The assumption that we have a muscle building routine to maintain is that you have decided what your goals and objectives are, you know how much time you can devote to the activity, and you actually got started with the program. You are now getting into the flow, so the question is now what can we do to keep the momentum rolling and maintain our muscle building routine strategy and approach.
Record Your Workout Results
The first thing we can do is always record the information from your workouts. If you have maintained your workout schedule for 1,2,3,4 weeks in a row, following some goals and progressions, what this recording of information does is it lets you see how well you are doing in reaching those goals and objectives. If you had set a goal that in one month's time you wanted to increase your bench press weight by 10 lbs, or increase the number of reps that you do in one set, recording that information is essential to keep the momentum of your muscle building routine and fine tune it as necessary. Recording the info is a critical part.
Build In Adequate Recovery Time Between Workouts
The next aspect of maintaining a good muscle building routine is incorporating the right amount of rest between the exercise sessions. One tendency of people who get involved in a muscle building routine is that they get such good results out of the initial exercise that they think "if I just double the amount of exercise, I'll get twice the results". Unfortunately, in muscle building, that is not a good approach. If you are increasing the amount of weight you are lifting or the amount of reps per set, you are increasing the amount of fatigue in the muscles. While you do need to exhaust the muscles in order to trigger the growth condition you want, if you do not provide sufficient recovery time for that growth to happen, you could see a loss of muscle size or strength due to overstrain or overstress to the muscles. In order to keep your muscle gains moving forward, make sure that you allow yourself sufficient recovery time in between each of your workouts.
Find A Partner To Join Your Workout
The third important aspect of maintaining a good muscle building routine is having a buddy or partner, someone that you are essentially accountable to. Many people, when they are working on a plan to accomplish something independently, and they are not reporting regularly on their progress, and no one is actively monitoring your work, you can actually begin to falter a little bit.
This usually starts as rationalization, like "Well, I had a pretty good workout today, I don't think I need to press so hard, I can skip this one". In time this becomes a habit. If you had a three day a week routine, you may end up slipping to a two day a week routine. If you needed to have the muscle stimulation of a three day a week routine, and you are only exercising two days a week, then you might not be able to even maintain the gains you have accomplished. So, having someone to coach you, be a spotter for your exercises, or even just be a sounding board for you, would be a very effective way of helping you maintain your muscle building routine.
Follow these three tips to make your muscle building routine effective, and keep the momentum once you have started one!
AJ Sylvester is a muscle building enthusiast. For more great tips and info developing or maintaining a muscle building routine, visit http://muscle-building-1.com.
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