Let's face it: Having lean and tight muscles brings you a notch higher in the "looking good" rating scale. For men, having bulked muscles and ripped abs add to their "hunky" appeal. While women don't like the idea of bulking up, they infinitely feel way sexier when their abs are lean and their arms don't sag. Thin is definitely not in where the word "sexy" is concerned. Being waif-like is equated to sickness, like the image of ramp models collapsing on the runway because they've eaten nothing but a stick of cheese all day.
There is no other way around building muscle except to follow a fitness program composed of diet and exercise. You cannot hope to build muscle by following only a diet or only a weight-training program. Both must be incorporated in one seamless fitness regimen so muscles can be gained. With the foundation of diet and exercise, follow these simple and proven ways to help you build muscle:
1. Make sure that you have sufficient amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats in your daily diet. Compared to those who are not on any muscle building regimen, you need about twice as much of these macronutrients in your diet. In order for your body to sustain the entire strenuous activity, you need to up your intake of carbohydrates from fruit, grain and vegetable sources. You will also need adequate amounts of fat to stimulate production of testosterone so that your muscles will bulk up. Protein is needed to help your muscles recover and bulk up. Your meals should include lead meat, chicken, milk, eggs and fish.
2. When you notice that your diet is lacking in these nutrients, you can always consider supplementation. Fish oil is a good source of essential fatty acids so you can supplement with this if your diet is lacking in dietary fat. There are also protein shakes and drinks containing the amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine that help you build muscle. You can consider taking these, too.
3. Train with compound lifts. This is not always a popular method since it demands proper technique to be able to successfully carry it out. Squats and deadlifts are examples of exercises that work the largest muscle groups of your body that help in muscle building.
4. Lest you believe that in order to build muscle you need to keep on working at it day and night, hold yourself before you waste all your efforts. You need to give your muscles time to rest and recover so that the fibers broken down during your weight lifting regimen can reattach themselves and further form new ones as well. Thus, do your weight lifting sessions on alternate days with each session lasting no more than an hour and only a maximum of three days a week. Alternatively, you can train different sets of muscle groups per day. For example, you can concentrate on your legs one day, your arms on the next, your abs the day after that, your back the following day and your chest the day after to complete your routine. What is important is you give the muscle group you train time to recover. Otherwise, you won't be able to bulk up.
5. Drink plenty of water to aid in recovery and build muscle.
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Happily married father of three, fitness nut, and former professional bodybuilder.