Weight training
Weight training, as the word states, training our body using extra weights rather than our own body. It is a smart way of training for muscle mass and muscle endurance which gives quick results.
Maintaining our muscle mass is very important, be it through bodyweight training or weight training, or physical yoga.
Progression, intensity, regularity, muscle recovery, and nutrition are the five basic things you have to do in order to gain muscle.
What is your Muscle Building Goal?
You have got to ask yourself a question about whether you want to go for bodyweight training or weight training or physical yoga for muscle mass and muscle endurance.
If you just want to be fit to do all those activities that you want to do in life, you should hardly choose weight training as your fitness routine. If you just want to be fit, choose Bodyweight training or physical yoga called ‘Angamardana’.
But if you are someone who is wanting to gain muscle mass or muscle endurance in a short period of time, you must choose weight training. Because that is the only fastest and most efficient way to reach your goal.
What does Weight Training consist of?
It is also called resistance training because we use weighted plates, cables, bands, etc. to provide resistance to our muscles. For example, if you are training your biceps muscle, you will hold a dumbbell or barbell in your hands and curl it upwards against gravity. This is the basic principle of weight training for muscle mass and endurance.
How to Train for Muscle Mass and Endurance?
Muscle mass gain is the primary goal of many people who choose weight training as their fitness routine. But many people are unaware of techniques and ways of building muscle. Here are the techniques to gain muscle:
Progression: To train for muscle mass, you have to gradually increase the intensity of your training over time. That means you have to increase the load. As load increases, repetitions gets decreased naturally.
So, as you are putting more resistance on your muscle, some muscle fibers break and the overall muscle gets trained to lift more weight than it could lift the previous time you trained it.
If you are training for muscle endurance, gradually decrease the weights. As the load gets decreased, reps increase. And this trains your slow-twitch muscle fiber increasing your endurance.
Intensity: You need to understand one more thing, that is intensity. The intensity in my terms means, load per time under tension. The amount of weight you are using for giving resistance to your muscle, the number of reps, the number of sets, the time period of the sets, and the whole workout all determine your intensity.
So if you want to grow your muscles, you have to progressively increase the intensity of the training.
Regularity: It is important to train your muscles at regular intervals. You should have a proper workout routine. So, for example, on Monday, if you trained your chest and triceps muscles, then the next week you should train the same muscles without skipping so that the muscles have constant stimulation. Otherwise, you may not reach your goal.
If you have just started your weight training, it is recommended to train every muscle group 2-3 times per week. The more frequency of workout, the more will be your progression and gains.
Muscle Building Nutrition and Diet Plan
Now that you have trained your muscles, you need to give them proper nutrition so that they replenish the drained glucose levels, and replace the old muscle fibers which are broken with the new, strong, and big ones.
There are three main macro-nutrients, Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fats. These are the basic nutrients to build and maintain muscles. Usually, the ratio of carbohydrates and protein intake is around 2:1 or sometimes 3:1.
Apart from the macros, you also need micro-nutrients which play a vital role to support this process and maintain the vitality of the body.
You have to get enough vitamins and minerals so that your blood, skin, bones, joints, and hair are also taken care of when you are loading your body with heavy training and food. The omega-3 fatty acid is one of the most important when it comes to building muscle.
Muscle Recovery
Muscle recovery is one more thing that you have to do in order to gain muscle. Your muscles have to get replenished with the drained glucose and build the muscle fibers. It requires rest to do so.
The sleep should be around 6-8 hours, depending upon your goal and body status. you can also get massages to relax your muscles. Pre-workout and post-workout stretching has shown good results in muscle recovery.