Schedules do not have to be exhaustive and painful. Here is a result producing abbreviated NO BULL routine. Plus hints and tips to avoid overtraining and lack of progress. A NO kidding, NO pain, NO BULL routine for FAST muscle building.

If one theory has regained importance recently it is that its not necessarily better to train more OR longer. If you are just going for good muscular gains, it may well be more beneficial to only work out three or even twice a week. Also because many weight trainers tend to specialise far too early on in their bodybuilding career, it is also a good idea to return to basic exercises from time to time. Proven exercises, sets and reps for rapid muscle gains.

Only a ‘tank top’ or gym ‘bum’ gets pleasure out of excess time spent in the dumbell dungeon. Whilst it is an advantage to actually enjoy training, for the majority of people, it is the end result that counts, the bottom line, the achievement of big good looking muscles. Once the desired standard of physique has been achieved, then regular short maintenance schedules should and will be enough, thereby allowing one to participate in things other than the humping and hoisting of rusty barbells.

Being in hurry, wishing for as much muscle as possible in the fastest time, leads many bodybuilders into the mistake of believing that the more exercise you do, the more frequently one trains and pumps iron, then ‘naturally’ the end result will be more muscle. Well it just ain’t so. Fact is overtraining actually inhibits progress and the equation is simple really: LESS CAN EQUAL MORE!

The purpose of an abbreviated routine and less training is to produce growth and minimise fatigue. Extreme fatigue, e.g. excessive or overtraining lowers the body’s general resistance especially predisposing the trainee to respiratory infections, e.g. the common cold. Prolonged exertion (overtraining) can result in pallor, nervous irritably, incoordination and muscular twitching. After periods of vigorous exercise WITHOUT SUFFICIENT REST muscles will contract more readily, than fully recovered muscles, revealing tremors as a result of hypersensitivity.

One way to prevent fatigue and to aid recuperation, is to practice workouts of short duration. The more strenous the schedule, the longer also should be the rest periods.Thus even with our later suggested schedule, providing you are training hard enough and using heavy weights, it may be better if you either train just twice a week, or else forget the 7 day week and give yourself TWO days complete rest between training.

Intense muscular exercise diminishes the capacity for full activity, bringing on muscular fatigue, not to be confused with general fatigue, which often results from tedious or boring repetitive work, e.g. especially those activities which lack job satisfaction. An extension of this condition is chronic fatigue, distinguished from normal healthy tiredness by it not being relieved when you obtain a good nights sleep.

Anxiety also produces tension in the muscles, with the resultant covert (hidden) muscular contraction continuing the vicious circle bringing about more tension and fatigue. Muscular fatigue brought about by healthy exercise responds to RELAXATION, REST, and SLEEP. Direct recovery occurs after blood flow is restored i.e. in time.

Naturally most bodybuilders want FAST results, athletes searching quite naturally from the days of Ancient Greece for elixers, panacea and every ergogenic aid to hasten their progress. The last thing they want or require is extended schedules and overlong exhaustive routines. But is does take time! Olympia standard muscle stars are the result of many years of training, of hundreds of hours of experimental training, by trial and error until the individual discovers the combination of exercise, rest and optimum nutrition/supplementation that suits him or her alone.

Muscle size results from an improved efficiency in glycogen accommodation, capillary and fibral growth, all in turn dependant on top nutrients in your diet. Growth is stimulated by exercise subject to certain limitations. If you overtrain or train too often, you will go beyond your capacity to recover and actually lose instead of gain muscle.

Your capacity for exercise also depends more than a little on your inherent body type. Whilst it is true, SOME individuals can train for hours (although do not believe all the super duper routines you read the ‘champs’ follow in the imported mags) others are more restricted, with the majority of weight trainers making better, or the best progress with just three or even two brief training sessions a week.

So called ‘split routines’, mean your body rarely gets FULL total body recovery. It’s like shutting one eye at a time for a rest, better to close them both. Strangely most people who take up, and stick with bodybuilding, are those least physiologically suited to the lifting of heavy weights. Easy gainers usually quit early on, taking up other interests. Hard gainers, once muscle has been won, appreciate and value it more. But it is always hard to emphasize, that overtraining is usually their main drawback to faster progress.

We repeat, the most common mistake bodybuilders make is OVERTRAINING. A certain period of rest and recuperation is a must for growth, especially if your schedules are lengthy or intense. On the other hand however, too long a rest period in between training inhibits growth, so it is all a matter of balance. Concencus of opinion is that most trainiers require a minimum of 48 hours and a maximum of 96 hours between workouts. This of course applies to training with weights and similar heavy resistance exercises and not the normal run of activities to which your body has become accustomed.

Many people who do not make gains fall into the trap of adding exercises, or else training on so called rest days. Some who complain that their arms are not growing, add further arm exercises and so grossly overtrain this small muscle group,and are delighted when they are advised to cut down on arm exercises, add or intensify squats, and then go on to make gains in overall muscle size. It’s a fact the more intense you train, the less often you should workout.

Train Hard and be Strong.

Mick.

“For anyone considering steroid use” this is a must read…
Layman’s Guides to Steroids I and II

–WARNING: Do not read this unless you are ready to gain some serious lean muscle–
Layman’s Guides to Steroids III (new)

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 12:52 pm and is filed under General, Steroids, Training, Diet, Cyles & Stacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.