Exercise, along with good nutrition, is the key to staying strong, healthy and energetic. Aerobic exercise helps to build stamina and endurance. Resistance exercise focuses on toning and strengthening specific muscle groups. Talk to your doctor before beginning a muscle-building routine, especially if you haven't exercised in a while.
Building Muscles
The fundamental principle of strength training involves overloading a muscle to increase its size. Challenging your muscles will cause tiny tears in muscle fibers that the body repairs by adding more fiber. People gain muscle mass at different rates, according to their genetic makeup and hormonal balances. Men often realize greater gains in muscle mass due to their levels of testosterone.
Considerations
When choosing the best routine to build your muscles, consider how well the routine encompasses the health of your entire body and the results you wish to achieve. In addition to resistance training, a well-rounded routine for building muscles should also include flexibility training to loosen the muscles and cardio endurance exercises to strengthen the heart and encourage your body to burn fat. Minimizing your body's outer layer of fat will help reveal the definition of your underlying muscles.
Methods
Warm up your muscles with some aerobic conditioning, such as bicycling, jogging or dancing. Follow up with some stretching exercises, such as toe-touches and wide arm circles, to loosen and lengthen your muscles. Begin your muscle-building efforts by starting slowly, using just your body as resistance. Lunges, squats, crunches and push-ups provide resistance without requiring special equipment. As you increase your strength, add some free weights, resistance bands or weight machines to challenge your muscles. Perform a single set of 12 repetitions, using enough weight to make the final repetition difficult to complete. Allow at least one day of rest for each muscle group, focusing on upper body exercises one day and lower body exercises the next.
Benefits
The best muscle-building routines provide a number of benefits. In addition to increasing your strength, you may experience better balance, an increase in energy and an improvement in mood. Focusing on toning and refining individual muscle groups may help reduce your risk of injury, enhance your appearance and bolster your self-confidence.
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