Building muscle does not have to be the most difficult thing in the world, but that certainly doesn't mean its going to be easy.
This article is for anyone that is just starting with body building and building muscle.
It is especially useful for anyone that is at the beginners stage and you want to build muscle, increase your strength, stamina and self confidence.
Also if you just want to be able to buy clothes in order to show off your body, instead of hide it.
But building muscle goes far beyond just wanting to look good.
By putting on muscle you are essentially strengthening your body.
This will lead to increases in the quality of your life, reducing body fat and will lessen the chances of you suffering from bad health as you grow older.
The most important thing you need to know for effectively building muscle is the use of Progressive Resistance: Basically if you do the same thing every time you are working out, then your body will become accustomed to it and won't have to work as hard.
By not constantly forcing the body to put itself to the maximum you are giving to no reason to chance, i.
e.
build muscle.
The number one secret of body building and weight training is the principle of Progressive Overload.
When you increase the amount of weight you use when lifting, the fibres of the muscle adapt in order to be better equipped to deal with the stresses put upon them.
This will result in increases in muscle strength and mass.
The best way to achieve Progressive Overload is Pyramiding: Example Routine using Pyramiding: Exercise Squat Week 1.
Set 1: 12 reps of 90 lbs Set 2: 10 reps of 110 lbs Set 3: 8 reps of 130 lbs Set 4: 6 reps of 175 lbs Week 2.
Set 1: 12 reps of 110 lbs Set 2: 10 reps of 130 lbs Set 3: 8 reps of 175 lbs Set 4: 6 reps of 195 lbs Pretty simple isn't it? Naturally drop the number of reps you do, as you increase the weight every set.
You will achieve progressive resistance every set, and every following workout as you start to increase the amount of weight you use by 10% than you used the previous week.
The increases in weight in the example above are slightly exaggerated, but give you get the idea of what you need to do and provides a template for your workouts.
Simply replace the weights with what you can manage without letting your form suffer.
As you increase the amount of weight you use over time, you force the muscles to adapt to the ever increasing demands put upon them.
With Pyramiding, your muscles are training at an intensity close to their maximum capacity which forces the fibres to increase in strength and, in the long term, mass.
Overloading is the most important starting block for building muscle, and is something you must use otherwise you can forget about any other principles you may learn.
Remember muscle building is not an endurance sport, its about peak intensity based on the principle of overload.
Your muscles will grow when you lift more weight than you have done previously.
They will not grow if you just use the same weight and the same amount of sets as you did the last couple of weeks.
When your muscles get to the point they can no longer perform to the maximum, its time to either stop working out or work out a different body part.