1. Supersets
Whether your workout routine is more functional or old school bodybuilding, you really get more from your routine if you perform exercises back to back. A superset can be done 2 ways: more than one exercise on the same muscle group, or more than one exercise on opposing muscle groups (chest and back). Training this way increases your exercises intensity and keeps your heart rate higher for longer inducing a more so “cardio” effect on the body.
2. Rest time
If you do a set of bench press and then are sitting down for 5 minutes till the next set, you are being counter productive to your muscle growth. In case your did not know, periods of rest between sets actually DO have a scientific backing to them. Generally you should only be resting for 45 sec – 60 sec between sets. This is about the allotted time it takes for your muscles ATP to regenerate to pump out another powerful set. With shorter rest times, your routine will stay intense and will maintain momentum.
3. More Reps
If you are performing pyramid sets like your buddy told you at the gym and doing 3 or so reps for as much weight as you can, that’s great! However, if you are looking for a super lean, striated look to your muscles, you need to do more reps. A routine with a higher rep range will recruit more muscle fibers into action and pump more blood and oxygen into the muscle tissue. This will increase the muscle tissues endurance and over time will become leaner giving you that tight muscular tone you’re looking for. Increase your rep range to 12-16 reps with a moderate weight and slightly increasing the weight for every set.
Incorporate these 3 simple changes to your routine and you will see the changes IMMEDIATELY!