How to effectively increase muscle mass
Increasing muscle mass can not only make you look stronger and more confident, but also bring other health benefits, such as improving metabolism, strengthening bones, and balancing hormones. However, many people encounter difficulties in muscle building, because they lack correct and scientific information. This often leads to disappointment and injury. But don’t worry, as long as you follow these scientifically proven suggestions, you can easily increase muscle mass.
• Healthy diet
Whether it is muscle building or fat loss, diet is very important for muscle growth. You need to consume enough calories and nutrients to support your muscle training and recovery. Among them, ensuring adequate protein intake is a necessary nutrient for muscle growth. Protein is the main component of muscle, which can promote muscle synthesis and prevent muscle breakdown. Generally speaking, consuming 1-1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day is a reasonable range. You can get protein from meat, eggs, dairy products, beans, nuts and other foods.
In addition, moderate intake of carbohydrates and fats is also essential. Carbohydrates are your main source of energy, which can help you maintain strength and endurance in training. Fats are your secondary source of energy, and also participate in the synthesis and regulation of hormones. You can get carbohydrates and fats from whole grains, fruits, vegetables, seeds, oils and other foods.
• Resistance training
To increase muscle mass, you need to apply enough pressure to your muscles, forcing them to adapt. And resistance training, which is to use weight or other resistance to resist your muscles, is a perfect solution. According to research, resistance training can bring enough tension to your muscles, and play a key role in muscle development. When you use weight to train your muscles, you will produce tiny tears in the muscle fibers, which will be repaired during the recovery process, and become bigger and stronger.
In addition to the benefits of increasing muscle mass, resistance training can also make you stronger, enhance your immune system, consolidate your bones, protect your joints, and increase your anabolic hormone production.
• Don’t lift too heavy or too light
When you focus on increasing muscle mass, you should make the weight moderate, not too heavy or too light. Too light weight will not effectively increase muscle mass, while too heavy weight will focus more on increasing strength rather than increasing volume. According to a 2016 study, moderate load is more beneficial for muscle hypertrophy (size), while heavier load is more beneficial for muscle strength. The best advice is this: make sure the weight is not too light or too heavy, so that you stay in the range of 8-12 repetitions. The weight should be light enough to allow you to do 8 repetitions, but heavy enough to prevent you from exceeding 12 repetitions.
• Follow the progressive overload principle
The human body is a wonderful machine, good at adapting. This is one of the main reasons why we can survive in many different environments without any problems. However, this is a big challenge for muscle growth, because it means that you need to constantly increase the weight to continue to see results. This is the so-called progressive overload principle. Every time you train, you should try to increase a little weight or increase some repetitions. Even if it is only 1-2 pounds, it is enough. Although it seems insignificant, it will accumulate into huge muscle and strength growth over time.
• Increase your training volume
Low-intensity training is very effective for increasing muscle mass when you first start. However, once you are an advanced lifter, increasing your training volume is essential to break through any stagnation. A 2019 study showed that higher training volume can produce more muscle hypertrophy, more effective than other forms of training. You have to be careful not to use too much training volume, otherwise you will have the risk of overtraining. Generally speaking, training 10-20 sets per muscle group per week is a suitable range.
• Choose the right movements
Not all resistance training movements are equal. Some movements can stimulate more muscle groups, while some movements can better isolate specific muscles. If you want to increase muscle mass, you should choose those movements that can stimulate more muscle groups, which are called compound movements. Compound movements, such as squats, lunges, push-ups, deadlifts, bench presses, pull-ups, etc., can allow you to train your whole body muscles with less time and higher efficiency. You can also add some
• Muscle sensitivity
Muscle sensitivity, also known as mind-muscle connection, refers to how much awareness and control you have over your muscles during training. When you have a high degree of muscle sensitivity, you can better focus on the muscles you want to train, and reduce the interference of other muscles. This can make your muscles contract more intensely, and increase muscle tension and blood flow, thereby promoting muscle growth.
Muscle sensitivity is most important for general beginners, because they often lack fitness skills and knowledge, and are prone to use the wrong muscles or exert too much force. To improve your muscle sensitivity, you can take the following methods:
• Do some warm-up and dynamic stretching before training, to wake up your muscles and nervous system.
• Choose the appropriate weight and speed during training, not too heavy or too fast, to avoid affecting your muscle control and feeling.
• Maintain correct posture and breathing during training, and try to avoid holding your breath or swinging your body.
• Focus on the muscles you want to train during training, and imagine your muscles contracting and relaxing, and feel their tension and fatigue.
• Do some static stretching and massage after training, to relax your muscles and increase blood circulation.
Muscle sensitivity is a skill that can be improved through practice and experience, and it can help you increase muscle mass more effectively.
如何有效地增加肌肉
增加肌肉不僅可以讓你看起來更強壯和自信，還可以帶來其他健康益處，如提高新陳代謝，增強骨骼，和改善荷爾蒙平衡。然而，很多人在增肌方面遇到困難，因為缺乏正確和科學的資訊。這往往導致失望和受傷。不過別擔心，只要你遵循以下幾個科學證實的建議，你就可以簡單地增加肌肉。
• 健康飲食
無論是增肌或是減脂，飲食對於肌肉成長非常重要。你需要攝入足夠的熱量和營養，以支持你的肌肉訓練和修復。其中，確保攝入足夠的蛋白質是肌肉增長所必須的營養。蛋白質是肌肉的主要組成部分，可以促進肌肉的合成和防止肌肉的分解。一般來說，每天攝入1-1.2克蛋白質每磅體重是一個合理的範圍。你可以從肉類，蛋類，奶製品，豆類，堅果等食物中獲得蛋白質。
此外，適量攝入碳水化合物和脂肪也是必須的。碳水化合物是你的主要能量來源，可以幫助你在訓練中保持強度和耐力。脂肪則是你的次要能量來源，同時也參與荷爾蒙的合成和調節。你可以從全穀類，水果，蔬菜，種子，油等食物中獲得碳水化合物和脂肪。
• 阻力訓練
要增加肌肉，你需要對你的肌肉施加足夠的壓力，迫使它們適應。而阻力訓練，也就是用重量或其他阻力對抗你的肌肉，是一個完美的解決方案。根據研究，阻力訓練可以給你的肌肉帶來足夠的張力，並在肌肉發展中起到關鍵的作用。當你用重量訓練你的肌肉時，你會在肌肉纖維中產生微小的撕裂，這些撕裂在恢復過程中會被修補，並變得更大更強。
除了增加肌肉的好處，阻力訓練還可以讓你更強壯，增強你的免疫系統，鞏固你的骨骼，保護你的關節，和提高你的合成荷爾蒙的產生。
• 不要舉得太重或太輕
當你專注於增加肌肉時，你要讓重量適中，不要太重也不要太輕。太輕的重量不會有效地增加肌肉，而太重的重量則會更多地專注於增加力量而不是增加體積。根據2016年的一項研究，中等的負荷對於肌肉肥大（大小）更有利，而更重的負荷則對於肌肉力量更有利。最好的建議是這樣的：確保重量既不太輕也不太重，讓你保持在8-12個重複次數的範圍內。重量應該夠輕，讓你能做到8個重複次數，但夠重，不讓你超過12個重複次數。
• 遵循進階負荷原則
人體是一個神奇的機器，擅長適應。這是我們可以在很多不同的環境中生存而沒有問題的主要原因之一。然而，這對於肌肉增長來說是一個很大的挑戰，因為它意味著你需要不斷地增加重量，才能繼續看到效果。這就是所謂的進階負荷原則。每次訓練，你應該嘗試增加一點重量或增加一些重複次數。即使只是1-2磅，也足夠了。雖然看起來微不足道，但隨著時間的推移，這會累積成巨大的肌肉和力量的增長。
• 增加你的訓練量
低強度的訓練在你剛開始的時候，對於增加肌肉是很有效的。然而，一旦你是一個高級的舉重者，增加你的訓練量是必不可少的，以突破任何停滯不前的狀況。一項2019年的研究顯示，更高的訓練量可以產生更多的肌肉肥大，比其他形式的訓練更有效。你要小心不要用太多的訓練量，否則你會有過度訓練的風險。一般來說，每個肌肉群每週訓練10-20組是一個合適的範圍。
• 選擇合適的動作
並不是所有的阻力訓練動作都是平等的。有些動作可以刺激更多的肌肉群，有些動作則可以更好地隔離特定的肌肉。如果你想要增加肌肉，你應該選擇那些可以刺激更多的肌肉群的動作，也就是所謂的復合動作。復合動作，如深蹲，箭步，俯臥撐，硬拉，臥推，引體向上等，可以讓你用更少的時間和更高的效率訓練你的全身肌肉。你也可以在你的訓練中加入一些
• 肌肉感受度
肌肉感受度，也稱為心肌連接（Mind Muscle Connection），是指你在訓練時對你的肌肉有多大的意識和控制。當你有高度的肌肉感受度時，你可以更好地專注於你想要訓練的肌肉，並減少其他肌肉的干擾。這樣可以讓你的肌肉收縮更強烈，並增加肌肉的張力和血流，從而促進肌肉的增長。
肌肉感受度對於一般新手來說是最重要的，因為他們往往缺乏健身的技巧和知識，而且容易用錯肌肉或用力過猛。要提高你的肌肉感受度，你可以採取以下幾個方法：
• 在訓練前做一些熱身和動態伸展，以喚醒你的肌肉和神經系統。
• 在訓練時選擇合適的重量和速度，不要太重或太快，以免影響你的肌肉控制和感覺。
• 在訓練時保持正確的姿勢和呼吸，並盡量避免用力憋氣或擺動身體。
• 在訓練時專注於你想要訓練的肌肉，並想像你的肌肉在收縮和放鬆，並感受它們的緊張和疲勞。
• 在訓練後做一些靜態伸展和按摩，以放鬆你的肌肉和增加血液循環。
肌肉感受度是一個可以通過練習和經驗而提高的技能，它可以幫助你更有效地增加肌肉。
Comments