Everybody knows exercise is the key to good health. Practicing a hefty workout in the morning or evening increases strength, regulates blood circulation, improves mood, and reduces the risk of heart diseases. There is practically nothing better to make you stronger and reduce the risks of multiple diseases.

So, how do you decide what exercises to do? Well, there are different kinds of workouts. There’s jogging, walking, Zumba, yoga, HIIT, and many more.

Do you just pick one routine from YouTube and start following in mindlessly? We hope not.

Your workout routine should comprise of strength-building exercises along with stretching and muscle building. Most people, especially females tend to avoid muscle building as they think it would make them more ‘muscley’, which is a ridiculous notion.

Femininity is not subdued by mere biceps. Moreover, muscle-building is a crucial part of a workout that can truly make a difference to your body and mind.

Don’t believe it? Keep reading to understand.

Benefits of Muscle Building

The benefits are immense. Muscle building does everything for you from fixing your appearance to making you stronger. Slow and light lifting can help people who’ve suffered muscle damage in a road or car accident by assisting them in gaining strength back. It goes without saying that you must consult a car accident chiropractor before engaging in any form of exercise.

Here’s how muscle-building benefits your body:

1. Everybody knows that muscle-building helps your cut those extra kilos and stay fit inside out. It controls cholesterol and blood pressure.
2. Muscles serve as storage facilities for glucose, and lack of these can lead to the storage of fat. Thus, more muscles mean less fat.
3. Lifting increases strength. The process is simple as your body uses strength first, and when it finishes, it builds more muscle. More muscles lead to more strength.
4. It improves posture and pushes you to sit and stand straight. It’s the nature of muscle-building exercises that they resist slouching.

How do you build muscles?

The perception that muscle building is hard, comes from the fact that it takes time. And quite literally, it does take time even to practice it as you slowly lift a dumbbell and then bring it down. Your trainer asks you to hold it up while you want to drop it on the floor.

Other exercises pump you up quickly but not lift. You start seeing results after working for it for weeks. When you lift weights — or do any intense exercise — your muscle suffers trauma or injury. This results in the activation of satellite cells. They attach with each other to repair the muscle fiber. Naturally, joined cells increase the fiber, which appears as the bulk.

Regular weight lifting builds resistance which in turn releases growth hormones. This increases your metabolism and leads to the conversion of amino acids into protein, increasing your muscle bulk even further.

Here’s how you can build muscles:

1. Strength Training exercises — As the name suggests, it helps in building strength. You don’t need to spend hours in the gym. Half an hour of these exercises is good enough to build muscles. These include:

• Squats and lunges for legs
• Deadlifts
• for hips
• Push-ups and presses
• Pull-ups

2. Repetitions: ‘The more the merrier does not work here. The number of repetitions depends on your tolerance, especially in the beginning. 10-15 reps make a set, and three sets each day result in good gains.
3. Choosing weights: Everybody wants to live that big 40kg but hold on. You have to prepare your body to take up that challenge. Remember to start with a 5kg dumbbell, even 2kg if that suits you. The trick is to work your way up by lifting three types of weights each day in ascending order. Consistency will take you places.
4. Don’t overtrain The biggest mistake that people make while lifting is overtraining. It’s the adrenalin rush that fades in a few days and leaves great pain behind. Listen to your trainer when he tells you to stop.
5. Eat protein: Muscles are ‘gained,’ weight is ‘lost.’ If you still think dieting will help you, get over it. You need 300-500 calories more than usual to build muscle. Understand your baseline calorie needs and increase accordingly.

Muscle building is very important to stay and look fit. You should incorporate it into your workout routine. You can lift in your home too. Buy basic weights from amazon, research a bit about techniques and build a routine for yourself. Don’t do this with heavy weights, especially you’re a beginner. Now that you know all the basics to build muscle, you’re all set to achieve a fit and chiseled body in no time.