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Building Muscle and Gaining Weight
Unlike aerobic exercise, which emphasizes endurance training, anaerobic exercise focuses on strength
training. A gradual weight gain can occur while building the size and strength of muscles. While
developing muscle mass, your body adapts to the stress placed upon it. You can modify your diet to
include foods such as meat, fish and vegetables. These foods help muscles recover and replenish
important nutrients after a strenuous workout.
Muscle Strength and Endurance
To achieve the greatest benefit from exercise, it is important to develop an exercise program that allows
you to work all of the major muscle groups equally.
To increase muscle strength, follow this principle:
Increasing resistance and maintaining the number of repetitions of an exercise results in increased
muscle strength.
To tone your body, follow this principle: Decreasing resistance plus increasing the number of repetitions of
an exercise results in increased body tone.
Once you feel comfortable with an exercise, you can change the resistance, the number of repetitions, or
the speed at which you do the exercise. It is not necessary to change all three variables. For example,
let’s say that you are training at 50 lb. and performing the exercise 10 times in 3 minutes. When this
becomes too easy, you may decide to move up to lifting 27 kg (60 lb.) for the same number of repetitions
in the same amount of time. Lifting more weights fewer times most often develops muscle strength. To
gain both muscle strength and endurance, it is recommended that you perform each exercise 15 to 20
reps per set.
Training Intensity
How hard you begin to train depends on your overall level of fitness. The soreness you experienced can
be lessened by decreasing the load you place on your muscles and by performing fewer sets. To avoid
injury, you should gradually work into an exercise program and set the load to your individual fitness level.
The load should increase as your fitness level increases.
Muscle soreness is common, especially when you first start exercising. If you are painfully sore for a long
time, it may be time to change your program. Eventually, your muscle system will become accustomed to
the stress and strain placed on it.
Beginning a Strength Building Program
