subject: How to Build Muscle Quickly - Keep Your Workout Under 60 Minutes and Get Plenty of Rest [print this page] How to Build Muscle Quickly - Keep Your Workout Under 60 Minutes and Get Plenty of Rest
If you have been working out for a very long time and you still have nothing to show for it, you have likely been doing a few key things wrong. No matter how fat or skinny you are you can build muscle quickly if you do everything properly.
One of these things maybe simply not resting enough. And no, I'm not talking about sleep, although sleep is very important. I'll talk a little more about that later.
Anyway, by rest I mean you should stop spending so much time in the gym. It is good practice that you go through your day's muscle building workout routine within 45 minutes and not any moment longer.
I'm pretty sure some of you are scratching your head after reading what I just said. But that's really how things are. The reason why you should keep the duration of your workout limited to under 60 minutes is that as soon as you start to work out, your body begins to release growth and other anabolic hormones (i.e., hormones that promote constructive metabolism and muscle development). This release of these good, beneficial hormones typically peak after about 30 minutes of working out.
The thing is, at the 45-minute mark, your body begins releasing a catabolic hormone called cortisol and reduces the release of beneficial hormones. Being catabolic, cortisol breaks down muscle tissue and so it is not good when you are trying to build muscle.
But just so that you know, cortisol is not "bad" per se. Cortisol is involved in numerous functions in your body such as proper glucose metabolism, regulation of blood pressure, release of insulin for maintaining blood sugar levels, and inflammatory response. The only thing that it is not good for is muscle building.
So, to avoid your body from becoming too catabolic for its own good, you need to make sure that you don't workout for longer than 60 minutes. The ideal duration for intense workouts is actually 45 minutes.
By the way, I should mention that you need to eat immediately after your workout session so as to give your body something else to pull nutrients and energy from (instead of your muscles).
And going back to my original point, make it a point to get lots of rest. And I repeat, I'm not talking about sleep here. For sleep, you must make it a point to get 8 hours of it every night, period.
The reason why you need to have a lot of rest is that muscle development and growth only occur when you allow your muscles to rest and recover after subjecting them to high levels of stress. And when they do recover, they recover in such a way that they will be able to handle the same amount of stress much easier. And one way of doing this is by growing bigger. This kind of recovery is known as "muscle hypertrophy".
The belief that you can build muscle quickly by working out in the gym for hours on end is just completely wrong. Not only will you tire yourself out quickly by doing so, but will also be hindering your muscles from growing.
