The fact is that one lean muscle workout can work differently for different individuals. While certain kinds of lean muscle workouts work really well for one person, they may not have the same impact on others, simply because each person’s genetics, metabolism, lifestyle, eating habits and body structure is different.
The same exercise can create muscle mass for one man and do nothing for the hard gainer for instance.
So what is important is to understand the principle behind lean muscle workouts to see what works for you, given your body type, lifestyle, genetic predisposition and metabolism.
And lean muscle mass is desirable for all of us and is something we should aspire to achieve – for athletes because it gives them strength and endurance, for men because it makes them appear toned, fit and lean, and for women because it gives shapeliness to the figure without bulking.
Take muscles fiber type into account for lean muscle workouts
Slow twitch muscle fibers develop force slowly and also relax slowly and have more endurance to function for longer periods. The sorts of people who have this type of muscle fiber are endurance athletes like long distance swimmers and runners, soccer players, triathlon athletes and so on.
The other types of muscle fibers are the fast twitch ones that give more explosive strength. Power lifters, sprinters and others will have these types of muscle fibers which give high output but which cannot sustain the output for longer durations.
The importance of high volume for lean muscle gains
The 10 reps, 10 sets workout combination is something of a gold standard for many fitness experts who recommend it to make the most gains in terms of lean muscle mass. High volume workouts for lean muscle work because they beat the plateaus and help you make gains anew.
Olympic athletes use these lean muscle workouts to quickly build requisite muscle. The high volume method works by systematically fatiguing the muscles that you’re working on. Remember to rest only a minute between sets – any less and you will fatigue easier; any more and you will not make optimum gains.
Use of periodization in your lean muscle workouts
A systematic and well thought out variation of the different parameters of your workouts, such as sets, reps and between set rest periods, can help to make gains.
If workout parameters remain the same, the muscle will stop making progress to build new lean muscle and get rid of fat so the principles of periodization that varies the parameters of lean muscle workouts is vital.
Reps you should vary depending upon whether your goal is body sculpting and making mass gains
The rule of thumb here is heavy weights and low reps (about 5 to 8 and never more than 15) are better for making gains in terms of muscle mass. However lean muscle workouts should use higher reps; as high as 15 to 25 according to some experts; since this will help create definition in the muscles and also lower chances of injury.
