Building healthy muscle mass -
Related: How Many Sets Should You Do Per Week to Maximize Muscle Growth? To get the volume your muscles need, she recommends performing each of your lifts for three to six sets of 10 to 20 reps. When lifting any weight, you will have a concentric agonist muscle contracting and eccentric agonist muscle lengthening phase.
And, according to research published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology , eccentric work is far better at triggering hypertrophy. To increase the amount of eccentric effort in your workout, you can do two things: either slow down the eccentric phase of each exercise you perform or integrate eccentric-only variations into your routine.
Take the squat, for example. To make it eccentric-only, you would lower to the floor, and end the exercise there. Physiologically, muscles are far stronger moving eccentrically than they are concentrically.
If you touch your phone between exercise sets, it better be to set its timer to 30 to 90 seconds. When lifting for hypertrophy, rest periods of 30 to 90 seconds encourage a quick release in muscle-building hormones including testosterone and human growth hormone while also making sure that you really, truly fatigue your muscles, according to Fitzgerald.
Research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology last year suggests that, irrespective of rep and set scheme, fatiguing your muscles is a prerequisite for hypertrophy. Strength training breaks down your muscles, and protein builds them back up. The more difficult your lifting workouts are, the more important muscle-building foods become when weighing protein intake to solidify recovery, Fitzgerald explains.
Related: How Much Protein Do You Really Need to Build Muscle? According to research from the University of Stirling, for optimal muscle growth, weight lifters need to eat 0. For a pound person, that works out to 20 to 24 grams of protein at every meal.
This can be a hard one to get used to, especially for those who are used to counting calories in the hopes of shredding fat. But when it comes to how to gain muscle mass fast that means weight gained, not lost , you need to consume more calories than you burn each day.
Studies such as the BLSA are special because scientists can test these limits in the clinic. For example, to test strength and endurance, study participants may be asked to walk or run on a treadmill, or climb stairs, for as long as they can comfortably continue.
There are also genetic and environmental components to how people respond to physical challenges and exercise. NIA-supported scientist Roger A. Fielding, Ph. He leads multiple studies aimed at better understanding age-related changes in muscle structure and function and how adding resistance training can prevent frailty and improve mobility and independence.
Strength training also known as resistance training is different than aerobic exercises such as running, cycling, or walking. Weightlifting, either with machines or free weights, is one type of resistance training.
Other types include using medicine balls or resistance bands, or body weight-bearing exercises such as pushups, squats, or yoga. Resistance training requires our muscles to contract to lift a heavy object against the pull of gravity. The more weight we contract against, the faster our bodies burn through reserves of adenosine triphosphate ATP , a molecule that carries energy to cells.
As we lift weights or do other demanding exercises, our ATP reserves are replenished through a complex, coordinated metabolic and chemical response that cascades through the entire body, including sparking short-term chemical changes in the DNA of muscle tissue that make them more tuned to specific proteins supporting sugar and fat metabolism.
Fielding and his colleagues have found that the best recipe for improving physical function and avoiding disability is a combination of walking and resistance training. In the NIA-supported research, older adult volunteers participate in small group exercise sessions led by a physical fitness trainer.
Several of these studies were conducted at Tufts, but the program has since expanded to nearby Boston-area gyms and community senior centers. Rather, participants use different types of ankle weights and dumbbells, or adapt exercises as needed to use their own body weight.
When you do resistance or strength training, very important chains of molecules that relay signals between cells are affected, and these changes linger in the body for hours after exercise, building up a cumulative, positive effect. Even a low-intensity strength and walking program has substantial benefits.
The group sessions also encourage bonding and accountability among participants, which helps keep them motivated and sticking with it, according to Fielding and his colleagues.
While strength training is great for otherwise healthy older adults, what about those who are overweight or living with obesity? NIA supported scientist Dennis T.
Villareal, M. Villareal and his colleagues work with older adults with obesity, including volunteers from a nearby Veterans Affairs hospital and others recruited from the surrounding community. Their study participants are still functionally independent but are at risk of losing that ability.
Villareal has been studying the nexus of muscle and metabolism for nearly 25 years. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers. He helped with an exercise training study in frail adults over age 75 and was impressed with how it was possible for people to get motivated to exercise even at an advanced age.
After losing about 20 pounds in recent years thanks to a lower calorie diet combined with exercise , he himself experienced the benefits of weight loss, including more energy and improved physical fitness. As people lose weight with diet and aerobic exercise, they have an increased risk of losing lean muscle mass and bone density, both of which are important for everyday activities and avoiding falls.
Combining the two types of exercise had additive effects so they were better together than separate. One of the big rewards for Villareal and his team is observing participants who make positive changes and stick with them.
Focusing on fundamentals can help reduce pain, future injuries, and other issues associated with poor form or incorrect technique during exercise.
When looking to train for muscle growth, make sure you've mastered the basics of core movements and can perform each movement correctly and fully before increasing the weight. Establishing these big core competencies will allow you to train harder and more often- which can support more muscle growth in the long run.
In addition, being able to train with a full range of motion ROM engages more muscle tissue and may support better hypertrophy training 23 , Muscle balance and recovery are also important.
You should not be training one side of your body more than the other. There is also growing research looking at the mind-body connection when it comes to weight training.
By learning to focus your intensity throughout each movement, research suggests you can increase muscle activity and support more muscle growth You can establish a better mind-body connection by learning where you should "feel" each movement.
If you are squatting to increase glute size or bench pressing to grow your chest muscles, make sure you can feel these specific muscles working before adding weight.
It's not about how fast you can lift, how many reps you can do, or even how heavy you can lift if you aren't targeting and engaging the muscles you want. Learn how to isolate certain muscle to establish a good mind body connection.
Compound lifts are multi-joint movements that engage more than one large muscle group at a time. Examples of popular compound lifts include squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, and pull-ups.
Compared to isolation exercises, like a dumbbell hammer curl, compound lifts are an efficient way to engage your full body and build more muscle, faster. There is also some evidence suggesting that compound lifting leads to a slightly higher release of muscle building hormones - testosterone, growth hormone, and IGF-1, but this increase in hormones hasn't been shown to positively affect or increase MPS 26 , You can use multi joint movements at any fitness level.
And working on big core competencies will add overall strength and muscle building capabilities. Building strength and building muscle mass are often thought of as the same thing, but actually, they may require different training techniques. Muscle contraction is the result of motor neurons activated by your central nervous system—your brain sends an electrical signal to your muscles to excite muscle fibers and cause them to contract.
And some research suggests that heavier lifting may engage your central nervous system more, resulting in increases in strength and power with training Heavier lifting relies on quick, powerful lifts within a 3 to 5 rep range , with a focus on the external force you can exert on an external weight.
Hypertrophy training, on the other hand, relies more on time under tension to stress the muscle for longer. It is well documented that mechanical tension is a major proponent of muscle growth, so it would make sense the more longer you can create mechanical tension on your muscle AKA the number of reps , the more muscle you will be able to build 29 , Increasing muscle size can often result in increased strength - mainly because you have more muscle fibers to engage in lifting heavier weights.
But for muscle gain purposes, aiming to lift as heavy as possible or using max weight often is likely not be an effective approach to hypertrophy. Because this is based on a percent of effort, the amount of weight can look drastically different from one individual to the next. Beginners may be able to build muscle using just bodyweight, but the more advanced you become, you'll need to adjust the weight accordingly.
The reality is there may not be an exact rep amount to strive for across all styles of lifts and individuals differences will always be at play.
Then play within that range to make it more challenging with pauses, slowed reps, decreased rest, etc". High-intensity training and conditioning with light weight can work against your muscle building efforts.
Since a calorie surplus is ideal for gaining mass, increasing your calorie burn with too much conditioning can make it harder to gain weight. Consider opting out of high-intensity training for a few months and allow yourself to focus solely on gaining muscle first.
Then add conditioning back in later to help burn any body fat gained in the process. When it comes to weight lifting frequency, more is not always better. Training the same muscles every day or even twice a day has not been shown to result in more muscle gains overall, especially in newbies How quickly you can build mass is more dependent on how quickly you can recover - since MPS occurs after training.
In one study, training once a week was adequate in supporting muscle growth But for more seasoned lifters, training more frequently might be more beneficial for growth, since they are able to recover quickly and can stimulate more MPS with more frequent training Overtraining doesn't really exist, but under recovering does.
Recovery is more than just sleep and time off the gym; you should also be massaging your muscle and working out the tissue to keep it healthy. You can train all day every day if you can recover just as much. A good rule of thumb is: the time you put in working should equal your recovery.
Over time you'll want to increase the stimulus by the number of reps, amount of weight, or a decrease in rest time. The more seasoned of a lifter you become, the more your muscles will adapt to the type of training you are doing. Just as bodyweight won't cut it forever, you'll need to keep challenging your muscles and switching things up to keep seeing progress.
Aim to work a little harder each time you hit the gym and consider switching up your routine entirely every four to six weeks. When it comes to gaining weight, the amount of food you eat is the most important thing to consider.
Eating more calories than you burn will lead to weight gain. But the type of weight you gain—muscle vs. fat—can be heavily influenced by the quality of your calories. With any weight gain , you can expect to add a combination of body fat and lean tissue.
But with a strategic dietary approach, you can increase the amount of potential muscle gain and limit excess body fat where possible. Gaining fat only requires calories, but gaining muscle requires more. To promote muscle growth you'll need:.
Step one before heading into any goal around changing your body composition should involve assessing your starting body fat percentage. This metric can also influence how successful you may be in gaining more muscle over fat.
If you are lean from the start, you may be more likely to put on muscle than those who are less lean. Also, if you have excess body fat, to begin with, it might be worth starting with a cut to lose some body fat before thinking about going on any bulking diet.
For newbies, a higher starting body fat percentage might not be as detrimental, since they might be able to lose fat and gain mass at the same time. However, this process would ultimately require a calorie deficit or weight loss diet and not a traditional muscle gain diet.
The scale alone won't help you decipher between fat and muscle, so the best way to assess how much muscle you are gaining is through body composition testing.
This can be through an at-home device like a handheld reader or body fat scale, or through a paid service using skin-fold calipers, BodPod, hydrostatic weighing, or DXA scans. Each method varies slightly in terms of accuracy, but the most important thing to remember is to use the same method of testing initially and when interpreting results.
This will ensure you have the most accurate assessment of any changes in your body over time. DXA scans are thought to be the most accurate measurement of body composition and many companies will provide multi-location testing options.
DXA scans provide detailed imaging for muscle and fat storage throughout your body, showing you exactly how much muscle and fat you have and where. They also assess bone density. You might have heard the common saying that it takes cutting 3, calories from your diet to lose a pound of fat.
Many see this and assume eating the same amount will result in one pound of muscle gain, but calorie control for weight gain is not the same as cutting calories for weight loss.
While it is easy to simplify the calorie equation and assume excess calories automatically turn into weight gain, it's not a clear-cut as you'd think.
When you don't get enough calories from food, your body is able to release stored calories for energy typically in the form of body fat and this process does not require a ton of energy.
Weight gain on the other hand does require energy, and gaining muscle requires more energy than fat. Turning food into muscle requires more metabolic processes than just releasing body fat stores for fuel.
In addition, protein provides less than half as many calories per gram as fat - fat provides nine calories per gram, compared to protein which provides only four calories per gram. It has been documented in numerous research studies that somewhere between 2, to 2, excess calories are needed to produce one pound of lean mass.
However, this amount can vary depending on your fitness level, body composition, and diet. For most adding to calories per day is sufficient in promoting healthy weight gain, but others may require much higher intakes. Learn more about how many calories you need each day to gain weight.
In addition to higher calories and strength training, protein intake is also essential for muscle growth. Protein supplies the essential amino acids needed to create muscle through muscle protein synthesis MPS , and cannot be replaced by any other nutrient for this purpose.
Muscle growth occurs whenever the rate of MPS is greater than the rate of muscle protein breakdown. Muscle protein breakdown occurs during strength training and when protein intake is not high enough to support daily needs. MPS occurs during periods of rest when excess protein is available.
There is a lot of argument and misinformation in the diet and fitness world surrounding how much protein is necessary to support lean mass , but here is what we know so far:. Your protein needs are most closely related to how much lean mass you have and how much you use your muscles.
Protein is not just for building mass; it also helps maintain existing muscle, so the more muscle you have and the more you put wear and tear on them, the more protein you need.
Common bodybuilder advice recommends you eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of total body weight, but the research varies on this topic depending on age, fitness level, and overall body composition goals 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , This suggestion is supported by recent studies indicating at least 0.
Based on the existing research and nutrition practices, you need roughly one gram of protein per pound of lean mass for maintenance. Excess protein is needed to support muscle protein synthesis.
If there isn't enough protein available, muscle growth is severely limited. Thus, additional protein intakes are needed to gain muscle. A narrative review of the research and some smaller studies suggest that higher protein intakes between 1 to 1. Based on cumulative research and expert recommendations, as high as 1 to 1.
Good nutrition can support your muscle-building efforts in a number of ways. By balancing your bulking macros correctly, you can limit the amount of body fat you gain and promote more muscle mass. In addition, many vitamins and minerals play a direct or supportive role in muscle gain.
A dirty bulk typically involves eating a lot of extra calories from high-calorie foods to promote quick weight gain. A clean bulk uses a more moderate increase in calories in addition to healthier food choices.
A dirty bulk can seem more appealing to many because of the less restricted dietary choices and potential ability to gain weight more quickly. However, research suggests that a lean bulk may lead to better body composition, in the end, resulting in less body fat gain A lean bulk also supports more nutritious food choices which can benefit muscle growth in other ways.
Interestingly, lean individuals who are new to weight training may be able to grab the benefits of a dirty bulk without the potential fat gain. See the full comparison of dirty bulk vs. clean bulk diets. The best foods for muscle growth are not drastically different from the foods that make up a generally healthy diet, with the exception of higher calories and protein.
Thus any diet high in lean proteins, healthy fats, whole grains, and nutrient-dense fruits and veggies is a great start. However, some foods may offer unique muscle-building benefits like animal proteins and dairy. Animal sources of protein tend to be more protein-dense than plant-based proteins — providing more protein per calorie.
They also rank higher in terms of bioavailability and digestibility, meaning you absorb this type of protein more efficiently 51 , 52 , Also, all animal proteins are also complete proteins, supplying all the essential amino acids needed at once, and many plant proteins are considered incomplete or lacking in key amino acids.
While there is no research to suggest that plant-based diets are deficient in amino acids overall, consuming more complete proteins and adequate protein in the hours following a strength training workout may have positive muscle building benefits Dairy is also a great match for muscle growth since it is a natural source of the hormone, IGF-1 55 ,
While heapthy of us Electrolyte Balance for Recovery experts at gaining weight Building healthy muscle mass, what about Buildinf and healthy weight gain? I'm talking about Buildinh on some lean muscle mass. At musce, it might sound easy, Biulding promoting Buildiny growth can be tricky for a lot of people. It requires an optimal balance of diet, training, rest, and consideration of a number of individual factors. It's not as simple as eating more food and lifting weights. So regardless of where you are with your muscle-building goals, here is key information, backed by the latest science and experts, to help you get the most gains possible. Reach your full muscle-building potential with this free meal prep toolkit. Muscle Building healthy muscle mass takes time, persistence, Building healthy muscle mass Hydration for hydration needs long-term commitment to the process. Added muscle mass will mxss the definition of Buillding muscles, Building healthy muscle mass your lean body mass, healhy add bulk Anti-aging nutrition size to halthy frame in all the right places. Buildung article breaks down everything you need to know when it comes to building muscle, including how to work out, what to eat, and recovery protocols. Anatomically, skeletal muscles are a series of parallel cylindrical fibers that contract to produce force. This muscle contraction allows all external human movement to occur. Your body is in a constant process of renewing and recycling the amino acidsor protein building blocks, in your muscles. If the net protein synthesis is even, no measurable change in muscle size occurs.
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