Basic Workout Tips
11 things you need to know to get lean and gain muscle quickly.
The Tips
1. Don’t be a workoutaholic. Many beginners train feverishly under the assumption that more is better, especially when results first appear. However, you’re much better off easing into the process. “At first, your muscles aren’t ready to do a lot more than they were doing before–they’re ready to do a little “You increase your chances of success by moderating your activity a little bit. The morning after a workout, you want to feel like you trained, but you don’t want to have to crawl to the bathroom.”
Limit your workouts to 30-40 minutes. Though the tendency of some people who really want to get a lot out of their workouts is to spend a lot of time at the gym, the truth is that after 30 or 40 minutes, the benefit isn’t as great. To go that long, you’d have to lower the intensity of the workout, and that means that you’re spending too much time working out. It’s better to work out at a higher intensity for a shorter amount of time.
2. The best rep range for gaining size is eight to 20. “The optimum results for muscle growth come from lifting a weight that’s between 60 percent and 80 percent of what you could lift for one, and only one, rep. At 80 percent, the average person can do eight to 10 reps; at 60 percent, he can do 15 to 20. Most people say anywhere from six to 12 reps is best for muscle growth, but six would be more than 80 percent.
Common Mistake: Sacrificing Quality for Quantity. Decrease the number of reps in a set but increase the number of sets. Back off to half your usual number of reps but add a couple of more sets. You will be less fatigued and will gain strength in your fast-twitch muscles.
3. The two most important times to eat are when you wake up and after you train. You need fuel in your tank to train hard, and if you don’t fill ‘er up at breakfast, you’ll be running on fumes later. “Make sure the majority of your breakfast consists of carbs, with some protein, maybe in the form of egg whites, thrown in for good measure.” It’s equally critical to refuel immediately after you train, when your body’s cells are most receptive to replenishing the energy they just spent. A premade drink containing both carbs and protein will satisfy immediate postworkout needs in the short run. A more substantial meal, however, consisting of complex carbs and complete protein chicken breast contains a better amino-acid profile than egg whites, for example) should be consumed within 90 minutes of a workout.
4. Difficult exercises are good for you, so resist the temptation to avoid them. Most exercises can be classified as either single-joint or multijoint movements. The former includes the barbell curl, in which only your elbow joints move. Along with the deadlift and the bench press, the latter includes the squat, during which your ankles, knees and hips are all being extended and flexed, while your upper body works hard to keep the load stable. Multijoint movements are the more difficult of the two types to master, but it’s well worth the effort to learn their proper execution, since they result in maximum muscle growth of more complex muscle groups like the chest or the legs. At some point, you really need to do big multijoint exercises that involve large amounts of muscle mass.”
5. Unless it is the primary focus of your training, do cardio after, not before, you lift weights. Or do it during another part of the day, or better still, on a separate day. “If you perform aerobic-type exercise first, you’ll be fatigued for your weight training. As a general rule, strength training has less of an impact on cardio than cardio has on strength training.”
Pick a cardio exercise you enjoy. It’s no fun to exercise if you hate it. And you won’t keep it up for very long. Pick something that’s fun — running, walking, swimming, biking, hiking, rowing, stairmaster, etc. After the initial phase when you’re getting used to exercise, you’ll start to have a blast and look forward to it.
6. Stretch before you train, and warm up before you stretch. Don’t jump right into your weight-training session. First, do about 10 minutes of low-intensity exercise on a stationary bike or a treadmill. Once your tissues are warm, stretch them for another five to 10 minutes, focusing your effort on those body parts you plan to train. Alter also recommends stretching the body part, or parts, being worked for 15 to 20 seconds after every set. And don’t jump right out of your training mode. Follow with a brief cool-down in which you basically just keep moving for five minutes or so, with another five to 10 minutes of stretching.
Always Warm Up before you exercise
Warm Up before you exercise. Take a few minutes to warm up your whole body and you will avoid injuries and make your work out more effective. This is the second most important workout tip I can offer. Even if you are crunched for time make sure to do some form of warm up
7. Recovery is just as important as training. When you lift weights, you’re actually tearing down muscle fibers. It’s only after you’ve completed your workout that your muscle tissues begin the rebuilding process. To allow that process to unfold properly, give your body adequate downtime in between workouts. As a beginner, don’t lift more than three or four times a week, never work the same muscle group on consecutive days, and never train a muscle group that’s still sore from a prior workout. For optimal results, you also need to maintain a proper nutrition program, which calls for five or six nutrient-packed small meals a day (four, at minimum). Finally, you need to get enough shut-eye–at least eight hours of it. Adequate sleep keeps you mentally and physically sharp for your workouts, and the act of slumber itself accommodates the release of growth-inducing hormones.
8. Don’t do the same workout over and over. Your body only changes when you force it to, and it’s remarkably quick to adapt to new stimuli. If you repeat the same workout every training session even for a month, your body can probably handle it without producing an adaptive response. If you feel like your progress has reached a plateau, that’s probably what’s happening. The best way to avoid plateaus is by periodizing your training, which simply means arranging it according to discrete phases designed to achieve different, albeit related, goals, including muscle growth, strength and definition. That’s also the best way to avoid overtraining.
Mix it up. Don’t stick to the same workout routine for too long, or your body will adjust to the stress level and you won’t be getting an effective workout. For strength training, change your routine every few weeks. For cardio, it’s best to cross train rather than, say, to run every time.
9. Most guys need to consume an additional 2,500 to 3,500 calories a week to gain one pound of muscle each week. You can pump iron until you’re blue in the face, but if you don’t augment your training efforts with enough food and fluid, the laws of human biology and simple mathematics dictate that you won’t get any bigger.Most guys who have trouble gaining weight and strength simply aren’t eating enough.
10. Women seem to dig men who work out. Sports psychologists could speak on this topic at length, and relevant studies doubtless have been performed.
Tip 11: Don’t Quit!
You will only see results if you keep at it. If you find yourself getting bored after a few weeks, try introducing a new exercise. If you don’t see results immediately don’t worry – keep at it.
