Gaining muscle is a serious science. Putting the wrong food in your mouth or overlooking that one magical, body-changing exercise can make all the difference in whether you're going to see the benefits of this week's workout. There are an endless number of factors that play into the business of bulking up-which means there are an endless number of ways for us to cheat ourselves out of results. The worst part is, you probably don't even realize that you're sabotaging yourself. Here are some of the things to consider when trying to put on some serious muscle.
1. Nutrition.
Ever heard the saying "you can't out train a bad diet"? Well it's true. What we fuel our body with is vital. We recommend 5-6 meals a day with a good balance of Protein, Carbohydrates and healthy fats to help boost your metabolism and burn fat.
2. Training too heavy or with bad form.
For muscle gain it's not about the weight you lift but how you lift it. We recommend staying in the 8-12 rep range with a tempo of 2:0:2 or greater for 3-5 sets with no greater than 60 secs rest in between sets.
3. Focusing on isolation exercises.
You see it all the time people spending all their time in the gym performing bicep curls, tricep pulldowns, pec deck, lateral raises and leg extensions. While these exercises do have their place, they really shouldn't be your focus. Instead we recommend following a program that includes compound movements (multi-joint exercises focusing on multiple muscle groups) Not only does this allow you to get more done in a shorter time it also has more carry over into everyday life.
4. Sleep
Too many of us are simply not getting enough. Sleep is when muscle repairs and adapts to the stimulus given during training sessions. It's when growth hormone is naturally released into our blood stream and protein synthesis occurs. Put simply if we skip the shut eye our muscles can't grow.
