4 week muscle building plan novice

Muscle building plan

Diamond Fitness Elite

Overview

During this plan we will introduce you to the basic training techniques and exercises you will need to build the muscle you desire.

We will be including:

• Compound vs. Isolation exercises

• Supersets

• Heavy sets

• Eating and sleeping for muscle

First of all

Training principles in accordance to muscle building

Specificity There’s no point in going to the gym and doing a bit on one machine and a bit on another. Your training plan should be specific towards a certain goal.

Progression Your plan needs to change as you adapt to it. Your muscles need to placed under new stress so they have a reason to grow.

Overload The most important principle when it comes to building muscles. Your muscles have to work harder than what they are used to (overloaded) for them to grow.

reversibility This is simply a case of use it or loose it. If you stop challenging your muscles your body doesn't need it and therefore they are broken down.

Tedium Your plan needs to change to stop it from getting boring and you feeling de-motivated.

Compound vs. Isolation

Compound exercises

These are exercises such as: the bench press, squat, deadlift and military press. They’re called compound exercises because they require multiple muscle groups to complete the exercise. These should form the bases of all your workouts as these type of exercises build muscle a lot quicker than isolation exercises.

Isolation exercisesThese are exercises which target specific muscle groups for example, lateral raises which target the side (medial head) of the deltoid. When you have built a solid frame you can start using this sort of exercise to target the weak points of your physique, something which everybody has.

Supersets

What they are

These are sets of different exercises done straight after one another with no rest in-between. They’re a great way to increase the intensity of your workouts and add a bit of variety to your plan. You can choose two exercises targeting the same muscle group to really overload the muscle group or two different muscle groups to spread the intensity e.g.

Bicep curls to hammer curls

Bicep curls to Tricep dips.

Heavy sets

These are your best friend when it comes to building muscle. They are what they say on the tin, sets of heavy weight, they’re the easiest way to overload muscles and provoke the best hormonal response from training.

The weight needs to be around 70 – 90% of your one rep maximum (1rpm)

Eating and sleeping

NutritionWhen trying to build muscle the body’s need for protein increases significantly to repair the damaged fibres from your training sessions. You should be aiming to eat around 1.5 – 2.0g of protein per kilo of body weight. Also, you need to be considering how many calories you are taking in compared to how many your burning, there must be a surplus of calories for weight gain to happen.

SleepingThe body releases human growth hormone (HGH) while you sleep, which is a huge factor when building muscle. You need to be getting at least 8 hours of quality sleep per night to really build the muscle you want.

Body building triangle

Training Nutrition

Sleep

All of the sides of the triangle weight equal importance. If one side is neglected then the body won’t build up. You need to make sure that you are concentrating your efforts on each of the sides of the triangle.

Putting it all together

So now we need to put everything we’ve learnt from the previous slides into a 4 week plan:

• Using compound exercises

• 3 workouts per week with 4 rest days

• Correct nutrition

• Using correct form

• All body workouts

Week 1

We’re using heavy sets in this first week where you need to reaching failure within 8 – 10 reps. Failure is defined where you cannot do another rep with good form. There’s no need to go to failure on your warm up sets this is just to get the body ready for the heavier sets.

Remember to always warm up with 10 minutes light cardio and stretches for the whole body. This should also be the way to end each session.

Your training week should be as follows:

Monday training session 1Tuesday rest dayWednesday training session 2Thursday rest dayFriday training session 3Saturday rest daySunday rest day

Training session 1

Warm up – 10 minutes on cardio machine

Stretches for the whole body

Exercise Rep range Number of sets

Bench press Warm up 12 – 15Working set 8 – 10

13

Dumbbell press Working set 8 - 10 3

Squats Warm up 12 – 15Working set 8 - 10

23

45 degree leg press Working set 8 – 10 2

Military press Warm up 12 – 15Working set 8 - 10

13

Dumbbell press Working set 8 – 10 3

Crunches Working set 15 - 20 5

Training session 2

Warm up – 10 minutes on cardio machine

Stretches for the whole body

Exercise Rep range Number of sets

Pull ups Warm up 10 - 12Working set 6 – 10

13

Bent over row Working set 8 - 10 3

Standing calf raise(S.S) Dips

Warm up 18 – 20Working set 12 - 15

23

Bicep curls(S.S) Hammer curls

Warm up 12 – 15Working set 8 – 10

23

Close grip bench press Working set 8 – 10 3

Hanging leg raises Working set 12 - 15 5

Exercise Rep range Number of sets

Bench press(S.S) push ups

Warm up 10 - 12Working set 6 – 10

13

Dumbbell flies Working set 8 - 10 2

Military press Warm up 12 – 15Working set 8 - 10

23

Dumbbell front raises Working set 8 – 10 2

Squats Warm up 12 – 15 Working set 8 – 10

33

Full plank 1 minute 2

Hanging knee raises 30 seconds 2

Training session 3

Warm up – 10 minutes on cardio machine

Stretches for the whole body

What to do nowRepeat these 3 training sessions for 4 weeks but be sure to keep a track of the weight your using, you can download the printable version of these workouts to take with you. Be sure to print these off and familiarise yourself with the plan before you start your session.

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