Do you work out five days a week, two times a day because all the muscle magazines say that more is better? Or do you see all the muscle heads in the gym doing this and you assume that because they look buff it must work?
I've got some news for you. You are probably overtraining and as a result slowing down your progress. Muscle growth occurs not when you are in the gym, but during the period of rest afterwards. You need to allow sufficient time for your muscles to recover and for repair to occur.
The muscle heads who work out every single day twice a day are probably using steroids and have superior genetics that you and I don't. As you know I specialize in helping ectomorphs aka 'hardgainers' gain muscle fast. The typical bodybuilder is a mesomorph and has genetic gifts that make him more muscular without any effort and also allow him to train harder from the get go. I know, I know, it's unfair but that is life!
When you train with high intensity, you cause what are known as 'micro-tears' in your muscle tissue. It is the healing of these 'micro-tears' in the presence of excess protein calories that result in muscle growth. It is a process very similar to how thick protective calluses form on your skin when you get cut. Training so frequently interferes with this process and you will either end up with sub-optimal gains or no progress at all.
Ever seen the gym rat who trains like a maniac but year in year out looks just the same? Skin and bones? He is likely overtraining and not resting enough. He is also probably frustrated by the lack of results, determined to see muscle growth and so trains even harder-a never ending vicious cycle he will not get out of without the right information!
Please do him a favor and send him this article!
If you've read any of my previous articles you know that I recommend training no more than 3 to 4 times a week. The days that you do not go to the gym should be complete rest days. Get enough sleep, eat right and drink plenty of water. Again, it is during this rest period that muscle growth takes place. Treat your rest days like they are sacred.
In addition to training less often and allowing plenty of time for rest, you should train for no more than an hour at a time (excluding the time it takes to warm up). The reason for this is that after roughly forty five minutes of high intensity physical activity, the body secretes a hormone known as cortisol. Cortisol helps break down muscle to use it for energy.
See, most of your daily energy needs are obtained from glycogen but after you exhaust the available reserves (as you are sure to when training hard) the body then breaks down fat for energy. As a skinny guy, you don't have much fat so guess where the body goes next for energy? Yep, you guessed right, protein. Muscle is broken down for energy and you actually end up losing muscle!
This is precisely why I don't recommend training for more than an hour. Observe this guideline and allow sufficient time for rest. You will be ahead of the pack when it comes to building muscle.
The other advantage to training less often and resting more is the gym doesn't take over your life. Unlike the muscle heads you can still have a life and will not resent training or feel that it is too daunting.
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About this Author
By Don Demarco. Don is an amateur bodybuilder and fitness coach. He shares bodybuilding secrets learned over several years at Men's Workout Heaven
Enroll for a FREE Muscle Building course. Visit Men's Workout Videos [http://www.MensWorkoutHeaven.com/muscle.htm]
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