By Coach Todd
The building of muscle will not happen overnight. Long term dedication and focus is required. The article below will teach you how to approach your muscle-building efforts. Take heed of the expert advice presented here, and apply it to your regimen for results you and others will notice.
Compound exercises are crucial when building muscle. Multiple muscle groups are used in every lift, extending the workout across your body. Bench presses, for example, work your chest, arms and shoulders at the same time.
Make sure that workouts never exceed one hour in length. Beyond 60 minutes, your body starts releasing the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol may block testosterone, which hurts all your efforts that you have been putting in towards achieving more muscle mass. For the best results, only spend 60 minutes or less working out.
You can always cheat a bit as you lift weights. While you are trying to finish some extra reps, you can use only a little bit of your body if it will help you get it done. This will help you to increase how much you are working out. Just be careful that you don't cheat too often. Always make sure your rep speed remains the same. You should never compromise your form.
If your goal is to build muscle, you must increase your protein consumption. Protein is the basic building block for muscle cells. If you're not getting enough protein in your diet, you can lose muscle mass instead of gaining it. You might even require a daily gram of protein for each pound your body weighs.
Make sure that you are consuming the amount of calories that your body needs. There are various online calculators that may help you find your needs for how much muscle you want to gain. Once you have determined your caloric needs, you need to make sure that you increase your levels of carbohydrates and proteins in proportion to get the maximum benefit.
Know your limits, but don't stop doing a particular exercise until you know you have nothing left. For every set, push yourself to the limit and don't stop until you can't do more. If you need to, reduce the lengths of your sets as you get tired.
Perfection is hard to reach, but you are great already! By reading this article, you are making a choice to improve your life for the better. You've begun your journey at this article, so take what you've learned here and use it to reach your goals.
