The XXX factors for building muscle (Part 1)

I was talking to a young man in the gym today regarding the best way to build muscle and if there was some magic X factor behind it all. He was spending many hours in the gym, 7 days a week, believing if he did this and than went home and ate anything he wanted as he was young enough and had 'done enough' to burn it all off, he would build muscle. However despite doing all this he wasn't seeing any results. I explained to him that there are in fact 3 X factors to successfully build muscle. If one or more is ignored than it will be harder if not near impossible to build muscle successfully. Although genetics is an important factor in determining how much muscle we can build and we all can't end up looking like 'Arnies', even if we had the best nutrition and work out plan in the world, as not everyone has the right genetic make up to do this. However you can always better yourself if you embrace and ensure you follow all 3 of these X Factors:- 1). Intensity of your workout-what's the point doing 3+ sets of 6-12 reps if the weight you are using isn't any way near heavy enough and after completing your 12th rep you look smugly in the mirror, thinking you've done enough but knowing you could have easily lifted another 10 reps at that weight. If that's the case you must lift heavier. The body is in general quite lazy and will only progress in strength and fitness if you push it. Go heavy and when you hit that 10th or 12th rep your muscles should be screaming and shaking as you reach muscle failure. If you reach this point you are stimulating the muscle enough to encourage growth as the muscle fibres are quite literally ripped apart, only to be rebuilt bigger and stronger in order to accomplish the same task again. But once the body can do that weight you than must increase the weight or change up your fitness programme, in order to continue to stimulate the muscle and encourage growth.

How exercise can reduce the risk of heart disease

This week we heard of the sad death of alternative comedian, Rik Mayall who suddenly died at the age of 56. According to his widow he had an 'acute cardiac event' after he had finished his morning run. However the post mortem was inconclusive and it may take weeks to discover what the cause of death was. No doubt in some corners of the press they will now say that doing exercise can kill you! Although performing exercise does have some risks, these risks are far out weighed by the benefits. Doing moderate exercise according to research will help you reduce the risk of heart disease and suffering a 'cardiac event.' Data collected confirmed that inactivity is considerably more dangerous than other major risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Doing exercise can help reduce the risk factors by strengthening the heart and lungs, reducing body fat, blood pressure, increased insulin sensitivity of muscles, increasing the uptake of glycogen, therefore controlling blood sugar levels better and helping to reduce cholesterol levels. Therefore you stand more of a chance of suffering from an 'acute cardiac event' if you sit on your butt all day doing sweet FA, rather than doing a bit of moderate exercise. Government guidelines suggest that doing 5 x 30 minutes of moderate exercise a week, (feel slightly out of breath, slightly perspiring and slightly uncomfortable) will reap these benefits. Exercise has also shown to help those who already have heart disease and have suffered from a heart attack to live longer and live better quality lives. Evidence has shown that exercise can reduce morbidity and mortality in this group of patients by 19% compared with usual care. Working with those who have had past cardiac events I know from personal experience how exercise can help improve their every day lives and reduce the risk of further events. I know of one older lady from my older people class who suffers from angina (slight blockage to coronary artery that causes chest pains). She used to suffer from the symptoms a lot, having to use her GTN spray (this relieves the pain by opening up the arteries more, increasing blood flow). Since exercising she hasn't had to use the spray in years! So remember the evidence shows that the benefits of exercise far outweigh the risks of suffering an 'acute cardiac event.'