He’s told you what you have to eat to maximize your wedding workout. Now Anthony of groombuilder.com is here to explain the best training methods for lean muscle building.
Muscle Gain: Training
If your goal is to build muscle and stay lean, you need to lift heavy weights and build real strength.
The problem is too many guys try to gain muscle with old-fashioned bodybuilding exercises. These just aren’t effective for building size.
Instead, use heavy, total-body lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, military presses, rows, lunges, and pullups.
With these lifts, you’ll not only boost your total-body strength, but you’ll also immediately increase your testosterone levels for additional muscle growth.
Here are some great exercises that belong in ANY strength-training program:
Legs: front squat, goblet squat, deadlifts, hip bridges, split squats
Back: dumbbell rows, inverted rows, cable rows, pullups
Chest: pushups, bench press, dumbbell bench press,
Shoulders: military press, lateral raises, push presses
Abs: deadbugs, planks, side planks, Pallof press, and carries
Now, here’s where “progressive overload” comes in: when you gradually increase the intensity of these exercises. For example, add 2.5 – 5lbs to your weights every time you train. That way, you’ll continually stress your muscle fibers, which forces them to grow. As long as you keep eating the right amount of food, you’ll avoid plateaus.
Regarding sets and reps, aim for fewer reps (4 – 6) with more sets (5 or more). This will help you build a foundation in strength, which will help with everything else you’ll do in the gym.
One to two times a week, do 30 – 45 minutes of steady-state cardio at your aerobic zone (130 – 150bpm). You can do things like a treadmill hike, bike ride, light hike, rowing machine, bodyweight circuit, etc. By adding some light work on your “off days,” you’ll avoid unwanted fat gains and improve your work capacity so you can push yourself harder during resistance training (which ultimately leads to more muscle).
