When it comes to putting on muscle mass, what methods have you found most effective?
gWell its not entirely en exact science but here are a few tips and principle to follow.
1) Look at what you are currently doing and if you have been doing it for a while then change it up. Whether its your routine, sets, reps, etc. Always remember the s.a.i.d. factor (specific adaptation to imposed demands). When your body adapts you then start to engage in maintenance. If you are maintaining then you are hardly changing.
2) Secondly look at your calorie intake and the amount of cardio you are doing. If you dont want to sacrifice cardio time then you will have to add calories to a certain degree. Fueling your body for the activity can get pretty complicated but after experimenting and paying careful attention to calorie intake vs caloric expenditure you will notice your body reacting.
3) Lastly, the overload principle. In order for muscle fibers to adapt and have reason to grow you have to challenge them to grow with adequate resistance for whatever rep scheme you are doing. Most importantly you have to remember that not everyone is the same and some people may react better to the old 10-12 rep range that for so long was considered the hypertrophy range and some people experience growth with a little lower reps and some a little higher and so on and so forth.
Also, genetics. If you dont have the genetic potential then gaining will be even harder but still possible. Don’t mistake a bigger you for a big muscle massain, its good to take your body fat percentage just as much as you weigh yourself to see if you are harming yourself or bettering yourself.
Weight training is the best solution. Four times per week, split system for more resting and recovery.
For beginners eight sets for each muscle group, 8-10 reps.
For intermediate 10 sets for each muscle group, 8-10 reps.
For advanced athletes 12 sets for each muscle group, 8-12 reps.
Add good quality supplements like: Multivitamins and minerals, 90% whey protein and L-glutamine. For advanced athletes add creatine.
OLYMPUS GYM
NICOSIA CYPRUS
It does not matter how much you workout, if you are not fueling your body with the right nutrients to recover and grow from exercise it is pointless. Increase your caloric intake, with the right sources. I recommend reading “nutrient timing” written by John Ivy which will look at what is best to eat as well as more importantly WHEN to eat!
First is Sleep, Water, and good carbs and a littel extra protein.
We want to target as many muscle fibers as possible and fatigue them all to force protein synthesis (I am assuming we …are talking myofibril hypertrophy and not sarcoplasmic hypertrophy).
There are a couple of different ways to do this. One of my favorites is to pick a core exercise that has the highest EMG rating for your particular movement…lets say chest. The highest EMG exercise for your chest is the decline DB Chest Press(EMG of 93), now load that to 85% 1RM or 5-6 reps for sets then pick the next lowest EMG exercise which is Flat DB Bench Press (EMG of 88) and pick a slightly lighter rep scheme like 80% 1 RM for 8 reps….and so on. Do this all the way to 70% 1 rm, this should take 4 exercises to do.
This program stimulates as much of the muscle as possible in three ways..1) Muscle activation as shown through EMG ratings 2) motor unit recruitment of muscle due to the heavier loads 3) continued stimulation and deeper fatigue of more muscle fibers by continuing to lighten the load further into the workout.
We get deep muscle fatigue and stumulation with this type of workout and recovery is paramount to prevent overtraining. This includes regular mobility work and passive stretching pre and post workout.
I have had people, myself included, put on anywhere from 10lbs to 30lbs in 12 weeks with no increase in Body Fat. This workout was so effective that I had to stop doing it personally, because I didn’t want to be that heavy.See More
