How I Gained Size & Muscle
I was a twig, at 132lbs and had been for years. I wanted to get healthy and stronger, and more importantly, bigger! Here’s my journey and formula for success.
There are 5 KEY things to remember in order to progress. 1. The workout. 2. Nutrition. 3. Progressive Overlaod. 4. Rest and laslty, Consistency. If you follow all for any length of time, you will get results.
The Workout
I would highly recommend a full body workout or whats called StrongLifts 5X5. It’s highly effective for muscle growth. 5X5 is simple, will teach you the fundamental core lifts and help you execute perfect form. You’ll also be adding 5lbs of weight each workout so it incorporates progressive overload which is vital. It’s a total of only 3 exercises each workout with 5 sets, and 5 reps for each, which you’ll perform 3 days a week, EASY! and it’s a full body workout so you’ll be hitting everything. It’s an A, B workout, so you just rotate the workouts as follows.
Monday Workout A Squats x 5X5 Bench Press x 5X5 Barbell Row x 5X5 Wednesday Workout B Squats x 5X5 Overhead Press x 5X5 Deadlift x 5X5 Friday Workout A Squats x 5X5 Bench Press x 5X5 Barbell Row x 5X5
Then the following week start with workout B, and so on…. Remember to add 5lbs of weight to the bar each workout. Once you begin to plateau, try a deload week, where you reduce your lifts by 10%, then continue. If you’re still struggling or plateauing (which you will eventually) then switch up the workout to say a push/pull routine for a few months.
The most muscle your body can naturaly gain in a month, is between 1.7lbs — 2.5lbs. So aim for that increase in weight each month. Any more than that, and it’ll just be fat you’re putting on, no good!
Nutrition
Nutrition is a huge part of any workout, especially if your plan is to get big, or bigger. You need calories, and good quality calories at that, it’s no good slamming cheese burgers, sure you’ll get big, but all kinds of fat big. You want lean muscle with minium fat increase. This takes a few weeks for your body to adjust, so BE PATIENT.
Figure out your caloric baseline, this is your daily amount of calories your body requires day to day just to keep your weight where it is. Here’s a quick formula to get you close. Take your current weight, and times it by 15. So I weighed 132lbs, x 15 = 1980. With your number, you now need to add a few hundred caloires to put you into a caloric surplus. These additional calories will give your body the extra fuel it needs to repair and rebuild, nice!
Now, this is where you’ll need to keep track of your weight, each week see what the scales are doing, if you’re in a caloric surplus then your weight should start increasing slowly. If after two weeks, you’re the same weight still, then add another 200 calories and monitor your weight again for another 10 days. If your weight is dropping, then again add 200 calories at a time until your weight goes up.
Peanut butter is your friend, high in calories and protein.
Remember we want maxium muscle growth and very little fat increase. The most muscle your body can naturally gain in a month, is roughly between 1.7lbs — 2.5lbs. So aim for that increase in weight each month. Any more than that, and it’ll just be fat you’re putting on, no good! This part of the process can be a real struggle, but once you’ve burst through the first month of your body adapting to the extra calorie intake, it gets much easier. Stick to healthy whole foods as much as possible. Peanut butter is your friend, high in calories and protein. There’s a wealth of healthy options, beans, brown rice, salmon, tuna, fruits and veggies etc and always stay hydrated throughout the day.
Protein — This is a large part of your caloires, over carbs and fats, which are also vital, but without proper protein intake you wont get very far. Again here’s a quick formula for optimul intake. At least 0.8g of protein per 1lb of bodywieght. So again, I was 132lbs, x 0.8 = 105g of protein per day. If you get more, great. As your weight goes up, you’ll need to reevaluate both your calories and protein intake as you’ll obviously require more as you put on size.
Progressive Overload
Relating to your workout, you have to make progress in the gym, either each workout, or at the very least each week. So track everyhing! The 5X5 program listed above does exactly that, you’re adding 5lbs of weight each workout. Progressive overload refers to any workout you’re doing, and can be achieved in a number of ways. You can add more weight which is the most obvious, add more reps and/or sets. Or increase time under tension, (slow the movemnt or rep down)
Rest/Recovery
You build muscle when you’re OUT of the gym, ie when you’re resting/sleeping. When you’re in the gym, you’re breaking it down. Solid sleep for at least 7 hours is ideal. When sleeping your body is in an anabolic state to recover and rebuild, so solid sack time is an absolute must.
Consistency
You must be consistent with each area, the workout, eating and sleep. It’s fine to take a week off once in a while from your workout, just don’t make it a habbit, or take large blocks of time off. Be patient, be consistent and keep going! Good luck to anyone, it takes hard work and determination.
Final thoughts
It takes time, it’s a journey and hopefully a lifestyle that you’ll continue for many years, there’s no rush, so enjoy it! Over the years i’ve tried many workouts as you either get bored with one, or hit a wall. That’s ok, mix it up every 3 or 4 months and come back to the ones you’ve enjoyed and see how you’ve progressed. I often go from 5x5, to a push/pull to full body, to upper/lower body splits.
As Arnold said, you can have results or excuses, you can’t have both.
