Muscle Building Workouts

INTRODUCTION

The guiding principle for muscle building workouts is to workout / train

• as intensely as possible
• as often as possible
• as fresh as possible

How this principle is applied will be influenced by the overall goal.

1. General Population - the main objective will probably to look good in the mirror and impressive on the beach.
2. Sports People - performance on the track, field, pitch, road etc will be the primary goal. The level of muscle will be a side effect of the effort, or a means to improve that performance. 
3. Bodybuilders - symmetrical, maximum muscle conforming to the ideal bodybuilding proportions (e.g. shoulders to waist ratio).

MUSCLE BUILDING WORKOUTS FOR THE
GENERAL POPULATION

Work and family demands will mean most people have very limited time to workout or exercise. Although the main goal might be to gain lean muscle some thought should be given to combining muscle and fitness, along with flexibility etc.

There are endless detailed muscle building workouts which could be written or are already on the internet. Therefore I will outline a framework which will enable you to customise it to your particular situation.

1) Warm-up sequence

• Walking (before entering the gym or stair climbing if training at home / work)
• Natural movements (squatting, bending, arm circling etc) gradually increasing in speed
• 1 - 3 minutes jogging, treadmill, jumping

2) Modality - Whether weights or bodyweight / Calisthenics is chosen will depend on personal preference. Heavy resistance training with the human body can definitely be used to grow muscle.

3) Degree of Instability - a specific muscle or muscle group can handle a greater resistance (and therefore more growth stimulation) using fixed axis machines but the smaller stabilising / supporting muscles which contribute to useable strength are ignored. Therefore, as a minimum, there should be some training which uses unstable resistance to develop stability.

4) Constancy or variability of resistance - variable resistance can be used to stimulate all levels of muscle fibers but if necessary apply the 80/20 rule of return on investment. If time, equipment availability or finances are limited, the more basic constant resistance will produce results.

5) Frequency of Training - one viewpoint is to fatigue a muscle as much as possible and then not train it again for a week. For some people this will work. For many however, it will

• produce delayed onset muscle soreness for several days
• contravene the overall principle outlined at the top of this page
• Adopting the "stimulate rather than annihilate" approach most people will find a "sweet spot"  of 2 -3 times per week.

6) Time of day, Location - The growing popularity of

• 24/7 gyms
• Home workout, office exercise equipment and outdoor fitness equipment

means you can increasingly tailor this variable to your circumstances.  Working out is a habit and if you want or must change when or where etc,  perservere. Work through the initial stages, the new habit will take hold. I often admired people who could train in the morning upon rising and on an empty stomach. Due to a change in my circumstances I had to adopt that approach. It was challenging initially but now I prefer this new schedule. 

7) Duration of workout - this should be quite short to

• fit in with time constraints
• avoid the secretion of muscle wasting hormones (e.g. cortisol) and testosterone reduction caused by long workout routines.

8) No of sessions per day - there are pros and cons for choosing 1 or more. Your preferences and constraints will affect how you score the following factors

• 1 session Workout requires more work in that session
• More sessions spread through the day allow more focus in each session
• Impact on other tasks that day
• Effect on hormones (see above)
• Energy levels & Recovery - two 20 minute sessions are probably easier on the body than one 40 minutes session.

9) Full Body Workout or Split - there are pros and cons for choosing 1 or more. Your preferences and constraints will affect how you score the following factors

• Total muscle mass stimulated and secretion anabolic hormones - full body workouts outscore split routines.
• Stimulation of a specific muscle / group - split sessions allow for a greater volume of work and therefore stimulation than full body workouts.

Maximum benefit could be obtained if circumstances allowed for a full body workout to be split into a morning and evening routine.

10) Exercises Chosen and the Order Performed - given that

• time is probably limited
• anabolic hormones are released in increasing amounts as the number of muscles and joints involved in an exercise increase

The choice and order should look like this

a) natural whole body multi-joint movements - squats and deadlift. Home, travel and office workouts would still enable these to be performed utilising 1 legged versions. If necessary portable / assisting equipment like resistance bands and suspension training equipment could be used.

b) natural upper body multi-joint movements - pushing/pulling, horizontally and vertically. If high levels of resistance are required, 1 arm variations/progressions can be used.

c) smaller muscles / groups if time, energy and desire permit

11) Amount and Pattern of Work Performed - most growth within a muscle results from a size increase in the fast twitch fibers. Following the 80/20 rule, heavy resistance (relative to a person's profile) should be used. The number of repetitions possible and speed decrease as the resistance increases so the most simple and effective pattern would be

High load / High No sets / Low reps per set

Rest between sets as much as you feel necessary to be able to perform the next set safely. If in any doubt reduce the resistance.

12) Training Profile - the recommendations apply to senior citizens equally provided that safety and correct scaling/progression are incorporated.

13) Rest/Recovery - generally the more taxing a workout the more rest / recovery is required. This includes nutrition as well as sleep. The number of days rest will be influenced by how taxing the training was. Heavy total body movements affect the central nervous system more than lighter and/or smaller muscle group exercises. This means they require more recovery before the next workout.

14) Progression Method(s) - to avoid tendon and ligament injuries and extract as much growth as possible from each load the order of progression should be 

• more sets up to a total number of reps e.g. 30 - 50 depending on the lift
• more reps per set, reducing the sets so the total remains the same e.g. 10 x 3 eventually becomes 3 x 10

Care must be taken to avoid jerky or fast movements because the effectiveness of muscle building workouts improves as the

• level and time that muscles are under tension increase. This means that the resistance should only be increased if controlled (albeit slightly slower) movement is still possible, with a pause at both end ranges. The pause has the added benefit of improving flexibility and joint strength.
• movement is performed incorporating all the relevant muscles in the correct sequence if there was no load.

I learned these lessons with regard to chinups.

• Elbow tendon pain disappeared when I ceased trying to increase the resistance too quickly and added more reps & sets at the reduced level.
• My arms experienced a growth spurt after slightly slowing the pace.

High speed of movement does have its place e.g. power development.

Power is force x speed and so the faster the pace or greater the force, the more power is generated. American footballers and rugby players use this equation to maximise power on the field by training to apply high force (strength) at high speed.

15) Constancy versus Variation - There are 2 opposing views as to whether the exercises performed should change, rotate or alternate between workouts or at least after a period of time (e.g. monthly). People supporting variation promote the muscle confusion principle. Those supporting little change argue that getting better at something requires practising it frequently and for a sustained length of time. For non-bodybuilders adopting the latter approach would

• maintain simplicity, reducing the mental effort in workout design
• enable other daily tasks, hobbies etc to be enjoyed

Variation could be implemented by striving to increase the number of repetitions and sets and eventually the resistance.

MUSCLE BUILDING WORKOUTS FOR
SPORTS PEOPLE

More details on muscle building workouts will follow but the  briefly :

Skills practise and performance improvement will be the priority, so workouts would primarily consist of total body  athletic movements e.g. squats, deadlift etc and explosive movements e.g. olympic lifts - snatch, clean & jerk.

Kettlebell workouts (swing, snatch) have also been shown to have crossover to sports and general physical preparedness.

MUSCLE BUILDING WORKOUTS FOR
BODYBUILDERS

Bodybuilders adopt particular approaches to muscle building workouts with the objective of building lean muscle. This topic will therefore be covered in the bodybuilding workouts section.

CONCLUSION

Learning how to gain muscle and applying the information in muscle building workouts can benefit everyone. It has been shown to fight the mental and physical decline often viewed as inevitable as the years advance. 

The science of muscle building workouts produces results but everyone's body and circumstances are different. The total amount and rate of growth is outside of your control. What you can control is your input to the process. Applying the information above will assist you.

Back to the top of Muscle Building Workouts (MBW)       (FWR > Muscle > MBW)

Back to Muscle                                                          (FWR > Muscle)

Back to Home Page                                                              (FWR)

E-ZINE

Periodically we publish and distribute an E-zine covering amongst other things, topics which people have specifically requested.

If you would like to receive information which

• is of particular interest to you
• has been requested by others in case it may be of benefit to you

please complete the email subscription form in the left hand column.

Site under construction - apologies for any gaps or apparent inconsistencies. In time as more information is added the whole site should "hang together".

Initially the focus will be on general information which should assist with achieving results regardless of the approach you take in working out.

Later I will provide more detailed information.