CountryLife4U Fitness

Effective Steps to Building Muscle

When you think of building muscle you tend to think of huge freaky physiques that you see in the some of the muscle mags. The years and hours of hard work these men and women have put into training their bodies to achieve these types of results is inspirational. Maybe YOU also want build massive muscles, or maybe you want to increase muscle but without getting as muscular as that. You can! There are different stages of building muscle which is what I am going to talk about today.

Building Muscle for Toning

You can build muscle for muscle tone. Using lighter weights and more repetitions you can achieve a toned appearance without bulking up. If building Muscle for Body Shaping and Sculpting your weights will need to be slightly heavier for some body parts yet lighter for others. Being able to transform your current body type by using resistance or weight training is exciting and possible.

Body Building / BIG Muscle Mass

To create large amounts of muscle growth you need to damage the muscle to a certain extreme for your muscles to respond, repair and grow into strong, healthy muscles. Using heavy weights damages the muscle sufficiently to create this type of muscle damage.

Training to Build Muscle

This varies on your goals of what you want your body to look like. Using a program that is suited to your body type and goals is very important when trying to build muscle of any kind. Don't expect to reach your goals by just turning up at a gym and messing around with a few weights and hoping for the best. If you want maximum results from your training program then you should get yourself a training program that will get you long-term effective results.

Eating to Build Muscle

This depends on what your goals are. If you are wanting to build huge muscles you will need to consume more calories. You will need a healthy eating program which includes all of the food groups. You will also need to make sure you have sufficient protein and carbohydrates to help you get through your training and for healthy repair of your muscles. If you were still wanting to build lean muscle and aren't too keen on too much muscle size then you may want to reduce your calories and fat and arrange your diet to fit in with your fat burning training goals. If light toning and fat loss is what you are after then you will once again also need to carefully watch your calorie and fat intake, while still ensuring that your body gets sufficient nutrition. No matter what your training goals are never starve yourself. Regular meals through out the day are very important.

Starting Your Muscle Building Program

1. You don't need a lot of equipment, even dumbbells on their own are great to start with.
2. Make sure you have a program to follow that suits your needs and gives you sufficient instructions on how to perform your exercises.
3. When performing your exercises keep your knees slightly bent, your back straight and your tummy firm, even when you are performing seated exercises you need to make sure you have good posture.
4. Don't swing your weights about. If you are finding that you are swinging your body around to lift your weights then you should lower the weights until you are ready to advance.
5. Perform your exercises correctly. If, as I mentioned above, that you have to swing your body or your weights around then you are probably more likely to be giving your lower back a crappy workout rather than the body part you thought you were training. Don't waste precious training time by not using good form while training.
6. Always keep a water bottle near by so have easy access to fluids while training. This will keep you from dehydrating.
7. Make sure you perform a warm up before training and cool down after wards. While your muscles are still warm, after your cool down, you may like to perform your stretches.
8. Sleep! You need to have sufficient sleep to ensure your body has time to repair itself and recover from your days training and general activities.
9. Organise your eating plan ahead of time so that you can have your meals on hand. This will help prevent you from consuming junk as well as keeping up with regular meal times.
10. Protein. You will need sufficient protein intake in your diet to help supplement your muscle development. Protein shakes are fantastic for this. For more info on this read my "article" on protein.

A few words before I go......
I hope this article has given you a better idea of what is involved in Building Muscle. You need to choose what you really want to gain from your training programs and then seek out a program that suits those goals. If you're keen to get started on a training program that is suited to your body type and goals then feel free to visit my site: http://www.virtualfitnesstrainer.com

Happy Training!

Yours in fun, health and fitness
Mandy
http://www.virtualfitnesstrainer.com

Mandy Gibbons, Personal Fitness Trainer info@virtualfitnesstrainer.com http://www.virtualfitnesstrainer.com http://www.virtualfitnesstrainer.com.au
Info on Mandy, Awards and Qualifications Copyright © 2000 - 2003 Legal Stuff & Privacy  Virtual Fitness Trainer is best viewed in IE 5+