Wednesday, November 25, 2009

By Ricardo d Argence

Weight training and muscle building aren't just great for bodybuilders, they should be important parts of any person's healthy exercise routine. Whether you're working out to get healthy or to improve the definition of your muscles, the tips below will help you reach 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 basic rule for serious bodybuilders is to consume at least a single gram of protein for each 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. If you're worried about that fat content, choose skim milk and low-fat protein sources such as fish and chicken over red meat.

Some exercise and weight lifting buffs almost become addicted to working out. You can see them in the gym almost daily doing their routines. While that dedication may seem impressive, they could be doing their bodies more harm than good. The reason is that medical research is showing that building muscle isn't all about the exercise.

Once you have strained a muscle in such a manner, it is extremely important to rest them as much as possible. Drinking water after exercising, eating healthy meals, and allowing for breaks between exercise sessions are all part of recovery.

Adequate sleep is essential to your weight lifting routine if you want to increase your muscle mass. During the night, many of your bodily processes take place. Your body can redirect energy resources to these other tasks because it's not being used for anything else, that's the reason.

One of those processes is protein synthesis which is necessary for muscle development. If you're only sleeping a few hours every night, you're not giving your body enough time to do the work it needs to complete. Make sure to sleep for at least eight hours every night.

Compound movements, such as lifting weights, are going to build muscle faster than other types of exercises which target isolated muscle groups, such as squats. However, you need to know how to lift properly in order to receive the expedited muscle building benefits.

Basically, what you need to do is choose weights to lift that feel heavy for you. That doesn't necessarily mean you want to get the heaviest on the rack. It just means that you need to feel the muscles working when you lift that weight if you're going to really benefit from your efforts. If you're new to bodybuilding, lifting heavy might mean using a 20 pound weight.

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