subject: So Why Aren't You Gaining Lean Muscle Yet? [print this page] So Why Aren't You Gaining Lean Muscle Yet?
You've been working out, designing your own muscle routine based on different pieces of advice that mates or so-called experts tell you. It just doesn't seem to be working but. You're lifting those weights, like there's no tomorrow but the muscle mass ain't coming on. What's wrong with your muscle routine?
Muscle Routine Requirement No. 1
You need to lift heavy weights at high intensity if you want to load on some lean muscle. Muscle only wakes up and starts growing when it feels a need to; does it need to grow when you're lifting puny weights that don't tire your arm? Ideally, you should be lifting hard and fast, doing weights that "overload" your muscles. This might sound like a nasty word, but without "muscle overload" your muscles won't grow.
Muscle Routine Requirement No. 2
This next point is something that even heaps of professional body builders neglect. As a result, they're not pushing their body to the utmost potential wasting their time and effort. You have to give your body sufficient time to rest. Your body only grows lean muscle when you're asleep. Yep, go ahead and read that sentence again if you think your eyes are playing tricks. You experience "post-workout pump" after a workout, but the muscle only stacks on while you sleep, when you're metabolising all the protein you're providing your body with to grow. How long to sleep with respect to how long you work out is the question.
Muscle Routine Requirement No. 3
Every man knows about this to some extent, even if they don't work out. The media has given it a bad image, but it's one of the most important factors if you want to continually gain lean muscle. While you're working out, you should be providing your muscles with some raw materials to "fortify" themselves. Think of working out as a war: your slugging your muscles, day in day out, destroying the barriers they're putting up. When the sun goes down (when you sleep) they "refortify" the "castle walls", making it taller and wider in preparation for the next battle. How can they "fortify" it with no bricks or mortar? It's up to the general (you) to provide it to them. Of course, you have to consult your aids to find out what's the most readily available source.
You now have the bare skeleton of a muscle routine. Depending on which part of the body you want to tank up, you might want to take different approaches. At any rate, make sure these three aspects are in it. You don't want to look like a weakling in front of your girlfriend again, do you?
Cheng is the owner of http://howtogetleanmuscle.blogspot.com. It's geared towards helping regular men with no experience in lifting weights learn how to get lean muscle.
