How to develop muscle and muscle tone

Exercising can be done in different ways so that the shape of the body can go into two directions. One is lean and fit body, while the other is bulked up body with emphasized muscles. When it comes to men, most of them usually desire this second form and they perform exercising towards that goal. So, what do we have to do to reach that goal, how to develop muscles and muscle tone?

Workout types

Strengthening muscles can be done with or without the additional weights. The most popular and common exercise performed without additional weight is push-up. It is a great exercise for strengthening the entire torso, arms and even legs. It is interesting that focus in this exercise can be shifted from one muscle to another. For example, a starting position can have different variations depending on the distance between the palms. Wide distance will affect shoulders more than other muscles, while short distance will be effective for triceps. Normal position affects the entire arm. Also, the level of legs can be changed, with higher level being essential for hardening the exercise. There are also special variations, those performed on fingertips instead of palms, which is excellent for toning the muscles of forearms. There can also be differences in the methods when performing this exercise. Push-up can be performed slowly with the entire motion, or the motion can be reduced and performed fast for a different kind of effect.

Other exercises that can be done without weights are triceps dips, pull ups, exercises for abdominal area, squats, plank etc. For some fine toning, intensive cardio should be done too at least as a sort of cross training. Cross training is essential because it will put the muscles into different kind of contractions and that will create more muscle cells and fibers. For example, muscle mass building can be splashed with jogging, but not only simple jogging; it should be combined with sprints (a sort of cross training within cross training).Weights

Additional weight should be used in a form of barbell and dumbbells. The exercise used mostly is a bench press. This is an excellent exercise for building pectoral area, arms and shoulders. It requires barbell, weights and a bench with barbell holders. If there are no holders, it is not easy to perform this exercise without an assistant, but it is possible, especially if the lifted weight is not so heavy. Other effective exercises include bicep curls, squat with weights, thigh machine and others…