Bodybuilding Workouts to Build Muscle And Lose Fat
November 9th, 2009 Posted by: Jace P. Andersen
There are several different types of bodybuilding workouts you can use and your workout of choice will be determined by your desire to either build muscle, lose weight or build muscle while losing fat. The most popular reason for body building is to burn fat and get muscle definition. No matter your weight lifting goal a body building workout can help you achieve that goal.
Your diet is an important part of the body building workout as certain foods and vitamins are necessary to build muscle. If you are looking to do body building to burn fat then you need to make sure you have plenty of calcium as calcium is needed to regulate body fat storage as well as to keep your blood pressure low.
You also need strong bones to build muscle and calcium is necessary to keep bone strong and healthy. You need to be careful as to where you get calcium as the best choice is low fat dairy products. You don’t want to increase your fat intake with your calcium intake.
Body building workouts can also be used just to stay in shape and maintain the muscle you have by keeping it nice and toned. For those looking to tone muscle your workout will consist of high repetitions but with lighter weights. Whereas those looking to build a lot of muscle fast will want to do shorter reps but with much heavier weights.
Besides your workout you will need to start eating more protein to build muscle as muscle is protein. In general you should add about 500 more calories in the form of lean protein to your diet. You want to try to consume a low fat diet as you do not want your body to add on fat instead of building muscle.
The best type of workout to build muscle is to do between 5 and 12 repetitions of each exercise and then make sure you change your exercises and combinations every three to four weeks. In this way your muscles will be active in all way and not become accustomed to only one type of movement. You also want to vary the weight you are lifting as it is important to mix up lighter weight days with heavier weight days.
Resistance training at least twice a week has been proven to burn more calories over a 24 hour period then just aerobic exercise alone. You want to change between high intensity and lower intensity resistance training and make sure you normally lift for about 30 to 45 minutes a minimum of twice a week. It is important that you first do resistance training and then afterwards or the next day perform aerobic activity.
It has been scientifically proven that individuals will burn more calories and fat over a 24 hour period by using strength training then if you were to just do cardio exercise. The best way to do any exercise is to switch between periods of high intensity and low intensity periods.
