It is normal if we find ourselves starting an exercise routine without any professional instruction. Let’s ask ourselves the question present in the title… “What is the correct way to exercise a muscle?”. Well, we would be falling into a mistake by believing that it is only enough to lift a weight repeatedly and that’s it. On the contrary, when executing an exercise, what is really important for the muscle is not the number of repetitions you can do, but how many you do in a correct and controlled way.
To exercise a muscle, you must have complete control over the weight you carry, in order to execute the movement properly. As long as the exercise is done slowly and feeling the pressure in the area we are working on, we will be achieving better results. Avoid executing fast movements without pause. Try that in each repetition, when raising you to stop for a second before lowering. What we are commenting on here is not something invented by every personal trainer or person with experience in the fitness world. I will recommend you to do your exercises slowly.
What is the recommended weight?
Obviously, the weight will depend mainly on what your goal is when training. If you are looking to lose weight, weight is not important. In fact, in these cases, it is not even necessary to exercise with weight but to resort to training whose focus is cardio. See running, and biking, and it has to be measured by time.
Now, if your goal is to gain muscle mass, weight is essential to achieve that goal. However, it is not about going and looking for any intense weight that you find in the gym or at home. To exercise a muscle properly, you need to do your reps with a weight that is demanding, but one that you can master. Since in this way you can execute the slow movement, generating tension in the area to be worked, without running the risk of suffering an injury or muscle tear.
To exercise the muscle properly, a good diet is also involved.
We will never get tired of commenting on the importance of diet in any training. You would be making a mistake if you think that your muscles are going to develop through hard training and breathing. For optimal results and true muscle growth, you need to nourish your body with the nutrients it requires. Being your main focus to eat foods rich in protein. If we wanted to see the training in percentages, it would be the following distribution…
- 70% Food (Diet rich in protein to increase muscle mass).
- Dedicate 20% to training, mainly demanding and controlled weight training to increase muscle volume.
- Finally, dedicate 10% to rest, it may seem absurd, but getting enough sleep and rest is also a key piece for any training.
If you make sure to comply with that distribution, you have more than guaranteed results. And of course, to exercise the muscle properly. Since you will not only be putting it to work, but you will also cover its nutrition and rest.
Rest, the importance of a good post-exercise nap.
As the last point to be discussed in this article on how to exercise a muscle. We want to talk about the last tip of this trident. We already told you that the exercises must be done with a demanding weight but that you can control, and that the pressure can be felt in the area to be worked on. As well as we talk about food and its fundamental role in the development and formation of muscle mass. That means that we only have to talk to you about the rest after your training session.
Constant training is only possible if you make sure you sleep 8 to 9 hours a day. As well as dedicating at least an hour of rest after each training. Sleeping is the best way to make our body recover from any fatigue or tiredness that comes with our training. Letting the muscle rest for at least one hour after training allows it to better assimilate the protein ingested, in addition to recovering for the next day.
If you don’t get enough sleep, your muscles will remain fatigued, which will prevent you from achieving the same performance the next day. In addition, it leaves the muscle weakened, which could make you prone to any type of training injury.
Conclusion
In this way, we conclude with the writing of this article, if you have found the information shared on how to exercise a muscle to be interesting and very useful. We invite you to leave your opinions in the comment box. And invite them to continue reading more of our content in the exercise section of the blog.