I dont want to gain 20-30 lbs of muscle, just bulk up a little bit.
Not really, you can do exercises to strengthen muscles such as your abs and increase muscle endurance. But to put on any noticable amount of muscle requires weight training.
I wouldn’t worry about putting on 20-30 lbs of muscle.
Packing on muscle is a lot harder than the average person seems to think (check all the people saying – "I want to do this or that but I’m afraid I’ll end up with muscles"). To add muscle you need to be eating extra calories, a high proportion of them being protein. You’ll also need to be doing weights several times a week for months before you start to see any gains.
Eat lots of protein, eat between 5-6 small meals a day (make sure you get protein in every meal), do compound weight exercises such as squats, deadlifts, etc. The more muscle you have the more likely you are to build muscle so target large muscles by focusing on your legs, etc. Later you can isolate your biceps and smaller muscle which will then be more responsive. When you are finally happy with what you have got, just tone the exercise down, less reps, etc and just work on maintaining.
cathain78
November 27, 2009 at 4:10 am
Not really, you can do exercises to strengthen muscles such as your abs and increase muscle endurance. But to put on any noticable amount of muscle requires weight training.
I wouldn’t worry about putting on 20-30 lbs of muscle.
Packing on muscle is a lot harder than the average person seems to think (check all the people saying – "I want to do this or that but I’m afraid I’ll end up with muscles"). To add muscle you need to be eating extra calories, a high proportion of them being protein. You’ll also need to be doing weights several times a week for months before you start to see any gains.
Eat lots of protein, eat between 5-6 small meals a day (make sure you get protein in every meal), do compound weight exercises such as squats, deadlifts, etc. The more muscle you have the more likely you are to build muscle so target large muscles by focusing on your legs, etc. Later you can isolate your biceps and smaller muscle which will then be more responsive. When you are finally happy with what you have got, just tone the exercise down, less reps, etc and just work on maintaining.
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