We hear loads of advice and guidance on what to do to build up muscle but much of it is conflicting. For that reason we are going to clear up a few things right now about what not to do to build up muscles. Here we go, 7 things not to do when trying to build muscle up:
1) Train for more than 45 minutes. training longer than this can be counter productive as at this point a hormone is released that actually inhibits the muscle building process, train for less than this and the hormones are at the right level for building muscle.
2) Follow a ‘see food’ diet. Often you hear people say to eat as much of everything as you possibly can. Well sure we need excess calories to build muscle mass but do you really think that stuffing yourself full of E numbers, simple carbs (sugars), fatty red meats, fast food and so on is going to benefit you long term. Of course not, stick to sensible nutritious foods and you will put on lean muscle mass and save your body from long term health problems too.
3) Do not do lots of isolation exercises. That refers to exercises such as tricep presses that place focus on one individual muscle alone. This is not a very efficient use of either your energy or time. Stay with compound multi joint exercises such as squats, pull ups,presses and so on. Muscle growth is triggered in more than just one muscle at a time.
4) Ignoring aerobic exercise. I’m sure you have heard that you should avoid aerobic stuff as it uses up valuable calories that could be used for burning muscle. yes this is true but come on there is a sensible balance here. Sure get big, but do you really not want to be able to walk up a few flights of stairs without losing your breathe. For long term health include aerobic exercise 2-3 times a week in your program and eat more calories to make up for this energy use-age.
5) Change exercises too much. You may know that variety keeps the muscles growing, that is true but at the same time not allowing your muscle to establish an exercise groovecan also stop you from making the progress you otherwise could do. Use an exercise for two or thress months before you drop it.
6)Train too much. Over training is probably the biggest cause for lack of progress. For most people 2-3 sessions a week will be suffice.
7) Stop trying. Way too many people stop working out just because there muscle growth eases up somewhat. This is the exact time when you should be rising to the challenge and training with more intensity, paying attention to muscle building nutrition and showing determination.
Go get em!