Muscle Building Techniques - Aerobics

One of the most interesting muscle building techniques is aerobics. Aerobic exercise is essential for cardiovascular fitness, but you can overdo a good thing. Studies have shown that too much aerobic activity can reduce your gains in strength and muscle size compared with weight training alone. So, don’t forget it when you wonder how to build muscle. Restrict your aerobic activities to 1 to 1 1/2 hours per week and vary the type of aerobics you do. Keep your food intake under control, too. You'll have bigger muscles and a more defined physique.

Why Aerobics Is An Essential Muscle Building Technique…

Aerobic exercise is a necessary part of a balanced training program and you can’t ignore it when thinking about how to build muscle. Aerobic conditioning strengthens the cardiovascular system by forcing the heart to work at elevated rates for a longer period of time than occurs with most weight-training routines. Aerobics helps burn the free fatty acids in the body as well, resulting in a more defined, muscular physique. Moderate amounts of aerobic activity can also stimulate the conversion of lactic acid back into pyruvic acid and glucose, which gives your muscles more fuel for additional contractions.

But Don't Overdo This Muscle Building Technique…

You can have too much of a good thing, however. A study by Dr. Kraemer and colleagues at the Center for Sports Medicine at Pennsylvania State University found that strength and power increases declined when an endurance-training program was added to a weight-training regimen. The men who only trained with weights had a 30 percent improvement in their leg- press performance over twelve weeks. Yet, when a four-day-a-week aerobics program was added, a matched group had a performance increase of only 19.5 percent. The researchers also found that endurance training reduced the size of the muscle fibers created by weight training while increasing production of the catabolic hormone, Cortisol. "Resistance training increases protein synthesis and the amount of contractile protein in the muscle fiber," notes Dr. Kraemer. "On the other hand, the stress from endurance training causes the muscle to respond in an opposite direction by degrading the contractile proteins to optimize oxygen uptake. The end result was a reduction in the athletes' strength and muscle gains."

How To Use This Muscle Building Technique Effectively…

So, how to build muscle with aerobics? First of all, you need to control the amount of aerobics you do. One to one-and-a-half hours per week is all you really need to keep your cardiovascular system in good working order. This aerobic conditioning should consist of two or three thirty- to forty-five-minute sessions. Be sure to do at least a half-hour of aerobics at any one time because it takes a while for your body to switch into the aerobic (fat-burning) energy system. Too short of an exercise session will therefore not provide you with all of the desired benefits. Remember to include a five-minute warm-up and a five-minute cool-down with your aerobics as well as a bit of stretching. Don't count this time as part of your minimum half-hour, however.

Pace yourself so that your aerobics is as beneficial as possible. Try to do your aerobic activity at an intensity level that is from 60 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate. Much more than 80 percent will increase the involvement of the body's other energy systems, and anything less than 60 percent will be so low that you'll need to spend a lot more time exercising to burn the fat you want to get rid of. It's also less exercise for your heart. To determine your maximum heart rate per minute, subtract your age from 220. (Your maximum rate declines with age.) Then multiply that rate by 60 and 80 percent to determine your desired range of heartbeats. You can measure your heart rate by taking your pulse manually or with one of the machines now on the market.