Looking for a few muscle building tips? You’ve come to the right place. Let’s look at your training, supplementation, diet and rest to determine what you could be doing to boost faster results in terms of muscular size, strength, and performance!
Eat more protein
Many bodybuilders stifle their own potential for growth by failing to give their body the protein it needs to make the most of workouts. Following a tough leg, back or chest workout, your muscle fibers are craving amino acids to assist with recovery and growth. You need a steady stream of nutrients in the form of protein feedings every three hours to make this possible. Food sources such as egg whites, chicken, pork, and beef are ideal, and you should also be consuming at least one whey protein shake daily.
Add that cardio
Many athletes seeking an addition of 15 or 20 pounds of muscle mass to their frame will cut out all cardiovascular exercise. This is a band move! Just 15 minutes of cardio, 3 times per week, will boost appetite, increase blood flow to the muscle groups of your body, open up lung capacity (useful on those sets of 20 rep squats!) and above all, will keep your heart healthy. Without heart health, all the muscle in the world won’t matter to you! This is one of those muscle building tips that can save your life!
Stick with compound movements
Many young bodybuilders will enter the gym and attack every exercise station they see. They will ignore those boring free weight benches and run straight for the various cool stations such as cables, dumbbells, and machines. This is NOT the way to go! Those isolation exercises are terrific for shaping muscle you’ve already built. But those heavy barbell movements known as compound exercises – including squats, bench press, deadlifts, rowing and shoulder press – are much more effective for overall muscle growth because they recruit larger groups of muscle fibers.
Supplement wisely
Don’t try every new supplement that enters the market on a monthly basis. Don’t stack up 5 or 10 different new supplements at once. Rather, employ a regimen which utilizes tried and true standards, such as Mesobolin or creatine, and use them for two months at a time, alone. Record your gains and decide if the supplement is right for you. One of the top muscle building tips is not to try to add too many supplements at one time.
Eight hours in bed
It is often difficult for us to fine time to sleep a solid eight hours. Some of us are unable to sleep that long, even without schedule limitations. However, the simple act of lying in bed and relaxing with your favorite book or television show, can be enough to facilitate some muscle growth and recovery. Look at some of the top bodybuilders of the past twenty years – the Kevin Levrones and Dorian Yates – they slept at least eight hours each night, and always enjoyed a one hour nap each day.