To gain muscle mass is the dream of every hot blooded male. However, if you are going to achieve all that without relying on steroids or any artificial supplements, then you would really need lots of discipline and commitment to your training and diet. It is vital that you reevaluate your schedule, and set aside time to work out in the gym and make necessary changes to your diet. We will look at some hot tips that would help you to gain muscle mass and to shape up.
1. Sodium Intake
Sodium is an essential mineral you would need to take as it encourages the growth of muscles through increasing our muscle cell fluid volume. Though it is a good water retainer which is not good for us if we want to bulk up, it benefits you by enhancing carbohydrate storage and absorption of amino acids into our bodies. Since it can increase our cellular fluid, our joint leverage is improved and hence we gain more strength, suffer lesser muscle strains, and soft tissue injuries from weight training. On top of that, sodium improves the responsiveness of our muscles to insulin.
2. Fish and Foods with Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Eating fish and foods with omega-3 fatty acids would help us to gain muscle mass indirectly. Go for fish with tons of omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, mackerel, lake trout, sardines, tuna and herring. Flaxseeds, walnuts, oregano, cauliflower, mustard seeds, cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, tofu, spinach, kale, soybeans are all rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids. These foods make our muscles more sensitive to insulin which aids fueling our glycogen storage and entry of amino acid into our muscles. All these is done while preserving our storage of glutamine, a key nutrient for protein metabolism and preventing muscle deterioration.
3. Free Weights Training
If you are serious about wanting to gain muscle mass, keeping the right diet is not enough. You need to work on some resistance training such as using free weights like dumbbells. They would work out your ancillary muscles and build compound mass on them. Dumbbells are exceptionally useful and versatile in muscle building because of the range of motions you can carry out when using them. This also means that you can work on more sets of muscles with the same piece of equipment, and the result is of course more muscle mass gain.
4. Experimenting with Different Exercise Regimes
No one is born with inert understanding of how their bodies respond to different exercises. What works for others may not work for you and vice versa. But if you have been training for a while, you would know what exercises work best for your muscles. Experiment different exercises and techniques with your dumbbells and free weights to see which helps you to gain muscle mass best.
There are a hundred and one ways to train up your muscles to gain muscle mass. But if you are keen and want to learn more, there are plenty of sites including my blog where you can pick up some great advice on muscle mass gain especially if you have tried but failed in other exercise regimes.
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What's this teeny tiny yet commonly seen mistake called ? one word ?Cardio?, but to be more specific ?Excessive Cardiovascular Activity?. Now don't get me wrong ?cardio? has its place and should definitely be in your workout routine whether you're trying to gain muscle mass or not.
Before I tell you why you should limit your cardiovascular activity, let me tell you why you ?need? cardio.
One of the major benefits of Cardio (Cardiovascular activity) is that it helps build a stronger heart, which is extremely important when you're putting your body through strenuous activity like weight training to gain muscle mass for example. Cardio also helps prevent heart disease and several other serious and potentially fatal heart related issues.
Now with that said, here's why you want to stay as far away from ?excessive cardiovascular activity? as possible.
By ?excessive cardiovascular activity?, I'm referring to activities like long distance running, swimming, cycling - basically anything that'll raise your heart rate for long periods of time.
And it's simply because ?cardio? especially ?excessive cardio? like running, cycling and swimming for long periods of time (anywhere from an hour and up) you're going to burn way too many ?valuable? calories. And when you're trying to gain muscle mass, calories are extremely important.
Why? ? Because calories is basically ?fuel? for the body.
Now take a guess at what happens when your body starts to run out of calories to burn (low on fuel) because you burned it all up doing ?excessive cardio?. It starts to break down the protein in your body for energy. And do you know where most of the protein in your body is found ? the same muscles you're trying to gain muscle mass with.
So basically if you're constantly performing ?excessive cardio? and you don't consistently replenish the calories you've just burned, your body will eventually break down the protein found in your muscles (basically eat away at your muscles) as its source of energy. And thereby ?zapping? your hard earned muscle gains into thin air.
So if you're trying to gain muscle mass try to stay away from excessive cardiovascular activity like running, swimming, basically anything that'll push your heart rate up for extended periods of time. But if for some reason you have to (maybe you're on a sports team of some sort for example) make sure you intake the amount of calories you burn and then some. Simply to make sure your body doesn't try to eat away at your muscle mass that you worked hard for as its new source of energy.
So remember when you're trying to gain muscle mass, ?excessive cardiovascular activity? is not your friend.
Both Davion W & Richard Knight are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Davion W has sinced written about articles on various topics from Family Concerns, Surveys and Beauty Tips. Davion is a successful webmaster and author. Find out more about natural and effective that have benef. Davion W's top article generates over 368000 views. to your Favourites.
Richard Knight has sinced written about articles on various topics from Build Muscle, Network Marketing and Build Muscle. This article has been written by Richard Knight, a ?former skinny guy? and weight gain consultant. Richard teaches other ?Average Joes? step by step how to build lean muscle mass in 28 days FLAT with his own weight gain system. Get his FREE tips today. .. Richard Knight's top article generates over 2900 views. to your Favourites.