Embrace the Burn

The burn we are talking about here is the buildup of lactic acid in your muscles. If you have never felt that burn in your muscles, you need to step it up a notch or get a different workout routine. The lowdown on lactic acid is that it is a byproduct of cellular energy production. So what is happening here is that when you experience an increased demand for oxygen and energy (which will happen with an intense weightlifting set) your body pumps out lactic acid. It is your body’s way of signaling that what you are doing is taking a hell of a lot of energy and you aren’t going to be able to sustain what you are doing for very much longer.

Here is the real kicker: Lactic acid increases the acidity of your blood which can cause a dramatic increase in growth hormone. Anybody who has taken GH knows it is one of the best hormones for melting off the fat and assisting with lean gains. So here is your chance to increase it naturally and all it costs you is some hard work in the gym.

So, what is the best way to get this lactic acid burn going and reap the benefits from it? If these tips don’t get your muscles burning and screaming for you to stop, you might as well hang it up and get out of the gym and get back up on the porch with the puppies.

Tips to Make it Burn Baby

1. Higher reps and increasing the time under tension are the BEST ways to increase the burn. This doesn’t mean you should lift like this all the time though. You still need to vary your rep ranges to target the different types of muscle fiber.

2. Add more muscle groups into your workout. The more muscles you are using, the greater energy requirements your body needs which equates to more lactic acid.

3. Train your larger muscle groups often and hard. Obviously bigger body parts have an increased capacity for lactic acid production just due to their size which demands more energy production.

4. Give this a shot. Do a massive giant set on all of your exercises. Let’s say your chest routine consists of barbell bench, incline DB bench, DB flat bench and DB flyes. Don’t do them all in individual sets. Perform a giant massive lactic acid burning quadruple monster set. You take no rest between each exercise. It is going to suck but focus on working through the burn. Rest for 2-3 minutes after the quadruple set and do it again and then again. You can even try it again if you are still alive. Your growth hormone levels should be skyrocketing now.

Part 4 next. Until then

Feel the burn.