How to Increase Muscle Growth

Bodybuilders

It is the goal of bodybuilders to increase muscle while reducing fat. They have made a science of it. Anyone who wants to lose weight and increase energy and strength can benefit from what bodybuilders have learned over many decades. There are special ways of feeding and exercising muscles that yield the largest results in the shortest amount of time.

While no two bodies are exactly the same, there is a basic theory to increasing muscle.

Things You'll Need

• Gym access Free weights

Instructions

Basics of Increasing Muscle

1. Eat complex carbohydrates one hour before a workout. The body needs this energy burst to get through a workout. Examples of good complex carbohydrates for increasing muscle size are oatmeal and bananas.

2. Use supplements before a workout. Specially formulated bars with creatine or a form of caffeine can give your body a short-lived energetic boost to supercharge your energy and enhance your strength for the duration of your workout. Time-released NO2 (nitric oxide) increases muscle oxygenation and is a healthy way to increase strength. These supplements are available at many health food stores.

3. Work out slowly with low reps and heavier weights to increase mass. Not all muscles in the body react the same way to low reps and heavy weights. But, the general rule for increasing most muscles is to use a descending pyramid model, beginning with a comfortable weight and incrementally increasing it. For example, begin with eight repetitions. Rest 10 seconds. Perform six repetitions with incrementally heavier weights. Rest 10 seconds. Perform four repetitions with incrementally heavier weights.

4. Give the body time to recuperate from the workout. Gain mass by splitting a workout on the basis of separate body parts. For example, do a heavy leg workout in the morning. Return in the evening to work out the back. The extra hours in between workouts give the body a chance to regain its energy for another heavy, muscle mass-building workout.

5. One hour after a heavy workout, eat foods that help repair and build muscle. Lean red meat, turkey, egg whites. Avoid dairy and egg yolks.

6. Use supplements after a workout: Specially formulated muscle-building protein shakes with amino acids feed the muscles right after a workout.

Tips & Warnings

• Get sufficient sleep. It is during sleep that the body repairs its tissues, including muscle. Take, at least, one day off from the gym and your diet each week. Have one day where you don't work out and you allow yourself to eat whatever you want. Visualize the increase in muscle mass you want to effect as you are working out.

• If you are under the care of a physician, ask him about starting a weight training program.

References

• The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding: The Bible of Bodybuilding, Fully Updated and Revised; Arnold Schwarzenegger; 1999.