Here is a great article from my friend Todd Kuslikis on the
subject of gaining solid muscle with only bodyweight
exercises.
And by the way, Todd just released his system and it is at a
special price for a VERY LIMITED TIME for those of you who
are interested:
Get Todd’s Bodyweight Overload At a HUGE 60% DISCOUNT ($19.99) <<Don’t miss out!!
3 Deadly Bodybuilding Errors Skinny People Make That Keep Them Skinny
by Todd Kuslikis, author of Bodyweight Overload
When I used to work out in the gym I was always surprised to see
how many variations there were in terms of people’s size and
shape. We had our ultra body builders who were pumping 100’s with
their umphs and their groans and we had our skinny dudes who looked
like they were putting in just as much effort but with lighter
weight.
On the surface you might come to believe that those skinny dudes,
given a little more time, would eventually end up like the body
builder dudes.
However, I noticed something striking… they didn’t.
Week after week, month after month and even years later these
skinny guys were… well… still skinny.
Why is that?
They seemed to put forth just as much effort. They showed up in the
gym just as regularly. Maybe it had something to do with their
genetics.
As I analyzed their workouts compared to the workouts that the body
builders followed, I saw 3 things that were striking differences.
I call these “The 3 Deadly Errors Skinny People Make To Keep Them
Skinny”
You see, most people just show up in the gym and swing a bunch of
weight and call it good. There is no plan. There is no philosophy
behind their workouts. They are like a little kid that just jumps
on his bike and takes off. It may be fun for a while but eventually
you end up lost, tired and with no results to show for your effort.
In this article I will not only share with you the mistakes that
skinny people make but also why they make them. Every mistake
actually stems from a reasonable and logical explanation but in
fact is down right erroneous when you are trying to build muscle.
Let dive right in…
1. Doing Too Many Reps
You may be under the impression that if you knock out a bunch of
reps and reach fatigue you will get bigger. This is a huge fat lie.
Getting stronger and bigger is not a linear correlation with the
amount of reps you can do.
Here’s an example, chin ups. Many relatively strong people can
knock out 8-10 chin ups without breaking a sweat. The muscles fire
to launch you up and you get a nice pump from the exercise. Say
your goal is to get bigger biceps and you want to use chin ups to
do it. You think, “I’m going to set a goal of being able to do 30
chin ups in a row.” So over time your rep number increases from
10 to 15 to 20 and eventually you are able to bang out 30 chins in
a row.
You feel good about yourself but here’s the problem. Your biceps
aren’t any bigger?
What the heck!!
Why wouldn’t my guns be bigger?! I am much stronger right?
Well, yes and no.
Once you start getting into higher rep ranges (above 12 reps in a
row) you are not breaking down muscle tissue like low rep ranges.
You are actually increasing your muscular endurance. That’s great
if you are a long distance runner (or chin-upper in this case) but
not good if your goal is to get bigger biceps.
In order to build the guns you want you need to stay most of
the time in 8-12 rep ranges.
If you are lifting weights you can easily fix this problem by
grabbing a heavier weight.
If you are doing bodyweight exercises you need to incorporate
specific techniques that force your body to do more work with the
same movement and get you to fatigue within the right rep range.
2. Not Doing Enough Volume
Don’t make this skinny-guy mistake.
I used to go to the gym and bounce from exercise to exercise. I
thought it was fun to see how many different exercises I could do
in a single workout.
What a fool.
I had no idea what the body needed in order to build muscle.
High volume means a high number of sets of the same exercise.
Believe it or not, I recommend as much as 8 sets of a single
exercise for people that are serious about building size.
Here’s what happens physiologically.
After the first set your muscles are tired. A little bit of lactic
acid has built up and some of the muscle fibers are torn. After the
second set more lactic acid has built up and more tissue is torn
(remember that this is a good thing because it will rebuild
stronger). After the 3rd and 4th sets and on to the 8th this
continues to happen however with each passing set your body needs
to recruit more muscle fibers to perform the movement. It will
recruit some of the fibers that are already torn but it will mostly
recruit more fibers. This is what you want. You basically get more
bang for your buck because more of your muscle fibers are torn in a
single workout.
So remember that you MUST, MUST, MUST do multiple sets or high
volume of sets when you are trying to build big muscles.
3. Not Periodizing Training
What do I mean by this? Periodization is a method of structuring a
workout so that over time you demand more and more of your body. At
the very end of a certain period of time is the most demanding and
then you take an active recovery to let your body recuperate.
The dreaded “plateau” is on the radars of most fitness
enthusiasts nowadays. They try desperately not to have their
training gains taper off because it basically means they are
wasting their efforts. “Periodizing” training helps overcome
the plateau and it is essential that you follow it in order to
build bigger muscles.
Some of the most effective workout plans follow a 3-4 week
hypertrophy phase as the first period. During this phase you put
your efforts on maxing out your total reps in an 8-12 rep range.
This will help the muscles grow bigger.
The next period of the periodization schedule is the strength
gaining phase. This is again 3-4 weeks and you try to max out your
reps in a lower range of 6-8. During this phase you are really
taxing your body and forcing your muscular and nervous systems to
meet the demands of your workouts.
If you were to workout like this for longer than 4 weeks you would
most likely reach an over-training level which is not good.
After the 2nd period is over than you do an active rest for 1 week.
During this time you are allowed to do some light aerobic activity,
stretching, and light calisthenics but nothing heavy or strenuous.
You need to allow your body to full recuperate from the extreme
workouts you did before hand.
Most skinny guys make the mistake of simply doing the same workout
over and over again. They don’t increase the demands of their
body and thereby never end up growing.
Remember that muscular growth is really just adaptation.
That’s it.
Your muscles are adapting to the ever increasing demands that you
are placing on it.
So all you skinny guys out there. Don’t make the HUGE mistake of
just going to the gym, throwing around some weights and thinking
you’ll get bigger. You are wasting your time.
Avoid the mistakes above and you’ll be sure to start seeing some
dramatic changes in your physique.
Todd
Author of Bodyweight Overload
———–END OF ARTICLE———–
Tomorrow I will share another great article from Todd with
6 Techniques to Blast Your Muscles Faster & Cause Massive Growth.
Stay Tuned and do not forget that if you are looking for
a solid periodized bodyweight only workout plan, you can
get Todd’s at a whooping 60% OFF ($19.95) only until
TOMORROW AT MIDNIGHT!
Get Todd’s Bodyweight Overload At a HUGE 60% DISCOUNT ($19.99) <<Don’t miss out!!
Take care and train hard!.
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