You Should Spend More Time Building Muscle.
We know muscle is important but a lot of people don’t spend much if any time purposefully trying to put on muscle. I definitely understand the skepticisms about this, the very specific muscle building workouts aren’t for everyone, the fear of getting to bulky is something that people are truly worried about, and trying to do a bulk can bring anxiety about putting on more body fat then some are comfortable with. These concerns can be put to rest with proper planning and execution of a muscle building plan that fits into the context of your other goals.
The huge amount of benefits you get from building muscle is enough to keep me on the muscle building track year round in some capacity, no matter what other training goals I have. If you have a physique goal having more muscle increases your metabolism which means you burn more calories while at rest making fat loss easier, and you’ll have more muscle definition so as you get leaner you’ll have a more toned looked.
Building muscle can help with holding off a lot of age related issues. You’ll strengthen bones and joints keeping you less injury prone and mobile as you get older. Most people regardless of your participation is sport should be focusing on muscle building just for these benefits.
When it comes to athletic performance having the most amount of muscle you can without hindering your ability to perform or make weight for your sport the better because a bigger muscle will always have the potential to be a stronger muscle due to the increase in contractile properties. Athletes with greater strength have lower incidences of injury and perform better across the board in both general athletic and sport specific activities.
Muscle is great to have, the concerns that come along with building muscle can sometimes be over exaggerated. A common concern is “I don’t want to get too bulky”. This is nearly impossible, very few people will have the genetic potential to build a ton of muscle and look like a bodybuilder. Also you are in the driver seat you can stop training for muscle building and work on other aspects of fitness, but I’ve never met anyone get to this point.
Eating a lot and not wanting to put on bodyfat is another problem people find with adding muscle, but rest easy knowing you only have to eat 200-300 extra calories above maintenance to maximize your muscle growth, which would be a slow rate of weight gain. Once you’ve put on as much as your comfortable you can stop the muscle building diet and lose the bodyfat fairly easily. The final concern I hear is that muscle building workouts are boring. I understand that bodybuilding workouts aren’t for everyone but you can build muscle with many different styles of training even CrossFit style workouts can build muscle. As long as you are focusing on strict movements and progressive overload you’ll be on the right track to add some muscle. I do like the bodybuilding style workouts however because it tends to be easier on the body, especially for people that take part in sports or work labor intensive jobs.
Get in the gym and build some muscle, you’ll see big improvements to your life and athletic ability!
