Fitness Training Tips to Build Quality Muscle

Good quality muscle comes from hard work, as cliché as that sounds it is also fact. Set realistic goals, have good technique, train all muscles keep a diary, eat well and rest. Goals are essential; they can act as a motivator and as a guide. For example, if you aim to bench press 80kg and in the seventh week of your plan you are benching 70kg, the extra 10kg may act as an incentive and can force out those few extra reps! Also, if it took you ten weeks to hit a specific goal for one group of muscles, then it is likely ten weeks is also a good guide for other muscle groups. So, if after eight weeks you have still not hit your goals you know there is still another two weeks available.

Good technique, arguably the most important aspect of training. The reason being, poor technique can be the difference between working your desired muscle group and working a completely different set of muscles altogether. Take standing dumbbell biceps curls as an example, keep the shoulders rigid and the elbow still, thus focussing the weight on the bicep muscle. When people tire they tend to swing the arm up with aid from the shoulder and force out those last few reps, the problem being the biceps are now assisted by the trapezius and deltoids- meaning less strain is placed on the biceps and therefore less chance of muscle growth. A way to avoid this is to use a mirror; a slow controlled movement will always point you in the right direction toward correct technique. Also, bring a partner, when the body is straining to force out that last rep, your focus probably will not be on is my technique right. A partner will be able to see all of the movement and critique it appropriately.

An imbalance can cause injury, hamstrings to quadriceps should be at least 60 percent but ideally 75 percent (one rep max of each then divide the hamstrings by the quadriceps). So, another tip is to train all muscles, the ‘beach body’ effect (large pectorals, biceps and abdominals) increases the chances of injury massively. A good way to ensure all muscles are being worked is to keep a diary- there are so many muscles it can be hard to remember exactly what weight you performed repetitions on the previous week. Simply writing, ‘bench-80kg’ can save time and decreases the chances of mistake and injury! It also ties in with the goals you should be setting, if in week six you bicep curled 20kg, week seven you could try 22.5kg, if this is too high, drop back to the 20kg you were doing last week but do not drop below.

Many bodybuilding forums will tell you, ‘decrease carbs, increase protein’, sounds good but actually it isn’t. Carbohydrates keep blood sugar levels constant thus, reducing fat storage and promoting the release of insulin. Insulin is the body’s natural anabolic hormone- it promotes muscle development. Eating carbohydrates straight after training prompts an insulin spike and puts your body into ‘growth mode’.

Lastly, rest! Muscles do not grow when you work out, they only grow when you rest work a specific muscle group once per week. So maybe, work biceps and pectorals on Monday and then different groups every other day of the week but do not train these two again until the following Monday. Also, sleep well- growth hormone releases when you sleep promoting muscle growth.