These muscle building laws are made to make you bigger
Bodybuilding is both art and science, as you are building the body to see what you can do. Whether you’re looking to put on muscle mass or gain strength, there are set laws you need to adhere to. These rules are the holy grail of strength and muscle building. Having a rule-breaking mindset might be a good thing, but it won’t do a lot for you in the gym. Muscle and strength building is like physics where sticking to the laws will get you the best returns.
Let’s take a look at these muscle building laws.
The Laws of Building Muscle and Strength
There are certain laws of building muscle and strength that you should be following if you really want to further your progress in the gym, so let’s check it out.
Warming Up is Important
The first law of building muscle and strength is warming up, which is something too many people ignore. Most people make the mistake of not warming up their muscles before a workout, and this can be absolutely detrimental to your gains. You need to warm up your muscles with light sets and stretching, or cardio. It doesn’t matter if you’re running outside or you spent five minutes on the treadmill, and you can also do light sets or exercises with resistance bands to get the blood pumping.
Get the Volume, Reps, and Weights Right
You need to be clear about your goals before lifting weights. If your primary goal is to build strength you should lift heavier weights for fewer reps and do 5-6 sets of every exercise. On the other hand, if you want to build muscle, perform higher reps with lighter weights and keep the volume moderate.
Overtrain
The word ‘overtraining’ is thrown around by so many people, without understanding what it means. We’re using overtraining as a positive word which means training and exhausting your muscles to a whole new level. The negative type of overtraining happens when the CNS and immune system of a person takes a hit and his body fails to recover even after a small workout; this means you are going too hard too often which can lead to injury or plateaus. Most people don’t have what it takes to even reach this level.
Change Your Routine
When you follow the same training program for a long time, your body will get used to it and will stop responding, you will just be going through the motions. You should keep changing your training routine to avoid or break a plateau. Although, make sure you don’t switch your routine way too often.
Try Different Grips
Tweaking your training even in the smallest way possible can bring incredible results, hence the reason it is on the list of muscle building laws. Switch between underhand, overhand or neutral grips. Changing grips will target your muscles a little differently. Using a thicker bar or Fatgripz can also prove effective.
Use Advanced Training Techniques
When it comes to building muscle and strength, advanced training techniques are a great way of shocking your muscles into adaptation. Drop sets, supersets, blood flow restriction training (BFR), negatives, intraset stretching are some of the most common types of advanced techniques you should try in your next workout.
Focus on Your Diet
While training is certainly the fun part, you won’t see the desired results in your body until your diet is on point. You should be clear about your daily macronutrient (protein, carbs, and fats) goals. Eat 6-8 meals in a day at regular intervals to keep your metabolism going.
Recovery is the Key
Sleep is where all the magic happens. No matter how hard you workout in the gym, you won’t see the results until your body is properly rested. 6-8 hours of sleep every night are optimal to trigger the changes in your body.
Train Your Weaker Muscle Groups First
It can be tempting to train and improve your stronger muscle groups by training them before your weaker muscle groups, but you should be approaching it the other way around. Eg- If you train your biceps and triceps on the same day and your tris are lagging as compared to your bis, you should train your tris before your bis. And if your legs are lagging, you should train them after a rest day when your body is rested.
Establish a Mind-Muscle Connection
Mind-muscle connection in bodybuilding is what makes all the difference. Bodybuilding isn’t about going through the motions. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Mr. Olympia champion famously said that you need to become your muscle when you train it. Focus on contracting and squeezing the living hell out of your muscles with every rep.
Muscle Building Laws Wrap Up
Overall, the laws of building muscle and strength are not that difficult. Following them can help you make some serious gains. Are you breaking any one of these laws? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.
