It is up to you to change your life, and the fact that you’ve searched for information on muscle building tells me that you’re interested in doing just that. You want to improve your health, your body and your mind, and this article is a great start, so keep reading!

Anyone trying to bulk up will need to consume more daily calories, overall. Eat the amount that you need to gain a weekly pound. Find healthy ways to get anywhere from 250 to 500 more calories daily. If you don’t see any weight change, consider altering your eating habits.

If you have been weight training for a period of time and want to see results a bit more quickly, work on your large groups of muscles, such as those in your legs, back and chest. Some great exercises for those groups are deadlifts, squats, bench presses, dips and military presses.

Have protein before starting a workout. Whether you have a sandwich with about 4 ounces of lunch meat, a protein bar or a shake, it’s important to remember that protein synthesis is what is important for building muscle. Have your protein about half an hour to an hour before starting a workout for best results.

Lifting heavy weights is productive for many parts of the body, but you should avoid lifting extreme amounts of weight when you are working out by performing neck work, dips and split squats. If the exercise puts you in a joint position that is unfavorable, keep the weight limit to a reasonable level.

Adequate rest is important to your muscle-building program. Your body can perform the job of recovering from muscle fatigue best when you are resting, so make sure to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. Failure to do this can even result in serious injury if your body becomes over tired.

It is extremely important that you stand correctly when doing standing exercises, such as overhead presses and squats. These exercises call for a type of athletic stance. In order to achieve this, you should stand with your feet at about the width of your shoulders. Then, slightly point your toes outward, bend the knees, and arch your lower back. Always make sure that your eyes are looking forward.

Try varying your grips. Once you become experienced in working out, your muscles will start to resist any growth on exercises that are familiar to them. Different grips can help to make these familiar exercises different, which can cause additional muscle growth. Examples of exercise where you can change the grip are barbell rows, barbell curls, pull-ups, and bench presses. Try using wide grips, close hand grips, reverse grips, and even mixed grips that include having one hand up and one hand down.

Eat plenty of protein when you are on a muscle-building regimen. Be sure to eat whole proteins with every meal. A good rule to follow is to ingest one gram of protein for each pound of body weight. Good sources of low-fat protein include fish, low-fat milk and lean red meats.

You need to know how many calories to eat per day in order to gain the muscle you want to gain. To determine your daily calorie intake you should multiple your weight by 15. The resulting number is the number of calories your body needs to build muscle and burn as much fat as possible.

Always use your own intuition when working out. Although planning out your workouts ahead is good for making sure that you stay accountable, sometimes you can’t always stick to this schedule. For example, you might not be ready for another quad session after your last session left you exhausted. On the other hand, your arms could be well rested after a good workout just a few days ago. Listen to what your body tells you, and follow it.

Make sure that you select the best weight for yourself when doing lifting exercises. Research has proven that doing six to twelve reps at around seventy to eighty percent of your maximum for one rep, will give you the best combination of both volume and load. This can stimulate additional muscle growth.

When deciding which muscles to work, aim to work out opposing muscle groups within one workout. Combine chest and back exercises or quad and hamstring ones, for example. By working out this way, one muscle can take a break while the other is being trained. This is beneficial because the intensity of your workouts is easily increased with increasing the time you spend building muscles at the gym.

Allow yourself to eat some ice cream. Studies have shown that eating one bowl of any type of ice cream that you like about two hours after a workout does some good. It will trigger the surge of insulin in your body better than many other foods will, and it will taste good too!

Performing squats is essential for lifting routines. The squat incorporates many different muscle groups. Not only are your glute and quad muscles activated, but your lower back, hamstrings, core, and shoulders are also utilized. People who do squats regularly have been proven to have more muscle mass than those who do not.

If you have enough time, consider breaking up workouts into two different sessions per day. For example, you could train your chest in the morning, and then once evening strikes, you can train your back. Resting your body in between lets your energy stores recover better than training both muscles during the same workout.

Free weights are better for building muscle mass than machines. Machines have their uses, but force the body into strict motions. With free weights, you can lift more and with greater range of motion. They also help to improve your body’s balance, of which machines are incapable. In addition, if you workout at home, free weights are less expensive and take up a smaller footprint than machines.

What you’ve read here is a collection of tips and tricks which can help you to build muscle simply, effectively and with as little effort as possible. The knowledge you’ve gained will help you to change your body for the better, leading to a better quality of life, so get down to work!