How to Work Out

Working out is a science. It isn't just randomly lifting weights or pushing your body to the limit for periods at a time; there are certain conditions that will help you gain more muscle in a shorter period of time. There are certain conditions that will help you look leaner and less bulgy as well. Here are some tips on how to get a lean, fit and muscular body.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

This can be applied to any set of workouts you are doing. In running, when you HIIT train, you run at different periods of intensity. Of course with weight lifting this is different, but the principle is the same. As you lift weights, make sure that you are lifting to exhaust and fatigue your muscles (make sure your form doesn't suffer), and alternate periods of rest between your sets. Maybe after a set you will rest 30 seconds, then the next time around only 20 seconds, then finally 10 seconds.

HIIT always keeps your body in the dark. It tests your muscles' endurance level while simultaneously helping them grow. Endurance and strength at the same time, who would have thought?

Mix up your Workout

Stop doing the same workout over and over. Research shows that after a period of 2 weeks (for some people even one) that our bodies adjust to the workouts we are doing. This means that the gains you will achieve from weightlifting will decrease dramatically. If your body feels that it is in a comfort zone, you are not putting it to the test. In order to make gains in working out, you have to push your limit to be higher and higher - this is a basic principle of weightlifting. This is why mixing up your exercises will produce exponential gains in your body's ability to increase its strength potential.

Superset me

When it comes to lifting weights, each set you do usually only works a certain group of muscles. In order to minimize your training time while producing great results, complete supersets. Supersets mean doing a set of exercises right after one another, but making sure that they work different muscle groups. For example, if you do 10 reps of some triceps workout, follow that immediately by a chest workout. This way, in the time it takes you to complete your chest workout, your triceps are rested and ready for another round. This will always keep your metabolism at a rather high rate, considering there is no downtime between sets.

Form Matters

No matter how many weights you pile on, one thing is certain - form is the most important thing in a workout technique-wise. There's a reason that certain movements provide growth in muscles, otherwise we could just swing our arms around and grow strong. If you see yourself trying to falter, then stop the workout. Not only will you increase your chance of seriously injuring yourself, your form suffering means that your strength training will not make progress. If your form suffers, so do your results. Make sure that you have completely covered a level of weights before moving on to the next one.

Workout in the Morning

If you have time, try to pump the iron before work. The only bad thing about this is that you can increase your chances of injuring yourself because of the morning stiffness of muscles. But working in the morning also has its share of benefits as well. For one, when you pump iron early, you clear out the rest of your day. No longer will you be worrying about if you have enough time to workout later. Also, if you have a busy schedule it can be tempting just to forgo the workout for "just one day" which soon becomes "just this month."

Working out in the morning also jumpstarts your metabolism. Your body's internal bloodflow will increase, thereby increasing the rate at which you digest food. Anything you eat for the rest of the day will travel through your system faster, lowering the chance of it being stored in your body. This will help you produce a leaner look rather than one of excess meat.

Eat Protein after Working Out

If you workout, then your muscles will crave the one thing it most needs for muscle gains - protein. Try to eat protein after you workout so that your muscles will absorb the nutrient, making them stronger over time. If you don't eat protein, your muscles will feel fatigued, leaving you with less energy to workout , which leads to less muscle gain.

Never forget Cardio

I know, a lot of people hate running and swimming. But if you want to look lean as well as chiseled, you need to incorporate some set of cardiovascular training in your workout. If you just lift weights and do nothing else, your muscles retain a lot of the water mass that can easily be lost through cardio training. Cardio makes your body look less juicy and bulgy, and makes your skin lean and tight. If you have rock hard muscles to go under that skin, you have the full package. When your muscles retain all of that water mass, it just makes your muscles look juicy and fat.

Be smart, not stubborn

The people who workout the most don't necessarily show the most gains. Ones who learn the basics behind eating right and working out with correct form usually are the most satisfied with the rate at which they gain. Case in Point: You don't need to lift every day. In order for you muscles to be ready to complete the next workout you throw at them, they need to rest, just like every other biological organism. We are not something like iPods with which you can just recharge overnight. Depending on the intensity of your workout, you should rest your muscles between workouts for at least 1 day before you lift again. Trying to lift weights while your muscles are sore also sucks (in case you've never tried it).

On the day that you don't lift, you can either take a break or do cardio. Running, swimming, jump roping, or any other assortment of non-weight training exercise is fine. This makes sure that even though you are not necessarily making weight gains, you are melting the fat off of your body so when you actually do workout, you look great.

Stretch

This is pretty self-explanatory. You can't just jump right into a workout and expect your muscles to immediately be able to lift. In order to have strength, your muscles have to have bloodflow. So make sure you stretch out those stiff arms before you pump iron, because you will not only make less gains in your workout, you most likely will somehow injure yourself, which puts you back at Step 1.

Workout multiple muscles

If you can, try to workout more than one muscle at a time. For example, if you are lifting dumbbells to training your biceps, you can workout your forearms as well by turning the dumbbells 90 degrees as you lift them. This type of workout is mainly for maximum time efficiency like the superset stipulation. The more you achieve less time, is time you can spend doing something else.

Track your progress

If you are not tracking your progress, how could you know that you have made any at all? Some people workout with a little notebook in which they write down whatever they do and when they did it. Others just make a note of it in their minds. Whatever you choose, make sure you know your direction. Weight lifting itself is based on progress. It's not something you just do day in and day out to get done. It's about pushing your muscles and challenging them constantly, so you can have better health and a stronger core (and get ladies).

Remember, working out is not something with which you will see gains overnight. It's a long process that takes each step at a time, kind of like dieting. You have to have patience as well as discipline to really understand what working out means. Even so, these tips will help you to creating a smart workout, not just a regular one.