Gain More Muscle By Training Less Often

Gain More Muscle By Training Less Often

The more work you put into something, the better results you will achieve. This has always been a widely accepted truth that applies to many areas of life. The harder you study, the better grades you will achieve. The more time you spend fine-tuning your athletic skills, the better athlete you will become. The longer you spend learning to play an instrument, the better musician you will become. Therefore, it only makes sense that the more time you spend in the gym, the stronger and more muscular your physique will become, correct? Contrary to what you might think, the answer to this question is a gigantic, definite, absolute no! It is in this area of bodybuilding that conventional wisdom goes straight out the window, down the street and around the corner.

I know what you might be asking yourself…

“What? Spending less time in the gym will actually make me bigger and stronger?”

Yes! It really will, and when we examine the muscle-growth process from its most basic roots, it becomes quite clear why this is the case.

Every single process that occurs within the human body is centered around keeping you alive and healthy. Through thousands of years of evolution the human body has become quite a fine-tuned organism that can adapt well to the specific conditions that are placed upon it. We become uncomfortable when we are hungry or thirsty, we acquire a suntan when high amounts of UV rays are present, we build calluses to protect our skin, etc. So what happens when we break down muscle tissue in the gym? If you answered something to the effect of "the muscles get bigger and stronger", then congratulations! You are absolutely correct. By battling against resistance beyond the muscle's present capacity we have posed a threat to the musculature. The body recognizes this as potentially harmful and as a natural adaptive response the muscles will hypertrophy (increase in size) to protect the body against this threat. As we consistently increase the resistance from week to week the body will continue to adapt and grow.

Sound simple? Ultimately it is, but the most important thing to realize in relation to all of this is that the muscles can only grow bigger and stronger if they are provided with sufficient recovery time. Without the proper recovery time, the muscle growth process simply cannot take place.

Your goal in the gym should be to train with the minimum amount of volume needed to yield an adaptive response. Once you have pushed your muscles beyond their present capacity and have triggered your thousand-year-old evolutionary alarm system, you have done your job. Any further stress to the body will simply increase your recovery time, weaken the immune system and send your body into catabolic overdrive.

Most people train way too often and with far more sets than they really need to. High intensity weight training is much more stressful to the body than most people think. The majority of people structure their workout programs in a manner that actually hinders their gains and prevents them from making the progress that they deserve. Here are 3 basic guidelines that you should follow if you want to achieve maximum gains:

1) Train no more than 3 days per week.
2) Do not let your workouts last for longer then 1 hour.
3) Perform 5-8 sets for large muscle groups (chest, back, thighs) and 2-4 sets for smaller muscle groups (shoulders, biceps, triceps, calves, abs).

Take all sets to the point of muscular failure and focus on progressing in either weight or reps each week. If you truly train hard and are consistent, training more often or any longer than this will be counterproductive to your gains!

BONUS : Gaining Weight and Muscle

The secret to gaining weight and muscle doesn't lie in seeing how many calories you can consume in a day or finding out just how much exercise you can do in a day. Mostly, all you are going to get is an upset stomach and aching muscles. And rather than gain weight and muscle, you will just lose your motivation.

There are two tools that you must have if you are to be successful in your weight and muscle gain program. You need knowledge, and you need a doable plan.

Often people will go out, buy an expensive gym membership, and start drinking whatever high-calorie, vitamin and mineral supplement drink the gym is promoting without having the first clue about what causes weight gain and what causes muscles to develop. I'm not saying that you shouldn't join a gym, and I'm not saying that you shouldn't drink those high-calorie, vitamin and mineral supplement drinks. I'm just saying that you need to know what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Weight gain happens for only one reason. That reason is that a person is eating more calories than they are expending through activity. There are, of course, medical conditions that can prevent weight gain no matter what your in-out calorie ratio is, and it is a very good idea to first be checked by a doctor just to rule out any medical problem.

The idea is to eat a well-balanced diet with an emphasis on protein rather than carbohydrates. A LOW-carb diet is NOT recommended. You need BOTH

protein and carbohydrates, but you do need to consume more calories from high-protein foods than from high-carbohydrate foods.

Weight training exercises do not burn as many calories as aerobic exercise. You need to focus most of your workout time on weight-training exercises rather than on high-energy exercises that are designed to strengthen the heart.

The best motivation is success. Keep a journal, and chart your progress.