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Fitness Tip: Gaining Muscle
Gaining muscle is something that applies to most people who
are training in the gym. An increase in muscle not only helps
you gain strength but also aids in fat loss and toning. Some
people seem to have a fear of weights, so they spend the
majority of their time in the cardio room never venturing into
the marvelously beneficial world of weights. Then there's
another set of people who tirelessly battle in the weights
room struggling to gain muscle. Well hopefully I can enlighten
both of you.
To the first set of people I'd strongly recommend introducing
your body to weight training as this new stimulus is not only
going to help you tone up, but also aid in fat loss. An
effective programme will allow you to gain muscle, which in
turn will speed up your metabolism and allow you to burn more
fat at rest. The increased muscle will also give you a tighter
more toned look. Weight training is also a very important
factor in the quest to maintain bone density and will also add
variety to your routine.
To the second group of people here are a few things you might
like to consider. Firstly the quality of your workout routine
is more important than the quantity. Recovery and sleep are
important, but are two aspects that are often ignored.
Nutrition often gets a lot of thought, but quick fixes (i.e.
supplements) and haphazard eating patterns rarely do the job.
And one factor that you can't do anything about, but is more
influential than any of the above factors is genetics.
If you have the time available you should target each muscle
group twice a week. For mass building you'd look at doing 3-5
sets of 8-12 reps for each exercise, for toning you'd look at
doing 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps.
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