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Regaining Competitive Edge in Your Workouts
It takes a lot of time, effort and a well-structured training plan to get good muscle. It is only if you train with a "plan" will you gain muscle mass in the long term. A training plan to achieve the goal of gaining muscle mass is based mainly on strength training, in which basic exercises and isolation exercises are the main element. The goal is to encourage muscle growth by subjecting it to continuous stimulation.
FUNDAMENTALS OF THE TRAINING PLAN TO GAIN MUSCLE MASS
A training plan to gain muscle mass poses different demands to athletes. In principle, it is based on basic exercises in which weights gradually increase. Short training series is important to maintain intensity. However, the training plan also includes sufficient regeneration phases to allow the formation of new muscle tissue.
FREQUENCY OF TRAINING
If you want to increase your muscles effectively and sustainably, you do not have to go running to the gym every day, as they say. Less is more! With a 3 or a maximum of 4 training sessions per week and with the right training plan, you can give your muscles the necessary growth stimulus.
In addition, muscle growth (hypertrophy) occurs anyway in the resting phases. It is when the muscular tissue recovers from the effort and the cross section of the muscle increases as a process of adaptation to the increasing load of the training (more weight, new stimuli, etc.) In other words, if you train extremely, you risk stagnating and suffering from symptoms of over-training, such as a loss of strength and a feeling of premature fatigue.
A classic effect would be, for example, to train chest and triceps or back and biceps on separate days. For a training frequency of three to four sessions per week, a triple or quad split is good.
DURATION OF TRAINING
The sessions of your training plan to gain muscle mass should last, as a rule, between 60 and 90 minute maximum. If you train too long, your muscle tissue will be exposed to hormonal stress by the secretion of cortisol. When you do not gain muscle mass in the long term, this hormone is one of the most frequent causes. If you go over the recommended training time, you can boost even the processes of muscle loss.
Important points about the duration of training in a training plan to gain muscle mass:
SELECTION OF EXERCISES
A training plan to gain muscle mass should base your basic exercise structure on these 4 essentials. By this we mean basic exercises like the bench press, the dead lift, the squats and the shoulder press. Since in these basic exercises the whole muscles intervene, a great secretion of testosterone takes place. This hormone, along with insulin, plays an essential role when it comes to gaining muscle mass.
Approximately two-thirds of the training sessions to gain muscle mass should be used in basic exercises or free-weights exercises. The remaining third can be devoted to isolation exercises and intensity techniques.
With the help of isolation exercises, specific stimuli can be applied to encourage growth and gain muscle mass, consciously overloading the muscles and exhausting it until muscle failure. This places a huge burden on the central nervous system. The muscle reacts, adapting and increasing its cross section, which "gains strength" for the next training session.
Important points about the selection of exercises of the training plan to gain muscle mass:
VOLUME AND INTENSITY OF TRAINING
Unlike the traditional routine for gaining mass, which requires maximum strength training (with a number of repetitions between 3 and 5), in the training plan to gain muscle mass you train in the so-called area of ​​hypertrophy (with between 8 and 12 repetitions). The volume of training and the amount of series is to do it in comparison with the routines to gain weight and for weight loss are clearly superior.
First, 1-2 warm-up sets are always performed for each exercise with little weight and 15-20 repetitions. In this case, the main thing is the increase in the blood supply of all the relevant muscle fibers and the practice of the technique for the subsequent loading phase. The training to gain muscle mass is in the mid range of repetitions and the intensity is the important thing.
Following the warm-up phase, the weight is chosen with which three to four sets of 8-12 repetitions each will be made. The weight should be chosen so that a clean execution of each one of the exercises can be carried out and, at the same time, supports a good stimulus for the growth. As for the orientation, you have to be able to carry out the last repetition of the last series without needing help.
Important points about the volume and intensity of the training plan to gain muscle mass:
PAUSE TIME
In the training plan to gain muscle mass, optimal pause times between work series are between 60 to 90 seconds. This lapse of time is sufficient to allow the muscles to recover before resuming the active application of stimuli in the next series of work.
In addition, a rest day should always be planned between two days of training to allow regeneration. Thus, the training model - pause - training - pause - training - training - pause (quad split) can be followed.
TIPS FOR THE TRAINING PLAN TO GAIN MUSCLE MASS
Keep a Training Diary
It is very useful for most people who train to gain muscle mass to keep a training diary. In it you can register the number of series, the weights used and the "sensations" that you have during the training. With the training diary, the progression (permanent strength increase) can be observed very well and sporadic adjustments can be made in the training plan.
ADDITIONAL SPORTS NUTRITION
With a well-structured training plan, you are already halfway towards your goal of gaining muscle mass. In addition, the intelligent use of sports nutrition will bring you even closer to the goal of training.
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