If you want to build muscle, you know that bodybuilding workouts are very important, but did you know that HOW you work out is just as important as the fact that you do work out?
In fact, a lot of people work out hard, but they never see results, or results are very slow in coming. There are ways, though, to make your bodybuilding workouts their most effective, so that the effort you put in gives you maximum results
Here are five things you should be doing if you really want to build muscle:
Maintain Proper Form
It isn’t enough to just work out. You have to have proper form during your bodybuilding workouts. If you don’t have proper form, the muscles won’t be stressed properly so that they grow to their maximum potential. In addition, working out with improper form can increase your chances of injury.
Get Enough Sleep
You know your bodybuilding workouts are intense enough, but did you know that getting enough rest between them is just as important as the workouts themselves? That’s because your muscles don’t actually grow during your workouts. In fact, when you work out, you “injure” them ever so slightly, and it’s during the process of repair that your muscles actually grow. However, to repair and therefore grow muscles properly, you have to get enough sleep. Opt for at least eight hours a night if you’re working out intensely, more if needed.
Watch Out For Overtraining
It’s natural to think that adding more and more weight into your bodybuilding workouts quickly is going to give you fast results, but be careful. In fact, your body is actually going to start to break down muscle if you try to go too fast and you’ll actually lose muscle instead of gaining it. That’s not what you want, is it? So while you most certainly want to challenge yourself during your workouts, don’t take it too far or you’ll actually be hurting your progress — and may even injure yourself, too.
Keep Your Workout Sessions Relatively Brief
Again, just as with overtraining, it’s common to think that working out longer and harder is going to gain you more muscle, but again, that’s mistaken. Most serious bodybuilders opt for sessions that are about an hour long — very intense, of course, but no longer than an hour. Again, you want to make sure your muscles are stressed to their capacity, but you don’t want to overdo. By overdoing, you again begin to break down muscle instead of building it up. So keep your bodybuilding workout sessions to an intense hour in length, no more.
Supplements Are Not A Substitute For A Good Diet
Supplements are important to your workout routine, but they’re not going to replace a good diet with plenty of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, “good” fats like omega-3s, and fresh fruits and vegetables. So go ahead and supplement if you’d like to (and in fact, it is a good idea within reason), but don’t skimp on real food. Your body needs fuel to perform at its best, and that goes for your
bodybuilding workouts, too.
