DO... THE BASICS RIGHT
It’ s a tried and trusted fact that the basics build muscle. If your goal is to gain serious mass you have to perform the bread-andbutter basics like squats, bench presses and deadlifts. Do them religiously and then reassess the situation. Do what works for you though. We are all built differently and we all react differently to exercises. So stick to the basics but if your shoulders hurt while doing a bench press, find an alternative and don’ t continue with it just because your favourite bodybuilding icon swears by it.
DON’ T... BELIEVE THAT MORE EQUALS MORE
The less time you train the better. If your workout lasts
more than 60 minutes your blood sugar levels drop and cortisol, a catabolic hormone that promotes muscle breakdown and fat storage, will increase. Keep your workouts short but intense. The human body is good at finding the path of least resistance and once it becomes good at performing an exercise it will find a way to complete the movement in the easiest manner possible. If you want to continue making gains work out smarter, not longer.
DO... SET A NUMBER OF GOALS
Making significant gains in muscle size takes a lot of consistent, hard work under heavy loads. However, to achieve your ultimate muscle-building goal you need a concrete plan and a roadmap to get there. Even if it is as simple as adding an extra 5kg onto your bench press each week or curling a bigger dumbbell than last week, setting a number of smaller, more achievable goals along the way will move you closer to your ultimate goal. Without these small advancements you are destined to hit a slump and will often lose the motivation needed to add slabs of solid muscle due to workout stagnation.
“ SETTING A NUMBER OF SMALLER, MORE ACHIEVABLE GOALS ALONG THE WAY WILL MOVE YOU EVER CLOSER TO
YOUR ULTIMATE MUSCLE-BUILDING GOAL.”
DON’ T... GET STUCK
We often work our butts off while thinking that we’ re becoming stronger and fitter when a routine becomes easier. This is usually not the case – the mind and body will grow accustomed to what you put it through. As such you will not be successful if you blindly follow a routine without any variation. It is therefore a good idea to change your workouts from time to time. Try a different routine every six to eight weeks or change your rep or set schemes, the order of the exercises you do or replace a specific exercise with something else to work the body from a different angle. This keeps things interesting and ensures you don’ t plateau or stagnate.
DON ' T... BE A SLAVE TO STATS
In the gym, like all other facets of life, we have numbers and statistics to track, measure, gauge, and analyse our progress. Although this information can provide valuable feedback, you can become too obsessive about the numbers and this can kill the joy of working out altogether. Although you have to force yourself to push through mental and physical barriers to reach your goals, and tracking your latest poundages in a training journal offers insights into what to do next, don ' t forget to let yourself simply enjoy the experience of lifting weights every now and then.
DO... EAT CORRECTLY
Heavy weight training creates the stimulus for growth, whereas the right types and ratios of macronutrients fuel that growth. By eating sufficiently before and after a workout you’ ll ensure that working muscles have everything they need to work optimally and grow bigger and stronger than before following those intense training sessions.
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