How to build muscles and gain mass
So you've taken a whack at the treadmill and ripped up the weight room a few times, with little or no results. Or perhaps you,ve been in and out of the gym for years, always hoping that the world of muscle mass and serious strength was just around the proverbial corner - but never quite believing it. Your eyes were bound to drift, sooner or later, to the sweating, gleaming behemoths that seem to have all the size you could ever want, and wonder whether the problem was in your genes instead of your training methods. Just how did they manage to get so big?
Well, genes have a very significant part to play in the game of getting and keeping those much sought-after slabs youd like to add to your shoulders, back, chest, arms and legs. The good news is that having a spectacular physique is something thats within just about anybodys reach. Take a look at Lou Ferrigno. In his teenage years, he was puny beyond belief, but by dint of consistent effort he managed to give Arnold Schwarzeneggar a run for his money in that much celebrated Olympia pose-off so beautifully recorded in the 1975 documentary Pumping Iron.
Now, science has come a long way since the Pumping Iron days. Our understanding of the biomechanics of weightlifting, as well as of how the body utilizes various kinds of nutrition and chemical stimuli has progressed by light years. The science of size has never been more complete, or more confusing. Fact is, looking at the methodologies of those gleaming behemoths, of elite bodybuilders and so on, will be the most misleading tack you could possibly take. Their approaches, as is appropriate to one advanced in the sport, focus on intensity, on using a few simple exercises with colossal weight to cause maximum damage to muscles that have learnt to ride a wave of constant adaptation.
The optimal focus for a beginner in the gym is not strength so much as ROM (Range of Motion). A joints ROM is the range within which it can smoothly, in a controlled manner, move any substantial weight, be it ten kilograms or one hundred. Were talking about the ability to perform a full bench press without popping your shoulder, to get your chin up and over the bar, to lift your leg slowly into a kicking position rather than just throwing it up there. Once this initial active flexibility and control has been established, youre much more likely to get through those intense workouts without hurting yourself.
The best approach to developing a good ROM in crucial exercises like the squat, bench press, military press and so on, is to spend a good period of time stressing form while working with light to medium weights. Studies show that initial gains in strength from workouts occur more as a result of neurological training than muscles gains. Once youve made those initial gains, you'll be ready to start tackling real weight without the setback of constant injury. After that its a matter of working with the right dynamic exercises to develop mass. For an approach that offers more shortcuts to getting big once you've crossed the initial hurdles of flexibility, check out Vince Delmontes excellent e-book, No-Nonsense Muscle Building..
About the Author:
Before you do any weight training, make sure you check out free 'Insane Muscle Building ebook, and Vince Delmonte's Professional Online Training
