10 Muscle-Building Fundamentals You Need To Learn For Instant Growth
These 10 tips can help you pack on muscle and strength.
Building Muscle is why most of us constantly return to the gym. It’s the beacon of light that continues to drive our effort-driven workouts that many consider us crazy for, but how do we build muscle effectively? That’s the question that trips up so many lifters.
The physical act of building muscle is easier said than done because in order to build muscle we need to have multiple variables aligned both in regard to our training and nutrition.
A great starting point for everyone on the quest of adding mass to their frame is to first define what muscle building actually is. The act of muscle building, or purposely causing muscle to grow through resistance training, is often referred to as muscle hypertrophy.
Muscle hypertrophy is the adaption our muscles experience from continual exposure to progressively overloaded forms of resistance training, which then results in an increase in our muscle fiber size, both in diameter and length. Essentially, muscle hypertrophy is the process through which our muscles get physically larger through the act of strategically consistent and harder workouts.
If you note the definition above, progressive overload was mentioned as being needed for adding mass and muscle to your frame. Progressive overload entails creating some form of increased, strategic effort based on you’re doing.
This is why it’s incredibly important to have a plan in place and build a framework for your training and nutritional habits that coincide with your goals. “Workouts without a plan just won’t get you to the goals you want.”
The 10 Principles of Building Muscle
1. 1. Maximize Muscle Building
The more protein your body stores in a process called proteinsynthesis- the larger your muscles grow. But your body is constantly draining its protein reserves for other uses-n making hormones, for instance.
The result in less protein available for muscle building. To counteract that, you need to “build and store new proteins faster than your body breaks down old proteins,” Michael Houston, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at Virginia Tech University.
Shoot for about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, which is roughly maximum amount your body use in a day, according to a landmark study in Journal of Applied Physiology.
2. 2. Eat More
In addition to adequate protein, you need more calories. Use following formula to calculate number
you need to take in daily to gain 1 pound a week.
· A. Your weight in pounds-_______
· B. Multiply A by 12 to get your basic calorie needs-_______
· C. Multiply B by 1.6 to estimate your resting metabolic rate-______________
· D. Strength training multiply number of minutes you lift weights per week by 5-_______
· E. Aerobic training multiply number of minutes per week that your run, cycle, and play sports by 8-_____
· F. Add D and E, and divide by 7-_________
· G. Add C and F to get your daily calorie needs-______
· H. Add 500 to G-_____. This is your estimated calorie needs to gain 1 pound a week.
3. 3. Work Big, Not Small
Yes, biceps curls are fun, but if you want to put on muscle, you have to do more to challenge your body. And one key to doing that, says Samuel, is working through so-called “Multi-Joint” movements. “Yes, isolation training has value,” says Samuel, “but it can’t be the backbone of your training.”
Instead, you want to do exercise that challenge multiple joints and muscles at once. Take, for example, a dumbbell row. Every row rep challenges biceps, lats, and abs. Using multiple muscle groups allows you to lift more weight, says Samuel, a key stimulator of growth ( more on that later). And it pushes you to use muscles together, just as you do in real life. “Multi-joint moves are key in your workouts,” he says.
4. 4. Train Heavy
If you want to build muscle and strength, you have to train heavy, says Curtiss Shannon, C.S.C.S. “Training heavy, safely and efficiently has many benefits,” says Shannon. “Heavy training challenges the muscles not only concentrically but eccentrically. If don’t right, the stimulus of heavy weight going down with control and going back up will cause greater muscle tear and rebuild.
That means not every set you do should have you pumping out 10-15 reps. Yes, high-rep sets can have value, but for multi-joint moves like squats and bench presses, and deadlifts, don’t be afraid to do sets of, say, 5 reps. That’ll allow you to use more weight, building more pure strength, says Samuel. And as you progress, that new strength will allow you to lift heavier weights for more reps.
5. 5. Have a Drink First
A 2001 study at the University of Texas found that lifters who drank a shake containing amino acids and carbohydrates before working out increased their protein synthesis more than lifters who drank same shake after exercising.
The shake contained 6 grams of essential amino acids- the muscle- building blocks of protein- and 35 grams of carbohydrates.
For your shake, you’ll need about 10 to 20 grams of protein- usually about one scoop of a whey- protein powder. You can get the same nutrients from a sandwich made with 4 ounces of deli turkey and a slice of American cheese on whole wheat bread. But a drink is better.
6. 6. Don’t Always Go Hard
Your body should move everyday, but that doesn’t mean your workouts should take you to fatigue and exhaustion. “Pick your spots to attack.” Aim to finish every workouts felling good, not dead. Limit your weight room workouts to 12-16 total sets of work, and never go beyond that.
This doesn’t mean you can’t take on a brutal workout every so often. But limit workouts that take your body to its braking point to three times a week, never on back-to-back days. “You need recovery to grow,”. “Constantly training to the point of exhaustion will be counterproductive to recovery you need for muscle growth.”
7. 7. Down the Carbs After Your Workout
Research shows that you’ll rebuild muscle faster on your rest days if you feed your body carbohydrates.
Have a banana, a sports drink, a peanut-butter sandwich in your diet.
8. 8. Eat Something Every 3 Hours
Take the number of calories you need in a day and divide by six. That’s roughly the number you should eat at each meal. Make sure you consume some protein- around 20 grams- every 3 hours.
9. 9. Make One Snack Ice Cream
This tip will be the easiest to follow by fair- Have a bowl of ice cream (any kind) 2 hours after your workout.
According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, this snack triggers a surge of insulin better than most foods do. And that’ll put a damper on post-workout protein breakdown.
1 10. Have Milk Before Bed
Try a cup of raisin bran with a cup of skim milk or a cup of cottage cheese and a small bowl of fruit. Eat again as soon as you wake up.
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