Another critical factor to be aware of, is the efficient use of time. If a routine is performed in approximately one hour, the muscle gains will be much less than if the exact same routine was performed in half and hour. This aspect is a "secret" to most. Time is one of the most effective ways to increase intensity of effort.
When performing a workout, your breathing should be more rapid than normal. This should start to happen within the first minute of your workout. Ideally, your breathing should not return to a normal pace until at least ten minutes after you finish your workout. If your breathing pace has not increased, then you are not training rapidly enough. This will seriously reduce your rate of muscle gains.
I have rarely seen guys at the gym willing to train at the required pace. An unwillingness to work hard is the number one reason for lack of muscle gains. To inspire maximum results from training, you must train hard. Your breathing and heart rate must be elevated. But you know what. Such a pace only needs to be sustained for fifteen to twenty minutes. Any additional length will prove a waste of your time and effort.
When I first learned this secret, I focused on this one factor almost entirely. Doing this had a direct impact on all of the other factors involved. Training the largest muscle groups of the body at an elevated pace, until momentary exhaustion, literally forces you to workout briefly. Fifteen to twenty minutes maximum.
By forcing a time constraint on your workouts, you immediately raise your level of intensity. Simultaneously, you will have managed to reduce the amount of time spent training. The absolute opposite of this method is working out six times a week, in a vain attempt to produce greater muscle gains. This is simply not an option. If that was what natural bodybuilding really required, I'd consider it to be a bad use of my time.
The best results from your training can, and should be achieved by exercising no more than three times a week. In most cases, maximum muscle gains will be achieved from only two workouts weekly. Training time should be no more then a total of sixty minutes per week, or twenty minutes for each workout. More often than not the greatest results will be obtained by reducing your total workout time per week to thirty minutes or less.
When focusing on reducing you workout times, training must be intense and fast paced. The rest period between sets should be reduced as quickly as possible to no more than sixty seconds. Eliminating rest periods almost entirely should be your ultimate goal. Although spending less time in the gym should be considered worthy, saving time is not the motivation for this method of training. Maximizing your overall muscle gains is.
Training at a rapid pace will dramatically improve the condition of your heart, breathing, circulation, and muscle endurance. In order to produce maximum muscle growth, fast training is a critical requirement. Performing the same routine in twice the time will greatly reduce your muscle gains.
The ultimate goal is to perform your routines in the shortest time possible. A consistently fast rate promotes enormous improvement in muscular size. Reducing or eliminating rest periods is the easiest way to minimize training time. The performance of your sets however, must remain slow and deliberate. Momentum should not be used to "cheat", as this will risk injury. When the set is completed, the rest period before the next should be really brief. Speed between sets, not during them, is the key.
Trent Brook is the Author of "Huge Gains Fast - How to Get More Rock-Hard Muscle Mass In A Month Than You Now Get All Year. His "Huge Gains Fast" muscle building program is an easy-to-follow system so simple and understandable it's fully explained to you in just 4 easy steps! The Revised Edition is now available online at his website, http://www.hugegainsfast.com