Strength training involves the use of equipment that allows for varying resistance. This resistance can be in the form of "free weights" like dumbbells and dumbbells, machines that use cables or pulleys to help you lift weights, and body weight exercises like pull-ups or dips.
Free Weights vs Machines vs Body weight Exercises.
For maximum muscle gain, the focus of your training should include weightless exercises. Not machines or bodyweight exercises. That's not to say you shouldn't use machines or bodyweight exercises, but they shouldn't be the focus of your workout. To get an effective muscle training session, you need to stimulate as many muscle fibers as possible, machines don't.
The main reason for this is the lack of development of the stabilizing and synergistic muscles. The stabilizing and synergistic muscles are the supporting muscles that help the main muscle perform a complex lift.
The more stabilizers and synergists act, the more muscle fibers are stimulated. Multi-joint freestyle exercises, such as bench presses, require multiple stabilizing aids and muscle synergies to complete the lift. On the other hand, performing bench presses by machine will require almost no help from a stabilizer.
Because the machines are locked to a specific range of motion and help support the weight along that line, they cannot stimulate the muscles around the area you are working (the stabilizer). That's a mistake. If your stabilizers are weak, the core will never grow!
For example, exercises with free weights such as dumbbells or squats will stress the supporting muscle groups. This is why you'll tire faster and won't be able to lift as much weight as you would on the machine. But you will gain more muscle, get stronger very quickly and have a true measure of your strength.
If you use machines in your program, they should be used to work in isolated areas and only after all multi-joint exercises have been performed.
Beginners should start with a limited combination of machine exercises, bodyweight exercises, and multi-joint free weight exercises. Before increasing the weight, they should try to familiarize themselves with the proper form and execution for each level. Soon, bodyweight exercises will become insufficient to stimulate growth and they will have to focus on more free weight exercises.
Multi-joint exercises
Exercises that work large muscle groups are called compound (or multi-joint) movements that involve simultaneous stimulation of multiple muscle groups. These compound exercises should be the foundation of any strength training program because they stimulate the most muscles in the least amount of time.
Here are the basics:
Bench Press (chest, shoulders, triceps)
Overhead Press (shoulders, triceps)
Pull-ups / Dumbbells (back, biceps)
Squats (legs, lower back)
Deadlifts (legs, back, shoulders)
Bar Dips (shoulders, chest, arms)
I cannot stress enough the importance of these exercises. Don't start an advanced bodybuilding program without them!
They will overload your entire skeletal and muscular system that no other machine can do, helping you to exercise effectively in a very short time. If you can only do a few exercises, do them. They've been proven (and not just by me) to encourage muscle gain and strength unlike any other.
Lifting heavy weights
To gain weight, you must train with heavy weights. My weight means a weight that is a challenge for you, not me or anyone else. To consider heavy weights, you should only do up to 8-12 reps before the muscle temporarily breaks down. Weight is considered "light" if you can do more than 15 reps before fatigue begins.
Heavy weights stimulate more muscle fibers than lighter weights. It is very simple. More muscle stimulation means more muscle growth.
Don't over-exercise
Exercising with heavy weights puts stress on your body, so it's important to rest and recover adequately from your workout. If you tend to train too often, a few things will happen:
You're not giving your muscles enough time to recover between workouts. If your muscles haven't been repaired, you won't reach peak strength for the next workout. Rest is essential. Aside from eating, this should be your main focus.
You are exhausting yourself or getting injured. I know you're motivated and excited to work out, but don't be sloppy. You have to speed yourself up, you want to be able to sustain that for a long time, without getting burned out until you reach your goal. I only lift weights 3 times a week, that's all. Much more and I won't give my body enough time to repair and build new muscle.
Contrary to popular belief, you don't grow by training, you only grow by resting.
Here is an example of batch training. I did heavy sets,-8 reps each.Wednesday (legs, abs)
Heavy squat, leg super extension
Sitting calves, doing
strings
Crunches (sets of 20 reps)
Friday (chest, shoulders, triceps, abs)
Flat bench press, incline push-up
Shoulder press, horizontal push-up
Tricep push-up
Reverse leg lift (3 sets) 20)
Sunday (Back, Biceps, Abs)
Wide Grip Pull-Up, Lat Bar Pull-Up Superset
EZ Bar Biceps Curl, Superset
Crunches (sets of 20)Nothing fancy, but effective.
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