There are 3 simple, proven steps you need to follow in order to build muscle mass. This article will reveal all three in just a moment.

But first, let me ask, are you sick and tired of training every day, with little or no results to show for it? Are you sick and tired of looking in the mirror and seeing that same skinny person staring back at you day after day? Are you simply fed up with being skinny?

Well, this is the first step you have to take in your way of achieving a muscular body. You have to realize that a change needs to occur and that you’re not where you want to be.

Then, when you’ve realized that you really want to build muscle mass, all you have to do is get to work.

Easier said than done. Soon, if you’re a hard gainer, you’ll be asking yourself why isn’t there any increase in your muscle mass.

You may be asking yourself, why your past efforts seemed to have failed. You may be even asking yourself if all of your hard work was even worth it and if it’s even possible for you to build muscle mass.

If you want to build muscle, you’re going to have to understand the process. In order to build muscle mass, you’ll need to:

1) Organize a training plan that is conducive to building muscle.

You’ll need to organize a training program that focuses on building mass, strength, and muscle. The program needs to be structured in a way that optimizes your body’s natural strength.

You’ll need to use certain equipment that uses variable resistance that’s needed to stress or stimulate the muscle into growth.

You can use free weights like barbells and dumbbells, machines that incorporate pulley’s and cables such as the universal or home gym, or body weight exercises like chin ups or push ups.

Through the use of compound movements such as the bench press, shoulder press, barbell bent over rows, squats, and dead lifts, you incorporate supporting muscles as well as the targeted muscle, which equals more strength.

All things being equal, this will mean more muscle growth. Once you start using compound movements in your weight training program, you’ll start to use something called progressive resistance.

When you increase the amount of weight you lift on a continuing basis, your muscle fibers adapt to these greater demands by gaining strength and size. This is how you build muscle mass.

2) Organize a consistent meal schedule that will coincide with your current lifestyle.

The meal schedule must contain the necessary calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat to sustain a healthy increase in lean body weight.

If you’re wondering how to build muscle mass, this is the solution. To gain muscle, you need to eat. On a consistent basis – more calories on a daily basis than your body burns.

You need a consistent diet that is conducive to building muscle. If you simply change your eating habits around a little, you’ll start to grow and that you’ll start to see the results immediately.

Nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated. As long as you remember a few key points, you’ll do fine.

There you have the most basic, proven formula for building muscle mass: hard and heavy training followed by rest and consuming quality calories in the form of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.

Protein, carbohydrates, and fat need to be structured in a balanced combination to support optimal muscle growth while maintaining overall good health. Once you have your diet down to a science, you’ll gain muscle mass.

3) Rest

Rest is one of the main factors for building muscle mass. Simply put, you have to rest in order to allow your body the time it needs to grow.

You need to give your body the time it needs to recuperate from the physical demands of your workouts. By putting constant stress on your body with no rest, you will stop your growth cold.

It is very important that you get the proper amount of rest in order to allow your body to grow. The amount of rest necessary will depend on your age, genetics, and current state of health.

If you’re a beginner, you generally need anywhere from two to three days rest. Depending on your intensity levels, you may need more. If you are training at high intensity, you may need three to four days rest.

If you feel any soreness in your body on your training day, your body is telling you to take another day off. You shouldn’t feel any soreness whatsoever on your training days.

You should feel strong, rested and energized each and every workout. If you feel tired, sore and drained of energy, you are either overtraining, under nourished, or under rested. Take the necessary time off, to fully recuperate from your workouts and come back ready to attack the weight.

Building muscle mass is going to take a lot of hard work and consistency, but if you follow this information closely, you’ll gain the muscle mass you want.

If you don’t see a pound after the first week, don’t give up because this process doesn’t happen overnight. If you keep consistent at your diet, training, and rest, your body will have no choice but to grow and build muscle mass.

Lots of people hate muscle volume but nobody muscle definition! Chris

 

Muscle definition can more than anything else highlight a well trained body and impart to it a sexy aura!

 

It’s absolutely true,though,that many fitness enthusiasts cannot achieve this mostly desired ripped look despite their really hard efforts.

 

Mind you,muscle definition is principally a matter of sound nutrition than strenuous physical exercise.

 

 

We say that we have muscle definition when our muscles are well discernible under our subcutaneous fat.

 

So it’s more than obvious that our body fat percentage is the critical parameter for muscle definition.

 

Men start to see some definition when their body fat percentage falls under 12%.Many bodybuilders can achieve during their cutting phase percentages as low as 4-5%!

 

 

I don’t know about you but I really hate the dryness of my face when I fall under 10%

 

 

But is low fat percentage the only prerequisite for muscle definition?

 

Certainly not otherwise some skinny people would be impessively defined.

 

Muscle mass is furthermore needed otherwise there nothing there to see!

 

 

Now we can fill the muscle definition equation:

 



 

muscle definition=muscle mass+low body fat percentage

 

 

Muscle mass development

 



 

The most efficient and effective way to develop muscle mass is by the use of free weights.

 

The biggest mistake of fitness amateurs is that they don’t challenge their muscles enough!

 

Muscle hypertrophy demands getting out of our limits!

 

Though,most people lose their precious time with 5kg dumbbells and then they wonder why they see no progression!

 

Of course you know the myth about achieving muscle definition via many repetitions.

 

Allow me to observe that this is mere nonsense and urge you to make full exploitation of your

 

valuable time by adequately taxing your muscles. Just remember the muscle definition

 

equation!

 

 

  So what to do?





*choose weights that can properly tax your muscles

Repetitions should be in the region of 6-8.Increasing muscle mass needs hard effort and demands exceeding our limits!

Throw away the 5kg dumbbells which devour your most valuable resource and grab some decent stuff!

*Exercise at least 3 times/week with total body workouts.Leave split workouts for the bodybuilders.Try to involve the biggest muscle groups.Perform only compound,multi functional exercises.

*minimize or completely eliminate the breaks trying thus to impart an aerobic character to your workouts and achieve maximum fat loss.

* perform strenuous workouts but don’t omit to allow ample recovery time to avoid the very existent danger of overtraining!

I know many fitness enthusiasts that have fallen victims to overtraining.So much effort in vain! It’s a pity! With weight training more in not better!

Let’s go now to fat reduction





Ceasar’s wife should be honest and look honest!!



Ok! We have developed an impressive musculature .Though, it is not well discernible.Why?

Because our fat percentage won’t permit it.Our muscles are hidden under a layer of subcutaneous fat.

You should do two things to reduce your body fat percentage:

*aerobic exercise

*adopt a sound nutritional plan

Nutrition is the most critical parameter for fat loss!

Aerobic activity



Properly done, an aerobic activity of medium to high intensity will help you shed a lot of fat and it will achieve this relatively quickly.

I know people with single digit body fat who will never involve in aerobics! But they are monsters of self-discipline!They are the exceptions!

Let’s see what our options are :

-If you are really fit and your schedule is hectic, HIIT is unbeatable!

Please check my articles:”The best outdoor workout ever” and “The the most effective workout ever”

-Another option is to run for 30-45′ at about the 80% of your  MHR, just below your anaerobc threshold.If you have the stamina to do this you will shed tons of fat!!

Personally, I would never underestimate the aerobic part of the fat loss equation.I consider this of vital importance!

When your workout includes both resistance training and aerobics,do execute them with this order.

You will need your maximum strength and endurance for your weights session.

About nutrition









As far as it regards muscle definition ,a sound nutritional plan is considered to be an absolute must.

You may exercise 1hour/day but there are another 161 hours/week that you don’t !!

Put it simply:all your hard efforts will go in vain if you don’t make right nutrition a top priority!

You will never see your fetish abs!

Please check my articles on nutrition:”Fitness and nutrition:the big picture ”





Essential parameters of nutrition







-If you aim at fat loss you will have to create a slight caloric deficit:burn more calories that those you consume

-While you are trying to achieve definition you will will have to exclude any type of junk food.

Give great emphasis to high quality protein.Every meal should contain a source of premium quality protein.

-You will have to reduce starchy carbs and fruits in favor of vegetables. Eat vegetables at your will. Include them in every meal.

-Only 15% of your caloric intake should come from fats.First choices: omega-3 and monounsaturated fats.

In conclusion







To achieve the most coveted muscle definition you will need:

- a taxing strength training program

-to increase and intensify the aerobic part of your training regime

-and the most important:to follow an impeccable nutrition plan Chris Strogilis http://totalfitness-christos.blogspot.com

In order to achieve their goals, bodybuilders must have a bevy of tools at their disposal. Of course, their greatest tool of all is their body; but in order to elevate their physical body to the level that they need to compete, they must utilize a combination of intense diet and exercise. However, the exercise required by bodybuilders also necessitates the use of bodybuilding equipment to maximize the building and sculpting of muscle.

Bodybuilding equipment includes those materials that help bodybuilders increase their muscle mass and sculpt muscles. Such equipment normally includes different sized weights and is either used as a part of a weight training machine or as free weights (those weights free of the machine). What is most important in the use of this bodybuilding equipment is proper technique. For those who are novices in weight training, it is absolutely imperative to work with a trained professional who can guide you in proper technique so as to avoid injury and maximize results.

The easiest and most convenient way to find professionals of this kind is to sign up at a local gym. If you are serious about bodybuilding, a reputable gym can provide access to all of the bodybuilding equipment you will need to realize your goals; and, even more important, it will provide you access to personal trainers who can help you meet your objectives in an effective and safe manner. Gym membership may be pricey. But it is not as high a price as you’d pay if you should injure yourself lifting weights incorrectly.

Bodybuilding equipment – such as weights – is used to continually strengthen, and therefore build, lean muscle mass. Effectively building muscle relies on consistent weight training through “sets” of different moves focused on particular muscle groups. Many bodybuilders follow a routine in which they work on legs and abdominal muscles one day and arms and back the next. A professional trainer can help you put together a routine that works best for your schedule and is based on the specific fitness goals you wish to meet.

Ultimately, the most important piece of bodybuilding equipment is your body itself. No weight training will effectively help you realize your goals without the proper support through diet and other healthy lifestyle commitments. With an overall lifestyle committed to working towards optimum physical fitness, you will quickly realize your bodybuilding goals.

One of the most important bodybuilding concepts for maximum muscle building is failure, where a bodybuilder takes a certain weight lifting exercise to the point where no additional repetitions are possible, and this requires some form of spotting on certain exercises, especially those involving the chest and legs, so many opt to pair up with a weight training partner so that they can always have a safety mechanism to protect against injury.

Even bodybuilders who otherwise prefer performing bodybuilding workouts alone decide to seek out a partner specifically to allow failure on certain weight training exercises, and for those who cannot find a friend for such a purpose, they will inevitably join a gym and bother other busy weight lifters to spot them during various sets, which is not only frustrating to any bodybuilder who is attempting to complete a workout without distractions, but finding such a spotter is not always easy depending on the time of day and type of training facility. Although there are some bodybuilders who can locate reliable weight training partners to accompany them for each workout, the chances are far greater that this will not be possible, leaving either the random spotter technique, asking others for a watchful eye, which as mentioned is quite rude and distracting to others, or requires using machines exclusively, which naturally prevents the need for any spotting whatsoever.

But what if a bodybuilder wishes to train with free weights on workout exercises such as the bench press, shoulder press, and triceps press, and wishes to perform these specific weight lifting exercises alone, without the benefit of a partner or spotter? This is easily possible through use of a power rack (also referred to as a spotting cage), where two beams allow positioning at various locations to protect a bodybuilder from becoming trapped underneath of a heavy weight during his or her workout session. Since the power rack has adjustable spotting bars, the unit is not only useful for upper body weight training exercises such as the bench press, but also for the squat and calf raise, lower body movements which many prefer performing with a free weight barbell as opposed to using machines.

Some opt for a squat rack instead of a spotting cage, and this is a serious mistake given that the spotting beams offered by a power rack are designed specifically to serve as a protective mechanism in case a bodybuilder happens to lose control of the weight during his or her set, while a squat rack does not allow this heightened level of protection. The best function of the power rack is that spotting is possible without the aid of a partner, as you can place the weight on a separate, smaller set of pegs for initial lift off, and the large, long spotting beams are positioned lower for complete protection during the weight lifting set. Many gyms offer power racks, although some may only provide one, and bodybuilders who understand the value of this particular piece of workout equipment will quickly monopolize the device, which requires others to either try and “work in” (which is very inconvenient unless both bodybuilders are using the same amount of weight and performing identical workout exercises), or wait for the power rack to become available, which is wasted time (and others may then ask to “work in” as well). So, if space permits, purchasing a power rack for the home is a far better alternative, as along with a workout bench, barbell, two dumbbell collars and free weight plates, amazing results are possible at home, alone, while reaching failure safely on all weight lifting exercises, without need of a spotter.

The other issue with attempting to find a weight lifting partner to spot during heavy bench pressing and other similar workout exercises is that, unless you train with an army of other very strong bodybuilders, it’s quite possible to become trapped underneath a weight even when a spotter is watching you train, as reaching failure, by its very definition, requires that you can no longer muster the energy to complete a repetition on your own power, and for a spotter to lift dead weight from a standing position is extremely difficult, to the point where he or she may be unable to help you avoid becoming stuck underneath a barbell as your energy reserves decline during a workout set. With a power rack, this is never an issue, as you adjust the spotting beams to a position where the barbell cannot cause you to become trapped underneath, regardless of how heavy a weight you may be using for your bodybuilding workouts, so I strongly recommend, even if you train with a reliable and very strong partner, to always use a power rack for spotting during all pressing exercises so that you can ensure safety and maximum intensity without needlessly risking severe injury.