One of the questions you will be asked on a consistent basis as a Fitness Instructor is how to build muscle quickly and effectively. It is one of those areas which, no matter how many scientific advancements are made in fitness, the majority of gym members never truly get to grips with.
Should you consider yourself to be one of the many people in need of some help with their fitness journey, you are in the right place today.
There are a number of different strategies you can use, a number of different physics which work. In fact one of the biggest barriers in the fitness industry in general is the sheer amount of different styles and techniques out there. What should be a great asset and provide great variation instead serves only to confuse the majority and they end up getting nowhere, unable to commit to anything for fear that in three months they'll be told everything they have been doing is 'wrong'.
Don't let anybody tell you that you need to train their way or give you the false impression that they know 'the secret' and everybody else is doing things wrong. Those are the type of trainers or fitness enthusiasts who are bad teachers as they have closed minds and will simply teach what might work for them, not realizing that everybody is different.
Today we shall take a look at some simple rules which, if applied over time, will provide a rock solid foundation for you to build upon. We have used these techniques with seasoned athletes, gym newcomers and reknowned hard gainers alike. To put it bluntly, they work!
The first step takes place not in the gym but at home before you go to your next workout. We're talking about your diet plan, of course.
By the time you next visit the gym you should have your diet completely sorted out so that you can begin getting immediate results. We will teach you how to do it. One of the biggest misunderstandings in fitness is people believe their diet is something they cannot work out for themselves. They get sucked into celebrity diet fads which don't work. The truth is it's easy to get this sorted out.
If you write down your body weight, i.e. the weight you wish to be, in pounds and then multiply the number by fifteen you will get a great ballpark figure for your total calorific intake. This figure is to be used as a rough guide, try to hit around this mark each day and you will be firmly on the right track. If you'd like to add size but don't want to grow too big too quickly then swap out the fifteen for a twelve in the first step.
So we now have a base figure for our diet. This already puts you ahead of the majority of other people training at your gym because despite it being very simple, most fitness enthusiasts never take the time to learn how to do this and wonder why they never get results.
Your training program will need attention too, naturally. Your workouts cannot be just random and they cannot be built to simply suit your personal tastes. When people ask us where they went wrong it's common to discover that they've simply been leaving in their favorite exercises and cutting anything which didn't feed their ego quite as much. Compound exercises are the spine of your routine, build your workout around your big lifts for maximum results and try to aim your rep range in the muscle growth zone, which is eight to twelve reps.
Those are the qualities of a proven weights program designed for strength and size. There are a couple of additional considerations to make.
Rest is just as important as training when you are trying to build. Probably less than 5% of the members at your local gym get their rest right and that's one of the main factors in their lack of real results.
Start out with a three day routine and then progress to a four day routine after you have been training for more than two months. You can train more often and you will notice some people doing this, but you need to get the recovery period perfect otherwise it holds you back, so it's wise to start with a smart plan.
We also need to quickly mention the importance of sleep when it comes to getting stronger and more muscular. You've probably been told countless times that you should get eight hours rest every night but how often do you actually do it? If you are like most people the answer is not often enough. Your body recovers from your day's work while you sleep and if you don't give it that basic need your results will suffer for it.
While you sleep your body releases natural growth hormone which forces your muscles to recover bigger and stronger than they were before. Don't be tricked into believing your body grows while you are in the gym, it does not, it builds while you are resting and recovering. Neglect this rest period and you are essentially hitting the gym hard again while still not recovered from the last session and therefore very little further progress can be made.
How are things going so far? Have you managed to stay with us as we've got through the steps? Well here is the good news, you're actually finished. Easier than you thought it was going to be, wasn't it? If you have been asking how to build muscle for years and not getting anywhere you are now firmly in a position from which you can build the body you have always aspired to own. You didn't even need to hire a personal trainer to do it.
