Most people think that the key to building muscle is simply going to the gym and lifting heavy weights, which is partly true, as going to the gym is essential for building muscle.
However there are other factors involved in building muscle and in this article I am going to tell you the exactly how beginners can build muscle.
Training, diet, and supplementation all play essential roles in the process of fat loss and muscle building. If any of these factors are not optimized, you may not see the desired results.
I know from experience that it can be hard for a beginner to know all the steps to building muscle fast, so I am going to give you my best training and diet tips to add muscle mass.
The Role of Training in Bodybuilding
Your muscles don’t grow by themselves. It’s up to you to stimulate muscle growth.
The best way to stimulate muscle growth is through resistance training. When you lift weights, you send signals to your muscles, telling them to adapt to the hard work by growing bigger and stronger.
When I started training, I found that I made the most gains by performing compound exercises that target multiple muscle groups at once.
The best compound exercises include squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, shoulder press and rows. By performing these six exercises you will be working out every major muscle group in your body.
Finishing each workout with a couple of isolation exercises can also help you build muscle by targeting specific muscle groups directly. Examples of isolation exercises are, leg extensions, leg curls, chest flies, back flies, bicep clues, tricep extensions and calf raises.
When designing a workout plan there are a number of factors that we need to consider, such as:
How Often Are You Going To Train?
To gain muscle you should workout at least 3 times a week and a maximum of 6 times. You might be tempted to workout every day, but it is important to have at least least 1 rest day a week, as rest days are crucial when trying to build muscle, because they alloy the muscles to fully recover and grow.
How Long Are You Going To Train For?
It’s important to spend around 45 minutes to an hour on each workout. Going over an hour can have a negative impact on muscle building. Between each set you should rest or 45-90 seconds and make sure you have good form on every rep of each set that you perform.
How Many Reps and Sets Are You Going To Perform For Each Exercise?
For each exercise, aim for a rep range of 8-12 reps and perform 3-4 sets to effectively build muscle.
Perfecting your form may require practice and research. Fortunately, there are many online videos available to help you master the correct technique for each exercise.
I have written another article with sample training plans on different training split programs. You can see this article by clicking here.
The Importance of Diet in Muscle Gain
Diet plays a crucial role in gaining muscle, and it’s impossible to do so without a proper diet alongside a good training program.
When you work out, you create tiny muscle tears that need proper nutrition to repair and grow.
When focusing on building muscle, you have to eat in a calorie surplus of around 10-20% above your recommended daily calories you should eat to maintain your body weight.
There are 3 essential nutrients that we need to make our muscles grow, proteins, carbohydrates and fats. From the recommended 3000 calories the macro nutrient ratio should be broken down to approximately 30% protein, 50% carbohydrates and 20% fats.
You should aim to consume at least 1.6g-2g of protein per kilogram of body weight, focusing on lean sources like meats, eggs, legumes, and dairy. I have written an article on the best foods for lean muscle gains and also an article on foods to avoid when people lean muscle to give you a better idea of what foods to add to your diet plan.
For those who find it challenging to meet their protein needs through diet alone, such as vegans and vegetarians, protein supplements can be a helpful addition.
Supplements for Muscle Building
Supplements like protein shakes or mass gainers can assist in building muscle mass, providing essential nutrients without the need for extensive meal preparation.
It is a very cost effective way to get all the nutrients you need without having to spend all your hard-earned money on highly nutritious foods, and saves you spending hours cooking and eating every day.
There are many supplements you can choose for mass muscle building. I have done a lot of research and written an article on the best supplements for building lean muscle.
The Timeline of Muscle Growth
When we first start lifting weights, we can build muscle a lot faster, because our muscles are sensitive to the stress of lifting weights. The more we lift weights, we adapt, our muscles grow bigger, stronger, and also tougher, which allows us to handle harder training but also makes it harder to stimulate growth.
Building muscle doesn’t necessarily take years of daily training; research and studies based on 12 weeks of training have shown significant gains for beginners.
Over this 12 week period, after 8 weeks beginners gained an average of 8 pounds of lean muscle, and 14 pounds of lean muscle after 12 weeks.
Don’t get me wrong I am not saying this is easy, To achieve these gains, it’s crucial to maintain a balance between training, diet, and supplementation.
Conclusion
I know from experience that starting off as a bodybuilding can be an intimidating experience, but with consistent hypertrophy training, a proper diet plan, and the correct supplementation, muscle growth becomes more attainable.
When starting out as a bodybuilder you are far away from your muscular potential, which means we have plenty of room for muscle growth, meaning your body can build muscle extremely fast.
I hope you found this article helpful and informative. If you have any questions about bodybuilding or this article, please feel free to leave a comment, and I will respond as soon as possible
Great write up mate, keep it up
Cheers mate. Appreciate it 👍