Do you want to enhance the quality of your life and keep your independence as you age? If so, building your muscle mass is one of the keys to achieving that goal. There are many benefits to building muscle mass, and we are not only talking about looking fit and strong.
Healthy muscle mass can help you avoid chronic illnesses and even extend your life expectancy. This is why it is worth making lifestyle changes and developing new habits to build and maintain muscle mass.
Here is what you can do to get started:
Follow a Healthy, Nutritious Diet
One of the best places to start is your diet. For any ‘body’ to be healthy, diet and nutrition are important, and should be on the top of the list. You need to include protein, complex carbs and healthy fats.
Consume Protein-Rich Foods
Your body needs protein to build muscle mass. It breaks down protein-rich foods into amino acids, the building blocks of the muscle. The easiest way to get the right amount of protein each day is to eat protein-rich foods every meal. Choose from foods such as red meat, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy, lentils, tofu, and nuts. You may also drink protein shakes if you do not consume enough protein from your food.
Consume Complex Carbohydrates
When building muscles, many people think they have to reduce their carb intake and focus only on protein. You need both. Without going into too much detail, you need to consume carbohydrates for optimal health! You cannot live on only protein. What is important are the types of carbs you consume.
Fruits and vegetables are good sources of complex carbohydrates that can give you a stable source of energy to fuel your activities.
Consume Healthy Fats
You also need to eat healthy fats to support your muscle growth. It helps improve body fat loss, as well as fuel your body during moderate-intensity exercise. Fatty acids also play a key role in producing the structural component of cell membranes, including muscle cells. You can get healthy fats from oily fish like tuna and salmon, avocado, vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds.
Nutrition – Vitamins and Minerals
When building and maintaining muscle mass, it is also essential to ensure that you get proper nutrition. Aside from the macronutrients – protein, carbs, and healthy fats – you also need calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, potassium, glutamine, vitamin B12, and iron. If your meals are not as balanced as they could be, nutritional supplements may be helpful.
Keep Yourself Hydrated
Make sure that you keep yourself hydrated! This is so important! Your body and muscles need water. You cannot grow muscle without plenty of water. If you are exercising to build muscle mass, exercise causes water loss as you sweat. So if you do not replace that water, it could affect your muscle mass and your muscle recovery.
Do Regular Resistance and Strength Training
Regular resistance and strength training builds muscle mass. They create stress and small tears in the muscles, which grow bigger when they heal. These exercises also increase your metabolic rate and strengthen the muscles around your joints to improve your balance and stability. Aim to lift weights and perform a resistance routine two to three times a week for 30 minutes each session.
Go Walking Every Day
Walking is one of the simplest exercises you can do, and it is a very effective one for building and maintaining muscle mass. It increases your mobility, improves blood flow, and improves your body’s response to insulin. All these can help with muscle repair and recovery.
Have you ever watched a person walk by your house day after day, week after week? Over the weeks did their posture, speed, and fitness improve? Of course it did! That’s the power of walking.
Manage Your Stress Levels
Your mental well-being can affect your muscle mass growth and maintenance. It can actually affect many areas of your health. Chronic stress is a silent killer! It can also reduce muscle strength, which is why it is important to reduce the stress in your life. Less stress will help you live longer too.
Get Plenty of Quality Sleep
Growing and maintaining muscle mass also requires good sleeping habits. Unfortunately, sleep is often overlooked. Lack of sleep can increase the release of catabolic hormones, which causes a decline in muscle mass and strength.
You need to aim for at least 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep at night, but the more the better. It is also when you are sleeping that the restorative growth hormones are released. So sleep and enjoy the benefits.
Final Thoughts
Building muscle mass is not limited to just eating protein-packed meals and lifting weights. You actually need to take care of your entire health and well-being. This includes your diet and nutrition, the quality of your sleep, your mental health, and more.
Make the lifestyle changes necessary and start feeling healthier, looking better, and standing strong for many years to come. It doesn’t take too much effort to have healthy muscle mass for the rest of your life!
