While I normally like to approach fitness/working out from a
health and feeling good direction, I have to admit, I like having “viewable”
muscles – loosely defined as those viewed through the sense of sight versus the sense
of touch. Thus, muscle-building workouts have to stay in a heavy
rotation in my fitness routine.
What are these “muscle building” workouts you ask? Well I
can tell you from studies, anecdotal trials and observations that it comes down
to sets, reps and exercise variation.
Here’s the breakdown of my go-to muscle increasing lifting routine:
•A warm-up set of 20 reps (light weight, 50 to 60% of a 1 rep max)
•4 “working sets” of 8 – 12 reps (sets can increase in
weight or slowly decrease to ensure rep amount)
•Body part focus (3 to 5 exercises for each major muscle
group – chest, legs, back, shoulders, arms)
•Alternating Exercise Method - machine, barbell,
dumbbell/iso-lateral
•One or two functional movements
Here's an example for Chest:
Barbell Bench Press – Dumbbell Incline Bench Press – Cable
Chest Press – Forward/Backward walking Push-ups (example of a functional
movement).
I also tend to throw in 5 to 10 minutes of cardio before and
after lifting.
And there you have it, a bigger and more ripped physique brought to you by the science of exercise physiology. To have your own customized routine created, checkout out our program design purchasing options. Have a question about anything in this piece? Ask it in the comments below or through our contact form.
And remember folks . . .
