If you’ve ever been to Body Sculptors in Louisville, KY, you know we have an entire program to build muscles with exercise and a healthy diet. You may read ads about pills that help you bulk up or lose weight, but many of these supplements are either unhealthy, such as steroids, or basically useless for weight loss or building muscles unless you have nutritional deficiencies. The right type of training and diet can help you reach your goal, whether it’s changing fat to muscle or bulking up.
No matter what your goal, building muscles takes an exercise program.
There are no shortcuts to building muscles. However, working out for hours won’t do the trick either. Focusing on the intensity and the quality of the workout and how well it matches your fitness level and goals is what’s important. Your workout, especially if it’s intense, shouldn’t go over an hour. HIIT—high intensity interval training—varies the speed of the workout and circuit training limits the rest between exercises. Both are good for building muscles. You should focus on building strength, which is easy to use as a goal and far easier to measure.
Getting the most out of each workout is important.
Compound exercises, ones that work several muscle groups and joints, give you the most bang for your exercise time. Strength training is at the core of building muscle tissue. You need to vary your workout to ensure you’re building all muscle groups and improving strength on all planes. Bodyweight exercises are the easiest to use at home, since they require no equipment. Kettlebells, resistance bands and/or weights are also good for muscle building and should be part of your program. Rest a day or two between workouts to ensure you give your muscles a chance to heal. Training three times a week is enough. The exercises cause microtears in the muscle and the healing process is what makes them bigger.
The real magic occurs when you include a healthy, muscle building diet.
No matter how hard you workout, you’ll never lose weight without a healthy diet. You may build muscles, but nobody will be able to see them since they’ll be covered by a layer of fat. Eat more frequently if you’re naturally thin and everyone should have a schedule of five to six meals. Eat one to three hours before you workout and within an hour after finishing. Before you workout, it can be something as simple as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a handful of trail mix. If you don’t have an hour before working out, a banana is perfect. Afterward, a small meal with protein and carbs will do, such as a whole grain turkey wrap.
- You can alternate your workout working upper body one day and lower body the next if you want to get more exercise time in without over-exercising.
- Increase the number of reps you do every three to four weeks and vary your workout to avoid plateauing.
- Get adequate sleep at night. Not only do your muscles need that sleep to heal, you’ll also find your workout more productive when you’re well rested.
- Make sure you hydrate frequently, especially if your workout is tough. Before you exercises, drink 16 ounces of water. As you exercise, keep a cup of water on hand and sip every 20 minutes or as you get thirsty. Follow up your exercise with another 16 ounces of water.
For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training