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Beginners Tips for Building Muscles and Getting Fit
By Ma Diga | September 3, 2011
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Your body grows muscles as a direct response to being put under stress by strenuous activity, so in order to encourage your muscles to grow you must first start to use them regularly. It is helpful to remember that muscles grow while you are resting, not training, and so adequate resting time between exercise sessions is of vital importance.
The first thing you need to do when you have decided to bulk up and build your muscle is to increase your strength. Strength training and weight training are vital parts of the muscle building process, using either weights or your own body weight.
It is important that before you start weight lifting you get some professional advice, start with just the bar and then add weights as you progress, but have a professional handy to make sure that you are using the correct technique and are not likely to hurt yourself in the process. Using your own weight is a simple way to increase your strength without needing any expensive equipment, push ups, pull ups and dips are all extremely useful exercises.
The heavier weight you can lift, the more you put your muscles under stress and the more they will grow, but, especially if you are a beginner, always have a professional on hand to advice on your technique.
Squats are a very important exercise to help to strengthen your legs, and if you can squat with weights (about 1.5x your own body weight) then you will soon see the difference as you work all of your body at one go.
When you first start building muscle, it is important to have plenty of rest sessions in between work outs, and it is really only necessary to work out about 3 times per week. You can increase the amount of work outs as you get stronger and fitter, but it is vital to have these rest periods for your muscles to recover and to grow. Drink plenty of water, with each meal and sip water during your work out to avoid dehydration.
You will need to increase your food intake and remember to take very regular meals. You need the food for energy for the workouts and also for the muscle growth and recovery. You really should aim towards eating every 3 hours, that’s 6 meals a day to give you the energy to work out and to gain weight, because no matter how much training you do you will never achieve a good physique if you are skinny.
You should aim to eat a good variety of carbohydrates, proteins, vegetables, fruits and also fats every day, and by eating whole foods you will achieve a lower body fat so your muscles will stand out even more.
Building muscle doesn’t happen overnight, but if you follow a rigorous training program which increases as your strength and ability improve, you should be able to see positive signs in a short space of time. What a great way to get fit!
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