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 Muscle and fitness are two terms that many people use interchangeably; however, while they are closely related, they have very different meanings. Muscle is just one component of fitness, and complete fitness is unachievable without muscle. This article will explain why, to be a successful bodybuilder, you have to have muscle and fitness, not just muscle alone.
Let’s first take a look at muscle. As defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, muscle is “a body tissue consisting of long cells that contract when stimulated and produce motion.” Muscle building is the process of developing this tissue to make it bigger and stronger. Most bodybuilding workout programs focus on developing the skeletal muscles alone, completely ignoring the cardiovascular muscles. This leaves bodybuilders strong, but not necessarily fit.
Fitness, is a physical state that is typically defined as the ability of the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system and the musculoskeletal system to operate at maximum efficiency. To achieve true fitness it is necessary to do incorporate aerobics, bodybuilding workout and stretching into your bodybuilding exercise program. You may also consider incorporating plyometric exercises, which will enhance your speed, agility, coordination and power.
Seeing that muscle and fitness go hand-in-hand, you may want to modify your bodybuilding workout routine so you can achieve fitness, not just muscularity. If you do, you will see that the effects on your physique will be impressive, and you’ll be much more competitive in the bodybuilding arena.
As a bodybuilder, you probably already have a pretty effective training split established to build muscle fast. In order to work on the other components of fitness, the changes you’ll need to make are minimal. First, you should be following a bodybuilding nutrition plan that will help fuel your muscle and fitness efforts. Next, you’ll need to incorporate aerobic training into your bodybuilding workout program. This should be done for 30 minutes a day for about 5 days a week. Most of your aerobic training should be done at a moderate pace; just enough to raise your heart rate and increase your respiration. The only other thing you need to do to enhance you fitness level is to stretch after every bodybuilding workout. The more flexible you are, the better your range of motion will be during your weight training workouts. Additionally, flexibility will decrease you chances of sustaining a muscular injury.
If you already follow a bodybuilding workout program that focuses on muscle building alone, you can see that it takes very little time or effort to achieve muscle and fitness. Building muscle will remain your main focus; however, your aesthetic results will be much improved if shift a little bit of focus to fitness as a whole.
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