Training program for large muscle volumes. Training program for gaining weight. Without which there will be no success

This article is for those who want to increase volume and improve muscle shape. Surely, you have wondered why some guys have such powerful and voluminous muscles, as if pumped up, while for us ordinary mortals they seem flat and not so voluminous.

You may not be able to keep up with those who have a genetic predisposition to muscle development, such famous stars as 4-time Arnold Classic winner Flex Wheeler, Mr. Olympia, but you can significantly increase the size of your muscles using the suggested here techniques.

The duration of the load refers to the amount of time during which the muscles remain in a tense state during the execution of the approach.

Whether the force is isometric, eccentric, or concentric, contracting a muscle causes it to tighten. But it is not the time of tension that is important for muscle growth. We are interested in the effect of prolonged tension caused by constriction of blood vessels.

When the muscle contracts, the blood vessels are compressed until they are completely blocked, thereby limiting the blood flow to the muscle. This tension effect occurs when you step on a garden hose.

The longer the muscles are under load, the longer the blood flow to it is limited. But the heart still pumps blood, and due to compression of the vessels around the working muscle, blood accumulates in the tissues. After completing the approach, the muscle relaxes and blood flows into the muscle.

The longer the vessels are compressed, the greater the volume of blood rushes into the muscle. To feel this process, you can try doing push-ups for 5 seconds and pay attention to how the muscles fill up. Then you should rest for two minutes, and then do push-ups for 30 seconds, and again feel how the blood rushes to the muscles.

This process is called hyperemic supercompensation and is known to bodybuilders as “pumping”. The rapid influx of large blood flow into the muscles increases pressure.

In the movie Pumping Iron, Arnold noted that a good flow of blood to the muscles is an incredible feeling. But what should be more important to you is that the blood flow puts pressure on the dense, tough covering of the muscle - the fascia.

Fascia is very difficult to stretch, but over time, it begins to succumb to the pressure that comes from within and stretch, allowing the muscle it surrounds to actually and visually increase in volume.

And although this information is scientific, we are interested in the results, not the science. In the experience of most bodybuilding trainers, increasing the duration of the load on the muscles increases their volume. Although, of course, this does not happen in a short time.

According to the experience of Western trainers, a higher speed of movement in repetitions and the use of more weight allows you to recruit more muscle fibers into the work.

This is why, instead of using lighter weights and deliberately slowing down the movements, it is better to perform movements, even concentric ones, quickly, but choose a weight that can be done for 45-second sets.

A set duration of less than 30 seconds will not generate enough blood flow to create good intramuscular pressure. On the other hand, to perform a set longer than 60 seconds, you need very little weight, which is also not good. Therefore, the optimal time is considered to be 45 seconds.

No. 2. Do more work

Your body has incredible adaptability. It does its best to adapt to any pressure and become more prepared to perform certain tasks. This also applies to high volume training.

Training volume refers to the total number of repetitions and sets. This is the total amount of work that muscles do during exercise. Doing more work requires more energy. The energy for muscle contraction is provided by muscle glycogen, a reserve of carbohydrates stored in muscle tissue.

Let's assume that you want to use the fascial stretching principle described above. You do sets of twelve repetitions in the chest exercise. The pectoral muscles will use significantly more glycogen to perform ten sets of twelve repetitions than two sets of twelve repetitions. It should be remembered that only glycogen from working muscles is consumed.

With a sufficient increase in the volume of training, the glycogen reserves in the muscles are thus depleted, an interesting phenomenon occurs. The body begins to strive to replenish glycogen reserves in order to successfully cope with such loads the next time.

The process of short-term increase in muscle glycogen content is called glycogen supercompensation. At the same time, the muscles are temporarily able to store a larger volume of glycogen than usual, say, instead of 100% it stores 120%.

With regular repetition of the stimulus, i.e. With the systematic depletion of glycogen reserves, the body gradually acquires the ability to accumulate more and more volumes of this substance. This means that this pattern can also be used in the long term.

And, despite the fact that we are not as concerned about the amount of glycogen in the muscle as its volume, the muscle containing more glycogen looks more voluminous and rounded.

You won't be able to see changes after 1-2 high-volume workouts, but the results will become noticeable over time. After 8 weeks of high-volume training, you may find that your muscles become larger. But there are exceptions to this rule. With a relatively high volume of your training, you will not even notice significant changes, because your body is adapted to such loads. The same applies to the duration of muscle loads.

The second reason for the weak effect of this technique may lie not in exercise, but in nutrition. If you don't consume enough carbohydrates, especially after exercise when your body's ability to store glycogen increases, your body won't have the material to fill your muscles with glycogen.

It should be remembered that glycogen is simply a store of carbohydrates, not fats or proteins. Just like filling a gas tank with gasoline, you need to fuel your body with enough carbohydrates to replenish your glycogen stores.

It should be noted that as the muscles continually store more glycogen, this also puts pressure on the fascia surrounding them and gradually stretches it.

It must be remembered that the intensity and volume of work must be inversely proportional to each other; this is required for the complete restoration of not only the muscles, but also the nervous system. This is why you should not give in to the temptation to push every approach of a high-volume program to failure.

No. 3. Optimizing the duration of breaks between sets

Like the first strategy, optimizing the rest time between sets can help increase blood flow as well as increase pressure in the muscle.

Let's pretend you're doing a killer approach. The muscles swell as if the skin will soon begin to burst. Then you want to rest for three minutes, giving the body time to replenish creatine phosphate in tired muscles and remove lactic acid and hydrogen ions. In the following approach, to achieve good performance this is quite useful.

But to maintain high intramuscular pressure, 3 minutes of rest is a lot, since a significant part of the blood that creates this pressure drains from the muscle during this time.

It should not be forgotten that fascia consists of strong, tough tissue. It does not stretch when subjected to slight pressure over a short period of time. In order for it to stretch, the muscle needs to exert longer pressure on it.

That is why, in order for the fascia to stretch as much as possible and the volume of the muscle to increase, you need to keep the muscle filled with blood for as long as possible.

This technique has its advantages and disadvantages. If you start the next approach too early, you will not be able to perform it at full strength. As previously mentioned, a certain time is necessary to remove the products of its work from the muscles and restore the supply of creatine phosphate. This is required to perform a decent number of repetitions in a set.

On the other hand, very long rests can relieve the pressure that is placed on the fascia.

In this case, you need to listen carefully to your body. You should pay attention to how swollen from the blood flow and how dense the muscles become after completing the approach, and try to catch the moment this effect disappears. So, you can rest exactly as long as necessary for optimal stretching of the fascia.

It is necessary to note in the training diary the number of repetitions performed in the approaches. If you performed fifteen repetitions in the first approach, and only six in the next, this means that you did not rest enough.

By observing the sensations in the muscles and comparing the number of repetitions in further approaches, you can choose the optimal rest duration between approaches.

But if you don’t want to sometimes tax your brain by concentrating on sensations, then you should rest for 45 seconds. 30-60 seconds is the optimal time to recover between sets. For less strenuous exercises, such as barbell curls, 30 seconds will be enough to recover. When performing more strenuous exercises, such as squats, it is better to rest for 60 seconds between sets. Naturally, if you have enough strength to perform squats with a minute of rest between approaches.

No. 4. Stretching a muscle while it is filled with blood

Doing stretching exercises is very useful, and at any time. Stretching is one of the most underrated techniques for improving muscle performance, appearance, and injury prevention.

With the help of stretching, you can weaken the force of compression of the muscles by the fascia or keep the muscles in a stretched state for as long as possible, this will also help stretch the fascia.

To increase the tensile pressure on the muscle membrane, stretching must be done when the muscles are still filled with blood. In other words, you need to do muscle stretching exercises no more than thirty seconds after finishing a long approach. And it is necessary to keep the muscles in a state of stretch longer than usual. You can stretch for sixty seconds, or longer.

But, since static stretching exercises may reduce muscle performance in further approaches, you need to stretch after the last approach of the exercise for a specific muscle group.

Stretching the muscles has another, no less significant effect. By maintaining a position of fairly strong stretching for a long time, this allows the growth of new sarcomeres to be stimulated and the muscles to lengthen.

If you can lengthen a muscle through the growth of sarcomeres, it will become visually voluminous, especially when under tension.

This method, like any technique associated with stretching the fascia, requires time and consistency in use. You should write down in your training diary that you need to stretch after training, otherwise you may forget about it. And you should expect that you will begin to notice changes after a maximum of three months. If you follow this strategy for six months with enough patience, you will definitely see results.

No. 5. Isolating lagging muscles

This strategy helps increase muscle size not by stretching the membrane, but by focusing loads on the target muscle group.

The whole point of training is to subject the muscles to unusual loads, and then allow them to adapt. To develop weak muscles, you need to make sure that these muscles do the main work. This is the only way to force these muscles to adapt and develop.

For example, if, for some reason, when performing a bench press to develop the pectoral muscles, the main work is done by the triceps, then they will become stronger and bigger.

In such cases, there are several methods to make sure that it is not the triceps, but the pectoral muscles, that do the main work and stimulate growth. One technique is to pre-exhaust the pectoral muscles with isolation exercises before performing the bench press.

For example, you can do dumbbell flyes while lying down, and then move on to doing barbell presses. You may not like the idea of ​​lifting light weights when bench pressing. But you can be sure that the tired pectoral muscles will do most of the work. And it is they who will have to adapt to the loads with the help of hypertrophy.

In addition to pre-exhaustion, performing isolation exercises is very useful for increasing lagging muscles.

It is preferable to do things like deadlifts, squats and the aforementioned bench press for general development. However, when it comes to developing individual muscles, then isolation exercises such as straight-arm rows, machine leg extensions and dumbbell flyes are often more effective.

For general strength development, isolation exercises are not very good, but they allow you to work out lagging muscle groups, due to the fact that in such exercises the entire load is placed on the target muscle. If you compare, for example, leg extensions with squats or arm raises with bench presses.

If, while performing a basic exercise, you have trouble feeling the work of individual muscles, then you can first try to do isolating exercises for the same muscles, and then move on to the basic one. Thanks to this sequence, you can pre-tire the muscles, as well as activate the nerve fibers in it.

For example, if you are unable to feel the work of the upper back muscles (the middle part of the rhomboids and trapezius muscles) doing bent-over barbell rows, you can first try doing bent-over dumbbell raises and then move on to deadlifts. You may find that you will feel better use of your upper back muscles in the waist row.

And finally

We hope you find these recommendations helpful. Just remember that improving your physique, especially developing lagging muscles, takes time. Therefore, you should be patient and enjoy the training!

When studying information on bodybuilding, it is easy to see that the main topic for athletes (advanced and beginners) is gaining muscle mass. People are looking for a way to build muscle in the shortest possible time. And this, by the way, is not at all surprising. If you have large muscles, working them out and making them more prominent is a matter of technique.

There is not a lot of really useful information on gaining weight in the virtual space. Most articles describe truths that are already known to most.

In this article we will talk about how to do this correctly and provide a detailed training program that will allow you to achieve success in the shortest possible time.

Warm-up

Before the main workout aimed at gaining mass, including basic, heavy exercises, you need a good warm-up to warm up the ligaments and joints. It is best to use a treadmill for this purpose. Ten minutes of treadmill work at a slow pace is quite capable of preparing the body for strength training. The next stage of the warm-up is stretching. Before performing this exercise, identify your problem areas: shoulders, elbows, etc. These are the ones that should be emphasized.

Before performing a working set, you should do one or two warm-up sets using light weights. How to determine your light weight? Very simple: this is approximately forty to fifty percent of the worker’s weight. Warm-up sets give the body confidence and allow it to better feel the exercise.

How much time do you spend?

Working out too long in the gym is not advisable. For a good workout aimed at growing muscle mass, one hour is enough. The most important rule that every athlete should remember is: “The intensity of the workout is more important than its duration.”

After finishing your workout, you need to take a short break to stretch your joints and muscles. It is best to swim a little in the pool at this time.

You cannot be distracted from training by other things. Unfortunately, in gyms you can often see such a picture - someone talks non-stop on the phone, another plays an electronic game. Few people train – hence the lack of progress in gaining muscle mass.

It is necessary to remember - training exists in order to practice. If you intend to gain muscle mass, exercise without allowing yourself to be distracted from your main goal.

Work to failure

The key to success is strict work until the last repetition. The most effective are the last repetitions that we do, overcoming the body’s resistance and severe muscle pain. It is these repetitions that make the muscles grow.

How many times a week should you go to the gym?

After all, what is the process of muscle growth itself? The athlete deliberately injures muscle tissue (you should not be alarmed - these injuries are absolutely safe). Micro-tears occur in the muscles, which the body seeks to heal. The healed muscle becomes larger in volume. In order to heal micro-tears, the body needs several days, so daily exercise is strictly contraindicated.

In this regard, the training program for gaining muscle mass must be divided into, say, three days a week. You can choose from two options:

  • Monday Wednesday Friday.
  • Tuesday Thursday Saturday.

Rest between workouts should be at least one day. Among bodybuilders, it is customary to divide all muscles into groups: biceps, back, chest, legs, shoulders, triceps. At each workout you need to pump certain muscle groups.

Effective training program

Monday: chest, abs, triceps

  • It is with the press that you need to start. We do five approaches, using absolutely any exercise aimed at pumping the abdominal muscles. This could be crunches, leg raises on the bar, or others. The number of repetitions depends on the complexity of the chosen exercise, but the abdominal muscles should definitely burn when performing the last movements.
  • We lie down on a horizontal bench and begin bench press. It is necessary to perform four sets of eight to twelve repetitions. The exercise pumps up the pectoral muscles, giving them massiveness.
  • Starting position – lying on a horizontal bench. We begin to move the dumbbells to the sides. We perform four sets of twelve repetitions. The exercise increases the muscles in size and also gives them a sculpted shape.
  • Next exercise: bench press on an inclined bench with your head up. You need to perform four sets of twelve repetitions. Before this exercise, you need to properly warm up the muscles of the shoulder joint to minimize the risk of shoulder injury. The exercise has a great effect on the upper chest area.
  • Bench press with a narrow grip - aimed at pumping the triceps. We do four sets of twelve repetitions
  • The last stage is four approaches with the maximum possible number of push-ups on the uneven bars. This exercise is extremely effective for gaining muscle mass, perfectly trains the triceps, and involves the shoulder girdle in the work.

So, Monday’s workout allowed me to pump up my pectoral muscles and really work on their shape. The triceps are fully pumped. The workout is hard, you need rest after it. The best option is to swim a little in the pool.

Wednesday: biceps, back

  1. You need to do five sets of your favorite exercise, then warm up your body with a warm-up.
  2. The classic exercise is the famous deadlift (if you have back problems, replace it with hyperextension). We first do two warm-up approaches, then three approaches twelve times. Before performing, you need to stretch your back, especially the lumbar region. Deadlifts are extremely effective not only for the back, but also for the muscles of the whole body. When performing this exercise, the athlete's body produces an incredible amount of testosterone, which is necessary for muscle growth. It requires maximum effort and complete dedication.
  3. Wide-grip pull-ups: Do five sets with as many reps as possible. If you can’t do pull-ups, you can use a so-called pull-up simulator or use a block exercise machine for chest rows. Pull-ups themselves are an excellent basic exercise for the back; they are more effective than any exercise machine.
  4. Dumbbell rows with an incline and emphasis on a bench are performed four sets of twelve repetitions. The exercise is extremely effective for the back, literally drawing out every muscle.
  5. Lifting the barbell while standing is aimed at pumping the biceps. We perform four sets of twelve lifts. Without a doubt, this is the most effective exercise for biceps.
  6. Alternate lifting of dumbbells is performed while sitting. Lifting dumbbells is, of course, aimed at pumping the biceps, giving them shape and height. You need to do 3-4 sets of 10-12 times on each hand.

As a result, on Wednesday we managed to launch the muscle growth mechanism, work the back muscles, and activate their growth. In addition, we pumped up the biceps in the most effective way. You can relax by doing some cool down and stretching.

Friday: legs and shoulders

  • We start by lifting dumbbells overhead. The exercise is performed in a sitting position, doing four sets of twelve repetitions. Before you start training the shoulder girdle, you need to properly stretch your shoulder joints.
  • We lift dumbbells in front of us onto the front deltoids. You need to do 3-4 sets of 10-15 times.
  • Bent-over dumbbell raises will help visually enlarge your shoulders. We take light weight so as not to injure the shoulder joints. Two or three sets of 12-15 reps will be enough.
  • Then comes the most difficult thing - pumping the legs, squats with a barbell on the shoulders. The standard number of approaches and repetitions is 4/10-12. This is an extremely difficult exercise that requires the athlete to have perfect technique and full concentration. Before performing, you need to thoroughly stretch your knee joints, lower back, and ankles.
  • The last thing we do is sit up on our toes. The exercise is easy and can be done before squats. 3-4 sets of 12-15 repetitions are enough.

Result of Friday's workout: great work on the muscles of the legs and shoulders. We cool down, stretch and rest.

On Friday we complete muscle building workouts until Monday. The three-day program needs to be followed for two to three months, then it needs to be radically changed. This is done so that the body does not get used to the load.

Without what will there be no success?

When building muscle tissue, you need multiple and plentiful meals 5-6 times a day. This way you do not overload the body, and the components regularly enter the blood in equal quantities. Thanks to this, nutrition is always supplied to the muscles. If you take the diet in the classic way (breakfast, lunch, dinner), then the excess nutritional compounds will not be used to increase muscle tissue, but to form fat deposits. In the future, following a high-calorie diet, it is impossible to remove these unwanted deposits.

The daily diet for a high-calorie diet should consist of 70% high-calorie products and 30% low-calorie products. The ratio helps to better absorb beneficial compounds and avoid overloading the digestive system. Plant fiber contained in low-calorie vegetables and fruits increases intestinal motility and makes it difficult to absorb high-calorie foods. However, you cannot completely give up vegetables and fruits, just their total volume in the diet should be less than 30%.

The daily amount of food consumed should be distributed in equal parts for each meal. Before 16:00, you need to digest approximately 70% of the prescribed amount of food. In the evenings, you should not eat fatty or sweet foods. In the evening, food should be easily digestible and include a lot of protein. The optimal set for dinner is salads, eggs, fish, vegetables (including legumes) and dairy products.

While adhering to a high-calorie diet, reduce the consumption of foods containing large amounts of fat (lard, fatty meat, butter and margarine, sausages, etc.). If the body contains the appropriate amount of carbohydrates to grow muscle tissue, then excess fat mass also accumulates in adipocytes, fat cells.

It is also recommended to limit fast carbohydrates (confectionery and bakery products, sweet fruits). They quickly increase the level of sucrose in the blood, and the body is forced to convert glucose into fat to lower sugar levels. This reduces the effectiveness of the diet.

However, such products are allowed to be consumed, but only immediately after training. At this time, a deficiency of glucose occurs in the muscles and organs and they can easily absorb it in large quantities due to increased secretion (release) of insulin.

Nutrient ratio: carbohydrates - 50–60%, proteins - 30–35%, fats - 10–20%. In the process of growing mass, you need to consume as many slow carbohydrates as possible, while simultaneously reducing the use of fast carbohydrates. You should also not reduce the amount of fat you consume below 10%. This will provoke unwanted changes in metabolism. Consuming exclusively vegetable fats is considered optimal. Oily fish can be consumed without restrictions.

These percentage data cannot be elevated to absolutes. Each person is individual. Therefore, you need to choose a percentage distribution of nutrients that is ideal for solving your problems.

Don't forget about drinking fluids. Any processes in the body require the consumption of a certain amount of water. A high-calorie diet and muscle growth accelerate metabolism in systems and tissues. This inevitably leads to a sharp increase in water consumption. In such conditions, you need to increase your total daily water consumption to 3 liters to avoid dehydration.

A high-calorie diet can be combined with sports nutrition. Supplements allow you to significantly accelerate muscle development and replenish the reserves of essential microelements required against the backdrop of increasing loads.

Protein shakes are consumed between meals, immediately before bed, immediately after sleep, and after training. If a gainer is used instead of pure protein, then it is taken exclusively after training.

Bodybuilders necessarily need a special vitamin and mineral complex to replace the deficiency of fruits and greens in their diet. Creatine is consumed only after training. It is better absorbed by muscle tissue when mixed with a gainer, sweet juice or protein shake.

Speeding up the process

We bring to your attention a reminder that will help you take sports nutrition correctly during the period of weight gain:

First results - when to expect?

Muscle growth occurs during the period when the amount of total energy for carrying out all life processes exceeds the amount of energy received from nutrition. However, taking into account the natural disposition of the human body towards homeostasis (the ability to self-regulate under the influence of external factors), it is necessary to increase the calorie intake by 50 and even 100%. Experience shows that increasing calories by 10 or 30% in most cases does not lead to the desired results.

It is necessary to gradually increase the caloric content of daily nutrition until the weekly weight gain stabilizes within 700 g. The maximum weight that can be increased in a month of intense training ranges from 4-5 kg.

Conclusion

It should be noted that every year the growth of mass will become more difficult. If you are at the very beginning of this path and really want to achieve results, follow all the above principles: a balanced diet, an optimal training plan, strict adherence to the regime. This is the only way you can get a beautiful figure and maintain the result for a long time.

Who wouldn't want to enlarge their chest muscles? To increase the volume of the chest muscles, strengthen them by doing exercises specifically for this muscle group, with the correct technique and the necessary nutrition. This is where you should start.

Steps

Exercises to pump up chest muscles

Do push-ups. This often overlooked exercise focuses on strengthening the upper pectoral muscles. Lie face down on the floor, place your hands shoulder-width apart, and straighten your legs. Rise up with full elbow extension, then lower back to the floor.

  • Do 3 sets of 15 push-ups, or as many as you can until your muscles feel tired. As your muscles strengthen, add more repetitions per set.
  • Push-ups also activate your triceps and shoulders (deltoids).
  • Try this option: raise the level of your legs by placing them on a stand before starting. This will put stress on the shoulders and upper pectoral muscles.

Do bench press. This is the most common chest building exercise of all time, and for good reason. Set the barbell to the weight that suits you. Lie down on a bench, your feet should touch the floor with their entire surface. Lower the bar to your chest (approximately 2.5cm from your chest) and then lift it up just above your chest.

  • To build muscle mass, the optimal number of repetitions is 8-12, and the optimal number of approaches is 1-3. This helps blood glycogen circulate throughout the body, burning fat, so you can continue exercising with adrenaline.
  • You can also do incline bench presses using an incline bench. Similar to crunches, this press targets the upper pectoral muscles. Inclined benches, on the other hand, will stress the lower pectoral muscles. Most people don't do these exercises, but they are very important for fully building the pectoral muscle group.
  • Do push-ups. Take a position on the wide bars. Lower yourself down onto the parallel bars and slowly rise up. This exercise may seem difficult at first, but it is one of the best exercises for developing the pectoral muscles.

    Isolate the work of the pectoral muscles. Lie down in a push-up position and push up. Hold this position for 3 seconds, and then transfer all your weight to your right arm and leg. Raise your left arm and leg to create a star-like shape. Hold this pose for 3 seconds. Repeat the same with your left arm and leg. And again hold the pose for 3 seconds.

    Things to follow when pumping up muscles

    1. Don't overload your muscles. Many people make the same mistake of training muscles every day, thinking that the more they exercise, the more muscle they will build. But in fact, it has a destructive effect on the muscles; muscles grow on rest days from exercise, between workouts, when tissue repair occurs. To make sure you don't overload your muscles, follow these tips:

      • Work your chest muscles no more than once or twice a week. On days when you are not working your pecs, train other muscle groups such as your legs, arms and back.
      • The workout should not last more than 30 minutes per muscle group. You risk damaging your muscles and may be forced to take a long break instead of working on strengthening your muscles.
    2. When training, work to the limit of your capabilities. Give it your all while training. Work to your limits without risking injury. To determine the weight you should work with, try doing reps with different weights. In one approach you should do 8-10 repetitions without rest, but by the end of the approach your strength should be running out.

      • If you can't do more than 5 reps without resting, then the weight is too heavy for you. Take a lighter weight. As you build strength, you will be able to increase weight.
      • If you can do 10 reps without extreme effort, add more weight. If you want to get bigger, you have to work to the limit.
    3. Use the correct technique. Ask a personal trainer, instructor, or gym trainer to demonstrate proper technique for performing the exercise. You need to start with your arms fully extended and use only the target muscle group to perform the exercise.

      • Incorrect technique can lead to muscle damage, so you must know exactly what you are doing.
      • If you cannot complete the movement completely, then the weight is too heavy for you. For example, if you cannot straighten your arms completely, you should reduce the weight of the barbell.

      A diet that will increase muscle mass

      1. Don't eat a lot of calories. Many people believe that to build big muscles you need to consume a lot of calories. Consuming enough calories is essential to ensure you have enough energy during your workout. But their excessive consumption will lead to the fact that the body will spend all its energy on burning fat instead of building muscle. In a body with low fat content, muscles are more visible visually.

        • Avoid pure carbohydrates such as pasta, white bread, cakes and other baked goods. Eat foods made from unprocessed grains.
        • Avoid eating a lot of processed and fried foods, and limit your consumption of fast food.
      2. Eat plenty of protein. Protein is essential for muscle growth, and if you want to build up your pecs, you'll need it. Protein can come from many sources, not just meat. Evaluate the possibility of using:

        • Chicken, fish, lean beef and pork.
        • Eggs and dairy dishes with low fat content.
        • Nuts and beans.
        • Cabbage, spinach and other vegetables with significant protein content.
      3. Consider supplements. Many who work to build muscle use creatine, an amino acid in powder form that is mixed with water and taken three times a day or more often. It is considered safe to consume by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) because it is made from the same protein that our bodies produce.

      • Motivate yourself to achieve high results, the harder you work, the better the results will be!
      • Make sure you get enough sleep when exercising or doing intense physical activity. For muscles to grow, it is important that they get proper rest.
      • Drink plenty of water.
      • Do all exercises with correct technique. Only after you have developed the correct technique should you add weights.
      • Consistency is the key to success! You must have a proper diet, without skipping meals.
      • Vegetarians will not be deficient in protein. Soy products (as a rule, these products contain the most protein) are sold in all stores and supermarkets.
      • Don't stop training after a week because you don't see results. Changes will be noticeable after some time.
      • Never give up.
      • Remember to take enough vitamins during your workout regimen. Eat fruits, vegetables and grains (little). Try to consume sugar only from fruits.
      • At least 100 hours should pass between training for the same muscle group.
      • Consume 1 to 2 g of protein per 1 kg. Your weight.
  • Who among us would not like to have powerful chest muscles that protrude from under our shirt, or biceps that will cause envy in any of our interlocutors? It is volume training that allows you to achieve an excellent muscular figure, so that the cubes are visible to the naked eye. Of course, the main admirers of such a real “masculine” figure are girls, since they generally adore everything “masculine” and strength is one of the traits most respected by girls. We can safely say that the more time you spend in the gym, the more attention you will receive from the fair sex. But the question immediately arises: what is better training for muscle volume or relief? Our body is designed in such a way that depending on what function we train, we only achieve exceptional success in it. That is, if you are a bodybuilder and train many hours every day to lift weights, this is the only thing you will become successful at. If you put the same “monster” of the gym on a treadmill, guess what speed it will squeeze out of itself? Funny, is not it. And this principle can be seen in everything. Muscles are trained in only two directions: strength and endurance.

    If you train for endurance, you won't develop the same muscle definition as top athletes, but you will be able to move faster, have a more flexible and aerobic body, and be healthier overall, but you won't be able to lift or lift. bend pieces of iron and cope with any other work that only a muscleman can do. On the contrary, if you are a pumped-up athlete, tasks for speed and speed will not bring you success; on the contrary, you may turn out to be much worse than the average person in them. So decide what is better for you: volume or relief.

    Experienced athletes clearly distinguish between periods of “mass” and “drying”. During periods of “mass,” the athlete engages in special programs that will allow him to gain muscle and body mass, absorbs a huge amount of high-calorie foods, and strives at any cost to gain as much muscle as possible. During the “drying” period, other programs are used, with a large number of repetitions and high intensity, the consumption of all products, from high-calorie foods to ordinary water, is strictly controlled.

    The question of which is better, volume or relief, depends on your genetics. It often happens that an athlete who is genetically predisposed to gaining weight, in order to “dry”, is forced to control his calories for months, but on the contrary, a dead man must consume various foods in order to achieve success in the gym. Of course, a whim is a whim, and fashion plays a significant role, but the main thing is to always pay attention to the inclinations of your body. If it demonstrates itself better in a certain direction, spend your energy on it. This applies to all sports, any areas of training. Genetics decide everything! But if you decide to gain weight, let’s take a closer look at this issue and look at this problem from different points of view.

    Training program for muscle volume

    The first and most important task is increasing the duration of the load Load refers to the period of time during which the muscles are under load. With prolonged and intense exercise, a very interesting phenomenon is observed.

    The blood vessels that carry nutrients to the muscle are temporarily blocked and clogged during its maximum load. But the heart continues to pump blood and it accumulates in the capillary for several seconds. But when the muscle relaxes, the vessel opens and then all the accumulated blood is directed into the muscle, feeding it with an increased amount of necessary substances and oxygen. This process is called pumping. It is during the pump that particularly intense muscle growth is observed and it is at this time that the greatest results can be achieved.

    Why do we need this? What does this information tell us? And she says that to achieve optimal muscle nutrition without interruption, unless, of course, you have other goals, you need to maintain the duration of the exercises for 45 seconds, no more. Otherwise, you are simply cutting off the blood supply to the muscle. So this is the first rule when doing volume training.

    Volume plays an important role when training doing more work You know that simply well-developed muscles have a large amount of glycogen in their structure. This means that our main task is to ensure an increased flow of glycogen to the muscles during training. This is achieved by increasing the volume of training. For example, instead of 2 approaches, perform 4-5 for the same number of repetitions. In this case, glycogen, which runs out in the body during an intensive approach, begins to accumulate at an accelerated pace. And in the future our body will store much more of it than before. It is necessary to reach complete glycogen depletion 2-3 times, and over time it will accumulate more and more. This means you will be able to afford a higher-quality workout, you will be able to do a larger amount of work, and the benefits from the workout will be much greater. So try to do as much work as possible during your workout if you want to achieve big, shiny muscles.


    Pay attention to rest time between exercises It should not exceed 30-60 seconds. The thing is that during intense exercise, blood accumulates in the muscle, which drains during rest. The more blood flow, the faster muscle development and growth occurs. If we take long breaks between exercises, all that happens is a drainage of blood and, as a result, relaxation, which is unacceptable for any kind of training. Training for muscle volume involves pauses between approaches of no more than 30-60 seconds; it is best to stop within a period of 45 seconds.

    During training, conduct classes on isolation of lagging muscles Your main task is to achieve non-standard exercises for lagging muscles. The more unusual and varied the load, the higher the rate of development of the desired muscle group. And in this case, the isolation of certain groups plays a significant role for further development. For general training, you need to do basic exercises such as deadlifts, squats, and barbell presses. However, when it comes to isolating exercises, such as straight-arm overhead pull-downs, leg extensions in a machine, dumbbell flyes, and other exercises that work well on those muscle groups that do not take part in traditional training are good options. If you do not disdain the development of “weak” muscle groups, you can achieve significant success by performing exercises to increase volume and achieve the desired effect in the gym.

    In this article, we examined in detail the issue of some basic methods of training muscles for volume. Sometimes theoretical knowledge is needed for successful muscle development, but if you don’t have time to get it, consult with a trainer to get the effectiveness of the exercises off the ground, he’ll probably tell you something. But the more you know and understand about sports medicine, the more likely you are to get the most benefit from your training.

    The volume training program is designed to increase muscle size. The program is designed for athletes of intermediate and above training levels. The basis consists of antagonist muscle exercises, combined in supersets, for maximum muscle development and blood supply. The duration of the program is approximately 6-8 weeks, then switch to a low-rep training program to increase strength.

    Example of a volume training program

    Monday (CHEST+BACK, PRESS)

    1) Bench press + wide grip pull-ups 4x12-15

    2) Incline dumbbell press + bent-over barbell row 4x10-12

    3) Lying crunches 4x25-30

    Wednesday (QUADRICEPS+BICEPS, CALVES)

    1) Squat + deadlift on straight legs 4x12-15

    2) Extension + leg bending in the simulator 4x12-15

    3) Calf raises sitting/standing 4x15-20

    Friday (TRICEPS+BICEPS, DELTS)

    1) Close grip bench press + biceps curl 4x12-15

    2) French bench press + hammers with dumbbells 4x10-12

    3) Standing barbell press + lateral raise of dumbbells 4x10-12

    Notes

    Don't forget to warm up at the beginning and cool down at the end of your workout. Rest between regular sets is about 60 seconds, between supersets 90. Don't stay in the gym for too long. The optimal training time is approximately 45 minutes. More doesn't mean better!