If you are interested in body building or strength training then you must wonder how to grow muscle. Do you ever ask what drives you to the gym to, what seems like at times, abuse yourself?
The fact is we are damaging our muscles every time we do an intense workout. The result is that your muscles will actually get smaller. Your muscle doesn't get bigger until you go home and eat, sleep and rest. This is what we call your recovery time.
Here's the deal. You have to give your muscles a reason to grow.
Every time you go to the gym and do something to your muscles that they've already experienced they just shrug and say, "I've already done this before. No big deal!" But, if you do something your muscles have never done before they wake up and listen, so to speak. The question they ask now is, "What have you done to me?" Their response to this intrusion is, "We better grow some muscle to protect ourselves so we never have to experience that again."
How do we induce this experience? How do we stimulate our muscles to grow?
Following are 6 tips I got from Vince, whose weight lifting program I am using, to keep you focused to grow muscle and to help give your muscles a reason to grow.
1. Pump yourself up. Do whatever it takes to get psyched up. Crank the music in your car on the way to the gym. Sing along. What ever it takes to get you to literally skip your way into that gym.
2. Get your game face on. Walk right into the workout area. Don't socialize, flirt, or dawdle. Be serious about why you are there and get right to it.
3. Enter the gym floor with a light sweat. This will help you get in the right frame of mind to accomplish your goals.
4. Wear an iPod. This will help keep you from getting distracted. Other people tend to keep their distance as they can see you are serious about your workout.
5. Treat every set like it's your last or only set. Go all out. Do every rep like your life depends on it.
6. Always use a stop watch. This will keep you working out at the pace that gets you the greatest effect. For example, if your workout calls for a 60 second recovery between sets that is what you are doing not 90 seconds or longer.
Try these easy, fun tips. You will find yourself looking forward to going to the gym but more importantly, your strength training routine will be more effective and exciting. With a new focused, positive attitude, you will be on your way to grow the muscle you want.
There is no reason you should be embarrassed about your body. Click here to get information on how to effectively grow muscle.
