The Single Most Important Principle of Building Muscle
What is the single most important principle for building muscle? Is it workout volume, frequency, duration?
The truth is, when you ignore this single most important principle, it forces you to look at all these “other” factors in your workout routine…you bust your butt trying to figure out why you’re just not gaining muscle like you used to…and you end up trying to change everything in your routine except for this one thing.
The single most important principle of building muscle is progressive overload, or simply, increasing the intensity of your workouts every week.
But, how is intensity defined? Intensity is defined by the amount of total weight you lift divided by the amount of time it took you to lift it. So, if you bench press 150 lbs for 10 repetitions, your total weight lifted is 1500 lbs. And, if you did 3 sets with 120 second rest in betwee, then your total time is 240 seconds.
This is how you measure intensity… and as long as your intensity increases every week, then you’re practicing progressive overload…
But beware, there are MANY ways to increase your intensity. Some ways are less effective than others, and some ways are just downright dangerous. If you want to experience some serious muscle gains, they you must raise the intensity of your workouts in a specific way that allows for healthy progressive overload, and stimulates a muscle building response.
You could increase the weight you’re lifiting, or increase the reps, or even decrease the rest between sets…but which one do you choose, in what order, and in what combination? Yes, this is the million dollar question.
You can find the answers by visiting these links: