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Muscle Building Principles

November 19, 2010 Print This ArticleShare

Author: Michael Greeves


Make Muscles

Have you ever wondered how bodybuilders achieve the look they do? If you talk to several strength trainers they will tell you the key is to stick to the muscle building principles that work. There are several, of course that are widely used and all bodybuilders may follow different ones. The key is to find the principles that work for you and stick with them. While what works for one bodybuilder may not work for them all, there are three main principles that will always help you achieve the stunning physique you desire.

Principle #1: train at a high intensity level. It has been shown that a high intensity workout will really net you result quickly. If you want to bulk up this is definitely the way to go. This does not mean training a few hours every day at the gym. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The longer your workout is the less intense it will be and the more disappointed you will become when your muscles don’t begin developing at staggering rates. The more frequently you work out, the less time you’ll have between training sessions for recovery to take place. This can lead to over training and injury, as well as a decrease in the intensity of your workouts because you’ll be too fatigued to continue training properly. That is why an intense workout must be brief. The more intense it is the shorter you will train.

One way to measure intensity is by performing a particular exercise in a shorter period of time. If your first muscle building workout took 40 minutes, you will set a subsequent goal to perform the same workout in less time. You can do this by lowering the rest periods between each set or by simply increasing the speed of your movement. If you next workout only takes 39 minutes to complete, you’ve reached your goal effectively by increasing the intensity of your workout.

Principle #2: properly recover. This is the key to progress and will help you build muscle faster. Many people believe the more you train, the more progress you’ll make over time. This is simply not true when you are conducting intense bodybuilding workouts. Here your muscle is actually gained between workouts when you are resting instead of during them. The workout is there to break down lean muscle mass while the nutrition and rest will take care of the actual muscle growth.

Principle #3: overload or constantly push yourself to lift more weight. Slight changes week after week will give you ample challenge without making the workouts especially difficult. Be careful not to change it too quickly or drastically. A workout that is too hard can cause your performance to not be up to par which will have an effect on your overall results. The change should be gradual. Do something slightly different than before during each workout and you’ll be able to add enough variety to keep it interesting while pushing yourself that much harder. One example of this would be adding more weight or maybe even a new exercise from time to time. Listen to your body and you’re muscles will continue to grow.



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