If you want to build your muscles, start with a trip to the library to read about how to do so effectively. If you don’t know the most effective methods before you begin working out, you might waste time and energy and could even hurt yourself. This article provides some simple tips to help you get started.
It is important to incorporate a sufficient amount of vegetables into your diet. Vegetables are sometimes lost in the push for complex carbs and high quality protein to fuel muscle building. Vegetables are packed with vitamins and minerals, two things that are absent from high concentrations in protein and carbohydrate-rich foods. An additional benefit is that these are all great sources of fiber. Fiber can help the body use the protein more effectively.
Train at least three times per week. You need at least three training sessions every week if you want to see significant muscle growth. If you are really new at weight training, this can be reduced to two at the start; however, you should increase the number of sessions per week as soon as you are able. If you already have some experience with strength training, you can add more sessions as well.
Eat a lot of protein. It’s a well known fact that the more protein your body can store, the more muscle you can build. Try to have at least one gram of the protein you need for every pound that you weigh. For instance, a 150 pound woman should attempt to eat approximately 150 grams, meat and other protein, every day.
Consider drinking a protein shake before starting your weight-training workouts. Liquid minerals tend to be absorbed quicker in the body than solid food, so think about having a shake filled with protein, about 10 to 20 grams. The protein shake will help give you a boost of protein to encourage protein synthesis, which is the way to building muscles.
Calculate your consumption of protein daily. You need to consume about one gram of protein for every pound of body weight each day. Consuming the right amount of protein will increase the muscle growth you get from the weight training that you are doing. Varying the consumption by a little here and there is not going to make much of a difference, but you should strive for the same amount daily.
For good muscle growth, you must eat properly both before and after a workout. Without the proper fuel, you will slow down the progress you want to make. Some good foods to eat for those pre and post-workout meals can be oatmeal, low-fat yogurt, egg whites and whole grain wheat toast.
You need to always use both feet when working out. Even though it has become trendy to do weight training exercises with only one foot, you should not do this if you do not have to. Not having both feet on the ground forces your body to balance itself, which distracts from the muscle that you are trying to focus on.
Consuming a sufficient amount of protein is a key factor in building muscle. In general, for every pound that you weigh, you should aim to consume about one gram of protein. For example, if you weigh 140 pounds, you should try to have 140 grams of protein in your diet. Meat, dairy and fish are excellent sources of protein.
Fill up on carbohydrates after a workout. It has been proven that if you do this, on the days that you are not going to work out, you will be rebuilding your muscles faster. Eating carbs after a workout increases insulin levels, which slows down the rate that your body breaks down protein.
A great tip for growing muscle that is often overlooked is getting an adequate amount of sleep. Your body heals itself and changes while sleeping. Therefore, if you don’t get enough of it, you aren’t allowing your body the chance to do these things. If you are working out hard, aim for at least eight hours of sleep, if not more.
Remember to go to the gym with a friend when you are working on building up your muscles. If you try to do so alone, it is possible that you put yourself into a difficult situation, especially when using free weights. This can lead to serious injuries or lesions.
If you choose to take any supplements to aide in your muscle building routine, do so cautiously. Many supplements are a complete waste of money, and some can even be harmful to your health. Discuss any of your supplement plans with your physician or a licensed dietician to make sure that you are not harming your body.
Again, muscle building requires you to understand what to do before you start working out. Some methods are ineffective or downright dangerous. Now that you’ve read this article, you should have some ideas about how to effectively build your muscles. Put them into practice and see what happens. Soon you should begin seeing the results you want.
