The Basics of Building Lean Muscle

by Chris Kolb

Lean muscle mass is essential when it comes to getting a healthy, fit body. It makes you look leaner, stronger, and, up to a point, more attractive. It can even help you burn fat and lose weight!

But how do you build this lean muscle tissue everyone is looking for? Simple: Building muscle is the act of using resistance training to stimulate muscle growth.

But is it really that simple? If you exercise, will you start packing on muscle? I hate to be the barer of bad news, but no, it is not that simple. There are three things that come into play when it comes to building muscle: exercise, nutrition, and rest. Each of these three are equally important, and if you slack on any one of them your results will drastically decrease.

Exercise.

Resistance training, or anaerobic exercise, involves using some form of resistance. The most common form is with weights, but you can also use your body weight or elastics for resistance training. Resistance training is essential for you to gain muscle.

For the average weight-trainer, you should only work out each muscle group once a week, or else you will over-train your body and completely stop your progress.

The most effective way to break your workout up is to break it into 3 to 5 different sessions. where you work out 2-3 muscle groups a session. You benefit from this for two reasons: It cuts down your exercise time, and allows you to focus on each individual muscle group; both allow for greater muscle gain.

Here is an example workout for one week:

Day 1: Biceps, Triceps

Day 2: Chest, Back

Day 3: Rest

Day 4: Shoulders, Abs

Day 5: Legs, Butt

Day 6: Rest

Day 7: Rest

Nutrition.

There is one key nutrient your body needs to gain lean muscle: Protein. Protein is used to build and repair damaged muscle, and that is exactly what you do when you train with weights. Without enough protein, your body is not able to completely rebuild muscle - Your body will stop gaining muscle (and start losing it).

Rest.

Although most people over-look this fact, rest is equally as important as exercise and nutrition; and if you want proof just head down to your local gym. You will see a lot of people with very little muscle mass - These are the people who go to the gym day after day and overwork their muscles.

Without rest in your routine, you will head straight into over-training and will never see muscle gain. Your muscles need rest! Each muscle group you work out needs 5 to 7 days of rest to repair and build itself before it will be ready for you to work it out again.

Original Source:http://goarticles.com/article/The-Basics-of-Building-Lean-Muscle/679307

Sleep is essential. How many hours do you sleep per night?