Training for Muscularity

When someone has the goal of becoming more muscular, they have to methodically plan out their nutrition, and of course, their training. Knowing what genetic body type you are will make this goal somewhat easier, since as structures vary, so will the ideal style of training, frequency, duration of each session and type of program to use.
To build a muscular body you have to set both short term and long term goals. Short term you have to construct a program that will help to increase strength and muscle mass over different phases. This is better known as periodization. Long term you will have to change your training based on adaptation. As soon as your muscles become too accustomed to particular program, it is best advised to alter an aspect of your training to prevent stagnation and plateaus.
Periodization is a type of training that allows an individual to overload the muscles while making .periodic changes each week to prevent adaptation. The premise behind it is that an individual must continue to challenge themselves at great enough intensity to induce anatomical and physiological adaptation. If this is not the purpose of the program, then it is considered to be “maintenance”. To develop complete muscularity, 3 stages must be used to prepare the individual for lifting greater weight. A simple, but extremely effective periodization program is usually 12 weeks in length, and focuses on squats, deadlifts and bench press since they use the majority of muscles in the body. Lifting heavy weights with low reps will not cause a person to become to big, cumbersome, or inflexible. Bulk and size is dependant on diet, cardiovascular training and neglect of periods of moderate repetitions. That’s why the following program can develop a lean, muscular physique if that is your goal.

Period 1 (4 Weeks): This period focuses on strengthening connective tissue surrounding the muscles to prevent future injury. It also helps with coordination and nervous system changes that allow for better muscular contractions and strength. Period 1 usually consists of 3-5 sets of 10 repetitions for each of about 4 exercises.
An example would be Day 1: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Exercises: Bench press, Military Press, Flat DB flyes, Cable pushdowns Reps: 10-12
Frequency: 2 times per week
Day 2: Back, Biceps, Abs, Calves
Day 3: Legs
Period 2 (4 Weeks): This period involves greater intensity (weight) with slightly less volume (reps). Much of the same reasons of period1 are involved in period 2, except here the objective is to break the staleness after 4 weeks, and the plateaus that usually occur by this point. The second period is when people are usually surprised by their own strength. Period 2 usually consists of 4 exercises, 3-5 sets, and 6-8 repetitions with slightly less more rest between sets. Here is an example:
Day 1: Legs
Exercises: Squat, Leg Press, Leg Extension, Leg Curls Reps: 5-8
Frequency: 2 times per week
Period 3 (4 Weeks): During period 3 individuals are entering a period of great intensity with even less volume. Connective tissues and coordination would have reached their peak, and strength should continue to improve. The largest goal of this period is to provide a new and greater stimulus to the muscle and break down more potential plateaus. The major exercises continue to be the compound movements, reps are in the 4-6 range, sets are also 4-6 of 4 different exercises:
Day 1: Back
Exercises: Deadlift, Lat Puldowns, Seated Rows, Bent-over Barbell Rows.
After 2-3 cycles of periodization, 4-5 days per week, 1-2 bodyparts per day programs are suggested for 8-10 weeks.

Effects of Rest Between Sets

Rest between sets can and will vary depending on your objective and the type of muscle fibers in your body. You’ve probably been told to take 60 second rest periods between sets maybe a bit more and as you get more advanced, you take less rest towards 30 seconds to make the workout more intense. While it can be that easy for a particular workout routine, your rest intervals really depend on several factors such as:

• weight being used
• goal of the training plan (strength, hypertrophy, endurance)
• type of strength being sough after
• explosiveness of the exercises

Taking a mere 30 seconds of rest between sets for weightlifting would be mistake and lend itself to sub-optimal training results. Taking 3 minutes rest between sets for something like TRX exercises (not rounds) is sub-optimal as well.  Tossing a random number at your clients is great for the general population but when it comes to YOUR training, you need to know what the rest between exercises should be to obtain maximum results and replenish glycogen.

Ideal Rest Between Sets

The rest between sets has a primary goal to generate enough ATP (adenosine triphosphase) to get most of your strength back to complete the next set properly. In about 30 seconds of rest, 70% of ATP has been restored.  You won’t get near complete ATP regeneration until about 3 to 5 minutes of rest between exercises (useful for maximum lift attempts).  After about 2 minutes, you can get 84% of your ATP stores returned and 4 minute rest intervals can get your closer to 89%.  Somewhere about 8 minutes you’ll get complete restoration.

High Volume Training vs. Maximum Lifts vs. Muscular Endurance

Taking this into account, you should see that if you are doing high volume training utilizing alternating sets (or supersets), less than 60 seconds probably isn’t enough rest between sets to allow enough restoration to do another set with an adequate training load. If you are doing force and power generating type lifts, 85% of your 1 rep maximum, 2 to 5 minutes is better suited for regeneration. Resting longer while doing heavy lifts, you can lose approximately 12% to 44% of that force and power generating capacity! This still doesn’t mean you can’t lift heavy with minimal rest but it does mean you may not be at peak capacity.
For example, even with only 60 to 90 seconds of rest between sets, you could do single reps of 85% of your maximum lift with a mere 60-90 seconds of rest between reps. It’s an extended set for sure and just below what’s optimal for such a lift but the intensity will be much harder because of a shorter rest period and you might feel pumped. This is an advanced technique but it shows that rest between reps is a personal variable like anything else.
All this means if that if your goal is heavy lifting, somewhere in the range of 2 to 5 minute rest between sets are optimal. That doesn’t mean you have to wait that long, but don’t be shocked when you start to feel too fatigued and weak to do the workout properly.
Short rest between sets across many sets and reps are not optimal if you are trying to maximize muscular strength and power development. Meaning, if you are doing high volume training, you’ll want at least 60 seconds to 2 minutes so you can continue to lift moderate amounts of weight.
However, if it’s muscular endurance you are after, it is almost common sense that shorter rest between sets would be advantageous in this training situation. In fact, some adaptations can occur with shorter rest intervals and high volume training such as:

• increases in blood flow
• buffer capacity
• mitochondrial density

You know that annoying lactic acid build-up that stops you short of doing those last few reps? The burn is so bad you have to quit before it’s over? High volume, short rest between sets may increase that buffer and allow you to move moderate weight over longer periods of time. It’s why going from a regular training program to a high volume program can be a really painful experience if your buffer capacity is very low.
That being said, if you do any type of high volume training (many sets, 10+ reps per set) I’d suggest 60 second rest between sets at a minimum to generate enough ATP to perform your sets at optimal levels. Anything less and you might start off fatigued (heart rate, waste products not flushed, low strength output) to really give it your best effort.

How Rest Between Sets Effect Hormone Response to Exercise

If you haven’t heard, shorter rest between sets might improve hormonal responses that are thought to be responsible for greater stimulus for hypertrophy. Specifically, weight training programs that utilize shorter rest intervals, with higher repetitions (10+) with 55%-75% weight loads, greater growth hormone is released!
However, high levels of growth hormone have been shown to be released in weight training programs that use longer rest between sets (2 to 5 minutes), compound exercises with moderate to high intensity and lower repetitions. Translation, lift heavy with sub maximal intensity and plenty of rest periods between sets.
What you don’t see is short rest between sets utilizing isolation movements or high repetitions with low training loads. To be even more blunt, how much growth hormone is released and how that directly translates into actual muscle growth is not known.
Shorter rest between sets as you can see don’t lead to complete recovery and generally decrease the amount of workload you can do (weight lifted; volume load). If you believe that muscular hypertrophy is the resulted of weight lifted (tonnage) then shorter rest between sets for strength training may not be optimal.
It really comes down to your ability to recover that determines your rest between sets when targeting muscular hypertrophy. If you can recover well enough to lift moderate weight loads for higher reps, then 30 seconds may be all you need. If you are not that advanced, you may need longer rest periods between sets to move the same amount of weight.
The difference is really the training objective of the entire program down to the objective of the actual workout training session. On a heavy training day, longer rest between sets for strength training of 2-5 minutes are best. If you are lifting less weight but higher repetitions, you can opt for short rest intervals IF indeed you can recover.

Predetermined Heart Rate

Instead of using fixed time rest periods between sets depending on the training load and objective, you can use a predetermined heart rate. One method is to set a heart rate rate of 120 to 130 beats per minute as a cutoff for the next set (muscular endurance). A second method is to set the recovery period as however long it takes to get your heart rate back to 65% of maximum.
The first of these methods is better suited to help determine rest periods for cardio interval training. The second method can be used for weight training. After your set, watch your heart rate, when it gets back to 65% of your maximum, initiate the next set. As you get more advanced, your heart rate should decrease faster, and your rest between exercises grow shorter.

The Bottom Line

If your goal is to use heavy weight (85% of maximum and higher), you’ll require longer rest periods between exercise sets in the range of 2 minutes to 5 minutes. If you are using moderate weight (55% to 85%), your rest intervals between sets can be shorter from 30 seconds to 90 seconds.

Taking Creatine Can Help with Your Rest Between Sets Variables:

Creatine supplementation enhances muscle force … – The participant completed 40 eccentric-only repetitions (4 sets × 10 with 3 minutes rest between sets) of each exercise in this manner. All participants were verbally encouraged during each set to maintain the required lowering speed.
Bring your stopwatch to the gym and test different rest time intervals.  The primary objective of the rest between sets is to recover the strength required to complete the next set properly.

4 Easy Tips To Pack On Muscle

What is the best method to pack on muscle mass? Begin by working out 2-4 days per week. Try to keep repetition range to about 4-12, and rest time between sets should be approximately 2-3 minutes. The best way to build lean muscle mass while burning fat is to perform cardio, either before or after a workout. It is best to do cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, although it may be inconvenient.

The steps outlined below are easy, and they will help you pack on quality muscle fast.

1. Eat more often. As a bodybuilder, you require more grub than the average Joe. So think five, six or even seven small meals per day. It might sound like lots of calories, but that is precisely what you could do with at the moment. Don't go crazy eating everything and anything in sight. You'll just gain a bunch of soft, useless fat instead of muscle if you eat too much junk food.

A good rule of thumb is if man made it, then don't eat it. If that isn't enough information for you, then check with a qualified nutritionist, or do free research online. Make sure any professional you pay is properly credentialed. If you do the research yourself, don't believe what you find if that site is clearly more interested in your cash than in your physical condition.

Here are some tips that you should find useful:
• Take multivitamins daily
• Never go hungry – eat every 2½ to 3 hours
• Make an effort to eat two meals prior to working out – training on an empty stomach is not a good idea as it can cause side effects such as dizziness and does not lead to as much fat loss as eating breakfast and a mid-morning meal before working out does.
• Always eat breakfast – or else you will bring your metabolism down which will lead to you storing more body fat.
• Become familiar with Glycemic Index of foods.
• Add 3-5 grams of cinnamon to meals as it helps process insulin better, and add lemon juice or vinegar to foods to reduce their Glycemic Index.
• Eat fewer carbohydrates overall and more protein and fat.
• Eat as much raw fruit and vegetables as possible. Be careful not to overcook vegetables, as you will kill vital enzymes that are needed for digestion and lower their nutritional value by destroying vitamins and minerals.
• Eat fresh fruits, but no more than 1-3 portions a day, as excessive fructose turns to body fat if not burned off. Avoid tropical fruits, as they are high on the Glycemic Index.
• Include sources of protein with all meals as it helps with digestion and increases metabolic rate to keep body fat levels low. Rotate protein sources, as you will become allergic if you use the same sources all the time.
• Take fish oils with every meal. This can result in 3-6 pounds of weight loss in a month, as they increase the utilization of fat stores and decrease fat storage.

2. Supplement with the big three: Glutamine, Creatine and BCAA. Glutamine is known as the immunity amino. Creatine is linked with added power and the capacity to create more adenisone triphosphate (ATP) – the chemical energy resource for training and growth. Branched chain amino acids act as a useful energy source when glycogen stores are low.

Another very important supplement is water: at least one gallon or 0.6 to 0.7 ounces per pound of bodyweight per day while training. To make sure you drink enough water, every day fill a one-gallon milk jug and put it in the fridge. Pour yourself some whenever you want water, and at the end of the day, if the milk jug is empty you'll know you have hydrated yourself throughout the day.

3. Work out hard. Intensity is the element that creates muscle. Use a weight that you can really lift to pump out some good, clean reps with strict form. Get your spotter to assist you with some additional reps. Have your spotter spot you until he/she gets tired, if you can get used to the "Pain of the Growth Zone." The intensity of this type of training is tremendous!

Want to get huge? You will have to use high intensity techniques built into your weight lifting routine. In order to generate quality muscle growth you need to damage the muscle to a certain extent for it to respond, repair and grow. You definitely won't build large muscles by using light weights and high repetitions. Lift hard and heavy. Only very heavy weights damage the muscle adequately for growth.

4. Rest. A muscle will not need to be worked more than once a week if done well and intensely. You may actually get fewer results if you train a muscle group directly more than once a week. Muscles need rest and recovery time in order to grow and get stronger. They will not get the required rest if you are training them all the time.

When a muscle cell is stressed intensely it causes damage to its internal elements, protein filaments shatter and glycogen storage chains break down rapidly. When the stress stops the cell has the time to recuperate, replace and fix the cell back to the pre-stressed state. After this recovery the cell will overcompensate for its stress by adding more elements to its structures, more protein filaments, glycogen stores and increased enzymes for energy production.

In addition to packing on muscle, strength training strengthens and conditions the musculoskeletal system, improving muscle tone and endurance. These improvements have a great influence on our physical performance, metabolic efficiency, physical appearance and risk of injury. Research shows that unless we strength train often, we will lose more than one half-pound of muscle every year of our lives after age 25.