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How Many Days Per Week Should I Train?

How much muscle will I gain?
Determining how much muscle you could possibly gain can be gauged by several factors.  Your genetic potential, how much you eat, what you eat, how hard you train, and your training experience all play a role in how much muscle you gain expect to gain.  First, your genetic potential plays a huge role in muscle gains.  Some people known as hardgainers will have to try very hard to put on even a pound of muscle.  Other people will make muscle gains extremely easy.  Secondly, how much you eat will dictate how much weight you gain.  If you are barely getting by on calories odds are you will not gain very much muscle at all.  On the other hand, if you try very hard to eat a lot of quality food you will make weight gaining much easy for yourself.  A lot of people say, 'Well I am eating a lot', then they tell me what they are eating and it turns out to be only 2,000 calories.  Make sure you count your calories and know how much you are getting.  Next, what you eat is very important.  You could be eating 5,000 calories a day of fast food and ice cream and then ask me why your not making good gains.  The answer is obvious to make good gains you have to eat good food.  This means getting a lot of high quality protein, complex carbohydrates, and fats.  Then, how hard you train also determines what kind of progress you will be making.  Training hard does not mean grinding away in the gym 24/7.  Training hard means going to the gym anywhere from 2-5 days a week and training the right way for your athletic type, whether it be bodybuilder,powerlifter, or an endurance athlete.  Lastly, your overall expierence will play a role in your muscle gains.  Beginners tend to but on muscle at a rapid rate, use this time wisely.  Then as you get more into the intermediate and advanced stages your gains tend to taper down as you progress.

I've spent hours in the gym, why can't I gain any muscles?
This problem could go two ways, it could be very easy or very difficult to solve.  If you are really spending a few hours a day in the gym many days a week thats your problem.  This would be severe overtraining and your moving in the wrong direction if your hoping for any kind of muscle growth.  Resting for a while and then coming back to training is a good way to get rid of overtraining syndrome.  You should notice an immediate gain in strength and overall performance after coming back from the resting period.  Now, if you are a severe hardgainer it will be a challenge to put on muscle.  However, being a hardgainer isn't an excuse to say ,'Oh, I don't gain muscle because I am hardgainer.'  It still is possible to gain muscle, just not at the rate a normal lifter would.  

How can I get stronger?
There are a number of things you can do to get stronger.  Lifting weights alone will make you stronger but if you are looking for raw strength there are a few additional things you can do to increase strength.  First, Eat more quality protein and carbohydrates.  A bigger diet full of quality food make for more muscle hence more strength.  Next, change your workout to a low rep high weight workout.  3-6 reps will be effective for gaining strength, while 8-12  will be more for mass.  

If you benchpress 400lbs as a max, this is what you would do (don't get scared this is just an example adjust accordingly)

Then, do Overloads for 3-5 reps (Overloads use a weight heavier than you can lift, make sure you spotters on either side helping you lift the weight as you need it)  This will help mentally prepare you for greater lifts.

Then come down to a medium-heavy range and do 3 sets of at least 5 reps.   Lastly, another great strength increaser is pushups, do as many as you can

How do I get a six pack of abs?
I almost put this article under diet, but I figured most people would come to the training section looking for it.  Getting a visible set of abs can not be achieved no matter how many thousands of sit-ups, leg raises, and oblique crunches you do if there is body fat present over the abdominal region.  Losing body fat is the key to getting your abs to show, there is however one exception to this rule.  If you are incredibly skinny odds are you do not have enough muscle to make them show.  In this case you need to performed various types of weighted crunches about twice a week and aside from that start packing in the food because your to skinny.  Once you start losing the body fat to your delight you will start noticing more and more of yours abs.

I'm a woman, will weight training make me over muscular?
No.  Women generally cannot get as big as men.  If you are very worried about this, just stick to low weight and high reps.  Using this method you are sure not to add to much size.  Weight-training can be very helpful to women in that it will increase the total numbered of calories burned in a day and it may help stop bone-loss.  So don't be afraid to pick up some weights, it won't do you any harm.

I'm still growing in height, will weight training stunt my growth?
Under most circumstances, weightlifting will not stunt your growth.  Many people think this because a lot of bodybuilder and weightlifters are short.  Being short and a weightlifter can be to your advantage because you can in most cases add mass quicker and get more leverage due to your smaller frame.   This is probably the reason you see a lot of short people in the sport.  That is why people think weightlifting causes you to be short.  So if your a teen, don't be afraid to start lifting weights.  Just make sure you lift responsibly and don't try to show off to your friends how much you can lift.  And above all don't just lift for your biceps and chest.

Why am I so sore after a workout?
Assuming your muscles are sore and you have not injured yourself, it is called DOMS (Delayed On-set Muscle Soreness).  Depending on the muscle group it should only last 1-3 days.  DOMS is just very small tears in the muscle indicating muscle damage.  The body doesn't like to have stress on itself so when it heals the muscles it will make them a very little bit larger to prevent further damage.  To help prevent or ease DOMS you should take vitamin C and E after a workout and be sure to get some protein and carbohydrates in you as soon as possible after you are finished weightlifting. Don't confuse this with the burn you feel during the workout, that's just lactic acid buildup. 

Sometimes I experience nausea after a tough leg workout, why?
This can occur during workouts of other body parts but is most common in leg workouts because of the large size of the leg muscles.  The reason you experience nausea is because of the large amounts of lactic acid being produced.  You still produce lactic acid when you are working out other muscle groups but just not the amount as when you are doing leg workouts.  Explaining why it occurs mostly in leg workouts.

Why should I eat before and after workouts?
Before workouts its good to get some form of complex carbohydrates whether it be a brown rice or a maltodextrin powder.  Post workouts some form of protein and simple carbohydrates should be taken in, a protein powder mixed in milk would be fine.