Thursday, November 10, 2011

how to build a muscular body

How to Build a Muscular Physique

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

You need to have a solid commitment and knowledge to get nice muscle tone and build an attractive muscular body. Here are some muscle building tips. Before you commence weight training, remember to warm up and as well as doing some stretching exercises.

Steps

  1. Train muscles with free weights Machines will have their uses, but for a start, concentrate on free weights. That means work almost exclusively with barbells and dumb bells. Free weights recruit many stabilizing muscles for balance and control. That means you will work a lot more muscle parts other than the intended ones. That will give rise to little bumps, striations and definitions all over your body instead of one huge lump of muscle on your intended muscle. Because of the extra stimulant created, your muscles grow faster too. Professional body builders almost exclusively use free weights.
    • Pick a weight that is about 80% of your max, its good to have a spotter for most exercises. With that being said, using the best form possible, get as many reps as you can
    • Only or mostly use compound exercises until you have gotten a decent build. These include bench press, dips, squats, deadlifts, chinups. There's no need to get all fancy with isolation exercises until your well developed, so maybe in 6-8 months you can try some.
    • Decide what you want to train and when. You can do your whole body in one day if you want, but it is very exhausting. It's most effective split your workout up into 3 different days. Chest/tris/shoulders one day, back/bis another, and legs/abs on the last day. This way there is no overlapping of muscles being trained.
  2. Train intensively but do not overtrain. You must train intensively for your muscle to grow. Try to do more reps or add more weight than the previous session or else your muscles will think (actually muscles don't think, they adapt), "Ah... we've done that. Nothing new, so no need to grow bigger and stronger." That being the case, you will wreck your chances of attaining a muscular body.
  3. Use the right technique and form. This is the most neglected fundamental of bodybuilding. Everywhere, everyday, you will see people using wrong forms and techniques. This not only compromises your growth, it will also make you susceptible to injuries... sometimes even permanently putting you out of the gym. Wrong form occurs usually when people try to lift weights that are too heavy, whether out of vanity or ignorance. As a guide, always lift with strict focus on the muscle you intend to build for that exercise. Feel it contract and extend. Lift the weights deliberately and slowly. Never ever swing your weights up especially when doing bicep curls or the military press.
  4. Keep an accurate log of your workouts. Note the weight used and reps completed. The next week when your doing the same exercise, refer back to the log and increase the weight by the smallest increment possible. This is usually going to be 5 pounds, but the smaller the increment the better.
  5. Change your food habit. Aim for three large meals and 2-3 hefty snacks per day. Drink shakes, milk, or juice instead of water, coffee, tea, or diet soda.
    • Diet should be between 2,000 and 3,000 calories depending on your bodyweight. roughly 50% carbs, 35% protein, and 15% fat. Even fat has its place in a diet, everything is used in some way that matters.
    • No fried foods, and go light on the desserts. Some pie or ice cream every once and a while is not a bad thing. Some is the key word though.
    • Don't eat any carbs within 4-5 hours before bedtime, they surely be stored as fat
  6. Drink lots of water. Working out will dehydrate your body, so be sure to replenish the water by drinking at least three liters of water a day.

Tips

  • Do not take lot of food like pizza, burger as regular food.
  • Stay motivated over the long haul, getting big and strong takes time, as in at least 3 months to see any visible results. So be patient.
  • Listen to music to pump yourself up for your workouts.
  • If your gym has a sauna, use it. Its very relaxing and helps remove toxins from your body. Making your skin look better which makes you look better.

Warnings

  • Make sure to have a spotter for bench press and squats
  • Make sure to warmup the muscle your going to work to avoid injury

Related wikiHows

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Build a Muscular Physique. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.