Whether searching for ripped abs, strongman strength or lean muscle mass, you’ll want to get the most bang for your buck in the gym. After all, most of us don’t have hours and hours to work at a program that doesn’t produce results. Instead, we live a fast-paced lifestyle that leaves us little time for recreation, fitness or sometimes even family.
To get the most out of the time in the gym there are several secrets that personal trainers use with their elite clients. Let’s go over some of those secrets to get you moving in the right direction. And don’t forget, on top of each of these five tips you also want to include some strong nutritional principles and supplements to improve your vitamin and mineral intake. Your body builds muscle and strength on the food you eat.
- Change Positions
When you change the position of your hands on the weights you’ll be using different muscles and create means of working your body to balance and stabilize the weight. This improves your strength, length of the muscle and your range of motion. Making these adjustments with your workouts will give you a more balanced appearance and greater strength across a more varied group of muscles.
- Consistency & Patience
Remember, you didn’t get into the shape you are today in just a couple of hours. In order to improve your strength you need to be consistent and have patience. It will take weeks, and possibly many months to see the results you’re looking for. Consistent work every week, with patience, will give you the results you’re looking for.
- Rest, Rest, Rest
Your body needs rest every day and every 3-4 weeks. To produce the results you are looking for you’ll need at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Your body requires sleep to repair muscle and repair your immune system. And, every 3-4 weeks you need to take several days off to help your body get rest and be ready to work hard once again.
- Cardio
Cardiovascular activity will keep the blood moving through your body, deliver vitamins and supplements to the cells which need it to develop muscle and gain strength. Cardiovascular activity will also help to improve your heart condition and give you better ability to work through your daily activities. Great strength in your upper and lower extremities will not be functional if you can’t move throughout the day.
- Static Contraction
This is an effective tool when it’s used over a variety of different joint angles. This exercise is an isometric contraction which means the muscle is contracting without actual movement. This type of training should be used sparingly, but still used. Overwhelmingly, fitness trainers and athletes use exercises that are more dynamic and move through a range of motion. But static contraction will offer rapid increase in strength when done appropriately and sparingly.
Resources:
Muscle & Fitness: 4 Secrets for More Strength
http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-tips/4-secrets-more-strength
StrongLifts: 3 Key Ingredients to Gaining Strength and Muscle
http://stronglifts.com/3-key-ingredients-gain-strength-muscle/
Relative Strength Advantage: Building Muscle- The Top 7 Secrets of Gaining Lean Muscle Mass
http://relativestrengthadvantage.com/building-muscle-the-top-7-secrets-of-gaining-lean-muscle-mass/
Steady Strength: 5 Secrets of gaining lean mass
http://steadystrength.com/5-secrets-of-gaining-lean-mass/
BrianMac: Strength
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni35a4.htm
EliteFTS: The Research Meathead: Static Contraction Training
http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/static-contraction-training/
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