How Long Should Your Bodybuilding Workouts Be?

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Workouts, Gain Muscle Mass

Are your bodybuilding workouts structured correctly for forcing new muscle growth?  While most people think that they’ve designed effective weight lifting workouts that will help them build muscle mass, most of the time they wind up designing a never-ending training session that forces them to stay in the gym for 1 – 2 hours at at time.

The main focus of this article is to lay out exactly how long your free weights workouts should be in order to create muscle growth. My goal is to let you know that it is realistic to actually spend less time in the gym, build more muscle mass and get you back to your normal life as fast as possible.

It’s definitely true that if you want to gain muscle mass you’re going to want to provide stimulation to your muscles with challenging and intense body builder workouts. With all of that out of the way, you can definitely get into the gym and bang out an effective free weights in less than an hour.

The typical long and drawn out 60 – 180 minute bodybuilder workouts performed at a tortoise’s pace can be effective if you have no life away from the gym and a sincere desire to make the muscle building process more difficult. There is a much easier way to force muscle growth!

If you believe that more is better, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that that’s not always how it works when it comes to packing on lean muscle mass. If you want to get the most out of your time in the gym by stimulating more lean muscle growth and taking advantage of your body’s natural muscle building hormonal window of opportunity, you need to take a different approach to structuring your muscle building workouts.

I like to limit my free weights workouts to under an hour of intense effort.  I find that anything much longer than an hour leads me to lose my focus quickly and ultimately leads to a much less efficient workout. I definitely like to get in to the gym, get through my free weights workout and get back to my life outside of the gym as quickly as possible.

A lot of trainers claim that 30 minutes is not enough time for “real” bodybuilding workouts, I disagree. If you are blasting through your muscle building workouts with the right level of intensity – the same level that is required to stimulate muscle growth, then you won’t be able to handle much more than 20 minutes of dedicated body building effort.

For the most part there really is no completely “ideal training time set in stone for everybody. Some people build muscle mass by training 1 day a week, while others need to hit it 5 – 6 times. The bottom line is that you really need to find out what works well for you by implementing a structured approach to your body building workouts. The duration of your muscle building workout should be a constantly moving target just like each one of the variables of your workouts.

• The Intensity of Your Workouts
• The Length of Your Workouts
• How Often You Hit The Gym
• How Long You Rest Between Sets

Each of these pieces can be adjusted depending upon your goals. During different training cycles in your free weight workouts, you may be going right up to an hour of focused training, while other phases only require 10 – 15 minutes of effort.

Put in the time to figure out what approach give you the best result, then get to work putting your plan into action. With some dedicated  effort and a correctly designed training plan, you should begin to build muscle and strip away body fat quicker than you ever thought you could.

Gain Muscle Mass With Careful Planning

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Gain Muscle Mass, Muscle Building Mindset

If you want to gain muscle mass and keep it on for good, then you need to develop a real idea of how the whole process fits together.  There are a ton of guys who who desperately want to pack on some new muscle mass, hardly any of them have put in the time to really develop a plan for what they are trying to do.  For every person I meet who has things organized in the gym and with their muscle building diet plan, I see a few thousand who seem to really not even have a clue.  If you really want to pack on some new muscle mass easily, then you’ve got to have a decent plan to fall back on.

photo credit: teresatrimm

Next, I’m going to uncover the things that matter when it comes to gaining muscle bulk and teach you how to develop an easy plan for packing on muscle bulk naturally. If you’re serious about bulking up quickly, then all you need to do is design your own customized muscle building program based around the tips below.

The first step in designing a muscle building plan of attack is to sit down and think through your dedication to the whole process.  While every guy I run across will say that they seriously want to pack on muscle size, very few of them are really willing to put in the hard work to make it happen. Before you even think about hitting the gym, you need to have a good idea of how many workout sessions each week you can commit to getting into the gym , how much time you can commit to be there for each visit, and whether or not you can get serious about a bodybuilding nutrition program of some sort.  While these things seem like their pretty simple and straightforward, they are the exact same things that most people don’t even consider before they get started with their muscle building plans.

Once you have a pretty good idea of what your muscle building commitment level actually is, all you’ve got to do is create a program structure and nutrition outline that falls in line with the time that you can set aside each week.  For a lot of guys this means that they can train 4 – 5 days every week without an issue, while other guys just can’t break away more than 2 or 3 times each week.   Please don’t spend too much time thinking about the actual number of workouts that you can get in, think more about how much you can get done each time you hit the gym and you’ll get less discouraged as you progress with your training program. At a minimum, I’d recommend setting aside at least 3-5 training sessions every week.

Now that you’ve got your workout program all ready to go, it’s time to start thinking about your muscle gain nutrition plan. This is one of the most important things to consider if you really want to gain muscle. One of the things that I teach guys who are trying to build muscle is that you have to be able to focus on some sort of nutrition outline for the majority of each week. Anything less than 5 out of 7 days, and you may not be able to supply your body with enough nutrients to gain muscle mass.

If you want to gain muscle as fast as possible, I recommend that you sit down and think things through before you run out and grind thorough any type of workout. Not only will you have a better understanding of how the body building process fits together, and you’ll be in a much better position to keep your new found muscle mass well into the future.

More Muscle Gain Diet Help

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Nutrition, Muscle Gain Diet

Today I’m going to lay out a no nonsense plan for your muscle gain diet that will help you to build muscle mass without having to do get too complicated with your strategy.  Sure there certainly are a bunch of tips and tricks that you can apply to your diet in order to gain muscle mass, the bottom line is that in order to make anything happen, you’ve got to have a really good muscle gain diet strategy in place.  The everyday proven bodybuilding nutrition techniques that seem like they’re “old school” or outdated are typically the ones that will allow your body to pack on muscle mass and keep it on for a long time.

photo credit: Ron Dollete

If you neglect your bodybuilding diet, then you simply won’t be able to pack on any muscle mass at all. You have to figure out how to provide your muscles the foods that it needs in order to pack on new muscle fiber at the right times over the course of the day.  If you can get good at this essential muscle building diet skill, then you will be putting yourself in a great position to really grow some new muscle mass. When you get good at feeding your muscles for new growth, you’ll be able to pack on muscle mass when ever you want to.

The lay out of your bodybuilding nutrition plan is the real key to making it work well for you.  You need to take some time to think about your current lifestyle and also to think about the things that are important  to your muscle gain diet in order for you to reach your goals. If you try to plan out a muscle gain diet that you really don’t like, then you will not be able to stick with it for very long.  You will become frustrated and disappointed and over time give up on your goal of gaining muscle mass.

The design that I think works best for building muscle mass is to simply plan on eating 5 – 6 medium sized (but complete) solid food based meals each day spread over every 2-3 hours throughout the day.  This will allow you to steadily replenish your body and supply your muscles with the nutrients that it needs in order to continue to repair damaged muscle cells and build even more muscle mass.

When it comes to your muscle building nutrition plan, these tips will take you a long way towards actually starting to achieve your goals without the inconvenience of having to put in a lot of time in the gym without anything to show for it. Just forget all of the distractions and crazy nutritional advice out there and construct a muscle bodybuilding diet plan that the fundamental nutritional techniques covered in this article, then you’ll be able to pack on more muscle mass than you ever thought you could.

Muscle Mass Gain Diet Advice

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Nutrition, Muscle Gain Diet

If you want to start packing on lean muscle it’s critical that you design your muscle mass gain diet for maximum muscle gain over time.  We all know that it’s certainly possible to build muscle mass without paying much attention to what you ingest, your chances of sustaining this new muscle growth diminish greatly if you don’t have a handle on exactly what you eat every day.

photo credit: Wyscan

Many people think that your free weight workouts are the biggest piece of your bodybuilding program, but I disagree.  I think that your mass gain diet is the really vital piece of the body building equation.  If you understand the importance your muscle building diet right from the start, you will definitely in a position to jump ahead of all of the guys who don’t think it’s all that important.  While they are struggling to pack on any muscle at all, you’ll be in a position to seriously build up your muscle mass.

Any well thought out muscle gain diet will primarily consist of a decent approach to body building nutrition that includes a decent quantity of all of the bodybuilding macro-nutrients spread out throughout the day. If you try to implement a nutritional strategy that requires you to really cut back on your consumption of any one nutrient, you run the risk of not giving your body all of the nutrients to build new muscle mass consistently.  While you may be able to get away with a strict muscle mass gain diet in the beginning, but over time your lack of adequate nutrition will make it very difficult for you to pack on any more muscle at all.

One of my favorite muscle mass gain diet strategy is to make it a habit to eat 5 – 6 small meals each day that consist of balanced amounts of muscle gaining protein, high quality carbohydrates and veggies. I think it’s best to spread each of these small meals out every 2 hours throughout the day primarily because it allows me to have very stable energy levels even when I’m not eating a of calories. If you go about designing your muscle gain diet like this, your body will be constantly flooded with the nutrients that it needs in order to repair damaged muscle cells and build new muscle mass.

Another critical piece to your muscle gain diet is good old fashioned H2O.  Without ample amounts of pure water your body just won’t be able to get the muscle building process started. It’s important to remember that muscle tissue is made up of a lot of water, it only makes sense that drinking a lot of of water each day is defiantly the way to go for sustained muscle growth. I like to remind people to drink somewhere around 1 – 2 gallons of pure water each day, spread out with each of your muscle building meals.  This keeps your muscles well hydrated and allows your body to move nutrients into your muscle cells quicker than before.

If you really want to build some muscle mass this time around, then you should spend some time getting your bodybuilding nutrition plan structured for maximum effectiveness. Sure it can be a pain in the butt to have to sped a few hours of your life figuring things out before you even set foot in a gym, but this is ultimately what is going to give your the opportunity to build muscle mass.

Muscle Gain Diet

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Nutrition

A well structured muscle gain diet is critical to your success if you want to build muscle mass quickly and naturally.  To be sure your choice of weight lifting workouts, your weight lifting exercise selection and your rest and recovery program are all valuable parts of the muscle building process, you won’t be able to pack on any lean muscle mass at all if your muscle gain diet plan is not in good order.

photo credit: naotakem

In this article I’m going to point out all of the important things that go into a well designed bodybuilding nutrition plan and show you how to put it all together for maximum efficiency.  If you pay attention and figure out how to design your own bodybuilding nutrition program, you’ll be sure to gain some muscle mass, so pay attention!

Your Bodybuilding Nutrition Plan

If you’re ready to put together your ideal muscle building nutrition plan, there are a few things that you need to pay attention to.  It’s critical that you understand that the entire muscle building process is dependent upon the amount of calories that you eat every day.  If you don’t get this right your body just won’t be able to build any new muscle mass, so it’s important to get it all squared away from the beginning. If you’re just beginning your bodybuilding nutrition program, an important thing for you to figure out is learning how to calculate your ideal calorie value.

After you get your calorie target value all figured out, then you need to design some sort of outline to get the appropriate combinations of each of the bodybuilding nutrients into your body spaced over the course of the day.  In order to design an effective muscle gain diet, you need to learn about the muscle building nutrients; protein, carbohydrate, fat and water. Any complete muscle building program will include each of these macro nutrients in the right amounts.

When you’ve got your caloric target all set and you have a good understanding of each of the muscle building components, it’s time to grab a piece of paper and list exactly how many muscle building meals you intend to eat each day, which foods are going to make up each of your meals, and when you plan on eating each of your meals.

In order to make sure that you are feeding your muscles the nutrients that it needs to repair muscle cells, it’s going to be important to make it a habit to eat between 5 – 6 bodybuilding meals each day. All of these meals should contain a decent amount of muscle building protein as well as some complex carbohydrates and fruits or vegetables along with a decent amount of water.

One technique used by bodybuilders looking to strip off fat and expose their abdominals is to make an effort to bracket your most energy extensive portions of the day with the biggest meals of the day.  So if you know that you’re going to be going on a 20 mile hike through the woods, it might be a good idea to eat a bigger meal before heading off so that your body has the calories it needs to fuel your activity level.

If you’re serious about gaining muscle and gaining weight quickly and naturally, then put these time tested muscle gain diet strategies to work for you today. Not only will you start to gain muscle mass and increase your muscular strength, but you’ll also notice that your body fat will start to immediately decrease due to your updated nutrition program. If you stick with it and make your muscle building diet a lifestyle that you can stick with with, you’ll be able to achieve some amazing things with your body.

Is Online Fitness Coaching For Real?

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Gain Muscle Mass

Can fitness coaching help you lose fat, pack on muscle mass and get into awesome shape for 1/2 of the cost of a traditional trainer? Over the past few years, the more traditional route to getting into amazing shape typically meant joining a fitness studio and signing up for a few personal training sessions with the trainer at the gym.  While this old fashioned approach to fitness does work well for many people, it can be extremely expensive just to learn the basics like, how to perform movements properly and how to use some of the machines in the gym,not even getting into trying to get a grip on how to piece together an efficient fat loss or muscle gain workout. Fortunately there is a new trend on the web that’s putting a new spin on getting into excellent physical shape for an affordable price – internet fitness coaching.

How Fitness Training Used To Work

With traditional personal training, you pay a  by the hour fee (usually somewhere in the area of $55 – $100 an hour) which takes care of your time with a personal trainer. During this one-on-one workout session, you can keep an eye on changes in your physique through body measurements like body fat caliper measurements, plan out future workouts or hit the gym for a one – on – one workout with your personal trainer.

While the “old school” personal trainer approach works for some, it’s easy to see how it can get costly very quickly! With most fitness programs requiring a commitment of at least 1 – 3 months in order to see any serious changes to your body, you can probably expect to drop $1100 just for the enjoyment of talking with your trainer 2-3 sessions a week for 1-2 months. Typically this high cost does not even give you any type of custom designed program or consulting outside of your scheduled PT sessions sessions.

How Online Coaching Works

With fitness coaching, you typically get access to a qualified trainer as well as custom designed workouts and nutrition advice for a fraction of the price of traditional personal training. While you don’t get to actually go to the gym with your personal trainer, you do get access to custom workouts and nutrition templates, access exercise demonstration videos and ask your trainer any questions that you have about your program for a small monthly fee. Rather than paying per hour like you’d typically do in a traditional gym setting, you can typically ask tons of questions, have your personal trainer adjust your fitness programs and sometimes even give your trainer a call for a small monthly fee. You’ll get access to your personal trainer 24 – 7. Fitness coaching is a great new way to get fitness and training help when you need it without having to spend tons of dollars in the process.

Is Fitness Coaching Going To Be Effective For You?

It’s hard to identify whether online fitness coaching is the best fit for your specific needs, chances are are that if you simply want access to a personal trainer or fitness expert to walk you through your training and nutrition questions and create a professional fitness schedule for you without the hassle and expense of traditional personal training appointments, then online fitness coaching may be a great option.

Arm Workout Advice

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Workouts

Do you want a bigger more muscular pair of arms?  If so, there are a few basic principles that you can implement today in your arm workout to start working towards your goal of bigger arms.  While the process of building bigger arms is really pretty simple, it can be overwhelming to anyone who hasn’t ever experienced muscle growth in their arms before.

Most guys (who have incredibly wimpy looking arms) continue to do the same old arm workouts that they’ve done for years – and for some unknown reason they actually expect to see different results! This is crazy.  If you want to force your arms to grow naturally, then you’ve got to expose them to something they’ve never experienced before.

In this article, I cover everything you need to know to shake things up a bit and structure your arm workout for serious muscle growth.  And I uncover exactly what you need to do to ensure that your arms are primed for new growth after you leave the gym. Everything from muscle building exercise selection to proper workouts structure and rest intervals are covered. So there’s no excuse for not building up your arms.

Basically I lay out an exact step by step blueprint that you can follow to start building up your arms quickly, easily and naturally. All you’ve got to do is read through the article and start knocking out the steps – you can even copy my personal arm workouts the next time you hit the gym!

If you’re the type who’d rather design your own custom arm workouts, I’ve got you covered too.  I detail exactly how you should piece together your own arm workout for maximum effectiveness and muscle growth!