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Why muscle building is vital in any fitness program
Author: Keith Crovatt
Article:
© All rights reserved Keith Crovatt
Building muscle on a regular basis during our lifetime is
absolutely vital to our long term fitness goals. As you get
older, you will lose muscle and strength if you are inactive.
Loss of muscle and strength is called sarcopenia. This term also
refers to the decreased quality of muscle tissue often seen in
older adults. Strength exercises can partly restore muscles and
strength, often very quickly.
In one study, nursing home residents 80 years and older
progressed from using walkers to using canes after doing simple
muscle-building exercises for 10 weeks. Strength exercises, like
weight lifting or push-ups, build your muscles and may make you
more independent by giving you more strength to do things on
your own.
Strength exercises also increase your metabolism, which helps
keep your weight and blood sugar in check. Even very small
changes in muscle size can make a big difference in strength,
especially in people who already have lost a lot of muscle. An
increase in muscle that's not even visible to the eye can be all
it takes to improve your ability to do things like get up from a
chair or climb stairs.
Your muscles are active even when you are sleeping. Their cells
are still doing the routine activities they need to do to stay
alive. This work is called metabolism, and it uses up calories.
That can help keep your weight in check, even when you are
asleep!
How Muscles Work
What makes your muscles look bigger when you flex them - when
you "make a muscle" with your biceps, for example?
Muscle cells contain long strands of protein lying next to each
other. Your brain signals your nerves to stimulate muscles when
you direct them to move. A chemical reaction in your muscles
follows, causing the long strands of protein to slide toward and
over each other, shortening the length of your muscle cells.
When you "make a muscle" and you see your muscle bunch up and
bulge, you are actually watching it shorten as the protein
strands slide over each other.
When you do challenging muscle-building exercises on a regular
basis, the bundles of protein strands inside your muscle cells
grow bigger.
Increasing strength and endurance make it easier to climb stairs
and carry groceries. Improving balance helps prevent falls.
Being more flexible may speed recovery from injuries. If you
make exercise a regular part of your daily routine, it will have
a positive impact on your quality of life as you get older.
A really important thing to remember when doing strength
exercises is that you want to take the weight the full range of
motion. Meaning, if you're working the biceps, you want the arm
to be straight without stressing the joint, and then bring the
arm through a full range. So we want to go through a full range
of motion and not stress the joints in order to work the muscles.
You should exercise a particular muscle by the third day. So
some people like to exercise, say, the upper body for half an
hour one day and the lower body another day. So as an example,
if you were to exercise your biceps on Monday then you should
exercise them again by Thursday.
Powerful tips for muscle building safely:
Do strength exercises for all your major muscle groups at least
twice a week, but not for the same muscle group on any 2 days in
a row.
Gradually increasing the amount of weight you use is the most
important part of strength exercise.
Start with a low amount of weight (or no weight) and increase it
gradually.
When you are ready to progress, first increase the number of
times you do the exercise, then increase the weight at a later
session.
Do exercises 8 to 15 times; rest a minute and repeat it 8 to 15
more times.
Take 3 seconds to lift and 3 seconds to lower weights. Never
jerk weights into position. If you can't lift a weight more than
8 times, it's too heavy; if you can lift it more than 15 times,
it's too light.
Don't hold your breath while straining.
These exercises may make you sore at first, but they should
never cause pain. Stretch after strength exercises.
In summary, you are never too old or out of shape to begin a
simple muscle building fitness program. You owe this to
yourself, your family and to serve as a positive role model for
others. In our sedentary lifestyles that have crept into our
culture, it is vital we take action now.
Get up from this article. Walk around the block. Talk to your
friends about starting a fitness plan. Small steps at first will
result in big payoffs as you get older. Now, what are you
waiting for? You can do it!
About the author:
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($30 value) "Bonehead Bodybuilding Blunders" Click here => http://www.ProvenFitness.com/muscles
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