Why muscle building is vital in any fitness program

Building muscle on a regular basis during our lifetime is
absolutely vital to our long term fitness goals. As you
get older, you will lose muscle and strength if you are
inactive. Loss of muscle and strength is called
sarcopenia. This term also refers to the decreased quality
of muscle tissue often seen in older adults. Strength
exercises can partly restore muscles and strength, often
very quickly.

In one study, nursing home residents 80 years and older
progressed from using walkers to using canes after doing
simple muscle-building exercises for 10 weeks. Strength
exercises, like weight lifting or push-ups, build your
muscles and may make you more independent by giving you
more strength to do things on your own.

Strength exercises also increase your metabolism, which
helps keep your weight and blood sugar in check. Even very
small changes in muscle size can make a big difference in
strength, especially in people who already have lost a lot
of muscle. An increase in muscle that's not even visible to
the eye can be all it takes to improve your ability to do
things like get up from a chair or climb stairs.

Your muscles are active even when you are sleeping. Their
cells are still doing the routine activities they need to
do to stay alive. This work is called metabolism, and it
uses up calories. That can help keep your weight in check,
even when you are asleep!

How Muscles Work

What makes your muscles look bigger when you flex them -
when you "make a muscle" with your biceps, for example?

Muscle cells contain long strands of protein lying next to
each other. Your brain signals your nerves to stimulate
muscles when you direct them to move. A chemical reaction
in your muscles follows, causing the long strands of
protein to slide toward and over each other, shortening the
length of your muscle cells. When you "make a muscle" and
you see your muscle bunch up and bulge, you are actually
watching it shorten as the protein strands slide over each
other.

When you do challenging muscle-building exercises on a
regular basis, the bundles of protein strands inside your
muscle cells grow bigger.

Increasing strength and endurance make it easier to climb
stairs and carry groceries. Improving balance helps prevent
falls. Being more flexible may speed recovery from
injuries. If you make exercise a regular part of your daily
routine, it will have a positive impact on your quality of
life as you get older.

A really important thing to remember when doing strength
exercises is that you want to take the weight the full
range of motion. Meaning, if you're working the biceps, you
want the arm to be straight without stressing the joint,
and then bring the arm through a full range. So we want to
go through a full range of motion and not stress the joints
in order to work the muscles.

You should exercise a particular muscle by the third day.
So some people like to exercise, say, the upper body for
half an hour one day and the lower body another day. So as
an example, if you were to exercise your biceps on Monday
then you should exercise them again by Thursday.

Powerful tips for muscle building safely:

Do strength exercises for all your major muscle groups at
least twice a week, but not for the same muscle group on
any 2 days in a row.

Gradually increasing the amount of weight you use is the
most important part of strength exercise.

Start with a low amount of weight (or no weight) and
increase it gradually.

When you are ready to progress, first increase the number
of times you do the exercise, then increase the weight at a
later session.

Do exercises 8 to 15 times; rest a minute and repeat it 8
to 15 more times.

Take 3 seconds to lift and 3 seconds to lower weights.
Never jerk weights into position. If you can't lift a
weight more than 8 times, it's too heavy; if you can lift
it more than 15 times, it's too light.

Don't hold your breath while straining.

These exercises may make you sore at first, but they should
never cause pain. Stretch after strength exercises.

In summary, you are never too old or out of shape to begin
a simple muscle building fitness program. You owe this to
yourself, your family and to serve as a positive role model
for others. In our sedentary lifestyles that have crept
into our culture, it is vital we take action now.

Get up from this article. Walk around the block. Talk to
your friends about starting a fitness plan. Small steps at
first will result in big payoffs as you get older. Now,
what are you waiting for? You can do it!

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