If you are like most anyone, you have dreamed of having a stronger body with firm, lean muscle mass. Yet, achieving a toned and cut physique is a goal that eludes many. Keep reading into this article for a selection of suggestions that you can apply towards the body you want.

Focus on working out your largest muscle groups. Concentrating your efforts on large muscle groups such as the back, chest and legs will help you to build muscle faster. Exercises such as squats, pull-ups, bench presses, and dips are ideal for this. These kinds of exercises are generally more intense, and will help boost your protein synthesis.

While building muscle generally corresponds to an increase in weight, you should not be surprised if your overall weight does not increase. Your lack of net weight gain can easily be attributed to weight loss caused by a decrease in body fat offsetting your muscle gain. There are various tools and techniques that track body-fat loss. You can utilize them to account for this.

If you are working toward “bulking up” your muscles, do not do cardio for more than 90 minutes per workout. Too much cardio can cause the body to form “lean muscle” instead of the bulk that you desire. Cardio is very important, but put a limit on it for best results.

Use visualization exercises to picture what you need to do to reach your goals. Having vague, undefined goals with no real sense of how to accomplish them is a sure road to failure. Picture yourself sticking to your workout routine and visualize what you will look like in the future. This will keep you motivated.

Don’t work out for more than sixty minutes. If you work out for longer than an hour, your body will start producing large amounts of cortisol, an unhealthy stress hormone. Cortisol blocks testosterone, which can ruin your muscle gaining efforts. You can avoid this by keeping your workouts under 60 minutes in length, ensuring you get the most from your regimen.

Remember to go to the gym with a friend when you are working on building up your muscles. If you try to do so alone, it is possible that you put yourself into a difficult situation, especially when using free weights. This can lead to serious injuries or lesions.

Utilize pyramid training. A single weight lifting regimen doesn’t yield results forever. This is why you should attempt to pyramid your weight by using heavier weights throughout every set. Heavy sets allow you to build up your strength, and the medium weights maximize your muscle growth. This allows you to gain both strength and size in just one workout.

Many individuals, including yourself, desire a strong and well shaped body. Yet, many have excessive difficulty in achieving this. Although, a number of folks who have toned bodies prove it can be done. Apply what you have learned in this article and you too can join their ranks with your own built up muscles.