Increase Your Efficiency at the Gym: Form, Water, Breathing, Time, Protein

A look at several topics: Form, Getting enough Water, Breathing Correctly, Keeping Track Of Time, and Post-Workout Protein that will ensure maximum muscle gain. Below are some rules to workout by to increase your efficiency and effectiveness while in the gym:

Form. Form. Form. Form.
Do all exercises slowly, with complete control. If you can't use perfect form then bump down the weight. Using perfect form or the best you can - prevents injury as well as works your muscles out to the maximum ability that the exercise can. What you also want to make sure you do is at the climax of your exercise - flex the muscle thats being targeted, as hard as you can. Example: with bench, when the bar is at the highest position and your arms are full extended - flex your pecs together as hard as you can and hold the bar for a second as you do- then continue with the exercise.

Get your Water
In between exercises go to the water fountain or take a drink. This is very helpful in pacing of exercises and also makes it easy to get all the water your body needs when working out. The average person requires eight 8fl. oz glasses of water a day - If you are somebody who works out regularly then I would suggest you drink much more then 64 fl. oz of water a day, aim more for a gallon a day when your working out hard and alittle less when doing a less demanding routine.

Breathe Correctly
It's one of the first things you learn in the gym but it's also one of the most commonly forgotten. Remember to inhale your breath when you are not exerting yourself in that portion of the exercise, and to exhale your breathe forcefully throughout the motions- while you are doing the exercise. Example: With bench, inhale your breathe as you bring the bar down to your chest - touch your chest with the barbell - then begin expelling air forcefully as you exert and push the bar back up to his top position.

Keep Track Of Time
Wear a watch or keep a wall clock within your view. It's very useful to make sure you stick to your time limitations. By having the ability to check the time often while working out you make it easier to budget your time at the gym and make sure you get done what you need to and is also useful for pacing between sets or exercises. It makes it much easier to direct your workout, you can actually make a preplanned time schedule of what exercises, what weights at what times - This in turn makes it easier to keep a workout log, because you already have the documentation going into the workout of what you are going to do.

Post-Workout Protein
Make sure to ingest a large amount of protein within 20 minutes of the end of your workout. This is critical time to get protein, muscles building block, to your muscles when they require serious re-building. A protein shake will usually do the trick (you're going to want a protein shake with at least 20 grams of protein per serving) though depending on your size you may want to take two servings. If you are not a protein shake consumer then you can instead go with some fish or chicken - some kind of serious protein without much fat ( except for Omega 3 fatty acids which are found in fish and are beneficial).