The Best Ways To Gain Muscle Mass

From their mid-twenties on, most people lose about half a pound of muscle mass every year -- mostly due to a decrease in physical activity -- according to the American Council on Exercise. You can prevent loss of muscle mass and likewise increase it through proper nutrition and an effective strength-training program. Gains in muscle mass go hand-in-hand with increased bone density, both of which make performing physical activities easier and help to prevent injury.

Multi-Joint Exercises

Multi-joint exercises, also known as compound exercises, provide a way for you to achieve better results in a shorter period of time from your strength training program. Instead of targeting one muscle at a time by performing isolation exercises, you train multiple groups of muscles and joints with each exercise. Replace a set of bicep curls with a squat and bicep curl combination, or underhand-grip pull-ups, for example. Other multi-joint exercises include push-ups, lunges and sit-ups.

Cardiovascular Exercise

Cardiovascular exercise can be an asset or a detriment to your objective in attaining muscle mass, depending on your ultimate goal and your body type. If you have a high percentage of body fat to lose, a solid cardio routine will help you reduce fat in addition to building muscle. Weight-bearing exercises such as running, stair climbing and jumping rope will all help you burn calories and gain some muscle mass. If you already have a lean frame and are looking to greatly increase your muscle mass, your cardio routine should be more minimal, so you don’t burn extra calories your muscles need in order to grow.

Eating Frequently

You must eat for muscular gains in order to achieve them. Muscle mass needs a steady supply of energy to maintain itself, and even more to increase in size. Rather than eating the traditional three square meals a day, you should break your daily nutrition up into multiple smaller meals. Eating five to six times per day has a similar effect on your metabolism as having a higher percentage of muscle mass does: your body burns more calories at rest because your metabolic engine is constantly running.

Caloric Increase

Cutting calories results in weight loss, while eating the amount of calories your body needs to maintain a steady weight keeps you in a balanced state. You must increase your daily calories to feed a muscle mass gain. The amount of extra calories you should consume depends on your body, your training routine and your goals. A modest goal may require 300 additional calories per day, while a more aggressive goal may have you consuming an extra 500 calories per day.

Proper Nutrition

Proper nutrition is the best way to fuel an increase in muscle mass. Not all calories are created equal, and if you want less fat and more lean muscle, you must feed the muscle. High-quality carbohydrates, proteins and fats are nutrient-dense and contain vitamins and minerals that promote tissue growth. While lean protein, such as fish, is especially important for muscle growth and repair, eating more than your body needs can be hard on your kidneys.

Adequate Recovery

Recovery between exercise sets, training sessions and at the end of each day is integral to building muscle. Exercise acts as a stressor on the body, forcing your muscles to adapt to the demands you place upon them by growing stronger. This growth happens during recovery. You’ll make bigger gains in shorter amounts of time if you take care of your body and let it recover properly.