Gaining muscle mass is one of the reasons why people go to the gym and undergo intense workouts. It’s the beacon of light that leads most gym-goers towards a life of fitness and discipline. But the path towards it will be rough as you’ll go through many workout routines to find one that fits you. Moreover, you will have to distinguish which tips could actually help you gain muscle mass.
But gaining muscle mass is easier said than done. There are a lot of variables you should consider in your workout routine. This includes your diet, the workout regimen, and even the supplements to help your body’s development. Building muscle requires you to have a positive energy balance. This means that you have to eat more calories than the amount you burn.
Of course, with training, you can do that. But how do you gain mass? What are the things you need to do to build muscle? These questions are quite common, so we will be tackling them today. Hence, here are some practical tips that will help you gain muscle mass.
Build Up Protein
The more protein you have in your body, the larger your muscles will grow.
However, hormone production also uses protein, and our body produces hormones daily.
This will result in your muscles not having enough protein to grow.
To counteract that, you need to eat more protein than your body is burning every day, and there is something you can do about that.
Eat more protein every day.
Experts recommend eating a gram of protein equal to your body weight, which is around the most amount of protein a person should take daily.
For example, if you’re 160 pounds, you should eat 160 grams worth of protein every day.
You can get this by eating chicken, peanuts, a cup of cottage cheese, a roast beef sandwich, and two eggs.
And no, you shouldn’t eat them all at once.
Try to have a more balanced diet with every meal.
Make sure that the protein you eat every single day amounts to equal your body weight.
Do Less Isolated Workouts.
Sure, bicep curls are fun, but it only stimulates your biceps, says everyoneactive.com.
If you want different parts of your body to develop muscles, you have to do more than this.
One way to do that is to stimulate muscle groups in a single exercise, which would stimulate many joints at once.
An exercise that would serve as a good example is a dumbbell row.
Not only does it stimulate your lats, biceps, and abs, it also stimulates many joints.
Exercises that use your muscles and joints would allow you to lift more weights.
This will further excite your muscles.
This, in turn, would allow you to lift heavier weights.
And, it doesn’t only involve weights themselves.
You can also do this with squats, pullups, deadlifts, and bench presses.
An example of effective workout training is rowing.
It involves your whole body, so a lot of your muscles will be active during the exercise.
Not only that, there are home rowing machines available in the market so that you can get to your rowing routine in the comfort of your home.
To increase the effectiveness of your workout, consider a pre-workout supplement.
You can learn more about this addition to your workouts by reading BULK pre-workout review on fitnessvolt.com to see if it is right for you.
Do More Heavy Training
If you want to build more muscle mass, you must increase the weights you lift.
By increasing the weights, you can gradually improve your muscle gains.
Moreover, you have to incorporate the right technique in lifting them.
If you don’t do them right, your training routine won’t be that effective.
Improper technique when lifting will cause tears to your muscles.
These tears can take some time off to heal.
Proper technique is more important, so be mindful about the way you lift rather than your repetitions.
Sure, high reps have more value, but they won’t be effective if you don’t use the right techniques.
One way to avoid this is to start with a low number of reps.
Always be mindful of your techniques rather than the reps.
From there, build your strength until you can do more.
For example, you can start with three sets of 4-5 reps.
After getting comfortable with three sets of 4-5 reps, you can then go for six sets for 10-12.
Don’t worry about pulling out a low number of reps.
They will come later once you get more comfortable with them.
Eat Every 3 Hours
When building muscle, you should consider your diet.
Your calorie and protein intake are two of the things you have to be mindful of.
You also have to learn when to eat to help boost your muscle mass.
Of course, you can still eat during breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but you also have to take small meals between them.
Hence, eat your regular breakfast, lunch, dinner, another meal for post-workout, one for pre-bed, and two small snacks in between.
By keeping your food intake up and with high protein meal replacements, you will be less hungry.
Barbend.com has some great meal replacement suggestions.
Not only that, but it will also decrease your stomach size by trimming away some fat.
You’ll have fewer and fewer carvings as time progresses.
Not eating for an extended period will make you overeat when mealtime comes.
This will lead to eating more snacks after the meal, which can ruin your diet.
This will stop your cravings and will make you less hungry.
By extension, it will prevent you from overeating, which is the opposite of what you’re trying to do.
Explosive Calorie Intake for Three Days
Having a good nitrogen balance in your body is essential in bodybuilding.
However, you can’t do this if your calorie intake is not high enough.
Not only calories, though, as you also need other raw materials such as fat, carbs, and protein.
That said, you can achieve this by increasing your calories by 50% in three days.
For example, you can eat at least 3,000 to 4,500 calories per day along with a bit of fat.
With this, you can instigate a growth spurt in your muscles.
This is because you’re providing more carbs to your glycogen storage.
Also, this improves your muscles’ sensitivity to insulin.
This is especially good if you’re overtrained but aren’t gaining any muscle growth.
This lack of growth is due to the extra calories promoting anabolism.
This is the reason why you should limit the 50% calorie intake increase to only three days.
After this, you can go back to your usual balanced diet and protein intake.
Find a Program and Stick to It
Everyone knows that your routine should suit your body and what you need to be fit.
Once you get a hold of a bodybuilding program that suits your needs, you should follow it until you reach your goal.
If you’re not sure which programs to follow, you can ask the help of professionals, like bodybuilders and trainers.
They will give you guides and tips on how to find the perfect workout routine.
Moreover, they can give some pointers on how to use the routine to your advantage.
This is especially true if you often go to the gym not knowing where to start.
With their input, you would already know what machine to focus on and what workout to prioritize when going to the gym.
You should also decide which group of muscles to work on for the day.
You can do this by creating a plan around your schedule, especially if you are pretty busy with work.
The bottom line is that you need to know which part of your body you should work on when you step into the gym.
Also, if you’re starting to build your muscles, it might be better if you go with the basic movements first.
They are the fundamentals since the muscle growth you gain from them is important.
These muscles will be the foundation for more intensive routines in the future.
Powerlifting
Our muscles respond to three different types of training.
The first one is training with high reps. With high rep training, your muscles will have more endurance.
The second one, commonly known as hypertrophy, has 6 to 12 reps, which most bodybuilders rely on to improve both size and strength.
And then the third one, powerlifting, which has low reps from 2 to 4, improves muscle strength.
If you want to focus on strength first, you can set aside a week of training to increase the weights you lift every day.
Your strength will improve, which will make your routines easier when you go back to your usual 6 to 12 reps.
Conclusion
Building muscle mass doesn’t only mean you have to train muscles.
It also means that you have to incorporate a balanced diet, allowing you to be more disciplined with your meal times and workout routines.
Moreover, you have to be careful about lifting weights.
Without learning the proper techniques, your workout routine will be useless.
If you’re having a hard time, don’t be afraid to ask for professional help.
They can aid you with the right techniques, workout routines, and the proper way to go about your diet.