Identifying your ultimate goal is one of the basic rules when you build muscles. It determines the type of exercise to use. You can train for strength, size, and endurance. While strength training exercises do build muscles, the focus is more on building strength, like weightlifters. People who want more bulk and build for size are often bodybuilders. They use a different amount of weight and number of repetitions from the ones used for building strength.
A great body starts in the kitchen, not in the gym.
You can’t get big muscles by consuming a poor diet. You’ll lack all the building blocks to create them. It’s one reason it’s so tricky to build muscle while you’re losing weight. Your diet should have between 20% and 33% of the calories from protein and the calories you consume should match your ultimate goal. If you want to build muscle and lose weight, you can’t reduce your calories too much. Approximately 20% of your calories should come from fat and the balance from carbs. The protein should be lean and high quality. Choosing fatty fish like salmon will provide some of the healthy fat required.
Maximize your workout but don’t overtrain.
Our personal trainers will create the program to help you reach your goal quickly. That doesn’t mean you should do strength training daily or work for long hours. Over-training can even diminish your progress. When you do strength training, the workout strains and damages the muscle fibers and causes micro tears. They adapt to the stress by increasing in size. If you workout every day it doesn’t allow the tears to heal. Working out too long or trying to lift weights that are too heavy may cause muscle strain that can put you out of commission for weeks and diminish your progress. Rest your muscles between 24 and 72 hours between strength workouts.
Pre and post workout snacks can improve your performance during exercise.
Consuming a snack that’s high in carbs and protein, like a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat an hour before working out and soon after your workout should be part of your program. The carbohydrate provides the energy for the workout and the protein provides the muscle building blocks. Pre-and post-workout snacks can boost your energy so you get the most from your workout and improve recovery and muscle repair.
- Compound movements—ones that use several muscles, tendons, and joints, and work several muscle groups at once—burn more calories and provide more muscle gain than doing several exercises for individual muscles.
- Healthy fat not only provides energy and keeps you feeling fuller, but it also is necessary to produce certain hormones involved in muscle building. Sources of healthy fat include avocados, nuts, and fatty fish.
- Sleep is important when you’re building muscles. It’s when your body heals. Make sure you get at least 8 hours a night and schedule it for the same time every night. Consistency counts when building muscles.
- Consistency is the key to any training, but so is doing each exercise correctly. If you’re working out with us, our trainers will ensure you have the right movements. Doing an exercise wrong can minimize benefits and cause injury.
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