The right weight is the key to building muscle!

This weekend, I consulted with a new client who had a typical problem among people new to bodybuilding — she wanted clearly defined muscles, but it just wasn’t happening on her own.
She had been working out regularly and was in pretty good physical shape overall, but her goal was to become a lot more ripped. She said she’d been trying for months without really seeing a difference.

Going through her regular routine with her, it quickly became obvious what the problem was: it wasn’t that she wasn’t working hard, it was that she wasn’t working smart. Her routine wasn’t the right way to build muscle.Building muscle is very different than losing weight, improving heart condition, building flexibility or any of the other exercise-related goals that someone might set for themselves.

When you’re weight-training, whether with free weights or exercise machines, the goal is to build muscle mass, increasing the strength and size of a muscle. Unlike other exercise, extra activity isn’t what makes the difference in muscle mass – what matters is how much you actually lift! Lifting a ten pound weight thirty times does not give an equal result to lifting a thirty pound weight ten times.

When you’re trying to build muscle mass, you should chose weights that weigh at least 60 percent of the maximum that you can lift.

But remember! It’s important to be very careful when figuring out that number. The best way to find out is to consult with a personal trainer. Not only can a certified personal trainer safely help you determine the best amount of weight to use to achieve your goals, they can also make sure that you’re lifting safely, to help prevent injuries.

As a good rule of thumb, if a weight is going to help you increase muscle mass if you can only do a between eight and twelve repetitions before you’re too exhausted to keep lifting!

Good luck and keep working! And remember, as you increase in strength, be sure to keep increasing the weight!

Weight training – Female bodybuilding isn’t about bulk

A week or so ago, I mentioned that I had a client who wasn’t exercising effectively, considering her goals. She wanted strength and visible muscles, but she didn’t particularly want the mass that a lot of people associate with bodybuilders, male and female.

There seems to be a lot of interest in weight training for women, so I thought I’d delve into the subject a bit more over the next few weeks.The fact of the matter is — and I can’t stress this enough, to my clients or to anybody else — that it does little for your body to lift tiny weights many times. Even the calories burned by the repetitive exercise is fairly light.

When you’re planning on building muscles, you need to concentrate on adding weight that’s serious enough to make a difference and will really help you build muscle mass. Ding so will not, despite what many people believe, turn you into the female version of the Incredible Hulk!

Muscle mass increases steadily, not overnight — so you can really control the exact look you want. Since muscle burns more calories, even when resting, alternating weight training with your aerobic exercise can ultimately be one of the most beneficial changes to your exercise routine.

There is a lot of info out there about weight training and over the next few weeks I’m going to sift through it, with hints, tips, tricks and the occasional debunking of myth. Stay tuned!If you interested in education or training in sports medicine follow this link.