So
you think you know everything about building muscle? If you have read
everything, tried everything and heard everything about muscle building
but still resemble the silouette of a Calvin Klien model instead of a
buff fitness model than I promise these three 'little-known' muscle
building tips will accelerate your muscle gains immediately! 1. Body Weight Training
This was once a popular muscle building
technique but is very commonly ignored. Why? Perhaps because most body
weight training is simply hard and can put a dent in your precious ego!
As far as I am concerned, if you can not work with your own body weight
than you have no freaken business using external loading such as
barbells and dumbbells.
It’s incredible how many attempt to
use heavy weights with a microscopic range of motion but can’t do a set
of push ups, a squat to the floor or even one chin up. Don’t get me
wrong, there is definitely a place for external loading with heavy
weights but not until you have the ability to master the following
bench marks:
Males should aim for 1
set of 80 push ups, 1 set of 20 chin ups, 1 set of 20 1-leg squats, 1
set of 40 dips and 1 set of 20 pull ups.
Females
should aim for 1 set of 40 push ups, 1 set of 5-10 chin ups, 1 set of
10 1-leg squats, 1 set of 10-15 dips and 1 set of 3-5 pull ups.
These
standards will ensure a solid foundation of general fitness and
muscular endurance and lead to building muscle mass more easily in the
following stages of your weight training program.
2. Flip Your Program Upside Down Every 3 Weeks
This is an extremely powerful tip to building muscle mass, not to
mention one of the easiest tricks to ensure your body side-steps
plateaus forever. Consider that you have been training your chest
shoulders and triceps every Monday. In you next phase, three weeks
later, you should do the complete opposite. You will train your
triceps, shoulders than chest on Friday. This will prevent plateaus
because each muscle group will have an opportunity to train completely
fresh. Let's say you are training your
back, biceps, forearms and abs on Friday. Than you will train your abs,
forearms, biceps, and back on Monday (in the opposite sequence). You
will literally switch everything upside down. Again, this will ensure
that these muscles receive an opportunity to train first in the week
when your body is the most fresh.
You
will curse my name when you blow the heck out of the smaller muscles
first and than train the larger muscle groups last. Yes, I know this
months issue of Bodybuilders Digest said to never train the smaller
muscle groups before your larger muscle groups. I have heard it before
so stop analyzing, trust me and give it a try. You be the judge and
don't be surprised if you see new levels of muscle mass and strength
after this one technique.
3. Spend More Time At The Grocery Store
If you are serious about building muscle, accept the fact that you will
need to spend more time than you do right now in the grocery store.
Have you ever opened the fridge for something to eat and all you found
was Aunt Wilma's Thanksgiving turkey leftovers with mold on it? Ever
gone into the cub boards and discover only a few leftover bags of
potato chips from last weeks Super Bowl party? To ensure a optimal environment for
building muscle and fat loss you must ensure your cub boards and fridge
are constantly stocked. This will mean more frequent trips to the
grocery store. Chuck the crap that is in your kitchen right now and
replace it with good stuff and keep on replacing it. Don't ever let
that supply of good food run low.
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