Muscle building seems to be all the rage these days. Whether you’re working out at home or heading to a yoga studio, you’re sure to perform strength training exercises that are targeted at building muscle and promoting overall strength.
If you’ve become a regular at the gym, there’s no doubt that you have a few go-to exercises that you love to do. While regular exercise is extremely beneficial for your overall health, it is also important that you switch up your workouts every now and then.
If you are finding it difficult to gain the amount of muscle you’d like, it could be that your body has adapted to your workout and therefore not giving you the results that you want.
Switching up your workouts every now and then allows for your routine to be interesting and helps you to constantly work on achieving results.
Tips to Spruce Up Your Muscle Building Workouts
Simply lifting more weights is not the answer. It’s time to spruce up your muscle building routine and change it up to boost muscle growth and burn fat.
Tip No. 1: Increase the intensity
The intensity of your exercises is directly related to building muscle. The more intense your workout, the more muscle you will build. Therefore, it is crucial to constantly challenge yourself by increasing the intensity of your workouts.
Sometimes when we perform the same routine time and time again, we might not realize we’re reducing the intensity at which we are exercising and therefore hindering our ability to promote muscle growth.
Tip No. 2: Switch up the order of your exercises
If you’ve been doing compound exercises first followed by isolated exercises, switch it up to perform isolated exercises first the next time you’re are the gym.
Remember, the body will eventually adapt to your routine. Therefore, make it a point to change the order in which you perform your routine to prevent your body from adapting and achieving the gains you want.
Tip No. 3: Try drop sets
Drop sets might be a good way to really spruce up your routine. Drop sets involve the technique of slowly dropping off weight to continue performing more reps at a lighter weight.
This technique allows for more blood to target the muscles and causes increased muscle tears that when given the rest it needs to repair will promote more muscle growth.
Tip No. 4: Work on slow and controlled reps
Performing slower reps with control is key to adding more stress to the muscles and promoting muscle building. Whether this means you need to use a lighter set of weights, slower reps will ultimately give you the results you want to see.
According to muscleandstrength.com, it is recommended to use the 3-1-3 count while performing reps. This involves counting “1 one thousand” three times on the way down, pausing for “1 one thousand” and counting “1 one thousand” again on the way up.
Tip No. 5: Incorporate pyramid sets
To incorporate pyramid sets, you will start with lighter weight and then work your way up to heavier weights as you continue your workout.
Make sure to prepare your muscles with a good warm-up and choose a weight that you know you will be able to perform 12 reps of the exercise you want to do. As you add on more weights, make sure you are working slowly and with control.
Tip No. 6: Allow for a week of rest
One cannot stress the importance of rest days for your muscles, especially when you have put them through a vigorous workout regimen during the week. If you need to take a week off from the gym, listen to your body.
When it comes to building muscle, rest is important because it is during the muscle recovery phase that the body is able to repair and rebuild muscles to become stronger and bigger.
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References:
M&S. (2015, April 16). 15 Ways To Switch Up Your Muscle Building Routine. Retrieved from https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/switch-up-your-bodybuilding-routine.html
