Posted on: Friday, November 18, 2011
Hi guys today I want to share with you 10 of my weight training tips that I tell all the guys and girls I work with who are looking to build lean muscle in the gym.
1) Eat Right: This just doesn’t mean eating healthy meals, but consistent healthy meals. I recommend trying to have 6 different meal occasions across the day making sure you get the right amounts of protein, carbs and fat. Check out the Protein Calculator to see how much you need.
2) Supplement around training time:
This does not mean just a post-training protein shake, I strongly believe supplementation needs to be taken before, during and post. Studies have shown and continue to show how important the consumption of Amino Acids and Sugars are at all of these times.
3) Be Consistent – dedicate at least 3 days a week to your resistance training. Check out the 9 week programs if you are need of a program to follow.
4) Don’t Ego Train: Lift within your means, I see to many people trying to show off to their friends in the gym, a good indicator is to use a weight that you can control a lift for between 6-8 reps minimum.
5) All over workout: Train you whole body once a week, you should work out an area so that it is too sore to train again the next day. So if you complete a Chest exercise day don’t repeat this the next day. And don’t neglect your legs!
6) Compound Movements: Spend the majority of your workout doing compound movements. They are movements that involve 2 or more joints on the body. For example Squats involve the hip and knee joint. Bench press involves the shoulder and elbow joint.
7) Plan: Don’t just turn up at the gym and work it out as you go, choose 3-4 movements for your larger muscle groups - chest, back, shoulders and legs and 2-3 movements for biceps, triceps, calves and abdominals. Then split these across the week. Again use the training programs if you don’t already have one or looking for a change.
8) Timing is Key: Your rep speed should be slower on the lowering or eccentric part on the movement. I normally do 2 seconds down 1 second up. Get your partner to count this out for you.
9) Free Weights: Use more Free Weights or plate loaded exercises than machine – they generally stimulate a larger area of muscle fibre.
10) Don’t rush you workout – make sure you recover all your energy in-between your working sets. This will increase your strength and amount of reps you can get from the working sets