Building muscle takes so long! I train a lot and hard but it takes forever, it seems I just can’t do it. Please tell me, are there any proven ways to build muscles? Please reply I am waiting for your replies.
First, how old are you? If you're in your teens, then it only seems like nothing's working because a month seems like a long time. It isn't.
Weight training's been found to work the same way with geriatric patients (in their 80's and 90's) as with teenagers, just slower, due to less growth hormone.
My best friend in high school was one of those "97 pound weaklings", and decided to do something about it. He started lifting weights and drinking protein drinks. Within three months, he had a football player's physique.
You can buy a book on weight lifting, but the basic theory is that you find out the max amount you can lift for each type of lift (bench, curl, etc.) and work out with 80% of the max, doing 8-12 reps, two or three times per workout (to bulk-up). For example, if you can bench 100 pounds once, but no more weight than that, then when you do benches, start out at 80 pounds and try to do 8 reps. If you can't do 8 reps, then take some weight off the bar until you can do 8 reps. If you can do more than 12 reps with 80 pounds, then it's time to put more weight on the bar.
Work out three times per week. More is not better, as the muscles aren't getting better from the overuse, they're getting damaged by the weightlifting and healing stronger (and bigger). It takes a couple days to heal bigger. If you work out every day, your muscles will just get smaller. (From the tone of your OP, I suspect that's what you've been doing.) It's the healing that makes the muscles bigger, not the workouts.
Continue until the bullies leave you alone. And don't take steroids under any circumstances.
Weight training's been found to work the same way with geriatric patients (in their 80's and 90's) as with teenagers, just slower, due to less growth hormone.
My best friend in high school was one of those "97 pound weaklings", and decided to do something about it. He started lifting weights and drinking protein drinks. Within three months, he had a football player's physique.
You can buy a book on weight lifting, but the basic theory is that you find out the max amount you can lift for each type of lift (bench, curl, etc.) and work out with 80% of the max, doing 8-12 reps, two or three times per workout (to bulk-up). For example, if you can bench 100 pounds once, but no more weight than that, then when you do benches, start out at 80 pounds and try to do 8 reps. If you can't do 8 reps, then take some weight off the bar until you can do 8 reps. If you can do more than 12 reps with 80 pounds, then it's time to put more weight on the bar.
Work out three times per week. More is not better, as the muscles aren't getting better from the overuse, they're getting damaged by the weightlifting and healing stronger (and bigger). It takes a couple days to heal bigger. If you work out every day, your muscles will just get smaller. (From the tone of your OP, I suspect that's what you've been doing.) It's the healing that makes the muscles bigger, not the workouts.
Continue until the bullies leave you alone. And don't take steroids under any circumstances.
QUOTE (wcelliott+Dec 26 2008, 08:40 PM)
... the basic theory is that you find out the max amount you can lift for each type of lift (bench, curl, etc.) and work out with 80% of the max, doing 8-12 reps, two or three times per workout (to bulk-up).
Not quite.
According to the regime used by most professional bodybuilding, you'll want to determine the amount of weight to use through trial and error. Different people have different combinations of strength and stamina. Not everyone can push 80% of their max weight 8-12 times. Besides which, 8-12 reps is almost a cardio workout, with regards to those trying to bulk up.
What will prove more effective is starting and finishing each workout with some cardio workouts. Stretching, jogging in place, jumping jacks, etc.
After doing the cardio, you engage in some low-intensity workouts like body-weight calisthenics for about 10-20 minutes. Just when you're beginning to get into a good rhythm, you break and go for heavy weights and low reps. For most weight-gaining workouts, you'll want to find the weight you can just barely press about 3 times, and do that. Then loose some of that weight, and do 2 reps, then repeat and do 1 rep. Each set should end with you giving all you have the put up that last rep, and the weights should increase by about 1lb a week or 5lbs a month in order to keep you at the edge of your abilities, assuming you have an average metabolism and are working out about 3 times a week.
Also, you'll want to vary your routine. Don't use a set pattern, either. Each day do the various exercises in a different, random order. You'd be suprised at how much of a difference you'll see between a set routine and a varied one.
Nutritionally, eat lots of fats and proteins. The Atkins diet is great for weight gaining if you multiply the daily caloric intake by 1.25 to 1.5. Don't neglect your carbs, though. You need those carbs, and without them, your body will burn muscle mass to create the energy your using. A low-carb diet is not the goal here, a high protein diet is. Gaining some fat on your frame is not a bad thing, unless you're already overweight. You'll need that fat for energy, and you can burn it off with a few weeks of long cardio workouts, once you hit your desired muscle mass. Most bodybuildings have 10-14% body fat during the off season, and go on a six-week crash diet to burn it off before competition time, after which they gain it back quickly.
Wcelliot is right about how often to work out, although you should do some mild cardio every day. Once you really start gaining weight, you can add in an extra workout each week to capitalize on your gains, but don't go overboard. It is the healing of microscopic tears in your muscles that makes them grow, and if you keep ripping those tears open every day, they simply won't heal, and you'll be left at the same weight, but with lots of muscle pain and a little less strength due to it. The mild cardio can help, because it keeps the scar tissue that's forming in those from getting too dense, and ruining flexibility, thereby making it easier to avoid serious muscle injury during your major workouts.
And don't take steroids. I just want to repeat that. Nutritional supplements can be just as effective in weight gain (although they work in different ways, allowing them to work together with the supplements, which is why steroids are still used) as steroids, and they're much safer.
Not quite.
According to the regime used by most professional bodybuilding, you'll want to determine the amount of weight to use through trial and error. Different people have different combinations of strength and stamina. Not everyone can push 80% of their max weight 8-12 times. Besides which, 8-12 reps is almost a cardio workout, with regards to those trying to bulk up.
What will prove more effective is starting and finishing each workout with some cardio workouts. Stretching, jogging in place, jumping jacks, etc.
After doing the cardio, you engage in some low-intensity workouts like body-weight calisthenics for about 10-20 minutes. Just when you're beginning to get into a good rhythm, you break and go for heavy weights and low reps. For most weight-gaining workouts, you'll want to find the weight you can just barely press about 3 times, and do that. Then loose some of that weight, and do 2 reps, then repeat and do 1 rep. Each set should end with you giving all you have the put up that last rep, and the weights should increase by about 1lb a week or 5lbs a month in order to keep you at the edge of your abilities, assuming you have an average metabolism and are working out about 3 times a week.
Also, you'll want to vary your routine. Don't use a set pattern, either. Each day do the various exercises in a different, random order. You'd be suprised at how much of a difference you'll see between a set routine and a varied one.
Nutritionally, eat lots of fats and proteins. The Atkins diet is great for weight gaining if you multiply the daily caloric intake by 1.25 to 1.5. Don't neglect your carbs, though. You need those carbs, and without them, your body will burn muscle mass to create the energy your using. A low-carb diet is not the goal here, a high protein diet is. Gaining some fat on your frame is not a bad thing, unless you're already overweight. You'll need that fat for energy, and you can burn it off with a few weeks of long cardio workouts, once you hit your desired muscle mass. Most bodybuildings have 10-14% body fat during the off season, and go on a six-week crash diet to burn it off before competition time, after which they gain it back quickly.
Wcelliot is right about how often to work out, although you should do some mild cardio every day. Once you really start gaining weight, you can add in an extra workout each week to capitalize on your gains, but don't go overboard. It is the healing of microscopic tears in your muscles that makes them grow, and if you keep ripping those tears open every day, they simply won't heal, and you'll be left at the same weight, but with lots of muscle pain and a little less strength due to it. The mild cardio can help, because it keeps the scar tissue that's forming in those from getting too dense, and ruining flexibility, thereby making it easier to avoid serious muscle injury during your major workouts.
And don't take steroids. I just want to repeat that. Nutritional supplements can be just as effective in weight gain (although they work in different ways, allowing them to work together with the supplements, which is why steroids are still used) as steroids, and they're much safer.
QUOTE (JohnnJohnny+Dec 26 2008, 08:26 AM)
Building muscle takes so long! I train a lot and hard but it takes forever, it seems I just can’t do it. Please tell me, are there any proven ways to build muscles? Please reply I am waiting for your replies.
exercise.
Also stimulating growth hormone with GH releasing Amino acids; example Ornithine and L arginine.
Using testosterone precursors from plants - Example ferulic acid
and finally stimulating insulin at the time of exercises by consuming certain sugars
You can read about this last approach for building muscle with insulin in a book entitled Nutrient Timing System All it is is eating the right sugars at the right time
If you eat them at other times they are not anabolic.
You may want to do these supplements in moderation because to much will cause much stress. There is no need to take it to the extreme. For me all I want is a little stimulation. The exercise has to do the rest.
Mitch Raemsch
exercise.
Also stimulating growth hormone with GH releasing Amino acids; example Ornithine and L arginine.
Using testosterone precursors from plants - Example ferulic acid
and finally stimulating insulin at the time of exercises by consuming certain sugars
You can read about this last approach for building muscle with insulin in a book entitled Nutrient Timing System All it is is eating the right sugars at the right time
If you eat them at other times they are not anabolic.
You may want to do these supplements in moderation because to much will cause much stress. There is no need to take it to the extreme. For me all I want is a little stimulation. The exercise has to do the rest.
Mitch Raemsch
You are born with a set amount of muscle, getting stronger only means you have stretched the fibre.
Muscle fibers get *thicker* when exercised, and will eventually divide themselves lengthwise when they reach a certain thickness, so weightlifters actually *do* have more muscle fibers (as well as more muscle mass and greater strength) than people who don't lift weights.
If it were just a matter of stretching, people who take yoga would look like professional wrestlers.
As for 8-12 reps being almost a cardio workout, 12 reps are almost a cardio workout, but 8 is smack in the middle of the bulk-up range. Six reps are more in the strength-gaining regime. Twenty is more in the cardio regime, which, depending on the muscles being exercised, might need as many as 40 reps to keep in good condition (abs and back, esp.). If you can't do 8 reps, lower the weight until you can. Build up to 12, then increase the weight again. It's the simplest way, which may not put you on the cover of any magazine (or governor of any state), but is easier to remember than more-complex procedures.
And it does help develop muscle bulk, muscle tone, and cardio at the same time.
If it were just a matter of stretching, people who take yoga would look like professional wrestlers.
As for 8-12 reps being almost a cardio workout, 12 reps are almost a cardio workout, but 8 is smack in the middle of the bulk-up range. Six reps are more in the strength-gaining regime. Twenty is more in the cardio regime, which, depending on the muscles being exercised, might need as many as 40 reps to keep in good condition (abs and back, esp.). If you can't do 8 reps, lower the weight until you can. Build up to 12, then increase the weight again. It's the simplest way, which may not put you on the cover of any magazine (or governor of any state), but is easier to remember than more-complex procedures.
And it does help develop muscle bulk, muscle tone, and cardio at the same time.
Ignore Grolim who is obviously being an idiot.
Steroids, growth hormones, etc. are all crap. Yes they will build muscles in the same way that crack will keep you awake. It works but you pay the price. Proper eating will take you just as far and without wrecking your health.
You might want to ask yourself also what exactly you want in terms of fitness. If all you want is large muscles, I suggest something along the lines of what Mjolnirpants was suggesting. However, there are a lot of different ways to be fit.
I do have a fairly heavy workout regimen and I am rather heavily muscled.... I fight at around 200 pounds. However, when I do weights I do not do them to bulk up... ie, I tend to do more reps than 8. That is because most of my workout is aimed at strength and speed rather than just bulk.
The main question is... what is it that you want to accomplish. Whatever you do, do not try to cheat the system. Exercise and proper eating will take you there... anything else will eventually fail.
Steroids, growth hormones, etc. are all crap. Yes they will build muscles in the same way that crack will keep you awake. It works but you pay the price. Proper eating will take you just as far and without wrecking your health.
You might want to ask yourself also what exactly you want in terms of fitness. If all you want is large muscles, I suggest something along the lines of what Mjolnirpants was suggesting. However, there are a lot of different ways to be fit.
I do have a fairly heavy workout regimen and I am rather heavily muscled.... I fight at around 200 pounds. However, when I do weights I do not do them to bulk up... ie, I tend to do more reps than 8. That is because most of my workout is aimed at strength and speed rather than just bulk.
The main question is... what is it that you want to accomplish. Whatever you do, do not try to cheat the system. Exercise and proper eating will take you there... anything else will eventually fail.
Study 'satellite cells' and how to make them do what they do.
. . . . all of the comments before are excellent.
. . . . all of the comments before are excellent.
i have never been able to put on any weight. No matter what diet i tried. Is my metabolism so fast that i will never put on any extra weight?
u just need protien thats what builds them up its the building block along with some amino acids but lets not get into that all u need to do is ad more weight cuz i can work out all day to but if u ant trying to work yourself hard then u wasting time an if u dont feel sore 1 or 2 days after u wasted your time and never work out musles that are sore it will actuealy shrink the muslce an nt get it beger becoue it does need to heal when u work out th emuscle contracks an rips an tiny litle rips all over when it feels sore its cos there an acid in those craks rebuilding the muscle if u work it out wile its sore ull contrack it back it will be wasted time agen eat more egss drink more milk an befor u go to sleep eat peanut butter on bread
Uh, you exercise or you take steroids(which I do not recommend).
That is about it.
How did you think you were going to get muscles?
That is about it.
How did you think you were going to get muscles?
PhysOrg scientific forums are totally dedicated to science, physics, and technology. Besides topical forums such as nanotechnology, quantum physics, silicon and III-V technology, applied physics, materials, space and others, you can also join our news and publications discussions. We also provide an off-topic forum category. If you need specific help on a scientific problem or have a question related to physics or technology, visit the PhysOrg Forums. Here you’ll find experts from various fields online every day.
To quit out of "lo-fi" mode and return to the regular forums, please click here.