Even if you don't have ambitions of becoming a bodybuilding or weightlifting champion, you may still be interested in toning your muscles and building more muscle mass. Or you might be interested in becoming a bodybuilding champion, after all!
This is especially true if you are a naturally skinny person or if you happen to have some excess fat lying around. You will therefore gain much benefit from the following discussion on how to build muscle in an effective, natural, and safe manner.
All kinds of exercise offer a great deal of benefits for your body. But, it is weight training that works best in helping you accomplish your muscle-building goals. Now, when we talk about weight lifting, we do NOT mean that you have to do what the professional bodybuilders are doing. This is, in fact, the biggest mistake that most individuals commit when they start lifting weights to build muscle. The Pros are genetically blessed and often chemically enhanced. Your body could not hope to derive anything other than injury from trying to emulate Pro style workouts.
As an average individual wanting to eliminate excess fat and define muscles, you will need to take a different approach to weightlifting for muscle mass. Here are some tips to help you ensure that you are able to build muscle safely and effectively.
Lift weights and perform resistance training exercises slowly. Lifting weights quickly involves the use of momentum in performing the lifts. You are therefore only tiring yourself without actually working your muscles if you lift weights in this manner. You should also be careful not to swing the weight that you are lifting because swinging prevents your muscles from working at optimum capacity. Instead, you should perform your lifts in a slow and controlled manner to make sure that the muscle group you are targeting is truly being worked and that you get optimum results from the exercise.
Always keep the proper form throughout the exercises and be sure to execute each movement properly. Working in bad form or executing exercises the wrong way may cause injuries. Cardiovascular exercises are important, but you should refrain from doing them for more than 45 minute session max. Too much Cardio exercises can be counterproductive to your goal of adding bulk muscles.
Getting enough rest is just as important as training properly to build muscle. If you think that you are building muscle mass while working out, then you are wrong. You actually build muscle while your body is resting. This is the time when your body repairs damaged muscle tissues and promotes muscle growth. It is best to lift weights for two consecutive days and then rest for another two days before lifting again.
Aside from exercise and rest, your diet also plays an important role in muscle-building. Load up on protein and complex carbohydrates to optimize your body's muscle-building capacity. Protein provides the necessary building blocks for muscle growth while complex carbohydrates improve your body's absorption of essential nutrients. Most importantly, you should avoid dehydration by drinking plenty of water, especially on your workout days. Water keeps your metabolism working smoothly and helps flush out toxins that may interfere with your body's natural ability to build muscle.