Building muscles is a huge factor when it comes to staying healthy. It keeps your bones safe and also helps retain muscle mass. Also, muscles help you burn more calories and keep your energy levels high. Some of you may be wondering, can you gain muscle without working out?
You cannot gain muscle without working out. The way to grow muscle is to cause microtears to the muscle fibers through resistance training. Once you’ve caused microtears to the muscle, your body will then respond to the trauma by repairing the damaged muscle fibers, this is the time your muscles will thicken and grow.
Most people think that the only way to gain muscle is by going to the gym. And, while that helps, it isn’t the only way. If you don’t like going to the gym, you can do at-home workouts and make a few lifestyle and diet changes to reach your goal. Getting enough sleep and eating healthier are just some of them.
If you want to know how to gain muscle, then continue reading.
Can You Gain Muscle Without Working Out?
Exercising plays a major role in gaining muscle. To build muscle, you must apply tension to the muscle through exercise. When you apply enough tension, you will create micro-tears to your muscle fibers. After your workout, your body will repair the damaged muscle fibers by fusing them together to form new protein strands that make up your muscles which are called myofibril.
Another factor in building muscle is to make some drastic changes to your nutrition. Nutrition plays a significant role when it comes to gaining muscles. One of these is to eat protein-rich meals throughout your day. This way, your body has a steady source of amino acids. You can add plant-based protein sources to your meals, including peanuts and firm tofu, which are rich in leucine, for starters.
Also, you’ll have to eat more food to build muscles. This means that you must calculate how many calories your body needs in order to build muscle. However, keep in mind that adding calories is only healthy if you eat whole foods. Eating more unhealthy fat only increases your body fat and makes you gain more fat than muscle. The main objective is to lose fat not gain it.
Lastly, what you have to understand is that building muscles take time. It needs consistency, too. Thus, the ultimate recipe for building lean muscles is to be consistent with your methods and maintain them for the long haul.
Ultimately, gaining muscles isn’t all about working out. Like mentioned earlier, working out is just one of the many factors that help you build muscles. Like your diet and rest, other factors need consideration if you want to gain muscles without hitting the gym.
How To Gain Muscle
Now that we’ve learned if you can gain muscle without working out, let’s find out how you can get ‘em gains! If you’re ready to start building muscle, here are some tips you can follow. These are also helpful if you want to know how to build muscle at home.
1. Do strength training
Doing strength training is key to gaining muscles. You need to apply enough tension to your muscles to cause microtears to your muscle fibers. Then during the recovery stage is when your muscle will repair itself and grow.
You can do strength or resistance training with weight or even just by using your own body weight.
2. Add more protein to your diet.
Proteins are the building blocks that help build and maintain lean muscles. Additionally, they also help your muscles recover from the damage working out causes. Thus, adding high-protein foods to your diet can help you reach your goal faster. You can add protein-rich foods like beef, lentils, beans, and eggs to your diet to get you started.
However, keep in mind that excessive amounts of protein can harm you. With this, make sure to eat just the recommended amount of protein to keep your body safe.
3. Don’t forget your carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are important for building muscles too! Carbs are protein sparing which is why they are helpful for building muscles. The process in which your body acquires energy from other sources apart from protein is called “protein sparing”. During this process your body conserves muscle tissue.
So don’t skip out on the carbs!
4. Try to boost your metabolism.
To make building lean muscles easier, your body has to get rid of stored fats. The best way to do this is to boost your metabolism, improving your body’s ability to burn calories.
A way to do this is to add Omega-3 Fatty acids, green tea, and walnuts to your diet. You can also eat more bell peppers to help you start.
5. Get enough sleep.
One of the essential things that can help you build muscles is getting enough sleep every night. This is because during sleep time, the body repairs and prepares itself for the day ahead. Thus, if you don’t get enough sleep, the body misses the hours it needs to recover properly. Not only that, but not getting enough shuteye can also weaken your immune system, making you susceptible to various illnesses.
With this, be sure to get at least seven hours of sleep a night. If you’re having a hard time, you can also look for all-natural ways to fall asleep faster.
6. Make sure that you take rest days.
Training the same muscle every day doesn’t help you reach your goal faster. In fact, overtraining your muscles delays you. Your muscles need time to recover from the damage you get from working them out. If you don’t give your muscles the time they need, you risk getting injuries, poor sleep, and lack of energy.
If you want proper strength training, the rule of thumb is to train large muscle groups at most three times a week. Remember to leave at least 48 hours in between training sessions. During your rest days, you can do yoga or foam rolling to stretch your muscles and help them recover and rebuild.
Does Protein Build Muscle Without Working Out?
It takes more than consuming protein to build or gain muscle. You will still need to work out in order to activate muscle gain because muscles are gained by applying resistance to your muscle.
Applying tension to your muscles will then cause microtears to the muscle fibers. Then during your rest, your muscles will regenerate which will make them stronger and thicker.
What Happens To Muscles Without Exercise?
Now that you’ve learned about some ways to gain muscle, it’s time to look deeper. Specifically, we’ll address what happens to your muscles if you don’t work out or stop working out.
Once you build a workout routine, you might be worried about your progress once you take a break. However, taking breaks is vital in helping you reach your fitness goals. On the contrary, taking a break that’s too long can make you lose the muscle you’ve gained.
If you’re an athlete, you start losing your muscle strength approximately after three weeks of not working out. However, you lose less overall muscle strength compared to non-athletes. Generally, you can take a break that’s three to four weeks long without losing strength.
Like athletes, non-athletes can take three weeks off their workout routine before experiencing muscle strength losses. However, keep in mind not to take a longer break if you can. This is because non-athletes are more likely to see a drop in their progress during inactivity.
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