Simple guide — How to build muscle efficiently
Don’t be fooled, building muscle is difficult. It took me many years to figure it out, but now I have and I’m here passing my knowledge over to you.
Track your process, this is very important. Most people don’t do it! Remember, your goal is to build muscle effectively and efficiently, otherwise what’s the point? By tracking your progress, you will always know what muscle group you trained on what day, and more importantly, how much weight you lifted. Obviously, if you want to grow your muscles overtime you need to lift heavier weights week on week to progress forward.
I use this brilliant application called ‘FitBod’. This application allows me to create a workout before I get to the gym, so I know exactly what I’m training (preparation is key!). When I’m at the gym I can Input how much I’m lifting along with how many sets/reps I need to do. This information is automatically logged and can be referred to at any point.
You can see in green it says, ‘weight record’. This tells me I have achieved a PB (personal best) on the back squat, chin up and Romanian deadlift. This is very rewarding to see after a hard work out and confirms I am lifting heavier weights, progression is key.
If you are consistently going to the gym, (3-5 times a week) tracking your progress and lifting heavier weights you will achieve muscle growth.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
This is just as important! You need to make sure you’re eating more food (especially protein) to sustain muscle growth. To do this you need to calculate your maintenance calories (how many calories you need to consume in one day to stay the exact same weight). I cover this in detail in the post below so be sure to look when done here.
Once you calculate your maintenance calories, you need to make sure you’re eating up to 500 MORE calories per day to sustain muscle growth. Eating more than 500 calories per day will result in gaining too much fat, it’s a fine balance! Remember, you are putting on weight in terms of muscle, and to put on weight you need to eat more food, but sensibly! Also, make sure you're consuming 1 gram of protein for 1 pound of body weight — for example, if you weigh 180 pounds, you need to consume 180grams of protein per day! This is the amount of protein your body needs for your muscles to grow back bigger.
All in all, eat slightly more food and lift heavier weights, simple.
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