Workout Routine: 6 Ways To Gain Muscle And Burn Fat
If you want to improve your overall health, increasing your muscle mass and burning fat should be on top of your to-do list. Building muscle might seem challenging, but achieving this goal can provide countless health benefits, such as increased metabolic rate and, of course, better physique. Burning fat, on the other hand, helps you lose weight faster and lessens your risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Burning fat and gaining muscles might seem like two different tasks, but these are actually interconnected. Your muscles use fat as their energy source, which means that the more you use your muscles for intense workouts, the faster your body will burn fat and turn them into energy. Doing the right workouts and investing in supplements available at steelsupplements.com will make it very easy for you to gain muscles and burn fat at the same time.
If you want to hit two birds with one stone, follow these tips for you to build muscle mass and melt unwanted fat simultaneously:
#1. Get Moving Early
One of the easiest ways for you to gain muscles and burn fat is to pay more attention to your workout schedule. This might come as a surprise, but the time of the day when you decide to sweat it out can significantly impact these two bodily processes.
If you want to increase your body’s ability to burn fat, start exercising early in the morning. This can mean waking up in the wee hours of the morning and starting your day earlier than the usual so you can have more time to work out. If possible, you should eat a balanced and healthy breakfast after your workout. You can try out oatmeal topped with dried cranberries or almonds, a whole-wheat pita stuffed with some hard-boiled egg, or a smoothie of fruits mixed with a spoonful of wheat germ.
According to studies, your body will have less energy or glycogen if your stomach is empty when working out. Once this happens, your body will be forced to burn fat (instead of carbs) into energy and use these to keep you pumped when working out.
#2. Sleep More
Getting enough sleep every night is important to your overall wellness, but are you aware that the quality and duration of your sleep also affects your efforts to gain muscles?
Regardless of how busy you are during the day, you should never compromise getting enough sleep; otherwise, you’re only increasing the stress hormones or cortisol in your body. Once this happens, you’ll be susceptible to drastic weight gains, muscle weakness, and even diabetes. Increased levels of cortisol may also slow down your muscle growth, and can also lead to severe health problems, such as stroke and kidney damage. If you have been working out regularly but still don’t notice any muscle gain, your inability to sleep for an ideal period of time might be the culprit.
If you want to stay healthy and have the energy to work out during the day, always strive to get at least eight hours of sleep every night. Losing sleep will cause your body to produce more cortisol, which can eventually become a threat to your health. Instead of converting fat into energy, your body will hoard fat as an attempt to compensate for the stress. The more often you lose sleep, the more fat will be stored in your body, particularly in the abdominal area.
#3. Know The 1:3 Rule
If you truly want to gain muscle and burn fat at the same time, you should be willing to make drastic changes to your lifestyle. Regardless of how hectic your schedule is, you must find time for your workouts and make an effort to eat right.
Prioritize working out for one hour, three times a day. Sticking to this routine might be challenging at first, but according to studies, following this schedule long-term allows the body to change its gene expressions, which can effectively remove fat from your bloodstream. As a result, it will be easier for you to achieve a smaller waist, as well as you’ll have lesser risks of developing heart diseases.
If you’re up for something that’s more physically demanding, increase the intensity or duration of your workouts. If your time allows it, you can work out for two hours, three times a week, and engage in more rigorous routines.
#4. Push Harder
Weightlifting is very common nowadays. Regardless of your experience and equipment at home, there will always be a routine that would enable you to do it. But, aside from being a bandwagon, weightlifting has long been proven to play a significant role in anyone’s attempt to gain muscles. The heavier you lift, the faster it’ll be for you to gain muscles.
Although it may seem impossible to do at first, you should definitely try out weightlifting as this can expedite the process of gaining muscles and burning fat. Whenever you lift heavy weights to the point where you can’t physically do it anymore, your muscle fibers will get a signal that they need to grow in order to accommodate your body’s needs.
Depending on your preferences, you can start lifting heavy weights in five repetitions. You may also opt for a lighter weight and do it for 15 repetitions. It doesn’t really matter how you start; what’s important is you look for a weightlifting routine that pushes yourself to the extreme. This is a great way of helping your muscles to grow stronger without making them look too bulky. This is especially important for women who want to look lean.
#5. Remember To Take It Easy Sometimes, Too
As mentioned, you need to regularly lift weights in order to push your muscles to the limits. But, just like anything else in this world, going overboard with your attempts can also lead to health risks. Regardless of how strong you think you are in terms of lifting weights, don’t forget to allow your muscles to rest, too. Straining your muscles daily can result in injuries and, in worse cases, can become the reason why you’ll have to miss days from working out.
If you don’t want these situations to happen, remember to switch from moderate to high-intensity workouts regularly. This routine will help you challenge your muscles without overstraining them.
One of the biggest misconceptions people have when it comes to muscle-building is that training nonstop while adapting high-intensity workouts can lead to faster and better results. However, this isn’t true because your muscle recovery also contributes to the success of your efforts.
Switching your routines from moderate to high-intensity allows your muscles to build themselves back up stronger, as well as enables your body to burn fat from its storage in order to replenish drained energy.
#6. Be Smart About Your Post-Exercise Snacks
You’re using up a lot of fat whenever you work out, which is why it’s typical for you to feel hungry afterward. Aside from refueling your body with water, you will, most likely, look for food to compensate for the carbs and fat consumed while you’re training.
Although there’s nothing really wrong if you take snacks after your workout, it’s important to look after the quality and quantity of the food you’re feeding your body with. Eating unhealthy and greasy snacks in large amounts can only make you gain fat, and can become the reason why all of your attempts to gain muscles will become futile.
For you to stay healthy and successfully achieve your fitness goals, eat snacks that contain sufficient amounts of carbohydrates and protein within two hours after your workout. Some of the most common examples include turkey roll-ups, Greek yogurt parfaits, and veggies. You can also enjoy hard-boiled eggs, peanut butter-coated celery sticks, and tuna after each training session.
Carbs and protein are also essential for you to gain muscles and burn fat because carbs can effectively replenish the energy lost during training, while the amino acids found in protein can help your muscles recover faster. Whenever you work out, your muscle sheds off microscopic fibers, and you’ll need an adequate supply of carbs and protein to make you feel stronger again.
If possible, your post-workout snacks should have a 2-to-1 ratio of carbs to protein, or if you’re fond of working out for more than 75 minutes, you can also stick to a 4-to-1 ratio. You can try out a smoothie with a scoop of protein powder (around 20 to 40 grams), or a quarter cup of oats paired with a piece of banana.
Think Long-Term
There are actually a lot of ways for you to gain muscles and burn fat. Aside from the tips presented in this article, you can also ask recommendations from fitness enthusiasts and medical professionals to help you out.
But, regardless of the strategies you plan on using, don’t expect to see any great results if you’re only going to practice them for a short period of time. Remember, gaining muscles and burning fat will require a long-term commitment, so make sure that you’re in it for the long haul.
