Best Methods for Building Muscle for a Bodybuilding Competition

If your goal is to enter a bodybuilding competition, building muscle is a must. This is something that takes time, practice, effort, and commitment.

For some, muscle growth is simple. However, for others, it isn’t easy. This can be made even more difficult and confusing due to all the jargon and theories about building muscle that is heard and seen by experts online and in magazines.

While it may be tempting to try “build muscle quick schemes” and different drugs or medications, this is not a long-term muscle growth strategy. To achieve success in a bodybuilding competition, you must build muscle the right way.

Understanding the Ins and Outs of Building Muscle

Bodybuilding isn’t for everyone. However, if you are serious about your time in the gym and are ready to commit, it can be quite rewarding.

One way to build muscle is by going to the gym more and doing more – more sets, more workouts, more exercises, and more weight. While this is effective for some people, it is not effective for everyone, nor is it the smartest approach.

This is because some exercises are better than others when trying to build size. Also, some are best done earlier in your workout than others.

In some cases, certain set-and-rep combinations will build muscle faster than the others. Also, grouping certain body parts together will make more sense than others.

Even though pushing yourself hard in the gym is important, if you do too many sets and keep working beyond muscle failure, your efforts may be counterproductive.

There are better and faster ways to make gains and speed up muscle growth. Using the tips and information here may be beneficial if you are thinking about increasing your training to prepare for a bodybuilding competition.

Start Early in the Day

When you start training earlier in the day, you can increase your metabolic rate for the entire day. This will also help you increase your nutrient consumption for longer than scheduling your workouts in the evening.

Also, you can take the rest of the day to get adequate protein. If you need to increase protein, even more, you can look into sarms for sale. This results in more muscle, less fat, and a step closer to your competition goals.

Reorganize Your Training Program

Rest and recovery time is essential when you increase your workout and training program’s intensity and volume. The way you organize and arrange your training split is essential.

As a beginner, you may be able to complete a whole-body workout in one session. As you add exercises for every muscle group from different angles causes the workout to takes more time. It can be difficult to keep energy levels up if fatigue begins to occur.

Rather than trying to stuff more work into just a few training days, it’s best to create a smarter approach to training. Follow in the footsteps of competitive bodybuilders.

Hit a big and small body part in one workout. Make sure to provide adequate rest.

Since you are increasing the volume and intensity for every body part, you require more recovery time. Remember, the body grows and repairs outside the gym with the right nutrition and plenty of rest. The workout is just the stimulus that helps trigger muscle growth.

A good training split to try includes a two-on and one-off schedule. This works for every muscle group every sixth day.

Start with this and then adjust your split as needed to ensure it helps you achieve your goals. Just remember, you need to take a minimum of two days off from the gym. Also, don’t work the same muscle group on consecutive days.

Keep Things Simple

If you let it, bodybuilding can be an incredibly complicated activity. There are countless training methods, supplements to try, workout programs, and more. You also have to consider prep time, cooking, training time, and so much more.

For some, bodybuilding can be so complex it is overwhelming, and it may even result in “burnout.”

This complexity can steal your motivation and focus. Because of this, if you want to experience gains, you must keep things simple.

Keeping things simple is important, but it is also necessary to stay aware of trends and new training methods. While this is true, no amount of persuasive exotic theory or experimentation should overtake the basics. It is the basics that will help you stay on track.

The concept is simple. If you find something that does not work with the basics, eliminate it. Continue training based on the simple principles that provide the desired results.

Engage in Multi-Joint Moves Earlier in Your Routine

Every exercise will be either a single joint (a.k.a., isolation) or multi-joint (a.k.a. compound). With the second type, two joints are working at the same time.

Examples of multi-joint exercises include shoulder presses, bent-over rows, squats, and bench presses. This means more than one muscle group is used.

Since these exercises require the use of several muscle groups and joints, you can probably lift more weight. As a result, doing these earlier in your workout routine is a good idea.

For isolation exercises, such as the leg extension or chest fly, doing them at the end of your workout is best.

Find and Use High-Quality Supplements

Some people still claim the use of supplements is not necessary. However, supplements are required to help ensure you receive the nutrients and vitamins needed for basic health and well-being.

They also help you recover quickly from intense exercises that increase your need for minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients beyond the basic requirements.

When you first start working out, using supplements is important. They can help take years off the amount of time it would take you to make progress, otherwise.

Also, supplements become more critical for your overall success the longer that you are working out because they help you maintain gains and make more gains.

If you fail to take supplements, the highest quality you can find, you won’t get the most benefit from your training sessions. Also, recovery will be slow, and you may suffer the negative effects of over-training.

Supplements such as creatine, protein, and multivitamins are important for bodybuilders. Use them to see the huge gains they offer now and over time.

Increase Your Workout Volume

Selecting the right exercises and making sure you do them in the proper order is important. However, this is just the first step to improving muscle growth.

You also need to engage in enough exercises and sets. As a beginner, you can find plenty of resources and guides about what is sufficient to see muscle gains. It has been shown that higher-volume workouts are good for achieving hypertrophy.

Also, high-volume workouts will help you build muscle size. This works, in part, by initiating the release of anabolic hormones that are responsible for the growth of your muscles.

Training volume refers to combining all reps, sets, and exercises you do for a certain muscle group. If you do too much, it can be counterproductive and negatively impact the progress you have achieved.

Focus on You (Not Others Progress or Gains)

You may think bodybuilding is all about being better than everyone else. After all, that’s the only way you will win a bodybuilding competition, right? Wrong.

A bodybuilding competition is about that, but bodybuilding alone is a solo activity. Here, you learn to work your body strategically to help you grow and become stronger in certain ways.

It is all about creating symmetry and strength and transforming your body to meet your goals. Remember that bodybuilding is a personal effort.

If you only focus on competition, you may actually wind up hurting your body.

To achieve long-term gains, you have to figure out what success looks like for you. This means forgetting about the competition you have in your mind with other people. Instead, compete with yourself and focus on getting stronger, bigger, and better than you were the day before.

By taking time to set metrics and goals, you will know when you are successful. If you do this throughout your bodybuilding career, you can keep winning and growing.

Find the Best Weight for You

The right number of reps for each set to help maximize your muscle growth is between eight and 12. This isn’t an arbitrary estimate.

It has been proven through research and scientific studies. The goal is to use enough weight to achieve muscle failure within that number of reps.

Instead of just performing eight to 12 reps, you have to go heavier with the weight earlier in your workout. Do this while your strength is still high.

At the beginning of your workout, do several lower rep sets of multi-joint exercises. Do just six reps for some sets to get your body primed for strength and size gains.

As your muscles become fatigued, engage in higher-rep sets. This will ensure you can target the same muscle with several different exercises.

This method is called a pyramid fashion. You begin with lighter weights and higher reps and progress to heavier weights and fewer reps.

Avoid Believing Gimmicks and Fads

Gimmicks and fads are everywhere in the bodybuilding industry. Every week you will see something new and “revolutionary” introduced. From fat-burning belts and pills to shakes and more, these miracle methods can be appealing.

Regardless of how good something sounds, these are all distractions. If you fall into the trap of these fads and gimmicks, it may eliminate the gains you have made and prevent future gains.

Instead, ignore and avoid these. Stick to what is and has worked for you. By avoiding gimmicks and fads, you will be better prepared for your upcoming bodybuilding competition.

Engage in Different Exercises for Every Muscle Group

You have likely already realized the benefits of using an incline, decline, and flat bench for chest presses. This targets the muscle from different angles.

You may not realize that you should take this approach for all your muscles and body parts. Along with the equipment you use, your body, foot, arm, and hand position can all impact a movement.

Because of this, you need to include various exercises in your workout routine. This will help you hit each muscle group from different angles.

For example, wide-grip pull-downs will hit your lats differently than reverse-grip pull-downs. Also, curls on an incline bench work a different part of the bicep muscle than curls done on a preacher bench.

You have to learn how these small differences will impact growth and muscle recruitment.

Don’t Skip the Recovery and Rest Stages

As a bodybuilder, especially one preparing for a competition, you may want to stay in the gym. However, if you fail to focus on rest and recovery, you are making a huge mistake.

According to some studies, proper recovery after exercising is more important than many people realize. It has shown that inflammation plays a huge role in muscle growth and immune system performance. If you aren’t providing enough recovery time, you may not see the muscle growth desired.

Are You Ready for Your Upcoming Bodybuilding Competition?

If you are preparing for a bodybuilding competition, keeping the information above in mind can help you get ready. Using the right training methods and strategies will help you achieve the goals you have and do well in the competition.

When it comes to bodybuilding, there are obviously some dos and don’ts you must focus on. If you are searching for other unique but helpful information, be sure to check out our other blog posts.

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