How do you build muscle and improve your fitness? Building muscle through a workout program does not just happen by chance. Instead, a workout program breaks down muscle, which forces your body to rebuild the muscle bigger, stronger, faster, and more durable.
Your food and sleep help your body build muscle, but your body would maintain the status quo without your workout program. So, what are the critical factors in a workout program that allow your body to build muscle? Three factors play a crucial role in building muscles.
Turn up the volume to build muscle and improve fitness.
The elephant in the room for building muscle is volume. It does not get any bigger or louder than the volume. The key to volume is progressive overload. The change in volume causes your body to change to keep up with the changes in volume. Lifting heavier each week forces your body to grow. You will build muscle if you can increase the volume and keep your reps between 8 and 10.
You stop building muscle if you cannot maintain 8 to 10 reps as you increase volume. Turning up the volume means you will need to eat right and get a good night’s sleep. You create a sound body in the kitchen and the bedroom, not the gym. You cannot turn up each week’s volume if you do not get enough protein, calories, nutrients, and sleep. Increasing your compound lifts by 5 to 10 pounds each week is ideal for building muscle.
Slow it down to build muscle and improve fitness
The negatives are essential for building muscles because they activate additional muscles. Therefore, increase the time you complete the eccentric portion of each lift. The next time you do squats or bench presses, take your time going down. Pause for a second and then explode back up. Ensure you keep the excellent form on each lift’s concentric, isometric, and eccentric portion and double your results. The eccentric movement uses less energy and oxygen than the concentric motion but creates more force. This helps you build muscle and improves your metabolism, promoting fat burning.
By increasing the time to complete the eccentric portion of the lift, you also increase the time your muscles are under tension. Most people speed through a lift’s eccentric and isometric parts because they want to lift more weight. By doing this, they feel better. But this is a mistake. If you are looking for results, then it’s best to slow it down and develop more prominent and more defined muscles.
Watch the clock to build muscle and improve your fitness.
Your rest times between sets are just as crucial as your lift reps and sets. Invest in a good workout app that tracks your rest time and lets you know when to start your next set. When lifting to build muscle, rest periods of 30 to 90 seconds encourage a quick release of muscle-building hormones (including testosterone and human growth hormone) while ensuring you work your muscles on each set. To track your change and get the most out of each workout, you must treat each lift equally, including your rest time.
In conclusion, complete your workout from start to finish.
A workout that builds muscle has many factors that begin before entering and leaving the gym. But while in the gym, intensity is the key to your success. Make sure you turn up the volume, slow the eccentric moves, and stay on the clock even when resting. Every lift counts from concentric to eccentric motions. Significant results do not happen by chance. You make them happen!
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