ASPIRE To be different /

Why You’re Not Packing on Muscle

 

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Do you spend hours in the gym, with nothing to show for it? Wondering why you’re not packing on muscle like the Hulk on steroids? There are a few reasons this might be happening. I can’t tell you specifically unless I know your situation, but chances are it’s down to at least one of the following things. Take a look:

 

You’re Doing too Much Cardio

If you’re doing a lot of cardio on top of your muscle building , then you could very well be counteracting it all. Although cardio can be great for cardiovascular health and keeping fat off, it can also contribute to catabolism. Catabolism is when the body uses muscles for fuel rather than fat; your body effectively eats your muscles. This only happens when you do too much cardio. What is too much for you might not be too much for someone else; everybody is different. One person may be able to stay lean without doing any cardio, while someone else may need to do 6 sessions a week. You need to experiment to see what allows you to keep the most muscle while avoiding that dreaded fat gain.

 

You’re Not Lifting Heavy Enough

Be honest with yourself; are your weights challenging? If not, you need to lift heavier. The art of building muscle is all about lifting weights heavy enough to tear your muscles. Sounds painful, and it probably will be the first few times you do it. But your body will soon get used to it, and you’ll get that satisfying ‘sore’ feeling afterwards. When your muscles tear and repair , they come back stronger and better than before. Light weights with lots of reps will not make a difference.

 

 

You’re Not Eating to Support Your Goals

You can lift as many heavy weights as you like, but if you’re not eating to support your goals, you won’t get anywhere. There are 3 main types of people: ectos, endos, and mesos. Ectos are naturally thin and will struggle to put on muscle; they need to eat the most. Endos will hold on to fat easily and will need to watch what they eat. Mesos are naturally muscular and athletic and should be able to build muscle/shed fat fairly easily. Know your body type, and eat to support your goals accordingly. You need lots of protein to support muscle building, and healthy fats. The amount of carbs you eat will usually depend on the body part you’ve trained that day and your body type. You can get more info on foods to eat here. Some people can afford to be simply ‘mindful’ of the things they eat, while others will need to count everything exactly. If you want it, you’ll do it no matter how much hassle!

 

You’re Not Resting

You need to take at least one rest day to allow your body to recover. Working hard every single day will be too taxing and you can stop your muscles from recovering. You need plenty of sleep too!

 

You’re Not Using Many Compound Exercises

Compound exercises work multiple muscles in the body rather than isolate a single muscle. Isolation exercises can help, but they aren’t the be all and end all. Focus on compound exercises for the best results.

 

Ready to get those muscles you’re longing for? Get started!

ASPIRE To be different /

5 Big Mistakes That Are Limiting Your Ability To Bulk Up

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One simple Google search will give you a tonne of advice on what you need to do to build muscle. In fact, on this very website you can find Mathews McGarry’s complete guide to packing on muscle mass. But, what a lot of the advice doesn’t do is outline what you need to avoid. See, putting on muscle is all about knowledge. And, if you don’t have the right amount of knowledge, you will do the wrong things. There are that many mistakes out there that it is just as important to know about the things you are doing wrong as well as the ones you are doing right.

 

  1. Taking Too Many Supplements

Never has the phrase the clue is in the title been as apt. Supplements are not a replacement for your entire diet. What they are is a tool that can fill in the gaps that you are missing from your regular diet. Don’t you eat enough fruit? That’s fine because you can take vitamin tablets to fill in the cracks. However, when you supplement them for your whole diet, you are taking away vital nutrients that your body needs to build muscle. Always consider a balanced diet first, and then add the supplement later.

 

  1. Overtraining

Training too hard is a condition that you want to avoid at all costs. There is almost a need to train as hard as physically possible because you feel better. You feel as if your training will be more effective. On the flip side, you are doing more damage to your muscles. When you exercise, you tear your muscles. For the most part, these are microscopic tears that do no damage. But, when you go too hard for too long, they become a problem and inhibit the muscles’ efficiency.

 

  1. Not Doing The Right Training

Obviously, you want to concentrate on training that aids muscle mass. The best chest exercises for mass are more pertinent to you than anyone else. Still, that doesn’t mean you can forget about cardio altogether. To get bigger, you need to lose the fat that surrounds your muscles, which is why Cardiovascular training is important. Think of your training like your diet – it should be balanced and well-rounded.

 

  1. Setting Unrealistic Targets

For one thing, you are not a pro athlete so don’t act like one. Unrealistic targets only help you do one thing – give up. When you are not hitting your targets, you feel disillusioned and won’t feel like carrying on with your program. Small goals are a great way to help you get to achieve your final target.

 

  1. Eating Dirty Calories

There is a myth that you can eat what you want as you are in training. That is a lie. Yes, you might develop a big chest and forearms, but you will also develop a big stomach. In reality, you want to eat more foods that are high in protein because muscles use protein to build and repair.

 

Now you know, you can hit the gym and start with renewed vigour.

ASPIRE To be different /

3 Tips To Help You Pack On Muscle And Get The Ultimate Beach Body

Summer may have ended, but that doesn’t mean your dreams of a beach body have to end too! There’s still time for you to make some gains and get in the best physical shape of your life. Looking for some ideas to help gain muscle? Take a look down below:

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Start Making Your Workouts More Intense

The key to the ultimate beach body is having a strong muscular body and very little fat. To do this, you’re going to need to start working out in a way that burns calories. If you’re stood in front of the mirror doing the same old bicep curl routine, you aren’t going to see results. It’s time you mixed things up a bit and altered your training style.

Start doing workouts that require you to activate more muscle fibres in your routines. Mix up the tempo of your lifts, if you slow things down, it gets way more intense. The more intense it is, the more effort you put it, which will show as you start sweating loads. Sweating is a good sign because it means you’re burning calories and shedding some of that fat away. I also recommend you get in a few cardio sessions during the week too. I’m not talking your boring treadmill cardio; I’m talking about HIIT. Get an HIIT circuit set up and you can shred some of that fat and look lean and muscular.

Performance Enhancing Supplements

If you want to gain muscle, then you need to have your supplement game on point. There’s no way you can get as big and lean as you want, without supplementation. Protein is an absolute must, along with creatine. These two supplements will help you recover faster, attack your workouts with more energy, and build more muscle. You should also look into things like pre-workouts that are designed to give you a performance boost before you hit the gym.

You could go down another route too and consider legal steroids. Steroids are often given a bad name and people are wary of them. According to Anabolic Pharma , steroids can increase muscle mass while reducing body fat. I won’t tell you that you should or shouldn’t use legal steroids, it’s up to you what you put in your body.

Eat The Correct Foods

We can talk all day about changing your workouts and supplementing things, but diet is also key. You won’t be able to achieve your true potential if you’re not eating properly, that’s a fact. If you want to look good, you have to eat good. Most guys go through a bulking phase and then a cutting phase. When you’re bulking, you eat loads of protein rich foods and complex carbs. You want to fuel your muscles with as much stuff as possible so they get bigger. Once you’re happy with your muscle size, you switch to a cutting diet to get rid of the fat. This means protein, but fewer carbs and calories. You want to shred all that fat but keep the muscle mass. Doing this will leave you looking huge and ready to strut your stuff and turn heads.