Monday, July 4, 2011

How to Build Lean Muscle - A 3 Step Approach to Building Muscle

Building muscle is not about going to the gym and pumping iron. How to build lean muscle requires a 3 pronged approach, with actually building muscle through weight training as only one part. In this article, we will cover the three legged stool to building muscle, plus methods to build muscle without weights, which is an excellent way of build lean muscle without ever having to getting a health club membership.
The three step approach on how to build lean muscle involves diet, aerobic training, and strength training. One without the other two will not build lean muscle that is our goal. Let us look at all three in more detail.
1. Diet. First, eating smaller meals more often is a better approach to building muscle than eating two or three large meals a day. Eating more frequently keeps the digestive system humming along at a steady pace, rather than having it shut down when you are hungry, then get bombarded with a huge meal. If you eat before you hit starvation mode, you will be more likely to eat something nutritious (if you have planned for the snack) rather than grab the first junk food you find in order to relieve the hunger pangs. Just remember to eat smaller portions so your overall caloric intake does not increase. What you eat, and don't eat, will also be a vital part in how to build lean muscle mass. Each mini meal should contain sufficient protein, which are about 15 grams for a female and 20 grams for a male. Yes, that is quite a lot, which means that you won't have much room for excessive amounts of carbohydrates and sugars. Avoiding refined and processed carbohydrates and drinking as much water as you possibly can is the diet that will lead to building muscle.
2. Aerobic exercise. We cover many varieties of cardio exercises on our website, but pick one and stick with it for six days a week. A good one would be brisk walking (minimum four miles per hour) for two miles per day. It may seem like a lot, but should be accomplished in about a half hour if done at the right pace. Yes, it's true that muscles are broken down during aerobic exercise, but part of process of how to build lean muscle is breaking down that muscle and rebuilding it stronger. Massive amounts of cardio exercises, such as what marathon runner's experience, can decrease building muscle, but we are not talking about that amount of cardio exercise. But again, it must be supported by proper diet. Also, it promotes blood flow and oxygen transport to the muscles.
3. Strength training. This is what everyone thinks of when they bring up how to build lean muscle. One of the keys to this is not to concentrate too much on your favorite areas to building muscle. Work all of the areas of the body, and allow sufficient recovery time (24 to 48 hours), and combine them with stretching exercises.
As mentioned above, there are many excellent ways to build muscle without weights that can be performed without any outside equipment. Pushups, pull-ups, situps, and squats are just a few exercises that can be accomplished anywhere, anytime. Granted, free weights and weight machines can be regulated better for your workout, but build lean muscle through weight training does not require a health club membership. Our website or the internet will provide many interesting methods of training for building muscle.
Our goal is to inform those people who are trying to lose weight on comprehensive, realistic programs for weight loss. We are definitely not into quick-fixes, but programs that involve proper diet, cardio work, and muscle tone. Rich Carroll is a writer and health advocate now living in London.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6302917

How to Build Arm Muscle That Gets Noticed

Why is it so difficult to learn how to build arm muscles? You would think that your arms, being exercised normally throughout the day, would be the least likely areas to store excess body fat, yet fat seems to hide there nonetheless. This characteristic of the human body makes it more difficult to build up arm muscles. Building muscles requires time and persistence.
As with any muscle building effort, a proper balance of exercise and diet is the key to success. Eating a proper diet is crucial. Good nutrition requires that you eat a balanced diet that includes both whole grains and lean protein from fish and chicken. It also requires that you drink lots of water. You cannot build up arm muscle, or any muscle for that matter, without being adequately hydrated.
Some people, once they set their mind to something, want to get it done right away. While this attitude is a good one in terms of enthusiasm and urgency, it is not the best method for building muscles. Building arm muscle takes time. If you attempt to do too much at one workout, you can tire your arm to the point where it could cause injury. That's not really what you want, so take your time and do it correctly.
Your arms have three major muscle group areas: forearms, biceps, and triceps. Each muscle group requires special exercises. Those exercises that are known historically to be the most effective are described below.
Triceps
Your triceps are located under the back half of each arm. It's a large arm muscle, taking up almost one-half of your arm's entire size. It's formidable size makes it easy to see how important it is to build up this muscle. An excellent exercise for building up muscles is the Tricep Dip. Other beneficial exercises include lying barbell extensions, close-grip bench presses, triceps dumbbell extensions, triceps push down, and triceps dumbbells.
Biceps
Sometimes referred to as the arm's "vanity muscle" because it is a noticeable attention getter when it is enlarged, the bicep is the muscle that every man wants to develop straightaway. Great exercises for accomplishing this goal are: dumbbell concentration curls, preacher curls, incline dumbbell curls, dumbbell hammer curls, and standing dumbbell curls.
Forearm
The forearms will automatically benefit from all of your other exercises for the biceps and triceps. Despite this automatic benefit of non-directed exercise, there are exercises that can be performed to treat the forearms specifically such as dumbbell reverse wrist curls, barbell reverse wrists curls, dumbbell wrist curls, barbell wrist curls, and reverse curls.
In general, pushups and push downs are beneficial to all arm muscles. They are especially good exercises for building arm muscle because they can be done almost anywhere with no equipment, not that you cannot also perform them in a gym. You can't say now that you don't know how to build arm muscle. By performing these exercises, and the ones described above, you can build up your muscles to increase both your strength and attractiveness.
If you want to find more information about building arm muscle, Please click the muscle building programs named muscle gaining secrets. It is a proven program of step-by-step guide to help you gain more muscle mass. Read the muscle gaining secrets review for more...


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4431407

How to Build Leg Muscles - Proven Exercises For Mass and Strength

The legs are a very often overlooked body part for a lot of weight lifters. The reason is that they are not glamorous like the upper body. If people actually understood the importance of working your legs then they would immediately. You see there are muscle building hormones in your legs and the only way to unlock them are to work them out. This affects all the other muscles in your body. So in essence if you work the legs you will be working all the rest of your muscles. So we will go over how to build leg muscles using certain exercises proven to gain size and strength.
The following list is the best exercises to do when learning how to build leg muscles. We will explain why here in the list.
Squats- This is by far the best exercise for working out your legs. If you only had to do one leg exercise it would be this one. The reason is that you can do large amounts of weight and it works out your quadriceps, buttocks, and hamstrings.
Leg Press- This is where you can do maximum weight because you are in a sled like machine. This also builds your quadriceps.
Leg extensions- This is a more focused exercise that pinpoints the quadriceps.
Leg Curls- This is the opposite of leg extensions and focuses on the hamstrings
Calf Raises- Do not forget about the calves. This exercise is the main one for creating large calves.
Now that you have this list you have all the know how to build leg muscles. You can start adding mass to your legs and unlocking those hormones that will help you to build all the muscles in your body. One word of caution is to make sure that you are using a weight belt when doing squats so you can protect your back. Safety needs to always be a priority when you are exercising.
CLICK HERE [http://www.musclebuildersupplements.info] To Get A Free Trial Of The #1 Muscle Building Supplement (while supplies last)


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3395042

Muscle Building Advice - 3 Tried and True Tactics to Build Lean Muscle Mass

When starting an exercise regimen, everyone envisions themselves gaining significant muscle mass and improving their overall tone and shape. But, building muscle is often harder than we think it will be and you may find that even with regular workouts, the gain is just not what you expected. Some eventually turn to supplements, but quickly find that they too do not boost the muscle mass they promise.
So, what do you do when you pump up the exercise, but are deflated by the results? Here are 3 tried and true tips that you can use to begin building lean muscle mass:
Tip #1
When designing your workout, be certain that the vast majority (at least 95%) of the exercises you choose are large multi-joint compound exercises. Whether you hope to decrease fat, or increase muscle, large multi-joint exercises will work to successfully achieve either.
Exercises that create major movement patterns such as the following are your best choice:
Upper Body 
  • Horizontal presses such as bench, pushups and dips
  • Horizontal rows such as one-armed dumbbell rows, seated cable rows and bent over barbell rows
  • Vertical presses such as overhead dumbbell and barbell, kettlebell clean and presses
  • Vertical pulls such as lateral pull downs, pull-ups and chin-ups
Lower Body 
  • Squatting movements such as front, back, overhead and bodyweight squats
  • Dead lifting movements such as regular, sumo and Romanian
The remaining 5% of your workout should consist of isolation exercises such as bicep curls, calf presses, pec flyers, shoulder shrugs, shoulder lateral raises and tricep presses. Your abdominals and core should also be worked out, but only as an additional option after the multi-joint drills.
Tip #2
To ensure the best results, you should schedule an intense 45-60 minute weight training workout 3-4 times per week. Make sure that you do not exceed the 60 minute limit in order to avoid catabolism. While the goal of any workout is to increase the buildup of muscle (or anabolism) catabolism actually breaks down your results. If your catabolism exceeds anabolism, you will achieve a negative result. While you want to stay anabolic, you still need to push your body hard enough to promote muscle growth.
Design a workout plan that maximizes the intensity of your routine. One option is opposing upper and lower body patterns such as squats and pull-ups or bench presses and deadlifts that serve as supersets to maximize your workout without interfering with one another.
These upper and lower body supersets, done with heavy weights, can be very effective if done at a high intensity. And while these are great options for any successful workout regime, to reach your goal of fat burning or gaining muscle mass you will also need to adjust your caloric intake.Tip #3
Tip #3
Finally, as with all healthy lifestyle changes, making quality choices in your foods can have a significant impact on your success.
Choosing whole food options rather than overly processed foods or even expensive supplements, can make a huge difference in your outcome. Proteins are best processed through the body when they are obtained from whole foods such as eggs, meats, nuts, seeds and raw dairy. Supplement bars and replacement meals offer protein as well, but are not as easily assimilated.
Making healthy nutritional choices will increase your chances of success. Keep your eye on the prize and your workout within these 3 rules in order to see the results you hope for: the meaner, leaner, chiseled physique you've always dreamed of.
Men, if you want to get the best in muscle building advice, click either of these links now and check out these tips to get ripped abs the right way.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3317099

3 Ways to Get Large Muscles

So you are skinny and want to get some large muscles? I bet all you thought you had to do is join a gym, do some stuff with free weights, drink some protein shakes and eat like a pig.
And after you do all these things... you will automatically become big enough to enter a body building contest.
Right?
Wrong!
It isn't that easy, otherwise everyone would look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. But there is hope for you yet... I have 3 EXACT things you can do to get huge muscles fast.
one) Do the squats and dead lifts because these 2 exercises works out about seventy five percent of your muscle mass. That would include your trapezoids, shoulders, arms, back, legs, and butt.
And doing these two exercises will force your body to release more natural growth hormones which will facilitate large muscles.
two) Do the compound workouts only... don't waste your time and energy with the isolation exercises. I would stay with the basic exercises that you have to use groups of muscles to perform. That would be the squats, leg presses, dead lifts, bench presses, pull ups, chin ups, dumbbell rows, military presses and dips.
three) When you rest -- really rest! I'm serious here. When you allow your body enough time to recover and repair itself... you actually make your muscles stronger which reallys in heavier weights in the next workouts. And the more you lift, the more you force your muscles to to respond by getting bigger.
Good luck future hard gainer!
You will discover how a former skinny guy who through trial and error learned how to build muscle mass fast. He trained many younger guys just like himself and he sure will show you how to gain muscle too...
Click here how to => Build Muscles Fast or even learn how to sculpt your body muscles like a fitness model!
Click here to discover the 1 insider secret for men and women to get a flat stomach. Go to => Six Pack Abs and grab the free fat loss report.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1247821

Build Your Muscle Fast - 4 Powerful Tips to Gain Muscle Faster

Guidelines To Build Your Muscle Faster
When learning how to build your muscle fast, you should not let yourself be lead astray by unsubstantiated claims, fad workouts and diets. In order to succeed in developing maximum muscular growth you must learn to merge the basic scientific principles in several key areas, training, nutrition and motivation.
Whether you need to learn the best strategies on how to gain muscle faster, research a new fat burning cardio routine to lose weight, apply proven techniques to build muscle faster then you thought possible, develop six pack abs, lose weight by eating the right foods, find a new workout routine, or grab some useful tips to reignite your fitness motivation, here are 4 powerful useful tips for you to implement.
Eat Right in order to Gain Muscle Fast
Having a quality nutrition plan in place is undoubtedly one of the fastest ways to build your muscle. You need to be taking in the right nutrients, and the right number of calories before you can expect your bodybuilding work to succeed.
The necessary component in your diet that adds muscle is protein. Protein is absolutely essential for the growth of your body. You need to get adequate protein in your diet before you can gain a substantial amount of muscle mass.
Workout: In order to Build Your Muscles Faster, don't do more than 12-15 sets per workout.
A small muscle group like biceps is much more easily over trained. 12-15 sets is just complete overkill for smaller muscles.
Large muscle groups like the back can handle 12 sets. If you think about it, "Back" isn't just one muscle like the bicep. The back is a group of muscles including the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, teres minor and major, trapezius and spinal erectors. Because of the mass of muscles involved, you can do more sets without over training.
Workout:To Gain Muscle Faster, don't train for longer than an hour.
You don't need to spend hours in the gym to build muscle fast. With your weight training, too much lifting will prevent your muscles from recovering and they will not get bigger. Too little and they will not grow either. Again, you have to find that balance that works for you. You can use the "3 hour a week" time limit as a guideline, but learn to "listen" to your body.
Build Muscle Faster by Allowing Sufficient Rest Before And After Your Workouts
Allowing your muscles to have sufficient recovery time is one of the fastest ways to build muscle. This allows your body to focus on protein synthesis, using all of the nutrients and supplements you consume throughout the day to repair the muscle.If you get sufficient rest, you will not only build muscle, but also get progressively stronger. This increase in strength allows you to lift increasingly heavier weights, which also allows you to build muscle fast.
To conclude you can be assured that your muscles won't grow quickly if you train incorrectly, basic scientific training is the first key to muscle growth. Increasing muscle mass quickly requires the use of correct mass building exercises, the ones that allow you to generate enough intensity to cause an adaptive response. To build muscle fast your nutritional intake should meet your body's ever changing requirements.To build a lean body faster you should allow your muscles sufficient recovery time because muscles only grow after the recovery phase.
Gabriel COLOMBANI is a 40-year-old dad and husband who has always been concerned with keeping body as healthy and well-shaped as possible with appropriate dieting and bodybuilding workouts. To say goodbye to your tiny frame and all the frustration that goes with and pack on pounds of real muscle weight, visit http://www.FastMuscleGain.com


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2692327