If you are just at the beginning of your journey to perfect shape, listen to these recommendations.
If you are new to bodybuilding, these tips may come in handy. An honest look at your attitude to training can open your eyes, not to mention that you may lay the foundation for outstanding success.
The content of the article1. Don’t rush to lift big weights2. Don’t exercise too often3. Watch your diet4. Don’t Avoid Basic Exercises5. Don’t Do Too Much CardioHIDE
Don’t rush to lift big weights
Constantly working with a lot of weight can be both a blessing and a curse. Many athletes think that regularly testing their strength is directly related to how big they will become. While there is some truth to this, especially when it comes to the nervous system, increasing the size of your muscles is also closely related to proper technique, training volume and rest intervals during training, and not just the size of the working weights.
Don’t exercise too often
Sounds weird, doesn’t it? It may seem that you will achieve better results if you train more often. But if you don’t give your body enough time to rest, you may be sabotaging your muscle-building potential. Training is catabolic in nature, while rest is anabolic. The more often we train, the more we destroy muscles. Growth, repair and development of muscles in size and strength occurs when we rest.
Keep track of your nutrition
Many beginners are not serious enough about the extra calories during training to increase muscle mass. Remember that for muscle growth and recovery, not only carbohydrates are used, but also protein! Supplement your diet with a variety of protein sources to provide your body with essential amino acids for muscle growth. Increasing your workouts without increasing your food intake is pointless and can even lead to injury.
Don’t Avoid Basic Exercises
Your training for muscle development should be based on big basic movements. Quite often, programs for beginners consist of single-joint isolation exercises that do not lead to the desired result. Squats, bench presses, pull-ups, and deadlifts are top examples of compound exercises to include in your program. They stimulate most of the muscles and tend to be the heaviest movements.
Don’t do too much cardio
Cardio training and muscle building hardly go together. Essentially, cardio is all about endurance training, burning calories, and using the protein stores you need for muscle growth. This doesn’t mesh well with our goals of increasing muscle size and maintaining muscle strength.
Do you think that age is not a hindrance in classes in the gym? And rightly so, find out 9 reasons why men over 40 need to go to the gym. Read also how an American bodybuilder at 62 was able to look incredibly cool.
7 Reasons to Use Fitness Bands: Make Your Workout Even More Efficient
Whether you’re a beginner, a seasoned athlete, or recovering from an injury, training with a fitness band can dramatically improve your performance.
Elastic bands (aka bands, fitness bands, resistance bands) are a great way to strengthen your muscles, whether for aesthetic purposes, for athletic performance, or as physical therapy. Training with fitness bands allows you to strengthen the whole body.
The content of the article1. How to choose a fitness band for training? 2. What are the benefits of training with rubber bands for fitness? 2.1 Enough muscle stimulus2.2 Working out the muscles of the core2.3 More exercise options2.4 Availability2.5 Ideal for rehabilitation2.6 Stretching and mobility2.7 Ideal for travel3. Fitness band workout exercisesHIDE
Surely, in any gym you will find enough dumbbells with barbells, simulators and other excellent equipment. But resistance bands offer a number of advantages that standard weights sometimes cannot offer. So, let’s take a step-by-step workout with rubber bands for fitness at home.
How to choose a fitness and bodybuilding band for training?
The range of fitness rubber bands for training is wide. First, they differ in the type of material:
- Latex. Pretty good stretch, inexpensive, but sometimes cause allergies.
- Polyurethane. Hypoallergenic, durable, but expensive.
- Rubber. The cheapest, but short-lived.
- Fabric. They have a good hold, but can rub the skin.
Secondly, they differ in the degree of resistance. Before training with an elastic band for fitness, you need to decide on the load you need. Conveniently, the color of sports equipment will tell you the severity:
- Orange, yellow, light green – 2.5 kilograms. These fitness bands are suitable for beginners.
- Bright red – 6-8 kilograms. Also suitable for beginners.
- Light blue, green and blue – 9-12 kilograms. Average load level.
- Dark red and bright blue – 13-18 kilograms. Designed for professionals.
Black, gray and brown – 19-30 kilograms. Also suitable for professionals.
Training with a wide fitness band of a small size should be used to prepare the muscles for more serious loads.
Thirdly , fitness rubber bands for training are distinguished by shape:
- In the form of a ring . These fitness bands are needed for training to strengthen the biceps and triceps.
- In the form of a loop . These fitness bands are useful for training the muscles of the press, sides and lower back.
- In the form of a ribbon . These fitness bands are good for weight loss workouts.
- In the shape of a figure eight . Leg training with such a fitness band will be especially effective.
What are the benefits of training with rubber bands for fitness?
Enough muscle stimulus
One of the main differences between free weights and resistance bands is the accommodative resistance applied to the full range of motion in the exercise. In the case of free weights, there are parts of the movement where the muscles aren’t doing much work due to lack of gravity, such as in the upper bicep curl. When training with fitness bands, the muscle receives more resistance at the strongest point in its range of motion and therefore has to contend with more adequate resistance to better stimulate strength adaptations. We wrote more about the benefits of accommodative resistance here.
Working out the muscles of the core
Constant tension on the fitness band during your workout adds the element of stabilization your body needs to maintain technique through many exercises. This means that in order to maintain balance, you will need to activate the core muscles more often. This means more stimulation and strength through the full range of motion of the muscles, and the tension on the bands reduces your ability to cheat with momentum.
( See also: Which is better – machines or free weights? )
More exercise options
With dumbbells or barbells, you are limited to certain body positions in the vertical plane of motion in order to use gravity. Using fitness elastic bands in training, you can perform exercises both in the vertical and in the horizontal plane. For example, you can do chest presses or rear delt rows while standing instead of lying on a bench.
Availability
Since you can do many fitness band workouts with just one set, you don’t need a lot of free weights and machines. If you train at home, a set of expanders will save you from buying a lot of expensive dumbbells and barbells, which also take up a lot of space.
Training for hands with fitness rubber bands will not only tone the muscles, but also achieve relief and increase muscle mass.
PAVEL DANILYUK: PEXELS
Ideal for rehabilitation
Fitness band training has been proven to improve muscle strength, size and function in older adults and those in rehab. Bands can provide very light or strong resistance that can be targeted to specific muscles, which also protects the joints.
( Also read: 5 tips for getting back into training after an injury. )
Stretching and mobility
Either type of band is great for both post-workout stretching and pre-workout mobility work. You are generally limited by your level of flexibility and range of motion while stretching, and many effective stretching options even require another person to apply pressure to the muscle. Instead, you can use a fitness band to stretch before your workout to expand your reach and apply pressure, such as when stretching your hamstrings. Rigid bands are also great for mobility work when wrapped around a sturdy object, such as improving ankle mobility in squats.
