TRAIN LIKE AN ALPHA
One of the goals of Alpha Fitness is to provide you with the knowledge and resources to be able to achieve an alpha body. An alpha makes no excuses, has serious commitments, and gets results. To gain your alpha body, a huge part of the process is gaining muscle! For those of you who are worried you might get "too bulky", trust me, muscle is your friend. Here I'll break down the purpose and function of muscles and how one can achieve either a bigger or leaner body.
WHAT is muscle.
Muscular strength is the ability of a muscle or muscle group to generate maximum force. Muscular endurance is the amount in which the muscle or muscle group is able to perform repeated contractions or one submaximal contraction over an extended period of time.
WHY do we want to build muscle mass.
There are many benefits of building muscles that go beyond increasing your strength. For one, muscles help boost our fat-burning metabolism. Our resting metabolic rate (RMR) is when our bodies burn calories in their resting state. The more lean muscle we have, the more our metabolism is able to burn. Each pound of muscle gained is able to burn off 20-40 calories more in our resting state. So if you're looking to lose fat, lifting weights is your go-to.
Next, increasing muscle mass helps us build stronger bones because weight training helps to prevent the loss of bone tissue. It helps to increase our bone density and can even be more effective for improving our bone matrix than calcium. In addition, as our muscles become stronger, they decrease our risks of injury. Resistance exercises help to provide greater bone density while increasing the stability of our tendons and ligaments. Muscle gain also enhances our functional capacity which in turn increases our energy and productivity levels. Lastly, having defined muscles just looks awesome.
HOW can one gain greater muscle mass.
Well for starters, lifting weights is an ideal way to gain muscles. Creating a weight lifting plan is a great way to keep track of which muscles you want to work on depending on your goals. Another way you can work on increasing muscle is through body weight exercises. There are many powerful moves you can perform with just your body that will help increase your levels of strength as well as improve agility levels. You want to be able to engage all 6 major muscle groups within your plan for a well-rounded workout routine. These groups include: legs, back, abdominals, chest, shoulders, and arms. You may alot each muscle group into a different day of the week to work on, or you may double up some grouping in a day such as creating a day for back & arms. It is important to increase your weights over a given period of time to avoid platueing and to be able to see and feel results.
