Building lean muscle is a balance between eating well and doing the right exercises at the gym. Follow these tips to gain strong, lean muscles.
There are about 600 muscles in your body. You don’t have conscious control over some muscles, like the cardiac and smooth muscles. The muscles that get the most attention are the skeletal muscles.
You use these muscles when sucking in your stomach, lifting heavy boxes, or even standing up. Working out to strengthen them and build lean muscle helps you reduce fat and become stronger. Keep these tips in mind and build your lean muscle.
1. Work Out More Often
Heading to the gym once or twice weekly is good enough to maintain your current muscle size and shape. But if you want to build muscle mass, you must go more often. Studies show that more reps with lighter weights are just as effective as fewer reps with heavier weights.
This means you don’t have to spend hours in the actual gym to do your workout. You could go to a gym some days or work out at home or in a park on another day.
2. Watch What You Eat
Your body needs building blocks to repair and build muscles. This means you must have the proper diet, or all the working out in the world won’t get you to where you want to be. Creating a healthy diet and homecooked meals doesn’t need to be complicated or time-consuming.
Try planning your weekly meals on Sunday and then go grocery shopping for the week. Then you can prepare quick 30-minute meals on your busy days and longer more elaborate meals when you have more free time. That way, you’re never tempted to grab fast food.
3. Target Multiple Muscles
Exercises that engage multiple muscles and muscle groups give you more bang for your buck when building lean muscles. Look for workout routines that use compound exercises. Examples of these types of exercises include mountain climbers, burpees, and side-plank rotations.
4. Change Things Up
Your body is an efficient machine when it needs to be. Do the same workout daily and week after week, and your body will learn it. Now your workout routine becomes less effective over time.
Keep your body and your muscles guessing by periodically changing your workout routine. This also ensures that you work out all of your muscles evenly.
5. Use Isotonic and Isometric Exercises
An isotonic exercise requires muscle contraction. Examples of these exercises include pushups, pullups, squats, and deadlifts. As you can see, these exercises require movement either on their own or accompanied by a weight.
Isometric exercises are those that require you to hold your body in a single position. You engage the muscle, but it does not move during the exercise. Planks, wall sits, or overhead holds are all examples of isometric exercises.
Build Lean Muscle Today
Now that you know how to build muscle, it’s time to put your newly acquired knowledge into practice. Commit to working out more, planning a healthy meal plan, and creating a workout routine with plenty of variety. Before you know it, you will have more lean muscle.
Check out the podcast and start building your lean muscle today.
