Millions of people go to the gym one or more times a week. Most people don’t just do it for their health, but also to look good. However, the hoped-for success often leaves a lot to be desired. That’s why we reveal ten simple routines on how to optimize your training and ensure better muscle growth.
For inexperienced strength athletes, dumbbell training in the gym doesn’t look particularly complicated: just lift a lot of weights and the desired muscle growth will come. This is not completely wrong, because newcomers in particular who have never done weight training before can often achieve rapid success at the beginning. As the body is re-stimulated by lifting weights, it adapts with stronger muscles. And you can see that too. Unfortunately, the initial muscle growth often remains and a phase of stagnation follows. Strength athletes fear the so-called performance plateau. With a few simple routines, you can ensure that your training doesn’t just fizzle out, but is noticeable on the outside with more beautiful muscles.
1. Protein, protein, protein
It can’t be said often enough, but protein is the building block needed for muscles to grow at all. According to a study with strength athletes, 1.8 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight are required – but only if you also train hard.1,2 Otherwise, 1.3 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight are sufficient. The appropriate amount should be taken throughout the day from early in the morning to late in the evening so that the muscles are continuously well supplied. In order to get this amount, you should make sure that every meal has a high protein content or treat yourself to a protein shake as a snack.
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In addition, many athletes swear by a portion of protein directly after training (within 30 minutes). A study confirms that proteins taken immediately after training get into the muscles a little faster and thus ensure better muscle growth.3 Especially if at least three grams of the amino acid leucine are included, together with some glucose or maltodextrin, um stimulate protein synthesis.
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2. It’s the length of the break that counts
How long should I rest between sets before hitting the barbells again? Many hobby athletes ask themselves this question in the gym. One answer comes from a small (and therefore only partially valid) study that examined 21 young and trained strength athletes.3 They all trained three times a week for a period of eight weeks. Everyone did the same exercises. The only difference: one group of men rested just one minute between sets, while the other group took three minutes. The result: After the eight-week test period, both muscle strength and muscle size were significantly better in the subjects who took longer breaks. So it’s best to train with a stopwatch so that you always take the three-minute break. Then it works with muscle growth.
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3. Split up the workout
If you want to do a full-body strength training, you will quickly realize that you can easily spend one to two hours on it. Especially if you take a three-minute break between each set, as recommended in point 2. This tires the body and mind. It is much more effective to split the training into different parts of the body. The advantage: With split training, you can train for several days in a row and still each trained body part has at least one day to regenerate.
This is how a split training of only one hour at a time could look like:
- Monday: chest, triceps, legs
- Tuesday: back, biceps, shoulders
- Wednesday: Break
- Thursday: chest, triceps, legs
- Friday: back, biceps, shoulders
- Saturday: cardio
- Sunday: Break
Also interesting: What exactly is split training – and what variants are there?
4. Strengthen the mind-muscle connection
Sounds a bit strange at first, but you should always focus fully on the muscle being used as soon as an exercise is performed. For example, for bicep curls with dumbbells, it would be the biceps flexor. While you follow and feel the contraction of the muscle with full attention, this is what is known as the mind-muscle connection. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Mr. Universum, swears by this technique. Similar to meditation, during strength training he focuses his entire attention on the movement that is currently taking place. According to him, it is one of the best methods to increase your performance successfully.
Of course, the former world-class bodybuilder didn’t make it up, because the effectiveness of the mind-muscle connection has been proven in studies. For example, a study of 18 trained men showed that when they focused on the bench press, they could increase activity in the triceps and pectoralis major. This worked particularly well at a power intensity of 60 percent of maximum power.5 The effect was also confirmed in the second part of the study, when the participants were asked to perform push-ups.6 This time, however, the activation only worked for the chest muscle, while the triceps only worked very experienced athletes about the mind-muscle connection.
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5. Include compound exercises as often as possible
Strength exercises are divided into two broad groups: the isolation exercises and the compound exercises, also called compound exercises. In isolation exercises, only individual muscle groups are addressed, whether on the machine or with free weights. For example, only the biceps, triceps, large chest muscle, etc. In compound exercises, on the other hand, several muscle groups are addressed at the same time. On the bench press, it’s the triceps and pecs, and on the squat, it’s the entire leg, glutes, and abs. Typical compound exercises are:
Compound exercises not only save time, they also make muscles grow better and ensure better all-round fitness. For example, a study of 36 young and untrained men showed this.7 All went through a 12-week training program with the same training volume. Half of the participants performed isolation exercises, the other half compound exercises. At the end of the testing period, the researchers found that both groups gained muscle and had less body fat.
However, test participants who did compound exercises had better results across the board: they had better muscle growth, lost more fat, developed more muscle strength, and had higher maximal oxygen uptake. Lots of good reasons to do at least one compound exercise every training day.
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6. A training partner helps you push yourself to the limit
There are certainly people who like to train alone and are good at motivating themselves. However, a training partner has invaluable advantages: together you not only motivate yourself better, you spur yourself on to higher performance. Because of course you try harder when someone is watching you and cheering you on to do another rep. But that’s not all: it’s much easier to reach your performance limits if a training partner protects you from possible injuries. When bench pressing, for example, it is dangerous to train alone to so-called muscle failure – because the bar could fall on you if you can no longer hold it.
But muscle failure in particular plays a major role in muscle growth. That means: In every exercise, you should go to your absolute limit in the last set – i.e. until no more repetitions are possible. And this is exactly where a training partner can assist and protect against a falling barbell. However, the issue of muscle failure is very contrary. Because if you go to your limit too often, you exhaust your muscles too much and need a longer regeneration afterwards. However, a large study review has shown that athletes who train to failure have better muscle growth.8 According to the study, this effect can be achieved by training with heavier weight and fewer repetitions.
Also interesting: These characteristics make the perfect training partner
7. Variety is the magic word
Our muscles adapt to increasing loads from growth. This means that we either have to lift more and more weight or offer our muscles new stimuli through other exercises. Anyone who notices that they have reached a natural limit when lifting weights should try a new exercise or a different training method.
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In order not to constantly end up in a monotonous endless loop of the same exercises over and over again, it is worth trying something new and «shocking» the muscles a little. So try HIIT (high-intensity interval training), CrossFit or calisthenics, i.e. bodyweight training. This not only stimulates muscle growth, but also provides variety and more fun during training.
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8. Don’t forget cardio
If you only think about better muscle growth all the time, you quickly neglect cardio training, i.e. endurance. This is not only bad for your health, because cardio trains the cardiovascular system much more intensively and thus protects against cardiovascular diseases. And if you want to have nicely visible muscles, you even have to do endurance training. Because only in those who have a low body fat percentage, the muscles come out clearly visible. And moderate-intensity aerobic exercise is great for burning fat. That’s why you should do cardio at least once a week for an hour or more. It doesn’t matter whether it’s jogging, swimming or cycling, it’s not only good for the appearance of the muscles, but also for your health.
Also interesting: Hardly any strenuous training reduces body fat best
Sources
- 1. Campbell B, Kreider RB, Ziegenfuss T et al. (2007). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 4.
- 2. Pasiakos, SM, McLellan, TM, Lieberman, HR (2015). The effects of protein supplements on muscle mass,…