How to build muscle mass: a detailed guide to action. How to gain muscle mass at home: nutrition and training program How to quickly increase muscle mass in your body
It may seem that most of the fair half of humanity is constantly looking for effective methods for weight loss. Not at all! A huge number of thin girls are busy looking for ways to increase muscle mass and give their angular figure a pleasant roundness.
If thinness is not caused by a disease, then the problem lies in an accelerated metabolism. The body simply does not have time to replenish the reserves of the necessary elements to activate the growth of muscle mass.
Therefore, it should be stimulated using an integrated approach: proper nutrition and physical activity.
The main direction in solving the problem of how to increase muscle mass in the body is a well-designed diet. Eating should occur 6-8 times a day at equal intervals. It is worth preparing the most high-calorie foods. It is advisable to consume about 5000 kcal per day.
Separate nutrition is especially useful, when protein ingredients are consumed separately from carbohydrates. It is necessary to eat food an hour before starting physical exercise so that the body has enough energy to complete it.
Foods that increase muscle mass should contain plenty of calcium and complex carbohydrates. Flour products, sweets and potatoes allow you to gain fat, as they contain simple carbohydrates. When building muscle, you should pay attention to dairy products, lean meats, and vegetables and fruits.
It is difficult to achieve muscle growth with daily training. Physical activity injures tissue fibers, so they need to recover. The regeneration process takes approximately 48 hours. At this time, muscle growth occurs. Therefore, the optimal training regimen is every 2-3 days.
Regeneration can be impaired if the body is under severe stress. It is advisable to adhere to the regime and sleep at least 8 hours a day. By the way, muscles grow most effectively after exercise during sleep.
Quick body modeling is impossible; positive dynamics will become noticeable after a few weeks. Therefore, it is worth being patient for the sake of the final result.
During physical activity, lactic acid is produced. To remove it, it is recommended to drink about 2 liters of fluid daily. It's better if it's plain water.
Strength training should begin after pre-warming up. Dancing or Pilates are ideal for this. Warm-up should take 30-40 minutes.
When working on exercise machines, weight gain should occur gradually. It is better to exercise under the supervision of a trainer who will help you quickly figure out what loads are useful for individual muscle groups and how to breathe correctly during exercise.
It is advisable to use protein shakes and special preparations to increase muscle mass. However, if you don’t want to consume protein, you can replace the drugs with two bananas.
Even if you only need to increase the volume of the buttocks, you need to load several muscle groups to avoid disproportion.
A woman should not put into practice the advice on how to properly gain weight that bodybuilders use in training. The roundness of the outline of a figure and the pronounced relief are completely different concepts. For a girl striving for slimness, detailed elaboration of the relief is not necessary.
How a woman can increase muscle mass: an exercise program
This program allows you to effectively gain weight by visiting the gym 3 times a week.
For example, Monday, Wednesday and Friday are reserved for classes, the rest of the time the body rests from stress:
- Day 1 – load the back, chest and triceps: deadlift, dumbbell press using an inclined bench, pulling a vertical block to the chest, barbell press with a narrow grip;
- Day 2 is especially useful for girls looking for a way to increase gluteal muscle mass and leg volume: squats with a load on the shoulders, leg presses and lunges with a barbell in a machine, leg curls in a lying position, calf raises in a machine;
- Day 3 – training the muscles of the arm-shoulder girdle: barbell curls, barbell press with a narrow grip, seated dumbbell press, barbell row.
The program on how to increase the muscle mass of the leg group and gluteal, as well as other muscles, involves performing 6-12 repetitions with an approach to each exercise 3-4 times.
Before starting any training, you should remember one simple rule - you need to eat right and eat well.
This statement is true for people of any build - both puny and overweight. A complete, accurate and balanced diet is necessary, at least 4 or 6 times a day. There must be a specific schedule according to which you can eat.
During periods of intense training, hunger is the direct enemy of every athlete. Therefore, you should never go hungry. You need to clearly and carefully monitor your condition and at the first hint of hunger, immediately satisfy it.
Here, too, you need to adhere to certain rules, since eating something is not eating correctly. You need to consume more high-calorie foods to have a positive energy balance.
All foods consumed should contain only beneficial substances, such as vitamins, trace elements, minerals, and antioxidants.
For the exact amount of calorie intake, you can calculate the required daily calorie intake, but for this you need to know your metabolic rate, that is, metabolism. In order for muscles to grow, you need to consume many more calories than you expend.
When performing exercises, you should remember that the body needs protein, which is the best building material for muscles. After training, it is advisable to drink a protein shake.
What should you give up?
First of all, you need to cross out from your menu foods that contain calories that are “harmful” to the body:
- Confectionery products with large amounts of refined sugar;
- Fried foods cooked in oil with the formation of carcinogens;
- Canned foods should be consumed only in extreme cases when it is impossible to prepare or store fresh food for a long time.
Progress in sports is incompatible with smoking and drinking alcohol. Even a person who does not play sports should give up these bad habits forever. And they are directly contraindicated for health-conscious athletes.
You will also have to permanently remove night discos and midnight sitting in front of the TV from your life. After physical exertion, the athlete’s body enters the recovery phase. For full recovery and progress in sports, we need not only proper nutrition, but also sufficient rest and, above all, a night's sleep. It is at night, when we sleep, that the main muscle-building processes occur: growth hormone is released, repair and construction of new muscle fibers is in full swing.
What foods will help you get bigger?
Protein can be animal or vegetable. The first one is more valuable for gaining muscle mass, but the second one is cheaper. Our muscles get protein when we eat meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, cottage cheese and such very healthy plant foods as soy. In addition, a share of vegetable protein is found in lean foods: cereals, potatoes, bread.
Carbohydrates are the fuel that the body needs during training and in the process of life. Carbohydrates also come in two types: fast and slow. The former supply us with energy quickly and burn out just as quickly. Among fast carbohydrates, you should only consume fruits and sports bars. Slow carbohydrates are the basis of the diet. “Porridge is our strength,” says one popular proverb. “Rye bread is our dear father,” echoes another. Add pasta and potatoes here.
It is important to understand that not all carbohydrates will help build muscle rather than fat mass. It is necessary to focus on slow connections:
Don't forget to include as many vegetables as possible in your diet, especially green salads. The fiber they contain serves as an additional source of energy, improves digestion and reduces insulin levels in the blood.
Stage 2: choose the right exercises
There are quite a lot of different programs that allow you to train at home and build muscle mass. The technique given below focuses on working the muscles that are located above the waist. To pump your legs, you can use another program, which you can read.
Pushups
You need to take a lying position. We place our arms not very wide, our legs are straightened, our pelvis does not touch the floor. If you are a beginner, then it is enough to do 4 sets of 20 push-ups.
You should rest for thirty seconds to a minute between repetitions. You should not rest less, as such intensity of training will lead to premature fatigue.
You need to do it gradually and after a few weeks you can increase the number of push-ups. However, this should be done gradually, adding, for example, 1-5 repetitions per set.
During the exercise, you can place your arms wider or narrower: the greater the distance between them, the more the pectoral muscles will be loaded, and the smaller, the greater the amount of work the triceps will do.
Analogue of push-ups
Since the room is not a gym and there cannot be bars here, chairs are used instead. The height of the chairs should be such that you can lean on them with your hands and, with your legs tucked under you, freely lower yourself with your hands.
The number of such repetitions on chairs can vary from twenty to thirty times. You can do 3-5 approaches. High repetitions are not recommended as this will dry out the muscles rather than stimulate their growth. If the exercise is too easy, you can increase the load using weights.
Bench press
This exercise is considered one of the most effective for developing the pectoral muscles and shoulder girdle. However, for it you will need a barbell (can be replaced with dumbbells) and a bench. It is better to do it with a partner who will give you exercise equipment and help you complete the last repetitions.
You need to lie down on a bench and hold the barbell slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. We squeeze the projectile up and slowly lower it to the chest. This way you can perform 4 sets of 10-12 times.
Standing dumbbell or barbell press
Can be performed with both dumbbells and a barbell (this version is called a military press). If there is neither one nor the other at home, then we take bottles, fill them with sand and use them instead of the previously mentioned sports equipment. This exercise will help make your shoulders bigger and stronger.
We place our feet shoulder-width apart and bend our knees slightly for a more confident and stable stance. We hold the dumbbells at the level of the deltas. As you exhale, raise your arms up and straighten them at the elbows (not all the way, so as not to damage the joints). Then slowly lower it to the starting position. We do this 3-4 approaches 12-15 times.
Bent-over dumbbell row
- Take a dumbbell that is heavy enough for you in your right hand;
- Place your left knee on the edge of the bench, and rest your left hand on the bench;
- Smoothly pull the projectile up, pressing your shoulder closer to your body and moving your elbow back;
- At the top point, hold your hand, count to 2 and, with a slow, controlled movement, return the dumbbell to its original position;
- At the lowest point, lower your hand with the apparatus as low as possible, stretching your upper back.
You can do this exercise without a bench. Place one leg forward and place the same hand on your knee. An inclination of 45-75 0 is quite enough to effectively work out the back. Do 4 sets of 10-15 reps.
Bent-over arm raises
- Take one not very heavy dumbbell in both hands;
- Place your legs together, feet parallel to each other;
- Lean forward to an angle of 45 0 or even lower. At the same time, make sure that your back does not round in the lumbar region;
- Lower your hands with dumbbells down, your palms should be facing each other;
- Slowly raise your arms out to your sides without bending or straightening your elbows;
- Hold for a second or two in the top position and also smoothly return to the starting position.
The two exercises described above allow you to work the back muscles and the posterior deltoid muscle. In addition, when performing bent-over rows, the trapezius and biceps help move the weight. Do 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps.
Standing arm curls
But this exercise trains the biceps directly. You can perform it with both a barbell and dumbbells. Stand as described in the previous exercise, holding a dumbbell in each hand or grasping the bar with an underhand grip. Raise and lower the weight by contracting the biceps brachii muscle.
For many years, athletes and coaches have argued about which version of this exercise is better: with dumbbells or with a barbell. There is no definite answer, although dumbbells provide more variations: bending the arms alternately, with turning the hands, you can hold the apparatus with an underhand, overhand or vertical grip. Different execution options allow you to use different areas of the biceps. It is enough to do 3-4 approaches of 8-12 times.
Crunches
Of course, there are a great many exercises for “cubes”. But we will look at the most basic things that everyone is familiar with, at least from school physical education lessons. To perform it, like push-ups, no equipment is required except a small area of the floor.
- Lie on your back with your knees slightly bent;
- Secure your toes under heavy furniture or have an assistant hold them;
- Raise your body to your knees over and over again, exhaling. Then lower back and inhale.
Often, when performing this exercise, the body is raised completely, lifting the lower back off the floor. In fact, this is not necessary. To pump up your abs, you just need to lift your shoulder blades off the floor and tighten your abdominal muscles. Do 4-5 sets of 20-30 reps.
What rules must be followed?
Of course, training at home may be less effective than training in specialized gyms, which have all the necessary equipment.
However, by adhering to certain rules, you can achieve the results that were planned:
- It is better to perform all exercises with a partner. Invite a friend over and practice together. He will be able to insure you if something happens.
- Perform exercises until complete muscle failure. This is the only way you can maximize the use of all muscle fibers.
- You should not be distracted by external stimuli - TV, sofa, computer, etc. The temptation is great, you can put on headphones, turn on the music louder and start studying. Try to focus all your attention on what you are doing.
When exercising at home, you should remember one single rule of any training - consistency. This will help achieve a result that will be obvious to everyone.
Increasing progress
Before you start developing muscles at home, you need to soberly assess your capabilities. Make sure your home has free space and the necessary equipment for training. It would be useful to remember the general state of health: were there any physical exemptions at school due to chronic diseases of the heart or musculoskeletal system. If there are no movement restrictions or any temporary injuries, then nothing prevents you from doing home fitness training.
In any city apartment it is quite possible to allocate some space for sports equipment. In modern sports stores you will find a wide selection of various devices for muscle development: from primitive rope expanders to bulky and expensive strength training equipment. If you want to make a smart investment in your future training, invest in a steel set of barbell racks and an adjustable incline bench.
You can develop muscles only with the help of weights. Therefore, you will need a pair of dumbbells and a barbell. It is very important that the dumbbells are collapsible, as this will allow you to adjust the weights in different exercises. For training at home, it is better to purchase rubberized discs. Such projectiles look aesthetically pleasing, do not knock during exercise and, most importantly, will not damage parquet or linoleum if they fall.
A pull-up bar and parallel bars will allow you to diversify your set of exercises. You can buy a ready-made horizontal bar in the store or assemble it yourself from scrap materials.
Gaining muscle mass at home is quite possible. It all depends on the person himself and his determination.
Many novice athletes often wonder how to build muscle in the shortest possible time, and are willing to give a lot to have simple truths. But the truth is that there is no need to reinvent the wheel, everything has long been invented for us: take it and do it! How to build muscle with or without the use of exercise machines, by doing street sports or weightlifting - all the information can be put into five simple tips, which will be discussed further.
Tip 1. Where to start?
How to build muscles if you are a complete layman in this matter and the heaviest thing you have lifted in your life is a spoon? Congratulations! It is you who will gain as quickly as possible. The fact is that muscles that are subjected to constant stress gradually get used to overcoming this barrier and eventually become more elastic and stronger. As a result, an experienced athlete, trying to develop micro-tears in the muscle, will be forced to lift enormous weights for minimal results. This is why an experienced athlete gains 1-2 kg per month in the gym and this is an excellent result, while a beginner can easily gain 10 kg and this will not be the limit! So set a goal and go towards it!
Tip 2. Base
You should always place maximum load on those muscle groups that are
the largest. How to build muscles if you do not subject them to systematic load? No way. Based on this, divide your training exercises into 3-4 groups and perform no more than 1-2 for each. Only in this way and only thanks to this approach will you have the opportunity to make a breakthrough for yourself among the masses.
Tip 3. How to quickly build muscle at home?
There is only one answer: use the same technique as in the gym. Improvise and create an insurmountable load for your muscles - this is the only way they will develop. There are no magic drugs that can turn you into a Schwarzenegger in one month, because even using anabolic steroids, you will have to train day after day, sweating and losing your pulse!
Tip 4. How to build muscle while doing street sports?
Do you think this is impossible? That working with your own weight is closer to cardio than to strength training? Well, we can congratulate you, because you are wrong, and you have a chance to dispel your misconceptions. A person's weight is 50 kilograms or more. When working on the horizontal bar, at least 40 out of 50 will be in work, that is, 80-85% of your body weight. Now think about it: will you be small, frail and weak if you start training in the gym from scratch with the same weights? Of course not! The whole secret lies in the technique of performing the exercises. You need to pay special attention to it, training slowly and focusing on the negative phase of each set, and only then will your muscles grow and develop. No concessions, no hackwork, pure hardcore!
Tip 5. If you don't eat, you won't eat!
Yes, yes, proper and plentiful nutrition is the key to a successful mass. Have you ever seen builders build a house out of thin air? Or from foam plastic, for example? So there is no need to worry about nonsense. Eat four to six times a day, fully, to satiety, and exercise regularly. If you do everything right, then in a couple of months you won’t recognize yourself in the mirror!
How to increase body weight? The cause of reduced weight may be any disease in the body. Therefore, an underweight man should first consult a doctor. If no pathologies are detected in the body, then underweight may be a consequence of too fast a metabolism. This is especially true for young men.
How to increase weight for a man?
Many men who are underweight try to gain weight by increasing the amount of food they eat. However, this does not lead to the desired results.
It is necessary to increase not just the amount of food, but to increase the number of calories consumed by the body per day. A nutritionist will help you calculate the number of calories your body needs.
In order to increase weight, you must follow the correct daily routine and diet. Proper nutrition combined with exercise will help you gain weight by increasing lean body mass.
To determine the optimal weight of a person, you need to measure his height and subtract 110 centimeters from the resulting value. The result will show the number of kilograms that is the optimal weight for a given person.
Proper nutrition for weight gain
It is necessary to create the correct diet. You should try to eat more often during the day, preferably every 3-4 hours. Food should be rich in vitamins, proteins and carbohydrates.
You need to have breakfast in the morning within an hour after getting out of bed. For breakfast, you can cook an omelet, eat foods such as cottage cheese, cheese, dairy products, fruits and honey. It is very healthy to eat milk porridge seasoned with vegetable oil for breakfast.
For lunch, you can prepare a hearty soup for the first course, meat or fish for the second course with a side dish of pasta or mashed potatoes, and a salad of fresh vegetables. Then you can eat dessert and drink coffee with cream.
For dinner you can prepare an omelette with ham and tomatoes and coffee with milk. Before going to bed, you can eat fruit: apples or grapes. During the day, in addition to 3 main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner), you need to have snacks. For snacks, you can eat dairy products, sandwiches, salads, fruits, and nuts. You need to drink plenty of water throughout the day.
You don't need to eat too many different foods in 1 serving. You can prepare food for the whole day. If possible, it is advisable to prepare food before each meal, since fresh food is tastier and healthier. It is necessary to eat regularly and avoid feeling hungry.
How to increase weight with brewer's yeast?
Brewer's yeast improves metabolism and the general condition of the human body. Brewer's yeast contains a large complex of vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Brewer's yeast helps increase muscle mass with the obligatory condition of physical education, sports and other physical activities.
Brewer's yeast contains a large amount of amino acids and vitamins that promote their absorption. The protein found in brewer's yeast is similar to animal protein, but has many more calories.
In order to increase your weight, you need to take 2-3 tablets of brewer's yeast after meals. Taking brewer's yeast improves a person's appetite.
When taking brewer's yeast, you should follow the correct diet. Brewer's yeast can be purchased at the pharmacy. They are made in tablet form. To improve your appetite, you can prepare a drink. To do this, you should dilute brewer's yeast in water, add honey and crackers.
Workouts to increase muscle mass
How to increase your muscles and how to increase body weight? Muscle volume increases with physical activity. In response to increased muscle load, the body responds by increasing lean body mass. To gain weight and increase muscle, it is necessary to achieve a constant progression of loads in training.
It is advisable to perform strength exercises in the gym under the supervision of a trainer.
If you can't go to the gym, you can do strength exercises at home.
It is necessary to monitor the intensity of training and gradually increase the load. If the training is not intense enough, then the increase in muscle mass will not occur.
When exercising at home, training with dumbbells and barbells is most preferable. They give the greatest effect for increasing muscle mass and body weight.
It is necessary to perform the exercises correctly and gradually add weight. Among the physical exercises that have the greatest effect are the following:
- squats with dumbbells;
- pushups;
- bench press in a lying position;
- deadlift;
- crunches;
- standing barbell press;
- pull-up on the bar;
- swings with dumbbells.
Strength exercises must be combined with running, swimming, and cycling. You need to get regular and enough rest.
Muscle growth does not occur during the workout itself, but during rest, especially at night. Therefore, you need to sleep at least 8 hours a day.
It is not advisable to do exercises every day. You can train 3-4 times a week in the gym or at home.
Avoid overtraining. If you spend too much time and energy training rather than building muscle, you will release cortisol, which actually causes muscle breakdown.
If, due to too frequent and excessive training, processes that destroy muscles occur, then it will not be possible to increase weight and add muscle mass. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the training does not exceed 1.5 hours.
After training you need to eat. During training, you need to increase your diet. You need to have breakfast early and heartily.
Only in this case, in response to training and strength exercises, the body will be able to gain the necessary weight.
This article is for those who want to increase volume and improve muscle shape. Surely, you have wondered why some guys have such powerful and voluminous muscles, as if pumped up, while for us ordinary mortals they seem flat and not so voluminous.
You may not be able to keep up with those who have a genetic predisposition to muscle development, such famous stars as 4-time Arnold Classic winner Flex Wheeler, Mr. Olympia, but you can significantly increase the size of your muscles using the suggested here techniques.
The duration of the load refers to the amount of time during which the muscles remain in a tense state during the execution of the approach.
Whether the force is isometric, eccentric, or concentric, contracting a muscle causes it to tighten. But it is not the time of tension that is important for muscle growth. We are interested in the effect of prolonged tension caused by constriction of blood vessels.
When the muscle contracts, the blood vessels are compressed until they are completely blocked, thereby limiting the blood flow to the muscle. This tension effect occurs when you step on a garden hose.
The longer the muscles are under load, the longer the blood flow to it is limited. But the heart still pumps blood, and due to compression of the vessels around the working muscle, blood accumulates in the tissues. After completing the approach, the muscle relaxes and blood flows into the muscle.
The longer the vessels are compressed, the greater the volume of blood rushes into the muscle. To feel this process, you can try doing push-ups for 5 seconds and pay attention to how the muscles fill up. Then you should rest for two minutes, and then do push-ups for 30 seconds, and again feel how the blood rushes to the muscles.
This process is called hyperemic supercompensation and is known to bodybuilders as “pumping”. The rapid influx of large blood flow into the muscles increases pressure.
In the movie Pumping Iron, Arnold noted that a good flow of blood to the muscles is an incredible feeling. But what should be more important to you is that the blood flow puts pressure on the dense, tough covering of the muscle - the fascia.
Fascia is very difficult to stretch, but over time, it begins to succumb to the pressure that comes from within and stretch, allowing the muscle it surrounds to actually and visually increase in volume.
And although this information is scientific, we are interested in the results, not the science. In the experience of most bodybuilding trainers, increasing the duration of the load on the muscles increases their volume. Although, of course, this does not happen in a short time.
According to the experience of Western trainers, a higher speed of movement in repetitions and the use of more weight allows you to recruit more muscle fibers into the work.
This is why, instead of using lighter weights and deliberately slowing down the movements, it is better to perform movements, even concentric ones, quickly, but choose a weight that can be done for 45-second sets.
A set duration of less than 30 seconds will not generate enough blood flow to create good intramuscular pressure. On the other hand, to perform a set longer than 60 seconds, you need very little weight, which is also not good. Therefore, the optimal time is considered to be 45 seconds.
No. 2. Do more work
Your body has incredible adaptability. It does its best to adapt to any pressure and become more prepared to perform certain tasks. This also applies to high volume training.
Training volume refers to the total number of repetitions and sets. This is the total amount of work that muscles do during exercise. Doing more work requires more energy. The energy for muscle contraction is provided by muscle glycogen, a reserve of carbohydrates stored in muscle tissue.
Let's assume that you want to use the fascial stretching principle described above. You do sets of twelve repetitions in the chest exercise. The pectoral muscles will use significantly more glycogen to perform ten sets of twelve repetitions than two sets of twelve repetitions. It should be remembered that only glycogen from working muscles is consumed.
With a sufficient increase in the volume of training, the glycogen reserves in the muscles are thus depleted, an interesting phenomenon occurs. The body begins to strive to replenish glycogen reserves in order to successfully cope with such loads the next time.
The process of short-term increase in muscle glycogen content is called glycogen supercompensation. At the same time, the muscles are temporarily able to store a larger volume of glycogen than usual, say, instead of 100% it stores 120%.
With regular repetition of the stimulus, i.e. With the systematic depletion of glycogen reserves, the body gradually acquires the ability to accumulate more and more volumes of this substance. This means that this pattern can also be used in the long term.
And, despite the fact that we are not as concerned about the amount of glycogen in the muscle as its volume, the muscle containing more glycogen looks more voluminous and rounded.
You won't be able to see changes after 1-2 high-volume workouts, but the results will become noticeable over time. After 8 weeks of high-volume training, you may find that your muscles become larger. But there are exceptions to this rule. With a relatively high volume of your training, you will not even notice significant changes, because your body is adapted to such loads. The same applies to the duration of muscle loads.
The second reason for the weak effect of this technique may lie not in exercise, but in nutrition. If you don't consume enough carbohydrates, especially after exercise when your body's ability to store glycogen increases, your body won't have the material to fill your muscles with glycogen.
It should be remembered that glycogen is simply a store of carbohydrates, not fats or proteins. Just like filling a gas tank with gasoline, you need to fuel your body with enough carbohydrates to replenish your glycogen stores.
It should be noted that as the muscles continually store more glycogen, this also puts pressure on the fascia surrounding them and gradually stretches it.
It must be remembered that the intensity and volume of work must be inversely proportional to each other; this is required for the complete restoration of not only the muscles, but also the nervous system. This is why you should not give in to the temptation to push every approach of a high-volume program to failure.
No. 3. Optimizing the duration of breaks between sets
Like the first strategy, optimizing the rest time between sets can help increase blood flow as well as increase pressure in the muscle.
Let's pretend you're doing a killer approach. The muscles swell as if the skin will soon begin to burst. Then you want to rest for three minutes, giving the body time to replenish creatine phosphate in tired muscles and remove lactic acid and hydrogen ions. In the following approach, to achieve good performance this is quite useful.
But to maintain high intramuscular pressure, 3 minutes of rest is a lot, since a significant part of the blood that creates this pressure drains from the muscle during this time.
It should not be forgotten that fascia consists of strong, tough tissue. It does not stretch when subjected to slight pressure over a short period of time. In order for it to stretch, the muscle needs to exert longer pressure on it.
That is why, in order for the fascia to stretch as much as possible and the volume of the muscle to increase, you need to keep the muscle filled with blood for as long as possible.
This technique has its advantages and disadvantages. If you start the next approach too early, you will not be able to perform it at full strength. As previously mentioned, a certain time is necessary to remove the products of its work from the muscles and restore the supply of creatine phosphate. This is required to perform a decent number of repetitions in a set.
On the other hand, very long rests can relieve the pressure that is placed on the fascia.
In this case, you need to listen carefully to your body. You should pay attention to how swollen from the blood flow and how dense the muscles become after completing the approach, and try to catch the moment this effect disappears. So, you can rest exactly as long as necessary for optimal stretching of the fascia.
It is necessary to note in the training diary the number of repetitions performed in the approaches. If you performed fifteen repetitions in the first approach, and only six in the next, this means that you did not rest enough.
By observing the sensations in the muscles and comparing the number of repetitions in further approaches, you can choose the optimal rest duration between approaches.
But if you don’t want to sometimes tax your brain by concentrating on sensations, then you should rest for 45 seconds. 30-60 seconds is the optimal time to recover between sets. For less strenuous exercises, such as barbell curls, 30 seconds will be enough to recover. When performing more strenuous exercises, such as squats, it is better to rest for 60 seconds between sets. Naturally, if you have enough strength to perform squats with a minute of rest between approaches.
No. 4. Stretching a muscle while it is filled with blood
Doing stretching exercises is very useful, and at any time. Stretching is one of the most underrated techniques for improving muscle performance, appearance, and injury prevention.
With the help of stretching, you can weaken the force of compression of the muscles by the fascia or keep the muscles in a stretched state for as long as possible, this will also help stretch the fascia.
To increase the tensile pressure on the muscle membrane, stretching must be done when the muscles are still filled with blood. In other words, you need to do muscle stretching exercises no more than thirty seconds after finishing a long approach. And it is necessary to keep the muscles in a state of stretch longer than usual. You can stretch for sixty seconds, or longer.
But, since static stretching exercises may reduce muscle performance in further approaches, you need to stretch after the last approach of the exercise for a specific muscle group.
Stretching the muscles has another, no less significant effect. By maintaining a position of fairly strong stretching for a long time, this allows the growth of new sarcomeres to be stimulated and the muscles to lengthen.
If you can lengthen a muscle through the growth of sarcomeres, it will become visually voluminous, especially when under tension.
This method, like any technique associated with stretching the fascia, requires time and consistency in use. You should write down in your training diary that you need to stretch after training, otherwise you may forget about it. And you should expect that you will begin to notice changes after a maximum of three months. If you follow this strategy for six months with enough patience, you will definitely see results.
No. 5. Isolating lagging muscles
This strategy helps increase muscle size not by stretching the membrane, but by focusing loads on the target muscle group.
The whole point of training is to subject the muscles to unusual loads, and then allow them to adapt. To develop weak muscles, you need to make sure that these muscles do the main work. This is the only way to force these muscles to adapt and develop.
For example, if, for some reason, when performing a bench press to develop the pectoral muscles, the main work is done by the triceps, then they will become stronger and larger.
In such cases, there are several methods to make sure that it is not the triceps, but the pectoral muscles, that do the main work and stimulate growth. One technique is to pre-exhaust the pectoral muscles with isolation exercises before performing the bench press.
For example, you can do dumbbell flyes while lying down, and then move on to doing barbell presses. You may not like the idea of lifting light weights when bench pressing. But you can be sure that the tired pectoral muscles will do most of the work. And it is they who will have to adapt to the loads with the help of hypertrophy.
In addition to pre-exhaustion, performing isolation exercises is very useful for increasing lagging muscles.
It is preferable to do things like deadlifts, squats and the aforementioned bench press for general development. However, when it comes to developing individual muscles, then isolation exercises such as straight-arm rows, machine leg extensions and dumbbell flyes are often more effective.
For general strength development, isolation exercises are not very good, but they allow you to work out lagging muscle groups, due to the fact that in such exercises the entire load is placed on the target muscle. If you compare, for example, leg extensions with squats or arm raises with bench presses.
If, while performing a basic exercise, you have trouble feeling the work of individual muscles, then you can first try to do isolating exercises for the same muscles, and then move on to the basic one. Thanks to this sequence, you can pre-tire the muscles, as well as activate the nerve fibers in it.
For example, if you are unable to feel the work of the upper back muscles (the middle part of the rhomboids and trapezius muscles) doing bent-over barbell rows, you can first try doing bent-over dumbbell raises and then move on to deadlifts. You may find that you will feel better use of your upper back muscles in the waist row.
And finally
We hope you find these recommendations helpful. Just remember that improving your physique, especially developing lagging muscles, takes time. Therefore, you should be patient and enjoy the training!