The goal is growth. And we’re here to help.
Many bodybuilders spend so much time in the gym but just don’t get the kind of results they want. Sure, they start seeing some growth – but not serious muscle growth. So they spend even more time in the gym – racking up the hours hoping to make some serious gains. But still nothing. Why?
We’re here to help. Below you will find five tips to help increase your muscle growth that you may be overlooking.
Big Compound Lifts
Compound exercises are great for building overall muscle size – as they hit multiple muscles in a body part at once. This is especially important during the off season – where your goal is to bulk up as much as possible.
Be warned, compound exercises will increase muscle mass for your stronger muscles – but the weaker ones in a muscle group will need to later be focused on by isolating them. This is the only way to maximize your physique at every inch of your body. Don’t ignore the isolation work.
Boost Your 1 Rep Max
This is a quick little technique that help track your progress as well as give you a more physical idea of whether or not your workout is effective. Every so often put on as much weight on an exercise as possible and see what your max rep is. This number should increase as the weeks of lifting go by. If you’re not seeing a significant increase, then you know you have to start working harder.
Perform Dropsets
After you pull off some heavy lifting for one exercise – naturally you’ll move onto the next one, right? Wrong. If you want to get some major gains, try lightening the load around 15% and try to lift another three sets. If you’re feeling really good during these reps, do all three. If you are feeling weak and tired, just keep it to one set or two. This will do wonders for adding volume.
Don’t Over Train
More weight lifting does not always mean better – we’re talking about daily here. While old school magazines and interviews would always talk about how the pros would hit the gym for 4-5 hours a day – this will not double your gains.
The same goes for your rest days. Skipping out on a rest day to get more lifting in does more harm than good. Think of it like drinking alcohol. You have a few beers and you start to feel good – but if you keep drinking eventually you are just sick with vomit all over the floor. Work hard – but in moderation.
Low Intensity Cardio
This might be an obvious one – but you’d be surprised how many people ignore this aspect of bodybuilding. Low intensity cardio provides two things for bodybuilders. The first is that it keeps fat at bay without cutting down on muscle size. The second, and less recognized aspect, is that it strengthens your vascular network.
Why is this important? Because your blood and veins are what transport all of that protein you’ve been consuming to the rest of your body. The stronger your vascular network is the more effect your body will provide your muscles with the protein it needs to rebuild and go stronger. So don’t skip out on the cardio.
That’s about it. Try some of these training tips when the off season kicks in to see if you can get some improvements in bulking up. Have any other tips for us? Let us know in the comments section below and make sure to comment on our Facebook and Twitter pages as well!
