What You Should Know About Building Muscle Mass & Tone

You’ve probably heard that you should be incorporating strength training into your exercise routine. Still, hitting the weights may feel much more intimidating than taking a walk or jog around your neighborhood.

While results may not always be fast, creating a solid strength training routine should show you noticeable muscle gains in a few weeks to several months.

Read on to learn more about how muscles are made, and things you can do to get started.

How do muscles grow?

Skeletal muscle is the most adaptable tissue in your body. When you do extreme exercise, like weightlifting, your muscle fibers undergo trauma, or what’s called muscle injury. When your muscles are injured this way, satellite cells on the outside of the muscle fibers become activated. They attempt to repair the damage by joining together and, as a result, increasing the muscle fiber.

Certain hormones actually help your muscles grow, too. They control the satellite cells and are responsible for things like:

sending the cells to your muscles after exercise
forming new blood capillaries
repairing muscle cells
managing muscle mass

For example, resistance moves help your body release growth hormone from your pituitary gland. How much is released depends on the intensity of the exercise you’ve done. Growth hormone triggers your metabolism and helps turn amino acids into protein to bulk up your muscles.

How to build muscle

Spending your whole day in the gym isn’t necessary to build muscle. Weight training for 20 to 30 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week is enough to see results. You should try to target all your major muscle groups at least twice throughout your weekly workouts.

While you may not see results right away, even a single strength training session can help promote muscle growth. Exercise stimulates what’s called protein synthesis in the 2 to 4 hours after you finish your workout. Your levels may stay elevated for up to a whole day.

How exactly can you tell if your muscles are growing? You may be able to see more muscle definition. If not, you’ll certainly be able to lift heavier weights with more ease over time.

Strength training activities include:

body weight exercises, like pushups, squats, and lunges
resistance band movements
workouts with free weights, or even objects like soup cans
workouts with stationary weight machines, like a leg curl machine

When you lift, you should try to do between 8 and 15 repetitions in a row. That’s one set. Wait a minute in between sets to rest. Then complete another set of the same length. Take approximately 3 seconds to lift or push your weight into place. Then hold that position for a full second and take another slow 3 seconds to lower the weight.

Resistance vs. reps

You should aim to lift weight, also known as resistance, that’s heavy enough to challenge yourself. A good guide is to select a weight that tires your muscles after 12 to 15 repetitions, or reps. When you find that weights feel too easy, try gradually increasing the weight to the next level up.

Even a single set of 12 reps with a heavy enough weight can help build your muscles versus 3 sets at a lighter weight.

Why rest is important

It’s important to give your body plenty of rest as you begin a strength training program. Without taking days off, you may injure yourself and have to take time off from exercise, slowing your progress.

Experts recommend that you don’t do strength training on the same muscle group two days in a row.

Do women build muscle at the same rate as men?

Men and women build muscles differently. That’s because testosterone plays a big role in muscle development. While both sexes have testosterone in their bodies, men have more of this hormone. However, studies have shown that both men and women have similar responses to strength training.

Muscle growth is also affected by:

body size
body composition
hormones

Overall, more noticeable changes in muscle mass tend to happen for people of either sex who have more muscle mass to begin with.

Cardio and muscles

Aerobic exercise, otherwise known as cardio, raises your heart and breathing rates. It strengthens your cardiovascular system.

You may have heard that too much cardio is bad for building muscle. Current research shows that this isn’t necessarily the case.

Aerobic exercise can actually help with muscle growth, muscle function, and your overall exercise capacity. These effects are particularly noted in older and previously sedentary individuals.

The sweet spot with cardio to promote muscle growth has everything to do with the intensity, duration, and frequency. Scientists recommend exercising at an intensity of 70 to 80 percent heart rate reserve (HRR) with sessions that are 30 to 45 minutes in length, 4 to 5 days each week. You can find your HRR by subtracting your resting heart rate from your maximum heart rate.

Bottom line: Working out with both cardio and resistance training exercises will keep your body and heart healthy and strong.

Takeaway

How can you get started? The first step may be heading to your local gym and having a consultation with a personal trainer. Many gyms offer a free session as part of a membership promotion.

A personal trainer can help you master the correct form with free weights, weight machines, and more. Proper form is key for avoiding injury.

For more visit: healthline.com