Gain More Muscle By Training Less Often
The more work you put into something, the better
results you will achieve. This has always been
a widely accepted truth that applies to many areas
of life. The harder you study, the better grades
you will achieve. The more time you spend fine-tuning
your athletic skills, the better athlete you will
become. The longer you spend learning to play
an instrument, the better musician you will become.
Therefore, it only makes sense that the more time
you spend in the gym, the stronger and more muscular
your physique will become, correct? Contrary to
what you might think, the answer to this question
is a gigantic, definite, absolute no! It is in
this area of bodybuilding that conventional wisdom
goes straight out the window, down the street
and around the corner.I know what you might be
asking yourself."What?
Spending less time in the gym will actually make
me bigger and stronger?"Yes! It really will, and
when we examine the muscle-growth process from
its most basic roots, it becomes quite clear why
this is the case.Every single process that occurs
within the human body is centered around keeping
you alive and healthy. Through thousands of years
of evolution the human body has become quite a
fine-tuned organism that can adapt well to the
specific conditions that are placed upon it. We
become uncomfortable when we are hungry or thirsty,
we acquire a suntan when high amounts of UV rays
are present, we build calluses to protect our
skin, etc. So what happens when we break down
muscle tissue in the gym? If you answered something
to the effect of "the muscles get bigger and stronger",
then congratulations! You are absolutely correct.
By battling against resistance beyond the muscle's
present capacity we have posed a threat to the
musculature.
The body recognizes this as potentially harmful
and as a natural adaptive response the muscles
will hypertrophy (increase in size) to protect
the body against this threat. As we consistently
increase the resistance from week to week the
body will continue to adapt and grow.Sound simple?
Ultimately it is, but the most important thing
to realize in relation to all of this is that
the muscles can only grow bigger and stronger
if they are provided with sufficient recovery
time. Without the proper recovery time, the muscle
growth process simply cannot take place.Your goal
in the gym should be to train with the minimum
amount of volume needed to yield an adaptive response.
Once you have pushed your muscles beyond their
present capacity and have triggered your thousand-year-old
evolutionary alarm system, you have done your
job. Any further stress to the body will simply
increase your recovery time, weaken the immune
system and send your body into catabolic overdrive.Most
people train way too often and with far more sets
than they really need to.
High intensity weight training is much more stressful
to the body than most people think. The majority
of people structure their workout programs in
a manner that actually hinders their gains and
prevents them from making the progress that they
deserve. Here are 3 basic guidelines that you
should follow if you want to achieve maximum gains:1)
Train no more than 3 days per week.2) Do not let
your workouts last for longer then 1 hour.3) Perform
5-8 sets for large muscle groups (chest, back,
thighs) and 2-4 sets for smaller muscle groups
(shoulders, biceps, triceps, calves, abs).Take
all sets to the point of muscular failure and
focus on progressing in either weight or reps
each week. If you truly train hard and are consistent,
training more often or any longer than this will
be counterproductive to your gains!About The AuthorSean
Nalewanyj is a bodybuilding expert, fitness author
and writer of top-selling Internet Bodybuilding
E-Book: The Truth About Building Muscle.
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