Building muscle requires creating a growth stimulus by training against resistance and then taking in enough nutrients for your muscles to repair and rebuild bigger and stronger. Building muscle at home, without a gym membership or extensive weight-lifting equipment, is not impossible. However, you must train with intensity and monitor your nutrition carefully.
Step 1
Execute body-weight exercises, such as pull-ups, push-ups, body-weight squats and dips. According to "Combat the Fat," body-weight exercises have a unique training stimulus because of the fact that you must balance and stabilize your body against gravity. This forces the central nervous system to engage more muscle fibers. You can also adapt these simple exercises by doing close-grip (with your hands closer together) pull-ups or push-ups, or one-legged squats.
Step 2
Perform power pyramids to ratchet up the intensity on these body-weight exercises. "Combat the Fat" suggests six cycles during which you alternate three exercises. For example, doing a set of pull-ups, a set of push-ups and then a set of body-weight squats would be one cycle. The pyramid represents fluctuation of repetitions as you go through the cycles. The first cycle, 1-2-3, means doing one pull-up, two push-ups and three squats. Next, do 2-4-6, 3-6-9, 4-8-12, 3-6-9, 2-4-6 and finish back at the bottom of the pyramid with 1-2-3. Rest for 30 seconds to one minute between cycles, and add cycles and repetitions as needed.
Step 3
Consume a post-workout meal to provide your body with the nutrients needed for muscle recovery. Aim for 30g to 50g of protein from lean sources such as chicken, fish, turkey or dairy. Also, take in 30g to 60g of carbohydrates from fresh fruit, oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes or whole-grain bread or pasta. Finally, get some healthy fats (15g to 30g) from olive or flax seed oil, nuts and seeds, avocados or natural peanut butter. This ratio of nutrients comes highly recommended by best-selling fitness author Jeff Anderson in his book "Optimum Anabolics."
Step 4
Eat proper nutrition all day to create a trickle effect of muscle-building nutrients to your muscles. Try to take in 1g per pound of your body weight in protein every day, divided among five or six meals. Frequent meals keep the body burning fat and building muscle all day. In addition, they suppress hunger and stabilize blood sugar to prevent overeating and body fat storage.
Step 5
Sleep at least seven to eight hours a night. Irregular sleep patterns decrease your energy, making your workouts less effective. More importantly, though, lack of sleep inhibits the body's production of important muscle-building hormones, such as testosterone and growth hormone.
Step 6
Drink eight 12- to 16-oz. glasses of water every day. Water fills your muscles and enables them to produce energy for repair and recovery. Also a natural thermogenic (increasing fat-burning in the body), water literally increases your metabolic rate. Think of it as a virtually free fat-burning and muscle-building dietary aid. The more you drink, the better your body will repair, detox and energize itself.
References
- "Optimum Anabolics"; Jeff Anderson; 2004
- "Xtreme Lean"; Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman; 2006
- "The Fat Burning Bible"; Mackie Shilstone; 2005
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