Things You'll Need:
- Free weights of varying heaviness Comfortable workout clothing
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Step 1
Building muscle mass successfully means adding slow but consistent resistance to the muscle. If you have not used weights in a long time, don't start out with 10- or 15-pound free weights and do 100 arm crunches. First, start out with 1-, 2- or 5-pound weights. Keep your reps to a 5-10 maximum, doing three sets of each rep. The goal is to slowly work toward overloading the muscle group.
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Step 2
Once a certain weight becomes easy to lift, increase the weight by five pounds. It usually takes two to four weeks for a muscle group to "master" a weight limit. Increase the reps to 10 to 15 and continue to break the reps into three sets, taking a short rest in between.
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Step 3
After three weeks to a month, if you are not feeling challenged, a great way to overload the muscle is to eliminate the sets. For example, if you are doing a bicep curl, and you are lifting 15 pounds per arm, count the reps out but don't stop and take a breather after every 10 or 15 reps. Count through the reps without stopping.
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Step 4
Here's where the true muscle building comes in: Immediately after your reps, do an isometric hold. After performing all of your bicep curls, stop at the top of the movement, or where the arm is curled and the bicep is contracted. Hold the pose for at least 15 seconds. This will overload that muscle and the muscle will get larger. You can do this with any weight-bearing exercise for the lower body, too, with leg presses, for example.
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Step 5
Be consistent with your techniques--adding weights, increasing reps, doing isometric holds. Work your upper body and lower body alternately.
