It’s never too late to shape yourself into a perfect summer body. You can get up today and exercise to build muscle mass. Now we may have come off too optimistic, but at FitEngine, we’re always positive about the change that even simple physical activity brings to our daily lives.
You can easily shed bad fat and build a leaner and slimmer body. You can try flexibility mobility workouts, strength training, and even power yoga to achieve your goal.
All you need to do is read this guide. We have curated some of the best workouts and exercises that help reduce fat and build muscle mass.
The Thing About Workouts
Note that every exercise won’t render the same results. Some can force faster growth, such as hypertrophic workouts that use muscle fibers of more than one joint. These are compound exercises that yield greater and quicker results, build incredible strength and shed your fat faster than other exercises.
Another type of workout includes resistance or strength training. The best thing about weight, resistance, or strength training is that it strengthens limbs and core and delays the aging effect. Contrary to isolate exercises where only one joint is at work, you use multiple joints to improve balance, ease pain, boost endurance, increase coordination, improve posture and prevent the risk of injuries.
Hypertrophic exercises increase your muscle size to gain additional mass, whereas strength training increases your muscle ability to exert more force keeping the body healthier. All of these exercises tend the muscles to build leaner and meaner mass.
The Basics of Muscle-Building
You don’t need to spend a fortune building a home gym or sign up for a gym membership. You already have the best equipment of all: your body. Let’s learn ways to use this powerful and beautiful equipment in your favor.
There’s no need to maintain a rigid routine for leaner returns. Pick what resonates with you and incorporate those movements into your strength training. Here’s what your week and over strength training should look like:
- Strength or endurance training exercises –2 to 3 times a week.
- Do isometric and isotonic exercises. Isometric exercises will target a group of muscles for contraction (tightening) purposes. Isotonic exercises are muscular exercises where contraction occurs against a load, such as weight-lifting.
- Change movements when needed.
- Focus on a group of muscles.
Follow these four basics of strength training, and you’ll never have to worry about whether you’re doing it right or not.
Recommended Read: 5 Foods to Avoid Right before Workout
Our Personal Favorite Muscle-Building Exercises
If you’re serious about muscle training, you can try these compound exercises at home to glean the best output.
Deadlifts For Leaner Gains
Deadlifts stress the body like no other exercise. They strengthen the lower body and increase gain thickness. Deadlifts also strengthen the core and improve the performance of heavy lifts like squats. If you want to get the most bang from deadlifting, we recommend moving the set instead of taking a break after a rep.
Deadlifts can build the posterior chain mass, but please don’t go by the myth: no pain, no gain. While we recommend testing your limits, we don’t want you to stress your muscles beyond help.
Squats Because Your Legs Needs Some Lovin’
Squats are uncontested exercise for your legs. Whether you load weight or simply squat to the point where your legs are parallel to the earth, it creates trauma to the central nervous system. Don’t worry; it’s not a bad trauma.
The shaky feeling is a sign of life. It means you’re testing your ability to hold a position your body isn’t used to. Squats involve multiple muscle fibers, and the trauma translates to the growth and rebuilding of the body.
Quick Note: Push through your heels in the squat position to exert some tension on your quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes and keep the tension away from your knees.
Power Yoga Moves For Powerful You!
You can also build strength through power yoga. Three of the best power yoga poses that build muscle and strength include:
- Chair Pose: Stand tall with your feet together. Really together, as if they’re joined as one stick. Press your legs and thighs, and then push your hips back as if sitting on a chair. Only there’s no chair, and you’re holding on for dear life. You can extend your arms out and go deeper.
- Half-Plank: Half-plank or chaturangaon knees is when your knees are on the floor in a half-plank. You can try elbow bents as you push your body down the floor. Don’t forget to engage your lower abdomen as you move through the half-plank.
- Warrior II:This is one standing posture where you place your legs in a lunge position. Your back foot is turned at 45-60o, and the front leg is bent with the knee right over the ankle. Extend your arms, engage your core and feel the energy going out through your fingers. Your arms may want to give up but remember you’re stronger than that.
You can find a schedule of affordable yoga classes in NYC on our website. We also write reviews about beginner yoga classes, and our experts can offer a personalized solution for your needs.
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Add Some Cardio To Your Routine
Cardio may not be necessary, but it reaps some benefits. Aerobic activities such as cardiovascular exercises are good for respiratory health. 75 minutes of high-intensity cardio per week can generate significant gains. Regular cardio supports muscle function and growth and eventually reduces the risk of injury.
Think Compound Exercises To Amp Up Your Game
Target multiple muscles or groups of muscles with compound exercises. These exercises are efficient, and you see the results faster than isolated exercises. Try burpees, mountain climbers, and side-plank rotation. All these exercises will increase your heart rate, add some dose of cardio, and of course, build your muscles.
- Burpees: we get it. Burpees are dreadful. You feel like hurling up everything you’ve eaten. Burpees are one high-intensity workout that regulates blood sugar, improves heart function, and boosts aerobic fitness. According to one study, 30 minutes of interval exercises like burpees improve muscle function and strength.
- Planks: “As if half-planks weren’t enough, now these guys have mentioned planks too”if those were your thoughts, we empathize with you. Every second after the first ten seconds of planks feels like hell. The time feels like it has stretched along an endless horizon. Still, you should end the boycott with planks and include them in your weekly exercise if you want to see some serious gains. It’s a mental challenge than physical because your mind tells you to give up. But when you hold your ground despite shaky arms and fire in the abs, that feeling is unmatchable.
- Pushups: we’re really on your side. Trust us! Drop and give us 20! Pushups engage your chest, core, and arms to build strength. They target serratus anterior, pectorals, abs, deltoids, and triceps. This position is similar to the plank, but instead of staying still, you’re moving to build upper body strength.
Please find out more about fitness insanity workouts in NYC and read our expert guide.
Celebrate The Loss That Come Along With Gains
You can sculpt yourself into a leaner body with the aforementioned muscle-building exercises. Muscles protect you from injury and ease the pain. Here’s what you should expect to celebrate with these compound and strength training exercises:
Leaner Look
It’s a misconception that muscles weigh more. One pound of muscle takes up less space than one pound of fat. When you replace your fat with muscles, you can look super lean in skinny-fit jeans even if the number of weight machines doesn’t change. These exercises won’t give you a bulked-up look. Rather, you’ll look leaner and slimmer.
Burn Energy Efficiently
Muscles can burn more energy (calories) than fat. While resting or engaging in physical activity, your muscles will torch up more calories compared to fat tissues.
Boost TheAfterburn
When your body returns or recovers to a resting state after an exercise, it produces more calorie burn called afterburn. It can last for hours to a day. The scientific jargon for this process is called EPOC (excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption).
The highly intensive your workout is, the longer the afterburn lasts. Hence, these strength training and muscle-building exercises can extend EPOC.
Are you looking for fitness classes or ways to lose weight fast with exercise in NYC? FitEngine can help! We offer credible sources of information to help you find the best workout classes you’re looking for.
We have a team of coaches, writers, experts, and athletes skilled in fitness and wellness to offer you personalized solutions. Read our guides, easy workouts, and reviews regarding power yoga classes, flexibility mobility workouts, pilates classes, fitness insanity workouts, dance classes, and strength training classes in NYC. Reach out to us today or book a class.
