Secrets to Building Muscles Author: Arnold Schwarzenegger Seven-time "Mr. Olympia" winner and famous movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger is an idol worshiped by most bodybuilding enthusiasts. Even today, his incredible biceps and pecs are still talked about. This article describes his views and methods on how to exercise to grow muscles through his personal experience, which is worthy of everyone's careful consideration and reference. The purpose of bodybuilding is to effectively increase muscle mass in various parts of the body through training. For advanced bodybuilders, they need to use peak contraction method, interval control, force leveraging rules, special equipment, complex recipes and new and scientific training methods to carve their bodies carefully and make them more perfect. For the majority of bodybuilding enthusiasts and intermediate bodybuilders, they should focus on the growth of muscle mass. If they focus on the complex training mentioned above, instead of promoting muscle growth, it will hinder it. You must want to know how I can develop muscles all over my body through exercise. How can I quickly lengthen my muscles by 20 or 30 pounds (9.1 kg or 13.6 kg)? This was also the first problem I encountered when I first started practicing bodybuilding at the age of 16. my experience. First of all, you have to believe that you can become a big guy. Don't think about genetic factors and bone structure. You have to set a goal for yourself and then train hard to achieve it. Remember, if you doubt yourself, you will fail. Never put obstacles in your way. The second step is hard training, which is the most basic exercises performed with heavy weights. Use more barbells and dumbbells and less use of combined equipment and pulleys. Do more strength exercises to mobilize all the muscles in your body. Basic exercises include: Chest: bench press, incline bench press, dumbbell chest expansion. Back: pull-ups, rowing exercises. Shoulders: press, behind-the-neck press, reverse fly. Arms: Barbell and dumbbell curls, chest push-down, arms flexion and extension (weight-bearing). Legs: Squats, calf extension, calf flexion (combined equipment). No matter which exercise you perform, it must be heavy weight and low reps, only in this way can muscles grow. When doing each action, start with a set of 12 exercises to warm up, and then do 6 sets. Each set should add some weight appropriately, but reduce the number of times. The last two sets can only be done once. Each set must be done with all your strength, that is, you must reach failure (cannot do it anymore) when doing the last movement. Note that the weight added in each set should be appropriate, that is, when you complete the last movement, you just feel exhausted. Then there should be adequate rest between sets. Don’t pay too much attention to muscle lines at this stage. You can break through stagnant conditions in certain muscles by changing movements. For example, half squats can increase the weight of the load, thereby enhancing muscle stimulation and promoting muscle growth. Note that you must have companion protection during training. Weightlifting works too I recommend you some weightlifting exercises like deadlift, snatch, clean and jerk, etc. Mr. Olympia (1976) Franco Columbus was a weightlifter. His muscle lines have a sense of strength. Athletes who only practice bodybuilding will never reach his level. Training intensity is another issue that plagues young bodybuilders and athletes, especially when they want to build muscle mass. I often read in bodybuilding magazines: "You should complete a training session in a shorter time. Compress an hour of training to 40 minutes." (referring to the same training volume and shortened interval time) for beginners That said, I think the approach is just the opposite. It takes 1.5 hours to complete the training volume that should be completed in 1 hour, so that you can fully recover between the two sets. Make sure you do your best to complete each movement so that you won't be unable to complete heavy weight exercises due to lack of endurance. Some young people misunderstand the concept of "heavy weights." Heavy weight is relative, not heavier is better. If used improperly, not only will the muscles fail to grow, but it will greatly increase the chance of injury. Weight is the means we use to achieve our goal, which is to put as much load on the muscles as possible. To grow muscles, you must train with heavy weights. If you use the strength of your back muscles when doing barbell curls, and you think that this kind of borrowing training will make your muscles grow, you are lying to yourself. Leverage training is indeed an effective training method, but it depends on whether it is used properly. For example, if you do push curls with a weight of 225 pounds (102 kilograms), your biceps will be fully stimulated. If you use 80 pounds (36 kilograms) to do pull-up curls, you'll gain nothing. (The weights used are relative to those of advanced bodybuilders) Don't Overtrain If you want to build muscle, be careful not to overtrain. When I started bodybuilding, I trained six times a week, but no more than twice a week for each muscle group. To achieve maximum muscle growth, practice each section only twice a week. According to Wade's training rules, you can train all the muscles in your body once in three days and twice a week, so that each muscle has enough recovery time. I'm an advocate of getting a little "crazy" every now and then in training. From a long-term perspective, training according to a careful plan is beneficial, but over time, muscle growth will often stagnate. At this point you can only move forward by breaking the rules. When we were in Austria, my friends and I would sometimes, on a whim, go into the woods and do sets of squats until we couldn't stand anymore. Then build a campfire and have a picnic. At that time we felt like ancient savages. This kind of ultra-intense training doesn’t happen every day but it pushes me past my limits and gives me even more motivation.
Even highly trained bodybuilders like Lee Labuda imagine themselves as mythical heroes, gaining tremendous motivation to push their training limits beyond their limits. Because if athletes who have reached a certain level of training want to grow muscle mass, it will not work without a little bit of craziness. Then again, you can't be crazy enough to be stupid enough to get yourself hurt. Once you get injured, you'll be back to where you were weeks or months ago, let alone gain muscle mass. Importance of Diet Diet is also very important for building muscle mass. In order to gain weight, many young people eat steaks, whole chickens and drink a lot of milk. You should consider that the body's absorption capacity is limited. It can only absorb a certain amount of nutrients each time you eat, and excess calories will be converted into fat. A reasonable diet is to eat small meals frequently and have balanced nutrition. I usually have a good breakfast and then have a protein drink. In this way, there will always be sufficient protein and carbohydrates in the body for muscle growth. Such a diet is the best way to supply muscle growth, but it is not good for muscle lines. If you find yourself gaining fat instead of muscle, eat less or train harder. Don't get used to having a lot of fat on your body, because losing it won't be easy. Calfs and Abs Young bodybuilders often neglect abdominal and calf exercises. They seem to think that these muscles are not very important and they will still have time to train them in the future. This idea is wrong. Be sure to include calf and abdominal exercises in your training plan. The triceps calves grow very slowly, so you should train this muscle at the beginning of your training. Abs are also very important. My calf muscles used to be very poor, so I didn’t pay attention to calf training until someone pointed me out. He told me that a 200-pound (91-kilogram) person carries a load of 300-400 pounds (136-182 kilograms) per calf when walking and running. Therefore, only 800-100 pounds (364-182 kilograms) should be used for bodybuilding training. 455 kg) load, the calf muscles will grow. At the time my calf raises were only 500 pounds (227 kg). After I started training with heavy weights, my calf muscles really grew. Muscles are like this. If you want them to grow, you must use heavy weight and strong stimulation. Size comes first. Building big muscles does not mean you will definitely become a top bodybuilder. But if you want to sculpt your muscles, your muscles must be long. In other words, the strongest person may not necessarily win the championship in the competition, and if he is not big enough, he is not qualified to participate at all. People always think that Frank Zane (three-time Mr. Olympia winner) is a small bodybuilder, which is nonsense. Frank has a smaller frame, so he'll never be as big as me. Although he only weighs 180 pounds (83 kilograms), he is very strong. He was doing the same weights as me in the gym, and I was 50 pounds heavier than him. We both gained 40 pounds (20 kilograms) of muscle through training, and since he is smaller than me, it should be said that he has made greater progress than me. Remember, big muscles are associated with a strong body. To be physically strong, you have to train hard with heavy weights. This is the mystery, this is the law.