Advertisements for supplements promising you huge muscle gains appear on the pages of fitness magazines and the walls of gyms. Despite the claims, you can gain muscle naturally with focused diet and exercise strategies. Whether you are a body builder, a figure competitor or someone looking to offset age-related muscle loss, building natural muscle enhances your appearance and your ability to manage your weight.
Step 1
Perform strength training regularly and consistently. Do exercises that target every major muscle group at least two times per week. Favor free weights over bodyweight or machine-based exercises, as barbells and dumbbells require the use of primary and stabilizing muscles, resulting in more total muscle activation during your workout says fitness expert Anthony Ellis of Iron Magazine. The exact strength training protocol you follow depends on your goals--body builders may address just one body part a day while people seeking functional muscle growth might address the whole body in one workout.
Step 2
Consume extra calories daily in the form of whole, natural foods to support your muscles' nutritional needs. Ellis suggests going for calories daily that amount to 18 to 20 times your body weight in pounds--so a 150 lb. person needs between 2,700 and 3,000 calories a day.
Step 3
Build your meals around oatmeal, brown rice, chicken breast, fish, nuts, vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy products. Stay away from high-calorie junk food which encourages fat gain, rather than muscle gain. Transport a cooler filled with healthy, muscle-friendly foods like hard-boiled eggs, nitrate-free deli meat, cottage cheese, whole-grain crackers and cut-up vegetables on days when you may not have access to a kitchen to prepare meals.
Step 4
Divide your daily calorie target by six and eat this many calories at regular intervals. So, if you determine you need to eat 3,000 calories per day, shoot for six 500-calorie meals every two to four hours. Eat a healthy carbohydrate and complete protein in each meal. Ensure one of your meals comes directly after your strength training session to address the muscles' need for immediate nutrition to support the repair and growth process.
Step 5
Eat up to 1g of protein for every pound of your body weight each day. Choose complete proteins that offer all eight essential amino acids, recommends the International Society for Sports Nutrition. Good examples are whey or soy protein powder, lean turkey and roast beef, tuna and pork tenderloin. Consume about 30g in each of your mini meals as this amount enhances muscle synthesis by about 50 percent according to a study in the "Journal of the American Dietetic Association" from September 2009. Eating more than 30g does nothing further to enhance muscle growth and the body cannot store protein, so overloading on chicken or meat at one meal adds no value to your muscle-building goals.
Step 6
Drink water to assist in muscle growth. Muscle growth occurs faster when you are hydrated. Water also helps the kidneys process the extra protein you are consuming.
Step 7
Rest each muscle group for a full day between training sessions. Do not train a muscle group more than once every 48 hours. To grow, the muscles need to repair the tears created during strength training. Without time to repair, you will see experience poor results in comparison to your efforts. You also leave yourself vulnerable to overtraining and injury.
Things You'll Need
- Free weights
References
- Iron Magazine: 10 Things You Must Do to Gain Muscle Mass
- "Journal of the American Dietetic Association;" A Moderate Serving of High-Quality Protein Maximally Stimulates Skeletal Muscle Protein Synthesis in Young and Elderly Subjects; T. Brock Symons, PhD et al.; Jun. 2009
- "Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition"; Position Stand: Protein and Exercise; Bill Campbell et al; Sept. 2007
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