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5 Tips for a Healthy Muscle Lifestyle
Muscle health is important because healthy muscles ensure that you can do the things you love without pain or fatigue.
There are many things you can do to ensure that your muscles stay healthy, and this blog post gives you the five most important tips to help you out. If you want to know more about these tips and how they can benefit your body, read on!
1) Build your base
The best way to develop strong, healthy muscles is to lift weights. Even when you’re just beginning an exercise program, it’s important to start with strength training. When you begin any kind of new activity—whether it’s lifting weights or learning a new instrument—start out slow.
If possible, find a friend who shares your interests and go through basbasicic warm-up exercises together before working on anything more challenging. You’ll be able to spot each other’s mistakes and learn proper form that much faster. After all, if you don’t have a good foundation, everything else will crumble. Your base needs to be sturdy before you can add on anything new.
To build muscle safely but quickly, start by developing good habits in your everyday life. Work at building up enough energy to get yourself through a day of strenuous physical activity without hitting snooze every five minutes or grabbing something unhealthy for breakfast because you’re in too big of a rush.
Start eating better now so that once you get into regular exercise routines, your body will feel nourished and ready to take on whatever challenge comes next.
2) Use weights
Exercise using weights increases muscle mass, which burns more calories at rest than fat. There are two types of weight lifting. The first is resistance training, in which you lift weights or resistance against gravity to build muscles.
The second is isotonic exercise, in which you mimic natural movements (such as walking) to train muscles and your cardiovascular system at once. Isotonic exercises work all parts of your body—legs, arms, chest, back and abs—and have been proven effective at burning fat and increasing muscle mass.
Resistance training works both major muscle groups and some smaller muscles at once (like biceps), so it’s great for toning your body but not building strength like isotonic exercises do. You can mix up your routine by alternating between isotonic and resistance exercises. If you want to get started with weightlifting, start slowly.
Even if you’re already active, adding weights will make your body sore and tired until it gets used to them. Try starting with one set of five repetitions on each machine before moving on to heavier weights.
Once you’ve gotten used to working out with weights, try doing three sets of five repetitions on each machine every other day—or every day if possible! This will help increase your muscle mass while also getting your heart rate up and burning fat faster.
3) Drink waterWalter
Water is vital to all your body’s functions, from regulating your body temperature to digesting food. Water also helps maintain proper muscle tone—in fact, water is what enables your muscles to contract in the first place.
If you’re dehydrated, it becomes harder for them to function properly, so down at least 6–8 glasses of water daily and don’t forget about sports drinks if you’re exercising intensely. Caffeine can be dehydrating: Make sure you don’t drink coffee or soda on an empty stomach—both coffee and caffeinated sodas can contribute to dehydration since they pull fluids out of your tissues and into your digestive tract.
Stick with just plain water instead. Avoid energy drinks: Energy drinks are packed with sugar and caffeine, which will give you a quick boost but leave you feeling tired soon after. Plus, too much caffeine can lead to increased stress levels and heart palpitations, both of which can wreak havoc on your ability to work out effectively.
Take time off between workouts: It takes 48 hours for your muscles to recover after working out; without adequate rest time between workouts, you risk overtraining (which leads to injury) or simply not seeing results from your efforts because when you work out again before those 48 hours have passed, you’ll still be sore from previous workouts.
Eat protein-rich foods: Protein helps repair damaged muscle tissue, making it essential for building strength and preventing injuries. Aim to get at least 20 grams of protein every day from lean sources like fish, chicken breast, eggs, yogurt and nuts. Also consider taking a multivitamin that contains vitamin D3 to help build strong bones. Try slow-twitch exercises: Slow-twitch exercises target smaller groups of muscles in isolation (like bicep curls), whereas fast-twitch exercises engage larger groups (like squats).
Slow-twitch exercises tend to be less intense than fast-twitch ones, which means they won’t burn as many calories or build as much strength as their faster counterparts—but they’re easier on your joints while still being effective.
4) Take vitamins
While your body does need vitamins, you don’t need to take them in pill form. Getting nutrients from food is always better than taking it from pills. The best way to get healthy nutrients is by eating healthy foods, but it can be hard when you are struggling with nausea or pain.
In those instances, a liquid vitamin might be useful because they are easy to digest and won’t upset your stomach. If you have access to fresh juice (preferably organic), then fresh juice would be much better than a pill form of vitamin C. If not, try to find a brand that doesn’t add sugar or other fillers into their product.
Keep in mind that if you do decide to go with pills, make sure they are chewable so that your body can absorb more of what you are getting. Also make sure that there aren’t any artificial sweeteners added! Even natural sweeteners like stevia should be avoided while recovering from an illness as they still spike blood sugar levels and will likely aggravate nausea and digestive issues.
Your best bet would be a capsule that contains pure, non-GMO vegetable cellulose (like NOW Foods Vitamin C Vegetarian Capsules). It’s inexpensive and virtually tasteless – ideal for patients who want to take advantage of extra vitamins without dealing with strange flavors or nausea.
Take prebiotics: Prebiotics are fibers found in plants that promote growth of good bacteria in our gut which helps fight off infections. When you’re ill, your immune system needs all the help it can get fighting off bad bacteria—especially if you were already under stress before becoming sick. So why not support its efforts?
5) Eat protein
Protein helps fuel muscles, keeps them healthy and assists in building muscle. Protein is essential to getting a positive muscle-building effect from your weight training. If you don’t get enough protein, you won’t build muscle as fast or as effectively.
Aim to eat between 1 and 2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight each day, at least while you’re actively trying to build muscle. That translates to between 56 and 112 grams daily for most people—and up to twice that if you’re very physically active (especially if you lift weights). For more advice on upping your protein intake safely, check out our Protein Primer series.
Here are some examples of high-protein foods: chicken breast, lean beef, fish like salmon and tuna, eggs, low-fat dairy products like milk and yogurt. You can also try one of these tasty high-protein recipes.
Be aware that although protein is good for your muscles, it isn’t necessarily good for your waistline; eating too much protein may cause water retention and put extra strain on your kidneys.
You should consume a lot of fruits, vegetables and whole grains as they contain fiber which speeds up digestion.
These types of food will keep you feeling full longer which reduces snacking between meals thus helping to reduce calorie intake during an entire day. Another benefit of fiber rich food is its ability to promote regular bowel movements because
it provides bulk to stools making them easier to pass through intestinal tract without being constipated which often happens when we consume highly processed foods.