How Do You Get Tight And Hard Muscles? REPS!!!!!!!!

I'm 17, 5'8, and I weigh 150 pounds. I have enough muscle mass, but my muscles are soft. How do I get my muscles tight and hard. My bodyfat percentage is like 12%. I will give reps to anyone that helps me.

[QUOTE=bodybuilding_06]I'm 17, 5'8, and I weigh 150 pounds. I have enough muscle mass, but my muscles are soft. How do I get my muscles tight and hard. My bodyfat percentage is like 12%. I will give reps to anyone that helps me.[/QUOTE]


Well lifting heavy weights for few reps with sufficient time under tension (at least 90-120 seconds total) are some of the main factors that cause people to gain muscle. When you gain muscle you not only increase muscle mass you increase myofibril density. I imagine that the denser your myofibrils are packed, the harder your muscles feel.

So the answer is to lift heavy. Doing 100 reps of a lighter weight is what many lay people think is the way to "tone" your muscles, but that just increases the aerobic capacity of you muscles. You will start to build more slow twitch muscles and your cells will begin to make more mitochondria to keep up with the muscles' aerobic demands - but myofibril density (at least from what I understand) will not increase - or not nearly as much as it would with heavy weight training.

I lift heavy all the time. I also deadlift, squat, and bench press with heavy weights, so I don't think that's the problem.

[QUOTE=bodybuilding_06]I'm 17, 5'8, and I weigh 150 pounds. I have enough muscle mass, but my muscles are soft. How do I get my muscles tight and hard. My bodyfat percentage is like 12%. I will give reps to anyone that helps me.[/QUOTE]
ok.. hold on.. i think your referring to MUSCLE DENSITY... atleast i hope you are...

see, i used to have the SAME problem... but, after doing OVT and Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength for Beginners, my muscle density has improved considerably... i wont say that i have THE BEST muscle density ever ( :p ), but i have DEFINITELY improved a LOT....

Andalite

I get confused when people say muscle density. Here's a couple of questions.

What's muscle density?

How do you determine muscle density?

Also, can you be defined and still have some fat in your muscles?

How much does diet play in this?

[QUOTE=bodybuilding_06]I lift heavy all the time. I also deadlift, squat, and bench press with heavy weights, so I don't think that's the problem.[/QUOTE]

How heavy? How many reps per set?

[quote=bodybuilding_06]What's muscle density?[/quote]
Muscle density is how dense your myofibrillar fibers are (the main contractile proteins)

[quote]How do you determine muscle density?[/quote]
By flexing and feeling them :P

[quote]Also, can you be defined and still have some fat in your muscles?[/quote]
yes, you have to have some amount of fat on you.

[quote]How much does diet play in this?[/quote]
Diet has to do with EVERYTHING!

[QUOTE=bodybuilding_06]I get confused when people say muscle density. Here's a couple of questions.

What's muscle density?

How do you determine muscle density?

Also, can you be defined and still have some fat in your muscles?

How much does diet play in this?[/QUOTE]
^^ thats way too many questions.... :p.. i'll answer as many as i can... if i am wrong.. [I]correct[/I] me.. please dont bash me....

lets go:

[QUOTE=]What's muscle density? [/QUOTE]

i define muscle density as the hardnes of the muscle when you flex it... a lot of beginners try to flex their pecs and yet lack that hardness... when i am referring to "muscle density" i am referring to that firm kinda feeling you get when you flex your tricep and a chick touches it to find it ROCK HARD :D

[QUOTE=]How do you determine muscle density?[/QUOTE]

well, if your flexing and your muscle is rock hard, then you have muscle density... if your muscle is cotton soft when flexed, then you lack that density....

[QUOTE=]can you be defined and still have some fat in your muscles?[/QUOTe]

yes.... if your VERY fair, then your viens will be seen more clearly and you'll look more defined - even if your not..

[QUOTE=]How much does diet play in this?[/QUOTE]

beats me...

DISCLAIMER: all the info above is my own opinion... its not an experts point of view....

best of luck

Andalite

I usually do 5 sets for each compound exercise with reps 12, 10, 8, 6, 4.

When I flex my muscles, they're fine. Usually once a week, my muscles are tight and hard. Lately when I get a pump in my arms, they look bigger but don't get as tight, so that's another problem.

How long does it take to restore glycogen stores?

I'm getting ready for a competition ,so that's why i'm asking this. How do bodybuilders get tight and hard muscles before competition?

I'm not sure if this is tripping you up or not, but some people intuitively think that when they have fat on their arms - that their muscles themselves are fatty. That's not the case at all - unless you have muscular dystrophy or some disease where you get fatty degeneration of muscle tissue. But for healthy people fat and muscle are two very different things. A soft muscle doesn't mean that you have fat in them. You may have fat overlying the muscle and that would serve to obscure the definition you have, but the fat itself plays no part in how dense a muscle is. Though if you feel a muscle with fat overlying it, it will feel soft.

How dense your muscle is is a function of how many myofiblrils you have packed into each muscle cell. The only way to pack more in is to lift heavy. If you're not there yet, just keep going and eventually you will be.

If you want to look shredded, that's something entirely different. That has everything to do with the fat that's overlying the muscle. Prisoners in concentration camps can be "shredded" because they have no fat but that has nothing to do with how strong their muscles are.

I'd also recommend drinking more water. A more hydrated muscle grows more and I believe can add to that "hard" feeling.

I drink a lot of water, but I think I need more glycogen in my muscles, because some days my muscles feel full, but most days they're soft unless I flex them. How long does it take to replenish glycogen stores?

Glycogen only accounts for 1% of the mass of a muscle so I don't think glycogen is your problem.

But if you really need to know - I would think that in the well fed state (carbohydrates eaten and insulin released) glycogen can be restored within a matter of hours not days.

[QUOTE=bodybuilding_06;9837595]I'm 17, 5'8, and I weigh 150 pounds. I have enough muscle mass, but my muscles are soft. How do I get my muscles tight and hard. My bodyfat percentage is like 12%. I will give reps to anyone that helps me.[/QUOTE]



I too have the same problem as of you ... did you get the solution for that.... please do reply :)

[QUOTE=bodybuilding_06;9838084]I usually do 5 sets for each compound exercise with reps 12, 10, 8, 6, 4.

When I flex my muscles, they're fine. Usually once a week, my muscles are tight and hard. Lately when I get a pump in my arms, they look bigger but don't get as tight, so that's another problem.

How long does it take to restore glycogen stores?[/QUOTE]

Just tell me for how long have you been working out ?