Building Muscles

Welcome to www.buildingmuscles.org.uk

I realised at the beginning of 2008 (when I was 56 years old) that I had let my body get into a terrible state. This site was started to track the changes as I used bodybuilding/weighlifting to get back into shape. I gave myself 120 days, and I succeeded ! Since then I have maintained and built my body, and continue to do so.

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Benefits of Strength Training| Building Muscles| How to build Muscles Fast

How to train and build a great looking body with strength training

Most of this information was taken from Wikipedia -

Strength training is the use of resistance to muscular contraction to build the strength, anaerobic endurance, and size of skeletal muscles.

There are many different methods of strength training, the most common being the use of gravity or elastic/hydraulic forces to oppose muscle contraction. I will cover ways of training for strength in other articles. When properly performed, strength training can provide significant functional benefits and improvement in overall health and well-being, including increased bone, muscle, tendon and ligament strength and toughness, improved joint function, reduced potential for injury, increased bone density, a temporary increase in metabolism, improved cardiac function, and elevated HDL (good) cholesterol.

Training commonly uses the technique of progressively increasing the force output of the muscle through incremental increases of weight, elastic tension or other resistance, and uses a variety of exercises and types of equipment to target specific muscle groups. Because of the incremental increases the muscles have to continually adapt to the heavier weights and so the person will build more and more strength. There will be a limit to how strong you will become and that is governed by the number of muscle fibres you are born with. As you train heavier you will bring into play more and more of the muscle fibres in the muscle.

It really is quite simple.

Bodybuilding|Motivation| Building Muscles| Build muscles Fast

How to train get motivated to build muscles fast

Most people start training and then lose motivation. This is very common. You will see gyms full in January and then by March the numbers are right down.

Before you set the goal of what you want, know why you want it. It must not be for anyone else. It has to be for you.

Once you know what you want then set the goal. Do not just set any goal. Set a winning goal. That means that if you achieve what you set out to do, you will see yourself as a winner. If you do not achieve the goal you will have to go with the opposite word which is LOSER.  No one wants to be known as a loser so you will have a lot more motivation to train.

Every time you want to eat junk, ask yourself, “is this what a winner eats or what a loser eats”.  The same with the training. You will be amazed at how strict you will be. As the results come so the motivation will keep growing. You can use this for any goals you want in life.

Building Muscles Bodybuilding| Build Muscles Fast|Relaxation

How to train and build big body with correct relaxation

Relaxation Before Visualisation

In order to get the absolute most out of the time you spend in visualisation  it is important that you learn to relax, physically and mentally.

Why is this?

Because a mind that is filled with stress will really struggle to accept a new idea. You will really battle to get a good vision of how you want to look. If you cannot see what you want in your mind you will never have it in life.

One of the fastest ways is to pay attention to your breathing. As you breathe out see the old energy leaving the body and then as you breathe in feel the wonderful new energy entering your body. Watch yourself breathe. Inhale deeply. Pay attention to the air filling your lungs. Exhale deeply.

After a few deep breaths you'll wonder where all the mental stress went. Your muscles will relax and you will be ready to program your mind with exactly how you want to look.

It is a great idea to visualize for a few minutes just before going off to sleep, when you are not asleep but nearly there, the twilight zone. If you visualize before sleep your subconscious mind will work on your goals while you sleep.

Body Building Muscles| How to build Muscles Fast|Legs| Massive calves

How to train and build massive calves with proper focus

I was at a networking meeting this morning and bumped into a chap who is a life coach. He tells people he can help them to focus properly in order to get good results in life. It brought to my mind something I am constantly saying on Bazblog my YouTube site  "if you want to train correctly you have to have complete focus".

I trained calves today and I do not use very heavy weights when training them. Calves are extremely hard to build. In order to build and train them you will have to really focus a lot. I go slowly and when I get to the top of the movement I always try to go even higher. I then hold that position for the count of 2. This takes real focus if you are doing it for every rep.  You will find that your workout will take on a new dimension when you do it this way.  I did 6 sets of 12 reps. It was a brilliant training session. You really can build massive calves if you have your mind right. Of course nutrition also plays a very big part in getting results.

Body Building Muscles| How to build Muscles Fast| Belief

How to train and build huge muscles with the right kind of belief

 One of the greatest statements I have ever heard is this one,

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve”.

This comes from Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich. Just think about what is says.

We think all the time. If we think right and we really believe what we think, we then can achieve what we are thinking about. I have found this especially with my body building.

When I train I really believe I am going to build muscles. I do not work half as heavy as a lot of other people yet my body responds so easily. It is the belief I have and I know it will happen. Have you ever thought of the terrible impact it can have on your life if you think you cannot achieve something. No matter how much you might wish and hope to achieve, it you will never get a favourable result. Only when you stop and think right will you start to get the kind of results you really want to get. It's not going to be easy because controlling your thought is one of the most difficult things to do. You might require help to do this. Never feel you have failed because you use someone to help you to get what you want.

Building muscles must start in the mind long before you lift the weights. If you don't do it this way, you will really battle to build a massive body.

Body Building Muscles| How to build Muscles Fast| Supersetting

How to train and build a massive body with supersets

There are a lot of people who are starting out lifting weights who do not know what a superset is. A superset gets the muscle really fatigued in the quickest possible way.

I trained shoulders today and decided to superset every set that I did. If you think about the name superset it gives you a good idea of what is involved. It is a set of exercises that are a super set. When I did my shoulder presses I superset them with side raises. That means that I did a set of 12 reps of shoulder presses and then without taking a break I went on and did side raises for 12 reps. I did this for 6 sets and I can assure you that when it came to the 5th set I was already exhausted and had to really push my self to finish the last set. I don't often superset every set but decided I needed to really push myself today. Normally I will only superset one or two set and usually the last sets. 

Body Building Muscles| How to build Muscles Fast| Upper Body Workout

How to train and build upper body after a serious injury

I have just uploaded this video to my youtube account - Bazblog. It is to help people to start training after a long lay off or to help people that have never trained before. It shows how to get the muscles conditioned so you can go heavier later on. I don't often do a full upper body workout because I prefer to break the body up into muscle groups.

This full upper body workout is for conditioning and therefore you will be training with some very light weights. Once the muscles get used to training you can then move on to some heavier weights. It will take you a few weeks of consistent training for the muscles to become conditioned. Enjoy your full upper body workout.

 

Bodybuilding Muscles| How to build Muscles Fast| Legs | Squats

How to train and build big legs with normal squats

People often ask me to look at the training plan that they have put together to see if I think it is ok. The majority do not include legs training at all. There is a very good reason for this. They are massive muscles and take a lot out of you when you train them. They are among the biggest muscles in the body.

When you do squats you can become completely out of breath and feel very weak. A lot of people do not like this feeling so they just do not train their legs. They justify it by saying things like - I do a lot of running or I play a very active sport. There is nothing that can replace a good old fashioned squat because they are a compound exercise.  That means that several muscles work when you do them. This, in turn, causes incredible body growth. If you want to make a massive difference to your training plan you really have to add in squats. 

I was asked how to develop lower abs and one of the ways to do that is with squats, believe it or not. You have to use your core and abs muscles for stability when you do squats so they are really great for helping you to get great looking abs. They also burn a tremendous amount of calories so they are brilliant for fat loss.

Body Building Muscles| How to build Muscles Fast| Back

How to train and build huge traps

I have had to really put in a big effort to build up my traps. They were non existent when I started. I have built them up from nothing which shows you can make huge changes if you put in the effort. I have found shrugs to be the best for me. There are other ways to train, but unless you really believe in the exercise, even if it is the best exercise around, it will not give you great results. I believe in shrugs and they certainly have worked for me. I am still doing some muscle conditioning after the elbow injury so I am not worried about going too heavy. I find that even though the weight I am using is light, I am getting a fantastic workout. The reason is, I am taking my time with each rep, and when I am at the top of the movement I am holding the position for the count of 3. By the time I get to 12 reps the traps feel like they are on fire. I actually struggle to hold the shrug on the last set. I am doing 6 sets and the muscles are really fatigued by the end.  

Body Building Muscles| How to build Muscles Fast| huge Chest

How to train and build a massive chest| Benefits of Chest Exercises| Bench press

I would hate to think of how many times people have asked the question "how much can you bench press". It's not about how much you can bench but more what chest exercises can do for you. Here are a few ideas on what a chest exercise does for a person who trains properly.

•  Overall Strength. The chest is involved in nearly all upper body works. Having a strong chest gets the smaller muscles to work harder which then improves your overall strength and appearance.
• Compound exercise. Apart from using a fair amount of calories it cause growth hormones because of the number of muscles involved with training your chest doing bench press.
• Improved Posture. When you have a reasonable chest you will walk with your chest sticking out. This helps to keep your shoulders back and to drop them so your posture is a lot better.
• V Shape. Without a big chest you will really struggle to have that V shape that bodybuilders are always looking for.

Train with enough weight to challenge yourself. You should be able to do a set of 10 reps reasonably easily but find that when you come to the 5th or 6th set you really have to dig deep. I have found this to be the best for me. Slow controlled reps with bags of focus and concentration.