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3 Muscle Mass and Size Gains Things That You Should know
1. High Intensity
I’ve received thousands of e-mails, testimonials and
letters of thanks for providing people with the best results they’ve ever
achieved. Every major bodybuilding magazine has reported on these
books and techniques. It is estimated that more than 150,000 people have
used No-Nonsense Muscle Building and Static Contraction Training. The number
increases every day!
So what you are about to read is fact, not hype. And it’s not based upon
what worked for some guy, somewhere; it is true for all humans of normal,
healthy physiology. These are the three indispensable elements of muscle
mass and strength gains.
Muscles grow larger in response to high intensity overload. This is a very
simple element of human physiology that has been in operation for
(according to anthropologists) over three million years…before fancy exercise
equipment, before training “systems” and before nutritional supplements.
The muscles of the human body respond to the intensity of overload in a
similar way that skin responds to the intensity of sunlight. Muscles adapt to
the stress of overload by getting larger; skin adapts to the stress of overload
by getting darker.
Each of the 600+ muscles in your body is accustomed to operating at a
certain level of output during normal daily activities. To cause new muscle
to grow you have to force your muscles to operate beyond their normal
level of output. That’s why we lift heavy weights to build muscles….it delivers
a higher intensity of overload.
Building new muscle is actually nature’s way of keeping you healthy. A demanding,
high intensity workout sends a message to the central nervous
system that says, in effect: “This much work is so draining that our existing
muscle strength can’t sustain it…we better build some new muscle so work
at this intensity isn’t so taxing.” And after the new muscle appears, you can
repeat the process with a new, higher intensity workout and build even more muscle for more muscle size and weight gains.
Once you realize that all muscle-building progress stems from high intensity
overload, you’ll begin to understand why I’ve had such a fixation on trying
to quantify it. For example, which is more intense: two reps with 150
pounds or three reps with 135 pounds? What about one set that takes one
minute versus three sets that take five minutes? Which has more intensity?
Trying to find a way to quantify this all-important intensity of muscular output
is what led to Power Factor Training, then to Static Contraction Training
and ultimately to the Precision Trainer, which can do all the calculations
automatically.
Anyway…the first thing you must know if you want to make muscle mass and
strength gains is that high intensity overload is absolutely indispensable!!
2. Progressive Overload
Suppose you go to the gym today and determine that the highest intensity
overload you can generate for, let’s say, your triceps, is 11 reps with 190
pounds doing a close-grip bench press. Great. But if you go back to the
gym and do that same routine every workout you’ll never get bigger,
stronger muscles!
Why?
Because the overload must be progressive. This is one of the most overlooked
elements of strength training. I know people who have done basically
the same workout month after month. I don’t mean the same exercises
each time…I mean the same amount of overload for each muscle
group. In fact, I know people who still believe you have to “cycle” your intensity…
so they go back to the gym and do less intense exercises…that’s
regressive overload! That’s like having a fairly dark tan then sitting in the
shade during your next tanning “workout” and somehow hoping the reduced
sunlight intensity will deepen your tan. That would defy the laws of
physics! This will never give you any muscle size and weight gains.
The truth is, no two workouts should ever be the same. (Unless you are
trying to just maintain – not build – muscle mass.) To be productive, every
exercise in every workout should be engineered to deliver at least slightly
higher intensity than the last workout.
Can you make progress every workout? Of course! Consistent progress is
exactly what is supposed to happen! Bodybuilding and strength training
have become so mired in foolish jargon and unscientific reasoning that
now people find it hard to believe every workout can be productive. But
what would be the purpose of going to a gym and lifting really heavy
weights if it didn’t move you measurably closer to your goal of gaining
more mass and size? Every workout taxes you and depletes your body of
precious energy and recovery reserves…you should never spend that energy
unless you get measurable results from it. And you can get measurable
results from it – every time – if you train rationally. If you don't believe me you can search Google.
3. Variable Frequency
High intensity and progressive overload are absolutely, positively necessary
if you want to make gains in muscle mass and size. There is just one
catch…you can’t accomplish both of them on a fixed training schedule.
Frequency of training is one of the most misunderstood elements of productive
bodybuilding. One of my litmus tests as to whether a training article,
book or course is worth anything is to look at how training frequency is
addressed. If it says, "Train 3 days per week, Monday, Wednesday and
Friday."...I know it's a useless program.
Why?
Because you can't have both PROGRESSIVE overload and a FIXED training
schedule. Your body won't tolerate it. The stronger you get, the more
rest you need between workouts. Fixed schedules are the single biggest
reason why trainees quit going to the gym after a few weeks, get injured or
catch a cold or flu after training a short time. And even if you manage to
clear all those hurdles, you’ll soon hit a plateau and stop making progress
with your physique and won't get any gains in muscle size and weight.
A consistently productive program requires a variable training frequency.
You need to analyze your recent rate of progress and adjust your training
frequency to ensure full recovery before your next workout. This gets explained very well in Vince Delmonte's No-Nonsense Muscle Building.
But some people like to workout as often as possible and some want maximum
efficiency. (i.e. to workout as little as possible while still achieving
their goals.) Fortunately, when you complete a workout there is a range of
time over which your next productive workout can occur. The limits of the
range are the first day you can return to the gym without overtraining and
the last day you can return to the gym without undertraining.
For example, if today's workout was on the 1st of the month, you might be
able to return to the gym fully recovered as early as the 6th and perform a
productive workout. But you might also be able to wait until the 19th of the
month before losing the benefit of your last workout. You see? So whether
you return on the 6th, the 19th or in between is a matter of preference. But
either way it is absolutely imperative that you rest enough time for your
body to fully recover. Check out No-Nonsense Muscle building for more info on this.
 Recovery must be complete before new gains in muscle and weight can occur. Think of it this
way…suppose a caveman had a battle-to-the-death with a saber tooth tiger
and after the fight the caveman lay on the ground totally exhausted.
What is the first order of business for his body in order to ensure his survival?
A) re-supply his existing tissues and organs with what they need to
get him to safety, or B) build him some new muscle just in case he has a
similar struggle in the future. Fortunately for us, the brain gives the first priority
to immediate survival. So when you leave the gym after doing battle
with the leg press, your brain first takes care of your full recovery. The actual
muscle growth process is quite brief and recent studies reveal it likely
occurs while you’re sleeping. But if you never fully recover, and return to
the gym for another depleting workout, you’ll never experience muscle
growth and thus no muscle and weight gain. And without a variable training frequency, eventually you will reach
the point where you never fully recover between workouts.
Can you make any progress on a fixed schedule? Sure…for as long as
your fixed training days happen to be far enough apart. For example, when
you first start training your workouts won’t be very demanding and your body might only need, perhaps, 18 hours to recover. As long as your workouts
are more than 18 hours apart, you’re fine. But very soon you’ll need
29 hours rest between workouts…then 46.2 hours…then 63.8 hours…you
see? And since you never know exactly when recovery is complete and
muscle growth occurred, you need to be on the safe side by adding extra
time off.
I work with some advanced clients who train once every six weeks. In fact,
they perform workout “A” then wait six weeks and do workout “B”…so it’s
12 weeks between the same exercises for the same muscle groups…and
they make progress EVERY workout. With the massive weights they hoist,
it would be impossible for them to train three days per week. If their training
schedules stayed fixed from Day One, they could never have progressed
to where they are today. And they sure have big muscles and weight a lot.
Conclusion
Now you know the “secrets” to gaining muscle mass and size. You need a
training program that delivers high intensity overload on a progressive basis
using a schedule of variable frequency. This isn’t just my opinion…it is
an absolute law of nature and it has been for over three million years.
How To Apply This Knowledge and make huge gains in muscle mass and size?
Next time you go to the gym, ask yourself:
• Is this exercise delivering the highest possible intensity to the target
muscle(s)?
• How do I know for sure that today’s intensity on each exercise will
be greater than last workout’s intensity?
• How will I know that I’ve fully recovered from my last workout?
If you really want to know more and are prepared to invest in your muscle building and get huge muscle mass and size gains fast, you should check out Vince Delmonte's No-Nonsense Muscle Building program. It has a 100% 8 week money back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose but everything to gain, especially muscles.
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