Building muscle is one of the main reasons we keep coming back to the gym, and while you may be putting in a lot of effort, sometimes it’s for nothing. So the question arises, how do you build muscle effectively? And this is a question that perplexes many gym goers, the truth is that there is no single answer that we can give you that will guarantee muscle gain. Because to build muscle, you have to change multiple variables in your training and nutrition routines to accommodate muscle growth.
If you want to have a better chance of building real muscle, we suggest creating a plan for your nutrition and training habits. No, this won’t take all the fun out of it, and it will certainly put you in a better position to achieve your goals and without it you simply won’t get the same results you could with it. Follow these 5 tips below to help you strategically approach your goals and get better results in the process.
Eat more
First things first when looking to build more muscle, is to eat more food/protein. This may sound like a simple instruction, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Make sure you consume enough protein every day, the more protein your body stores, the more muscle you can build. It sounds easy right? Mistaken! Your body is constantly breaking down its protein stores to repair cells, make hormones, and all sorts of other things. So to counteract this, you should aim for around 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. So if you’re 175 pounds, you should aim for 175 grams of protein, and then split the rest of your daily calories between carbs and fat.
When it comes to calories you want to aim for an extra 250-500 calories per day as a starting point, this can be easily achieved by adding a few extra meals, try 4-6 smaller meals per day. If you have a hard time gaining weight, this is very important, so you need to be strict with it. As long as you keep good quality fuel getting into your body, especially through carbs and protein, you’ll have all the ammunition you need to build muscle, and what’s more, give your metabolism a boost in the process.
Lift heavy and work big
Well, this one probably didn’t take you by surprise. However, a key factor when lifting this way is to focus on the entire range of motion, concentric and eccentric. This means that the downward movement (eg the downward part of a bicep curl) needs to be controlled more, this will greatly increase the intensity of your training and, when combined with the concentric movement, increases muscle tear and repair . This is not to say that higher rep sets are banned from your routines, they still offer a lot of value, the key is getting the split between the two right.
Work big… what do we mean by that? We’re talking about compound movements, exercises that target multiple muscle groups and joints at once. These types of movements are a great addition to any workout, allow for further growth, and create more of a “real life” challenge for your body. Make the most of them by including squats, pull-ups, deadlifts, and bench presses in your workouts where appropriate.
limit your cardio
Ahh, three words almost every gym-goer wants to hear. Cardio is great for you, don’t get us wrong, but when it comes to building muscle, too much can be a big no no. Limit the amount of time you spend on the treadmill, two 30 minute light jogs a week would suffice, but if you want to do a better one try interval training 2-3 times a week, this will allow you to burn fat while saving effort. gained muscle.
change your routine
There are a number of reasons why you should switch up your workouts from time to time. When your body repeats the same exercises over and over again it can lead to overuse which leads to injury, to combat this give your body adequate rest between sessions and switch up your routine every 4-6 weeks. To make it easier for you, you can create an exercise journal to keep track of what exercises you’re doing and when, repetitions, sets, and other training variables. Try to mix them as you see fit.
drink shakes
Surround your workouts with good nutrition and your body will thank you, you can have a high protein and carbohydrate meal about an hour before you exercise and drink a shake throughout your exercise, or you can drink your shake before and have a meal high carb afterwards. These are just two recommended options though, there are a number of ways you can work this out and since everyone is different in how they react to nutrition, the best way to find what works best for you is to experiment with it. . However, it may help to keep in mind that a meal takes longer to digest than a shake, so if you need a quick fix, go for the shake.
rest and recovery
This is something that you have probably seen discussed several times on TREN, this is because the recovery stages are very important. The ideal amount of sleep required per night is 7-8 hours, this gives your body the best chance to repair the microscopic tears caused by training, and the more opportunities you give the body to recover, the better the muscle growth rate and strength improvement. .
