This article is for anyone starting a muscle building journey, anyone who has been lifting for a while, & 19-year-old me. I was in the thick of professional dance training, eating in excess of 4,000 calories & still struggling to put any muscle on. 30 hours of dance per week will do that for you! So, I learnt the hard way how to put on muscle against the odds, as well as all the common places you might be going wrong. Take a read & optimize your lifting.
1. Training Optimization – The obvious reason we’ll start with is a lack of sufficient stimulus to the muscles in the form of weight training. This covers the amount you’re doing, the split you’re using, your recovery days & the way you’re training.
You should be aiming for 3+ resistance sessions per week per week for hypertrophy, including a little cardio (especially if your job is sedentary).
A suitable split for optimal muscle growth is most likely “push/pull/legs” or “bro split”. However, this will depend on your circumstances/preferences/time & “full body” or “upper/lower” can also be effective.
Aim to include at least 1-2 days rest per muscle group between sessions. This can include active recovery such as walking, cold therapy, massage, light swimming etc.
Despite common misconception, you should aim to train between 5-15 reps per set for hypertrophy (as well as time efficiency), hitting each muscle group for 6-12 sets per week (more on this in the video below). The most important point of this section is getting close to failure. Far more important than the weight, reps or sets is reaching a point within a rep or two of failure for the majority of your sets. Hitting failure is also fine on the last set or two per muscle group but is avoided by some due to a higher risk of injury. If you aren’t getting to that point within 12-15 reps, up your weight. Equally if you are failing your lifts 3 reps in, you should lower your weight for hypertrophy goals.
2. Calories – Gaining muscle involves building new cells to increase size, which is a calorie-costly process. Fueling this muscle growth will involve being in a calorie surplus (eating more than you burn). Furthermore, this is probably more calories than you think, so don’t be shy. Ensure most of your food is nutrient dense foods to aid your body through the process. As a rough guide I eat 500-750cals over my maintenance for a “bulking” phase.
3. Protein – Following on from the above, protein forms the main building blocks you need to produce new muscle. This is no secret (even outside of the fitness industry), so are you getting enough?
The easiest rule to follow is 1.6-2.2g, per kg of body weight daily (including rest days). I usually simplify this as 2g per kg, meaning if you sat at 72kg (like I currently do) you’d be aiming for 144g protein per day. Again, for ease, I would round this up to 150g per day, you don’t need to be too precious about the numbers. Just ensure you’re getting enough good quality protein, either from whole food sources, or ‘complete’ protein supplements as a backup.
4. Sleep – One of the most common ‘missing pieces’ from people’s muscle building journey is enough recovery in the form of sleep. If you aren’t striving for that 8-9 hour target (a little less for over 40’s), you should be. 90% of your muscle building will happen when you’re sleeping, as well as prepare your body to perform better in & out of the gym. We have another article on sleep so take a read through that if you’d like more in this.
5. Time & Genetics – People sometimes ignore this as it is the least in our control, but it’s important to remember that muscle building takes YEARS of consistency. Without the use of anabolic steroids, you have a set genetic pool which will be predisposed to a certain level of muscle building. This means to achieve the size you want may take you 6 months more (or less) training than someone else. Patience is the key, with the help of measuring your progress to keep you motivated.
That was a long one! I could go into FAR more detail here & there’s a LOT of nuance in this topic which we’d love to chat through & tailor to you, so don’t be a stranger. Drop us a DM on social media or send us an email to have a chat. Even if you aren’t a client, we’d still like to help you grow (physically & metaphorically).
Elliot Hutchinson // 27.10.2024
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