Answers/

Fitness

Erica
Erica Sendmail

What's the fastest, yet healthiest, way to build muscle?

asked over 2 years ago | Report

I attended a health fair at work and while I'm only 10 pounds overweight, I'm 36% fat with a BMI of 26. I want to increase muscle, and am used to sticking mainly with cardio....Also, thoughts on circuit training vs free weights, lunges, etc.?

Answer

8 answers

scroll to bottom
  • Greg S.
    Greg S. Sendmail

    Free weights is the best way to build muscle fast. I've done machines and free weights and I have found that free weights not only build muscle they improve coordination as well. If you're doing a 40 lb curl on a machine you won't be able to do it with a dumbell.

    If you want to get toned use a moderate amount of weight and do a lot of reps.

    If you really want to build muscle you'll need to ever-increasing amounts of weight. You'll need to keep a log so you can always know what you did last week. You'll also want to develop a routine, e.g. legs on Monday, arms and chest on Tuesday, etc, etc. This will keep you working all your muscle groups and not ignoring any. It really looks funny to see someone with a great upper body and bird legs!

    Lunges, stretching, Yoga...all good stuff.

    answered over 2 years ago |Report

    • 1
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down
  • Stephanie Y.
    Stephanie Y. Sendmail

    I agree with Greg. Free weights is your best bet. And just to echo him even more, definitely keep increasing the weights you use and try not to do the same moves too often, as your body will grow used to the movement and it won't be as hard of work for that muscle.

    Definitely keep up with the cardio because that will help you burn the fat that you want to get down, and add in about 2-3 sessions of strength training a week.

    One more thing that I think a lot of women fall into is that you really need to fatigue the muscle for it to grow. So if you're doing, say, biceps curls and you get to the last rep out of 10, and you feel like you could do 10 more, you need a heavier weight. You should barely be able to finish the final rep for it to work properly.

    Good luck! Shape.com, self.com, womenshealthmag.com, all have great routines you can print out and bring to the gym with you.

    answered over 2 years ago |Report

    • 1
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down
  • Rob O.
    Rob O. Sendmail

    Hi Erica, I offer a bit of caution here for building muscle quickly as it's a gradual process over long term. Initially you may see results but once your body adapts to the work you won't see big gains. By doing it too quickly before your body adapts could lead to injury, you will defeat the purpose of what your trying to do. I agree with the replies concerning free weights, no doubt they are the best way to go as they offer so much versatility in your training program. I offer caution with your BMI number as well, muscle is protein which weighs more then fat, so as you gain muscle your weight may actually increase. I have learned this through my own experiences, sometimes I wish I would heed my own advice as I am still nursing an injured left tricep, adding too much weight too fast thinking I was ready :)

    answered over 2 years ago |Report

    • 1
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down
  • Lenny G.
    Lenny G. Sendmail

    Free weights are definitely best to use. Generally speaking, when you rip muscles from weight loading, the repair lays down more numbers of and increased size of muscle fibres. This is how you get stronger.

    If you're trying to increase strength (just being able to move a specific amount of mass) then you should aim for a set that makes your muscles unable to work past 8-12 reps (that is, after 8-12 reps, your muscles are unable to do another rep).

    If you're aiming to increase power (how fast you can move mass) then you should be aiming for a set that brings you to fatigue in 5-8 reps (and this will likely be a heavier mass).

    Either way, focus on good form and go slowly! Injuring yourself is not fun and can take a long time to heal.

    answered over 2 years ago |Report

    • 0
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down
  • Jayagandi J.
    Jayagandi J. Sendmail

    yes. free weights and cardio combi.
    i was 39% fat with bmi of 22.5% about 7 months ago...i was 2kg overweight.
    with regular pt with free weights and cardio on alternate days, my body fat is now at 30%.
    it works.

    answered about 2 years ago |Report

    • 1
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down
  • Ed G.
    Ed G. Sendmail

    While it is true that free weight sis probably the fastest way to build muscle, remember that slow and steady can win the race and be more habit forming. You can reduce your BMI with just cardio, but you will have to get in the habit of working out more often. 5x a week for a minimum of 30 minutes each workout. Running is my workout of choice. Nothing appears to be as effective to me.

    answered about 2 years ago |Report

    • 1
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down
  • Kevin G.
    Kevin G. Sendmail

    The fastest way to build muscle mass is to stimulate natural production of human growth hormones. Even if you aren’t eating to add muscle mass, stimulating grown hormones can also aid in quicker recover, allowing for more frequent and intense workouts without overtraining. Our body’s produce grown hormones shortly after muscles have been pushed to produce maximum force. The larger the muscles used, the more muscles used and more muscle fibers recruited at one time, the more growth hormones are produced. Exercises that use large muscle groups such as those in the legs, but, back and chest will be more effective for this. Additionally, if you do leg presses on a machine, for instance, you are locked into a given motion, so you will only use the targeted muscles (quads and glutes), but if you do real back squats (not on the smith machine) a lot more stabilizing muscles in the legs and core will be used in the exercise, so adding muscles to the movement means more HGH. Lifts like Squats, Dead lifts, cleans, overhead press, pull/chin-ups and dips are the best for this. Working many muscles at once is also like killing two birds with one stone, so it saves time in the gym. Your body also produces more growth hormones in the first few hours of sleep, so you can stimulate more growth by sleeping in short stretches, like 3 3-hour naps each day rather than 9 straight hours of sleep.
    There was a good article about this in the March Triathlete magazine entitled “Optimal Recovery: Nutrition and HGH”

    answered almost 2 years ago |Report

    • 0
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down
  • Thesean D.
    Thesean D. Sendmail

    I would suggest a circuit workout. There are many sources online.

    BTW- BMI is unreliable and very general in nature. What method was used for obtaining body fat %?

    answered almost 2 years ago |Report

    • 0
      thumbs up
    • 0
      thumbs down

Similar Questions in Health & Fitness - Fitness