The 7 Essential Elements To Build Big Muscle
To build big muscle is no mean feat. You need to know the right
approach and then build your foundation properly.
If you're going to build muscle mass, then freestyle exercises
are not appropriate. Freestyle exercises have their place. They
build a solid foundation for beginners wishing to take up
bodybuilding. They can be used with your current bodybuilding
workout routine. But, they do not build big muscle.
Where you want to become big, or bigger at least, you need some
sort of resistance. It really depends on your goal. You need
weight resistance that focuses on each muscle area individually,
in order to build big muscle.
So you use weights for this purpose. Using this resistance
against each muscle area you want to develop, you'll build big
muscle. To do this you'll need different exercises, so that you
can focus that resistance on each muscle target.
1 -- Choose Your Bodybuilding Workout Exercises: If you're a
beginner, I suggest that you begin working on these particular
exercises, as they build the foundation for big muscle:
* Bench Press (works the chest, shoulders and triceps)
* Barbell Rows (back and biceps)
* Squats (legs and lower back)
* Overhead Press (shoulders and triceps)
* Curls (biceps)
* Dumbbell Press (triceps)
For the more advanced bodybuilder, just make sure that the
exercises you chose are focusing fully on each muscle group and
are working for you. Sometimes your body becomes amuned to
exercises after doing them for some time. Therefore they are not
as effective anymore.
All you need to do is to change that routine. Try different
exerises. This will be a shock to the body, causing these new
exercises to be more effective. Thus helping you build big
muscle more effectively.
As a matter of fact, you should change your bodybuilding workout
routine regularly so as not to allow your body to become
resistant to the effects of each exercise.
As for beginners, you must work on your chosen exercises before
moving onto an advanced training program. Your body must become
used to this workout first.
Before starting any sort of workout, what should you do?
2 -- Warm up: I can't stress this enough. One of the biggest
causes in muscle fatigue, and poor muscle response, is lack of a
good warm up. The amount of time spent on a warm up session
varies. If it's cold, you should warm up for about ten minutes.
If the room temperature is warm, and your body is warm too,
maybe around five minutes will do. But...
For best results, you've gotta do a good warm up first!
If this is your first time training, my advice is to find a good
gym with professional coaches, to guide you properly as you
begin your journey into building big muscle. You'll start off
with light weights and machines. Increasing the weight
resistance as you make suitable progress.
As your body becomes more conditioned to using weights, and the
amount of weight increases, so too will your ability to perform
heavier workouts. Thus, allowing you to build big muscle.
If you're a little more seasoned, then you'll know what I'm
talking about... don't you? You do, don't you?
3 -- Build Big Muscle Mass: This is where you use heavy weights.
This means that the weight you lift is sufficient to challenge
you. I suggest that you don't move beyond 12 reps. So, the
maximum you should be able to lift is up to 12 repetitions of
any one exercise. If you are going over that, then the
resistance is minimal. Therefore not effective enough in
building the big muscle you desire.
When I suggested that you do 12 reps, I mean that you should be
fatigued by that stage. So much so, that doing a thirteenth rep
would be near impossible. This is known as training to failure.
4 -- Do Not CHEAT: Yep... you heard right. When performing an
exercise, a person's natural tendency is to cheat a little.
Because the weight is so great, it's easier to cheat a small bit
and use your own weight to nudge the heavy weight to where you
want it to go.
5 -- Be Strict: For example, lets say that you're curling a
barbell (for biceps). You start off well. The lift is pretty ok
and you are only using the muscles that are required for this
exercise. But, as you go through a few reps, the weight appears
to become heavier. It's not. It's just you're becoming more
fatigued.
As you reach the higher reps, the natural tendency is to give it
a little hand, causing the effect of the exercise on that muscle
to greatly reduce as you are not restricting the exercise to
that muscle.
Be strict. Don't give in to the urge to do this. It takes a
great deal of personal discipline to make sure you don't cheat.
Take this advice and you won't go wrong. In this case, when
faced with the option of taking the easy way out or working
through it the hard way --
Opt for the hard way. It has the most profound effect. It is the
way to achieve your goal of building big muscle!
6 -- How To Get over This: It's still not easy, but it helps --
I look at the number of reps I need to perform. When you really
look at it, "12" is not a big number, is it? So, I look at it as
a small thing.
As the urge to cheat kicks in, I say to myself:
"12 is not a big number - I'll be there is a few seconds"
Try it. See how it works for you. Cheating can lead to --
7 -- Injuries: The other negative aspect of heavy weight
training is injuries. Usually caused by jerking heavy weights,
cheating, strain and overall poor performance of these exercises.
Reduce the likelihood of it by being more careful and training
in the proper manner. This is why that I suggest beginners seek
professional help, especially where they have never done any
sort of physical workout with weight resistance training before.
In summary, here are the 7 elements to build big muscle --
1. Choose your bodybuilding workout routine. 2. Warm up first.
3. Build big muscle mass. 4. Do Not CHEAT. 5. Be Strict. 6.
Prevent yourself from cheating. 7. Avoid injury.
Stick with these helpful hints and they will help you stick with
you your routine that will help you achieve your goal to build
big muscle.