How to Gain Muscle
Different dietary supplements, pills and drinks may promise you to grow muscles in a fast rate, but don’t be fooled: These aren’t the answer! Gaining muscle is not instant and requires a lot of hard work and dedication, with a bit of dietary help along the way. Here’s how.
Eat
Sounds surprising? Building muscle doesn’t mean burning fat–that only makes you skinnier. To build muscle, you actually have to eat more calories than you burn. The crucial point in this step is to eat the correct kind of food that contains the desired calories without the saturated fat, with moderated carbohydrates and lots of protein, which include:
Granola
Biscuits
Whole-wheat bagels
Avocados
Olives
Corn
Meat
Peanut butter
Nuts
Milk
Cheese
Yogurt
Beans
Crackers and dip
Meal replacement shakes
Lifting Weights
Here comes the hallmark of gaining muscle: Lifting weights. Like any proper exercise, you should not jump into the deep end at the start. Start from the basic exercise of lifting weights. Do a proper warm up and cool down. Remember to keep to a proper form. For starters, your weight lifting exercises should include the following:
muscles
Smith squats
Push ups
Smith lunges
Bent over row
Deadlifts
Upright row
One-legged squat
Tricep dips
Calf raises
Bicep curls
Again, don’t overdo it. A rule of thumb when choosing the appropriate weights for your exercise is to lift the heaviest you can that you can complete for around six to eight repetitions per exercise. Even if the last repetitions is hard, it should be doable. You should also allow a longer recovery time between sets. Other things you should do are:
Have a spotter or workout buddy to make sure you don’t fall into any injuries.
Commit to doing cardio at least two to three times a week for your heart maintenance.
Allow recovery days between your workouts.
Have a full body program with the exercises mentioned earlier and follow it for two to three weeks before progressing onto the heavier stuff.
Forced Repetitions
Forced repetitions are a challenge for you to do two to three more repetitions of your weight lifting than what you are used to. Remember, when doing forced repetitions, your buddy should be there to help finish these added repetitions. Only do this after two weeks to a month of doing the weight exercise, and don’t add any additional weight in this period. Forced repetitions optimize the stress on your muscles, burns more fat and most importantly, builds your muscle even further.