Resistance training is one of the best methods of exercise to both build muscle as well as burn unwanted body fat.

Resistance training at least 2 days per week will also minimize the loss of muscle mass while trying to lose fat.

After all, muscle is wildly metabolic so the more you have, the more fat you will burn. Not to mention it flat out makes your body more toned and attractive!

Bodyweight exercises are a great way to build muscular strength and also act as a sort of “bodyweight cardio” as a superior platform for fat loss.

Here are 6 single leg exercise progressions that you should start to incorporate into your strength building and/or fat loss workouts for optimal strength gains and fat burning:

1. Split Squat – Stand with your right leg about 12 inches in front of your left leg, as if in a “split” stance. Brace your core and lower your body down by bending your right leg until your thigh is parallel with the floor. Use your rear leg for balance and support. Push back up through the right leg until back in the original split stance. Complete all repetitions on the right side before switching to the left side.

1. Reverse Lunges – Stand with your feet shoulder with apart and your arms at your sides. Brace your core and take a big step back with your right leg and lower your left leg until your thigh is parallel to the floor. Drive up through the left leg to stand back up and return to starting position.

3.  Step Ups – Stand in front of a bench or stool about 20” off the ground. Lift your right leg up and place your right foot completely on the bench. Step up onto the bench, straightening out your leg and standing tall. To return to starting position, slowly bend your right knee and and step back off the bench with your left leg until your left foot touches the ground. Keep your right foot on the bench. Without bouncing your left foot off the ground for momentum, step back up onto the bench with your right leg.

1. Forward Lunges – Stand with your feet shoulder with apart and your arms at your sides. Brace your core and take a big step forward with your right leg and bent at the knee until your thigh is parallel to the floor. Make sure your knee does not go further than your toes. If it does, then take a bigger step out as your lower leg should be almost perpendicular to the floor. Drive up through the right leg to stand back up and return to starting position.

5.  Bulgarian Split Squat – Stand with your arms at your sides with your left leg forward and your right leg extended behind you with your toes on a chair. Brace your core and lower yourself down using your left leg until your thigh is parallel to the floor. Drive up through the left leg to stand back up and return to starting position.

6.  Pistol Squat – **ADVANCED** – Stand with your feet a few inches apart and your hands at your side. (If you are doing this exercise for the first time, you may need to use a doorway to hold yourself in position while performing the exercise). Shift your bodyweight to the right leg and put your arms straight out for balance. Keeping your left leg straight lift it up and hold it out straight, about 6 inches off the ground. Bracing your core and using your arms for balance, slowly squat down using only your right leg until you are as low as you can go. Optimally, your thigh will be beyond parallel and your butt close to touching the floor. Stand back up by straightening out your right leg and returning to the starting position.

If you are a beginner, start by practicing exercise #1, the split squat, for 2 weeks before adding exercise #2, reverse lunges, to your workout routine.

Make sure to practice each additional exercise for a minimum of 2-4 weeks to achieve perfect form and increase your strength before progressing to the next exercise.

I do not recommend progressing through the entire list without mastering each exercise in succession first.

Exercise # 6, the pistol squat, is a highly advanced single leg bodyweight exercise and should not be attempted until all other exercises are practiced and mastered for at least 2-3 months.

Work through this list of single leg bodyweight exercises and I guarantee you will be taking huge strides at increasing your leg strength and annihilating your body fat!

Your Coach,

Susan Campbell, MS, CSCS

For more information on using single leg bodyweight exercises as part of your bodyweight workout please visit http://WorkoutsForHome.com.

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Gaining or losing muscle or fat is something that must be done very gradually. Losing or gaining too much muscle or fat very fast is not healthy as it can, and definitely will, lead to other disorders of the glandular system. So, when one asks how much muscle can you gain in a week? The answer is relative to how much one is willing to risk – and, naturally -  spend!

Weight trainers worth their practice will have you know that gaining muscle is no easy task. There is a lot to take into consideration and this includes, exercise, diet and lifestyle. A person with a sedentary lifestyle will have to take things slowest as compared to someone who leads a very active life. Needless to say, the active individual will most likely gain a lot of muscle in a week compared to the sedentary one – a few months into a rigorous exercise routine.

But coming back to how much muscle weight can you gain in a week, one can never really put a figure to the answer to that question. It all depends on the diet, supplements and exercise put in. Even then it is hard to say.

People commonly mistake ‘weight gain’ with muscle gain. Here it is important to note  that weight can be gained very fast indeed. Just go out there and eat all the junk food that comes passing by and don’t run, but stroll away, slowly, very slowly from any form of exercise and weight gain will take you by surprise by the time you get home. But here we’re talking about muscle gain, pure, simple, dry, shredded MUSCLE gain!

When one first sets out into an exercise routine, and sticks to it, muscle gain begin to form a graph. In the beginning, muscle gain is slowest; then it begins to go up. Muscle begins to grow tremendously fast after about five weeks of regular exercise. Then the growth, or graph, slows down and will ultimately reach a plateau. This plateau region of the graph can and needs to be avoided because muscle gain is at a bare minimum due to  the muscles of the body have gotten used to a certain exercise routine and so they stop responding to the exercise. This is why exercises of the various muscle groups needs to be changed every five to six weeks.

People who set out to gain muscle and are in a hurry to put on some mass constantly complain that they have only gained five to six pounds of muscle in a period of three months of intense training complete with mass gaining supplements et al. Experienced builders and trainers cannot seem to understand why these guys are complaining! Five pounds of muscle gained in three months is something to write home about, but these pros also know that the five pounds is not just muscle but a lot of fat, water, and perhaps some beer thrown in too. The fact of the matter is that there is not a chance in hell one will gain more than 1 pound of pure dry muscle in a week. Now without some help from the chemists – if you know what I mean!

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How does a skinny guy gain weight and muscle? Well the answer lies in food and exercise with a little help from the supplement manufacturers. Here when we say ‘supplements’ do not for a second thin that we refer to steroids. In fact, we discourage the use of any supplement that has performance enhancing and mass building substances as part of its ingredients. There is a purely natural way to go about building weight and muscle – and this is the healthiest way too.

To begin with it is important ot ascertain why our skinny guys is skinny? It is also important to know how much weight he should gain in a given time. So, to begin let our skinny guy consult a physician who might run some tests to determine the cause of his skinniness. One of the leading causes of people being skinny is’ hyperthyroidism’. Here the thyroid glands in the neck are over active producing excessive amounts of hormones increasing the metabolism rate to such an extent that it is virtually impossible to gain weight. The doctor will first ascertain this condition, or any other, and bring it under control before our skinny guy can being a weight gaining routine.

Any one can put on some weight by eating as much junk food as possible in a day. This is not our goal however. Because eating all kinds of food will definitely assist in weight gain but in al the wrong places and in all the wrong proportions. So a scientific approach is necessary.

Exercise is the answer. If the doctor has been kind enough to prescribe some weight gain supplements it is all the better for our guy. Then starts the exercise. Begin with free hand exercises for the first two weeks working the arms, shoulders and chest muscles. These free hand exercises should be performed imagining that there are actual weights in each hand and breathing in while lifting and breathing out while relaxing. Breathing is very important as is concentrating on the muscle being exercised. Within the first tow weeks there will be a visible change in the body. These same exercises will then be performed with actual weights that are comfortable for the individual.

A good well balanced meal should be eaten at least three hours before any exercise and the best time to exercise is in the evening at dusk. The reason for this is that the muscles develop when we are sleeping and research has proven that two hours of exercise three hours before sleeping at night returns best results.

Make out sets of exercises (it does not matter what exercise one chooses) as long as weight gain in proper proportion is required. It is important to bring up the mass to weight ratio before beginning to delve into muscle building. So work those muscles in the arms, shoulders, back, legs and stomach for two hours every evening three hours after meals and watch them blow up and make anyone want to begin giving them shape with different muscle building routines to get that desired shape not just weight.

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There are tens of thousands of body building gurus out there all claiming that their method is the one.  What should be emphasized is that what worked for person A will bring the same results to person B. Each person has different body structures. Genetics could also affect the “if” and “when” one will build and develop muscles.

In a nutshell, body building is a different experience for each person.  It is not recommended that an average person who wants to build muscle fast undergo the same routine a professional body builder does.  The average person needs a natural approach to body building. A routine that is physically and mentally straining is the way to go.

Strength training is one way of gaining muscles. To lift weights is to gain strength and to gain strength is to get stronger.  The greater your strength, the more muscle you will have.  Calisthenics such as crunches, push-ups, dips, pull-ups and more are also recommended.  As you get accustomed to the weights that you are lifting, challenge yourself by adding more weights and making your routine harder. It is best to use free weights when strength training.  Some machines are alright but some force you into unnatural positions.

Some trainers prefer compound exercises to isolations. Isolations (tricep kickbacks, bicep curls, leg extensions) are alright to a point but unless you have built up noticeable muscle mass and have upped your strength, it is best if you do exercises that hit several muscles: barbell rows,  pull-ups, chin-ups; bench press and dips; squats and dead-lifts.

Do Squats! They’re deemed as the most important exercise as it works your whole body. Once you can Squat more than your body weight, you will definitely look different. A machine-assisted squat is not advisable. Free weights squats are best when the hips come lower than the knees. This action takes a lot of strength and control as all your muscles tense up when doing dead-lifts and Squats.  Make sure that you integrate a full body workout in your routine. Do not over train as you muscles need more time to recover.

If you have not done so, you should have lost the extra weight before you go into body building.  The extra weight being referred here is the extra roll of fat in your tummy. If you are thin and slim, gain weight! You will never build up muscles if you are too fat or too thin.

Eat the right kind of food:  vegetables, carbohydrates, fruits and protein.  It is important to get the right amount of protein once you start bulking up.  Eat nutritious meals. If you can’t cook nutritious meals every time, replace a meal with whey protein powder or any protein powder supplement. You can also opt to take creatine powder as a supplement to help build your muscles up.  Take multivitamins too as they provide the essential vitamins and minerals needed by your body to function well.

Do not give up when things seem slow. Persevere with your routine and your muscles will eventually develop.

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If you are serious about getting ripped and building some serious muscles then you need to be in on some of the tips you don’t always hear about. There are a ton of gadgets on the market that promise to help you build muscles with you doing basically nothing but these are all useless because with these simple tips, you can buff up in no time and do it safely.

• Use Heavy Weights

Getting serious muscle growth fast is done through hard work with heavy weights. If anyone tells you that you can gain fast results with lower weights and a longer workout, they are misleading you. How heavy is heavy? For each person this will be different but by the time you reach rep number 6 you should be wondering how you would ever make it to rep 10 and 12. If you can make it to rep 8 without struggling, you need more weight.

• Keep It Short

Working out as intensely as you will be you will want to keep your entire workout to one hour at the most. Anything more than this will increase the recovery time your muscles will need to recuperate. If you push your muscles too much before they are able to heal properly, you risk tearing and damaging your muscles permanently. Working two groups of muscles a workout is ideal.

• Do Less On Less

This means you should be doing fewer sets each workout and on fewer parts of the body. You may have the idea to work every muscle every day but this can be damaging and make the workouts useless over time. Inducing muscle growth is the goal and that can easily be accomplished by working two sets of muscles a day. This gives the muscles the proper time to heal and grow and the results will be fantastic.

• Healthy Foods

It is definitely possible to get all the nutrients, minerals, proteins and carbohydrates you need through a proper diet. You will want to keep your diet rich with proteins, calories and carbohydrates while avoiding bad fats. Lean meats, fish, chicken and egg whites are great places to start along with all the vegetables you can handle.

• Eat All Day Long

This doesn’t mean have a food bag on your face all day, it means you need to eat about 8 meals a day to keep your energy and protein levels up. This can be accomplished much more easily that it sounds. Eating 4 solid meals a day, coupled with 3-4 protein shakes, the meal replacement kind, will give your body the calories and protein to ensure your muscles have the needed nutrients to grow.

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If you are looking to build muscles fast, and safely, there are a few things to take into consideration before you get started. The first is that building muscle size involves higher weights with fewer reps, this will work the muscles harder and when they heal, they will grow in size faster.

• Exercise 1 – The Bench Press

This exercise is done by laying flat on the bench with the bar at rest just above the eyes and your feet should be flat on the ground. Taking the bar from the resting position you will lower it down to the chest but not on the chest. This is the down phase and inhaling is important at this stage. When pressing the weight back up your arms should be fully extended with the elbows locked. The down phase and the up phase should both take about the same amount of time.

• Exercise 2 – Squats

These are done with the weights on the shoulders while bending at the knees and hips. The torso should be rather rigid with your eyes always forward as this aids in maintaining proper balance and form. Once at the bottom of the squat, you will extend the knees as well as the hips to rise to a full upright position, exhaling during the motion.

• Exercise 3 – Shoulder Press

This can be done standing but the preferred method is sitting with the back supported the whole time. Taking two dumbbells, one in each hand, the arms are raised to shoulder height with the palms up and the thumb around the dumbbell. Do not click the weights together above the head and don’t lock the arms. The best muscle gain is found here while there is continual weight on the shoulder muscles. Slowly lower the weights back down to the starting position keep consistent speed throughout the movements.

• Exercise 4 – Dips

For this you will need a set of parallel bars. During the down phase of this movement, your head must stay up and looking forward. Grabbing the bars tightly, lower your body a little past the point where the triceps are parallel to the floor. The up phase is simply raising the body back up with the arms to the starting position.

• Exercise 5 – Deadlift

Standing upright with the feet about shoulder width apart, squat down and grasp the bar just outside the feet. Keeping the back straight and rigid and the arms unbent; raise the bar off the ground with the hips, knees and legs. Once up, use the shoulders to finish the movement of the up phase. Lowering the bar is done at the same pace. The lifting here must be done with the legs as bending can lead to disc problems.

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The right approach in the gym can go a long way to transforming your current physique into a more muscular ideal.  However, it takes more than lifting to make things happen.  Even the world’s biggest gym rats can’t get the perfect build based on what they do in the weight room.  Exercise and lifting are just part of the equation.  You need to know what to eat to build muscle, too.

Diet is a key component to the process.  Eating to build muscle mass will give you an edge over those who think that a standard-issue diet will do the trick.

Providing a full diet plan for increased muscle mass is beyond the scope of a single article.  You should find a comprehensive, healthy plan designed by a trusted, professional.  You’re personal health and well-being is on the line, and that requires a serious, smart approach.  However, there are certain foods that tend to be a part of diets designed for those who are concentrating on building a powerhouse physique.  Let’s look at a few of them to give you a better idea of what to eat to build muscle.

• Be a turkey.

The Thanksgiving favorite is a perfect example of a food that build muscle.  Before you start gnawing on a Renaissance Fair-style turkey leg, however, you should know that you’re going to get a lot more help by eating the white meat.  Turkey breasts are insanely protein rich and low in fat.  Turkey doesn’t add a ton of extra carbs to your diet, either, allowing you to better control carbohydrate intake, which can be important to muscle builders who are simultaneously trying to lose problematic fat.

• Go fish.

Fish is another fantastic protein source.  Many varieties are ultra-low in fat, too.  Those varieties that do bring some fat along for the swim, like salmon, have “good fat,” not the pot belly-building gunk one finds in a tub of Ben and Jerry’s.  Tuna is a great option.  It really does the trick and it’s dirt cheap.

• Beans and (brown) rice.

If you’re dealing with a weight problem, you’ve probably heard the news:  Too many of those so-called white carbs aren’t helping you out.  At the same time, however, those who want to build muscle mass need to maintain sufficient levels of energy to maintain their workout regimens.  You can’t swear off carbs if you want to build muscle.  Whole grains and beans are a good way to get the carbohydrates you need while avoiding the kind of sugar-producing stuff you’ll find in a white rice and traditional Wonder bread.

Even the best lifter in the world is going to be facing an uphill struggle if he’s not eating the right way.  You need to learn what foods to eat to build muscle and to make a smart diet emphasizing those products a part of your life to get the best results.

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You’ve reached that point. You’re ready to change your body. You aren’t happy with your physique and it’s time to get serious about building muscle. You’re committed. You’re motivated. You’re ready to find ways to build muscle fast in order to spur a complete transformation.

Congratulations on the decision. Building more muscle and becoming more physically fit is a smart move. It’s good for your health, it will spur increased energy levels and it certainly won’t hurt you socially! But before you run out to grab the latest “build muscle and gain weight fast” guide, you need to take a deep breath.

While it is possible to build muscle quickly and efficiently, the best way to build muscle doesn’t involve trying to create some kind of miraculous overnight turnaround. The only way to get truly rocket-fast results involves the use of dangerous techniques and illicit supplements and that’s a route you don’t want to take. You want to get that ideal body, but you want to do it in the best way.

Build muscle based on a smart, safe approach. You’ll still get real results and you’ll start to notice changes quickly, but you won’t go from being Gilligan to Charles Atlas in the blink of an eye. Building muscle mass quickly isn’t the same thing as doing it instantly.

If you want to use the best way to build muscle, it’s going to start by combining smart dietary choices with weightlifting and compound exercises. That’s probably not the first time you’ve read that, is it? Well, there’s a reason for the constant repetition: It’s the right way to get the job done.

Look, you can go for the shortcut. You can pound down wild supplements indiscriminately. You can cross the line of legality and use illegal products that will undoubtedly give you a boost. You can spend all day and night at the gym, beating your body into a pulp until it begins to respond. Doing so, however, risks your health. It also doesn’t work in the long run.

Those hardcore approaches inevitably produce one of two results. Either you’ll burn out completely or you’ll suffer some kind of injury. Either outcome will completely derail your larger goal.

There’s nothing exciting about words like “moderation”, “progressive” or “perseverance.” They’re not as sexy as “instant mind-blowing results” or “super fast muscle explosion.” However, they’re a lot more sensible and they actually lead to an overall approach that produces real results.

You can experience fast muscle growth by doing things the right way. You can’t experience immediate growth unless you’re willing to put your life on the line for a temporary gain that’s bound to backfire. If you want to know how to really build muscle fast, the secret is sensibility. That may not be what some people want to hear, but those who are really committed to change and to self-improvement will follow through and see massive changes relatively quickly while ducking the risks of alternative approaches

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As more and more people seek ways to develop the perfect physique, many are paying particular attention to individual aspects of their bodies. Some are looking for ways to build their chests. Others are concerned with creating the “six pack ab” effect. Many want to know how to build muscles in your arms and legs.

Is there anything special you can do to build muscle mass in those areas? Are there particular techniques that produce better results for those who want to build muscle tone in their extremities?

While there is no “one size fits all” solution to build muscle in your arms and legs, there are a few things that tend to produce optimal results. Let us look at a few things you can do to get your limbs into tip-top condition.

One smart move is to make compound exercises part of your overall plan. These exercises tend to have a full-body impact. That might seem like a strange recommendation when we are specifically talking about arms and legs, but it does make a difference. Compound maneuvers insure that you are continuing to work those areas even when you are primarily focused on other parts of the body.

Of course, targeted lifting also makes a great deal of sense if you want those bulging biceps or muscular thighs. Fortunately, those who are primarily interested in making progress in these areas have a panoply of option available to them. The bulk of machines in the average gym are designed for arm and leg exercises.

Additionally, one should not overlook the role cardiovascular workouts can have in this regard. Arms and legs are often stubborn repositories of fat and frequent cardio work can help to combat that problem. You may need to get that BMI down before securing results by blasting your extremities with heavy-duty lifting works its true magic.

All of the workouts in the world won’t give you the limbs you want if they aren’t accompanied by two other activities–you need to follow a responsible, healthy diet and you need to give your body time to recuperate between workouts. While some people are undoubtedly tired of reading that advice again and again, it comes up repeatedly because it is so essential. You must eat right and you need to give your muscles a chance to rebuild and grow between workouts.

A combination of targeted lifting, cardio work and compound exercise along with a smart diet and a willingness to allow the body to recuperate represents the best way to reach this particular health goal. If you want to know how to build muscles in your legs and arms, that is the optimal method.

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Have you finally reached that point? Are you finally ready and motivated to replace your existing physique with a more muscular model? Do you want to learn how to build muscle fast?

Well, it is possible–within reason. But before you get too excited about going from the scrawny guy with sand in your face to becoming Charles Atlas, you need to keep your expectations in line with reality. You can learn how to build muscle in the most efficient way possible, but you’re simply not going to get that ideal look overnight.

Your current state is a byproduct of years of living a certain lifestyle. You can change, but it’s not realistic to think that you’re going to undergo a complete transformation overnight. It takes some time and effort to replace all of those previous years.

With that caveat in mind, let’s talk about the fastest way to build muscle. There are a few fundamentals that will serve as the basis for efficient muscle gain.

The first is diet. If you’re chucking the wrong fuel into your system, you won’t get the desired results. You need to up your protein intake, focusing on the consumption of lean meats. Start eating more chicken, lean beef and fish. Green vegetables are great and unlike starvation dieters, you need to maintain adequate carbohydrate levels to keep your energy level up. Find a smart diet plan for those in pursuit of increased muscle mass designed by a trustworthy expert and follow it.

Second, if you want to build muscle, you need to lift. You’re not going to get a muscular build on the treadmill. Cardio is great for your health, but it isn’t going to get you ripped. You need to follow a weightlifting program that combines targeted work with compound (whole body) activity like bench presses, military presses and squats. Your weight program should focus just as much on repetitions as it does on raw weight, too. Those higher rep levels will charge your muscle-building efforts.

Finally, you need to remind yourself of our earlier warning. You can’t completely modify your body in a matter of days. You need to develop a plan that you can actually maintain. Some moderation is in order. If you go all-out from the beginning, you risk both burnout and injury–neither of which will help you in the long run. Start with something manageable on all fronts and boost your workouts as you begin to make progress and are better able to handle the increased workload.

You can build muscle fast. It may not be “automatic,” but it can be quick if you’re doing things the right way.

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