When you’re on a journey toward self-improvement, working out is one of the best ways to start. Building more muscle is more than just trying out a wellness routine or aiming to look a certain way. It helps a lot in improving your balance and your overall body coordination.
Strength training also helps your bones and tendons become more resistant. This means that it makes injuries less likely in the future. Whether or not you’re the kind of person who moves around a lot, having less injuries is always a plus. The best part is there are multiple training workouts that you can choose from, depending on what you’re feeling.
1. Squats
Squats are great for building muscle around your glute and thigh areas. It also targets the ankles and knees, helping them become more resistant to injury.
This is probably not the best sort of exercise to be doing when you have a knee or ankle injury, though. If you’re doing the incorrect form, you could hurt yourself.
In squatting, the general rule is to not let your knees go beyond your feet so as to not injure yourself. However, you don’t need to limit yourself to a basic squat. There are a few variations that you can try if you want to challenge yourself. And if it happens to be that time of the month, you can try wearing period underwear to lessen the hassle.
Thruster Squats
Thruster squats involve weights. You can choose to go for ones that are as heavy as you’re able to carry. Hold the weights so that they align with your shoulders, then squat as low as you can. Try to stay in this position for a few seconds. When you come back up, hold the weights above your head with your arms straight. You can repeat this as many times as you’re able to.
Pistol Squats
For those who want more of an advanced version of a basic squat, this may be just for you. The pistol squat targets one leg only. It helps with improving balance as well. It’s very similar to squatting on a single leg, except that the free leg has to be parallel to the ground. If you’re looking to get better with your coordination, you can try to move from a regular squat to a pistol squat.
2. Dumbbell Workouts
There are a lot of workouts that involve dumbbells. These help out with more than just your arms—your back and chest can build muscle as well.
You may need a little bit of storage space to keep all the dumbbells you need, though. Having a variety of weights can be a great help if you’re aiming to try to take on heavier weights. That way, you can increase or decrease the weight of the dumbbells you lift depending on how well you’re improving.
3. Lunges
Compared to squats, lunges can be a little more challenging. This is because they require a lot more balance than the former. Still, this is the type of exercise that works best for those who are trying to work out their legs.
If you happen to enjoy cycling or running as a sport, this would be good for getting in shape. It can also counter any strength imbalance that you have in your body. Like the other exercises, keeping the correct form can increase how effective it will be in bringing results. As such, it is important to remember to maintain the right form at all times.
4. Rows
Rows are regarded as effective back exercises. They manage to focus on large muscle groups while improving your heart’s health at the same time. It’s perfect for those who are fans of cardio workouts.
You don’t need to own a rowing machine in order to do these kinds of exercises, although it can help. A machine can work out the entire body in a more effective way. Still, you may opt to use dumbbells if you do not have access to a machine.
5. Planks
Planks are notorious for being difficult, more so for those who are beginning to work out their muscles. It is challenging as well to hold the correct position, which is similar to a pushup position.
As you maintain your form, you need to prevent your hips from rising in order to make the exercise more effective. You can shorten the time that you need to hold the position for if you’re starting out. It would be better to start out with exercises you’re capable of before aiming for higher goals.
Building muscle goes beyond aesthetics. It also goes further than improving your sports skills, if you have dedication to a specific sport.
Working out is a way to work out toward a healthier version of yourself. It takes a lot of commitment, as well as consistency, in order to see results. After all, muscle doesn’t grow overnight. Exercising on a regular basis also helps with your overall mental attitude. It is a regular activity that can do wonders for your general well-being.
Feature Image by John Arano on Unsplash
Thanks very much. Does it apply to women too? I tried different things, but can’t get fat off my belly! If I lose too much weight it goes, but my brests look like I fed 20 kids!!
Good article. Train at least three times per week. You need at least three training sessions every week if you want to see significant muscle growth. If you are really new at weight training, this can be reduced to two at the start; however, you should increase the number of sessions per week as soon as you are able. If you already have some experience with strength training, you can add more sessions as well.