Ready to maximize gains safely and effectively. You can use these bodybuilding tips to build strength and muscle fast, while minimizing the chance of injury. These tips are simple and easy to implement.
We have scoured studies to identify the best bodybuilding tips for you. You may be doing things wrong because you don’t know what you don’t know. So before your next training session learn how to use these bodybuilding tips to get huge gains while being safe.
Below are some of the best and simplest workout tips that you can implement now. You will be surprised at how easy it is to start enjoying your gym time, even more, when you begin to see the changes. Also, you will have a great attitude in knowing that you are working out effectively to reach a goal. What this article will not cover is supplementation and steroids. These are tips to naturally maximize gains safely and effectively through your workouts. Additionally, we will also not cover diet, which is just as important as what you do in the gym. We are only going to discuss tips on the training part of bodybuilding here.
Bodybuilding Tips to Improve Muscle Gains
Every bodybuilder wants to maximize gains, overcome plateaus, and see their progress. These bodybuilding tips will help you understand how to focus on the things that will develop and progress. Admittedly, the most important bodybuilding tip for improving muscle is to work out with intensity. Although intensity doesn’t mean grunting and groaning at the gym or beating your chest. In fact, the real intensity is pushing yourself to your limits every time you train and not slacking off. Nevertheless, if you only have the intensity and don’t use the below tip you will likely also not see the progress that you want. So you will need all of these bodybuilding tips.
1 – Work on Technique First
You need to work on technique before you increase the weight. You have probably heard these hundreds of times but no one at the gym will walk up to you and tell you that your technique is bad. Additionally, most people don’t have the temperament or humility to accept criticism or suggestions.
2 – Do Sets of 8-12 Reps for Muslec Hypertrophy
When you are trying to increase your muscle size, you are trying to use muscle hypertrophy. Many studies have been conducted around the most effective and efficient way to increase muscle size. Most of these studies have determined for the beginning bodybuilder the use of 8-12 repetitions with progressive overload will be the fastest way to develop muscle.
3 – Do Sets of 1-5 Reps for Strength
To increase brute strength like a powerlifter, you must increase the weight and lower the repetitions. Although, you can use sets of 8-12 only with progressive overload, but eventually you will plateau. In order to increase your one rep max (1RM) you will need to also work on heavier weight and lower reps. But, don’t start working on your 1RM until you have good technique.
4 – Perform Power Sets to Maximize Your Workout Time
Power sets are a good way to fatigue your muscles quickly. They’re many ways to do power sets. You can work complementary muscles or you can work the same muscle with different exercises. Although power sets are normally done with isolation exercises, you can do them with compound exercises as well. Many bodybuilders do a push-pull exercise routine that is full of power sets. Other bodybuilders will work with power sets with extension and curl exercises. Similarly, you can do power sets of two exercises that are not related, such as squats and shoulder press. This will allow you to use one muscle group’s recovery time to work another muscle group.
5 – Perform Drop Sets to Burn Out Your Muscles Quickly
You perform drop sets by lifting to near failure, then reducing the weight a little and continuing with no rest. Then when that weight gets too difficult, you drop the weight a little more. Drop sets work well with cable machines where you can change the weight rapidly and quickly. Although, you do not want to do drop sets to often, and you will need to make sure that you allow your muscle to recover after the drop set. Drop sets are most effective when you do one set as your last set only.
6 – Change Your Lifts Frequently
You need to systematically change exercises you do for the same muscle group. Doing the same exercise will train your muscles to do that exercise and you will stop seeing progress. Initially, you will see progress, but you will hit a wall earlier if you are only doing the same lifts every time you train. This is why you should have a plan for which exercises you do before you get to the gym. Simply mix up the exercises that you do at least every few times you go to the gym. For major lifts, you can do a variation of the lift, such as changing your stance or grip.
Here is Dorian Yates On Bodybuilding Tips
7 – Use Progressive Overload to Build Muscle Quickly
Progressive overload is the main way to build muscles for beginner bodybuilders and the way expert bodybuilders lift frequently as well. Progressive overload is when you increase the weight at every training session. Most importantly is to attempt to lift more each time you train, that maybe one more repetitions or increasing the weight. Accordingly, a common way to do progressive overload is to raise increase your reps until you get to 12, then increase the weight so that you can only do 8 reps. Then train with that weight until you get to 12 reps a set and then again increase the weight and repeat.
8 – Perform Proper Rest Between Sets
Your rest time between sets is just as important as the time your muscles are under tension. If you don’t rest at all between sets you will not let your muscles recover enough to fully complete the next set. In the contrast, if you rest too long you will be losing the benefits of doing multiple sets. A smartwatch can be a good way to track if you have recovered enough. In fact, using the heart rate monitor of a smartwatch is a great way to track your intensity.
9 – Lift to Near Failure, By Knowing Your Limits
You will never know how far you can go until you fail. Because failing is the only true measure of your strength. Once you get accustomed to lifting and know your body, you will know how far to push yourself and know when you are near failure. Accordingly, this is how you bring the intensity, know your limits and try to exercise safely near your limits, and keep moving the bar. You want to raise the bar figuratively and literally.
10 – Keep a Lifting Log to Ensure That You Are Getting Stronger
Having a plan is not always enough, you also need to record what you have done. There is probably a lot going on in your life and you don’t need to try to remember what you did a few weeks ago when you perform this lift last. Remember you should not be doing the same lift more than two to three training sessions for the same muscle group in a row. With that said, it could have been three weeks since you last did that lift. If you don’t record what you did, you will not know if you are progressing and you will not be pushing yourself. There are many good apps that can help you record your workouts and help you find other lifts to work similar muscle groups.
11 – Change Up Your Sets and Reps
We discussed how doing sets of 8-12 reps is the best for muscle hypertrophy and how sets of 1-5 reps are best for strength. You may also be familiar with the 5 sets of 5 routines. When bodybuilders do sets of 8-12 reps they normally do 3 sets and when they do sets of 5 or less they do slightly more reps. Please don’t think that if you do more sets that you will be building muscle faster. When you lift you are breaking your muscle down, and your muscles actually grow when they repair themselves over the next few days.
Although, when you lift your muscles may look bigger from the pump, but this is just fluid filling your muscles. Subsequently, if you do too many reps, you will have diminishing returns or you will tear down your muscle more than it will repair itself and you can lose strength. In conclusion, you should change up your reps and sets systematically, but also don’t overtrain.
12 – Slow Down Your Exercise for Muscle Hypertrophy (Maximize Time Under Tension)
If you have been lifting for a little while you should be familiar with the phrase “time under tension.” Bodybuilding is a sport and a science, and the science shows that there is a sweet spot for time under tensions where you will maximize the breakdown of your muscles for further muscle recovery. Subsequently, you can increase time under tension by increasing the reps, or by slowing down each rep. The sweet spot is about 4-6 seconds for the contraction and extension of the muscle. However, you don’t want to lift this slow all the time, just like you want to change up your sets and reps you wan to change the speed at which you lift.
Here is Athlean-X on Fast and Slow Reps For Bodybuilding Tips
Here is another example of how to use speed in your reps for bodybuilding.
13 – Speed Up Your Exercise for Power
Bodybuilders don’t need to train their muscles to be explosive like powerlifters and Olympic lifters, but you can use similar techniques to continue to build muscle. When you train your muscles for power and explosiveness, you are working your muscles in a different way. Consequently, you will be able to push your progress even further if you train for power occasionally.
14 – Perform Compound Exercises First
Training with major compound exercises first is one of the most common practices and there are many good reasons why. First, if you do isolation exercises first you will fatigue some of your muscles and not be able to perform optimally when doing the compound exercises. Next, when you do the compound exercises first you can fatigue all of your muscles quickly. Then you can work individual muscles to burn them out fully, one at a time.
15 – Use Full Range of Motion
Many bodybuilders will do quarter squats or half curls. These exercises can isolate certain parts of you muscles, but they can also limit your mobility and flexibility. It is better to work your whole muscles through the full range of motion. Rember tip number one though, work on technique first. Good technique is using the full range of motion. Certainly by maintaining your flexability and mobility, you will prevent injury and build muscle more quickly.
Bodybuilding Tips to Reduce Soreness and Recovery Time
Being sore is a good thing it lets you know that you worked your muscles enough that they can get stronger. Your recovery time is important because it is the time your muscles are actually being built. Unlike when you are training you are tearing your muscles down. You will find that the longer you are training, the less you are sore. Specifically, the longer you train in weeks and months the less you are sore. Although the bigger your muscles get the more recovery time you will need for them. With that said there are ways to help your muscles be less sore, for a shorter time and fully recover.
16 – Perform a Warm-up
Warming up your muscles is always important. A proper warm-up will also prevent many injuries. You don’t want to mistake warming up for stretching. Many people do stretches and think that is a good warm-up and this is a horrible error. If your stretches are a hot yoga routine then you will be fine. The best form of a warm-up is dynamic stretches or a short bodyweight aerobics routine. Once this is complete also do a warm-up set with a lightweight on your first exercise, especially if it is a major compound exercise.
17 – Drink Water Before, During and After You Train (Stay Hydrated)
Your soreness and recovery time is based on how long it takes your muscle to rebuild. Your muscles will fill with lactic acid and the longer that acid is in your muscles the longer you will be sore and the harder it is for your muscle to recover. When you stay hydrated you provide your body what it needs to flush the lactic acid. As a result, you will be less sore and recover fast if you stay hydrated.
18 – Schedule Rest Days
You shouldn’t be doing resistance training every day, you need to schedule some rest days. If you do want to train every day you need to schedule enough of a break between working individual muscles that they have time to recover. This is very challenging, so if you want to work out every day do some cardio days instead of resistance training. However, you may only need to do this while you are trying to lose fat and build muscle. In fact, why not just enjoy a day or two a week where you don’t train, it is biblical.
Science-Based Bodybuilding Tips For Reducing Soreness
Like everywhere you can find conflicting information of bodybuilding tips. Here is some alternatives prospectives on why you should use these tips.
19 – Use a Foam Roller to Break Up the Soreness
If you are like me you get muscle knots when you overtrain. I mostly get muscle knots in my back but I have also got them in my legs. A good foam roller can be magical at getting the knots out. Additionally, even if you don’t have knots but just have sore muscles the foam roller can help break up the soreness. Also a foam roller can be used at the beginning of a training session as part of your warm-up. Or you can use the foam roller between sets to help recovery time.
20 – Use Cardio at the End of Your Training Session
A stationary bike does wonders at the end of leg day to reduce the time you are sore. You don’t have to ride the bike long, as little as three minutes is all you need. Similarly, you can do a quick jog, use a rowing machine on back day, or do some shadow boxing on chest day or arms day. These quick cardio sessions will pay huge dividends on your recovery time and reducing soreness.
21 – Cool-Down Before You Get in the Shower
If you aren’t going to do cardio at the end of your training you should certainly do a cool-down. Now, cardio could be your cool-down. But you could also walk and do some stretching.
22 – Stretch to Reduce Soreness and Gain Flexibility
You want to perform dynamic stretches at the beginning of your training session and static stretches at the end of the training session. After you complete your workout you should stretch the muscles that you just trained. Especially, if you want to reduce soreness and increase flexibility. Besides, it is easier to stretch your muscles to gain flexibility after they are fatigued.
23 – Take Cold Showers or an Ice Bath
You may be familiar with athletes taking ice baths to improve recovery time and reduce soreness. Similarly, doctors will prescribe ice for healing muscles. Consequently, cold is to heal and heat is to reduce pain, this is why you may have also been told to alternate hot and cold packs. Nevertheless, you don’t need to take an ice bath to activate better healing with cold, you can simply use a cold shower to speed up your recovery. Although if you have never taken a cold shower it can be difficult, it will be worth it.
Bodybuilding Tips to Minimize Chace of Injuries
If you have ever suffered an injury you know that it will derail your progress and make you backslide. When your injury one side of your body you don’t want to train your other side and become disproportioned. Use these tips to help minimize your chance of injury.
24 – Use a Mirror to Ensure Proper Technique While Bodybuilding
Since it would be rare that anyone will tell you if you have bad form, it is up to you to ensure you have good form. The best way to do that is to observe your form in a mirror. Don’t think that it is vain checking yourself out, make it a habit of verifying your form when possible. Having proper form is a key to preventing injuries.
25 – Have a Workout Partner
Unfortunately, sometimes we have to work out alone, but it is always better to have a partner. Although, when it comes to preventing injuries a partner is best for being a spotter and assisting. Of course, a good partner will help you with your form, help with motivation, and be a spotter.
26 – Breathe While Lifting
We have heard the old adage that “it is natural as breathing.” Coincidentally, when bodybuilding breathing properly is not always that easy. For example many people hold their breath when exerting a lot of force. Holding your breath can help keep your core tight in some exercises like deadlifting and squatting. However, this powerlifting technique should not be used during normal bodybuilding sets. The best method is to breath during the negative and out on the positive part of the execution, such as in when you go down on a squat and breath out when you push up.
27 – Balance the Weight
This is pretty obvious that you need to have the same weight on each side of a barbell, or use the same size dumbbells. But, it is also important that you balance a barbell across your body. Use the powering of a bar to ensure that you balance it across your body. Bodybuilding is about symmetry and you will not achieve symmetry unless you balance the weight. Additionally, if you don’t balance the weight you are more likely to have improper technique and develop an injury.
Bodybuilding Tips to Prevent Injuries
28 – Use a Rack With Properly Set Safety Bars
Regardless if you have a spotter or not you should use a rack with properly set safety bars. If you haven’t yet, your goal when bodybuilding should be to lift heavy. The heavier you lift the more important it will be to use safety bars. Might as well start to get used to using them. Because using safety bars can be the difference between getting injured or not.
29 – Have a Plan if You Can’t Finish
When you lift with intensity you will inevitably start lifting to failure. When you fail, you need to have a plan. Obviously, we have discussed many things that can help, such as a spotter or safety bars. But even if you can’t use those tools, you need to have another plan. For example not using collars may be a good idea so that you can dump the weight if you begin to fail at bench press.
30 – Select the Correct Weight and Don’t Try to Lift to Much
Selecting the correct weight is very important and if you don’t you can injure yourself quickly. Specifically, when you try to lift too much in the beginning you are more likely to develop an injury. Even though your primary muscle may be strong enough for the lift your stabilizing muscle may not be. Subsequently, if your stabilizing muscles fail before your primary muscles you are more likely to sustain an injury.
31 – Keep Your Core Tight
We talked about keeping your core tight in the bodybuilding tips about breathing, and this is the most important bodybuilding tip to protect your back from injury. Keeping a tight core increases your internal pressure and this is what keeps your back and spine safe. However, if you relax your core you will be more susceptible to spine and back injuries.
32 – Know Your Pain and When To Stop
Soreness and pain are not the same thing. You may have a higher threshold for pain, especially after lifting for a while. Above all you need to understand the difference between pain and soreness so that you don’t turn pain into an injury. Pain is your body telling you to stop. In other words don’t push through the pain, allow you body to heal.
33 – Prevent Yourself From Overtraining
As your gains increase so will your motivation and your gains will slow as you get bigger. Many people fall into the trap of overtraining when your gains slow since, the active part of bodybuilding is the training. Although more training is not always good, overtraining will not only slow your progress or make you go backward it might lead to an injury as well.
Most Importantly to Maximize Gains Bring the Intensity
We discussed earlier that one of the most important of the bodybuilding tips is to lift with intensity. In fact, just getting to the gym and training is not enough, you must train with intensity and drive to push yourself enough to build muscle. Of course, you must show up and you must continue to push yourself and use all these bodybuilding tips.
Using These Bodybuilding Tips to Maximize Gains
It is time to put these bodybuilding tips into practice. I hope that you received some benefits from this article and that you will share this knowledge with others.
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