Fitness used to to just be about getting sweaty and losing weight. These days it's also about building muscle and looking strong and/or toned!
Working in a gym full time I speak to and see a lot of people who are trying to make themselves bigger and stronger (And have trained a fair few people who want to build muscle too). From this I have gathered a few top tips for building muscle and today I'm going to share them with you lovely people.
1) Always beat yourself - the key to building muscle is all down to what's called Progressive Overload and this is when we are lifting more weight, more sets or more reps on an exercise than we did last time. Lifting weights breaks and muscle down and it then repairs back bigger and stronger to be able to deal with what it had to go through. Therefore, we have to keep working them harder to ensure continuous progress.
2) Feed yourself - If the aim is to add something (muscle) to your body then we definitely have to give it enough fuel to grow and make those muscles bigger. Eating more calories than your body is using (Not too much though) and consistent weight training will ensure growth.
3) Go big or go home - The majority of your training should be based around the bigger, multi joint, multi muscle movements like Bench Press, Squats, Deadlifts, Rows, Shoulder Press, Pull Ups, Lunges with other smaller exercises added into the workouts.
4) Eat, sleep, train, repeat - Getting enough sleep is also a really big help. This will help your body and muscles recover from the workouts, ensure your energy levels are kept high and you can continue to make progress.
Want help with building muscle? Email adam@acmfit.com for more details on Personal Training and Online Coaching!