In order to build muscles, you'll first need to damage them. Placing muscles under stress from resistance causes micro tears in your muscle fibers. When your body repairs and regenerates these muscle fibers, they grow larger. This is known as hypertrophy. Using different muscle contractions with heavy weights and giving your body time to rest and repair them will help you build bigger, stronger muscles.
Step 1
Write a list of the specific muscles you wish to build. Identify specific exercises that work those muscles. For example, if you wish you build your biceps, you would do exercises such as biceps curls and pull-ups.
Step 2
Warm up prior to each workout by moving the muscles you will be moving, using light weights or calisthenics as you raise your heart rate, increase blood flow to your muscles and stretch to your comfortable range of motion. Warming up prior to lifting helps create better muscle contractions, according to performance coach Brian Mac.
Step 3
Perform a few test repetitions of each exercise you plan on using to find the maximum weight you can lift with proper technique. Knowing your max will help you create body building workouts that include warm-up sets with less than your maximum.
Step 4
Perform workouts beginning with five repetitions of an exercise using 60 percent of your maximum weight. Perform a second warm-up set using 80 percent of your max. Perform three more sets using five reps of 100 percent of your max.
Step 5
Perform all uplifts and downlifts using your muscles. When you lift heavy weights, including your body weight, fatigue may tempt you to let gravity drop the weight. For example, during biceps curls, you may let your arms drop, rather than lowering the weight slowly with your muscles. This might also happen after you have pulled yourself up on a chin-up bar, or you have moved forward or upward during a crunch or sit-up. According to fitness expert Dr. Gabe Mirkin, the lowering contractions provide the most benefit during weight lifting.
Step 6
Perform isometric muscle contractions. Isometric contractions occur when your muscle does not move while being resisted. Holding a dumbbell steady in one hand while performing biceps curls in the other is an example of an isometric contraction. At the top of each rep, hold the contraction for one or two seconds before lowering the weight or your body. You can also hold contractions longer for an isometric workout.
Step 7
Rest 24 hours or more between workouts. Consider working on your upper body and lower body on alternate days to give your muscles more time to recover and repair.
Step 8
Work out three to six days per week for a month, making sure to use all three muscle contractions and rest between each workout. Re-test your maximum for each exercise at the beginning of each week to gauge your progress and see if you can begin adding more weights to your exercises.
Step 9
Cool down and stretch after each weight lifting workout. This prevents the delayed onset of muscle soreness and improves muscle flexibility, according to Mac.
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