subject: Your Muscle Building Guide [print this page] If you're looking to add more lean muscle to your frame, then it's important to work out a stategy or 'plan of attack' before heading off to the gym. Getting it right first time can save a lot of wasted time and energy.
Don't be afraid to invest in a good muscle building guide. There are plenty of excellent resources available and they can offer some invaluable advice on nutrition and exercise. They can also offer guidance on the best exercises to target the areas that you want to concentrate on.
If you're ready to set up a killer muscle building workout that is sure to produce superb results, keep the following points in mind:
Workout Frequency
The first thing is to determine how often you're going to be working out. Ideally, you should be hitting each muscle group at least two times each week, so decide on a full body or a split body workout. This will still allow enough time for rest and recuperation, helping speed progress. If you're someone who participates in a lot of additional physical activity, then a full body workout performed two or three times a week is likely to be your best bet. On the other hand, if you lead a less active lifestyle, then an upper/lower split is a better method since it will have you in the gym four days a week.
Select Exercises
Moving on, the second thing that you must do is set your exercises. You should have a mix of compound and isolated exercises - movements such as bench press, squats, deadlifts, rows, lateral pull-downs, bicep curls, tricep extensions, and lateral raises. This range of exercises will help target the muscles from a variety of angles, so your body never stops responding. Muscles not being fully challenged is the biggest reason why people don't see results, so take this point in the muscle building guide seriously. If you want to make progress, keep enough variety in your workout.
Select Weight Levels
Finally, you need to decide what weight you'll be lifting. How much weight you lift has a directly inverse relationship with how many reps you perform - the higher the weight, the lower the total reps. Those who are using a higher rep range of 10 reps or so will need to lift a lighter weight so their muscles don't fatigue early.
If your main goal is to build strength, aim for higher weights and lower reps. If, however, you want to work on building muscle size then you should include both lower rep ranges along with the higher rep ranges with varying weights. This will provide a maximum level of stimulation so you get long-term size gains as well as getting the instant size gains that are realized with solid muscle pumps from the higher rep range.
Remember that there's no one best workout to build muscle. It's advisable to create your own unique workout using the right combination of exercises, based on your body type, preferences, and availability. A good muscle building guide will provide you with all the information you need to start building lean muscle in a healthy and effective way.
