Muscle relief is what every man strives for, because women like it, it increases self-esteem, and it’s simply beautiful. But aspiration or desire alone is not enough - to get results, you need to make an effort. The amount of effort required, its intensity and duration depends on how advanced everything is in each specific case. But the main thing on the path to any goal is perseverance, determination and patience. And they will be very useful to you if you decide to move towards it on your own. And also, in order to avoid mistakes typical for such cases, you need to study the issue in as much detail as possible and select reliable information on the topic. This is the only one you will find in this article.
Often, beginning athletes focus on one area of training—cardio or strength training. This is the wrong approach. To form a sculpted body, both types of load are needed, you just need to find the balance that your body needs. It depends on the amount of fat deposits on the body - no matter how much you work out, say, your abs, if it is hidden under a beer belly, the relief will not appear until the excess fat disappears. Cardio training will help you get rid of it, so if you have excess fat, add as much of this type of activity as possible. If there is no fat, but the relief is not particularly noticeable, then cardio can be reduced, but strength training can be increased. They will provoke muscle growth and the relief will be visible after 4-5 weeks of intense training.
Another common mistake on the path to gaining muscle mass is insufficient attention to the nutritional system. In fact, whatever your main goal is - to lose or gain weight, get rid of fat or build muscle - a properly designed diet accounts for up to 80% of success. But what’s even more important is an integrated approach, that is, when you pay enough attention to every aspect. Then the goal will be achieved in a much shorter time, and the effect will remain for a long time.
Here are three simple steps to achieve your goal of an athletic, muscular figure. You can give your muscles expressive shapes and clear lines not only with the help of a professional trainer in the gym, but also at home. And although this path is often too long, thorny and winding, you will gain invaluable experience that you can use in the future. Often these searches do not lead to the desired result, but we share with you trouble-free methods that are applicable at home.
Sports equipment is not such an important component of success. Impressive results can be achieved without a gym or home gym by performing exercises with your own weight.
Reduce rest between sets
Decreasing rest directly affects muscle growth. This is all due to the fact that the muscles receive new stress, they are accustomed to resting for 3-4 minutes, but here is something new, 1-2 minutes and no more, this is a new challenge for the body, in order to cope with it it is necessary to reactivate hidden reserves, which will lead to to increase muscle volume.
A sharp reduction in rest stimulates a variety of metabolic processes, and this is great news for those who want to burn excess fat or improve their definition.
Use a drop set
A drop set is a technique that involves gradually reducing the working weight by 20%, after completing the required number of repetitions, without rest.
You need to perform it in the last 1-2 sets of the exercise, for example, you perform a barbell curl, the weight of the barbell is 50 kg, you did 8 repetitions of arm curls, lactic acid filled the muscles and you cannot do a single more repetition, but this is not a reason to stop, throw off excess weights and reduce weight to 40 kg. and again for 8 repetitions, then 30 and the last 8 repetitions with an empty bar AND ALL THIS WITHOUT REST. After this, it will be difficult for you to simply bend your arms, but the muscles have received a tremendous load and an excellent stimulus for muscle growth.
Incorporate high-repetition isolation movements
Who has already guessed, we are talking about pumping - this is a system of multi-repetition training with medium and low weights to pump muscles with blood, which increases the rate of delivery of nutrients.
Using pumping, glycogen from the liver will quickly begin to be consumed, and then it will begin to be drawn from the muscles. So that the work is not in vain, after training you need to take a good portion of carbohydrates with a low glycemic index, that is, when carbohydrate foods slowly release energy to the body, constantly feeding it important substances.
Keep your cardio healthy
To stimulate the growth of new muscle cells, short cardio sessions are necessary. High-intensity sprinting is great for burning fat and engaging fast-twitch muscle fibers. Pay attention to marathon runners and sprinters, the result of different intensity of cardio load on the face.
You must understand that you cannot work on endurance and strength at the same time, these are two completely different concepts that are incompatible, only genetically gifted people or those on steroid drugs can work this way, but the majority are not one of these.
Therefore, include cardio in your training program, but only short-term, high-intensity training is suitable for gaining weight, otherwise you can forget about growing muscle mass.
Increase the duration of the muscle load
When it comes to increasing muscle size, and huge muscles are your goal, the timing of the muscle load is the most important factor in training; the harder and longer the muscle is loaded, the more muscle hypertrophy is manifested. Increase the number of sets and repetitions, do the exercises with full dedication, follow the correct exercise technique, use supersets and drop sets, use the full range of types of approaches, you can find it here. Also, don’t be lazy to use pause training.
You must do everything possible to make your muscles burn, learn to overcome the feeling of “I can’t”, try to lift more and more weight each time so that there is a constant progression of the load.
Supersets for mass
A superset is an exercise method in which 2 muscle groups are trained, performing 2 sets one after another, without rest.
They include muscle hypertrophy by increasing the intensity of the workout. It turns out that the muscles are exhausted, but they are forced to feel a new type of load; the muscle fibers do not get rest between 2 regular exercises and experience double load.
A superset can be used in basic exercises, but the energy costs in them are colossal and not everyone can withstand it. It is better to pay attention to isolated exercises, it is better to actually apply them to antagonist muscles, for example, biceps and triceps, quadriceps and hamstrings. Using this method, the production of growth hormone - testosterone is activated.
Take pre-workout supplements
Currently, the sports nutrition industry has reached great heights; manufacturers, trying to improve their products, are releasing more and more advanced complexes under the “All inclusive” brand.
Taking these drugs helps increase the body's endurance, accelerates their recovery, and also directly affects muscle growth; usually the complex includes a mixture of the following components: - creatine, which affects the increase in strength and water accumulation in cells. - tyrosine, increases metabolic rate, hormone synthesis, improves alertness. - taurine, restores heartbeat, reduces stress and reduces appetite. - glutamine, stimulates growth hormone, accelerates muscle recovery and immunity - beta - allanine, improves muscle contraction, regulates blood sugar levels, etc.
