If you are undertaking a muscle building regime, there is a lot of information out there to help you get started. The problem is that there is so much information, and often conflicting advice, that you may not know how to start.
Why not start with what not to do? Here are some factors that can delay or stall your muscle building progress:
1. Buying overpriced gym memberships.
If you are considering a gym membership, it may be much better for you to save yourself the expense. While gyms tout their stack-pulley, computerized, or hydraulic machines as much more effective and safe than free weights, the best workouts are the low-tech, low-cost ones that you can do in the comfort of your own home.
In the comfort of your own home, you can use inexpensive free weights or totally free exercises like pushups, lunges, squats, and more. These are some of the most effective moves for building muscle, and all you need is your own body and a few free weights.
2. Letting your body get bored.
When you start working out, you may see results and be so happy that you stick with the same routine. After all, it worked, didn’t it?
Your body is a remarkably efficient machine: doing the same workout causes your body to become used to it. It is much less work to execute moves you’ve done over and over. Once that happens, it uses fewer calories to complete the exercises, making the workout much less effective.
When your body becomes used to doing the same workouts, it needs to use fewer calories. To avoid this problem, don’t let your exercise routine become too routine. Add some variation and/or intensity into your sessions. This has two benefits: one, you continue to build muscle, and two, you don’t get bored.
3. Not doing any cardio.
Cardiovascular exercise is an important part of building muscle, yet it is something that many people trying to gain muscle mass usually ignore. Focusing only on weight training can halt your results.
Cardio can keep you from gaining fat and also help your body recover from weight training sessions. For optimal muscle building, perform cardio immediately after your weight training. Also, cardio should be performed with high intensity intervals for no more than twenty minutes.
4. Exercising too much.
Your body builds muscle while it is resting, so it is important to take breaks for your training regimen. Take two or three days off per week and allow your muscles to rest.
Muscle fatigue and injury are other problems that will cause you to build muscle much more slowly. To avoid this, work different muscle groups during each workout. Try working on your arms and back one day and your legs and abs the next. This will allow muscle to grow.
5. Ignoring Diet
Not eating properly is a big reason why many people fail to build muscle. Food is necessary for your body’s health and to put it into optimum muscle building mode.
Especially important is protein, which is essential to muscle building. Make sure you get plenty of lean meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy in your diet, and eat a protein snack within thirty minutes of your workouts.
6. Abandoning your goals.
Everyone’s body is different, and it takes some people longer to build muscle than others. Quitting because you are not seeing results fast enough is a huge mistake.
There are several things you can do if you notice your efforts are stagnating: look at your fitness routine to see if there is anything you can change. Look at your diet to see if you are eating properly. If your body just takes more time to build muscle, giving up will be a great loss.
Quitting negates all the work you have done so far. It puts you back at square one with the same body. Make some adjustments and keep fighting.
If you are undertaking a muscle building regime, there is a lot of information out there to help you get started. The problem is that there is so much information, and often conflicting advice, that you may not know how to start.
Why not start with what not to do? Here are some factors that can delay or stall your muscle building progress:
1. Buying overpriced gym memberships.
If you are considering a gym membership, it may be much better for you to save yourself the expense. While gyms tout their stack-pulley, computerized, or hydraulic machines as much more effective and safe than free weights, the best workouts are the low-tech, low-cost ones that you can do in the comfort of your own home.
From working with relatively inexpensive free weights to doing squats and lunges in absolutely no equipment, you can get a great muscle building workout. The best equipment you have is your body and a few free weights.
2. Not changing your workout.
When you start working out, you may see results and be so happy that you stick with the same routine. After all, it worked, didn’t it?
Your body is a remarkably efficient machine: doing the same workout causes your body to become used to it. It is much less work to execute moves you’ve done over and over. Once that happens, it uses fewer calories to complete the exercises, making the workout much less effective.
Therefore, doing the same workout routine causes your body to burn much fewer calories. Add some variation. Up the intensity. Never let your body get used to anything ? it needs constant challenges. The upside is that you won’t get bored with your exercise routine.
3. Ignoring Cardio
Cardiovascular exercise is an important part of building muscle, yet it is something that many people trying to gain muscle mass usually ignore. Focusing only on weight training can halt your results.
We all know that cardio can help you burn fat. For muscle builders, it also helps the body rest and recover from weight training. To get the best results, do intervals of high intensity cardio for about twenty minutes right after your weight training session.
4. Working Out Everyday
Your body builds muscle while it is resting, so it is important to take breaks for your training regimen. Take two or three days off per week and allow your muscles to rest.
Muscle fatigue and injury are other problems that will cause you to build muscle much more slowly. To avoid this, work different muscle groups during each workout. Try working on your arms and back one day and your legs and abs the next. This will allow muscle to grow.
5. Ignoring Diet
Many people neglect to consider their diet when they are trying to build muscle. But because food is such an essential part of your body’s health, you need to eat to gain muscle.
Especially important is protein, which is essential to muscle building. Make sure you get plenty of lean meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy in your diet, and eat a protein snack within thirty minutes of your workouts.
6. Abandoning your goals.
Some people take longer to build muscle than others. The biggest mistake that you can make is to give up because you are not seeing results.
There are several things you can do if you notice your efforts are stagnating: look at your fitness routine to see if there is anything you can change. Look at your diet to see if you are eating properly. If your body just takes more time to build muscle, giving up will be a great loss.
Whatever the cause of your stagnation, don’t quit. If something is not working, change it. But don’t stop; it will only put you back where you started and you won’t have the body you want.
Starting any kind of fitness program can be difficult because of the sheer amount of advice out there. It is often hard to know where to start your muscle building efforts.
There is more than one way to build muscle, more than one exercise that works, but there are also many things that can hurt your efforts to build muscle. Let’s take a look at some things to avoid.
1. Buying overpriced gym memberships.
You may think that they only way to get a good workout is to go to a gym: they have stack-pulley, computerized, and hydraulic machines that you could never afford. And they’re safer, right? Not necessarily. Often, the low-cost exercises that you do at home are much more effective and safe. If you are considering a gym membership, you may want to save yourself the expense.
In the privacy of your own home, you can workout with moves like squats and lunges, which require absolutely no equipment, or with free weights, which are relatively cheap. The best equipment is your body, some free weights, and hard work.
2. Letting your body get bored.
When you start working out, you may see results and be so happy that you stick with the same routine. After all, it worked, didn’t it?
Perhaps, but doing the same workout after your body has adjusted to the exercise will cause your efforts to stagnate. Your body is an incredibly efficient machine. The more you practice a move, the less your body actually has to work to execute it.
Doing the same workout time after time sabotages your efforts to build muscle. To overcome this difficulty, add variation and more intensity into your workouts. You have to make a constant effort to challenge your body so it has to work just as hard. A side benefit is that you are always changing your workouts, meaning you won’t get bored.
3. Not doing any cardio.
Some people who are trying to build muscle focus exclusively on weight training. While this is obviously important, they are ignoring an integral part of success: cardio.
Cardio can keep you from gaining fat and also help your body recover from weight training sessions. For optimal muscle building, perform cardio immediately after your weight training. Also, cardio should be performed with high intensity intervals for no more than twenty minutes.
4. Working Out Everyday
Taking breaks from your training regimen is vital because muscle repairs itself and grows during these rest periods. Training four or five days a week is optimal, because it allows days off to recuperate.
Also, alternate which muscle groups you work on. For instance, if you work on your arms and back one day, the next day do your abs and legs. This will keep the muscles from becoming fatigued or injured and allow them to do their work.
5. Ignoring Diet
Food is fuel, and many people who fail when building muscle do so because they are not adequately fueling their body. To put your body into muscle building mode, eat properly.
Make sure that you are getting plenty of protein. This nutrient, which is found in lean meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy, is a key to muscle growth. Try eating a protein snack after your workouts to maximize their effect.
6. Quitting.
Quitting is the biggest mistake you can make when trying to build muscle. If you have been working out and not seeing results, it is tempting to stop. Your body might just take longer to build muscle than others.
There are several things you can do if you notice your efforts are stagnating: look at your fitness routine to see if there is anything you can change. Look at your diet to see if you are eating properly. If your body just takes more time to build muscle, giving up will be a great loss.
Quitting negates all the work you have done so far. It puts you back at square one with the same body. Make some adjustments and keep fighting.
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