Building Muscle Versus Wasting Time at the Gym: Which DO You Need

There’s more to building muscle than just lifting weights.  

Who wouldn’t like a toned body? The popular way to achieve that is by hitting the gym. If you are planning to do so or have already started doing it, it is important to dwell on the information presented below so that you don’t do it wrong. 

Weight training is not the only ingredient of muscle building. Normally, when people look at fit guys, they only see the end results. They overlook the long process of picking out a nutrient-rich diet and working out systematically. You could be easily disappointed in body training if you don’t see the results you expected to see in the short run. Therefore, this article will identify and explain the factors that are at the core of getting stronger and fitter as well as the amount of time it takes to see some results. But first, let’s see what is muscle building and how a muscle grows. 

How muscle growth happens

What is muscle building anyway? The short answer is this. It is the breaking of muscle fibers and repairing them. But this is not an adequate answer. You need to understand this complex process to learn how to build muscle. Here is what actually happens in your body. 

1. A muscle is a combination of fibers. 
2. These fibers endure slight injuries during weights training. 
3. During rest time at home, your body gets the chance to repair the damaged fibers and join them together, which makes the muscles grow bigger and stronger. 

It’s worth mentioning that the process described above is not the only aspect of muscle building. Other systems are also involved in the repair and growth of the muscle, such as the blood system, the nervous system, and the hormones system. 

How long does it take to build muscle?

Muscle building does not follow an exact timeline. Let’s hypothesize that you and your dear friend start training at the same time. You go to the same gym together and you get off together after your workout is over, but you don’t grow the same muscle mass. That’s because there are a number of factors that affect your ability to build muscle mass. You need to be aware of the following: 

A) The amount of protein taken into your body: Nutrients are essential for physical and psychological health. Our body needs macronutrients in large amounts. These include seven classes: 

Carbohydrates, fats, fiber, minerals, protein, vitamins, and water. These are all important to muscle building, but protein plays the most important role in the repair process of the muscle after it endures stress during the workout. Without a consistent adequate protein intake, muscle growth will hit a plateau.  

B) The number of calories taken into your body: Protein is crucial in bodybuilding, but you cannot rely on it alone. The muscle needs other nutrients to build big strong fibers. If you don’t get enough calories from other nutrients, you won’t be able to build muscle. You should look for Superfoods, which are rich in healthy fats and carbohydrates. This is one of the reasons why people are surprised when they don’t see amazing results. If you’re not ready to handle the new lifestyle of training and extra healthy foods, you won’t grow muscles. 

C) Your training program: Frequency and volume are two important concepts in a training routine. The first refers to how often you exercise a muscle, and the latter refers to how much stress you put on that muscle. For instance, if you do 3 sets of 12 reps on biceps using dumbbells of 5 Kilograms (11 pounds), your total volume is 60 kg (132 lbs.). You should choose your weight based on your strength level. Increase the weight as you get stronger.

D) The amount of sleep you get: Equally important, your muscles need enough rest to recover. Sleep is the best time for that to happen. If you are not sleeping well, your muscles will not completely recover, and they might experience overstress in the upcoming workouts. Thus, you will not improve muscle growth. 

E) Your training level: It is more likely to grow a decent muscle mass in the beginning years of training. The more advanced you are, the more challenging it is to add more muscle mass. This is a reality. Everyone has a genetic threshold for muscle growth. Once you get close to it, less muscle growth will happen. 

F) Your age factor: Age is an important factor in muscle building. The older you get, the harder it will become to build muscle. Therefore, it is recommended that one stay active and adopt training as a lifestyle. 

All in all, muscle growth is very possible with proper training, a good diet, and enough sleep. Total beginners need around two months to start seeing results, advanced trainers may take a little bit longer up to eight weeks. With that being said, patience and discipline are needed especially for beginners, who have their firsthand experience with this new lifestyle. 

Can you build muscle doing cardio?

Cardio improves the general fitness of your body. Still, you will be disappointed if you rely on cardio alone to build muscle. It gets harder to build muscle from traditional cardio, such as walking and jogging, especially if you have been doing that for a long time. The reason for that is that cardio doesn’t put enough stress on the muscle to challenge it to grow. However, if you do cardio that involves high-intensity training, such as hiking, or skiing, you can improve your muscle mass, but not much. 

If you have a long experience with this kind of cardio, you might not see improvement in muscle growth because your body is used to it. Therefore, weight lifting remains the best approach to build a decent muscle and a fit body.