Thursday, November 26th 2009

By anusha ratneswaran

Watching movies like 300, it is hard not to dream of having muscles that glisten in the sun. Though we probably are not using our strength to wage war, it is often helpful to be able to lift heavy objects. Luckily, we have another semester to build our muscles for moving day at the end of April. However, the strength machines at the gym are often intimidating, and it is hard to know where to start when trying to build muscle.

Building muscle is a highly individualized process, and some key determinants are genetics, body composition, and level of training. One consideration that is important to keep in mind is diet. Being university students, nutrition is usually overlooked during a typical day. Although we are constantly looking forward to our next meal, we often find ourselves scurrying and scrounging for the quickest possible snack. Similarly, we tend to overeat at these meals, and take long naps because we are tired from rushing about and our bodies are not properly nourished. Unfortunately, this is the exact opposite of what you need to build muscle. When exercising, you should eat small meals throughout the day so your body has constant fuel and so it will not burn off lean tissue mass.

It is important to keep a well-rounded diet; complex carbohydrates such as whole grains, lean protein such as egg whites and chicken breasts, low fat dairy, and fruits and vegetables are all healthy options. Eating habits are important because they lead to a more permanent change in body composition. After working out, eat or drink something that will help repair, and reconstruct muscle tissue such as chocolate milk, or a whey protein shake. This practice will stimulate protein synthesis and optimize muscle growth. Diet supplements should be taken in conjunction with a proper diet, and not as a substitute for one.

Initial body composition is also important when beginning your muscle-building program. You need to burn off excess body fat for muscle to show through, but requirement actually presents a paradox. If you combine aerobic exercise (cardio) with resistance training, then it could be detrimental for muscle growth due to the increased energy demands and protein requirements of both exercises simultaneously. Some people opt for bulking up first (doing resistance exercise) and then shedding excess fat, while others try the opposite. The method you choose should be one you are comfortable with, and suited to your initial body composition. If you have a high percentage of body fat you may opt for the second, whereas if you have less fat the first might be more efficient.

What actually causes muscle gain? Physiologically, increases in muscle size are regulated by hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone, which promote protein synthesis in response to resistance exercise. This reaction occurs during weight lifting, where microscopic tears are produced in connective tissue and muscle cells and this prompts the body to build new muscle protein.

When starting your exercise program it is important to note that individuals with lower initial strength will show greater relative gains and a faster rate of improvement in the first eight weeks. This trend means that the more untrained the person, the greater their relative initial progress. Since muscle building is very specific to individual characteristics there are a few training principles that are common to all novice lifters, and they involve the frequency, intensity, time and type of training.

In terms of frequency, untrained individuals (with less than a year of resistance training) should be lifting 2 to 3 non-consecutive days per week, whereas advanced lifters can train for 4 to 6 sessions per week. It is important to exercise each muscle group twice a week to optimize strength gains. They should be non-consecutive to allow the muscle time to repair and rebuild, but you can exercise on consecutive days if you are targeting different muscle groups.

The optimal intensity for muscle exercise ranges between 60 to 100 percent of your 1RM, the maximum amount of weight that you can lift once. The recommended amount is 60 to 70 percent for novice lifters, 70 to 85 percent for intermediate, and 80 to 100 percent for advanced lifters.

When deciding how long to exercise for, keep in mind these tips. For long-term strength gains multiple (1 to 3) sets are recommended, with 1 to 12 repetitions for each set. The number of repetitions depends on the intensity of the exercise and the lifter’s ability to sustain the repetitions.

During muscle training, ensure that you work out all the major muscle groups; start with multi-joint exercises that target large muscle groups like the leg press and the bench press. After this initial exercise, move on to activities that involve more specific muscle groups. As mentioned before, it is important for new lifters to avoid working the same muscle group consecutively to prevent muscle fatigue, and to allow for recovery time.

The strength and endurance gains made through exercise will be specific to each muscle group. In order to build up a muscle group, one must choose exercises that involve the concentric (shortening) and eccentric (lengthening) movements of that muscle. It is also important that the muscle group be exercised at a resistance, which is greater than normal for you. The muscle must be overloaded, in order to stimulate muscle development.

After your initial progress when beginning your workout regime, you may plateau. This lull occurs because muscles have adapted to the stimulus, and in order to get past the plateau you must increase the total amount of work done. These additions should be in gradual progression, to avoid injury. First, you can increase the resistance of the exercise, and then the amount of repetitions performed for a specific exercise. Finally, it is important to warm up and cool down to avoid muscular soreness. Warming up can be done through repetitions of low intensity exercise (5 to 10 for each muscle group), and cooling down post exercise can involve static stretching.

Finally, genetics and genders are major predetermining factors; some people build muscle more easily, while it may take longer for others to make the same gains. Be persistent, and find what balance, and routine work best for you.

Tags: diet, endurance, exercise, frequency, intensity, muscle, protein, repetitions, resistance training, strength, workout