Firstly, you’re one of 4,500 people who type into Google “how build muscle” every month! So, we thought we’d cover it in today’s blog. And guy or girl, who doesn’t want to build muscle when it’s the only thing that shapes our silhouettes! Despite our natural anthropometrics (bone structure). Anyway, we are going to go through some of the key elements that will give you the best return on your investment. Important to note, there will always be differences in regards to each individuals genetics. But this blog will include the meat and potatoes of what will help everyone to maximize their gains.
First and foremost though, understanding what’s realistic regarding natural muscle building is super important! So, check out our in depth and informative blog. In turn, you will appreciate your journey and personal success more and avoid getting confused with enhanced bodybuilders.
5 Key Tips To Build Muscle Optimally
Now, based on your quick search of “how build muscle” we know you’re in a bid to build muscle as soon as possible! However, make sure that you enjoy the journey! Because although it’s nice to achieve goals, when you get there you’ll genuinely miss the chase! Because it really is about the journey, not the destination. Below is a list of 5 key aspects you’ll need to apply. And although sleep hasn’t made this list remember that we only grow when we rest! So, aim for 7-8 hours per night.
Weight Lifting!
Obviously, weight lifting is the spark that opens the flood gates to muscle building! And it’s the main way we can raise protein synthesis rates in muscles. Because when we train, we break muscles down which signals the body to elevate protein synthesis levels to repair the damage and grow back bigger and stronger! Now, it’s important to stimulate the muscles and not annihilate them, especially as a beginner. So, you’re probably best starting out doing less as your body is so sensitive to building muscle. This way you get to save tricks up your sleeve for when your body get’s more stubborn! With that said, aim for 3 workouts per week with around 6-10 exercises in each workout. In addition, around 10 sets per muscle per week in a full body type split.
“How Build Muscle”. Calories!
So, energy to our muscles are like the brick layers to a house! Without consuming adequate energy will only allow our body to repair the damage back to normal levels before. Thus, we must support the muscle building process with quality and quantity of food so we don’t spin our wheels. In doing so, we give our body what it needs to convert muscle damage into thicker and larger muscle! We have much more specific methods for getting your calories right here. But for now, men start around 2,500-2,700 and women around 2,000-2,200 calories. And if you’re training hard 3 times per week without gaining muscle (visually or scales increases). Just add 100-200 calories onto your daily target (700-1,400 per week) after 2-4 weeks of stalling.
Protein!
Now, proteins to our muscles are like the bricks to a house! Proteins are the building blocks (not only building muscle) that pretty much construct everything in the body! Such as hair, nails, bones, cartilage, skin, organs and blood! However, as important as protein is for muscle building, without the support of calories it can’t work as affectively. So, protein is like the cab driver and the calories the car! Moreover, not achieving a daily calorie surplus (above TDEE) is a mistake I see people do frequently! I recommend consuming 0.7-1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (175lb x 0.9 = 157.5 grams). Although, if you are at high body fat levels it may be best using 0.7-1 gram of protein per centimeter of height.
“How Build Muscle”. Exercise Selection!
Firstly, all exercises whether with a barbell (dumbbell), on a machine or via your own bodyweight can build muscle. However, bodyweight training is less effective in both exercise variation and progressive overload, unlike weights! So, the best bet is a nice balance of them all. In addition, the exercises that will give you best results come from compound movements (although isolations do feature in a well balanced plan). Namely, squats, deadlift, bench press, overhead presses and pull ups or rows. And I would recommend these to be your staple lifts because they lend themselves very well to progressive overload (getting stronger!).
Now, a compound movement is just a double joint movement (every movement just mentioned above). Basically, when two joints are moving simultaneously like the knee and hip joints in a lunge. And the reason these are the best exercises are because they activate the most muscle fibers in unison! As a result, we get strong and in turn build muscle. And an isolation movement would be a bicep curl or a triceps kickback as only one joint, the elbow is moving. In my opinion, I would recommend choosing 2-3 compound exercises per muscle group and 1-2 isolations. For example, for chest your five exercises spread across a training week might look something like this:
Bench press
Incline machine chest press
Dips
Dumbbell horizontal fly
Incline cable fly
Progressive Overload!
A massively overlooked aspect of building muscle is tracking performance. And ensuring that you’re progressively overloading your body every single week! So, log booking every workout is a terrific idea and one that we get every client to do! And to make it easier for them they all have their own online portal where everything is kept in the same place. Because what isn’t measured (your lifts) can’t be managed (beaten!). In addition there’s nothing worse than going to the gym consistently and not seeing ANY progress! Because the body will only get better if we slowly and smartly force it do do more! Although this doesn’t mean annihilate our muscles as mentioned above, it just means provide progressive stimulus. Thus, the goal is to improve any of the below on a weekly basis to keep progressing:
More reps with the same load (even adding one rep to each set makes a big difference over time)
Same reps with more load (2.5-5kg added increments)
Improved range of motion at the same reps with the same weight (no partial range here!)
More time under tension at the same reps with the same load (slower and more controlled reps)
More Sets (extra sets can break through plateaus but is more of an advanced technique)
Here’s another blog by Spartan on growing muscle too. Give our other in depth blog a read on the difference between natural and enhanced bodybuilders. And why you should choose the former!
Did you learn anything new? Please feel free to visit our home page and say hi!
