How to Weight Train for Maximum Muscle Gain

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How to Weight Train for Maximum Muscle Gain

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Weight training involves the use of equipment that enables

variable resistance. This resistance can come in the form of

*free weights* like barbells and dumbbells, machines that use

cables or pulleys to help you lift the weight and bodyweight

exercises like pull-ups or dips.

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912 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Distribution Date and Time: Wed Mar 30 02:03:43 EST 2005

Written By: Ellis

Copyright: 2005

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How to Weight Train for Maximum Muscle Gain

Copyright © 2005 Ellis

Fast Muscle Gain

http://www.fastmusclegain.com/

Weight training involves the use of equipment that enables

variable resistance. This resistance can come in the form of

" free weights " like barbells and dumbbells, machines that use

cables or pulleys to help you lift the weight and bodyweight

exercises like pull-ups or dips.

Free Weights vs. Machines vs. Bodyweight Exercises

For maximum muscle gain, the focus of your workouts should

consist of free weight exercises. Not machines or bodyweight

exercises. This is not to say that you should not use machines

or bodyweight exercises, but they should not be the focus of

your training. To get an effective, muscle blasting workout,

you must stimulate the most muscle fibers as possible, and

machines do not do this.

The main reason for this is a lack of stabilizer and synergist

muscle development. Stabilizer and synergist muscles are

supporting muscles that assist the main muscle in performing

a complex lift. The more stabilizers and synergists worked,

the more muscle fibers stimulated. Multi-jointed free weight

exercises like the bench press, require many stabilizer and

synergistic muscle assistance to complete the lift. On the

other hand doing a bench press using a machine will need

almost no stabilizer assistance.

Since machines are locked into a specific range of motion

and help to support the weight along that path, they fail to

stimulate the muscles that surround the area you are working

(stabilizers). This is a mistake. If your stabilizer muscles

are weak, then the major muscle group will never grow!

Free weight exercises like the dumbbell press or squat, for

example, put a very large amount of stress on supporting muscle

groups. That's why you will get fatigued faster and not be able

to lift as much weight as you did on the machine. But you will

gain more muscle, become stronger very quickly and have a true

gauge of your strength.

If you use machines in your program, they should be used to work

isolated areas and only after all multi-jointed exercises have

been completed.

Beginners should begin with a limited combination of machine

exercises, bodyweight exercises and mult-jointed free weight

exercises. Before increasing the weight levels, they should work

on becoming familiar with the proper form and execution of each.

Soon, bodyweight exercises will become insufficient to stimulate

growth and they will need to focus on more free weight exercises.

Multi-Jointed Exercises

The exercises that work the large muscle groups are called

compound (or multi-joint) movements that involve the simultaneous

stimulation of many muscle groups. These compound exercises

should be the foundation of any weight training program because

they stimulate the most amount of muscle in the least amount of

time.

Here are the basic movements:

* Bench Presses (works the chest, shoulders, tricep)

* Overhead Presses (shoulders, tricep)

* Pull-ups/Barbell Rows (back, bicep)

* Squats (legs, lower back)

* Deadlifts (legs, back, shoulders)

* Bar Dips (shoulders, chest, arms)

I cannot overemphasize the importance of these exercises. Do

not start an advanced weight training program without them!

They will overload your entire skeletal and muscular system like

no machine could ever do, giving you and effective workout in a

very short period of time. If you can only do a few exercises,

then do these. They have been proven (and not just by me) to

encourage muscle and strength gain unlike any other exercises.

Lift Heavy Weight

To build mass, you must weight train with heavy weights. By

heavy, I mean a weight that is challenging for you -- not me, or

anyone else. To consider a weight heavy, you should only be able

to do a maximum of 8-12 reps before your muscles temporarily

fail. A weight is considered " light " if you can do more than

15 reps before muscle fatigue sets in.

Heavy weights stimulate more muscle fibers than lighter weights.

It's that simple. More muscle stimulation means more muscle

growth.

Don't Overtrain

Heavy weight training puts a huge strain on your body, so

adequate rest and recuperation after your workouts is essential.

If you are prone to train too often, several things happen:

You don't give your muscles enough time to recuperate between

workouts. If your muscles have not repaired themselves, you

will not be at maximum strength for your next workout. Rest is

essential. Other than eating, this should be your main focus.

You are setting yourself up for burnout or an injury. I know

you are motivated and excited about working out, but don't be

careless. You must pace yourself, you want to be able to keep

this up for a long time, not burnout before you reach your

goals. I only weight train 3 times per week, that's all. Anymore

than that and I would not give my body enough time to repair and

build new muscle.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not grow while working out,

you only grow when you are resting.

Below is an example mass workout. I did 4 heavy sets for 4-8

reps each.

Wednesday (legs, abs)

* Heavy Squats, leg extension superset

* Seated Calve Raises, 4 strips sets

* Crunches (4 sets of 20)

-------

Friday (chest, shoulder, triceps, abs)

* Flat bench press, incline dumbbell flyes superset

* Shoulder press, side raises superset

* Tricep pushdowns

* Reverse incline leg raises (3 sets of 20)

------

Sunday (back, biceps, abs)

* Wide grip pull-ups, latbar pulldown superset

* EZ bar bicep curl, incline dumbbell curls superset

* Crunches (4 sets of 20)

That's it. Nothing fancy, but effective.

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Former " skinny guy " Ellis is the author of Gaining Mass!

The most widely used weight gain program in the world.

This unique program designed to help people gain weight and build

muscle, is currently being used in over 90 countries and boasts

the largest private weight gain forum on the Internet, with well

over 13,000 members at http://www.fastmusclegain.com

Click here to view over 200 user testimonials:

http://www.fastmusclegain.com/testimonials.html