Hard work always pays off – there’s no going around this, especially when it comes to fitness and gaining strength and muscle. Consistency, patience, and discipline – the three ingredients that will make up your success and help you reach your fitness goals faster. So, if you’re in it for the long haul, welcome – we are about to unveil the best ways to gain more muscle while blowing off some steam.
1. Do More Core Lifts
If you are just starting out, it’s important to focus on exercises that increase your strength and muscle gains of the whole body instead of only exercising your chest and arms. A good exercise to do at the beginning of every workout is the standing overhead press as at this point you still have a lot of strength. This move triggers the release of growth hormone and testosterone in your body, which help increase your strength and muscle mass. The goal of strength-focused workouts is to be able to lift heavier weight lifting plates in different exercises, like the squat, bench press, the overhead press, and deadlift.
2. Increase the Weight, Reduce the Reps
When strength training, it’s best to start with lighter weight lifting plates, so your body gets accustomed to weightlifting and then you can gradually start to build up your tempo of doing fewer but heavier reps. The first exercise of your training should be your main lift, however, make sure to always start with warm-ups and gradually go up in weight without getting close to muscle failure. The weight for your working weights should be in the 80 to 90 percent range of your 1RM (one-rep max) which will be enough for a 4-8 rep range per set. The total number in each set should fall between 10 and 20 reps for each exercise. Over time you may end up using weights that are over 90 percent of your 1RM. When training very heavy with sets of just 2-4 reps, make sure to reduce your total number of reps for the exercise to no more than 10.
3. Rest and The Proper Foods
You can’t get the results you’re after if you don’t have rest days and if you are not watching what you eat. Food is your biggest source of energy, so make sure to eat moderately. Before you head to the gym, have a meal that contains carbs and proteins. Drink a protein shake after you are done working out – no later than 20 minutes after your workout so that you don’t miss your anabolic window. Later on, have a meal that is rich in protein to boost your muscle growth and help them recover. Keep in mind that muscle growth happens during rest times and not when you are working out, so play it smart and do not overtrain your body.
Comments are closed.