Top 5 Reasons Your Muscles Stopped Growing

You may be wondering to yourself why your muscles haven't grown after a few months of disciplined, hard training. I'll list 5 typical reasons why your muscles stopped growing abruptly, and how to spark your muscles to start growing again.

1. The obvious reason is you are training too hard. Your muscles need time to recover after an intense workout. Try to train each muscle group once to at most twice a week to give your muscles time to regain its normal state.

2. Parallel to training too hard is the length of your training time. Try not to work out more than an hour each time, but continue to keep your workout intensity. You need to maintain your cortisol level, and after 45 minutes of intense workout, your cortisol levels tend to increase. Increase in your cortisol level is known to destroy muscle cells.

3. Get more sleep. When you sleep, your muscles develop and grow. You need a good 8 hours or more of sleep for good muscle growth.

4. Late night alcohol binging. Well, it doesn't have to be late at night, but stop misusing alcohol intake. Alcohol is known to be another culprit for breaking down muscle mass.

5. Not consuming enough protein. Protein is the basic building block for bigger muscles. The recommended ratio for each pound of body weight is 1 gram of protein. Bodybuilders typically supplement their diet with protein shakes to consume enough protein daily.

Of course, there are a multitude of reasons why muscles stop growing and methods to grow bigger muscles, but the 5 listed reasons above are a good start for a beginning bodybuilder.

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7 Reasons Your Muscles Stop Growing

One of the great things about working out is that when we first start there are results right away. Your training hard, your feel great and your muscles are growing. Then all of a sudden you just stop growing. All this hard work week after week and your muscles are not getting any bigger. What's the deal? I am going to discuss 7 reasons why your muscles may have stopped growing and how to get them to start growing again.

You are training too much. This is a mistake that a lot of people make. When you first start out your muscles will grow no matter how you workout. So they naturally think that they are doing things right. The thing is when you lift weight you are breaking your muscles down and if you don't give them adequate time to heal they will not grow. You should only work out a muscle group once a week. Two at the very most.

You are training too long. Spending 3 hours in the gym is actually bad for muscle growth. Most people fall victim to the mindset the longer and harder I work out the bigger and stronger I will get. When in fact after about 45 min of working out your cortisol levels will increase. This is a hormone that is know to break down muscle tissue. If you continue to workout with cortisol racing through your blood you are doing more harm than good. So while your workouts need to be intense they should not last any longer than an hour.

You are not getting enough sleep. When tying to build muscle the more sleep the better. This is the time that the most muscle growth takes place. If you can find time for more that 8 hours you will see your muscle growth increase. Never get less than 8 hours.

You are abusing alcohol. Alcohol is the enemy when it comes to building muscle. It is disruptive to all the functions in your body and will cause you to lose muscle mass.

You are not switching up your routine. If you don't change up your routine every 6-8 weeks your muscle will adapt to the exercises that you are doing and they will no longer trigger the growth response.

You are not progressively overloading your muscles. This truly is the key to muscle growth and if you are not doing it you will not get bigger. There are 2 things you must do each and every week if you want to grow. You must either lift more weight than you did last week or do more reps. This is the only way trigger the growth response in you muscles.

You are not eating enough protein. Your body cannot store excess protein that you consume. In order to keep your protein level adequate for muscle growth you must consume complete proteins every 2 hours or so. Never go more than 4 hours without eating protein. If you do your body will start to break down your muscles to get the proteins it need for it to function.

If you are doing any one of these it can cause your muscle to stop growing. Even if you are training hard any one of these can cause you to hit a plateau.

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5 Excellent Muscle Building Workouts to Gain Weight

Contrary to popular culture, there are a lot of people out there that want to gain weight.  I was one of those people.  I'd been skinny all my life.  I was always the shortest and smallest guy in class.   I wasn't very outgoing, but I was very smart.  Talk about hard times in school and your classic nerd. 

Then I found the joys of muscle building that changed my life.  Now, I have the knowledge to put on as much weight as I want.  I'm no longer at the mercy of my genes, but that doesn't mean it's easy. 

There's a right way and a wrong way to gain weight.  I'm here to show you the correct and quickest way to do so. 

If you want to gain weight, you the most healthy way to do it is to lift weights, not lay around and eat chips, pizza, and burgers all day - you probably know that.  There's a slew of of information out there on how to do this, but I'll give you the best muscle building workouts to get you started on your way to success.  

You really want to focus on compound movements that incorporate more than one muslce.  You'll release more anabolic hormones which encourage larger muscle growth.  By incorporating more muscles, you also tear down more so you build more - meaning you get larger quicker.   

1. Bench Press 

• You'll use your chest, shoulders, abs, and triceps.  This is a great upper body workout.

2. Bent Over Row

• Your upper back, biceps, shoulders, lower back and abs to stablize yourself.  Again, another great upper body workout.

3. Squats

• Entire leg, lower back and abs to stabilize yourself.  A great power workout for your lower body.  Your legs make up half the muscle in your body so doing this will release a ton of growth hormone.

4. Dead Lifts

• Entire leg, hips, lower back and abs to stabilize yourself.  This is a great exercise for the same above mention reasons. 

5. Pull Ups

• Upper back, biceps, abs and lower back to stabilize yourself.  A great upper body workout.  Your lats are large muscles which will encourage a lot of growth hormone release also. 

These are great workouts and should be the staples of your workout to stimulate great muscle growth.  Most weight training programs will incorporate these to some degree for the above mentioned reasons.  They will get you started on your journey to gain weigh right away.

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Top 4 Benefits of Dumbbell and Bodyweight Exercises For Women

There has been a revolutionary change in women in the past century. They have become very busy. They, on one hand have full time jobs and on the other hand raise a family. It is not at all mandatory to join some gym or perform long workouts for fitness. Despite the busy schedule you can build your body to a perfect shape. You can have your own workouts at home and you just need to have is a pair of dumbbell and your own body weight. A few important benefits of dumbbell and body weight work out routines for women are mentioned below:

Benefit 1: Get a Slimmer and Tighter Stomach

Dumbbell & body-weight exercises are usually found to be compound and multi-joint movements. These movements concentrate more on your abdomen than on endless crunches and sit-ups. Never rely exclusively on crunches and sit-ups for a slimmer and tighter belly.

Benefit 2: Save Lot of Money

You need not waste your time and money on a personal trainer, gym memberships, or on expensive equipment. All you need to do is to learn how to train with dumbbell and body weight exercises. Therefore, it is needless for you to spend as much as $50 per session on a good personal trainer and $400 per year on a gym membership.

Benefit 3: No More Excuses

With yourself well trained, imagine being able to work out wherever it is possible for you. If you find a recess in between the meetings in your office, you can have a quick body weight circuit. Even before your breakfast also, you can get a half an hour work out. It is very comfortable to have a body weight and dumbbell exercises literally anywhere and anytime depending on your choice.

Benefit 4: Get Better Results

You can force your body to work hard on learning how to do the super intense workouts. It is all about how hard your workout is and not how long you workout. An hour long, low intense workout yields poor results than a fifteen minute super high intense workout. So, train your body to have super intense workouts for good results.

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5 Weight Lifting Tips For Women

1.) When starting out pick a gym that you are comfortable in most gyms will provide a free tour of there facility if you ask politely at the front desk. Since most gyms will be male dominated in the weight room section take a good look at the environment and ensure yourself it's right for you. If you cant see yourself there look for all female gyms with a good weight room.

2.) Find a great personally trainer maybe even a female trainer if possible that can relate to you better then a male trainer. Look for competitive rates because many personal trainers can be extremely expensive and only as valuable as some offering services for half the price so don't be afraid to look around.

3.) No matter what you want to do be it bulk up or get toned your going to need a great diet that is half the battle. Start by reading ingredients at your local grocery store finding good lean sources of protein, carbohydrates and good fats. Contact a nutritionist and they can help you plan out a healthy well balanced diet.

4.) Everyone has a hectic schedule working a 9-5 job can be really hard to make time for anything else. Get out a pen and mark on your calendar and commit to three days a week you will go to the gym and the times consistency is everything in weight lifting without it you will surely fail.

5.) The best weight lifting for women tip would be to make small goals that are achievable and write them down or post them in a cupboard or locker, mirror etc and continue to pursue these small goals until you have achieved your ultimate physique.

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How to Gain Weight Fast - Healthy Weight Gain for Women

Some people think that there is no woman in the world who would want to learn how to gain weight fast. However, this is not the case. Many very thin girls dream of having curves, but think that this is not possible. The reality is that you can do it with just a little bit of effort.

Increase the amount of calories that you consume per day with 500. This is the best amount to add if you already consume the optimal amount of calories for your BMI (body mass index) per day. If this is not the case, then you need to add as much calories as necessary to reach this optimal amount. Keep in mind that getting 500 extra calories is necessary to get you started. As soon as you start gaining weight on a steady basis, you can readily reduce the amount down to the optimal for you.

Make sure that 60 to 70 per cent of your nutrient intake consists of carbohydrates. These give you the most calories and thus allow you to gain weight fast. It is important that you avoid unhealthy sources of carbs such as fried foods, junk food and sweets. Rice and pasta are recommended sources of these nutrients.

Around 15 per cent of your nutrient intake should consist of healthy proteins. Avoid unhealthy sources such as red meat and fat-rich cheese. It is much better to consume poultry and low-fat milk. It is perfectly fine to combine protein-rich and carbohydrates-rich foods in one meal and even if one dish in order to gain weight fast. You can readily have chicken breast with a portion of rice, for instance.

Avoid adding extra fat to your diet. Women naturally have more fat in their body so you have to be careful with the intake of such nutrients. In general, nuts and seeds are recommended as good sources of healthy fat and omega-3, 6 and 9 fatty acids. You may want to use only olive oil for cooking.

Have snacks between meals. This should help your body retain the optimal amount of nutrients from the foods that you consume. Again, the snacks that you eat should be healthy and nutritious. Bananas, yogurt and nuts are some of the best choices. You can try combinations such as yogurt mixed with ground hazelnuts and honey.

Stimulate your appetite. This is essential since most women do not normally feel strong hunger pangs which are common for men. It is best not to drink water and to chew a gum half an hour before meals. A few sips of alcohol before lunch and dinner may help you gain appetite, but this option should be used only if appropriate.

Do less aerobic exercise and focus more on strength training. Avoid the treadmill and the elliptical machine at the gym. Lifting small weights, push-ups, sit-ups, crunches and lunges are to be preferred.

Reduce stress levels to the very minimum. This is important advice on how to gain weight fast for women. While stress often leads to gaining pounds, in some people the effect is exactly the opposite. By relaxing, you will be able to get the best results.

                                                        Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6792453

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The Best Fat Burning and Muscle Building Bodyweight Exercises

For when you can’t afford to go to the gym, don’t have access to one, or just don’t feel like going, there are always bodyweight exercises . Bodyweight exercises are an amazing way to keep fit and are a great way for a fitness beginner to get accustomed to the fitness world. Bodyweight exercises are wonderful tools for developing the your physique, and perhaps best of all, they don’t cost a dime!
Probably the most simple and known bodyweight exercise is the push-up. Push-ups have many varieties but they all target the same general muscle groups: the triceps and the chest. Normal grip push-ups work the chest the most while “tricep” or “diamond” push-ups – done with hands together and directly under the sternum – work the triceps more. Once you are able to crank out 15 or more reps easily, you may wish to increase the difficulty better encourage strength gains. This can be done by either filling a backpack with weights and wearing it while you do pushups, or by elevating your legs (e.g. doing pushups off a sofa).

Another great bodyweight exercise is the pullup. Pullups stimulate mainly the biceps and the lats(the upper back). Similar to pushups, pullups come in all shapes and sorts, usually distinguishable according the grip used. When your hands face towards you, it is called a chin up and utilizes the biceps more directly. When your palms face away, it is usually called a pull up and works the lats and forearms more. Something to remember on top of these differences, is that the wider the grip, the more focus is put on the lats, while the narrower it gets, more focus is put on the arms.

The last bodyweight exercise in this article is probably not the most well known but it is definitely one of the most useful: the hindu squat. Hindu squats were used for centuries by Hindu wrestlers to strengthen their enormous and powerful legs. Contrary to what one might think at first about the exercise, they are not bad for your knees at all, and have been in fact proven to be good for your knee health. The starting position of a hindu squat is a standing position with your arms extended in parallel to the floor. You then start to lower your body into a squat position while lowering your arms until they are perpendicular to the floor at the same time. The squat position of a hindu squat is not the same as a traditional squat position because you should be on your toes and your knees should be pointing forward, as opposed to being on your heels with your shins perpendicular to the floor.

Bodyweight exercises are extremely valuable to people of fitnesses of all levels. It is wonderful to be able to experience noticeable gains without having to spend any money or leave the house at all.

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