Weight Training Tips and Articles

Top Muscle Building Tips

A lot of guys who work out regularly are trying to find the top muscle building tips. Most newbies to weight training need some sort of guidance and advice on what exercises are the best to do and how to properly perform them. If you can afford it, you can always hire a personal trainer to set up a routine for you and show you how to perform all of the major weight training exercises. A more affordable option is to find great muscle building tips on the internet or in books and magazines on the subject.

One of the best muscle building tips when you start lifting weights is to set up a routine that you will stick with. At first you may want to do a few exercises for each muscle group since you are trying to learn proper form and the how much training you can handle at this time. When you do this you should start your workouts with bigger muscle groups and do the smaller muscles later. You should also focus the majority of your training on major compound exercises.

Learning proper form on all of the major weight training exercises is another one of the top muscle building tips. Performing your exercises properly is essential to targeting the muscles you are working out. Improper form won’t target them as well and may lead to an injury. Take the time to learn proper exercise form and you will reap the benefits.

If you’ve been training all of your muscles during each workout for a while and have learned proper exercises form you’ll likely get to the point where you want to do more work for each muscle. The top muscle building tip for this situation is to split up your weight training routine. The best way to do this is to follow a 3 way push-pull routine. This is how one looks:
Workout 1 - chest, shoulders, and triceps
Workout 2 - back and biceps
Workout 3 - legs.

When you follow a 3 way push pull routine one of the top muscle building tips is to take a day off in between each workout or after every 2 workouts. The abs recover faster than most muscle groups so you can train them during every other workout in this routine.

Another great muscle building tip is to train with high intensity. This means that you shouldn’t stop your working sets before you get to failure. Doing this will require a spotter to watch you on some exercises such as the bench press. A spotter can also assist you in getting some forced reps to boost the intensity of your training even further. Every time you weight train, you should be trying to do a little more weight or an extra rep or 2 on every set of every exercise.

Another one of the best muscle building tips is to avoid overtraining. It’s during the recovery time between workouts that your muscles actually grow. If you do too much during each workout or weight train too often you won’t give your muscles a chance to fully recover. It’s best to keep the duration of your weight training workouts at an hour or less and to lift 3 or 4 days per week.

Every weight trainer will hit a plateau in their strength and size gains at some point. The top muscle building tip for avoiding a plateau is to make regular changes to your routine. This will keep your muscles from getting too used to always doing the same things. The best ways to do this are to change the amount of reps you do per set and switch the exercises you perform.

Once you start following these top muscle building tips, you’ll be on the way to greater muscle size and strength gains.

How To Increase Bench Press Strength

Many weight trainers want to know how to increase bench press strength. There are many reasons for this. If people know that you’re a gym rat, they will almost certainly ask you how much you can bench. For powerlifters, it’s very important to have a bigger bench for competitions. Even if you are more about building size than strength, you still need to know how to increase bench pressing strength since lifting heavier weights will lead to size gains.

If you want to find out how to increase bench press strength, you must first make sure to use proper form when you bench. Bouncing the bar off of your chest to get the weight up or raising your entire body besides the upper back off the bench to decrease the distance you have to lift the weight are telltale signs of poor form. To bench press the right way for strength gains you need to keep a natural arch in your back while keeping your butt on the bench. You should also pull in your shoulder blades to pop your pectorals out. This will not only decrease the distance you have to lift the weight while using proper form, it will work your pecs more efficiently as well. You also need to lower the barbell to your chest slower with complete control of the weight. When the bar touches your chest, concentrate on exploding the weight up.

Another tip on how to increase bench press strength is to train with high intensity. If you never at least try to bench more weight you’ll never get any stronger. Always try to get more reps with the same weight as you did the last time you benched or try to to use more weight for the same amount of reps. These small gains will add up over time to a stronger bench press. You can also have a spotter assist you for an extra rep on the bench press for more intensity. As long as you train hard, you’ll gain strength and you won’t have to spend as much time in the gym.

There also some techniques you can try if you want to know how to increase bench press strength. One is to figure out what part of a bench press repetition you are weakest on and do sets that just focus on that part of the exercise. You can do this in a squat rack with stoppers set up that will force you to do partial reps that will help you get stronger in that part of a rep. Whether you have trouble getting the bar off your chest or locking out, you can use this technique to increase your benching strength.

For more tips on how to increase bench press strength, you should check out Blast Your Bench or Critical Bench. Both of these excellent programs will show you how to add as much as 50 pounds to your bench very quickly.

Best Weight Training Tips

Many people who are new to lifting weights are looking for the best weight training tips. There are certainly some things you can do to help you succeed quicker in your efforts to building muscle size and strength.

One of the best weight training tips when you first start out is to set up and follow a routine. For the first few weeks or so, you may want to train your whole body during every workout with a few sets per muscle group to get your body used to lifting. Make sure to train larger muscle groups first, and the smaller muscles later. Don’t waste your time with too many isolation exercises - focus mostly on the major compound ones like squats, bench presses, and deadlifts.

Another one of the best weight training tips is to learn proper lifting form on all the major exercises. If you start out by using poor exercise form, you’ll develop bad habits that will be tough to break later on. You can’t try to lift too much weight too soon and be forced to cheat all of the time, as it will likely lead to injury. If you do your exercises the right way, you’ll eventually build the size and strength you’re looking for.

After you’ve learned proper exercise form and want to do more training for each muscle group, you should split up your routine. The best weight training tip for this is to try a 3 way push-pull split routine. This routine looks like this:
Day 1 - chest, shoulders, and triceps (upper body muscles that “push” weight)
Day 2 - back and biceps (upper body muscles that “pull” weight)
Day 3 - legs
When you follow a routine like this, one of the best weight training tips is to take a day off in between each workout. You can also do some abdominal training at each workout.

Avoiding overtraining is another one of the best weight training tips. Your body needs a chance to recover from your workouts to grow bigger and stronger. If you do too many sets and exercises during each workout or train too often, your body won’t have the chance to rebuild after the breakdown it gets from intense weight training. Try to get your weight training sessions done in one hour or less and don’t lift more than 4 days per week.

The best weight training tip to avoid hitting a plateau in your gains is to make changes in your routine regularly. If you do the same thing every time you weight train, you will hit a wall at some point. Switch up some of the exercises you do or change your rep range per set to keep your body guessing.

Another one of the best weight training tips is to train with high intensity. Do reps until you are sure you can’t get one more. You should have a spotter watch you on some exercises just in case. If you don’t try to get an extra rep or lift a little bit more weight you’re not going to build strength and size as quickly as you could.

If you follow the best weight training tips and stick with a routine, you’ll succeed in getting a bigger and stronger physique.