Weight Lifting Workouts For Insane Muscle Growth

Weight lifting workouts are the cornerstone of any successful muscle gain program. Without the proper stimulation, your muscles simply will not grow. If you're trying to build muscle mass but don't know how to structure your weight training workouts for muscle growth look no further.

While everybody knows that weight training is the way to go if you want to build muscle mass. Very few people understand the basics of designing a growth stimulating workout. Listed below is the framework that I use to put together 90% of my weight lifting workouts.

Before we get into the workout structure, It's important to talk about the muscle building process and how it works. Here's a simplistic overview of how the muscle building process works:

In order to build muscle mass you must first stimulate muscle growth with intense weight lifting workouts. After you have given your body a reason to grow, you must then focus your attention on fueling muscle growth. Just like your car, your body will not function properly without the right fuel (nutrients). After you have put in the hard work to stimulate and fuel muscle growth, you must give your body a chance to actually grow. The fancy term for this process is rest and recovery.

That's really all there is to the muscle building process. Armed with this knowledge, you should have a better than average idea of what it takes to build muscle.

Here's the formula for growth stimulating weight lifting workouts

1.) Always perform a complete warm up prior to jumping into any weight lifting workout. If yo decide to skip the warm-up and jump right into your workout, you will get hurt!

2.) limit the duration of your weight lifting workouts to 60 minutes max. I personally like to design them to complete in under 45 minutes. There are two reasons that I strictly follow this methodology.

The first reason is that studies have shown that the muscle building hormones begin to spike withing 30 - 45 minutes. If you continue to train past the 60 minute threshold the muscle building effect of your workouts will not be as effective as an intense weight training session during your bodies peak hormonal period.

The second reason is that you'll have a very hard time maintaining the proper muscle building intensity level for more than 60 minutes. Another way to say it is - If you are able to train for 2 - 3 hours, chances are your workouts are not intense enough to stimulate muscle growth.

Besides, who has the time to commit to 2 -3 hours a day in the gym anyway?

3.) Design the majority of your workouts around compound exercises like squats, bench press, dead lift, rows etc. If you really want to add an isolation exercise into the mix, make sure that you only perform it after you have completed at least 1 heavy compound movement.

4.) Train heavy to stimulate muscle growth. If you're serious about building as much muscle mass as quickly as possible you need to train with heavy weights through a complete range of motion. I've found the 6 - 8 repetition range to be effective for most body parts.

5.) Incorporate stretching and flexibility into your weight training routine by stretching between sets.

6.) Focus on only 1 or 2 body parts per workouts max! If you want to stimulate muscle growth you need to hammer each muscle group with heavy weights. If you're trying to cram in 3 or 4 different body parts you will not be able to train heavy enough towards the end of your workout.

7.) Perform between 2 - 4 sets of each exercise beginning with your heavy compound exercises first and moving on to your secondary isolation exercises second.

8.) Rest for 2 - 3 minutes between sets. This is enough time to allow for complete muscle recovery, but not so long that your body cools down between sets.

9.) Train each body part only 1 time each week. This will allow for full muscular recovery between workouts.

Here's what a typical chest and bicep workout looks like following this model:

Bench Press - 4 warm up sets, then 3 sets of 6 - 8 reps.

Dumbbell Incline Press - 2 sets of 6 - 8 reps.

Straight Bar Curl - 4 warm up sets, then 3 sets of 6 - 8 reps.

Alternating Dumbbell Curl - 2 sets of 6 - 8 reps.

While it may seem counter intuitive to limit your weight lifting workouts to 60 minutes, you'll soon find that you can actually train with heavier weights and wind up stimulating more growth in the process!

If you're ready for more top notch bodybuilding workouts and weight lifting tips, check out Gain-Muscle-Workout-Less.com. While you're there, sign up for the Free "5 Secrets To Building More Muscle In Less Time" Mini-Course and learn how to gain muscle mass quickly, easily and naturally in less time starting today!

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The Best Back Strengthening Exercises To Turbo Boost Muscle Growth

Did you know that your back muscles are the second largest muscle group in your body? This fact makes it all the more important for you to put some serious effort in training and building your back muscles. The best back strengthening exercises will definitely pay off whether you are aiming to look better in your shirts or you simply want to burn up more calories. Developing your back muscles can even help you increase your overall functional strength and develop good posture.

Specifically, the best back strengthening exercises can help you easily pick up any heavy object from the ground, especially when a strong back works in unison with a strong pair of legs. A stronger back will also allow you to move more easily in any direction, but most especially when you need to pull yourself up. Finally, working your back is a very good way of correcting any muscle imbalance you may be experiencing as a result of focusing too much on chest exercises. What's best is that back strengthening exercises help you burn as many calories as you do when exercising your legs.

Before we discuss what the best back strengthening exercises are, it may do you good to familiarize yourself with the anatomy and functionality of your back muscles. This way, you will have a better understanding of why such exercises are considered the best for back strengthening. For our purposes, we will focus the discussion on the middle and upper back.

Even with your shirt on, you can still see the two major muscle groups in your middle and upper back. These muscle groups are known as the latissimus dorsi (lats, for short) and the trapezius (also called traps). The lats runs from your armpits to your waist. This is the muscle group you see when people strike a lat spread bodybuilding pose. The traps are those muscles that start at the base of your skull, run through both sides of your neck as well as above your shoulders and then extend in a diamond shape to the middle of your back.

Another muscle, known as the levator scapulae or scapula, works in conjunction with your lats and traps. Now, you will recognize that an individual is serious about training his back muscles when he appears to have no neck because his traps are fully developed. If a person has flat traps, it usually means that he does not spend much time in free weight exercises such as deadlifts, barbell rows, and barbell shrugs. Such a pity, since these are counted among the best back strengthening exercises.

Your back is also composed of some smaller muscles which are secondary to your lats and traps. These muscles are the teres major, teres minor, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and rhomboideus or simply rhomboids. They are stimulated when you perform vertical and horizontal training exercises for your lats. The serratus is another back muscle that is also visible from the front, as it wraps around your body. Many people wish to train this muscle directly and the best back strengthening exercises for that are dumbbell and barbell pullovers.

Now that we have sufficiently discussed the anatomy of your back, it's time to talk about its functions. The primary function of your lats is to pull your arm down towards your pelvis. Subsequently, when you perform back strengthening exercises with your arms in a fixed position such as pull-ups, the function of the lats is to bring your body up towards your arm. The lats serve the same function both times, except that it works from opposite directions. Your lats also serve to keep your torso stabilized during movements like the flat bench press and the overhead press.

For its part, your traps facilitate the elevation of your scapula. This function is best demonstrated when you shrug your shoulders. It also serves to facilitate scapular adduction in rowing and scapular depression in performing pull-downs. The traps often work in conjunction with the lats as well as the smaller muscles of your back, especially when you perform rowing and pull-down movements.

Now that you know more about the anatomy and functions of your middle and upper back muscles, you're ready to learn what the best back strengthening exercises are. Here are the top three exercises you can do to develop your back muscles:

1. Bent-over Barbell Rows

Start this exercise by standing on a box with a weighted barbell. It is necessary to stand on a box so as to prevent the barbell from hitting the floor when you bend over. Take a shoulder-width stance for conventional barbell rows.

To start the movement, pull the bar up until it touches your chest. Make sure that the movement is controlled by your back muscles rather than your arms. Keep your head up, your elbows tucked in, and your back straight when you pull the bar up and be sure not to bounce it on your chest.

Next, keep your head up, back straight, and knees slightly bent as you slowly bend over until your upper body is positioned less than 45 degrees to the floor. Get as close to parallel with the floor as you can. Make sure that the weight hangs down from your arms directly below your chest and that your palms are facing towards you. Feel free to use some chalk for this exercise, but definitely NO STRAPS!

2. Chin-ups and Pull-ups

Set up for these back strengthening exercises either by standing on a box or simply jumping up to reach the bar. Grip the bar with your palms facing away if you are doing pull-ups and with your palms facing towards you if you are doing chin-ups. Furthermore, your hands should be a little more than shoulder width apart for pull-ups and a little less than shoulder width apart for chin-ups.

The movement starts when you pull yourself up until your chin goes over the bar. Be sure to keep your head up and pause for about half a second at the top of the movement. Lower yourself back down slowly until your arms are about 99% straight; be careful not to bounce upon lowering yourself.

If you are unable to complete the movement required for these exercises, you might want to try using assisted pull-up machines until you become strong enough for free weight pull-ups. And when you can already do more than ten pull-ups effortlessly, it may be time to try weighted pull-ups and chin-ups.

3. Barbell Shrugs

You can start this exercise either by deadlifting the barbell directly off the floor or unracking it at thigh height from a squat rack or power rack. Grip the bar with your palms facing towards you and then unrack the weight or lift it off the floor until it hangs to mid-thigh. Be sure to always stand straight with your head up and your knees slightly bent. Shrug your shoulders straight up as high as you can and try to touch your shoulders to your ears. Hold this position for half a second and then lower the weight slowly back to mid-thigh.

This is one of the back strengthening exercises where it is okay to use straps. However, you'll want to refrain from using an alternating grip. Take note as well that chalk sometimes doesn't work well with this exercise, especially if you are using a much heavier weight than you usually deadlift.

Now that you know what the best back strengthening exercises are, you need to learn how to integrate them properly into your regular workout routine. You will need to ensure a balanced strength training program so as to reap the full benefits of these exercises.

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The Insulin Growth Factor and Its Relationship to Bodybuilding

One of the main parts of bodybuilding that people tend to forget about is the insulin growth factor. This is a protein that can be used to help with getting muscles to be grown in the body. The IGF can be used for many things and will involve simple processes that will be used to ensure that it will have an easier time growing in the body.

The insulin growth factor will work as a protein in the body. It will be used to help promote the growth of cells and to regulate the way how these cells are built in the body. This is needed to help ensure that a person who uses this in a diet will have an easier time with developing muscles.

The IGF can be used through the stimulation of the liver. This will work in that proper hormones will work to activate the liver to produce this insulin growth factor. This is critical because of how a healthy liver is one that will have an easier time with controlling the ways how the body can work properly.

Another part to see is that IGF can be used to get amino acids in the body to be easily handled and stored. What makes this part of insulin growth factor so valuable is that it will be used to where a person will have a better chance with developing muscle sin the body and to ensure that all tissues in the body are going to be maintained at a proper rate.

This is great to see for bodybuilding purposes. A person who uses this insulin growth factor regularly will be able to focus on getting muscles to stay intact without being as likely to come apart as they could. This is needed to ensure that the body will be safe and easy to handle.

A critical part of IGF comes from how it can be increased in the body through the use of proper growth hormones. This is a feature that will be used to make the hormones more effective. It will help to see that these hormones are naturally occurring though. Anything that is synthetic may end up harming the body over time.

All of these features make IGF something very important for bodybuilding needs. These are all features that will be used to where a person is going to be more likely to have an easier time with having the results of bodybuilding practices taken advantage of for as long as possible. It will be smart to see how this can work and to take a look at the ways how the hormone can be developed in the body for one's needs when trying to get muscles to grow.

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