Everybody's in a hurry these days, wanting to get everything done as quickly as possible. And a sedentary lifestyle coupled with hours of TV a day has left the average person with a lazy attitude - they want everything with as little effort as possible to acquire it. Mass-market magazines, including bodybuilding magazines, know this and tailor their content to appeal directly to this trend in order to sell as many copies as they can each month. How many times have you seen article titles like “6-Pack Abs In 6 Minutes A Day”, “30-Minute Workout Builds Massive Muscles” or “30 Days To A Perfect Physique”?
If you've been hitting the gym for more than a couple of months you already know these articles are bogus, right? If their claims were true you'd be able to work out for a couple of months each winter and be beach-ready the other 10 months of the year. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the articles are illustrated with photos of muscular guys on steroids or shots showing 6-packs on people who have never had fat on their abs, but instead come by their 6-packs naturally due to genetics.
None of this comes as a surprised to experienced lifters, yet we keep buying the mags each month in the hope we'll find that one 'magic bullet' we've been missing. Obviously there is no magic bullet when it comes to building bigger muscles, but there is one simple way to boost your progress in the gym. Guys were building massive muscles before the coming of steroids. People like Boyer Coe, Steve Reeves, John Grimek, Charles Atlas, George Hackenschmidt, Louis Cyr and Eugen Sandow were all very muscular - and those last 4 were born in the 1800's! (How ironic is it that the every juice-fueled winner of the Olympia is handed a trophy that is a statue of Eugen Sandow?)
So what did they do that you probably aren't? Most used 2 and 3-hour workouts, training full-body 3 or 4 times a week, mixing compound & isolation moves for each bodypart with reps ranging from sets of 5 to sets of 25 or 30. In other word, they made their bodies WORK - and work hard and long.
Where did they find the time? No TV or Internet for most of them - neither had been invented or in wide use during their lives. So the question becomes how badly do you want bigger muscles? Do you have the dedication to unplug the TV for the next 6-8 weeks and do a 2-hour hour workout 3 times a week? If so, pick one or two compound exercises and 2 isolation exercises for each bodypart, doing your full body at each workout. Be forewarned - at first it will be exhausting, but don't give up. You'll be surprised how quickly your body adapts to these marathon workouts.
Do lower reps with heavier weights on the compound lifts and start each workout training legs, then back, to maximize testosterone output. For the isolation moves, use sets of 25 - 30 for growth hormone release. The former will increase your strength as well, while the latter will boost your endurance. Try this type of workout for the next 6-8 weeks and see how your body reacts - you'll practically be able to SEE your muscles growing. And don't worry about overtraining - just up your calories and be sure to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night. Bodybuilders back in the day did these workouts year after year, and an image search using any of their names will show you the massive muscles they built - now it's time for you to do the same!
About the Author: Doug Champigny, the Success Lifestylist, is well known in the fitness world - he's a published fitness photographer, certified personal trainer, fitness author and publisher of the popular Flirting With Fitness website. For more help from Doug Champigny, add him to your circles on Google+ today!
Published by Craig Wilson
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