Fun and Fitness: Proper training for a better body
We're all human and we all make mistakes. What makes mistakes positive is the fact that we can learn from them if we choose to do so. When it comes to training for size gain, there's a lot of room for error. Many people out there aren't progressing as well as they'd like and there are a million and one things that could be contributing to their pitfalls. Let's go over some of the main obstacles that prevent us from optimizing our training regimes.
You may think you're training hard enough, but are you really pushing it on each set? If you're not pushing yourself to the point where you cannot perform another repetition on each set, you're not training hard enough. In order to stimulate muscle growth, you have to push each muscle group to the point that it fails, i.e. where you cannot perform any additional unassisted repetitions. Your goal throughout your workout should be to progressively fatigue the target muscle group more and more with each succeeding set until you reach the point where that muscle group is totally fatigued. The time trap is a common pitfall, especially amongst beginners who often think that if 30 minutes of exercise is good, 60 minutes will double their results. That is absolutely not the case. You can train hard for a brief amount of time, or you can train with sub maximal effort for a long amount of time, but you can't both train hard and train long. Staying in the gym too long will lead to poor results. In the best-case scenario, your workouts will be ineffectual, because you never truly reach the point at which your muscles are fatigued. Get in the gym, get the job done and get out.
Every serious body builder needs to consume five — six meals a day. If you act like a human waste disposal at each meal, your appetite is going to be destroyed when it comes time to eat again three hours later. So if you're trying to gain size, eating indiscriminately can hurt your progress. Yes, gaining weight constitutes eating more calories than you are expending, but do so wisely. It all comes down to eating the right things so expect nutrition to be a pivotal 80 per cent of the desired result.
Too much of a good thing can hurt you. Training is wonderful, but you have to be able to recover from it. You must rest at least 72 hours in between large body parts and at least 48 hours in between small body parts to fully recover. When you are expending maximal effort in the gym, i.e. your training as hard as possible with very heavy weights, it taxes your body tremendously. Remember that it is outside of the gym while you are resting that your muscles are actually growing. Rest time must not be underestimated.
If you want to grow, consistency is the key. Your system is a biological organism, and as such, it needs stimulation at regular intervals. For maximum progress, you must keep a regular schedule. Skipping workouts just retards progress, and at the very best is a step backwards. Skipping a workout because your body hasn't fully recovered is one thing, however, skipping multiple workouts for no reason other than it didn't fit in your schedule or you just didn't feel like it is a losing proposition. Stay consistent with your workouts and you will enjoy the best results.
In bodybuilding, the steady ship wins the race. Stick to basic heavy exercises such as squats, dead lifts, bench presses and military presses as the foundation of your training at all times. These exercises are compound movements, which incorporate the use of more than one joint and several large muscle groups. They have the most profound effect on muscle growth by taxing the maximal number of muscle fibres in the major muscle groups.
While it's important to keep your base of fundamental exercise, it is also important to try new things to jar muscle growth. Use a variety of exercises both to round out your physique and keep your workouts fresh. Keeping your workouts fresh not only helps you to develop more muscle but also keeps the workouts interesting, which is an important factor in keeping your motivation high.
In the end, motivation is what it all boils down to. You must clearly define your purpose for being in the gym and expending the hard work. Let's face it; the diet to support your workouts isn't “a piece of cake” either. Motivation can be built just like a muscle. But it requires a clear idea of why you are doing it in the first place and constant reinforcement of that idea.
You may think you're training hard enough, but are you really pushing it on each set? If you're not pushing yourself to the point where you cannot perform another repetition on each set, you're not training hard enough. In order to stimulate muscle growth, you have to push each muscle group to the point that it fails, i.e. where you cannot perform any additional unassisted repetitions. Your goal throughout your workout should be to progressively fatigue the target muscle group more and more with each succeeding set until you reach the point where that muscle group is totally fatigued. The time trap is a common pitfall, especially amongst beginners who often think that if 30 minutes of exercise is good, 60 minutes will double their results. That is absolutely not the case. You can train hard for a brief amount of time, or you can train with sub maximal effort for a long amount of time, but you can't both train hard and train long. Staying in the gym too long will lead to poor results. In the best-case scenario, your workouts will be ineffectual, because you never truly reach the point at which your muscles are fatigued. Get in the gym, get the job done and get out.
Every serious body builder needs to consume five — six meals a day. If you act like a human waste disposal at each meal, your appetite is going to be destroyed when it comes time to eat again three hours later. So if you're trying to gain size, eating indiscriminately can hurt your progress. Yes, gaining weight constitutes eating more calories than you are expending, but do so wisely. It all comes down to eating the right things so expect nutrition to be a pivotal 80 per cent of the desired result.
Too much of a good thing can hurt you. Training is wonderful, but you have to be able to recover from it. You must rest at least 72 hours in between large body parts and at least 48 hours in between small body parts to fully recover. When you are expending maximal effort in the gym, i.e. your training as hard as possible with very heavy weights, it taxes your body tremendously. Remember that it is outside of the gym while you are resting that your muscles are actually growing. Rest time must not be underestimated.
If you want to grow, consistency is the key. Your system is a biological organism, and as such, it needs stimulation at regular intervals. For maximum progress, you must keep a regular schedule. Skipping workouts just retards progress, and at the very best is a step backwards. Skipping a workout because your body hasn't fully recovered is one thing, however, skipping multiple workouts for no reason other than it didn't fit in your schedule or you just didn't feel like it is a losing proposition. Stay consistent with your workouts and you will enjoy the best results.
In bodybuilding, the steady ship wins the race. Stick to basic heavy exercises such as squats, dead lifts, bench presses and military presses as the foundation of your training at all times. These exercises are compound movements, which incorporate the use of more than one joint and several large muscle groups. They have the most profound effect on muscle growth by taxing the maximal number of muscle fibres in the major muscle groups.
While it's important to keep your base of fundamental exercise, it is also important to try new things to jar muscle growth. Use a variety of exercises both to round out your physique and keep your workouts fresh. Keeping your workouts fresh not only helps you to develop more muscle but also keeps the workouts interesting, which is an important factor in keeping your motivation high.
In the end, motivation is what it all boils down to. You must clearly define your purpose for being in the gym and expending the hard work. Let's face it; the diet to support your workouts isn't “a piece of cake” either. Motivation can be built just like a muscle. But it requires a clear idea of why you are doing it in the first place and constant reinforcement of that idea.
