Changing yourself and your body requires perseverance and the right knowledge. Muscle development requires the same traits. You need proper guidance and effective tools to ensure your success. This article is full of proven advice for finding muscle development success, best of all – you can start today!

When attempting to put on muscle, you’ll have to ensure you are consuming enough calories. You should aim to consume as many calories as it requires for you to put on one pound every week. Try to find ways to increase your caloric intake. After a few weeks, if you do not notice a weight change you may want to start consuming more calories.

An often overlooked part of a good exercise program is warming up. When your muscles get stronger, they will experience a lot of additional stress that can make them prone to injury. That is why you need to warm up. Warm-ups consist of light exercise followed by warm-up sets of exercise. Don’t lift weights until you’ve completed your warm-up routine.

Always do compound exercises so you can have the most muscle growth possible. Multiple muscle groups are used in every lift, extending the workout across your body. A great example of a compound exercise is bench pressing. This exercise works your triceps, chest and shoulders all at the same time.

After exercising it is vital to stretch, so that your muscles can build and repair themselves well. People under the age of 40 should hold stretches for a minimum of 30 seconds. If you are over 40, hold each stretch for a full minute or more. This helps to prevent injuries after you have exercised to build muscle.

Eat lots of protein when you are trying to gain muscle. Protein is the primary building block in muscle development, and consuming too little could cause your muscles to diminish, making your efforts in bulking up useless. You might even require a daily gram of protein for each pound your body weighs.

You can always cheat a bit as you lift weights. If you use more of your body to increase the amount of reps, you improve your workout’s effectiveness. But do not make that an excuse to cheat on all of your reps! Have a rep speed that’s controlled. Never compromise your form.

A muscle workout offers a number of benefits to your life in general, not just your health, and you don’t need to bulk up to get these benefits. As well as gaining strength, helping joint flexibility and strengthening your lungs, it can improve your self-esteem. This can be achieved by combining a weight training workout with cardio.

Bicep Curls

Try bettering your bicep curls. In a typical bicep curl, you don’t get a lot of benefit from the top of the curl due to moving your dumbbell or bar beyond the parallel part. But, when it comes to bicep curls, the strongest part is the top half. You can correct this with seated barbell curls.

Do squats the smart way. The bar should rest across your back near the center of your trapezoidal muscles. By doing this, you place more load on the muscles of the lower body, including the thighs, buttocks and hips. Using these muscles will allow you to lift more weight.

Getting the body you want is a lot easier if you start your efforts with solid information and advice. By using the things you’ve learned in this article, you can tailor your plan to achieve success in your weight training efforts.