The Forgotten Muscle Building Secret

You want to see the results of your hard work in the gym. For months you have been putting in the time, eaten right, or even hired a coach. So why isn't your physicality where you want it to be? With all of the new and improved workout plans, formulas, and supplements it's easy to get frustrated quickly. There are far too many people using their time researching the best protein powder than spending it in the gym, Many people become plan jumpers- switching from one workout program to the next and so on each week after becoming impatient with seeing no change in their body. Others become so overwhelmed that they decide to give up and throw in the towel. For those of you who need an intervention this is for you.

The secret is commitment. For there to be any critical change you need to build yourself a definite and solid plan, whether following a trainer's program or working with a coach to make your own, the only way to get results is to stay persistent.

It's simple to find a plan that works for you when you are able to stick with one and wait for its results and when you find out it isn't for you that's when you move on. The only way to know if a plan works for you is to work with it. Commit yourself to a solid program or plan for 6 months or so and if then there is no definite change that is when you are allowed to switch things up.

Building Muscle Isn't Rocket Science

The single problem that many fitness coaches and trainers across the world all share is their ignorance of how muscles really work and what leads to muscle growth.

Your body is made out of 650 skeletal muscles, motor neurons in the brain send signals to those muscles and tell them when to contract, which results in movement. When this contraction is repeated consistently those muscles become stronger, resulting in an increase of muscle mass. Muscles must undergo damage or strain, what is called muscle injury, in order to become larger and build muscle fibers. When this occurs cell signaling messages are sent throughout the body in order to activate muscle repair. For cells to undergo change they need to quickly adapt in order to remain healthy and functional. One of the ways that they do this is through hypertrophy. This is a process where cells increase in size in order to keep up with changes in their environment such as fluctuation in hormones, inflammation, and muscle damage due to an increased workload. When aiming to achieve more muscle mass and strength this workload should be made up of solid compound movements such as squats, dead lifts, bench press etc. These exercise engage several muscles at once which generally burns more calories than isolation exercise.

In order to cause this muscle hypertrophy we need to increase our intakes of water, glycogen or protein in a muscle cells to compensate the lost calories. Glycogen, a polysaccharide stored in your muscles and liver works to fuel the body during your workout. Without it the body would substantially fail to do work, low levels of glycogen makes it very difficult to perform and build muscle and strength. The best way to avoid this is to make sure you have a high carb intake, depending on the person about 1-3 grams of carbs per pound of body weight will suffice.

Lift Heavy Over time- with lower reps

Time under tension is very important when looking at increasing muscle strength, this is referred to as increasing tension levels in the muscle fibers by increasing the weights over time. This is how long the muscle is under tension during a set. When the weights are heavier there is much more muscle damage which is a factor in gaining muscle mass. Body builder, Brad Schoenfeld says, "Do 12 reps of biceps curls, taking about 1 second to lift the weight and 2 seconds to lower it, and your TUT for that set is 36 seconds.

Nutritional Truths

1. Protein is important

The body breaks down protein molecules in the food you eat, and uses the amino acids from it to build its own proteins. When you are exercising the body needs even more amino acids than it would normally in order to repair damaged muscle fibers from hypertrophy. If the body has a protein deficient it will not be able to properly heal those muscles and muscle growth will come to a halt. When carbohydrates are paired with proteins for any meal the muscle growth or what is called the anabolic muscle building process is able to function properly. The carbohydrates work as energy for the body and the brain when converted from complex carbs to simple carbs in the form of glucose. While protein such as meat, fish and milk builds the muscles. When eaten together around your workouts the body is able to function and repair itself properly building muscle and allowing your body to burn more calories when at rest, this will consequently speed up your metabolism as well.

2. Calorie Intake

Muscle Growth is Affected by the Amounts of Food You Intake

The only way to increase growth is to have a surplus of calories in your diet. Calories are the amount of energy it would take to raise 1 kg of water to 1 degree Celsius. The amount of calories you burn each day is your total daily energy expenditure. How much energy you burn each day is going to directly affect how many calories you should be eating, in order to be in taking slightly more calories than what is enough. Because we are also engaging in compound movements which burns more calories than many other isolated exercises it is important to be getting enough protein as well as carbs.

3. Grossly Overeating is going to for sure result in an increased mass, but mass of what? Muscle including fat. A very large calorie surplus will result in fat gain, which will make it harder to keep off fat in the future. Keep this in mind while planning your meals, try to stick to lean meats, unprocessed carbs, vegetables and and small servings of grains.

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