You don't have to be a body builder to want to gain muscle mass. Being strong and physically fit promotes a healthy lifestyle and helps to ward off debilitating medical conditions, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes and type 2 diabetes. Gaining muscle and hypertrophy, which is the process of making larger, stronger muscles, takes determination and effort in the gym. If you put in the time and go about your exercise routines the right way, you should see positive results.
Step 1
Learn about strength training. The more educated you are, the better equipped you will be to reach your goal. It can be beneficial to learn how different strength-building exercises affect various muscle groups in the body. This will also help you to avoid injuries.
Step 2
Educate yourself on nutrition. How you eat is just as important as how much weight you are able to lift. Askmen.com reports that protein contains the amino acids that are needed for muscle repair and growth. But be sure to keep it healthy by making choices that include lean red meats, white meat chicken, white meat turkey, fish, seafood, eggs, and non- and low-fat dairy products. Staying hydrated by drinking plenty of water throughout the day is also important.
Step 3
Utilize range of motion when lifting weights. Askmen.com suggests using free weights rather than dumbbells because they allow you to reach a greater range of motion. The larger the range of motion, the greater the number of muscles that will be used in the exercise, resulting in increased muscle growth.
Step 4
Complete 12 to 16 sets of exercise per muscle group, suggests Askmen.com. For example, the back and biceps use corresponding muscles, so you may do three to four different back exercises in a workout session, which entails three to four sets for each exercise. The biceps are worked during back exercises, but depending on your goals you may want to add another bicep-specific exercise to the end of your workout with three to four sets. Askmen.com recommends only training one or two muscle groups per day to avoid overtraining.
Step 5
Work your muscles to exhaustion. Askmen.com reports that your combination of repetitions, sets and weight should work the particular muscle group to exhaustion in order to maximize muscle growth and hypertrophy.
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