Some Little-Known Muscle Building Tips
Written by ama on February 7, 2010
By Vince DelMonte
So you think you know everything about building muscle? These three little-known muscle building tips will accelerate your muscle gains immediately, even if you have read everything, tried everything and heard everything about muscle building but still resemble the silhouette of a Calvin Klein model instead of a buff fitness model.
1. Body Weight Training
This was once a popular muscle building technique but is very commonly ignored. Why? Perhaps because most body weight training is simply hard and can put a dent in your precious ego! As far as I am concerned, if you cannot work with your own body weight, then you have no business using external loading such as barbells and dumbbells.
Attempting to use heavy weights with a microscopic range of motion without being able to do a set of push ups, a squat to the floor or even one chin up is something we see surprisingly often. Don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a place for external loading with heavy weights, but not until you have the ability to master the following bench marks:
One set of 80 push ups, 1 set of 20 chin ups, 1 set of 20 1-leg squats, 1 set of 40 dips and 1 set of 20 pull ups should be the goal for men.
Females should aim for 1 set of 40 push ups, 1 set of 5-10 chin ups, 1 set of 10 1-leg squats, 1 set of 10-15 dips and 1 set of 3-5 pull ups.
Building muscle mass more easily in the following stages of your weight training program, and ensuring a solid foundation of general fitness and muscular endurance, are part of the solid foundation these standards will ensure.
2. Flip Your Program Upside Down Every 3 Weeks
This is an extremely powerful tip to building muscle mass, not to mention one of the easiest tricks to ensure your body side-steps plateaus forever. For example, let's say that every Monday you have been training your triceps, chest and shoulders. Three weeks later, in your next phase, you should do the complete opposite. You will train your shoulders, triceps, then chest on Friday. This will prevent plateaus because each muscle group will have an opportunity to train completely fresh.
Let's say you are training your back, biceps, forearms and abs on Friday. Then you will train your abs, forearms, biceps, and back on Monday (in the opposite sequence). You will literally switch everything upside down. Again, this will ensure that these muscles receive an opportunity to train first in the week when your body is the most fresh.
You will curse my name when you than train the larger muscle groups last and blow the heck out of the smaller muscles first. Trust me and give it a try. Don't be surprised if, after just this one technique, you see new levels of muscle mass and strength -- you be the judge.
3. Spend More Time At The Grocery Store
Accept the fact that you will need to spend more time than you do right now in the grocery store if you are serious about building muscle. Have you ever opened the fridge for something to eat and all you found was Aunt Wilma's Thanksgiving turkey leftovers with mold on them? Ever gone into the cupboards and discovered only a few leftover bags of potato chips from last week’s Super Bowl party?
To ensure an optimal environment for building muscle and fat loss, you must ensure your cupboards and fridge are constantly stocked. This will mean more frequent trips to the grocery store. Start now by replacing the crap that is in your kitchen with nutritious stuff, and don't ever go back to stocking the bad stuff. That supply of good food should never be allowed to run low.
----------------------------------
About the Author:
Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at http://www.BestGainMuscleProgram.com
He specializes in teaching skinny guys how to build muscle and gain weight quickly without drugs, supplements and training less than before.
