Are you trying to get fitter and stronger? Then, decreasing fat is just not the way to go as overall fitness does not mean that your weight should be within the approved Body Mass index (BMI). There is much more to understand about what overall fitness means.
Recently, people have started to realize that your body needs to have enough muscle mass to remain fit and healthy lifelong. Let us dig a little deeper and understand the meaning of muscle mass and how to achieve it.
What is Muscle Mass?
Most people set the wrong fitness goals as they focus on burning their body fat rather than increasing their muscle mass. They do not understand that these two go hand in hand as higher muscle mass means an increase in basal metabolic rate (BMR) hence the fat burning process gets accelerated. As the body builds muscles, it consumes fat as the source of energy hence your body tends to tone faster but as the weight of muscle is higher than fat hence, your weight may tend to remain the same or increase. Fat occupies more volume than muscle hence as the fat gets replaced by muscle in your body, your weight may not change but your body structure will. Building muscle means your body will look toned and the body’s immunity also increases.
How Can You Gain Muscle Mass?
- Add Adequate Protein to your Diet:
We all know that enough protein intake is necessary to build muscles. Every person’s protein requirement is different based on their body weight. If you weigh 150 pounds then your protein requirement per day is 150 grams which you will get from various protein sources such as meat, egg, cheese and cottage cheese.
The rest of your day’s calories can be gained from carbohydrates and fat.
- Work Your Muscles Every Alternate Day:
Lifting every other day is essential to gain muscle as, without weightlifting, you will not be successful in achieving your muscle-building goal. You need to focus on large muscle groups such as legs, back, and chest. You also need to make sure that you just do not stick to cardio every day but do weight training, a minimum of three times per week for good results.
- Add Supplements:
Adding essential workout supplements is a necessity to gain muscles. For example, it is difficult to reach the required protein intake level from the usual food sources every day hence adding protein supplement powder to the diet will help in reaching the right intake level and aid in building muscles. Similarly, muscle building can take years hence this process can be accelerated by buying supplement from newagepharmalab which can be used to increase your muscle mass much faster.
The Bottom Line:
Building muscle may also increase your body weight but that does not mean that it is unhealthy as it will only make your body look fitter and in better shape.
To check your muscle mass, you can get a Body Composition Analysis (BCA) test done which will indicate the muscle mass and fat percentage in your body which will help you keep a track of your fitness level.