Tag Archive for: Muscle Building On A Budget

Find the Right Muscle Building Workout For You

So you’ve decided you want to bulk up and gain some serious muscle mass but are unsure what exactly you need to be doing on a daily basis to achieve your goals. Unfortunately, finding the best workout for muscle mass is often the hardest part, and the place where most folks tend to slip up.

You see, everybody is different, and if you don’t find the right workout for you and your own situation, then you will struggle to reach your muscle building potential, and thereby make life more difficult and frustrating for yourself… and that just plain sucks, right?

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In this article I’d like to give some tips on the kind of questions you should be asking yourself when looking for the best workout for muscle mass. Use them as kind of a checklist and they’ll help you to find the right muscle building workout.

What Is Your Body Type?

This is one of the most important aspects and often overlooked by many folks searching for the best workout for muscle mass. Broadly speaking, there are 3 major body types – ectomorphs (naturally skinny, struggle to gain weight and muscle), mesomorphs (easily gain weight and muscle, naturally muscular), and endomorphs (gains weight easily, usually higher body fat levels).

The training routines for each of these body types will be notably different both in terms of exercises and nutrition. Find out what your body type and you’ll understand a lot more about what is the best workout for muscle mass.

What Level Are You At?

Are you a beginner who has never set foot in a gym, or are you a fitness fanatic that is looking to gain weight and pack on some muscle? Understanding your current fitness and muscular development level will help you find the workout and avoid pushing your body too much too quickly, or holding you back and preventing you from reaching your potential.

What Are Your Goals?

Are you a skinny guy or girl looking to add some serious slabs of muscle and gain weight, or are you somebody who is looking to gain some muscle while losing a lot of body fat in the process

Understanding what you want to achieve from your workouts is critical in finding the best workout for muscle mass, since you will need to adapt your training and nutrition requirements depending on your situation.

Does Your Muscle Mass Workout Combine Good Nutrition and Exercise Routines?

When you see a workout for muscle mass that you like, take a look to see if there is sufficient emphasis and guidance on the right approach to nutrition…if there isn’t, keep searching. Your diet and what you eat is absolutely critical if you want to see serious muscle mass gains. Any workout that doesn’t provide you with solid advice on what to eat and when to eat it, is not worth the time in my opinion.

How Flexible Is The Routine?

Does the workout allow you the ability to substitute certain exercises for others, as you may need to if working out at home or using an ill-equipped gym? Does the workout rotate training cycles which keep you changing your workout every few weeks? This is important as your body needs the constant stimulation and adaptation in order to continue building muscle.

How Often Are You Going To Be Working Out?

Does the workout allow you any off days or is it 6 days a week? In my experience, it is best to workout 3 – 4 times per week with rest days in between. This allows the optimum rest for your body to recover and develop muscle. Any more than this and you can stunt your muscular development by preventing your body’s natural recovery process. The best workout for muscle mass is one that will allow you to fit it into your current schedule and have the flexibility to move workout days around to suit.

Identify Your “Why” to Build Inner Motivation

One of the most important questions you should ask yourself when you’re beginning your body-building journey is: Why? This question is so crucial, yet many people fail to ask it.

If you have a clear, concise and well-grounded answer to this question, you’ll be able to stick with your exercise routine through good times and bad. You’ll put in the time to study the theory, you’ll put in the time at the gym and you’ll have the inner motivation to put in an extra rep even when your muscles already hurt. It’ll make all the difference.

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On the other hand, if you don’t know your “why,” chances are you’ll start your workout routine, stick with it for a few days or weeks and then fall off the bandwagon when the going gets tough. After all, building a great body takes effort. You need to have the motivation to make it happen.

Identifying Your Why

Start with looking at your fitness goals. Different kinds of fitness goals tend to have different motivations.

Are you just trying to lose some weight? If so, what’s the most important thing you think you’d gain by losing that weight? Is it better health, more energy and a likely longer lifespan? Is it more social acceptance? Or more attention from the opposite sex?

If you’re skinny and want to bulk up a bit, again – ask yourself why. Why is having muscle mass better than having a skinny body? How will your life be different if you had more muscle mass?

Look at your goals and ask yourself: Why do I want my body to look this way? Often times finding your “why” is a matter of looking inward rather than outward.

Write Down Your “Why”

As the saying goes, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” To keep your “why” alive, write it down on paper and keep it somewhere visible.

On days when you just don’t feel like getting up to go to the gym, that piece of paper can give you the push you need to get off the coach and into the gym.

Writing out your “why” also serves another function. Often times when trying to figure out your why, you’ll have a sense for it but not be able to put it into one concise sentence. Writing it out will help you form your why into a more concrete form.

To sum it up, finding your why is one of the most important aspects of being able to successfully keep up an exercise routine. If you have a strong enough reason for wanting to change your body, you can. Just make sure to keep reminding yourself of that reason, especially when times get tough.