Using a combination of free weights and whole foods, you can add slabs of muscle to your frame without adding body fat. With compound exercises, high intensity, and plenty of rest, you can build the foundations of a strong, powerful physique that will improve your athletic performance and help you avoid injury. Consult your physician before beginning any diet or exercise program.
Compound Exercises
Exercises such as the squat, which works your legs, lower back and abdominals, and the deadlift, which works your lower back, upper back, abdominals and legs, provide not only power, but are the basis for building a muscular physique. The bench press works your chest, shoulders and triceps and the military press works your shoulders and triceps and also recruits many other muscles of your upper body to stabilize you during the lift. Chin-ups and rows work your back, biceps, back of your shoulders, and forearms.
Intensity and Rest Periods
You need to train with at least 75 percent of your one repetition maximum when lifting. This not only stimulates the largest muscle fibers, or the contractile portions of the muscles with the most potential for growth, but triggers your endocrine system to release more testosterone, which is the primary anabolic, or muscle building hormone. Keep your rest periods short, which will also make your endocrine system work harder and ensure that you are burning more calories while training, reducing the risk of adding fat.
Diet
You need protein to recover from your training sessions and to build additional muscle, which you should be getting from beef, chicken, fish, eggs and milk. You need essential fatty acids to allow your body to both produce and regulate hormones, which you can get from fish such as salmon, and from flax, nuts and seeds. You need carbohydrates post-workout to recover and fuel your training, which you should get from whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
Training Schedule and Rest
Train your entire body three days a week, using the compound exercises. Three to five sets of five to eight repetitions per set is plenty, as you need to avoid over-training. It is not about how many repetitions you perform in the gym; muscle growth is based on what you get out of your gym time, and how well you recover from it. Rest is one of the most important factors in growth, as your muscles grow following recovery, so get plenty of sleep.
References
- PubMed.gov: Acute Hormonal and Neuromuscular Responses to Hypertrophy, Strength and Power Type Resistance Exercise
- PubMed.gov: Acute Testosterone and Cortisol Responses to High Power Resistance Exercise
- PubMed.gov: A Three-Dimensional Biomechanical Analysis of Sumo and Conventional Style Deadlifts
- Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Biomechanics of the Knee During Closed Kinetic Chain and Open Kinetic Chain Exercises
- "Journal of the American College of Nutrition": "Beyond the Zone: Protein Needs of Active Individuals, Individuals"; Lemon; 2000
- PubMed: Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Increases the Rate of Muscle Protein Synthesis in Older Adults: a Randomized Controlled Trial
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