Building Lean Muscle

The process of building lean muscle is often misunderstood to mean just lifting weights. Lifting weights to build muscle mass is one component of an effective strategy for building lean muscle and acquiring a leaner, cut physique, but it's not the only thing you need to do. You'll also need to perform some cardio workouts to burn more calories and you'll need to focus your diet and nutrition to help you lose fat, gain muscle and keep it that way.

Weight Training

People lift weights for many reasons. Some people want to put on weight at any costs, while some people are looking for strength and some people are looking for both effective strength, size and a leaner appearance. If you're reading about building lean muscle, than surely you fall into the latter. When weight training for this purpose you want to focus on movements that not only are effective for building muscle but are also effective for super charging your metabolism and burning calories.

To begin with, you'll want to be working with heavier weights. Another tip is to limit your rest between sets to no more than 45 seconds-1 minute. This keeps your heart rate up and will help you burn more calories. Even better, you can use supersets and circuit training to take rest out of the equation entirely. Your muscles will respond because it will be a change, and you'll burn more calories.

You should also focus on weight training the largest muscle groups in your body. When stimulated, your large muscle groups obviously release larger quantities of testosterone and other natural hormones than smaller muscle groups do. This increased hormonal load will help stimulate muscle growth in other parts of your body. Additionally, intense compound exercises such as dead-lifts will keep you burning calories for hours after your workout ends. So you'll be achieving both goals, building muscle and burning fat.

Add in Some Cardio

People trying to lean out often forget to add in some cardio into their weekly workout plan. To begin with, many people don't like doing cardio. And many other people don't understand that no matter how strong your abs are, if you have extra fat on top of them, you won't see a six pack. The key to keeping cardio in your workout is to keep it interesting and do something you enjoy.

The treadmill isn't everybody's cup of tea. Maybe instead you have a passion for boxing, or playing basketball or soccer. Take your bike for long rides and find a partner to play sports with and stay active with. Whether it's a weekend hike or an hour on the heavy bag in your basement, adding cardio to your plan is essential.

Don't Forget Nutrition

The goal is to eat enough protein so as you maintain a positive nitrogen environment. Nitrogen is a common element found in amino acids, which are the individual pieces that group together to form complete proteins. In a positive nitrogen environment, you have a plentiful supply of amino acids from your diet so your muscles can always draw on them to repair themselves and build. Your protein intake goal for building lean muscle? Between 1 and 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Good sources of quality protein are found in lean meats, chicken, fish, eggs and whey protein shakes.

Align the three elements of weight training, cardio and nutrition and you'll be building lean muscle as you never imagined you could.

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