Website On Muscle Exercises

There are a lot of things money CAN buy, for everything else there's BODYBUILDING.

You have to hand it to the people who come up with these great motivators; they keep a lot of us going through our workouts during the rainy days... being buff and muscular is not just a glamour concept, it's a choice about a health way of life. And muscle building isn't the scary, killer workout that it's famed to be. Here are some guidelines that will not only encourage you to build muscle, but help you plan an effective routine as well.

1. Physicians Report: if you've never worked out before or are over weight, then your decision to muscle train should come after an appointment with your physician. Your physician will give you a check up and a clear idea about your fitness level. Keeping this level in mind you should discuss your muscle gaining goals with your physician and ask for suggestions. If you're on a weight loss program, even then you'll need your physician's opinion on your fitness level and what kind of workouts will suit you most.

2. Diet: don't expect to build muscle from hay. Muscle strengthening and increases in muscle mass are the direct result of a well thought out and well balanced diet plan. Understanding the difference between weight loss and muscle gain. While focusing on loosing weight, you will plan your diet to cut back on calories and loose excess fat. But when your sights turn to gain muscle, the diet will go up in total calories and now you eat to ‘gain' not ‘loose'. All the experts are unanimous that while weight training, you should take in more calories than you burn.

3. High Protein: proteins are the best and most abundant source of amino acids. Amino acids are nature's building blocks. The muscle that you intend to grow will come from the amino acids. So, as you've probably figured you by now, when muscle building, increase the quantity of amino aids in your diet. A good muscle building diet is composed of 50% proteins, 30% fats and 20% carbs.



4. Free weights: using free weights to train is the best. Weight lifting machines, despite all the extensive campaigning and advertising, haven't been able to rival it. The thing about weight lifting machines is that they're useful to a very limited extent; you just don't stay a novice weight trainer that long. Plus they're good as long as you don't have trainer to supervise you. But they wear out their welcome to your body after a few workouts. Free weights, unlike the machines, cause maximum muscle contraction and distribute weight evenly throughout your body. They help you build form and train your body according to its specific needs.

5. Overload: the secret to muscle building is ‘overload'. Overload means you lift to your maximum. Lifting a weight that is so light that you can easily do 12 reps or more won't help you build muscle, you've just wasted your time. Also lifting too heavy, that doesn't even allow the standard 8 reps will over train and harm your muscles. But lifting your maximum will cause the muscles in your body to contract and build resistance. The old saying lift til you ‘burn' is all fact.

6. Progression: ever seen stagnant water, it often causes the land under it to turn into quicksand. Metaphorically speaking, that's what happens to your body when it keeps going through the same weight lifting routine. It becomes stagnant. Growth stops, increase in strength stops and then your stuck in limbo. For successful muscle growth you need to call on your body to lift greater weights with every subsequent workout. Make it a gradual increase but let it be an increase nevertheless.

7. Rest and Sleep: your muscles need at least a days rest between workouts along with a minimum of 8 to 10 hours of sleep regularly to grow the desired muscle mass. Never over train as you risk muscle damage.

• Matt Thompson
• 06/05/2009, 12:59 PM
• 0 Comments