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Muscle Growth
Whether you're looking to "tone up" or "get yoked," muscle growth and development is key to both physical appearance and long-term health.
For some people, it means getting huge and looking like a body builder. But for the average person, muscle growth and development means getting leaner and getting tighter-looking muscles.
Bodybuilders are on the very extreme end of the muscle development spectrum. They are training in ways that an average gym-goer wouldn't dream of doing. They're eating in a mind-bogglingly disciplined way, and often supplementing with substances you have no business using. So we need to get away from the idea of muscle growth being reserved for competitive athletes and meatheads. We can all gain a lot from it.
If you are a biological female reading this, just know that your genetic makeup and hormonal profile make it difficult to get bulky. Muscle growth is much more likely to reveal itself as a leaner and tighter-looking physique than bulging biceps. For guys, it can go either way depending on nutrition, genetics, and more specific training techniques.
Why is it important?
Muscle is metabolically active and affects how the body handles nutrients. "Metabolically active" means it burns calories, even when we're resting. The more muscle mass a person has, the less likely junk food will be stored as fat because they will have better insulin control.
As we age, our bodies tend to lose muscle mass. This means our metabolism slows down, we're weaker doing everyday activities (opening jars, going up and down stairs), and we're more likely to fall and injure ourselves. As our bodies age, strength becomes a good predictor of longevity. Stronger people tend to live longer.
Therefore, strength training is necessary for aging adults not only to build muscle, but just to MAINTAIN it.
Why FAT loss and WEIGHT loss are different
For many, fat loss is a major health goal. But the route most people take - exercise more and eat less - can sometimes make things worse.
By decreasing calories, people naturally tend to decrease protein intake. And when increasing exercise, people tend to focus on cardio like running, elliptical, and biking. Not that any of this is bad by itself, but people assume weight loss is analogous to fat loss. These two things can be quite different.
Let's say someone loses 10 pounds by running and decreasing calories. Nice work. But there's a good chance this person actually only lost 4 or 5 pounds of fat. The rest is coming from muscle. They hit their goal on the scale, but they don't feel strong and may find it difficult to maintain this weight.
By losing 5-6 pounds of muscle, their metabolism is slower - they burn fewer calories throughout the day. This means if they want to lose more weight, they need to decrease calories even further and increase cardio even more. And just to maintain weight, they need to eat significantly less than they did before.
It's not uncommon for this person to eventually start eating a little more like they did before they went on this diet. Their weight will gradually creep back up to where it started. And, by focusing on cardio, this weight could be 8 pounds of fat and only 2 pounds of muscle. So now they're back to where they started on the scale, and their metabolism is even slower. So they'll likely GAIN weight beyond their starting point. One step forward, two steps backward. Definitely not very motivating.
After some acceptance and discouragement, they try their diet and exercise plan again. And the cycle continues. Each time, they're losing more muscle and dropping their metabolism lower and lower.
You can see how this cycle can continue throughout one's life. It's exactly why people often experience the "yo-yo" effect when it comes to their weight. They don't account for muscle mass.
The smart way to lose fat
If the most common mistakes in fat loss involve too much cardio and too little protein, there seems to be a straight-forward solution...don't do too much cardio and eat more protein.
So what should you do in place of cardio?
Strength Training.
Cardio is not bad for fat loss, but too much of it can limit your progress. Strength training is your best weapon to maintain, and even increase, muscle mass while losing fat.
With strength training comes an increased demand for protein. Some people do a great job of lifting weights but don't provide their bodies the proper building blocks to take advantage of the training. They don't see the results they want. So it's important to consume protein-rich foods like fish, chicken, beef, turkey, pork, legumes, tofu, nuts, seeds and other plant sources.
As far as the mental game goes, your focus should shift away from the scale, and instead focus on how your pants are fitting. How do you feel? Are you getting stronger? Is your energy okay? Can you see any muscle definition in your arms, your shoulders, your back? These would all be good signs that your body composition is improving. And none of them involve looking at that scale.
Best ways to stimulate muscle growth
Muscle responds to the demands we place on it. So if we sit on the couch watching Jerry Springer, our muscles will adapt (and disappear). If we consistently strength train, our muscles will grow bigger and stronger.
To build and maintain muscle mass, we must break down the tissue through training. When our muscles are broken down, our bodies repair and rebuild them to be stronger so they can handle the punishment we place on them the next workout.
Muscle also responds to protein. Our bodies are constantly breaking it down. We need to be consuming an adequate amount of protein for our bodies to build back up, especially if we're training consistently.
Sleep is also very important for muscle growth. If we're training hard every day, we continue to break down muscle, and we need a chance to rebuild. We won't get all the benefits from our training if we're not spending time and energy on the recovery process.
Conclusion
Whether your goal is competitive sports or fat loss, muscle will be important to get you there. Muscle growth and development will benefit virtually every person.
To build it, we need to focus on a few key things...
Use moderate-heavy weights when you strength train.
Perform compound (multi-joint) movements like squats, deadlifts, chest press, lunges, pushups, pullups, and rows.
Consume adequate protein (will be different for each individual but will likely in a range of 0.5-1 gram per pound of body weight).
Recover properly: sleep, de-stress with breathing and yoga, stay hydrated, eat good food.
Don’t go TOO overboard on your cardio training.
Let us know how we can help!
Your bStrong Team