How to Build Muscles & Turn Heads
Some of us are born with naturally athletic, muscular bodies while others of us would like to build more muscle. Incorporate a healthy diet and weight training into your lifestyle to start building muscle and turning heads.
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Things You'll Need
- Weight-training equipment, such as dumbbells, barbells, medicine ball, machines
Instructions
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Start weight training three to five days a week. Be sure to perform four to eight exercises per muscle group. You should strive for being able to complete six to eight repetitions with good form. You should be struggling on the last three repetitions. If you can perform more than eight repetitions for the exercise, your weights are not heavy enough. You will not improve your strength and muscle mass when your weights are too light; instead, you will be improving your endurance without building any extra muscle.
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Perform progressive overload weight training to continually build muscles. According to ShapeFit.com, progressive overload weight training involves making the muscles work harder than they have been. Use heavier weights and more sets of each exercise to build more muscle with the progressive overload principle.
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Do not allow your body to adapt to your weight training program. To constantly challenge your muscles, you must use various exercises for each muscle group and introduce new activities as well. If you always perform bicep curls and hammer curls, your muscles will learn to complete this task with ease. If you switch the series of exercises you use every three to six weeks, your muscles will have to work to meet this challenge.
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Allow your body time to recover. The down time between workouts allows your muscle to recover and rebuild itself. Sleep is almost just as important, according to StrongLifts.com, because growth hormones that build muscle are released when you are sleeping.
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Eat a diet that supports gaining muscle mass. StrongLifts.com recommends eating whole foods that support create a low-fat diet and help build muscle tissue. Whole foods will provide your body with protein, carbohydrates and nutrients. Examples of these items are lean meat, fish, eggs, milk, whole grain rice, whole grain breads, vegetables, fruits and nuts. Make sure you eat 1g of protein per pound of body weight to continually grow muscle mass; eating too few grams of protein can cause muscle loss.
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Tips & Warnings
Perform cardiovascular exercise three to five days a week; shedding excess body fat will help show your muscles. Stay hydrated by drinking 50 to 80 oz. of water a day.
Talk with your doctor before beginning any new fitness program. Never use a weight that causes you to be physically in pain; this will cause serious injury.
