The goal of building lean muscle mass is also called hypertrophy. A person should have a solid foundation of muscular endurance and stabilization before attempting to lift heavier weights that are needed to increase muscle size, as recommended by the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). When building lean muscle, this foundation will "prepare the connective tissues and muscles for the high demands of training required for this goal."
Endurance Training
Step 1
Do exercises for all the major muscle groups including the chest, back, legs and shoulders with low weights and high reps. Perform one to three sets of between 12 to 25 repetitions per exercise, as advised by NASM.
Building muscular endurance is as simple as lifting weights many times, which is why 12 to 25 repetitions are best. Use weights that fatigue your muscles on your last repetition. Body weight exercises like push ups and pull ups are effective stabilization and endurance exercises.
Step 2
Do exercises like chest press, chest fly, incline and decline chest press and fly, and all variations such as standing, lying on an exercise ball and lying on an exercise bench for the chest. Variety is important.
NASM recommends doing different exercises or variations of exercises in each workout. Lie on a bench with a dumbbell in each hand to do a chest press. Press the weights into the air above your chest until your arms are straight. Bend your elbows and lower the weight until they are in line with your shoulders. These will also work your arms and shoulders.
Step 3
Do exercises like rows, reverse fly, shrugs, lat pullovers and upright rows to work your back.
Stand up straight with a dumbbell in each hand to do shrugs. Let your arms hang straight at your sides. Raise your shoulders toward your ears while squeezing your shoulder blades together. Lower your arms back down. Keep your arms straight throughout. This will work your back and shoulders.
Step 4
Do exercises like squats, deadlifts, lunges, calf raises and variations like walking lunges, ball squats and chair squats to work your legs, either with or without free weights.
Sit in a chair with your knees bent above your ankles and your feet flat on the floor. Put your hands on your hips. Stand up without moving your feet. Sit back down to complete on chair squat. You can also hold weights on your shoulders if 12 to 25 chair squats does not tire your muscles.
Step 5
Continue doing high repetition and low weight exercises for four to eight weeks before progressing to heavier weight lifting for hypertrophy. Lift weights three days a week with one to two days of rest in between. A schedule of Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for strength training works well.
Hypertrophy
Step 1
Do three to four sets of exercises for all the major muscle groups, as described above in Section One. Do eight to 12 reps with moderate to heavy weights for hypertrophy, as advised by NASM. Use machines or free weights and be sure the weights are heavy enough to fatigue your muscles on the last rep.
For machines, follow the instructions listed for the muscles targeted. For example, the chest press machine focuses on the pectoral muscles of the chest. Specific instructions for performing exercises on that machine can be found on the machine itself. Ask a gym staff member for help if you are completely new to weightlifting so you do not get injured.
Step 2
Lift weights four days a week using a split routine, such as training the upper body on Mondays and Thursdays and the lower body on Tuesdays and Fridays. Take three days off for recovery.
Step 3
Refrain from cardio to spare calories for muscle building. You can do cardio in the endurance stage to lose weight or improve cardiovascular endurance, but it will not help you build muscle.
Step 4
Raise the weights every one to two weeks by five to 10 percent to continually challenge your body, as advised by the AARP.
Step 5
Cycle back to doing higher reps such as 12 to 15 reps and two to three sets every four weeks to keep your stabilization muscles strong, which will reduce the likelihood of injury, according to NASM. Alternate between four weeks of endurance training and hypertrophy training.
Tips and Warnings
- Exercise form is important for safe and effective workouts. Consider hiring a personal trainer if you are unfamiliar with proper exercise form or need some motivation to stay on target. Free weights such as dumbbells, barbells or resistance cables are better than machines when building endurance and stabilization because weight machines provide a stable environment that isolates your major muscles groups thereby doing the work that your stabilizer muscles, tendons and ligaments would otherwise do. What is considered "light" for you is unique, and may change as you grow stronger. Experiment until you find the weight that is tiring by the last rep.
Things You'll Need
- Free weights
References
- "NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training: Course Manual;" National Academy of Sports Medicine; 2008
- AARP Magazine
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