Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Various types of muscle building regimen

By Caleb Lee


When you first begin your workout routine, trainers will show you the two basic types of muscle workouts that will point you to muscle building. There are many paths which will lead you to the muscle building destination you want to go. If you want to go for the beefed up look, there are multiple ways to attain that body. Below are some of the basics.

The Single Set Routines

In the initial phase beginners will start out with the single set routine. This single set routine is very effective in building up muscle mass in the first phase of the workout. It couldn't get any easier to build muscle. There is only one set required in this exercise workout. This gets the body tuned up for the weight training regime and ready to move on to a higher level.

For the experienced weight lifter this muscle builder is useful in building up mass whenever needed. The experienced weight lifter can use this single set routine without doing splits (i.e. working each and every muscle group in every workout). The single set keeps the muscle groups lean and charged up leading to effective muscle building.

The Multipule Set Routines

Multiple sets are quite different from the single set training methods for those aiming at effective muscle building. This type of workout regimen requires the lifter to perform multiple sets of a single exercise, for example ten reps of dumbbell presses for three sets interspersed with very little resting time.

If you want to build up muscle it is better that you lift medium or light weights while using the multiple sets routines. Lighter weights increase the muscle mass but doesn't neccessarly work on strengthening the body. Generally repetitions in a set are eight to fifteen. Sets have been proven to be most effective when done in threes, this is true for beginners or advanced body builders. As you progress in your exercise schedule then of course the number of sets should progress with you.

Pyramid Routines

The Pyramid Routines are type of intensity builders that aim at increasing the intensity of the workout to a greater degree. Pyramid Routines employ the use of sets at different levels of the same weight training exercise so as to form a perfect pyramid. For example in this type of muscle building training you can start with a lighter weight and do 12 reps with it. In the next step, lift a medium weight and do 8 reps with it.

Follow this up with a set of heavy weights and do 4 reps, from here you will have to work all the way down to the lowest floor of the pyramid by doing the three sets in reverse order. This gives great results in the muscle building routine.

Pyramid routines are most likely the most effective in muscle building as they expose all the muscles to various amounts of stress. If your goal as a lifter is to gain muscle mass then the pyramid routines should be the main focus in your muscle building routine; these routines are the most widely in use today.

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