GAINING MUSCLE PART 1:

This is a three part article on how to gain muscle.  Part 1: ‘my top 5 exercises for gaining muscle’. Part 2: ‘my top five foods for gaining muscle’. Lastly Part 3: ‘Supplements I take to gain muscle’.  I am currently trying to gain more muscle. With this sport you learn new things all the time. Stay tuned to each post, increase your knowledge and start gaining some serious mass.

Gaining muscle pretty much means you’re trying to gain weight.  Obviously as the muscles enlarges your weight increases. With this in mind we are going to target the larger muscles and exercises that use multiple muscles so there is a greater amount of growth quicker. 

1. Deadlifts

This is a great exercise. It includes your gluteus maximus, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, your core muscles, lower back, latts, traps, rhomboids, all the little muscles in your back e.g. teres minor and major and your forearms.  As this exercise attacks each of these muscles it will transform your body in no time. Now this is not an exercise to be taken lightly, it can cause a lot of damage if it is done wrong. 

Make sure you keep your back straight throughout the movement, as it soon as it starts to barrel over you will be in danger of causing damage to it. Practice on an empty bar for a while before you put loads and loads of weight on.  I’ll let you in on a little secret that goes for every exercise; no one cares about how much weight you can lift, they judge you more on how good your form and technique is. So don’t be that guy or girl who puts loads of weight on and lifts wrong because people WILL talk behind your back and make fun.

2. Squats

SQUATS. All you girl’s wants that perky bum and tight legs now, while guys are getting judged a lot more on their lower bodies. This means it has to be neglected less in order to match your upper bodies. I know most people don’t like leg day but your biggest muscles are in your legs. This exercise will work you gluteus maximus, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. Now this is another exercise that you must do correctly otherwise you will hurt yourself.  Keep your back straight and get nice and deep to ensure a greater range of movement which will work the muscle more.

I think everyone has heard the phrase ‘ass to grass’ which is a good phrase but it will damage your knees. Think about it, if your knee joint is closed completely you will have all that weight pushing down on that joint will cause damage due to the compression on these two small points. After talking to people and finding out the different techniques they use I have found that the best way to do a squat is to go down slowly until your knee angle is just below 90 degrees.

 

3. Bench Press

Everybody loves this exercise. Pectoral muscles when formed properly look amazing. A stronger chest makes the whole of your upper body more effective.  It works the pectoral minor and major and depending if you straighten your arm fully it will work your triceps as well. You have to mix things up when you bench, like switching between dumbbells and barbell press. This will confuse the muscles promoting them to grow. Now when benching with dumbbells there will be less stability so you won’t be able to push out much weight compared to a barbell press, but this is good as the added movement will strengthen the muscle.

People tend to neglect their upper chest. This is a very bad habit to get in. You need to train your chest equally so it looks in proportion and it also promote a stronger chest. This will allow you to add more weight which will lead to bigger muscles (more mass). One more thing, make sure you get low enough. The bar should touch your chest and if you are doing dumbbell press the inside of the dumbbell should touch your chest. This will make the muscle stretch to the fullest it can, making it tear more equaling in more growth.

4. Clean, Jerk & Press

This is a brilliant exercise. It is like a deadlift in the way as it hits a lot of muscles. It hits your gluteus maximus, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, your core muscles, lower back, latts, traps, rhomboids, teres minor and major, triceps, each part of the deltoids and your forearms.  This exercise promotes growth in each muscle. All these muscles growing equal you becoming bigger obviously. This movement absolutely transforms your body and gives you these amazing rounded shoulders.

It is a complicated movement. It is imperative you do it right or you could throw your back out, dislocate your shoulder or even snap the elbow joint.  

I’ll try talking you through the movement. So go in for a deadlift, keep that back straight. Once the bar is at hip level you have to jerk it up.  That doesn’t sound nice but it’s the name. Bend your knees slightly and then pull the bar up towards your collar bone, once there your hands should be underneath the bar and you simply press and repeat. As this is complicated practice on an empty bar so you get the movement right. 

5. Wide grip pull up

I hate this exercise. It’s not for me but I force myself to do it. This is because it engages all of your upper back, mostly your latts. Not much to say about this exercise as you just pull yourself up, pretty straight forward. When you do this though make sure you go all the way down allowing your back to stretch out and then when you pull up make sure your chin is above the bar. This will allow for the greatest range of movement.

These are my top 5 exercises and I hope they become your top 5. Always remember that to gain muscle you need to lift heavy weights BUT KEEP YOUR FORM CORRECT. You also need to change the exercises up in order to confuse the muscle which promotes more growth.

 “Everybody wants be a bodybuilder but nobody wants to lift no heavy ass weights”

  - Ronnie Coleman

 Post two will be coming soon: My top 5 foods for gaining muscle. STAY TUNED.