The Urban Trainer Blog - UK

For some people, packing on muscle and size or just toning up can be a hard slow slog. However, by following my guidelines below, along with your chosen training routine - you will be well on your way to achieving excellent gains in muscle, size and strength fast.

• If you want to make your muscles bigger and stronger, then you need to keep adding weight to the bar - its really that simple, the more weight you lift, the bigger you’ll get.
• Let’s say that you can bench press 100 lbs for 5 repetitions (reps). If, one year from now, you’re still lifting the same weight for the same reps, chances are that your chest, shoulders and triceps won’t have grown much. If, however, you’ve progressed to bench pressing 110, 120, or maybe even 140 pounds for 5 reps, then your muscles will have grown bigger and stronger to accommodate the extra weight.
• Here are common reasons for not progressing, e.g.: you keep missing gym sessions, you don’t have enough energy or calories to train hard enough, you don’t have enough protein to recover fully from intense sessions and build new muscle, you’re overtraining or you’re not pushing yourself hard enough. Solve these issues first, so every training session is a good one. Then focus on increasing reps or weight every single or every other training session.
• So when do you increase your weights? Let’s say that your workout requires you to perform 3 sets of 10 reps. Once you can do 10 reps in all 3 sets, then it’s time to increase the weight you’re using next workout by 5 pounds or 5% (whichever is smaller).The trick is not to jump ahead too quickly. If you add 20lbs to your bench, you’ll end up going backwards, as it will be too much of a jump and your technique will suffer, probably leading to injury also.
• Focusing on superior basic compound movements, i.e. Deadlifts, Squat, Bench Press, Overhead Shoulder Press, Rows, Pull-ups(or Pull-downs). These build core strength and powerful explosive muscle. Don’t be afraid to rest for 2-3 minutes.
• When you’re doing heavy compound exercises such as the squat or deadlift. Done properly, compound movements exercises such as the squat or deadlift will leave you feeling out of breath, and you’ll need to rest for a few minutes to get your breath back before lifting the next set of heavy weights. Avoid chatting or talking on the phone - don’t rest too much or you will lose your pump.
• For the exercises that involve smaller muscle groups (e.g.: shoulders, biceps and triceps), stick to 60-90 seconds of rest between sets.