Friday, December 19, 2008

Why Some Muscle Building Programs Aren't Working for You

By Caleb Lee

Many muscle building programs are found by weight lifters performing experiments, which the program may have worked for that person.

Why don't these muscle building programs work for everyone?

Here are 4 reasons why the programs may not have worked.

#1: Not Using Free Weights

To build muscle, it is true you need to work on building the muscle you want to grow. This will only get you so far in your training and won't get you the results you want. You need to be working every muscle around the major muscle, which will in turn give you the most build up. Only working the muscle you want to build is like using a machine to train with. It limits your stability and all around strength. This will turn into having "fake" muscles, the ones with all show and no go. Using free weights will give you stability and the all around muscle building you need. Exercises including squats and deadlifts are the best for any muscle building.

#2: The Program is Not Efficient for the Every Day Person's Time Constraints

A program developed by the usual gym rat you would see at the gym working out every time you went there would not be a good fit for someone only having an hour to workout. Your workout does not need to be long and strenuous; rather it should be short and sweet. Using fewer reps and sets with a larger amount of weight can give you the best benefits in a short amount of time.

#3: You are Not Incorporating Enough Intensity

A good muscle building program should have a high amount of weight, while using less reps and sets. Programs using 50% of your one rep max are a waste of time. Your target should be to life around 80-85% of your 1 rep max. If you use less weight, you will see slight improvement until the improvements will stop. Its like your body will have become immune to lifting such a small amount of weight.

#4: More Recuperation During and After Workouts

Your workout should give you a short time between exercises to refresh and cool yourself down. It should not be going rapidly from one exercise to the next, and it also should not be too long, more than 5 minutes.

When you are done at the gym, you should try to plan a nap in to let your body rest. At night, try to sleep as long as you can, obtaining 8 hours or more of sleep. Having this large amount of sleep will better your body for the next day. Make sure to relax during the day to prevent stress from disrupting your muscle growth.

Check out my DoubleYourGains' 3-5 Beginners Strength Program. Here anyone can learn beneficial ideas for their muscle building programs, whether you are a beginner or not! - 15995

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