This article provides tips on building muscle to become stronger. As you get stronger, it is easier to conduct an active lifestyle. Healthy muscles provide a great foundation whether you hike, kayak, surf, swim, walk, or run.
Disclosure: I am not a licensed medical professional. Reach out to a licensed provider if you have any questions or concerns about your health.
How Do Muscles Grow?
The first question you might be asking is how muscles get bigger and stronger. The science behind muscle growth is called muscular hypertrophy. This means the muscle cells damage and repair themselves during resistance. Your body repairs damaged muscle by binding the cells back together with fibers, creating a larger and stronger muscle mass that can endure more tension.
Benefits of Building Muscle
Strong, healthy muscles have various benefits including joint support, strong bones, balance, and regulated blood levels.
Joint Support
Building muscle creates stronger joints. Muscles absorb shock and act as a protective barrier for your joints. As you build muscle, there is less stress on each joint in the body, resulting in decreased pain levels.
Stronger Bones
Stronger muscles result in stronger bones. As you create tension within your body through building muscle, this tension causes your bones to strengthen and become more dense. Osteoporosis is a medical condition that develops from weak bone structure. Weight bearing exercise that builds muscle decreases likelihood of developing this condition among other diseases.
Blood Regulation
As you build muscle, your blood levels will become more regulated. Muscles use glucose during exercise, which means your body will retain less sugar in your blood to maintain a healthy level. Regular exercise also promotes healthy blood flow overall.
Balance
Stronger muscles result in better balance. Muscles expand and contract throughout daily activity, and strengthening these muscles makes it easier to keep your balance and prevent falling as you age, or during physical activity.
Exercise
Exercise is the most effective way to gain muscle. Regular tension and resistance of muscles strengthens your body. Weight bearing exercise can include lifting weights, or calisthenics which focus on using your body weight.
Weights
Exercising with weights creates resistance and tension of the muscles to create mass. This can be in the form of exercise machines, resistance bands, dumbbells, etc. The best practice when weight lifting is to start easy and work your way up to heavier equipment. It is important to lift an amount that does not injure your body, so you can stay consistent without taking too much time off to recover.
Calisthenics
Calisthenic exercise is a great muscle building method that utilizes your body weight instead of using equipment. This is a great option if you do not have access to a gym or weights. Examples of calisthenic exercise include pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, etc.
Rest
A common misunderstanding of building muscle is rest, and how much you need. Most people are not aware that your muscles need to rest and recover to grow. If you over-exert your muscles without rest days, your body will not have enough time to repair those fibers and create stronger tissue.
Sleep
Did you know that getting enough sleep directly relates to muscle growth? Your body releases growth hormones and amino acids that grow and strengthen your muscles while you sleep. If you are not getting enough sleep, you are not providing your body enough time to get to that stage of rest. 7-9 hours of sleep per night is required for this process to occur.
Stretch
Stretching is a key step in building muscle. This allows your muscles to create room for growth. Used in conjunction with weight bearing exercise, stretching will aid in increasing muscle mass by amplifying hypertrophy of the muscle. This means stretching places tension on the muscle in addition to weight lifting, which results in increased stimulation of your muscle.
Nutrition
The food you put into your body has a direct correlation to muscle growth. It is important to eat enough calories and nutrients to sustain a healthy lifestyle and gain muscle. There are plenty of resources to calculate how much you should eat to reach your goals. Click the link below to read more about nutrition and dietary changes toward your fitness goals.
Protein
Amino acids are known as the building blocks of protein. Proteins are the number one mechanism that repair muscle tissue, so consuming protein after weight bearing exercise provides more fuel to build up your damaged muscle tissue. Basically all you need to know is protein is good for muscle building! There are plenty of forms of protein, and it can be consumed through food or protein powder. Click the link below to read more about forms of protein.
Overall Health
Maintaining your overall health is extremely important to any fitness goal. Being strong mentally contributes to creating a strong body. It is important to treat your mental health with just as much care as your physical health. Sole Peaks provides plenty of content to help you reach your goals and learn more about getting outside. Click the link below to read a recent post about how to stay motivated and productive toward goals.
Did you like this post? Click the links below to follow me on social media!
