Gaining muscle is easy once you understand the basics (and it took me years to learn them - not quite sure why). There are four components to it:
1. Eating like a horse (the right foods of course)
2. Completely destroying your muscles in a workout
3. A whole lot of rest
4. Avoid Adaptation
You do those four things and do them well or at least consistently and I guarantee you will add muscle to your body (within your genetic limits).
How to Eat to Gain Muscle Mass
Eating the right foods is covered in the boxing nutrition portion of this website.
How to Completely Annihilate your Muscles
Your muscles are made up of two different kinds of fibres - fast twitch and slow twitch (as the theory goes). Slow twitch are involved in the endurance activities such as long distance running and as such you end up with small, lean muscles. Fast twitch are involved in the powerful motions, powerlifting and the like and as a result developing them gives you large powerful muscles.
Boxers need a combination of the two which leads to a well defined, yet highly powerful physique. I would consider a boxer's physique as the most highly tuned physique the human body can reach because of that combination. At any rate, to develop muscle, every workout you do must tear them apart.
The more you tear apart a muscle during a workout, the bigger it will get.
When you workout you are causing microtears in your muscle. This is actual muscle damage. Your muscle gets bigger when those tears are repaired in the REST periods after your workouts. See where point 3 comes into play. The actual muscle growth occurs when your body is at rest - sleeping, watching TV, or generally being a lazy SOB.
Therefore, the more damage you can cause to your muscles during a workout, the more growth you will experience. I'm not talking injury damage here, I'm talking stressing them to the max.
Your big muscle groups are capable of performing 3-5 exercises per group (will vary slightly, but this is the norm) before being completely fatigued. When attempting to build mass, you must concentrate on basic movements which target these large groups and focus less on defining your muscles (targetting the fast twitch fibers). Your seven major muscle groups are:
1. Chest
2. Back
3. Biceps
4. Triceps
5. Legs
6. Shoulders
7. Abs
A workout should target those groups and annihilate them with every workout. To do that, you want to use the most possible resistance you can and do it for few repetitions. The sheer weight you are lifting will limit the amount of repetitions you can do anyways.
Rest - The Magic Ingredient
Growing up, being the skinny kid, I figured if I lifted weights everyday, twice or three times a day I would put on huge slabs of muscle and be able to walk around town, feared and intimidating. Yeah, didn't work.
I was missing this component and really had myself believing that I couldn't put on muscle sitting on my ass. I was so wrong. When I finally incorporated adequate rest into my workout schedule, I immediately started having gains I only dreamed of in the years prior. Why had I been so stubborn to heed this advice?
Your muscles need between 24 and 72 hours of rest in order to fully recover from a workout. Exactly how much time depends on you and your genetics. Generally speaking, allowing 48 hours between workouts and up to 72 hours between leg workouts will allow sufficient time for your muscles to repair themselves before you tear them apart again.
That recovery time could be longer if you do not follow a proper nutrition plan. Your muscles need the proteins and other nutrients necessary to conduct the repairs. It's like trying to repair a car without spare parts - not going to happen unless you're McGyver (okay I just aged myself with that comment...)
Here is where the dilemma occurs. You can't possibly work out all of your major muscle groups, giving each group your unbridaled focus and fury, and still be living at the end of the workout. As such, you need to sequence and split your workouts and target specific groups during specific workouts. You then have to schedule those workouts taking into account the principle of rest.
Sound hard, it's not so bad. Here's an example:
First, the usual groupings:
1. Chest/Back
2. Biceps/Shoulders
3. Triceps/Legs
4. Abs are a unique case - I will explain.
Doing this is called a split routine. Abs are unique in that they do not react to growth the same way as most of your other muscles. They, like your calves, usually require a large number of repetitions in order to stimulate growth. As such, they are usually conducted daily giving much less time for rest. A set or two of abs on a daily basis will yeild results in proportion to the rest of your development.
Plugging the groupings into a schedule:
* Sunday - Rest Day
* Monday - Chest/Back
* Tuesday - Biceps/Shoulders
* Wednesday - Triceps/Legs
* Thursday - Chest/Back
* Friday - Biceps/Shoulders
* Saturday - Triceps/Legs
* Abs everyday or every second day
You can further target a specific muscle group (and shorten your workouts) by doing a daily split - conducting two workouts, one in the morning and one in the evening. So take Monday for instance - in the morning you would kill your Chest and in the evening, kill your Back. This allows you to concentrate much more fully on that muscle group and focus is key. It does you no good to go through the motions, you have to really focus on making your muscles work for the duration of the exercise.
The biggest thing about rest is that when you aren't working out with heavy weights and low reps, you are resting. That doesn't mean going and playing a game of football, or running or cardio of any sort. To put on muscle fast, do nothing but workout, sleep and eat. It may not be incredibly healthy, but you will put on muscle very quickly. I'd recommend tempering the speed you want to add muscle with a little common sense and incorporate a little cardio - but realize it will hamper gains.
Avoiding Adaptation - Swindling Darwin
Your muscles will eventually adapt to whatever program you put them on no matter how much weight you are trying to lift (which in itself will eventually reach a max). When that happens, you're muscle growth will plateau and you will experience few to any significant gains.
To avoid this you must constantly keep your muscles guessing. You can do this by:
* Increasing weight (Progressivity)
* Introducing new exercises
* Supersets
* Negatives
* Forced Reps
* Partial Reps
* Isolation Training
* Forced Negatives
* Cheating
* Staggered Sets
* Stripping
* Isotension
* Instinctive Approach
* Pre-Exhaustion
* I go/you go
* Flushing
* One and a halves
* Platoon System
* Ballistic Training
(I'm working on a glossary for the site, so definitions for these will be up shortly, for now, just realize there are ways of overcoming adaptation)
So there you have it. A surefire way to add heaps of muscle to your body. If you want to gain muscle and gain muscle quick, follow these principles and give one of these workouts and programs a go.
If you like this post then please consider subscribing to my full feed RSS. You can also subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.
Get all your boxing equipment in the How to Box Store:
Here's A Few More Related Posts
Fight Club
Boxing Schedule
Boxing Results
Boxing Links
Progress Reports
Boxing Videos
Boxing Forums
Live Boxing
gaining muscle mass
Once - if you kill it
getting abs
Situps are only half of the equation
You can do a million situps and never see your abs if you aren't eating right. Check the boxing nutrition portion of the site to see how to lose the body fat you have. Once that happens you will see your abs and develop a six pack, but no number of situps is going to make them pop out if you do not decrease the amount of body fat you are carrying on your body.
A program incorporating good nutrition and strength training can have your abs showing in a few weeks - depending of course on how much fat you are starting with.
hi
the most important thing in getting "abs" is to expose the muscle that everyone has. everyone. which wuld include losing bodyat. That invovlves strict cardio, and an even more of a strict diet. 4get sit ups. what s the point of haven big stomach muscles if theyre coverdm by 3 inched of bodyfat?
bench press
Bench Press
Free weights, on the other hand, result in the development of smaller stabilizer muscles that help to stabilize the weight as you lift it. Just think about a machine, you either push it up or resist the bar as it comes down - there is only one way it can go. Lifting a free weight, though, the bar could go anywhere besides straight up and down, therefore smaller muscles you don't regularly target up towards your shoulders and down towards your lats also get worked. In addition to all that, there are different parts of your chest (upper and lower pectorals that can be developed using variations of the bench press.Specifically the muscles that the bench press motion will benefit the most are the pectorals (upper and lower), triceps, and front deltoids (shoulders). The beauty about a bench and barbell is that you can use it to develop pretty much any muscle you want. Did that clarify things a bit?
replying
Actually
should i be worried?
Re: Gain Muscle Mass and Size
Re: Gain Muscle Mass and Size
Re: Gain Muscle Mass and Size
send to take advice
hints and tips
well i stay in miami and the thing is that thers no boxing gym around,i need tips and hints on how can i maintain the right weight lifting so that i can have the right muscle mass, and learn how to box plz e-mail me
I just started working out
Question about the muscle gaining
muscle gain
RE: How to Completely Annihilate your Muscles
weight gain
for boolie
thanks
abs
plus i don't have any
abs
need help
help again
benchpress
my frinend
Working out is fine at a
Long distance running and lifting
It is true that long
Long distance
Ditch the Split
Look at the title
@MossH521 - First off, I appreciate the in depth comments and thought you seem to be putting into your comments. However, in case you didn't notice, the title of the post is "Gain Muscle Mass and Size". For the most part I don't disagree with a lot of what you are saying, but you are saying it in the wrong context. Mass building is the domain of bodybuilders and one would be stupid not to look at the experts to see what they do. I'm not talking the steroid freaks here, but bodybuilders have perfected adding slabs of muscle to their frames. If that is your primary goal - then don't ditch the split -- embrace it.
To address your points:
1. You can get more work done -- Okay, but what is the quality of the work you are doing. You simply cannot train with the same intensity every muscle group of your body everyday. I even question whether you are getting more work done. Think about it, how many sets can you do per muscle group in a full body workout - 2 maybe and make it through every muscle group. Can you do that everyday? No. Therefore, you drop to 2-3 workouts a week for a maximum of 6 sets per muscle group a week. In a split routine, you can train each muscle group for more sets - 4 is not unrealistic. Assuming you only get two sessions in a week, you are already doing more work than you would on a full body workout and if you cycle every 48-72hours, you are likely getting closer to 12 sets per muscle group a week.
2. You can train movements, exercises, or target specific objectives more frequently -- you can train anything as often as you want, but if you think that is going to grow muscle mass and size, you're out to lunch. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this -- I assume it is similar to point 1 in that you can fit more full body routines into your schedule?? Care to clarify?
3. Full body workouts burn more calories than splits -- Sure they do, but guess what - when you are attempting to gain muscle mass and size, you don't want to burn calories, you need a caloric surplus (of the right nutritional mix) in order to promote growth and repair WHILE you rest. I agree they do burn more calories -- but again, wrong context. This is one reason full body workouts form a critical part of the 12 week boxing program on the site - cause it is designed to get you in shape, but not necessarily grow gigantic muscles.
4. Full body workouts can be more creative and there are many more exercise options -- There is an endless supply of creativity whether it is for a full body workout or on a split routine. One can always think of a different way to push or pull something -- that's not the point. The point is what is most effective and resistance training (weights) is used by the experts (bodybuilders) to increase size. The split is not meant to challenge your creativity, it is to add muscle and it allows you to train at the intensity required to do that consistently.
5. Full body workouts enhance functional strength -- so you're saying everyone who uses split routines look big, but can't run or use the muscles they have. Even if that were true, the aim here again is to add muscle, not necessarily use it in the sport you are building it for. You can either choose to bulk up or get cut or work on skill development - they don't work together (and see the same rate of results).
6. Full body workouts allow you to focus on multiple athletic objectives. I hope you're not suggesting you can train each of the goals you listed there at the same time during the same workout. For the record conditioning encompasses all of those items. Any workout should have a singular goal or aim to it. That way, you know what your training session is focusing on. To say I'm going to train for speed and maximal strength today is flawed. Think about it, you go for maximal strength in squats (heavy weights) and then think you are going to be able to push out some high speed sprints or vice versa. Not likely.
7. Full body workouts allow you to maximize your time and intensity - Sorry, plain flat out disagree. In this context, you are getting more bang for your buck following a split routine where you can truly focus on one muscle part - destroy it with ultra high intensity -- and then let it rest while you repeat to another muscle group, eventually completing the entire cycle encompassing all muscle groups. It allows sufficient rest time inbetween workouts for repair and ensures the next time you train that muscle group, it is ready to be trained. It helps prevent injury and overuse.
If you had made these comments elsewhere where they pertained to overall fitness, skill development or even a cutting or weight loss phase, I'd be more supportive of your opinion, but in terms of adding mass, full body workouts will not show you the same results a split routine will.
only 15
some help plz
Hey i'm 13 and i've been tryin to work on ma biceps and ma stomach.
I find i can do about 30-40 pressups and 50-60 sittups a night i waswondering if tht was enoughor what.
also see how you said about rest well its quite hard 4 me seeing as i have school and stuff to rest for a whole day. any advice?
I've been checking this
I've been checking this site out a bit, and I have some questions about my current workout and if I'm getting the maximum benefit from it. My trainer has me doing upper body one day, then lower body the next. Saturday and Sunday are my rest days. I do about 12 reps on each machine. By the end I'm pretty well worn out. Is this a good workout for building mass or should I ask him about your methods?
It's a split
Depends, if you're fairly new to weightlifting, what you are doing is a type of split routine and will be good to build a solid foundation from which you can increase the intensity.
I wouldn't say it is ideal for mass building, but again, it depends on your experience level. Once you are comfortable with the movements and have basically toned/balanced out your entire body, he'll probably change your workout to something more like what I've described above - a further split of your routine, much heavier weights, and a wider range of reps (4-12) over more sets.
Again, this is just speculation without knowing anything about your experience or your trainer.
Question about benchpressing.
Ok, so, I know that free weights are harder than a machine chest press, but how much really? I do a chest press at my gym, but its not like the laying down kind. It sits up and pushes out. So, I was really wondering how much of a difference it is on free weights.
The difference
The difference is that with the machine, you are not using any of the smaller stabilizer muscles required to hold the free weight steady as you push it up. The machine takes care of all that for you. To completely isolate your pecs, the machine is good because your smaller muscles (shoulders, etc...) used to stabilize the bar are taken out of the equation, but in the end, you want your stabilizer muscles to be just as developed as the rest of you.
I'm not totally against machines, but given the choice, I'll use free weights.
I was also wonder about
I was also wonder about weight difference. If you can lift so much on a machine, doesn't that mean you can only lift so much with free weights? Assuming you have been working only with a machine.
Resting
Good site this :)
Thought I might add some knowledge to what you say about resting the muscles. While what you claim about sleeping and doing nothing is good way to restore your muscles. What actually works better is light exercise. Most top athletes will do this too restore themselves faster after hard workouts.
Typically doing any exercise that involves the whole body will be beneficial i.e. light jogging, light sparing.
The theory behind this that when working out your body/muscles produce waste products (such as lactic acid). To help the body flush them out of the system faster light exercise will help this process along because you get the blood circulation going. It also helps to ease the stiffness of your muscles because the waste products are transported away by the blood.
push ups
can i develop a muscular upper body by doing pushups alone.
do push up you can train
do push up you can train your triceps and back and chest biceps train abit only must see how you do it .
Im 14. I've been benching
Im 14. I've been benching for a little while now. My maxium bench is around 120 pounds, my maxium curl is only around 70 pounds. When I workout I usually only bench 70-80 pounds and get around 20 reps. When I curl I curl 45lbs, with around 10 reps, should I add more weight since after every workout it seems like I don't tear my muscles?
Question Regarding SIze
I myself worked on my body for a very vey long time as well. I found that alot of people look for that "Miracle" thing that will help them turn from the skinny guy to a big bad man. The simple truth about that is that each individual is different. What works for one person most likely won't work for another person unless their bodies have the same conditions that cause them to have the "skinny" virus. [Note: that isn't an actual virus in case someone is confused.] I would just like to say that you have a nice site. Helpful in alot of ways. The one thing that i would like to see you add to this site is the one thing that i honestly believe matters the most about gaining mass if you are a small guy. A quick easy trip to the doctor. If you eat, eat, and eat. Still don't gain weight then take a trip to the local doc and tell him about your problem. 70% of the people that have a hard time gaining weight have certain medical conditions that interfere with their weight gain goals. Just my 2 cents.
how do i target both slow and fast twitch
I want to know how or if i can target both fast and slow twitch muscles but still gain muscle mass but still have my speed...
im training to become a police enforcement...
Why would you work out Chest
Why would you work out Chest and Tri's back to back days? They should be paired together should they not, since they often work together?
body mass
Hi, i'm 34yrs, 6 and 2inches, with a wieght of 170lbs. I would like to put on the mass quickly. I have lifted wieghts on and off again for 15 years now. My question is, at 34 years of age can i achieve a 220lb body frame?