 image: livestrong.com There are different goals for health and fitness, some want to lose weight, keep healthy, gain cardiovascular fitness, 'tone' up, and others want to bulk up, if your goal is to bulk up (gain muscle mass) then here are a few tips that have worked for me.
1. Do less reps at a higher weight. Don't sweat it out for endless gym sessions at a lower weight doing x 15reps, aim for 3 sets using a heavier weight with 8-10 reps. You should be struggling... 2. Use a spotter (or better - a Personal Trainer!). This will also help you to use heavier weights, using a spotter enables you to safely push yourself and gets you to the gym with a goal of increasing your weight that day. Plus it's more fun with a friend! 3. Have rest days, allow the muscles to repair. Going to the gym endlessly tired and not repaired from the last workout means you aren't going to be able to lift a heavier weight that day, and also the risk of injury is higher. 4. Have a leg day. Your legs enable you to have a strong core, to lift more weight on standing, to do things like dead lifts and the smith machine. But mostly it means you look and feel balanced. No one thinks seeing a top heavy guy with wirey legs is hot... 5. Have a cardio day. This means spending a day out of the gym, or away from the weights, get some fresh air, this will help with your endurance and overall energy, and can also be used as your rest day. 6. After your workout up your protein and add a small amout of good carbs. You'll probably need to double your protein. Try to do this in a natural way with tuna on wholemeal bread/pita, or full milk, chicken and sweet potato. If you are using a protein shake or bar choose wisely, some of these are worse than chocolate bars with sugars and additives. 7. Keep going. Don't take a week or two off here and there, muscle gains happen when you are using the muscle. 8. Do compound exercises. Do things that mean you are using multiple muscles to get better results, a more rounded workout, and is usually more fun. This means doing things like slam balls, ropes, trx, kettle bell lunges, or the chest press as opposed to a single bicep or tricep curl, dead lifts as opposed to seated leg raise machine etc. 9. Eat more. To gain muscle is to gain mass, you need to eat more calories than you burn off, you'll need to eat the right foods, dense foods. If you eat the wrong foods because you think you are able to take in more calories, then you are probably just going to gain fat not muscle! |
AuthorSharon Bouwer: Archives
August 2016
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