You may think building muscle mass is no more than signing up at a gym and throwing around dumbbells until you collapse, but you are wrong. Many factors go into how lifting weights affects the size of your muscles. Learn how to maximize your muscle building by reading this article.

You need to take in more calories when trying to grow muscle. You will want to focus on eating enough for you to gain roughly a pound each week. Find ways to consume more calories, and if you do not notice any changes within two weeks, add even more to your diet.

Warming up the right way is important when trying to increase muscle mass. As muscles gain strength, they will undergo greater stress, and will thus be more vulnerable to injuries. You can avoid this injury by warming up properly. Before doing any heavy lifting, exercise for about 10 minutes then do warm up sets.

Keep in mind the “big three” and make sure they’re in your routine. They include dead lifts, squats and bench presses. These compound exercises can make you stronger and improve your muscle tone as well as increasing your muscle mass. Every muscle development workout should include some combination of these three exercises.

Carbohydrates are important to building muscle. Carbohydrates give your body the energy it needs to get you through your bodybuilding program. Without a sufficient amount of carbohydrates, your body breaks down protein, and those proteins are needed to build muscle mass. Eat just enough carbs to increase your body’s function, but don’t overdo it as it can lead to weight gain.

Make sure that your diet is nutritionally sound on days that you are going to lift. Eat more calories an hour before your workout. While this doesn’t give you permission to pig-out on days when you exercises, it does permit you to eat somewhat larger portions of healthy food than you would on off days.

A 60 minute workout is the optimum length for maximum results. Beyond 60 minutes, your body starts releasing the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol blocks testosterone, which can ruin your muscle gaining efforts. Making sure workouts don’t go over one hour is the perfect way to optimize your fitness plan.

When beginning a muscle-building program, lots of people increase the amount of protein they consume too much too soon. This can cause an increase in calories, and if not enough exercise is being done, can lead to fat gain. Try gradually increasing your protein about three hundred calories every few days so that your body can start building muscle better.

Remember that you need lots of extra calories to build muscles. There are several online calculators that help to determine caloric need when building muscle. Take advantage of one of these tools, and use it to tweak your diet so that it includes optimal amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and other nutrients that will increase your muscle mass.

Doing Plyometric

Try doing plyometric exercises. This work smaller, “fast-twitch” muscle fibers, stimulating muscle growth. Like ballistic exercises, plyometrics require explosive movements. For example, while doing plyometric push-ups, your hands should jump up off the floor, exploding as high as possible.

You must restrict weekly workouts to no more than four. If your workouts are providing an appropriate challenge, then your body is going to need restful periods to repair and recuperate in between exercise sessions. Working out too much can cause you to injure your body, and can ultimately be counterproductive for your end results.

Make sure you are eating food that supports your workout schedule. To build muscles, you’ll need to have good protein intake as well as consuming less fat. You do not need to eat more food; instead, you should focus on eating a balanced diet. Also, talk with your doctor or nutritionist about adding vitamins and supplements to your regimen.

Try using the technique of pre-exhaustion to prevent certain muscles from setting limits for you during a particular exercise. For example, your biceps might be fatigued before your lats on rows. The solution is to try isolation movements like straight-arm pulldowns, so that the bicep is not the point of emphasis. Exhausting your lats before doing rows will even out your muscle use and allow you to use your biceps to exhaustion.

Be careful about which exercises you perform with heavier weights, because not all movements are designed to be done with extra bulk. If you are working on your neck, doing regular dips, or trying split squats, then you will want to reduce your load so as not to cause injury to your joints. Instead, focus on workouts that include rowing, bench presses and regular squats.

Consider trying creatine. This supplement allows you to workout much harder and longer when combined with a food plan that is rich in carbs and proteins. Speak with your doctor about the risks of these kinds of supplements to see if this is something you should be taking.

When building muscle, it is important to supplement yourself with creatine. Creatine supplements have been shown to increase pre-existing problems with the kidneys and gastrointestinal tract. Check for interaction warnings if you use any other medications or supplements. Always follow the specifications listed on the product and don’t think that more is better.

What you have learned here should help you start, or improve, your muscle building efforts. Now that you have this great information at your disposal, you can start a muscle-building routine immediately for the quickest results.