A Simple Guide On Building Muscle

summary

Building muscle is one of the hardest things you could do, and you must know how to actually do it. 

This will help you have a clear idea of what you must do:

• Find your why. No, it can’t be building muscle just for the sake of it. Dig deep. 
• Set realistic goals and don’t expect to become Arnold in 5 weeks. 
• Set your caloric and macronutrient needs properly. 
• Optimize your training for muscle growth: exercise selection, training volume, intensity, etc. 
• Remember: it is when you sleep when you grow. Rest and recovery are key. 
• Be patient. Things don’t happen overnight. 

Let’s talk about these with more detail. 

Today we are going to talk about a few very simple steps you need to understand and implement in order to build muscle.

No complicated, scientific terminology.

This is straight up a simple guide on building muscle.

FIND YOUR WHY

The first thing you need to do is to find your why. Why do you want to gain muscle? Why do you want to transform your body?

Whatever your reason might be, just make sure you understand why you are doing this. Dig deep.

Peel back the onion layers and reveal the root because of why you are putting in all this hard work. And eery time you feel like quitting, remind yourself why you are doing it.

SET REALISTIC GOALS

You see, ridiculous “too good to be true” claims are usually just that, too good to be true. They sound sexy and they prey on the minds of the uneducated. The sad thing is that it works.

People believe in these shady marketing tactics and wonder why they aren’t seeing results after dropping 100 € on a new “revolutionary” supplement. If you want to have success building muscle, you need to reprogram your mindset.

Building muscle is a damn long and hard process… but also worth it. You need to understand that building a good amount of muscle mass is going to take you literally years of hard work, and if just the thought of you having to pug in the work for years to achieve this goal is making you think twice, well you are not ready for it.

SET YOUR CALORIC AND MACRONUTRIENT NEEDS

It is all about food. If you want to build muscle, you need to create the best environment for that to happen.

That is on a caloric surplus. Yes, you can build muscle without being on a surplus. But you also can run without shoes and you still put them on, right? Same here.

Find your maintenance caloric levels and from there, increase it by a 10 – 15 %. That is your caloric target.

As for your macros distribution, well if you don’t know how to do it I would recommend you to start with: 25% fats, 30% protein, 45% carbs.

Now just make sure you consume plenty of nutrient dense and high quality foods.

OPTIMIZE YOUR TRAINING FOR MUSCLE GROWTH

Your workouts need to be optimized to build muscle, not just to get a pump.

There needs to be the right amount of stimulus and intensity.

Here you have some tips:

• Focus on the compound movements, for these will be the ones that will help you the most to gain overall mass and strength.

• Apply the proper weekly training volume to each muscle group. For big groups you can start around 20 – 30 working sets and for small ones around 15. Then adapt depending on how you evolve.

• Keep your rep range at the ideal hypertrophy rep range of 6 – 15 reps, but play around with lower and higher rep ranges to get all types of stimulus.

• When it comes to your split, it really depends on your level, training experience, schedule, etc. But you can start with 3 – 4 training days per week with an Upper/Lower body split, PPL or full body workouts.

REST AND RECOVERY ARE KEY

Remember, when you rest and when you sleep is when you grow.

Don’t be like most guys who try to squeeze in an extra gym session because they think more is better. No is not. At least not always.

Trying to do more will just impact recovery, which will affect your performance at the gym and therefore, you won’t make the most out of them.

Structure your rest days to make sure you are not doing that has any type of high impact on your recovery. You can do some walking, foam rolling, mobility work and stretching, etc. Just make sure a rest day is a rest day.

And when it comes to sleep, well I have another post on how to optimize it, but here I will just say: try to get 6 – 8 hours of quality sleep every night.

BE PATIENT AND ENJOY THE PROCESS

As I said before, building muscle is a long journey. If you are in this because you want to magically gain 10 kg of lean muscle mass in a month, just pack your stuff and go home because you are not ready for this.

This is a lifestyle, and it takes time. Make sure you fall in love with the process of becoming your best self and enjoy the ride 🙂