Muscle building is a naturally slow process which mean it takes time to occur because we are forcing our body to do something he actually hate, yes that’s true , our bodies don’t want us to build muscle , aren’t they lame? No they are not they are just trying to protect us from a possible famine because muscles need energy to be sustained and though now we can simply reach out to the fridge and grab a delicious protein shake , our ancestors back in the day needed to go hunting and that hunt sometimes went for days , days without food which led our human body to develop a protective mechanism against anything that might consume that precious energy including muscle.
However,over time the human race managed to outcome that obstacle by the development of resistance training and exercise nutrition but, until this day , even with the overwhelming amount of information available people are still not able to build muscle and get the body of their dreams, why? I think a simple answer is that they don’t nail down the basic key’s of muscle building correctly so I decided to write you this little article where I shed light on what I think of as the key’s to muscle building, so keep reading bet you will be surprised because this is no magazines type of content , it is what I found to work over the years for me and my clients .
1- Maintain a Calories Surplus:
We all know how important is nutrition when it comes to muscle building and fat loss but some people misinterpret that and think they only need to eat healthy food and their body will magically build muscle and lose fat .But that’s not the case because calories do matter , to be in an anabolic state you need two things : high calories and enough protein because your body will use calories as energy to repair damaged muscle fibers and build new bigger stronger fibers. So if you want to build muscle make sure to ingest enough calories . How much calories you need will also depends on multiple factors like weight , height ,age , sex and bodyfat but here is a simple way to calculate your calorie needs accurately:
-step 1 : you need to establish your basal metabolic rate or BMR which is the amount of calories your burn doing nothing , I personally use the modified Harris Benedict formula which is the following:
-for men : BMR= 66 + (13.7 x lean weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age)
-for women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x lean weight in kg) + (1.7 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age)
Note: the lean weight is your lean body weight without the excess body fat , you can calculate it using this formula:
Bodyweight(in kg)x(%) bodyfat= bodyfat in kg
Lean bodyweight=bodyweight in kg-bodyfat in kg
If you don't have a clue about your body fat percentage here is an approximation:
-for men:
-for women
Step 2:
Now that you had established your BMR it is time to determine your maintenance calories: simply multiply your BMR by 1.5 on days you workout and by 1.2 on days that you don’t and that will give you pretty much a right approximation about your maintenance calories aka the calorie number that you maintain your weight at .
Step 3:
Establish a 20% calorie surplus , which mean you will multiply your maintenance calories by 120%.
Now that you establish your calorie intake you need to monitor your results and adjust the numbers either up or down.
you can read more about nutrition and diet here Nutrition 101
2- Focus on Big Compound Lift :
They will result in at least 80% of your gains so don’t neglect them and go after the newest machines and exercises you saw some jacked dude doing in youtube videos. Yes muscles do need variety and angles but unless you have been training for over 3 years and you put on at least 20 lbs of muscle you need to emphasis the big lifts like :
-Bench press for chest
-Pull ups and heavy rows for back
-Military press for shoulders
-Barbell squats and the good old deadlift for lower body
Those move should be the base of any muscle building workouts at least for beginners and intermediates and I can go on and write you an extra 1000 word about why those exercises are the best but am starting to feel this article is getting long and there is more to cover I won’t , but hey do your compound lifts buddy, let’s make some Gainz.
3- Do the Right Amount of Volume:
We all know that skinny dude who power through 8 exercises of chest before moving to train his biceps , sounds familiar right . Well volume is a main inducer of muscle hypertrophy but at a certain point it will only lead to overtraining especially for natural trainees who don’t have the privilege to use the vitamins s , I can hear you saying but arnold did ultra high volume and it worked for him , well first Arnold was on steroids and second you are not Arnold so relax .
Here is some rough estimates for weekly volume for each body part :
-Chest: 16-20 sets
-Back: since it is composed of multiple muscle groups back needs more volume to stimulate each muscle properly so I would say 20-30 sets
-Legs: 24 sets : 12 for quads and 12 for hamstrings
-Calves: calves can handle pretty much high volume so I would say up to 30 sets per week
-Biceps and triceps : 12 sets each
-Shoulders: shoulders do respond well to high volume and they need to be targeted from multiple angles so id say up to 24 sets per week.
So here you have it guys train hard but train smart don’t overdo yourself because it will lead you nowhere.
4- Progressive Overload:
To many progressive overload is the main reason for hypertrophy over time , progressive overload simply means increasing the load on the muscle each week either by increasing weight or increasing rep which will overtime lead to bigger stronger muscles . A simple way to apply progressive overload is to add 1 rep to each set of every exercise one you add 4 reps increase the weight by 10% so lets say you used to bench press 180 lbs for 8 reps you will go and try to add one rep per week until you reach 12 reps then you increase the weight to 200 lbs or so and try adding reps. It is really a simple yet very effective method of building slabs of sexy meat on your body.
5- Rest:
Bro are you kidding! Rest is for losers , no pain no gain , am gonna lift that shit till I puke everyday until my last day . Yeah , relax bro , it really sounds cool but congratulation you just entered the no progress cult ,talking about those guys in string tanks working arms and chest everyday and creeping the hell of every girl who happen to be around . You may feel good and look good doing it but without proper planned rest you will never build muscle to the best of your ability which is already limited if you are natural so follow a training routine that involves planned rest days and a structured split that allow ample recovery for each muscle group so yes chest and biceps everyday is out of the equation. And don’t worry we will give you different splits and workouts plan here on the fitness coach so you can choose from them depending on your goal and preferences so stay tuned.
Also another part of the proper rest equation is the proper sleep, you need a minimum of 6 hours of deep sleep per night to regenerate your cells and rest you body and mind. Also the majority of your natural growth hormone secretion happens during your sleep so if you want more muscle and less fat you gotta get those zzz in buddy.
6- Improve Your Digestive Health:
As coach Charles poliquin says “ you are not what you eat you are what you digest” so yes you can be eating all kinds of meats and protein powders but if you cant digest them properly they waon’t help you when it come to building your dream physique. One of the most important things to do in order to improve your digestive health is to consume enough dietary fiber on a daily basis , try to get at least 25 gram of fiber daily either from supplements or from eating veggies. Also, it is essential to get in both soluble and insoluble fiber because each one of them have a unique role, insoluble fiber since it can’t be digested it adds bulk to to the stools while soluble fiber prevent watery stools, good sources of insoluble fiber are wheat bran , vegetables and whole grains and for soluble fiber its best to get it from oat bran and legumes. Another trick is to chew your food properly so you give your stomach enough time to release its digestive enzymes just look at lions and mimic them they would chew their meat for minutes before swallowing it.
Probiotics also are an essential component of a healthy gut and digestive system , so if you wanna take your nutrition and supplement game above regular folks try to supplement with at least 2 billion CFU per unit is a good place to start.
In Summary:
- Make sure you are eating on a calorie surplus
- Focus on the big compound lifts
- Do the right ammount of volume
- Focus on progressive overload
- Focus on proper rest and recovery
- Improve your digestive health
Time to make some Gains folks!
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