by Amelia10
September 7, 2021
Struggling to get a sculpted body with a healthy muscle mass? Spending substantial hours in the best Rhodes fitness studios still not achieving the dreamy muscular cuts and curves?  Depending solely on heavyweight lifts isn’t going to grow you the gorgeous muscles you desire. Of course, weight lifting is necessary. But you might be missing out on the other major aspects of muscle building.    Weight training combined with correct repetitions, expert nutritional guidance in the best Rhodes gym, adequate sleep, etc., plays a pivotal role in your muscle-building journey.  Not sure how and where to start with your muscle-building regime? We’re here to help. In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about growing the muscles and get a ripped, shredded body.  Let’s start with the basics first! 

What Does Muscle Growth Indicate?

Muscle growth or muscle hypertrophy occurs when you consistently subject your muscles to higher degrees of resistance or increasing weight. By doing so, you continually challenge your muscle fibres.  To counteract this resistance or injury, your body starts repairing the damaged or stretched muscle fibres by fusion forming myofibrils, leading to enhanced muscle mass.  Various genetic factors and hormone levels regulate your muscle growth. The best Rhodes gyms design muscle-building workout plans depending on your body physiology. 

How Does Muscle Growth Occur?

Don’t worry. We won’t bore you with the fancy scientific jargon. We’ll keep it simple!
  • As discussed before, your body responds to muscle breakdown by developing new protein strands or muscle fibres through cellular processes. So, from where do these new muscle strands come from?
  • The answer is satellite cells. To put it in simple words, satellite cells are like distress signal respondents. When you visit a rhodes personal training studio, the consultants will draft a workout plan to activate your satellite cells.
  • Once your satellite cells get activated, they function as a catalyst to add more nuclei (the growing core of your muscle cells). They ultimately contribute to myofibril growth (new muscle cells). 
  • The most surprising part? Your body doesn’t undergo these adaptions when you workout. But it happens when you rest. Your workout goal is to induce the stress, send out the distress signal, and let the satellite cells (distress respondents) get activated. 
Still with us? Great! Coming to your next big question, how to activate the satellite cells? When you get enrolled in any credible Rhodes gym, your trainer will follow these 5 hacks to build your muscles. 

Top 5 Factors To Be Considered For Muscle Building

  • Induce Muscle Tension And Metabolic Stress Through Strength Training

To induce muscle growth, you need to subject your body muscles to substantial stress greater than your muscles had previously adapted.  How to achieve this?  The primary approach is through strength training. The additional muscle tension stimulates satellite cell activation. Your strength training routine at Rhodes gym may include-
  • Lifting progressively heavy free weights
  • Working out on stationery weight machines 
  • Muscle activation using resistance bands 
  • Exercises leveraging your own body weight, such as pushups, lunges, squats, etc. 
  • Pilates 

  • Get Your Repetitions And Sets Correct

A study conducted in 2019 published on PubMed found that three sets of resistance training had better outcomes than one set.  You must have felt the numbing and painful sensations on your legs after the leg day.  That’s local muscle damage. However, you stop feeling the strain with a progressive workout at home or at any Rhodes gyms.  That’s your muscles getting acquainted with the damage. You need to keep the damage from the workout present in your muscles. Therefore increasing reps, sets, and weight is the key.  You won’t feel the same soreness as your first day since your body replaces it with other muscles building mechanisms and active satellite cells. 

  • Don’t Abandon Your Cardiovascular Exercises

Cardio doesn’t help in muscle building. That’s a myth you might have so many times. In fact, if you consult the best Rhodes fitness trainers, you’ll always find a certain level of cardiovascular or aerobic exercises in your workout routine.  A peer-reviewed study by Konopka and Harber published in 2014 on PubMed suggested that optimal muscle building can be achieved through cardiovascular or aerobic activity under the following guidelines:
  • Perform exercises for 30–45 minutes per session. 
  • Maintain 70–80% of heart rate reserve (resting heart rate- max. heart rate),
  • Exercise 4–5 days every week
Besides building your muscles, cardio helps to reduce your chances of injuring while strength training and enhances overall health.  Cardio doesn’t mean you always need to run on a treadmill. You can include the following activities as well;
  • Walking
  • Biking
  • Dancing
  • Hiking
  • Aerobic strength circuits including jumping jacks, lunges, jump squats, high knees, etc. 
  • Cycling

  • Eat Right

If you want to get the desired chiselled, muscular body, you can’t compromise on your protein intake. Diet plays a pivotal role in your muscle buildup physiology. If you’re taking up a membership from a reputed, premium Rhodes gym, you’ll get a diet chart or diet recommendation.  According to the current guidelines, the ideal daily protein intake should be 56g in males and 46 g in females for optimum muscle growth.  Protein intake immediately after the workout induces protein synthesis in muscles and promotes muscle reconditioning. Protein sources include:
  • Protein supplements
  • Fish including salmon, tuna, etc
  • Eggs
  • Meat 
  • Milk
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Lentils
  • Tofu
  • Soybeans, etc. 

  • Sleep Tight

As we’ve mentioned earlier, muscle restoration activity happens when you rest. 
  • Rest is a crucial factor for building muscle. With adequate rest for each muscle group, your muscles will lose their ability to repair and regenerate. Insufficient rest also increases the chances of workout-related injury. 
  • Studies show that sleep deprivation also increases the post workout cortisol levels. Cortisol can negatively affect your muscle regeneration and restoration cycle. 

Get Strong With Best Rhodes Fitness Trainers

Having a guided workout by fitness trainers at gyms is the best way to get your muscles visible. The fitness trainers have extensive knowledge about muscle cell stimulation exercises and mechanisms. They can guide you through all the 5 factors required to build muscle. Eat right, sleep tight, exercise well, and get strong. 
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