Weight Training Programs That Build Muscle. Solid weight training programs are critical to accomplishing the build muscle and gain weight fast goal. It isn't enough to just walk into a gym and throw around some weights, not if you want to be successful in short order. You must instead have a weight lifting program that is tailored to accomplishing your specific goal - to build muscle mass. On this page, we will work through the many components that go into the design and implementation of weight training programs that demand muscle growth. It will be your attention and dedication to making each of these components strong that will allow them to come together and produce the muscle building results you are after. As important as weight training programs are to success, it is also important to remember they are not the only important factor. There are three factors that contribute to building muscle mass - diet, training AND rest. All are equally critical to success. Fail to account for one factor and you will fail to maximize your muscle building capability. When a solid weight gain diet is combined with a well- planned weight training program and sufficient rest, it can be a powerful force. Without your diet supplying the raw materials your body needs to build muscle, all the hard work you do in the gym will be wasted. If you don't provide the body enough rest time with which to repair and rebuild muscle, all your weight training will be wasted. The most common mistake beginner and intermediate trainers make in their mass gain approach is an over- emphasis on their weight training and an under- emphasis on their eating and rest. The Two Dominant Weight Training Philosophies. A lot is made over weight training philosophies and you will not need to venture far in the bodybuilding world before encountering someone willing to argue to the death that the philosophy his or her weight training program is based on is the end- all, supreme, hands down best way to work out all the time with absolutely no exceptions. When you meet this person, save yourself a lot of grief, smile politely, and walk away. There are two dominant basic weight training philosophies: HIT - HIT is an acronym for High Intensity Training. HIT calls for the trainer to workout 1- 3 times a week with full body single- set routines. These are to be short but very intense workouts. The basic prescription is 8- 1. Each and every workout is expected to produce an increase in strength so that when performing your next workout you should either look to perform more reps with the same weight or the same number of reps with a greater weight. Periodization - Weight training programs based on this philosophy approach progressive overload in a different way. In a periodization program you may do light training for three weeks, followed by medium training for a few weeks and then do heavy training for the final cycle. Emphasis is not placed on achieving gains in every workout but rather on the cumulative gains after all phases. The basic idea is to change intensity and volume levels to prevent overtraining. The above descriptions are brief and, in being brief, necessarily unfair to each philosophy.
Each philosophy has much more to offer. In practice, they are much less strict then their presentation here. HIT, for example, in practice does indeed incorporate some variety in reps and sets which is essentially a form of periodization. The basic difference is that HIT recommends always doing high intensity workouts while periodization advocates cycling your intensity. The most commonly employed mass gain weight training strategy used today is what is sometimes referred to as hardgainer training. In a sense, this is a hybrid of all the main philosophies. This site focuses on weight training programs using a version of hardgainer training that utilizes low volume, training splits and maximum intensity in an effort to build muscle fast. The most common training regimen and the one most hardgainers (most people) seem to find the most productive for mass gain is a 3- day split training routine with each muscle group being worked just once per week. This is an excellent place to start. Weight Training Exercises That Induce Big Muscle Gains. For a look at the major muscle groups and the best weight lifting exercises to get them growing, complete with illustrations, basic descriptions, variations and tips to performing the exercises correctly, check the following page. Compound exercises allow you to stimulate the most muscle fibers in the least amount of time. In other words, they give you the biggest bang for your buck. Performed correctly and at challenging resistance, the two most important compound weight lifting exercises are the squat for the legs and the bench press for the upper body. Below is a table of some of the best big muscle producing weight lifting exercises for each body part. There are no fancy, complicated exercises requiring complicated or cool- looking gadgetry in the above table. Nothing above requires an advanced degree in exercise science to figure out. Muscle mass is built with the basics. It isn't built wasting time trying to hit each and every muscle with its own special exercise. Bodybuilding, Coaching, Motivation, Powerlifting, Program Design, Training, Workouts & Programs THREE DAYS LEFT — Win 12 Weeks of Free Online Training from Team Elitefts Participating coaches include; Swede Burns, Clint Darden, Julia Ladewski. True Natural Bodybuilding: the personal story of a real natural bodybuilder. Training Training is by far the most complicated and important aspect of true natural bodybuilding. After more than 20 years of experience, I have developed a training routine that I believe. T NATION - The Best Strength Training and Bodybuilding Articles, Workouts, and Supplements to Help You Get Bigger, Stronger, and Leaner! Staggered Ab Training by Christian Thibaudeau ! If you were forced onto a deserted island and could take only eight exercises, the weight lifting exercises above would be excellent choices. And when designing weight training programs, these are excellent choices (these or suitable alternatives) to include in all your weight training routines. The Best Sets and Reps. For the purposes of this site, I will divide the amount of reps done per weight lifting set into three categories: heavy, medium and light. Everything you need to know about the characteristics of a good bodybuilding weight training routine, the differences in training for Body Sculpting vs training for Bodybuilding and the answer on how to lose fat and gain lean muscle mass fast the natural way.They are based on going to fatigue or failure (i. While this should be the emphasis, it isn't necessarily wise to use these rep ranges exclusively. Working heavy and light set routines into your weight training program can be an effective technique to keep your muscles responsive and growing. These routines can provide a change- of- pace that will make follow- up medium set routines more effective (a periodization technique). In addition, keep in mind that different muscle groups will sometimes respond better to different rep ranges. For example, the calves and abdominals often respond best to higher repetitions. Changing your rep range emphasis, whether making it heavier or lighter, can often help you break past stubborn plateaus. Progressive Overload: The Key To Gains. Progressive overload is a simple concept, simply meaning that with each successive workout you increase the demands placed on the muscles. You do this by increasing the amount of weight lifted or by increasing the number of reps in the set. You have to convince the body that it NEEDS to build muscle. To do this, you have to continuously push the envelope. Doing 2. 5 push- ups a day for a year is NOT encouraging the body to build muscle. It is instead encouraging the body to condition the muscle it already has in place. To get muscle growth you have to progressively increase resistance. In order for weight training programs to help you gain muscle mass, they MUST utilize progressive overload in some manner. To learn more about progressive overload, hitting the right muscle fiber types and forcing your muscles to grow, check the Building Muscles article. Rest, Rest and More Rest. What a lot of beginner and even more advanced trainers have trouble grasping is the important role rest plays in building mass. Learn what that means and PAY ATTENTION to what it is telling you. Trainer planning to build muscle. Trainer actually building muscle. When you lift weights you are not actually building muscle, you are breaking muscle down. In the gym, you are essentially planning to build muscle. You are delivering the blueprints to the builder. But the build isn't going to get done unless and until you've given the builder the appropriate time to complete the project. Your body builds muscle while you are resting - while you are sleeping and while you are sprawled out on the couch watching DVDs. It is only when the body is not busy with keeping you functioning in some way that it will find the time to work on rebuilding the muscle tissue your training broke down. If you want to build muscle, you must give the body the opportunity to do the building that your weight training programs encourage. Give the body insufficient rest time and you will get less than optimal results. How much rest is sufficient will vary by individual but below are some guidelines that all but the most genetically gifted or chemically enhanced would be wise to adhere to.. Muscle groups should be worked a MAXIMUM of twice a week if using splits and three times if using full- body routines. The more you work your muscles, the more you should look out for overtraining. Each workout should last a MAXIMUM of one hour, 5. There should be a MAXIMUM of 5 workouts per week. After a MAXIMUM of 8- 1. The above are not optimal suggestions, just maximums that most trainers will be best served not to exceed. The trainer that works five days a week will not necessarily gain more muscle than the one who trains two. If you are spending a maximum of 5 hours a week in the gym, what do you do for the other 1. You concentrate on eating and getting your rest. Again, quality dieting and quality rest will prove as important to your mass building goals as your weight training programs. If you intend to become the guy with the impressive physique, you will have to learn to appreciate the importance of rest to the muscle building equation. For more on the value of rest and sleep, check the long- titled article, Adequate Rest to Avoid Overtraining & Increase Muscle Growth. Putting The Muscle Building Weight Training Program Together. With an appreciation of what makes for good muscle building routines, a good idea of what you want to accomplish and how to accomplish it, the next step is deciding on your weight training routines. Week Powerlifting/Bodybuilding Hybrid Program / Elite FTSLet me make this absolutely clear. I'm not trying to butcher any of the programs that I reference in this article. But also know that this was the most fun I’ve had in years. It completely changed my physique and led me to take the BPU British powerlifting record in the 1. Here it is.. Weeks 1. For example, if you normally use a low bar position with a belt on when you squat, your transition would be to that of a high bar squat, sans belt. An incline bench press would replace the classic flat bench press, and a sumo deadlift takes the place of a conventional pull and vice versa. Week 7. Off. Week 8. Everyday max testing plus 5 X 5 at 6. Week 9–1. 4A linear powerlifting progression as laid out below. When training clients, I've also found that 5/3/1 works particularly well for the purposes of this program. Week 1. 5Off. Week 1. EDM testing plus 5 X 5 at 6. I stumbled upon this method of training completely by chance when I found and became interested in John Meadows' methods. I had been riding a linear powerlifting progression for quite some time and had reached a stage where I yearned to try something a little different to that which I had become accustomed. My goal, like many, has always been to be bigger and stronger, and I have an equal love for both bodybuilding and powerlifting alike. The issue was that trying to combine both styles in a single session left either the hypertrophy work or the strength aspect not receiving the full attention required to reap the results that I had been chasing. If I put my heart and soul into lifting heavy first in the workout, the assistance work, especially the final exercise or two, lacked the enthusiasm placed upon them had they been priority number one or indeed been trained completely separately. The other issue for me is that following any set program for too long and with little variation left me burned out, and my physique and strength started to stall or even deteriorate. Honestly, switching from a linear progression to higher rep, higher volume workouts was a breath of fresh air. I loved the fact that I didn’t have to record my weights or add pounds to the bar at every session. Anyone who has spent a considerable amount of time following a linear progression will have born witness to the fact that the ever increasing load can be a physical and psychological cross to bear without sufficient rest. This bodybuilding template allows you to only work as hard as you are able at any particular time (although even on a day when you feel less than stellar, a typical leg workout of this variety is akin to a secular baptism by fire). Not to mention the fact that spending an entire session on just arm work is, to quote Winston Churchill, . I was due to take my wife away for her birthday and decided to test my one- rep maxes before we left, partly due to joining a new gym and wanting to show everyone there that there was a new alpha male in town. Also, I had hopes that my strength hadn’t plummeted from all the fun I’d been having. As it turned out, the only other person in the entire gym to film my max on that particular day was . Nevertheless, I proceeded to dominate a 1. PR squat, triumphantly extending a metaphorical middle finger in the direction of Geraldine’s complete lack of interest. I couldn't believe how much strength I had gained from my bodybuilding endeavors. Suffice it to say that the meet went pretty damn well. When I arrived home, I transitioned back to the bodybuilding phase to see if I could replicate my prior success in both my own training and that of my clients. So who can benefit from this bastard child of some of the most proficient methods ever created? First and foremost, I wouldn't recommend this way of lifting to a beginner. It is much better suited to an individual who already has a few years of hard labor under his belt. Understand that this doesn't mean someone who has milled around, chopping and changing programs, not really progressing in strength or size for the past couple of years. To get any form of return from this method of training, you have to: Have a good, solid strength base. I like to use something close to Rippetoe’s guide for the everyman, which is to say that you should be at least squatting 1. Know how to apply intensity to your lifts but simultaneously be able to autoregulate your training. The bodybuilding portion of this routine isn't a time to screw around and let intensity take a backseat. Performed correctly, it can be brutal. Rotate the three big lifts. For me, six weeks of beltless high bar squatting improved my overall squat strength (where I usually use a low bar position and a belt). On my second six- week cycle, I switched back to my regular low bar style and presto! I had gained strength! The same applies to the bench press. On my bodybuilding cycle, I kept to a shallow incline, and when it came time to deadlift, I pulled conventional in contrast to the sumo stance that I used during my powerlifting phase. The two- week transitional phase between cycles is used as a one- week recovery period where only light, low intensity conditioning is performed followed by a three- day split the next week, where you perform a new everyday max (EDM) using your competition lifts. These are then to be followed by 5 X 5 at 6. EDM. The goal for the 5 x 5 portion is to be as explosive as possible throughout the entire range of motion and also to practice the lifts you will be using in the upcoming six- week cycle. The everyday max is taken from Paul Carter's . It should be heavy enough that you would need to psyche yourself up to hit it. You can work up to this same number after every six- week period without need of adding more weight. The way to tell that you have become stronger will be observed by how fast you move that bar. If your first attempt at that particular weight was somewhat of a grinder, but six weeks later, you stand up so fast that the bar practically leaps off your back, you have gained strength. If you really must test your true one- rep maxes, the prior week’s rest should accommodate you potentially hitting some decent PRs. Instead, follow two straight cycles back to back. Use your own judgment with the assistance work, but I would aim to use exercises that you didn't use during the bodybuilding phase. Pick two or three and stick with them for the entire block. Too often, we never really know which supplementary movements work for us because we never give them enough time to produce any tangible results. I hate dumbbell rows and would perform them once in a blue moon. However, I stuck with them for the entire six- week run and now I love them because they brought some really apparent symmetry to my back and thickened up my lower lats noticeably. If following a three- day total body routine, forget any assistance work aside from chins or rows. The beauty of this routine is quite simply that neither strength nor aesthetics need play second fiddle to one another. They do, in fact, make great playmates if they are, in turn, given their chance to shine. This is the split that I used for the two phases: Phase 1. Weeks 1. As long as you're working all out and achieving an insane pump, you're following the program. Due to the high intensity and overall volume achieved, recovery is a crucial factor. As John Meadows recommends, it would be wise to have an intra- workout nutrition protocol in place before starting this program. Week 7. Rest. Week 8. Max testing using the lift variation that you intend to incorporate in phase two. Follow each lift with 5 X 5 at 6. Perform each lift on a separate day. Phase 2. Weeks 9–1. Monday: Flat barbell bench press, 6. X 4 (choose a load that you can accomplish six sets across with)Incline barbell or dumbbell bench press, 4 X 6. Seated behind the neck press or dumbbell press, 2 X 8–1. Wednesday: Deadlift, 3 X 3. Weighted chins, 6 X 4. Barbell rows, 4 X 6. Seated cable rows, 2 x 8–1. Friday: Low bar belted squat, 6 X 4. Front squat or leg press, 4 X 6. Barbell lunges, 2 X 8–1. For these six weeks, you should aim to increase the load anywhere from 2. If the increase causes you to have to break up the sets, stick with that load until you're able to perform all the sets unbroken. Week 1. 5Rest. Week 1. Max testing followed by 5 X 5 at 6. Pete Stables works as a strength coach, nutritional consultant, and fitness writer. He's the author of e. Book The Skinny Guys Guid to Building More Muscle and currently holds the BPU British record in powerlifting in the 1. He runs the website www.
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