When you play sports--especially contact sports like football, lacrosse, ice hockey and rugby--you need to be strong and have enough muscle on your frame to make tackles and move people around. Training workouts give you the resistance you need to build up your strength and improve your performance. Gaining muscle weight with your workouts takes discipline and the right approach. Remember that you also have to eat healthy to build muscle. Without a regular intake of healthy complex carbs and protein, you will have no fuel for your workouts.
Step 1
Start your workouts with a warm-up involving dynamic stretches. If you try lifting weights without getting your body warmed up properly, you risk pulling a muscle or suffering some other connective tissue injury. Dynamic stretches are performed in motion, and they acclimate your body to exercising movements. Arm crossovers, arm circles, side bends, shoulder rotations, alternate toe touches, walking lunges, leg swings and trunk rotations are examples.
Step 2
Lift dumbbells as much as possible and perform mostly compound exercises. Dumbbells cause you to recruit multiple muscle fibers to maintain stability while exercising. In similar fashion, compound exercises work more than one muscle at a time, and they too lead to a high amount of overall muscle fiber recruitment. Be sure to include exercises like chest presses, upright rows, bent-over rows, triceps extensions, twist curls, deadlifts and squats.
Step 3
Execute proper mechanics with your exercises. Do not use momentum, move the weights through a complete range of motion and squeeze your muscles for a whole second at the midpoint of your exercises. Take standing barbell curls for example. Hold the bar in front of your thighs with an underhand, shoulder-width grip. Keep your upper arms tight to your sides as you lift the bar up toward your chest by bending your elbows. Squeeze your biceps forcefully, slowly lower the bar back down until your arms are straight and repeat. Keep your core tight with this exercise and all exercises to protect your spine and generate force.
Step 4
Lift the heaviest weights you can handle. This will ensure you fully tax your muscles and promote the fastest gains. If you lift light weights, you will not be able to maximally gain size and strength.
Step 5
Perform enough reps and sets. Aim for three to five sets and eight to 12 reps of each exercise. Have a spotter on hand who can help you make your rep ranges.
Step 6
Rest your muscles. Working the same muscles daily will lead to overtraining and increase your chances of getting injured. Take at least one day off between muscle groups for adequate recovery time.
Tips and Warnings
- Make sure you do not neglect the importance of sleep. If you are sleep deprived, you will not give your muscles enough time to rebuild and your energy levels will be compromised.
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