Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Five Easy Lifestyle Changes to Gain Muscle Mass Fast

By Jared Conley

If you want to get 100% better at something, how would you approach it? I can think of two primary approaches. The approach you select will be somewhere along this continuum: performing one activity twice as well (or 100 percent better), or performing 100 activities 1 percent better. I think that most people attempt the first approach, but the latter is much easier to implement.

Taken a step further, to make each of these small building blocks more effective, you could also focus on things that occur outside of your workouts. So you concentrate on modifying your habits and making tiny improvements in many areas that will stack on top of one another to bring you massive benefits.

So here are 5 simple lifestyle changes you can make to help you build muscle up.

1) Replace Traditional Cardio with HIIT

Aerobic exercise has a negative impact on muscle gaining because it burns branched chain amino acids (BCAA) and glycogen. Rather, concentrate on HIIT sessions for fat burning, e.g. a 400-meter sprint followed by a 400-meter recovery jog, repeated for a total of four times.

2) Increase Total Time Under Load

Instead of focusing on the number of reps, concentrate on the total time your muscles are under load. Try spending 2 seconds on the negative contraction, 1 second at neutral (bottom of the exercise), and 1 second on the positive contraction. Emphasizing the negative is an easy way to overload muscles and promote muscle weight gain.

3) Eat More Fish

Not only is fish high in protein, it is also a natural source of essential fatty acids, which are vital for both your overall health and your muscular health. Essential fatty acids make your muscles more sensitive to insulin, so they aid glycogen storage and increase the absorption of amino acids into your muscles, while also preserving glutamine storage.

4) Mix up your Total Time Under Load

Your body will only build muscle up by repairing it in response to your workouts. When your muscles are repaired, they are made stronger than before to respond to the higher stress levels put on them. If you don't allow your muscles time to recover, they can never rebuild.

5) Cheat on your Diet

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. Commit to yourself to read a new (as in current and scientifically backed) exercise book every six months. You'll pick up new approaches and new tips to add to your workouts.

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