Increase Muscle Mass - Is There A Safe Way?

Is there a safe way to increase muscle mass? Sure. But, for instance, yo-yo dieting destroys muscle tissue. In order to achieve the greatest long-term gains, you need to stay relatively lean all year. You don't want to starve yourself, but you shouldn't overeat either. A controlled food intake with adequate quantities of protein, carbohydrates, and fats will allow your body to build permanent muscle mass without generating the body fat that can hide your hard-earned gains.

Don't Confuse Increase In Bodyweight With Increased Muscle Mass…

Athletes always want to find a quick way to build muscle. Sometimes they try to achieve this by eating large amounts of food to increase their body weight. The rationale behind this practice is that heavier athletes tend to lift more weight. This additional weight, it is felt, will lead to more stimulation of the muscle fibers and consequent growth. Unfortunately, this thinking confuses muscle weight with total bodyweight. Clearly, athletes with more muscle mass will be able to lift more. However, body fat (adipose tissue) is not involved in muscle contraction. Simply put, adding a tire around your waist will not bring you the gains you seek.

Too much carbohydrate, fat, or even protein results in bodyfat deposition. This is a fact of life. Your body needs only so much of each nutrient every day. While the correct amount depends on your muscle mass, basal metabolic rate, and exercise intensity, every athlete has his or her own nutritional requirements. Bringing your diet up to these levels will enhance muscle growth. Anything beyond that point is diverted to the bodyfat stores.

Adipose tissue is nothing more than energy storage. One pound of bodyfat contains approximately 3,500 calories. Due to the nature of progressive resistance training, the recruitment of these fat stores during an exercise is minimal. While moderate-intensity exercise such as aerobics can utilize adipose tissue for fuel, the body is also capable of metabolizing carbohydrates for energy. There is simply no reason to carry around muscle-obscuring fat deposits under the pretext of improving your strength or performance. In fact, in any sport where speed is involved, these fat stores will slow you down.

While it is true that bodyfat provides resistance during squats and a few other exercises, you can achieve the same results by adding a plate to each side of the bar. And there are very few exercises where the entire body is in motion in this manner. Extra girth around your waist will not improve your biceps curl or bench press, for example.

Yo-Yo Dieting Does Not Help You Increase Muscle Mass…

Research has shown that yo-yo dieting is unhealthy. Body-weight cycling can result in higher blood pressure and has been correlated with the risk of cardiovascular disease. The body also shows a higher preference for dietary fat once the athlete goes off the diet's restrictions. So, staying relatively lean all year is not just a safe way to increase muscle mass — your long-term health and quality of life can be impacted when you abuse your body with yo-yo dieting.

Try to listen to your body's requests for food and not your mind's desires. Eat when you are hungry, but only until you begin to feel full. Enjoy the good, healthy food you consume, for it is the raw material producing the muscle mass you desire. But don't shovel down food thinking that you are somehow building extra muscle in the process. With appropriate food consumption, you will create the maximum muscle growth with a minimum of bodyfat. The positive feedback you get when people see your defined physique will also inspire greater confidence in your abilities, leading to heavier lifts. The enjoyable result will be greater size gains.