Building muscles requires two things:
- Lifting lots and lots of weights.
- Eating lots and lots of protein.
How much muscle you can develop depends on a wide variety of factors, such as, genetics, your workout schedule, the amount of food you can eat, weightlifting experience, etc. If you’re new to weightlifting, chances are even the simplest lifting program will lead to you putting on 2-3 pounds of muscle in a month.
There are lots of reasons that a person may want to increase their muscle mass. The most obvious is that they want to be stronger, but a less obvious reason is that a person wants to be smaller. Muscles weighs 3 times as much as fat but take up only a fraction of the space. Contrary to the popular beliefs of the 1990s, putting on muscle will not make you bigger, it will actually make you leaner (so long as you do not overdo it).
How Protein Helps Build Muscles
The way your body creates new muscles is pretty simple. When a person lifts weights to the point that their muscles are overloaded, the muscles will tear. Your body then will spend the next 8-24 hours repairing the torn muscles Once it’s repaired, you will have increased muscle mass, and increased strength. The body uses the protein to repair the damaged muscle tissue. Repeating this process will inevitably make you stronger over time.
Best Foods For A High Protein Diet
The best sources of protein to include in your diet are as follows:
- Chicken
- Lean beef
- Fish
- Eggs
- Tofu
- Legumes
- Milk
- Whole Grain Carbs
- Water
- Nuts
For the sake of putting on muscle, it is important that you seek out the most complete sources of protein available. There are 9 essential amino acids that protein is made of. Only animal based protein products have all 9, so make sure you’re paying attention to your protein sources.
