How to Build Muscle

Muscular man with dumbbells on black background.

Muscle does more than just look good in a bathing suit. As muscle tissue is more metabolically active than other tissue types, adding more muscle to the body actually helps burn fat, making it an important element for weight loss and maintenance. Strength also helps protect leg stability while running and jogging, while building core strength throughout the abdomen stabilizes the spine.

How Muscles Get Made

Every muscle is made up of bundles of long, fibrous cells. These cells divide and create more muscle when they're under physical stress. Muscle fibers grow in only one way: by working the muscles they comprise. Get lifting or use body-weight exercises to provide the necessary force to make muscle fibers grow.

While cardiovascular exercise alone cannot build muscle, it can provide greater definition as subcutaneous fat is burned away, so keep the cardio along with weight training to get ripped.

Exercise is half of the equation; the other half is diet. Muscle fibers require protein to grow. Expecting muscle growth without plenty of protein is like trying to build a house with too few bricks. Fitness programs typically recommend eating about a gram of protein per pound of body weight per day to increase muscle size.

Building an Effective Routine

When creating a personal fitness routine, having a personal trainer helps. For those who prefer to go it alone, watching video of proper technique can provide vital guidance. Adhering to a few guidelines will ensure an effective, safe routine.

Work big muscle groups first. Large muscles like the biceps rely on smaller muscles like the triceps to stabilize them; if the smaller muscle groups get exhausted first, they can no longer assist in moving the bigger muscle masses. Lifters who work from small to large risk injury.
Lift heavier, not more often. Building muscle happens with heavy weights, so aim for fewer repetitions with larger weights instead of swinging light weights for dozens of reps.
Take a day off. The tiny tears that exercise creates in muscle fibers need time to repair themselves. Exercising the same muscles too soon doesn't give that regrowth time to happen, limiting muscle size. Work out every other day or split workouts into upper body and lower body on alternating days.
Keep proper form and pacing. Lifting with poor form is potentially worse than not lifting at all. Using momentum to jerk the weights into position, working too quickly and over-extension can cause injury. Slow and steady wins the lifting race.
Hit many muscle groups at once. Isolation exercises are for body-builders who are trying to sculpt one particular spot. For general fitness and overall muscle building, select exercises that work more muscle at once. Push-ups, chin-ups, squats, planks, deadlifts and barbell rows require little equipment, but deliver a big payoff.

Have patience with weight training. Even professional athletes on rigorous programs have trouble packing on more than fifteen pounds of pure muscle in a year, so expect incremental gains in strength and muscle mass. Keep track with measuring tape and celebrate every fraction of an inch of gain; it's hard work, but well worth the effort.

Adding more muscle to the body actually helps burn fat