Monday, 12 July 2010

Does Creatine Grow Muscle?

Often, there is a bit of uncertainty with what exactly some muscle building supplements do and exactly how they will aid you. Creatine is no different, and one question that is asked regularly is, can creatine build muscle? I'm positive that everyone with an interest in building muscle will have heard about creatine, as it is one of the most popular and most mentioned supplements offered. But what precisely is creatine, what will it do and does creatine build muscle?



Firstly let me settle one issue. Similar to every other muscle building supplements, creatine isn't some form of magic formula that you will take twice and develop huge muscles. What it does is assist you to get the most out of your workouts. Hence you are still going to have to work hard to build muscle fast.



Also, creatine is found naturally in the body and is formed in the liver by combining 3 amino acid. 95% of your creatine is stored in the muscles.



Creatine will assist you in 3 main ways:



1. Provides you with a greater burst of energy



In weight training and in sports, creatine will give you a burst of energy that will allow you to achieve more. This means that you can perform more reps and lift heavier weight, which in turn will let you build more muscle and get the most out of your weight lifting routines.



2. Boosts the quantity of water stored in the muscles.



Creatine will basically draw in the water from your body into the muscles and keeps them very hydrated. From this you will get a stronger pumping action when weight lifting. Once more this will permit you to do more reps and lift more weight which will increase your muscle growth.



3. Speeds up the reparation of muscle



You are able to heal and create bigger muscles a lot quicker after a workout.



One thing that creatine is not, is a steroid. Many individuals make the mistake of thinking that creatine is a form of steroid, but this isn't true. Creatine is not a hormone and thus will not have any of the side-effects that are linked with steroids. Consequently breakouts of acne, or some other related side-effects are not due to creatine.



A very important factor you should remember however is that you have to drink a lot of water when taking creatine, since it uses water to work properly. You will quickly become dehydrated if you fail to drink enough water.



Creatine is a wonderful supplement, that will help you perform better when working out and recover quicker post workout, so it will aid you to build muscle. But remember that it isn't a miracle potion.

Friday, 2 July 2010

Can A Lot Of Reps Create Muscle?

A common question when it comes to building muscle and burning fat is that of how many reps needs to be done to get the top results? Will high reps build muscle or assist to lose weight? How many reps for building muscle? Must I do a lot of reps with low weight, a few reps with a lot of weight or somewhere in between?



Do High Reps Build Muscle



As with everything to do with fitness and muscle building, it absolutely relates to your objectives and what you want to achieve. The following points will give you some assistance deciding.

This will help you decide if high reps build muscle



Building Big Muscle Mass



In order to build muscle fast, you should think big weight and low reps. The huge weights will pressure your muscles to work as much as possible in the shortest space of time. And in terms of building muscle, you do not want to be spending a lot of time working out, or your body will start to eat away at the muscle that you have already created. To grow big muscle, you need your muscles to reach the point of failure, before they come to fatigue caused by the build up of lactic acid. So by lifting heavy weight, they will do sufficient work to tear and damage the muscle tissue properly before becoming tired.



With regards to the amount of reps, you must be completing between 8 and 12 reps for each set, and in the last rep of the set you need to always be struggling to complete it. When you can perform greater than 12 you are not using enough weight and if you can't do 8 reps then you are using too much.



Losing Fat



When you wish to lose fat so that the present muscle you have shows more and becomes more defined, you need to be carrying out quite a high number of reps with a lower weight. To lose fat you must enhance the heart rate for a drawn out amount of time, and also get the heart working at a selection of rates. 20-30 reps per set will make it possible for the muscles to have a good workout without getting overworked and will help to lose fat. This along with some intense cardio will get you good results.



Maintaining What You Have



Should you already have your body absolutely how you would like it, and you do not want to build any more muscle or lose any more fat, but wish to stay as you are, you will need to mix things up a bit.



Have some days where you execute low reps with a significant amount of weight, and some where you do a lot of reps. This will benefit you from both sides to make sure that your muscles don't weaken because of being underused, and you will be doing enough to keep you from adding any fat.



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