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[W346]Weights To Build Muscle

by Derek Manuel, Der

One of the main causes of failure when it comes to gaining weight and building muscle mass is lack of strength. A key basic principle when it comes to weight training and bodybuilding that should never be forgotten is the concept of progressive overload. In other words, you have to constantly be lifting heavy weights to build muscle.

A basic law of nature that applies in bodybuilding just as much as anything else in life is that growth can only occur when there is resistance. In weight training, if you stop adding weight to an exercise your weight and muscle mass gains will soon come to a halt, sooner if you are an advanced trainer.

So if you are wondering what is the best way to build muscle fast and you haven't seen any measurable results lately, you may want to take a second look at your poundage's. If this is the problem, then the quickest way to bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be (bigger and stronger) is to engage in a workout that focuses strictly on boosting your strength levels way up.

The best way to do this is to pick 3 to 5 of the most basic and demanding compound exercises for both your upper and lower body and focus on just increasing your strength on these exercises. This is because when you increase your strength on basic compound exercises, you also increase your strength on the dozens of other exercises with those particular muscles.

For example, if you increase your bench press strength for a while, you will also be increasing the amount of weight you can use for other chest and tricep exercises such as fly's, incline and decline presses, tricep push-downs, and so on.

The five best compound exercises on the planet are squats, deadlifts (both regular and stiff-legged), the bench press, bent-over rows, and shoulder presses, preferably all with the barbell. Focusing on adding weight on these few exercises two to three days a week will add tremendous strength and power to your frame, setting you up after for muscle mass building routines. In fact, this is a great workout program for hardgainers who are having a hard time gaining weight and building muscle.

One key point is that your strength program should be used as a means to build momentum for your workouts for muscle mass after. So after you have built your strength and power for a couple of months on these few exercises the worst thing you can do is take a long break. Just take 7 to 10 days off and get right into your workouts for muscle mass.

Your new and improved strength will be a huge leverage tool for many other exercises enabling you to stimulate more muscle fibers and ultimately build a mass of muscle like never before.

One of the debates that continues to rage-on in gyms around the globe is whether free weights or machines are more effective at building muscle. The strange thing is, the only people still debating this are those who are relatively new to lifting weights. Those who have lifted weights for years know through experience which is better.

I’ll go ahead and kill the suspense here: free weights are better for building muscle than machines (if you didn’t already know). The primary reason is that they force your body to work against resistance in a three-dimensional environment. Machines are typically one-dimensional or two-dimensional at best. This also makes the strength gained from free weight exercises more transferable to daily activities, since nearly everything you do requires strength in all three dimensions.

Not only that, but free weights are also better for the long-term health of your joints. Because they don’t keep you locked-in to a set movement pattern you can move as your body is intended to move. This reduces the wear-and-tear on the joints.

But there are advantages to machines. Machines only make your muscles work in one or two dimensions, which decreases the activation of your stabilizer muscles. While this is typically thought of as a negative, this property of machines can actually be used to help us build more muscle.

I find that the stabilizer muscles are often the first to fatigue in a free weight movement. By incorporating machine exercises we take the fatigued stabilizers out of the movement and put all of the stress directly on the muscles we want to target.

With that said, I firmly believe that machine exercises should play a much smaller role than free weight exercises in any fast muscle building program. This is particularly true for beginning and intermediate lifters.

I often see skinny guys in the gym load up a bench press machine with 4 plates per side for a tough set. Yet they can’t even do 2 plates on a free weight bench press. But if you ever see someone free weight bench press 4 plates per side (405 pounds) I can guarantee you that they are a large human-being.

This simple real-world example illustrates why the focus of your training should be free weight exercises. But keep in mind that simply throwing a bunch of free weight exercises together and calling it a fast muscle building program won’t bring you consistent results. There are a lot of variables to consider when designing a training program, and exercise selection is only one of them.

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Both Derek Manuel & Tony Schwartz are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Derek Manuel has sinced written about articles on various topics from Build Muscle, Bodybuilding Supplements and Build Muscle. Derek Manuel is the author of the best-selling, How to Gain Weight and Build Muscle for Hardgainers. If you want to learn how you too can gain 20 to 30 pounds of solid muscle in as short as 8 weeks, or if you just want more quality informati. Derek Manuel's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.

Tony Schwartz has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, Build Muscle and Fitness. Get a and a FREE. Tony Schwartz's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.