If you have a curiosity to strengthen your physical body or been thinking about toning or increasing your muscle mass, these bodybuilding tips will take you in the right direction.
You should follow bodybuilding methods carefully, as mistakes can cause injuries or other problems, especially if you are new to bodybuilding. These simple methods will help you on your bodybuilding journey to make sure you get the most out of your program without any detrimental effects.
1. Use Free Weights
The modern gyms today are filled with complex and high-tech machines, but using machines alone isn’t the best way to build the proper foundation for your body. One of the top bodybuilding tips to increase muscle mass is to use simple barbells and dumbbells. Even more so if you are a beginner in this sector. Free weights will offer a wide range of motion and reliance on proper form and it will ultimately help to build more muscle, as opposed to using complex machines.
2. Compound Lifts and Movements
There’s some great material out there that teaches different exercises of various complexities, it’s a good idea to start with simpler exercises first. Certain exercises such as the squat, the barbell bench press, the deadlift, and the military shoulder press are a good starting point. These popular exercises are designed to tackle major muscle groups that will help build on your routine. Once you’re comfortable doing these, then you can start adding heavy weight lifting into your routine, but always start off lightly so that the body doesn’t become over-exerted.
3. Stick to A Particular Program
If you want to be successful in bodybuilding, you’ll need to have a strict routine and follow it thoroughly. It’s a good idea to ask your personal trainer or an advanced bodybuilder to provide a bodybuilding program that will have the exact exercises and quantities of exercise that you need to do. It will require determination and motivation but provides clarity for when you set your foot in the gym. Following a routine will build more muscle mass quicker and will avoid injury.
4. Train Each Muscle Group Every Week
You must not train every day of the week, working out every day can cause muscle strain, too much fatigue, and even injuries. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t exercise regularly. It’s recommended to work out 3 or 4 times a week and follow your personalized routine. It’s a good idea to work with each of your muscle groups at least once a week to get expected results. Also, aim to increase the weights you are lifting every week as this will increase muscle mass more rapidly since you are challenging the body at a reasonable rate.
5. Learn Correct Form
One of the top bodybuilding tips for weight lifting is to start with lower weights and learn the right form for each specific exercise. If you work out at a gym, ask your personal trainer to show you the correct form for each exercise. Alternatively, if you are thinking of doing everything at your home, you can hire a trainer for a week or two to show you the correct form for the exercises. Once you’re comfortable with the correct method for doing each task, you could work on them alone, if you prefer to do this rather than going to a gym. Once you’re using the correct form, you’ll see progress in increased muscle mass, weight, and strength.
6. Eat A Lot of Protein
Protein is an essential element for building muscles. So, when you are working out to build your body, it’s best to have a high protein-based diet and eat more and more protein regularly. High protein foods include lentils, broccoli, chickpeas and beans, hemp seeds, hemp-based foods, peas, nutritional yeast, spelt and teff, spirulina, amaranth and quinoa, oats, oatmeal, nuts and nut butter. Increase the amount of protein you eat based on your body weight. You can discuss this further with a nutritionist or your personal trainer.
For recipe tips, check out thisLentil Soup.
7. Eat More Oftern
If you are just starting out with bodybuilding, it’s better to eat more often. Try eating 4/ 5 times per day instead of eating conventionally 3 meals. Since building muscle needs a source of fuel consistently and you can get it from food, frequent eating can provide that.
8. Avoid Junk Food and Eat Fruits and Vegetables
Even if you want to gain weight, you want the weight to be muscle mass, not body fat. But if you consume junk foods, food with extra fat, sweet and sugary items instead of healthy food items with lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, etc, then you will gain body fat instead of muscle and it will hamper your bodybuilding process. It’s advised to only consume fast-absorbing sugary and other items just after a workout. Also, make sure you are getting proper vitamins and minerals for your body by eating enough fruits and vegetables.
9. A Caloric Surplus
Another one of the top bodybuilding tips is to make sure that you are getting more calories from food per day than you are burning through exercise and other work. If you get too few calories, it will burn your muscles for energy instead. So, make sure to count the number of calories you need daily and get that from your food. Again this is something to discuss in more depth with your nutritionist or personal trainer.
10. Consider Light Therapy
Light therapy is a special kind of therapy that can provide you with specific benefits in your bodybuilding process. It can increase the metabolism of your body, and increase your energy levels so you can properly perform your workouts and other activities. Light therapy devices can help with muscle injuries and reduce muscle soreness very quickly, so it’s beneficial to have this after severe workouts. Muscle recovery time decreases and muscle strength increases with the use of light therapy. Also, light therapy can help with reducing your body fat and giving you relief from stress from workouts.
Please Note: These tips are designed to advise but are not professional advice. Please seek a professional for further guidance.
