If you want to be in your best ever shape, then building strong muscles that look good and that give you the raw pushing power you need to lift things and move around effectively is one of the top ways to do so. When your muscles are strong and healthy, you feel strong and healthy – and you look pretty good too.
If you want to get stronger muscles then of course one of the top ways to accomplish this is by working out in the gym, and of course that’s the way that bodybuilders and athletes will increase their muscle power to improve their physical prowess. However this is just one way we can strengthen our muscles, and even if you’re not an athlete there are things you should be doing to keep them in the top possible condition so that you can feel good and avoid injury. Here we will look at some of the best things you can do for your muscles.
Stretching
Stretching before any kind of vigorous exercise or exertion is one very important way to avoid injury and to keep your muscles working at their best. Again this doesn’t just apply to athletes – even if you’re just lifting boxes it’s still important to stretch and to limber up first if you want to avoid pulling something or trapping a nerve. Make sure that you stretch regularly then, and that you don’t go into any tough movements ‘cold’.
Warming Up and Cooling Dow
Stretching should be part of a warm up that will also include gentle CV, and just as important is your cool down. Both of these things encourage blood flow to your muscles which can help improve performance and – in the latter case – improve recovery times.
Amino Acids
Bodybuilders are constantly tearing their muscle fibres which means their body is forced to constantly repair them and build them back up as strong as possible. For this they need to eat lots and lots of protein in order to get the amino acids they need – but even if you aren’t lifting heavy weights regularly it’s still advisable to try and get lots of protein in your diet in order to let your body repair the general ‘wear and tear’ and the general degradation that is normal for muscles.
Minerals
It’s not just protein that the body uses to maintain the muscles though, but also a range of important minerals. One example is calcium which helps to strengthen our muscle contractions by strengthening connective tissues, and another is potassium which helps to prevent cramping.
Sleep
While our system is constantly repairing and rebuilding muscle, this process happens to a much greater degree when we’re sleeping and our body is in an ‘anabolic state’ as a result. If you are struggling to get good quality sleep then you’ll find that your muscle definition suffers along with many other aspects of your health.
Myotherapy/Massage
Myotherapy and massage are both very good for our muscles because they help to encourage blood flow while at the same time letting us relax tight muscles. When you get a myotherapy massage this should be carried out by a trained professional who will know how to feel for knots and other problems and then work them out to help avoid future injury and give our muscles a great chance to relax.
Attached Images:
License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://www.andertoons.com/- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
Eliza Bron is a health blogger by profession. On her health blogs she advises people who have injured hamstrings to undergo myotherapy in Melbourne
