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Bodybuilding
Program Basics
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Training
for Competition
How
These 3 Basic Elements Can Be Used To Boost Your Own
Muscle Gains! by Trent Brook
The foolish idea that 'more is better' when it comes
to bodybuilding goes directly against the basics of
exercise science. When is comes to increasing your rate
of muscle gains, more exercise is almost never what
is needed. As I have mentioned already, once you have
"stimulated" muscle gains by hitting the gym
hard, any additional amount of exercise, will in fact,
prevent any muscle gains from happening.
You see, muscles are made up of 'muscle fibers'. Muscles
themselves work by contracting and reducing their length.
In order for muscles to contract, they must move. For
a muscle to produce movement, and therefore the power
to move a given weight, it must do so by lengthening
and contracting.
In other words, a muscle performs exercise by contracting,
and by doing this it generates force and power. While
a muscle uses some of it's fibers to perform a given
exercise, it almost never uses all of them at the same
time.
For a muscle to contract every one of its available
fibers at the same time, it must be in a totally contracted
position. To increase your muscle mass in the shortest
time possible, the maximum number of muscle fibers possible
must be "stimulated". The easiest way to achieve
this is through multiple repetitions of a particular
exercise. More often than not it is impossible to contract
all of the muscle fibers in a specific part of the body,
using only one repetition, without risking injury. Multiple
repetitions however, allow it to be done safely.
As a general rule, it's almost impossible to perform
an exercise in a way that contracts all of the muscle
fibers of the body parts involved. However, if the exercise
is performed with intensity, many more muscle fibers
will be stimulated, than there would have been otherwise.
As an example, when you perform a basic exercise like
the barbell curl (standing upright with a barbell and
curling your arms from resting against your thighs up
towards your chest), you are using the fibers of the
biceps muscle of the upper arm. At the beginning of
the exercise, when performing the first repetition of
a set of ten, your biceps muscles are at their strongest
and most rested.
However, during the first repetition you can only involve
a minimal number of the muscle fibers available. Most
of the fibers are unable to contract unless in a totally
contracted position. The bicep itself will only use
the minimal number of fibers needed to perform that
one repetition. Muscle fibers will only perform at full
capacity, and are only "recruited" by a specific
body part as they are needed.
By increasing your speed of movement you can dramatically
increase the number of muscle fibers involved. However,
in many cases this is extremely dangerous, leading to
the muscle tearing loose from its attachment. Not fun
or desirable. As well as the risk of severe injury,
increasing the speed of movement will often involve
extra momentum. By using overall body motion to "cheat",
the intensity shifts away from the muscles and body
parts you are trying to stimulate.
So keep this in mind. In the case of the barbell curl
example, the first repetition should be performed in
perfect form, but at a pace that is considerably slower
than is actually possible. A pace that will allow you
to perform each repetition as fast as possible without
risking injury.
The bottom line is this. Regardless of how you perform
the first repetition of the barbell curl, you will still
only be involving a very small percentage of the muscle
fibers available. This is due to the following three
reasons. (1) When the muscle is not in a fully contracted
position, only a limited number of muscle fibers are
involved. (2) During the first repetition the biceps
muscle fibers are at their strongest and most rested.
(3) The majority of the exercise equipment on the market
provides practically no resistance to a muscle in a
fully contracted position.
Zero resistance can become an issue during almost all
basic exercises. For example, during the bench press,
a totally contracted position is reached when the arms
are completely extended. Because your arms also reach
a point of total "lockout" of the elbow joints
at this point, there is basically zero resistance in
this position. The way this problem can be resolved
is by performing all of your exercises in a series of
repetitions. You can then make sure that you achieve
maximum stimulation of the muscles involved.
Let's look the barbell curl example again. If you are
using a weight that allows you to perform about ten
repetitions, then the first repetition will only involve
about five percent of the total number of muscle fibers
available. The remaining ninety-five percent of fibers
are not involved at all.
When you perform the second repetition however, things
start to change. And change fast! The previous five
percent are no longer as strong or as rested as they
were during the first repetition. The strength levels
of these fibers have been challenged, and so they now
need the help of additional fibers to perform the second
repetition. These additional fibers are at their strongest
and most rested. However, they too will only be used
to the extent that they are actually needed.
As you continue to perform the exercise, more and more
muscle fibers become involved. Finally, by the tenth
repetition you will be using as much as twenty percent
of the total muscle fibers available. By this stage
of the exercise your breathing should be coming thick
and be fast. And, the intensity level will be high.
In this example, the exercise is being performed with
a weight that the you knew you could only perform ten
repetitions with. It is at this point that most "skinny"
guys stop the exercise. This is a big mistake. Doing
so with result in almost no muscle gains at all.
By stopping the exercise at this point, you are not
pushing through your comfort zone. You are just nudging
up to it. Also, the various muscles involved are not
being pushed enough to cause them to GROW. If you are
"stupid" enough to train in this manner, your
muscle gains will be slow and in many cases, totally
non-existent. In short. If you are going to go for it.
Then, make sure you go all the way... and then some!
About the Author
Trent Brook is the Author of "Huge Gains Fast
- How to Get More Rock-Hard Muscle Mass In A Month Than
You Now Get All Year. His "Huge Gains Fast"
muscle building program is an easy-to-follow system
so simple and understandable it's fully explained to
you in just 4 easy steps! The Revised Edition is now
available online at his website, http://www.hugegainsfast.com
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