Training Methods and Nutrition for Muscle Mass Building
Training Methods and Techniques for Building Muscle Mass
There are many ways to increase muscle mass through training. A training technique that helps stimulate growth is to slow down during the eccentric phases of lifts, that is the stretching phase or negative phase of a movement. Examples would include; when lowering the weight during shoulder presses or bicep curls, or downward movement when performing a squat. By slowing the movement down you are fighting against gravity and the muscle fibers are contracting and stretching at the same time. This causes friction and micro damage to fibers. This micro damage stimulates repair and growth.
It is also important to have a training split that works the same group of muscles twice in one week. This is sometimes called double-stimulus training. It gives the muscles enough time to repair and be worked about again. This is intense and demanding training with only one day of rest. It is essential to have enough sleep and proper nutrition with this type of training. With 8 hours of sleep (and if possible, a short nap right after training), the body will repair and release growth hormone. Make sure you eat enough protein (typically at least 1 gram per pound of body weight) in the day and at the right times. In a separate tip, I will go into further detail about nutrition for bodybuilding.
Training should be heavy, yet you want be able to finish at least 10 repetitions for hypertrophy to occur. A good idea is to set up a program with 4-5 sets for compound exercises (eg. squat, deadlift, lat pulldown, bench press). Rest times should be around 2 minutes to allow your blood pressure to recovery and creatine levels to restore. For the final set, try to work to failure.
