Muscle-Building : Exercise And Diet Basics

 "Why am I not able to build muscles?"

"Because you have low testosterone."

"How can I increase my testosterone?"

"By building muscles."

"But I am not able to build muscles."

"Because you have low testosterone."

 😕 😕 😕 ! ? ...

A.  Myths and Facts of Muscle-Building

(i) Myth - Muscle-building is only for bouncers and bodybuilders.

     Fact -  Everyone needs muscle-building, men and women, young and old alike.

(ii) Myth - Muscles make you attractive.

      Fact - Any woman (with brains) will prefer a man with intelligence (optional) and fat salary to an idiot strutting with his six-pack.

(iii) Myth - "It has been 3 months since I joined the best gym in the town, equipped with the best machines and instructors and frequented by the best bods, yet I am not able to gain even an ounce of muscles!"      

        Fact - Brother, CCTV camera footage shows that you have yet to start exercising.

(iv) Myth - "I am a woman. I am scared, muscle-building may give me a 'masculine' look."

       Fact - Don't worry. Nature has taken care of that by not endowing you with  testosterone at par with men. 

(v) Myth - "I am an old man, walking is enough for me. Strength training for muscle-building is too risky for me." 

       Fact - The risk of not building muscles is far greater. You risk bathroom fall, abdominal obesity and related diseases like heart disease, diabetes, joint pain, etc. Select a safe method of strength training.

(vi) Myth - " I have fractured my left hand. I require complete rest."

      Fact - Very stupid excuse. Nothing prevents you from working on your abs, glutes, legs...

(vii) Myth - More the protein, bigger the muscles.  

      Fact - Unless you are in serious competitive sports, protein from your natural foods should be sufficient for you. Surplus protein will be stored as fat in your body. It may also lead to loss of more calcium from your bone besides having an adverse effect on your kidney.

B. Role of Muscles in Your Body

(i)  They give you strength, speed, agility, power.

(ii)  They improve your body composition by increasing lean body mass and decreasing fat % in your body. 

(iii)  They improve your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). 

(iv)  They help you to regain your balance in case you slip. Slipping in bathroom (or, in life,) is not a problem in itself (almost everybody does so at some point of time); the real problem is one's inability to regain balance. Look at the marvel of the art of balance from ibex!

(v)  Strong muscles mean less pressure on your knee joints and lower back resulting in a pain-free day-to-day life. If your knees are not supported by surrounding muscles, they have to carry all the burden of the  body (like good employees have to do  in their organization). Finally, they will buckle under the pressure. 

(vi)  Strong muscles improve your quality of life. They help you to run, play with your children, climb mountain and help others...

(vii)  Very important - When you do resistance training for your muscles, you strengthen your bones also in the process.

C. Limitations of Muscle-Building

(i)  Due to genetic peculiarities, not everyone will gain in the same way by muscle-building exercises and diet. One's bone structure (width of shoulders, hips, etc.), bone thickness, muscularity are genetically determined. Based on body types, an explanation of the same has been tried by Somatotypes., viz., Ectomorphs (thin body build), Endomorphs (fat and heavy) and Mesomorphs (muscular and athletic). Mesomorphs will be the fastest gainers and ectomorphs will be the 'hard gainers'. However, irrespective of one's body type, every one will gain more strength.

(ii)  As you age, your gains will be less and will take much more time compared to your gains in the past. A look at the 'Then and Now' pictures of prominent sports personalities will convince you. 

(iii)  Women will be less muscular.

Whatever be the limitations, it is good to learn about your body type and cooperate with it to be the best in your field. It would be good (for both) if Arnold Schwarzenegger does not aspire to be an elite marathoner and Kipchoge does not venture into bodybuilding! 

D. How to Build Muscles

(a) Exercise

(i) The most important principle of muscle-building is progressive overload. The best example of this principle is Milo  of Croton. The  legend says that Milo carried a  new-born calf every day for many  years. As the calf grew, the strength of Milo also grew day by day. Finally, he could lift the full-sized ox!

(ii) Training for muscle-building can be done with weights, resistance bands, machines or simply with body-weight.

(iii) Muscles develop due to overload. Unless you increase the load on your muscles, they cannot gain strength. Overload is a play of intensity and volume of load. This will be determined by  your aim. For example, for long distance runners, it will be lighter weights with more repetitions; for powerlifters, it will be heavy weights with low repetitions; for rehabilitation of injuries, light weights with few sets; for bodybuilders, it will be a combination of both, and so on. Depending upon your present medical condition and your requirement, consult your doctor and gym instructor to design a suitable exercise program for you. 

(iv) For maximum muscle gain, you should aim for near total muscle failure in each set. Stopping  at a number of repetitions when  you could still have done 5-6 more repetitions, is not going to give you the best result. Moreover, do at least 3 sets of each exercise for some visible gain.

(v) Allow your exercised muscle sufficient recovery time (minimum 48 hours). This becomes more important in case of aging persons because as you age, you take more time to recover.

(vi)  Add variation of types of exercises, intensity and volume to target your  muscles from different angles for overall growth and to beat plateau and monotony.

(vii) After a long lay-off period, say if you have missed your workouts for a week due to illness or for any other reason, start from a lighter weight. 

(viii) Avoid too much cardio, especially in the strength session as it may result in less gain in muscle-building. You can try any of these combinations, depending upon your requirement/aim, age and availability of time, etc. - 3 days cardio, 3 days strength  training, 1 day rest; or, 2 days cardio, 3 days strength training, or vice versa, and so on.

(b) Diet

Nothing is more frustrating than arriving at a perfect diet plan. You come across so many parallel, sometimes contradictory, theories of diet. Interestingly, each one of them appears to be equally logical and convincing! I often wonder how our ancestors would do without nutritionists (and psychiatrists)! 

You can eat your traditional food and follow some simple rules of diet based on findings of studies and followed by successful sportspersons -

(i) Ensure that your diet is sufficient in quantity (calories) and quality (nutrients). Eating too much (disproportionately to your workouts) will give you fat. Eating too less will  result in lack of energy for workout and strength training.

(ii) Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of protein for Indians is .83 gm per kg bodyweight (ICMR-NIN, 2020) It also says that for people consuming cereal-based diet with low quality protein, the protein intake should be 1gm per kg bodyweight. Going for less than RDA may impair your muscle growth.

(iii) If you are trying to lose weight and build muscles, you have 3 options - (a) Increase your activity level. A manual worker who works hard for many hours, never worries about his weight, even if he might be eating double the amount of food that you do. (b)  Decrease your caloric intake, especially from carbs and fats, but not from protein (as recommended by RDA). (c) A combination of both options. However, you should never go for 'zero-carb' or 'zero-fat' diets. Carbs give us energy and spare protein for muscle-building and repair functions. Similarly, fats help in absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, viz., vitamin A, D, E and K besides performing many other important functions.

(iv) Drink sufficient water before, during and after your workout session, and also throughout the day. Proper hydration helps in muscle-building by maintaining your energy level during the workout, transporting nutrients efficiently to muscles and taking away metabolic by-products from them. Water is also very important to maintain body temperature within normal range.

Finally, don't extol your body beyond what it deserves. A body-centric approach may lead you to disgusting obsession with your body and you may end up with taking performance-enhancing substances. A healthy and strong body with a healthy and happy mind should be our objective.

Medical disclaimer - The blog content is provided for general educational purpose only. It does not substitute professional medical advice. Reader is advised to consult his doctor before starting any fitness program to avoid any health risks.

Shyam Fitness Fundamentals 

Website: www. fitness-fundamentals.com

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