Muscle Building? 4 Mistakes to Avoid

If you are like me, you are building muscle to not only look better but feel better. Everyone has their own reasons for building muscle, mine is mostly directed at hitting a golf ball further than my buddies! We all want to look the best we can and feel good getting there. A good fitness program that teaches you the right way to build muscle so you don't get hurt is exactly what you need. Building muscle requires weight lifting and many different type of exercise. Knowing how to do each exercise and how much weight is key to not injuring yourself. There are some important steps you need to take to make your muscle-building program and exercise as safe as you can.


First-Adding weight to quickly, this is one of the biggest mistakes people make. Most people will do a particular weight lifting routine for a couple weeks and then add ten pounds to the bar, in most cases that is too much and the damage you will do will set you back. It is better to add like 2.5 pounds and continue the same routine, by adding the weight in smaller amounts, you will give you muscle more to do, but limit the potential damage. Your muscles want the abuse! but they want it in a form that does microscopic tears in the tissue not rips in the muscle causing muscles to hurt so much you cannot do your next routine without pain.

Second-Neglecting strength, Every muscle you are working on rely on other muscles to help the building process. You need to train for strength. For example, if your triceps muscles are so weak that they're impeding you bench press, then the result is that you're not going to fully train your pectoral muscles.

The solution, train all muscle groups so they can help each other.

Strong triceps will help you with chest muscles.
Strong shoulders will help you with chest and back exercises.
A strong core will help you with most compound lifts.
Strong biceps will ease your back lifts.
A strong back will help you leg lifts (and vice versa).
A strong grip will help you improve performance on a variety of lifts, including back exercises, bicep exercises, etc.
Third-Avoid power lifts, leave those for the big guns that want to impress the gym. All power lifts do is increase your chances for damage immensely! A muscle reacts and builds faster when you use a good routine that breaks down the muscle and rebuilds it in a very consistent way and minimizes the potential for damage. Our muscles can take allot but when you do something stupid one time you can wreck your muscle-building process for months. Stick to lifts you can do the reps and not a quick power lift to impress someone!

Fourth-Training too long, You should limit your workout to an hour or less. Work all the muscles you were planning for that day and keep it to under an hour. Train hard, rest hard and eat right, that is all there is to building muscle. Your muscles want the intense workout but they don't want to be subjected to hours of work, it does nothing for the process. Keep it short and intense and you will see results much faster.

There are many other tips that you can use to help your workout experience, a good fitness program will show you all the right things to do and not to do to be successful!

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3 Exercises That Will Help You Build a Ripped Physique (Be Careful With Them)

There are 3 common exercises done in the gym that can help almost anyone get built. But they have to be used in the right way or your body will looked out of proportion.

What are they?

Bench press, dead-lifts, and squats.

If you go to a gym regularly you are not surprised by the exercises listed. You might even do them on a regular basis.

With these 3 exercises you can't be so focused on the amount of weight you are lifting. If you do, your physique will become imbalanced. Have you ever seen the guy at the gym with huge arms and puny legs? That is a result of focusing too much on building his upper body and not giving any attention to his lower body.

Bodybuilders that lift big numbers with the "big 3" don't have a rounded out physique. They have big arms and legs, but they are also big around the midsection. Their abs don't pop out like guys that are more lean.

Doing squats too much will have your lower body bigger than it should be. If you like the size of your legs then don't do squats. If you do your legs will become bigger than you want. It is simple as that. If you want mass in your lower body do squats.

The "big 3" build muscle and do it quite well.

Don't avoid the "big 3" completely; just use them when it suits your workout routine the best. If you need to build your upper body, do more bench press. If you need to build your lower body, do more squats and dead-lifts.

If you don't do the "big 3" you are not doing an awful deed. You can build a strong lean body without the "big 3" when used properly.

Doing squats too much can lead to less definition in the legs, because there is just as much fat as muscle in the legs. You need to have a low fat percentage to have definition. Doing massive amounts of squats will not lead to a beach body. Regardless if some call squats the king of all exercises. Once you have the legs you like leave squats alone.

Dead lifts should be used in moderation too until you have the cut legs you are shooting for, then you should go onto some other exercises.

The bench press is a great exercise too, but you should not just focus on flat bench alone. Doing flat bench alone will lead to building your mid and lower pecs but not building your upper pecs as much.

Most professional athletes do not have bulky legs like the guys on the cover of bodybuilder magazines. Professional athletes have defined and dense legs. They also have balanced definition between their whole body not just part of it. They have ripped upper body and lower body.

So when doing strength training use the "big 3" in their proper context to get a ripped physique. Don't overuse them and cause an imbalance of muscle in different muscle groups.

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