Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Important Facts You Should Know About Muscle Building

By Ricardo d Argence

It should be an important part of any person's healthy exercise routine, but a lot of people think that weight training is just for bodybuilders. No matter what is your reason for working out, maybe to improve your health or the definition of your muscles, the tips here will help you in reaching your goal.

You could lift weights forever and not build any new muscle if your body doesn't have enough protein, it is essential to build muscle. However, the question has always been how much is enough? Unfortunately, foods that are high in protein like dairy and red meat are also high in fat which can pack on unwanted pounds.

The rule of thumb for protein intake for dedicated bodybuilders is at least one gram for every pound of body weight. That means if you weight 170 pounds you should be eating 170 grams of protein every day in order to build muscle mass. Choose skim milk and low-fat protein sources such as fish and chicken over red meat, if you're worried about that fat content.

Exercise and weight lifting enthusiasts have been known on occasion to develop something close to an addiction to working out. You can see them in the gym almost daily doing their routines. Surprisingly, all that dedication very possibly is detrimental to the health of their bodies. This is because studies have shown that you need more than exercise to build muscle.

You need to let your muscles rest for a time after exerting them like that. In order to recover between sessions, a person should eat well-balanced meals, drink plenty of fluids after working out, and take a day off before another sesssion.

While sleeping may seem like the antithesis to the weight lifting, you won't build muscle without it. That's because many of the bodily processes that go on do so while you are sleeping. The reason is simple, your body can redirect energy resources to these other tasks because it's not being used for anything else.

Protein synthesis which is necessary for muscle development is one of those processes. Your body needs time to work while you're asleep at night. But if you're sleeping just a few hours, your body just doesn't have enough time to do what it needs to do. Make sure to sleep for at least eight hours every night.

Talking about your workout routine, compound movements are going to build muscle faster than other types of exercises such as squats, which target isolated muscle groups. If you do not lift properly then the muscle groups will not get the most benefit from the workout.

It's very simple, select weights that are appropriately heavy for you to lift. But you don't have to choose the heaviest one, either! It tells that you are required to sense the muscles response when you carry that weight if you really want to gain from your hard work. For example, 20 pounds could be enough for you (if you are a rookie); some weeks later you'll surely want to move on to the next weight on the rack. - 16887

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