Muscle Gain Guide: Build Lean Mass and Get Ripped Fast

Building lean muscle mass effectively involves a combination of high-density training and strategic supplementation like whey protein or creatine. Discover why women should lift weights for fat loss and how to maintain muscle while getting lean.

Young couple jogging

Lactic Acid in the Knees

Your body produces lactic acid, or lactate, in the absence of enough oxygen to convert glucose to energy. As your level of intensity increases, so do your levels of lactic acid.

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How to Get Rid of Knots in Biceps

Knots in a muscle are the result of an injury that causes muscle spasms. If the spasm is not treated, it goes on to form knots in the muscle. As you move around during the day, muscles cycle on and off with different movements. An untreated spasm makes the muscle stay contracted all the time.

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Girls doing cartwheel in field

How to Do an Easy Cartwheel for Kids & Beginners

A cartwheel gets its name from the motion that your body undergoes when you perform one. You make a full rotation from a standing position to an inverted one and back again as if you were affixed to a wheel.

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Men exercising in gym, one man lifting dumbbell, high angle view, differential focus

Does Muscle Tissue Have Less Water Than Fat Tissue?

Approximately 60 percent of the human body is made of water. Water plays a role in all of the systems in your body. It provides the means for your kidneys to work by filtering out toxins. Water is essential to life making up most of your blood that circulates and provides nutrients and oxygen to your body.

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Man using hand weights

Supersets vs. Burnout Sets

Bodybuilders practice a variety of weightlifting techniques, each with its own specific purpose. Both supersets and burnout sets are meant to help build muscle, as opposed to focusing on building strength, but they differ slightly in how they accomplish that goal.

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Senior man helping mature man weight train in gym

What Are The Long Term Effects of Weight Lifting?

Weightlifting can have many positive long term effects on your overall well-being. The four primary benefits are improved strength, increased muscle mass and metabolism, improved coordination and improved bone mineral density. Each of these benefits results from aspects of weight training that are unique to its use.

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Pink dumbell, ankle weights and fitness shoes

Are Ankle Weights Bad for Kids?

Ankle weights can help build strength, speed and quickness in athletes. They can also cause damage when they are worn for long periods or during strenuous exercise. Knee ligaments and tendons along with ankle ligaments are often under duress while working out in ankle weights.

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Close-up of a lady boxer hitting a speed bag

Boxing Vs. Weight Lifting for Fat Loss

Boxing and weight lifting are similar in that both are workout regimens strongly associated with "macho" attitudes. However, the similarities stop right about at that point. Both use different training methods, schedules and exercises to achieve different fitness goals.

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What Types of Exercises Get You Lean and Thin?

People often associate getting lean and thin with doing cardio, but building lean muscle mass is also important if you want to lose weight and look toned. Building lean muscle mass through strength training helps you manage your weight and improves your overall health.

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Two dumbbells and barbell side by side on concrete floor

Heavy Weight Lifting vs. Lightweight

Lifting lighter weights for more repetitions works your muscles just as much as doing just a few reps with very heavy weights, so you'll gain the same amount of strength either way.

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Calisthenics vs. Weightlifting

Calisthenics and weightlifting are both forms of strength training, useful for developing stronger muscles, healthier bones and better stamina. Calisthenics exercises do not rely on any equipment or devices, instead relying on one's own body weight for resistance.

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Should You Run on the Days You Lift Weights?

Running and weightlifting are different types of exercise that are often combined in an exercise regimen. Properly done, the combination can benefit both activities. Running builds cardiovascular capacity, enabling the heart and lungs to move blood and oxygen more effectively through the body.

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Man dribbling basketball against defenders

How to Get Ripped Like Pro Basketball Players

Professional basketball players follow a sport-specific training program to improve their performance, but the training program also builds lean muscle tissue. As a result, pro basketball players are often ripped, with large muscles and a low percentage of body fat.

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Man lifting dumbbells

A Weight Lifting Workout for Opposing Muscle Groups

One of the most common ways to train opposing muscle groups is to use antagonistic supersets. When a muscle is working, such as the biceps in a biceps curl, the opposite muscle -- your triceps -- are resting, known as the antagonist.

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Low angle view of a young man gesturing

How to Gain Weight & Muscle for Skinny Men

Whether you call yourself a hard-gainer, an ectomorph, or just plain skinny, you're not alone in your efforts to pack on healthy weight and gain muscle strength and size. Many naturally thin men have a difficult time upping their body mass.

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Woman holding dumb-bell, portrait, (focus on dumb-bell)

How to Get Bigger Arms for Girls

The arm muscles are a top priority for many women looking to get in shape. During summer, when you're in sleeveless tops and dresses or flaunting your toned body in a bikini, saggy, flabby arms are a definite disadvantage.

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Bodybuilder working out

Toning Muscles Versus Bigger Muscles

Fitness goals can include losing weight, improving cardiovascular function, increasing athletic competitiveness and boosting self-confidence. When it comes to muscle-related goals, some people might want to bulk up, and others might want to achieve a smoother, sleeker muscle tone.

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