The 4 Eternal Pillars of Muscle Building

No body wants to be “fluffy.” Being muscular is not only healthy but it is also physically attractive, cool and… really sexy.

A body that features a pair of “love handles” and a nicely rounded belly isn’t very attractive or sexy anywhere or anytime… but it’s especially unattractive and definitely not sexy when you stick it in a swimsuit and take it out to the pool or beach. Like it or not, MUSCLE is more attractive than fat!

Physical fitness is based on the development of muscle and the simultaneous loss of fat. You want to KEEP the muscle that you have and build on it, while getting rid of that “fluffiness.”

These four pillars of muscle building are eternal and unchanging, no matter your age, sex, or starting weight:

1. Strength Training

2. Cardio Training

3. Diet

4. Mental Training

If you leave out any one of these four pillars of muscle building, your efforts will fail. Also you can’t build muscle on just one pillar at a time. ALL of the pillars must be used from the very beginning of any muscle building program for you to be successful.

Muscle Building Pillar #1: Strength Training

All of the muscle building programs that I’ve ever seen start with strength training… usually weight lifting. Weight lifting is a good strength training option but it isn’t the only one.

Body weight exercises can be used instead of or in conjunction with weight lifting. If you do a push up, you’ve lifted your body weight. If you do a chin-up, you’ve lifted your body weight.

Muscle Building Pillar #2: Cardio Training

Cardio training is usually called aerobic exercise. Walking, jogging, cycling, cardio machines, aerobic exercise classes are all cardio training options.

Muscle Building Pillar #3: Diet

The idea here is to feed the muscle while reducing the fat, and doing it without starving the whole body. Starvation diets and “fad” diets simply don’t work over the long haul and “low carb” diets are not good for producing results when you want to build muscle.

A somewhat reduced calorie – but nutritionally balanced – diet is the one that will work. Eat healthy and depend on the additional exercise to burn the fat.

Muscle Building Pillar #4: Mental Training

Most people think that the insurance height/weight tables can tell them how physically fit they are. They also believe that a scale is the only tool needed to determine whether a physical fitness program is working. That’s just wrong.

The weight to height ratio is important, but it’s NOT the only factor. The mind must toss out old worn out fitness ideas and accept the fact that percentage of body fat is a much more important factor than a number on the scale – and the way that clothes fit and how you look is an even more important factor.