you sleep, the more work can be done.
To help you organize all this, make sure you keep two journals. One for your nutrition, the other for your workouts. A simple spiral notebook will do (however if you want to be fancy, you can use a spreadsheet program on your computer). In the nutrition log, you’ll keep track of the meals you eat, the times you eat them, how many grams of protein, carbs and fats each meal had, and by doing that you’ll be able to know at a glance how many calories you’re taking in and you can adjust it accordingly if you’re planning to gain, or lose weight. The other journal will help you keep track of your workouts, poundage, exercises, # of reps per exercise, muscle groups trained, etc. This will allow you to see how you’re progressing and help you avoid plateauing or having stagnant workouts.
While this is very basic information it’s usually the basics that are forgotten on our quest for bigger, and stronger muscles. Take this advice in. Read it, accept it and get bigger!
