The muscle building process is relatively simple to understand.
With all the information available on the internet, you’d think it would be easier to find information on what exactly makes muscles grow. There are quite a few misconceptions out there and this article will debunk some of those myths and reveal exactly what happens when your body builds muscle.
The entire process begins when existing muscles in the body are put under extreme stress, such as when they push or pull more weight than they are used to pushing and pulling.
When muscles are asked to do more work than they are used to, they suffer minor breakdowns. You will feel these microtears as muscle pain. These mini-injuries are repaired while the body remains. The resulting muscle is slightly larger than before, better able to handle the stress that caused the initial tears.
A bodybuilder maximizes the muscle building process by continuously increasing the stress level place on the muscle groups. This is achieved by increasing the amount of weight, the repetitions of the exercises and/or changing the type of exercise used on a specific muscle, causing new microtears, building the muscle more and more.
Massive muscle growth also requires a specific nutritional plan. There are three macronutrients that you will need in the correct proportions to fuel muscle growth. Carbohydrates, protein, and fat will give you the nutritional load your muscles require.
Carbohydrates provide the fuel to help you power through your workouts. Slow digestion, low glycemic index (GI) carbohydrates, most fruits and vegetables (except potatoes, corn, and peas), whole grains, basmati rice, and pasta are preferred because they don’t cause a increase in blood sugar as high glycemic carbohydrates do. A sharp rise in blood sugar causes an increase in insulin production, which makes it more likely that energy from food will be stored as fat and not used for energy. Post-workout meals, however, often contain some fast-digesting carbohydrates to replace glycogen in the muscles and promote protein synthesis.
Protein is the building block of muscle building and professional bodybuilders eat large amounts of it. For some, protein is nearly a third of the day’s calories. In addition to poultry, beef, pork, and eggs, protein powders made from whey or soy are added to meals or used as meal replacements in shakes.
You need about two tablespoons of dietary fat each day. The approved sources of fat for muscle building are unsaturated, which are liquid at room temperature and are found in canola and olive oils, nuts, seeds, and avocados.
The missing components here are rest and recovery. You have put your body under great stress and it needs to rest. The specific muscles you have worked on need to recover and should not be re-exercised until they have adequately recovered. For most people, that means at least 48 hours should elapse between workouts of the same muscles.