Building muscle, and how much time you really need to put in…
Building muscle you’ve got to be persistent and patient but it’s always worth it in the end.
9 times out of 10 those who join Swift Fitness York want to gain muscle and lose weight and lifting weights can achieve BOTH…
What a lot of people don’t realise is it can be painstakingly slow to build muscle and it can feel discouraging especially when you don’t see the results you want at first.
Taking the time out to read this blog will teach you what it takes and the factors to be able to achieve your goals from lifting weights
How does muscle growth happen?
Anyone who’s into there weight training will likely know that our muscles are made up of micro muscle fibres which are cylindrical cells and weight training helps break them down and recovery helps them grow.
To build muscle your body has to repair micro-traumas within your muscle fibers. Here’s a step by step of this extremely complex process:
1. Each muscle is made up of thousands of tiny micro muscle fibers.
2. When you lift weights (or do bodyweight exercises), your muscles endure tiny tears throughout their fibers.
3. When you rest your muscles, your body begins repairing your damaged muscle cells.
4. The repair process involves fusing torn muscle fibers back together, as well as forming new proteins within each muscle cell.
5. Your muscles increase in size and become stronger as a result of the muscle fibre repairing process.
I have simplified what actually happens in your body I’ve done this so it’s a lot easier to take in without going too much into the science side of things. The process includes a lot more than just your muscles, like your nervous system, a circulatory system which also contributes to muscle repair and growth…
How long does it take to build muscle?
Building muscle isn’t easy because if it were everyone would be walking around like Arnold Schwarzenegger
There’s going to be several factors on your ability to build muscle mass including:
Your Protein intake: While essential nutrients play their role, Protein is king when it comes down to building lean muscle mass. Your muscles need enough protein to repair themselves after a strenuous weight training session…
Your Calorie Intake: If you don’t take in enough calories (carbohydrates) don’t expect to build muscle even if you do eat the right amount of protein your body needs fuel to create new muscle tissue a lot of people underestimate the importance of food and calorie intake which our blog explains (70% food 30% training blog)
Your Sleep Schedule: Why do you think babies grow so fast? Because they’re getting good nutrient food, a ton load of milk (protein) and they sleep all day (growth) so all am trying to say is to try and get plenty of rest if you can and a minimum of 8 hours sleep at night…
Your Lifting Routine: If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to your lifting routine here’s a (5 days 4-day weight training blog)
Your Training Age: This is my own personal advice when it comes to age and training I first started weight training at the age of 13 (See Our Memberships ), not the same training as you think, it was more like practising and learning a proper form and technique so when I was at the right age I could start pushing my body which was 16 years of age with my dad I think youngsters of today should concentrate on the fundamentals of weight training like Squats, Bench Press, Wide chins which I did and it’s paying off today and on the other end of the stick if you’re more middle-aged and you creek on a morning I think its more about listening to your body and getting plenty of recovery time between sessions and training smarter and introducing more machine-based exercises
All that said, the muscle-building process starts the very moment you touch the weights and challenge your muscles. Beginners will find they start seeing results in the first 6 weeks of starting any resistance training and advanced lifters depending on the individual will see results in 6 to 8 weeks of switching up there normal strength training program…
Can you build muscle-doing cardio?
Weight training and HIIT training combined can help you to build muscle, this does depend on what you call cardio. Most people won’t build muscle if they’re doing it the old traditional way such as walking for hours on a treadmill or jogging for miles because it doesn’t recruit your muscles in a way that sends muscle-building signals to your body.
However, cardio that involves High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) WILL send muscle-building signals to the body while still getting the benefits of cardiovascular especially if you introduce weights into the session or explosive movements like treadmill sprints, box jumps, or kettle-bell work the beauty of HIIT is you can introduce it into your training where ever you like preferable at the end of your workout where you’ll see more benefits…
Find out why we love HIIT Training here at Swift Fitness
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Many thanks
Marcus
