The Science Behind Building Muscle Mass

There’s a science behind building muscle. It doesn’t mean you won’t build muscle if you don’t use every advantage. It simply means knowing the science can help boost the process so you see results more quickly. Following the science can also help prevent injury that can set you back for months. You can do exercises to build strength or ones that build muscle mass. The difference between increasing size and increasing strength is the amount of weight and number of reps.

Let your trainer know your goal is building muscle mass, rather than strength.

People who have large, bulging muscles often aren’t as strong as someone whose muscles are smaller. Trainers know the right way to train for bulk. Don’t train for hours expecting to get quicker results and always allow 48 to 72 hours between sessions. Long hours of training with short recovery times don’t allow your muscles to heal the microtears. They need that time to adapt to the stress and increase in size. Refrain from strength training the same muscle groups two days in a row.

Your diet makes a difference.

If you have a poor diet of junk food and empty calories, you won’t have the raw materials to build muscles. A pre-workout and post-workout snack that’s a combination of protein and quality carbs helps. A post-workout snack starts the muscle recovery process to start and the pre-workout snack boosts your energy so you don’t hit the wall mid-workout. Approximately 20% to 35% of your calories for the day should come from lean protein. If you want to lose weight as you build muscles, don’t reduce your calories by much. Your trainer can help with a diet designed specifically for your needs.

Work all muscle groups on various planes.

You have push and pull muscles, so you need exercises focusing on both types of movements. The exercises should work all large muscles, and you should focus on form. That helps you identify weaker large muscles. When larger muscles are weak, smaller muscles take over their task. That causes injuries. It puts too much stress on those muscles that weren’t supposed to do that task. A trainer can assess your overall fitness and identify muscle imbalance.

• Consider a HIIT—high intensity interval training—provides rapid results. You do short bursts of high-intensity repetitions, followed by recovery reps, and then return high-intensity.
• Compound movements can help boost your progress. Compound workouts work several tendons, joints, and muscles at the same time. They burn more calories while building more muscle tissue.
• Don’t cut all fat out of your diet. Healthy fat is necessary to create the hormones to build muscle tissue. Healthy fat is in fatty fish, like tuna or salmon, or avocados and flaxseed.
• Just as diet is vital to building muscles, so is adequate sleep. Your body heals and creates new muscle tissue while you’re asleep. Just like exercise, good sleep requires consistency.

For more information, contact us today at Thrive Fitness Atlanta