Bodybuilding: What Are YOU Training for?

Different people have different reasons for going to the gym. But one of the most important things you can do for yourself is to lift weights and exercise your muscles. But, believe it or not, training with weights is not quite as simple as picking them up and putting them down. You have to decide whether you want to increase the size of your muscles, the strength of your muscles, or really go above and beyond and try to achieve both.

Bodybuilding for Size: The Science of Lifting to Look Good

More than anything, training to build muscle size (more commonly referred to as "hypertrophy" by scientists and other nerds) is all about volume. You want to do lots of sets and lots of reps, but you don't necessarily have to worry about lifting the heaviest weight available. Trying to lift your max weight for multiple sets with a high number of reps will be virtually impossible; and if it's not, then you don't understand the concept of what a "max" is.

The goal is to find that perfect balance between lifting a good amount of weight, and being able to lift that weight rep after rep, set after set. This is the quickest and most efficient way to make sure your muscle-children grow up big and strong - strong enough to get big, anyhow.

Bodybuilding for Strength: How to Become the Next Jessica Jones

Well, Jessica Jones might be an exaggeration, but training for absolute heavy-lifting power won't necessarily give you the biggest muscles in the audience at your next EDM concert. But then again, who cares about muscle size if you're strong enough to toss that guy out on his butt?

Training for strength revolves around your 1RM ("One Rep Max"), or the total amount of weight you can lift a maximum of one rep before failure. Once you figure out how heavy that weight is, you can begin to tailor a workout routine around it. Regardless of how many sets you end up doing, or how many reps per set (usually no more than six, depending on how close to your total 1RM you're lifting) you decide on, rest and recovery time between sets will be very important. So don't rush through your workout, or you might not get the results you're looking for.

What do you Need to Train for Both?

Well, to get strong AND big, you're going to have to alternate your workouts. On the days you want to work on size, you should focus on doing between 9 - 12 reps of 70 - 75% of your 1 rep max with short rest times in-between 3 - 5 sets. On your strength days, focus on high weight 85 - 100% of your 1 rep max, 4 - 5 sets , 1- 5 reps, with plenty of rest in between.

Take it from Uncle Elliot:

 

But most importantly, you need a bodybuilding supplement which will help you achieve your goals, no matter whether you're training for size, strength, or both. And only Ultra Edge XL has the amino acid and natural ingredient profile necessary to fuel your workouts, speed recovery, and repair the different types of muscle fibers associated with strength and size. So whether you want hypertrophy, strength, or both, adding Ultra Edge XL to your stack will help you make the gains you need.