How to Weight Train for Maximum Muscle Gain


Weight training involves the use of equipment that enables variable resistance. This resistance can come in the form of "free weights" like barbells and dumbbells, machines that use cables or pulleys to help you lift the weight and bodyweight exercises like pull-ups or dips.

Free Weights vs. Machines vs. Bodyweight Exercises

For maximum muscle gain, the focus of your workouts should consist of free weight exercises. Not machines or bodyweight exercises. This is not to say that you should not use machines or bodyweight exercises, but they should not be the focus of your training. To get an effective, muscle blasting workout, you must stimulate the most muscle fibers as possible, and machines do not do this.

The main reason for this is a lack of stabilizer and synergist muscle development. Stabilizer and synergist muscles are supporting muscles that assist the main muscle in performing a complex lift. The more stabilizers and synergists worked, the more muscle fibers stimulated. Multi-jointed free weight exercises like the bench press, require many stabilizer and synergistic muscle assistance to complete the lift. On the other hand doing a bench press using a machine will need almost no stabilizer assistance.

Since machines are locked into a specific range of motion and help to support the weight along that path, they fail to stimulate the muscles that surround the area you are working (stabilizers). This is a mistake. If your stabilizer muscles are weak, then the major muscle group will never grow!

Free weight exercises like the dumbbell press or squat, for example, put a very large amount of stress on supporting muscle groups. That's why you will get fatigued faster and not be able to lift as much weight as you did on the machine. But you will gain more muscle, become stronger very quickly and have a true gauge of your strength.

If you use machines in your program, they should be used to work isolated areas and only after all multi-jointed exercises have been completed.

Beginners should begin with a limited combination of machine exercises, bodyweight exercises and mult-jointed free weight exercises. Before increasing the weight levels, they should work on becoming familiar with the proper form and execution of each. Soon, bodyweight exercises will become insufficient to stimulate growth and they will need to focus on more free weight exercises.

Multi-Jointed Exercises

The exercises that work the large muscle groups are called compound (or multi-joint) movements that involve the simultaneous stimuation of many muscle groups. These compound exercises should be the foundation of any weight training program because they stimulate the most amount of muscle in the least amount of time.

Here are the basic movements:

* Bench Presses (works the chest, shoulders, tricep)

* Overhead Presses (shoulders, tricep)

* Pull-ups/Barbell Rows (back, bicep)

* Squats (legs, lower back)

* Deadlifts (legs, back, shoulders)

* Bar Dips (shoulders, chest, arms)

I cannot overemphasize the importance of these exercises. Do not start an advanced weight training program without them!

They will overload your entire skeletal and muscular system like no machine could ever do, giving you and effective workout in a very short period of time. If you can only do a few exercises, then do these. They have been proven (and not just by me) to encourage muscle and strength gain unlike any other exercises.

Lift Heavy Weight

To build mass, you must weight train with heavy weights. By heavy, I mean a weight that is challenging for you -- not me, or anyone else. To consider a weight heavy, you should only be able to do a maximum of 8-12 reps before your muscles temporarily fail. A weight is considered "light" if you can do more than 15 reps before muscle fatigue sets in.

Heavy weights stimulate more muscle fibers than lighter weights. It's that simple. More muscle stimulation means more muscle growth.

Don't Overtrain

Heavy weight training puts a huge strain on your body, so adequate rest and recuperation after your workouts is essential. If you are prone to train too often, several things happen:

You don't give your muscles enough time to recuperate between workouts. If your muscles have not repaired themselves, you will not be at maximum strength for your next workout. Rest is essential. Other than eating, this should be your main focus.

You are setting yourself up for burnout or an injury. I know you are motivated and excited about working out, but don't be careless. You must pace yourself, you want to be able to keep this up for a long time, not burnout before you reach your goals. I only weight train 3 times per week, that's all. Anymore than that and I would not give my body enough time to repair and build new muscle.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not grow while working out, you only grow when you are resting.

Below is an example mass workout. I did 4 heavy sets for 4-8 reps each.

Wednesday (legs, abs)

* Heavy Squats, leg extension superset

* Seated Calve Raises, 4 strips sets

* Crunches (4 sets of 20)

-------

Friday (chest, shoulder, triceps, abs)

* Flat bench press, incline dumbbell flyes superset

* Shoulder press, side raises superset

* Tricep pushdowns

* Reverse incline leg raises (3 sets of 20)

------

Sunday (back, biceps, abs)

* Wide grip pull-ups, latbar pulldown superset

* EZ bar bicep curl, incline dumbbell curls superset

* Crunches (4 sets of 20)

Nothing fancy, but effective.

Former "skinny guy" Anthony Ellis is the author of Gaining Mass! The most widely used weight gain program in the world.

This unique program designed to help people gain weight and build muscle, is currently being used in over 90 countries and boasts the largest private weight gain forum on the Internet, with well over 13,000 members at http://www.fastmusclegain.com

Click here to view over 200 user testimonials: http://www.fastmusclegain.com/testimonials.html

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Building Muscle Information:

Related Articles

Weight Gain Myths
The vast majority of myths about weight gain are mostly passed down from "gym talk" and so-called experts who know nothing about the body's workings.Myths that lead to wasted time, frustration and if are taken blindly as truth, can really set back your progress in the gym.
15 Muscle Building Rules for Skinny Guys and Gals!
WHY CAN'T YOU GAIN WEIGHT?Though there may be many reasons why you may be thin, the most apparent reason is because of your genetics. If your parents are naturally thin or have a small body frame, then you will most likely have the same small body type.
BMI Calculator Results
BMI, Body Mass Index, is the most popular and simple way that health professionals use to determine if you are a healthy weight. This article concerns how to interpret your results.
The MYTH of Gaining Muscle Without Fat!
Many of you have expressed concerns about gaining too much body fat while on such a high calorie diet, and wonder if you should do some aerobic exercise to offset the weight gain.Absolutely not.
The Role Of Whey Protein In Achieving Significant Muscle Gain
Most bodybuilders would agree that supplementing with whey protein is an important element in achieving serious muscle gains. This article will examine the facts relating to whey protein as a supplement and help you decide whether you need to follow this particular strategy.
Planting And Nurturing Your Contacts And Resources
The success level of your bodybuilding endeavors is highly determined by the contacts and resources that you posses and have access to, as well as these that you can offer to the world of bodybuilding.Success is achieved through desire dedication, effort, simplicity, and consistency.
Balance Is Key To The Optimum Physique
As Purposeful Primitives we understand the need practice two distinct types of training: progressive resistance for the external musculature and cardiovascular training for the internal plumbing. In addition, training need be coordinated with a distinct eating regimen that amplifies instead of retards results.
Exercise The Right Way - The Leg Curl
Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuilders' training regimes.
Machine Exercises That Suit Beginners
The aim for beginners to weight training must be to lay the foundations for the intensive workouts that their bodies will eventually be subjected to. Obviously successful bodybuilding involves bringing together disparate elements such as nutrition and rest but choosing the right exercises is crucial.
Know Your Muscle Building Exercises - The Shoulders
Every bodybuilder and weight trainer will have his or her favorite exercises for each body part. That's how it should be - as you progress through the various stages of learning you'll understand what works best for you.
Exercise The Right Way - The Flat Dumbbell Fly
Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuilders' training regimes.
Secret Training Tip #242 - Be 10% Stronger in Leg Curls Instantly!
This is a trick to be done on a leg curl machine. By simply changing where you grip your hands on the machine, you can increase your strength in the movement by as much as 10% instantly!Lie face down on the bench as you normally would when doing the exercise.
Exercise The Right Way - The Vertical Chest Press
Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuilders' training regimes.
Fitness & Muscle Building Know How for Hard Gainers
Hard gainers are individuals who train equally hard as other people but somehow fail to make any gains comparable to others. They need a lot more than hard training.
Get A Grip! Get More Out Of Your Biceps Curls
Would you like to know how to get more out of every single dumbell curl you do? Amazingly enough, you can do this simply by changing where you grip the dumbell.First, I'm going to tell you what the trick is, then I'm going to tell you exactly how and why it works.
Why my Lactate Threshold Training is better than any other Strength Training System
It's a very simple training system. Consisting of using your body in space with simple counts.
The Amazing Benefits of Resistance Training
When it comes to exercise, resistance training is often overlooked. Resistance training is an essential part of any fitness program and has many amazing benefits.
How To Get The Greatest Possible Muscle Gains... And... Still Have Time Left Over To Just Goof-Off!
The number one thing you need to get from this article is this. Significant increases in the muscular size of any particular muscle group, can not be achieved without similar increases throughout the entire body.
Bodybuilding Benefits - The Price for Confidence!
Success came to me at an early age. However, it did not come without a price.
The Ultimate Hard Body Exercise
The Front Squat:As you may have already discovered, the squat is at the top of the heap (along with deadlifts) as one of the most effective overall exercises for stimulating body composition changes (muscle gain and fat loss). This is because exercises like squats and deadlifts use more muscle groups under a heavy load than almost any other weight bearing exercises known to man.