Having the right amount of grit, determination and patience is the key towards increasing muscle mass!!!
As essential as it is to have a proper diet, it is equally important to ensure you prepare a good workout regime as well.
The road towards muscle gain begins with three basic steps:
- Proper Training
- Right Nutrition
- Rest and recovery
Proper training becomes a very important aspect of muscle gain/muscle growth, choosing the right training program is going to stimulate the muscle building process in the body.
According to a study, with proper workout program individuals get stronger, fatigue and tension in the muscle increases and muscular damages too shall increase, which are signs of the beginning of the muscle building process. (1)
Now, as the body gets into the state of muscle building, it has to be equipped with the right nutrition, which shall further help it to build new muscle tissues. It simply means consuming enough calories, proteins and other macronutrients to comply with the nutritional needs of the body. (2)
You can add several workout programs to your training, change your diet as much as you can to what your body needs. But if you don’t rest properly and aren’t giving enough time for your body to recover, you are less likely to induce muscle growth as fast as you actually can. Thus, rest and recovery too are going to play a key role in building muscle mass quickly.
Here are 8 best tips that you can follow to gain muscle quickly:
1. Working out with proper intensity
Working out in the right direction is very important, increase the volume of your training either by increasing the weight or the reps you do per set. This is going to stimulate the body, getting it into the state of muscle hypertrophy. (3) In simple terms, it will lead to muscle stress and breakdown, which play an essential role in exercise-induced muscle growth.
Now, your main focus should be on the intensity of the training rather than dragging the workout session. (4) Look for joint training exercises as warm ups, which shall allow you to lift heavier weights, such as bench press, overhead press, barbells rows and squats.
Doing high intensity workouts are going to be very helpful in the muscle building process. It is recommended that you must plan to do a 30-35 minutes intense session every second day of your training. Keeping in mind that every session should be as intense as possible, which shall produce the right condition for the muscles to break down and rebuild.
2. Following the right technique and using proper form
Use of proper technique and maintaining proper form is very essential to get desired results. For newbies, it is recommended to keep the reps range within their strength capabilities. Look for the right motion of each exercise you do and never look to over train yourself, if you are just beginning to work out.
- Look for a trainer that will help you to learn the right form for several exercises, or you can hire him/her for some sessions to get acquainted with the exercises before you choose to continue on your own.
- A majority of the exercises need your arms or legs to be stretched to complete the motion of a particular exercise.
- You should aim to complete the motion of an exercise, without looking to change the position or lean over.
3. Heavy weight lifting (Do it as much as you can)
Lifting weight is considered as one of the most effective way of building muscles. Try to lift as much weight as you can, keeping the right form. The reps range for weight lifting should be around 8-10 reps per set without putting the weights down and must range to 3-4 sets per session. Reduce the rest period between two sets to reap maximum benefits.
Try to be explosive while exercising with weights, it means, lift the weight quickly but lower it slowly. If you are able to perform more than 10 reps without feeling the “pump”, look to add more weight. If you are not able to perform at least 8-10 reps per set, lower down the weights and begin again. Exercises that you can focus on:
- Deadlift
- Squats
- Bench press
- Hang cleans
- Military press
Keep alternating to different muscle groups, as this shall ensure you are training all the muscle groups with the right intensity. For an instance, if you work out three times a week.
- Do exercises for chest, shoulders, back and abs on first workout session.
- Do exercises for legs and arms (i.e. biceps and triceps) on second workout session.
- Again followed by chest and abs on the third workout session.
4. Eating more protein becomes essential to build muscle mass
As you exercise, the muscles breakdown, protein here helps in muscle building. The more you lift weights, the more your body is going to need proteins to build up muscles. (5)
Studies suggest that, 1.6g protein per kg of body weight is a recommended amount of protein that you have to consume per day, which means around 0.4g/kg/per meal if you eat four meals a day. (6)
The protein consumption should be enough, so when the body starts to rebuild muscles it should have enough supply of proteins which shall lead to gaining more muscles. This means you need to maintain a steady intake of protein to comply with the needs of the body as you work out to build muscle fast.
Read- How much protein should you eat to build muscle
5. Increasing the Calorie content- counting it as surplus
If you want to gain weight, the calorie consumption has to be increased. Moreover, it is also the right fuel that helps in the muscle building process.
Now, when I say increase the calorie content in your meals, this does not mean eating anything that gives you calories but there are specifics: eating nutritious whole foods or calorie rich protein foods, which additionally also keep you hydrated.
You can eat roast beef, roasted chicken, eggs, etc. to gain the desired proteins as well as calories. Protein is an essential ingredient in muscle building but if you do not provide your body the needed calories for energy supply, it will not look to build new muscle.
6. Post and pre-workout drinks are also very essential
For individuals looking to gain muscle mass, it is recommended to have a shake containing carbohydrates and proteins before they begin working out. This directly affects the protein synthesis in the body, which helps in the muscle building process.
Studies suggest that drinking a shake containing one scoop of whey-protein powder (roughly 20gms of protein) shall give you the right boost of energy and help you to train harder, giving desired results. (7)
About its importance, as we train the blood flow to our working tissue increases, drinking a shake containing carbohydrate and protein mixture before working out shall enhance the flow of amino acids to the muscles. This shall further help in building lean muscle mass.
7. Proper Rest – an important factor of muscle building
The first thing that comes to our mind is how rest can be related to muscle building, let me tell you rest is one among the three most important factors to build muscle fast.
You need to understand the real muscle growth happens while we are resting.
It is very important to sleep for at least 8 hours a day. Getting enough sleep enhances the recovery process in the body and recovery is imperative for muscle growth.
It is recommended to have a rest day after every three intense workout days; this shall allow time for the muscles to recover. You need to understand when your body demands for rest, as you begin weight training. You must never look to overexert yourself with vigorous training and no rest at all.
Not only inter-set rest periods are essential for muscle growth but resting from workout too has a major role to play in muscle building.
8. Enhance the muscle building process with supplementation
Supplements such as creatine can be a very effective ingredient for muscle building. Creatine doesn’t directly build muscle, but it helps to increase the performance, while doing heavy workouts.
Creatine is a natural compound that effectively promotes muscle growth, research proves that it does help in gaining muscle strength and building muscle mass. (8)
You must understand that consuming food alone is not going to help you build muscle fast. But food combined with the right kind of supplementation, shall not only help you to improve your muscle strength but also help you to increase muscle size as well.
You can use creatine monohydrate supplements to improve the results of your muscle building efforts. (9)
Go on, you have the best tips for muscle building now. Simply follow it one after another and it shall give you to best chance to build muscle fast.
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