Workout-X Guide to Building Muscle, Strength, & Mass.
02. How Muscles Grow
03. Building Mass with Strength Training
05. Nutrition for Bodybuilding
06. Supplements
07. The Bodybuilding Lifestyle
08. The Workout-X Bodybuilding Program
This bodybuilding workout guide aims to help the novice bodybuilder understand the basics of how muscle is built. It will explore the basics of muscle building, the biomechanics of various strength exercises, how muscle mass is built with strength training, advanced bodybuilding techniques, and how to use diet and supplements to achieve bodybuilding perfection.
The quest for building muscle mass has been taken up by one generation to the next, by one pimply-faced teenager to the next and on up through the age ranges to people with careers, family, children, grandchildren and social security checks. A lot of people want more muscle mass, and many of these people are asking how to gain muscle mass.
Surely, as there are as many answers to this question as there are self-proclaimed gurus doing bicep curls in front of the mirror at gyms across America, there are just as many people who are confused about the process of muscle building.
This article simplifies the means to bodybuilding and gaining muscle mass. Follow the advice here and the hardest of hard-gainers should see something happening in the mirror other than ribs poking through a layer of flab.
Bodybuilding Basics
The basics of bodybuilding are simple to grasp. The more a muscle is stressed, the stronger it gets. Notice, stressed muscles do not always get bigger, but they do get stronger. Take the tongue as an example. It gets use every time we open our mouth, but still it stays the same size year after year. The same is not true for our arms and legs though, is it? One can grow larger, stronger muscles with the right information and exercise habits.
When those aspiring to have big muscles work out, they want results quickly. In order to do so, there are some basic guidelines that must be followed. Training load is the single most important aspect to building muscle. Repetition in the form of a daily routine is also essential for creating and keeping muscles.
Just like our brains, our muscles have a memory. They can memorize the range of motion a person uses each and every time they perform a repetitive task. Walking is a perfect example. While still babies, we need to learn how to walk and it takes great effort and help from our parents. However, by the time a child has mastered the skill of walking, they can do it on their own with little thought. Barring a medical problem, no one swings their legs over the side of the bed each morning and asks them self, “How do I walk to the closet again?” We can walk where we wish because of muscle memory. Building muscles for bodybuilding or strength training is exactly the same.
Each exercise that a bodybuilder does is intended to help a specific muscle or group of muscles. If a person does not properly train their muscles in the correct range of motion, they will not see the results they desire. Additionally, it is not just important that the targeted muscle move properly, but also that the rest of the muscles supporting the body also move correctly or stay still in the correct position.
The body is very masterful at over compensating for its weaknesses. For example, if a person has a weak lower back, they may attempt to transfer their weight to their hips in certain exercises, there by reinforcing the weakness in the lower back and potentially bringing their spine further out of alignment.
No matter what fitness level one starts at, it is important to start with a routine. This establishes a pattern of good behavior that will make all of the exercises and breaks more effective.
Later in the guide includes a suggested schedule for effective muscle building. Use it as a reference when creating your own workout schedule. Having a routine that changes regularly will keep you more interested in working out. Variety is important at the gym too. If results seem to have hit a plateau, and gains in muscle mass have slowed down, then it is definitely time to change your routine.
Consider making one or more of the following changes next time you stop progressing:
- Mix up the order you do your sets in
- Change the time of day you workout
- Change the day on which you work various major muscle groups
- Switch from barbells to dumbbells
- Switch from machines to free weights
- Find a new workout partner
Even listening to new music or purchasing new clothes to work out in can help improve your attitude which might have an affect on your effort and motivation. Some times, this might be all the change you need.
How Muscles Grow
In order for muscles to grow, they have to be damaged. This sounds odd at first, but makes sense once one understands how this process works. When a muscle is stressed through weight lifting, tiny tears are made in the muscle fibers. When these tears heal, the muscle gets stronger and bigger.
How these muscles get stressed is as important as the getting stressed. It is essential to remember that one should only do as many repetitions of each exercise as can be done with near perfect form. One should be exhausted by the end of each set, but not to the point that form is sacrificed (i.e., completely sloppy and ineffective).
Once the form is sacrificed, the muscles are stressed in the wrong way. Even the wrong muscles might be stressed with poor form. This does not help the target muscles grow and ultimately “burns” poor form into your body’s neuromuscular system, similar to a corrupt operating system on a software program.
It should be pointed out that if at the end of a set, the lifter is not fatigued, then they need to increase the weight that is being lifted. The goal is to lift to failure or momentary muscular fatigue (MMF).
Something to remember about lifting to failure though, is that it should not be done without a spotter. Dropping a weight on someone’s toe because of fatigue is not a way to build muscle.
Building Mass with Strength Training
The key to building mass when strength training is to work on the body as a whole, not by isolating just one muscle each time you pick up a weight. When just one muscle is isolated, the lifter is wasting time. Instead, activities and exercises that engage the trunk, or core, of the body maximize gym time and help elicit the release of anabolic hormones absolutely necessary for building muscle.
To build muscle you will need to work your body against a resistance. Let’s make one thing clear: the resistance does not have to be a dumbbell, barbell or a weight machine. Done the right way, your own bodyweight can become effective tools in your muscle-building quest. Eventually you’ll need to call upon the principle of progressive overload to keep building muscle mass and strength.
To develop muscle mass, your training must meet two main criteria:
1. You must train with enough volume.
The resistance training or strength training must be in done with sufficient duration and frequency (volume) to cause micro cellular destruction, resulting in associated inflammation and triggering the development of satellite cells into mature muscle cells. This is an essential process to remodeling muscle cells and increasing the overall size of the muscle group.
Training volume is defined by the total number of sets and reps performed and includes the load lifted during the session (sets x reps x load). Strength and power training includes low-to-moderate volume, while bodybuilding is characterized by moderate-to-high volume. In order to progress in both size and strength a periodization plan should be implemented.
2. You must continue to get stronger.
This resistance also must regularly meet and exceed a physiological tension threshold. In other words, you must strive to increase the resistance often via a progressive overload. This ensures the nervous system responds to the heavier load by triggering key hormonal releases that encourage muscle rebuilding. Additionally, within the muscle cells, more contractile elements are developed so that your muscles can continue to work against the heavier resistance. These contractile elements, called myofibrils, are essentially responsible for muscular contractions. The increase in these contractile elements adds to the greater volume of muscle mass and function.
There are several ways to progressively overload the body:
- Increase the resistance
- Increase reps to the current training load
- Lift the weight as fast as possible (compensatory acceleration)
- Increase the rest between sets (allows for greater loads)
- Increase the training volume
- Use supra-maximal-loading techniques (negatives, partial reps, etc.)
For a complete overview of the most popular bodybuilding and strength training techniques read our previous post.
Exercise Selection
A combination of free-weight and machines is most appropriate for the bodybuilder. An effective approach for building muscle is selecting free-weight, multi-joint exercises (e.g., squats, bench press) with machines, single-joint exercises (e.g., leg extension, chest flye). Multi-joint exercises are effective in building strength and size and elicit anabolic responses. Single-joint exercises target specific muscle groups and therefore help the bodybuilder build a well proportioned physique.
Exercise Sequence
When the goal is building muscle, it’s most beneficial to perform multi-joint exercises before single-joint exercises (i.e., large muscle groups before small muscle groups) and to perform high intensity exercises before lower-intensity exercises. If your workout includes Olympic lifts you’ll want to perform them before your pure strength exercises.
Training Splits
Popular bodybuilding training splits include:
- Whole body: Mon/Wed/Fri
- Upper/lower body split: Mon/Thurs: upper; Tues/Fri: lower
- Basic Split: Mon/Thurs: chest, shoulders, triceps; Tues/Fri: legs, back, biceps; Wed/Sat: abs, calves
- Advanced Spit: Mon: chest; Tues: legs; Wed: abs, calves; Thurs: shoulders; Fri: back; Sat: arms
Exercise Intensity
Exercise intensity is the amount of load used per repetition and is considered the most important factor in building size and strength. Exercise intensity can be expressed as percentage of your one repetition (1RM) maximum, but may also be expressed as a repetition range (e.g., 4 to 6 reps). For more on calculating your one rep max go here and for more on selecting your training load based on rep range go here. A variety of load is required for maximal increases in muscle size and strength. Moderate (75-80% 1RM) to moderately-heavy (80-90% 1RM) work the best for muscle hypertrophy. Or expressed as a repetition range, 6-10 reps.
Training to Failure
Training with heavy loads and to the point of failure is critical when training for muscle size and strength. It’s not likely you’ll be able to train that intense at every session and may in fact be counterproductive to muscle size. You’ll want to adopt a strategy of alternating training to failure and nonfailure. A popular approach to muscle building is to perform 2 nonfailure workouts followed by one workout to failure. For example using the basic spit mentioned above, you train chest to nonfailure on Monday, chest to nonfailure on Thursday, and chest to failure on the following Monday.
Advanced Bodybuilding
Once the basics of bodybuilding have been mastered and the results are heading in the right direction, one can consider adding some advanced bodybuilding techniques.
Our previous post lists several advanced techniques that a bodybuilder should consider as they advance in skill and ability. These techniques include forced reps; modified reps; drop sets; super slow; and super, or giant sets.
Nutrition for Bodybuilding
No great architectural structure can be built without sufficient building material. Likewise, you cannot build a muscular physique without sufficient building material – food. Furthermore, no great architect would build a great structure using sand and water; instead, the highest quality material is used to build sky scrapers, mansions, bridges and temples. So, too, should you avoid low-quality calories and, instead, choose high-quality, nutrient dense foods to build your physique. It is your temple.
The building blocks for a bodybuilding diet are essentially the same as for those who want to eat healthy, regardless of muscle growth goals – complex carbohydrates and lean proteins.
The following foods are considered the best complex carbohydrates and should be eaten in their whole form to provide the best and most long lasting fuel for the body:
- Oatmeal,
- Bran,
- Wheat germ,
- Maize,
- Barley, and
- Buckwheat.
Other complex carbohydrates include:
- Whole wheat pasta,
- Brown rice,
- Whole grain bread, and
- Other items made with whole grains.
Regarding carbohydrates, anyone serious about increasing the appearance of their muscle mass should avoid refined carbohydrates. Doing this will keep the amount of body fat down which will make muscles appear sleeker and more refined.
Lean proteins are another important component of a bodybuilder’s diet. The best sources of lean protein are:
- Seafood,
- Poultry (white meat only),
- Low fat dairy products,
- Beans,
- Eggs,
- Pork tenderloin (not the dark meat pork),
- Soy, and
- Lean beef.
Once you know which foods to eat, it is important to consider when they should be eaten. First and foremost, everyone should have a meal in the morning. Breakfast is essential to providing fuel to the body for each day and reducing cravings throughout the day.
Also, eating several small meals is the way our bodies were designed. Think about babies when they are first born. Their stomachs are small and they need to eat several times a day, every two to three hours even. This facilitates the fastest stage of human growth. When else in our lives do we double or triple our mass within one year? This is what healthy babies are expected to do. We should follow this natural example and try to eat less food, more frequently.
For serious bodybuilders, lots of carbs should be avoided before a workout. The body can be sufficiently fueled with lean protein and vegetables. It is important though to make sure that carbs are consumed. A bodybuilder needs complex carbohydrates to provide fuel for the body over the course of the day, just not in the hour or so prior to their workout.
Too many aspiring “physique architects” rely too much on foods that are dense in calories but are voided of nutrients. A plate of pasta is dense, and is a favorite among many athletes, but it is incomplete in natural vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients (plant-based nutrients), enzymes and fibers. A plate of pasta, breads or carbohydrate-based sports drinks may contain the calories needed for energy, but they don’t provide the necessary tools and material to facilitate appreciable muscle building.
You need good natural sources of proteins, nutrient-dense carbohydrates and fats. Look to whole, fresh foods for the best choices. Avoid process foods that are mostly stripped of natural vitamins, minerals, and other vital nutrients. Don’t underestimate the roles of these natural nutrients in your muscle building quest.
Gaining lean muscle mass is within your reach. The perfect plan will boost your muscle gains and healthy fat loss and is essential in building muscle mass and getting ripped. Without the proper diet and nutrition a muscular, lean and strong body just won’t happen. Shoot for 40% Lean Protein, 40% Healthy Carbohydrates, and 20% healthy fats.
Finally, drink water. It is necessary for all of the cells in the body to do their job. Dehydration does not help your muscles heal and grow. One gallon a day is a good start for most people. If you do not care for plain water, try flavoring it with some lemon, mint, or green tea.
Sample Bodybuilding Diet
- Breakfast – whole egg omelet with vegetables and low fat cheese, orange, green tea with stevia to sweeten as necessary
- Morning Snack – 1 ounce of almonds or mixed nuts, pear
- Lunch – Tuna wrapped in romaine lettuce leaves, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with chopped olives or other vegetables
- Afternoon Snack – low fat cheese, such as cottage cheese, apple
- After Workout Fuel – Quinoa salad with spinach and ground round, banana
- Dinner – grilled chicken breast, spinach sautéed in olive oil, steamed baby carrots, pear
- Dessert – parfait made with low fat yogurt, fresh berries, ground flax seeds, fish oil
Get a more comprehensive bodybuilding diet here for men and here for women.
Supplements
Supplements can be a great way to enhance an already excellent diet. And while they should never replace proper nutrition, they can add on to fill in any gaps.
The most popular supplement for body builders is creatine. This should come as no surprise because creatine’s main purpose is to supply energy to the muscles. Creatine is naturally produced by the body and is also found in fish like tuna, salmon, and herring. Beef also contains some amount of creatine.
Supplemental creatine comes in powder form and is meant to be mixed with either water or juice. Grape juice is reportedly the best juice for mixing with creatine. While research indicates it is not possible to overdose on creatine, drinking too much of it in too short of a time span may lead to some stomach discomfort.
Another popular supplement for body builders is whey protein. While protein of all kinds is important to lifters, whey protein is an especially efficient form of protein that can easily be made into a drink. It also comes in a powdered form that is mixed with water to drink. Whey protein helps the body produce amino acids which is necessary for building muscle mass.
One benefit of whey protein is that it helps balance the body’s blood sugar levels, meaning that snacking is less likely to happen. Unnecessary snacking leads to extra calories that have to be worked off.
There are many different companies making and marketing whey protein. Some have added flavors and which one you choose is really a matter of preference.
The Bodybuilding Lifestyle
To live the bodybuilding lifestyle you’ll need to give your body proper rest and recovery. This is not just recovery between your workouts. Surely you’ll need to recover between the bouts of exercises and training sessions, but you’ll also need to live a lifestyle that is conducive to your body’s regeneration.
It is away from your training sessions that your muscles rebuild and grow. Therefore, it is critical that you optimize the body’s environment for this process. Below are 3 main lifestyle points to keep in mind:
1. You need to sleep adequately.
Staying up late or going out beyond your bed time can significantly dampen your muscular gain. Continually sleeping for less than 6 or 7 hours a night can also slow down your progress, not to mention predispose you to adding unwanted fat to your midsection.
2. Regular meal scheduling.
You need to eat well and eat regularly, feeding your body sufficient macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fats and water) and micronutrients (natural vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, enzymes and fibers). The biggest mistake is not eating on a regular schedule, skipping meals when it’s time to feed. Eat appropriately at regular intervals – every three to 4 hours.
3. Keep toxins out of your body.
You need to avoid drinking too much alcohol, smoking, and drug use. Also, avoid stress, as it can deplete your immune system and impede on your muscle gains, not to mention open you up to potential diseases.
The Workout-X Bodybuilding Program
You need to work out consistently. Use a good program that is based on science and years of practical experience from those who are successful before you. And, most important to your long-term function and fitness, you should strive to build muscles for their functional capacity rather than just for show. Use mostly “functional” exercises, and vary them regularly to prevent staleness and boredom. Use those found on the Workout-X Exercise Lab.
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