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Posts Tagged ‘build muscle mass’

So, how many kilos can you bench? It is one of the most frequently asked questions around the country by gym enthusiasts. In fact the amount you can bench is a great yardstick for over all strength and is probably the best way to gain muscle mass on your upper body and therefore the exercise has reached almost mythical status. So in this article we will provide you with three tips for developing your bench press.

1) Use drop-sets. These are great for providing your chest muscle with new and unique stimulus to grow. To do these simply perform your bench-press exercise as you normally would and when you can not do any more simply take off a weight disc and do as many more as you can. Then reduce the weight once more and pump out as many more as you possibly can. Keep reducing the weight on the bar in this fashion until their is no weight left or until you are not able to complete any more reps. This is a very intense technique and will leave you sore for a few days after. Keep your protein intake at a high level to ensure your muscle grow back stronger as soon as possible and to get rid of the muscle soreness.

2) Cease training your chest. Instead give your triceps a separate workout. By doing so you can focus on strengthening your tricep muscle a great deal more. Once you have done this for 3-4 weeks go back to your benchpress and I can you will more than likely beat your previous best. This is because your chest will have had a really good rest period to completely recover from lots of previous training session and also your triceps will now be stronger. As your triceps do a great deal of the work along with your chest muscles when benchpressing it stands to reason that you will be able to press more.

3) 10 sets of 10 reps. Indeed Arnold Schwarzenegger was a big fan of this particular technique. Basically you lift as much as you can for ten reps rest and do another ten reps. Repeat this until you have done ten sets of ten reps. You should be lowering the weight gradually from one set to the next and you’ll probably be needing 2-3 minute breaks in between each set. The idea behind this is to provide some new and powerful stimulus for your muscles to grow. Once more expect to be particularly sore for maybe a week or so following this workout but also expect increase your maximum bench-press on your return to the gym. This is perhaps the fastest way to gain muscle on your chest if done correctly.

OK, I hope you found that useful so why not go ahead and give those tips a try in your next pecs workout.

Perhaps you have been through this type of thing before where by you have decided to improve your health and fitness and in the beginning you felt really motivated. Maybe you sat and watched an inspiring film that prompted you to do something, perhaps a friend of yours you hadn’t seen for a while turned up having lost a lot of weight or having gained a good deal of muscle mass or perhaps you were simply fed up of feeling unhealthy. Whatever the reason you started exercising and continued to do so for a few weeks.

However after a while your motivation decreased, you got busy at work, you got tired of making the effort or the results weren’t as good as you’d hoped for and you unconsciously quit your healthy exercise lifestyle. If that all sounds familiar then here are a few easy ways to help regain and sustain your motivation for a healthier lifestyle: 

Try setting an enjoyable goal. For example how about planning a walking holiday to the canadian Rockies, the himalayas or a mountain biking or kayaking trip to some other similar exotic adventurous destination. You really do have an exciting motivating thing to aim for now with this trip. You should try to be in the best physical shape possible so that you may enjoy your trip as much as possible. If you plan your trip for say 5 months in advance then straight away you have a sensible goal to hang your fitness plans around.

Enter a local event. I bet there are plenty of local events that you can get involved with simply have a look on line. Choose one of these events as a target to shoot for. Tell a close friend about your plans so they can encourage you in your training and come to watch you on the day. 

Take up a sport or hobby, this doesn’t have to be an ultra serious thing just a light hearted game of soccer or hockey at the weekends but it gives you an easy and enjoyable way to monitor your fitness levels. Of course the initial couple of sessions may be very taxing but you will soon notice an improvement and start to look and feel better.

Visualise. Although this may sound a little strange at first, find a piece of time every day to see in your imagination precisely what you want to do, be and look like. Performing this projects strong messages to your sub conscious mind as regards what decisions you ought to be making throughout your day. Continue to do this and your behaviour will begin to modify itself naturally to lead you towards your goals. This technique is proven to work and used by many top athletes.

Involve family, friends and even your pet dog. The more that you get involved the less likely you are to throw the towel in and quit. You are far less likely to be lazy and stay at home if your friends are calling and texting you to get you to join them.

Learn more. Be curious find out about building lean muscle mass, find out how to get a 6 pack, find out how to shed pounds, find out what muscle building nutrition you need for lean muscle building and so on. By growing your knowledge you are quite probably going to improve the speed of your fitness improvement which in turn will serve to enhance your motivation.

Don’t compare yourself to others. No matter who you are there is always going to be someone bigger stronger fitter, leaner sexier or whatever. Accept this fact and realise that you all go through this process of life from your own differing perspectives. Pay more attention to how you feel than to anything else, if you feel good then you are likely getting healthier.

So, with those tips in mind go hit the gym and do whatever it is that you enjoy doing to keep fit, build lean muscle mass or whatever else you want to do, you can do it, just keep it fun.