Building muscle is a huge component of many fitness enthusiasts idea of a healthy body. It holds many benefits within it, for example, increased muscle mass means a faster metabolism, stronger connective tissue and supporting muscles decreasing the chance of injury and for some people, more aesthetically pleasing which can increase self-confidence and happiness.
Everyone has goals of his or her own so each of these exercises you should use your own specific weight to be able to perform the correct amount of reps and sets.
Every type of development has its own range. Strength range should be between 2-5 reps with 3-5 sets, this must be performed with correct form and weight so that,
1. you are working the correct muscles,
2. you do not injure yourself, and
3. you work till fatigue.
For building muscle mass, the rep range is between 8-12 reps for 3-5 sets, this again should be done with the correct weight so the muscle is fatigued on the last rep of each set. Then toning muscle should be done for 12+ reps for 5 sets, this burns fat and tightens tissue by consistently contracting the muscle for high repetitions.
When building muscle mass, I have been using a method called TUT.
What it stands for is ‘Time Under Tension’, and what I mean by this is, that is it a measure of time the muscle is contracting under tension.
What this does is increases the time that the muscle fibres are working, therefore ripping the muscle enabling for space to rebuild and become bigger.
For instance, instead of throwing your dumbbells up and down in a bicep curl, hold your posture and slowly contract the bicep for 3 seconds up and 3 seconds down. This means you are specifically targeting the desired muscle, therefore, causing the fibres to rip. It is proven that it increases muscle mass 57% faster, meaning faster results and more satisfaction.
Rafe Brooks, Fitness Influencer / Model
To learn more about my 4 week High Intensity Program and keep up on the developments on my new online training program in development you can email me at
rafebrooksathlete@gmail.com
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