8 Effective Muscle Building Tips for Beginners
Getting started is often the most difficult part of doing anything. This is especially true with muscle building, given that many people simply don’t know the best way to approach it. Muscle is built not just with heavy weights in the gym, but with discipline, an effective strategy, and a healthy overall lifestyle.
Sure, lifting weights is a key component in muscle building, but it is not sufficient on its own. Understanding what is necessary for effective muscle growth is key to achieving your personal goals. In this blog post, we will highlight eight effective muscle building tips for beginners.
Before you dust off your dumbells or step foot in the gym, it’s important to properly prepare your body and mind. Ready? Let’s get started.
1. Always Practice Good Form
Whatever exercise you are doing, the key to seeing results is to practice good form. For example, a bicep curl should be controlled in such a way as to only target that particular muscle. With bad form, you may end up employing your back or leg muscles in the movement, which isn’t the intention.
Another reason to practice good form when lifting weights is to avoid downtime due to injuries. Before you start a particular exercise, ensure that you know exactly how to perform the movement. It can help to practice with bodyweight only first until you are confident enough to gradually add weight.
2. Invest in Quality Equipment
If you are planning to work out from home, it pays in the long-term to invest in quality equipment. A good weights bench will allow you to practice a greater number of exercises than simply lying on your back on the ground. Dumbells are great but it also helps to have a barbell for more rounded workouts.
Kettlebells, exercise mats, bands, medicine balls—they are also useful pieces of equipment that can provide for more rounded and complex workouts than dumbells alone. If you are going to choose a gym, it’s also worth paying a little bit more to ensure that you will have a greater choice of equipment and facilities.
3. Take Time to Warm Up
While often overlooked, taking the time to warm up (and warm down) is an essential part of muscle building. A warm-up helps to increase the temperature of your body’s muscles and reduce the likelihood of injury. Even a five or 10-minute warm-up is sufficient to prepare your body for a gym session.
Examples of a good warm-up include light cardio such as skipping, stretching the muscles you are planning to work in the session, and lifting some light weights before moving onto anything heavier.
4. Don’t Go Overboard With Workouts
You may have the desire to lift weights seven days a week but, while we admire your determination, this isn’t a good idea. Your body needs to rest and recovery from your workouts. Ideally, you should take a rest day after a heavy session in the gym.
Designing a workout plan where you hit different muscles on different days is also effective. For example, Monday is shoulder day. You’ll then have a whole week for your shoulders to recovery before hitting them again, while focusing on other muscle groups on other days.
5. Fuel Your Body With Protein
Protein is key to building, repairing, and maintaining muscle. Your diet should be high in protein-rich foods such as chicken, fish, dairy products, and eggs. You may also choose to take protein shakes, a popular nutritional supplement.
On the subject of supplements, another great option is SARMS, short for selective androgen receptor modulators. To learn more about these non-steroidal androgens, read more here.
6. Focus On a Healthy Lifestyle
There’s a popular saying that goes, “abs are made in the kitchen.” Basically, this saying highlights the importance of nutrition in addition to the work that you do in the gym. In fact, all of your good work lifting weights can be undone by following a poor diet or not taking proper care of your body.
Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, smoking, and not getting enough rest or sleep can all hinder your body’s ability to add muscle.
7. Plan Your Workouts in Advance
When you hit the gym, it helps to have a proper plan in place and to know exactly what you are going to be doing on any given day. If today is Wednesday, you should know that your workout will focus on cardio and legs, for example.
Also, keep track of your progress with every exercise. Make a note of how many reps and sets you did, along with the weight you lifted. That way, you can easily measure your progress as the weeks go by.
8. Get Plenty of Sleep Each Night
We’ve mentioned the importance of taking rest days, but it’s worth making a separate section for sleep. When you are looking to change your body’s composition, a good night’s sleep is crucial.
Sleep enhances your body’s muscle recovery; aim to get at least seven good hours of sleep each and every night for best results.
Hit the Gym Armed With These Muscle Building Tips
These muscle building tips are designed to ensure that your weight-lifting routines will be as effective as possible. If you have been wondering how to get stronger and build muscle, the key is to ensure an overall healthy lifestyle. This way, once you do hit the gym for a workout, you will get the most out of each rep. Like this blog post how to build muscle? Be sure to check out our other interesting articles on our blog post today.
