Gaining muscle mass is often over-complicated by many trainees. By simplifying their training methods and focusing on nutrition, beginners and advanced fitness enthusiasts alike can achieve the goal of gaining mass. The human body gains muscle as a survival tactic, wherein muscles challenged with increasingly heavy loads rebuild stronger to accommodate each new stress. Apply a progressive training strategy and employ these nutrition guidelines to gain muscle mass.
Step 1
Perform at least three resistance-training workouts per week, training Monday, Wednesday and Friday for example. Focus your weight-training on the multi-joint, compound exercises, such as barbell curls for biceps and squats for the leg muscles.
Step 2
Use a repetition range of nine to 12 reps on each set to encourage hypertrophy or muscle growth. According to Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman, authors of the X-rep e-books, this is the most effective rep range for enlarging muscle size.
Step 3
Train progressively. This means adding weight incrementally as your strength increases week to week or workout to workout. Increasing the poundage even slightly, each workout, over a prolonged period of time can equal an impressive progression.
Step 4
Increase your caloric intake. Simply put, this means eating more. Food is quite literally the raw material from which our bodies build muscle, especially protein. Increasing caloric intake 500 calories above your maintenance level should do the trick for gaining mass.
Step 5
Drink a post-workout protein shake immediately following your workouts. The "Muscle Nerd" Jeff Anderson recommends 30 to 50g of whey protein, 100g of high-glycemic carbohydrates and 30g of healthy fats, such as flax seed oil or medium-chain triglycerides. These are fats used by the body primarily for energy, and they can contribute to your mass-gaining efforts.
Step 6
Eat five to eight smaller meals throughout the day to ensure a trickle effect of amino acids (digested proteins) and other nutrients to your muscles. Each meal should contain some form of protein, low-glycemic (slow-digesting) carbohydrates and healthy unsaturated fats. Try another protein shake before bed to encourage muscle repair while you sleep.
References
- Optimum Anabolics; Jeff Anderson; CQC LLC, 2007
- 3-D Muscle Building; Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson; Ironman Publishing, 2007
- Advanced Mass-Building Techniques; Jeff Anderson; CQC LLC, 2009
Member Comments