Overcoming Mistakes: Useful Advice for Gaining Muscle
by: Brad Morgan on Thu, 2 Apr 2009 at: 8:00 PM Go to: Previous Article Next Article
Starting any kind of fitness program can be difficult because of the sheer amount of advice out there. It is often hard to know where to start your muscle building efforts.
Why not start with what not to do? Here are some factors that can delay or stall your muscle building progress:
1. Overspending on gym memberships
According to gyms, their equipment ? fancy, shiny computerized and hydraulic machines ? are the only way to build muscle safely and effectively. Before you buy into that line and into an expensive membership, consider that the exercise can do at home is low-cost and high-effect. Save yourself some money, and work out at home.
In the comfort of your own home, you can use inexpensive free weights or totally free exercises like pushups, lunges, squats, and more. These are some of the most effective moves for building muscle, and all you need is your own body and a few free weights.
2. Not changing your workout.
If it comes to exercising and building muscle, what worked for you in the beginning may not work for you now.
Your body is a remarkably efficient machine: doing the same workout causes your body to become used to it. It is much less work to execute moves you've done over and over. Once that happens, it uses fewer calories to complete the exercises, making the workout much less effective.
Therefore, doing the same workout routine causes your body to burn much fewer calories. Add some variation. Up the intensity. Never let your body get used to anything ? it needs constant challenges. The upside is that you won't get bored with your exercise routine.
3. Ignoring Cardio
You may think that if you want to build muscle, you restrict your exercise routine to weight training. This does not work. If you want to build muscle, you have to add cardio.
Cardio has multiple advantages, including preventing your body from gaining fat and helping your body recover from rigorous weight training. To get the maximum benefit from your cardio, do it immediately after your weight training session if your body is primed for fat burning. Also, limit it to high intensity intervals totaling no more than twenty minutes.
4. Not resting enough.
Your body builds muscle while it is resting, so it is important to take breaks for your training regimen. Take two or three days off per week and allow your muscles to rest.
Muscle fatigue and injury are other problems that will cause you to build muscle much more slowly. To avoid this, work different muscle groups during each workout. Try working on your arms and back one day and your legs and abs the next. This will allow muscle to grow.
5. Snubbing diet.
Food is fuel, and many people who fail if building muscle do so because they are not adequately fueling their body. To put your body into muscle building mode, eat properly.
One of the best things that you can eat if you are trying to build muscle is protein. This is found in lean meat, fish, eggs, poultry, and dairy foods. Within thirty minutes after you workout, eat a snack that is high in protein.
6. Giving Up
Some people take longer to build muscle than others. The biggest mistake that you can make is to give up because you are not seeing results.
Maybe you need to reevaluate your workout routine and diet to determine what you can add/subtract to get results. Maybe you are laying a good foundation for muscle building and your body will start demonstrating the progress you've made if you just give it a little longer.
Quitting negates all the work you have done so far. It puts you back at square one with the same body. Make some adjustments and keep fighting.
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