If you’re looking to build muscle mass, then it’s essential to have a comprehensive workout plan that is tailored to your individual goals. This plan should include exercises that target the areas of your body where you want to see growth. You will also need to know how much weight to lift and how often you should do each exercise. With the right workout plan, you can achieve the muscle gains you are striving for.
Exercises
The first step in creating an effective workout plan is choosing the right exercises. Compounding exercises are generally your best option for building muscle mass. These exercises involve multiple joints and muscles, allowing you to use heavier weights and get more work done in a shorter amount of time. Examples of compound exercises include squats, deadlifts, bench presses, pull-ups, overhead presses, rows, and dips. These exercises should form the foundation of your routine.
However, you can also add isolation exercises to target specific muscles with greater intensity. Isolation exercises are single-joint movements that focus on one particular muscle group at a time, such as leg extensions or lateral raises for shoulders. The most famous isolation lift is the bicep curl. Finding a balance between compound and isolation exercises will give you results with a muscle mass workout plan.
Form
Perhaps just as important as the exercises performed is how the exercises are performed. Form, while not complicated, has to be done correctly. When conducting any training, three moves must be perfected. The moves are concentric, eccentric, and isometric. In addition to the movement of each activity, there is also the movement’s angle or path.
The path is critical because it determines how much and when each muscle will be under tension. Therefore, time under pressure is necessary for a muscle mass workout plan.
Finally, each exercise has its cadence for the concentric, eccentric, and isometric movements. The isometric, the pause in many activities, happens at the top and bottom of the lift. Therefore a 4,1,2,1 cadence would be four seconds for the eccentric movement (the negative), one second for the pause at the bottom of the lift, two seconds for the concentric action (the positive), and one second for the break at the top of the lift. The moves, path, and cadence make up form and determine how well each rep is completed.
Volume
Once you’ve decided what exercises you’ll do for your routine, the next step is figuring out how much weight you should lift and how often you should do each exercise. For most people looking to build muscle mass, it’s recommended that they lift heavy weights ( > 70% of one rep max) with a rep range of (8-12 reps) for 3-6 sets per exercise session 2-3 times per week. This type of training puts enough stress on the muscles without overworking them, so they have time to recover between sessions.
Conclusion of a Comprehensive Workout Plan for Building Muscle Mass
If you stick with this basic structure and perform compound and isolation movements at least 2-3 times per week with heavy weights, you will gain muscle. Also, you’ll be well on your way toward gaining muscle mass in no time! All it takes is the determination to stick with your workout plan to see results.
If you or someone you know is considering bodybuilding, share this article on Facebook or Twitter so that others can learn more about building muscle.
Related Articles
