Muscle groups
Q: I work out at the Concord ZX Fitness. I spend about an hour to an hour and one half in the gym each day. I like to work two muscle groups a day. What is the best split to get the maximum results? My goal is to gain as much muscle mass as possible! Darrell in Concord A: There are many factors that go into trying to add muscle mass. When it comes to your workout, that involves pushing yourself during your strength training routine. Most people will increase weight while targeting 6-8 reps, with muscle failure being the primary goal at that point. Your body doesn't actually grow during the workout, it grows after. The feeling you get during a workout is commonly referred to as "the pump." Blood simply fills the muscle. The thing about "the pump" is that it is a temporary feeling. That's where rest and nutrition come in. They work together to build muscle after your strength training. Put it to you this way, there is 168 hours in a week, what do you spend most of your time on? If you focus on strength training for 1-1.5 hours/day and did that over a 7 day span, that would be 7-10.5 hours of working out. That leaves 161-157.5 hours left unaccounted for in the week. What are you doing with the rest of your time? After a strength training workout, your body requires food to rebuild the damage muscle and help to build new muscle. If you are doing too much cardio, that can offset your ability to build mass. Cardio serves no value to building mass. I, myself, do very little cardio and focus more on strength training, rest and nutrition. That is not to say cardio is not important because it is. However, the question is are you doing too much cardio? Every person is different. Some people are what we call hard gainers, meaning it's harder to put on the size they would like to gain. Typically, those are people with fast metabolisms. If you are one of those, it can can be pretty frustrating when you see a friend or fellow gym member put on size relatively faster and easier than you are. A great example is the world class Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps. He is supposed to have 12,000 calories in a day! Most bodybuilders don't even consume that much! His body requires that many calories because his work outs are so intense that when he's not working out, his body is constantly burning calories when he's at rest. And he has a long lean frame! If he didn't eat, he wouldn't be at that world class level. Michael Phelps mainly eats to perform. I hope this answers your question. In order to change your physical appearance, you need to take a good look at your lifestyle. What, if anything, needs tweaking? Continue to work hard and listen to your body. Good things will come! Happy training!
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