When putting this thing together, I started off with a simple
question... why do so many people try and fail to build muscle? The
equally simple answer is, they are just not doing the things they need
to be doing.
This of course brings us right to another question:
Just what are the things that people need to be doing in order to successfully build muscle?
Well, I sat down and thought about it and I got it narrowed down to 6
things. Only, referring to them as just "things" wouldn't be very
accurate. See, these are
requirements. As in, if you
take care of some but ignore the others, you will be well on your way to
joining the ranks of the countless other people currently NOT building
muscle.
So, what are the 6 requirements? In no specific order (except the first two, maybe), they are:
- Progressive Overload
- A Caloric Surplus
- A Quality Weight Training Program
- A Sufficient Overall Diet
- Rest And Recovery
- Consistency, Time And Tracking Progress
What follows is a complete breakdown of each of the above
requirements. It's an explanation of everything you need to do to meet
each requirement along with the full details on exactly how to do just
that. Let's start at the top.
Requirement #1: Progressive Overload
While the 6 requirements that I am about to explain are all, you know,
required, progressive overload is the king of them all. The other five pretty much exist because of/in support of this one.
It's easy to understand why progressive overload is the most
important aspect of building muscle once you understand this one other
important fact. For the sake of a catchy nickname, let's call it the
"one fact."
The One Fact
- The human body cares about one thing and one thing only, survival.
It has no interest in having or building muscle. Your goals mean nothing
to your body. In fact, the body's only real goal is keeping you alive
and functioning as efficiently as possible. However, luckily for us,
this goal is precisely what allows us to reach our goal of building
muscle.
See, the body is smart. Actually, it's really smart. It will do
whatever is needed of it in order to adapt to its environment and, once
again, ensure that you can properly function in this environment. As
people looking to build muscle, our sole job is to create an environment
that is going to show our body that we will not survive without more
muscle. Basically, you have to prove to your body that it HAS to build
muscle. It won't unless you give it a damn good reason to, and make sure
it has a reason to both keep the muscle it builds as well as continue
to build more muscle. If this reason never exists or just stops, you
body will gladly accept it and respond by doing absolutely nothing.
We provide this "reason" with something called progressive overload.
Progressive overload refers to an ever increasing amount of work that
you are making your body do. We provide this work in the form of weight
training. We keep the work ever increasing by constantly striving to do
more reps, or lift more weight, or just do something that is above and
beyond what we were previously capable of doing.
If we lift 50lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps on Exercise XYZ consistently,
the body will build enough muscle to make sure it can perform this task.
If we continue to do the same 3 sets of 8 reps with 50lbs, the body
will not build any more muscle. Why? Because it has no reason to. This
is something it is already capable of doing and requires no new
adaptation.
However, if we push ourselves to lift 50lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps
(instead of the 8 reps we were doing before) on Exercise XYZ, the body
will respond the only way it knows how... by adapting to the new stress
being placed upon it. In this case, the "adaptation" is the building of
more muscle. If we push ourselves to lift 55lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps, a
similar adaptation would be required and new muscle would have to be
built.
If we then continued to gradually push our body to perform more work
than it was previously capable of doing, the body will respond by
continuing to build more muscle. If we don't keep trying to increase the
demands being placed on our bodies, or just never increase these
demands in the first place, the body will have no reason to build
muscle... and it won't.
The One Fact: The body will only build muscle if you prove to it that it absolutely has to.
Stop. Go back and read the One Fact again. Then, read it again. After
that, wait a few minutes and read it again. Seriously. Understanding
this One Fact is above all else the key to understanding how to build
muscle. Yes, your body will also need the other 5 requirements mentioned
later on in this guide to be met in order for everything to actually be
able to work. But, without this One Fact (progressive overload) being
met first, the other 5 requirements will get you absolutely no where no
matter how perfectly you are taking care of them.
Progressive overload (or a lack thereof) is also one of, if not the
#1 reason half the people in your gym look the same way now as they did
when they first started working out. They are too busy worrying about
exercises and different types of workouts and how many sets of how many
reps and blah blah blah. "Should I do this exercise or this one?"
"Should I use a barbell or dumbbells?" "Free weights or machines? This
workout or that workout?" They are so busy focusing on all of these
minor details that they miss out on the fact that no matter what they
end up doing, it will all be for nothing without progressive overload.
Which brings us to the next set of questions you should have. How
should one progress at weight training, and when should this progression
take place?
How And When To Progress At Weight Training
In any non-idiotic, well thought out weight training program, you
will have specific exercises that you are supposed to perform during
each workout. For each exercise, you will have a certain number of sets
that you are supposed to do. For each set, you will have a certain
number of reps that you are supposed to do. And obviously, you will also
have a certain amount of weight that you will be lifting during each
exercise. Of course, this will vary from person to person based on
individual strength levels. Either way though, a certain amount of
weight will be used.
Now, the most basic and common form of progression works like this:
meet the prescribed set and rep goal, then increase the weight, then
again meet the set/rep goal, and then again increase the weight. This
would then repeat over and over again. Here's an example. Let's say that
for one of the exercises in your program (let's call it Exercise XYZ),
you are currently lifting 50lbs. Let's also say that your program calls
for you to do 3 sets of 8 reps for Exercise XYZ. Let's say today you did
Exercise XYZ and it looked like this:
Set #1: 50lbs - 8 reps
Set #2: 50lbs - 8 reps
Set #3: 50lbs - 8 reps
Since your program calls for you to do 3 sets of 8 reps, this workout
was a success. You lifted 50lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps. Since you've
reached the prescribed set/rep goal, it's now time to increase the
weight. So, the next time you perform Exercise XYZ, you should do this:
Set #1: 55lbs - 8 reps
Set #2: 55lbs - 8 reps
Set #3: 55lbs - 8 reps
See what happened? You increased the weight you were lifting by 5lbs
(when you increase in weight, you should always do it by the smalled
possible increment) and preformed that same prescribed 3 sets of 8 reps.
This workout was once again a complete success. The next time you
perform Exercise XYZ, you'd go up to 60lbs and again attempt 3 sets of 8
reps. You would then continue increasing like this as often as possible
over and over again.
The only thing is, most people will not be able to increase this much
and/or this consistently from workout to workout. In fact, instead of
that second successful workout shown above (the 55lbs for 3 sets of 8),
most people would have actually ended up doing something like this:
Set #1: 55lbs - 8 reps
Set #2: 55lbs - 7 reps
Set #3: 55lbs - 6 reps
This is completely normal and should still be considered a successful
workout (it is still definitely progressive overload). Now, in this
case, your goal the next time you perform Exercise XYZ is something like
this:
Set #1: 55lbs - 8 reps
Set #2: 55lbs - 8 reps
Set #3: 55lbs - 7 reps
And the time after that...
Set #1: 55lbs - 8 reps
Set #2: 55lbs - 8 reps
Set #3: 55lbs - 8 reps
And the time after that...
Set #1: 60lbs - 8 reps
Set #2: 60lbs - 7 reps
Set #3: 60lbs - 6 reps
And you would repeat this similar pattern of increasing reps/weight
over and over and over again. Yes, there will be times when you end up
repeating the same exact number of sets/reps/weight that you did the
previous workout. There will also be times where, in the above example
for instance, you might only get reps of 7, 7, 7, or 7, 6, 6, or 7, 6, 5
in the three sets after going up in weight. Don't worry, it's all
normal.
Just work hard next time to progress in some way. Add 1 rep to every
set, add 1 rep to just one set, add 2 reps to one set, add 2 reps to one
set and 2 reps to another, whatever. Just work your ass off to
gradually reach your program's prescribed set/rep goal. And then, once
you do reach it, increase the weight you are lifting for that exercise
by the smallest possible increment and do this all over again. This is
all part of the process of progressive overload, and it will all lead to
you building muscle.
And, in case it isn't obvious enough, if your weight training program
called for 3 sets of 10, 4 sets of 6, 5 sets of 5, 2 sets of 12, and
any other combination of sets and reps, you'd still progress virtually
the same way as the above example, just with a different number of reps
and sets.
In the sample recommended weight training program I am going to
describe later on in this guide, I actually suggest a slightly different
method of progression than the one shown in the above examples. It's
still pretty much the exact same thing, just with one small modification
that I (and some well respected smart people) feel will allow more
people to progress at a more consistent rate.
Oh, and the final thing you might want to know about progression is
that nothing progresses at exactly the same rate. Meaning, some
exercises (even ones for the same muscle group) will progress
faster/slower than others. This is all perfectly normal. Just keep
trying to progress as often as you can on every exercise and the rest
will take care of it self.
Requirement #2: A Caloric Surplus
Your body requires a certain number of calories per day in order to maintain your current weight. This is known as your
calorie maintenance level.
It's the number of calories required by your body to do everything it
needs to do (intense exercise, brushing your teeth, pumping blood,
keeping organs functioning properly, etc.). Calories are what our bodies
use for energy, so in order to do what needs to be done, a certain
number of calories are needed.
If we supply our bodies with less calories than this maintenance level, we will lose weight. This is called a
caloric deficit and, as mentioned in
The Ultimate Weight Loss Guide, is the key to weight loss.
The complete opposite of this is called a
caloric surplus.
A caloric surplus occurs when you consume more calories than your body
needs. This is a requirement for building muscle because, in the most
basic sense, muscle can not be built out of nothing. It needs this extra
energy.
What's that you say? Wouldn't a caloric surplus just make people
fat? The answer is yes, yes it will, and yes it does. Pick a fat person,
any fat person. They got that way due to a caloric surplus. Their body
received more calories than it needed/used/burned, and the excess was
stored in the form of fat.
HOWEVER (and this is a big, huge however), a proper weight training
program done consistently with a focus on progressive overload signals
the body to use those excess calories to build muscle rather then store
them as fat. This is the difference between someone who is just going to
get fat from eating too much and someone who is creating a small
caloric surplus to support the muscle building process.
Here's my really strange, semi-accurate, cartoony way of explaining it:
- Calories enter your body. They look around at what's going on and
decide what they are going to do. If they have no job to do and see they
won't be used for anything, they basically say "the hell with this" and
walk through the door labeled "Fat Storage" where they will then be
stored on your body as fat. However, if they see all of the signs that
show them that they are going to be needed for the process of building
muscle, they walk through the "Building Muscle" door where they will
then be used to do just that.
This wacky little explanation is really a description of what's known as
calorie partitioning.
Due to the caloric surplus, your body is being supplied with more
calories than it needs. A ton of factors then decide where those
calories will go (or will be "partitioned")... towards fat storage or
towards building muscle. These deciding factors include genetics,
hormones, the specifics of your diet (more on that in a second) and,
most importantly, weight training. Take away the weight training and
most (if not all) of these excess calories will become fat. Add in
weight training that focuses on progressive overload, and many of these
calories will go towards building muscle.
While it would be nice to get ALL of the excess calories to go
towards building muscle, most of us can not. Certain things (all of
which are genetic) are out of our control (without steroid use, at
least), so, no matter how perfectly we get the factors we can control,
it's pretty safe to say that some of the excess calories will still go
towards fat storage. While this does indeed suck, we shouldn't feel too
bad. Instead, we need to focus on using the factors we can control to
ensure that our calorie partitioning is as good as it can be or, in
other words, our ratio of muscle to fat gain is as good as it can be.
The factors we can control are our weight training program and our
diet. For weight training, as mentioned in Requirement #1, progressive
overload is the most important key of them all. Without it, there is
pretty much no signal to the body to use those excess calories for
building muscle in the first place. After that, there are definitely
some other important weight training factors here, but I'll get to them
in a few minutes. First, let's get to most important diet factor of them
all... the size of the caloric surplus.
The Size Of The Surplus: How many excess calories?
Alright, so you now know that in order to gain weight of any kind (in
this case, muscle), you must consume more calories than your body
needs. You now also know that these excess calories will be partitioned
in our body to go towards either fat storage or building muscle. What
you need to know next is that there is a limit to the amount of muscle
the human body can build over a certain period of time. What this also
means is that there is a limit to the amount of calories that your body
can put towards building muscle.
What I mean is, the idea that "consuming 1000 excess calories per day
will lead to more muscle gain than consuming 300 excess calories per
day" couldn't be more wrong. Instead, it will just lead to more fat
gain. You can see where this idea came from. If you maintain your weight
consuming 2000 calories per day, and then learn that it takes a caloric
surplus to gain muscle, it's easy to assume that you'll gain more
muscle (and gain it faster) if you started consuming 3000 calories per
day instead of something like 2300 calories per day. And, we all know
what happens when we assume, right? We make an "ass" out of "u" and "me"
...and we get really, really fat.
I've heard a couple of smart people say that, at best, the average
male can hope to gain between 0.25 and 0.5 pounds of muscle per week.
Females can hope for half that. What this means is, while a caloric
surplus is still absolutely required, if there are any excess calories
consumed in addition to the number of calories that your body can
actually put towards building muscle, these calories will end up going
through the "Fat Storage" door. Meaning, if your body can only use 500
excess calories to build muscle, and you supply it with 1000, that extra
500 will go towards fat.
The question now is, how much of a surplus is ideal? What is the
surplus that will lead to the most muscle gain, and the least fat gain?
Good question. Unfortunately, there is no exact answer that can apply to
everyone. What there is though is a fairly good range to shoot for...
Most experts suggest consuming a daily surplus of between 250 and 500 calories.
Anything more than a daily 500 calorie surplus and you will most likely end up gaining too much fat.
So, for example, if your calorie maintenance level is 2000 calories,
you should look to consume somewhere between 2250 and 2500 calories per
day. If your calorie maintenance level is 2800 calories, you'd look to
consume between 3050 and 3300 calories per day. Get the picture? Good.
The next thing you probably want to know is how to figure out your
calorie maintenance level so you can create this 250-500 calorie surplus
and start building muscle. Here's how:
-
The Calorie Maintenance Level Calculator
The calculator below will figure out your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
using the Harris-Benedict Equation, which is a widely accepted equation
used for calculating this number. Your BMR is the number of calories
that your body burns at rest to do all of the things it needs to do to
keep you alive and functioning properly. Your activity level is also
factored in to estimate how many other calories you burn per day in
addition to your BMR. The answer given is the total of the two and
should be, for most people, a pretty close estimate of your daily
calorie maintenance level.
Whatever your estimated maintenance level is, you'd now add 250-500
calories to it and start to consume this number of calories every day.
Your caloric surplus is now all set.
The Rate Of Weight Gain: How many pounds per week?
So, how many pounds should you aim to gain per week with a diet like this? I'd say, on average,
between 0.5 and 1 pound per week, or 2-4 pounds per month. Any more than these recommendations and you are/will be putting on more fat than muscle.
This is probably a good time to remind you that the calculator you
just used is only giving an estimate. While it might be pretty darn
accurate for you (it is for me), it's possible that it may be a bit off
for others. Which is why I mentioned the ideal rate of weight gain. If,
after adding 250-500 calories to your estimated maintenance level, you
are indeed gaining about 0.5 to 1 pound per week consistently, cool. You
have successfully created the ideal caloric surplus. Keep consuming
this number of calories from this point on.
If you see you are gaining more than 1 pound per week on a consistent
basis (a couple of weeks in a row), reduce your daily calorie intake by
a small increment (250 calories is good) and monitor your weight for
another couple of weeks. Are you gaining in the 0.5-1 pound per week
range now? If so, stay with this calorie intake from this point on. If
you are still gaining too fast, make another small calorie reduction and
repeat this process over again until you are finally gaining in the
recommended range.
If you are losing weight, maintaining your weight, or gaining less
than 0.5 pounds per week, repeat the above mentioned steps, except by
making a 250 calorie INCREASE rather than a decrease. Watch your weight
for a few weeks and see what happens. Gaining in the ideal range now? If
so, stick with this calorie intake. If not, keep making small
adjustments until you are.
The last thing I need to mention about your calorie intake is that,
once you create the ideal surplus, there is a good chance you will reach
a point where your weight stops going up at this recommended rate and
instead starts to just maintain. When this happens for a couple of weeks
in a row, it means it is time to add another 250 or so calories to your
daily calorie intake. This will once again bring you into the ideal
weight gain range. If weight gain maintains again for a few weeks at
some later point, make another 250 calorie increase.
Other Questions You Probably Have
You may be wondering a couple of things at this point. For example,
when do you stop? As in, when does this whole muscle building/weight
gain phase end? You may also be wondering what to do about that little
bit of fat you may gain along with all of your new super cool muscle.
Well, I am putting the answers to both of those questions in the FAQ at
the very end of this guide. Why? Because you are going to need to read
the rest of this guide in order to completely understand my answers. So,
mental note... don't skip the FAQ located at the end of this guide. In
the mean time, back to the 6 requirements.
Requirement #3: A Quality Weight Training Program
As mentioned in Requirement #1, as far as weight training goes,
progressive overload is above all else the true key here. Even with a
less than stellar program, as long as you are focusing on progressing as
often as you can (and the 5 other requirements in this article are
being met), you will still end up building muscle. Of course, the better
the program, the better the results.
And, if there's one thing I've learned about weight training, it's
that "less than stellar" would be a huge improvement over the majority
of laughably horrible routines being done by most people.
There are so many ways that people screw up their weight training
program that just even toying with the idea of listing some of them made
my head literally explode. Yes, literally. I just had to stop typing so
I could put my head back together. So, rather than attempt this again,
I'm instead going to run down some of the most important principles of a
quality, non-idiotic, weight training program. For the best possible
muscle building results, you should be able to put a check next to each
one of these. If you can't... fix it.
A quality, non-idiotic weight training program...
Focuses on progressive overload.
Yes, I know I spent all of Requirement #1 talking about this, but I'm still going to mention it again. It is THAT important.
Trains the entire body.
I won't lie... my first few months in the gym I did nothing but chest
and biceps. I was an idiot, and there are countless others who were and
still are just like I was. There are actually degrees of idiocy when it
comes to this. Many people (mostly men) will only train the "beach
muscles" (chest and arms). Others will train their entire upper body and
completely ignore their legs (or claim they run/jog/walk/bike ride a
lot, and that's somehow good enough). Some women will put a ton of
effort into their lower body (and/or just their "problem areas") and
hardly any into training their back, shoulders and chest. Some people
only train the muscles they can see in the mirror, thus ignoring their
back and hamstrings.
All of these people are idiots. As a former idiot, I'm allowed to
make that statement. You should make it your goal to not be an idiot to
any degree. Train your entire body. That means your entire upper body
(chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps) and your entire lower body
(quadriceps, hamstrings, calves).
There are a bunch of reasons why training your whole body is important. Here's the first few that come to mind...
- To prevent muscle imbalances and the many injuries and issues caused
by them. For example, if you "push" (bench press and other chest stuff)
more than you "pull" (barbell row, and other back stuff), bad things
will end up happening in your future.
- To avoid looking silly. Having some body parts that look alright and
others that look like they've never been used before in your life is
not a good look. There's a reason a bodybuilding stereotype is a guy
with an okay upper body and tiny stick legs.
- To ensure you aren't missing out on some of the best exercises. Some
of the biggest and best exercises are the ones many people end up not
doing as a result of the fact that their crappy weight training program
has them avoiding the body parts that these movements are for. Some
common examples? Squats, rows, pull ups, deadlifts and so on. By not
training certain parts of your body, you miss out on doing some of the
exercises that will end up adding the most muscle to your body.
- To improve your goal of building muscle. Similar to the above
reason, when you don't train certain parts of your body, what you're
really doing is just limiting the amount of muscle you can add to your
body. It's pretty common sense, if you train 100% of your body, you can
add muscle to 100% of it. Train 75% of it, and you're losing out on 25%
of the muscle you could be building.
Long story short, don't be an idiot. Train your whole body.
Is comprised of mostly compound exercises.
Machines and isolation exercises all have there place, and I'm not
one of those people who are completely against them. However, if
building muscle is your goal (and since you are here, it probably is),
you'd be at an extreme disadvantage if they made up the majority of your
weight training program. Instead, the following are the types of
exercises that should comprise most of your routine:
- Chest: Bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press (with a barbell or dumbbells)
- Back: Bent over barbell/dumbbell rows, pull-ups/chin-ups, t-bar rows, seated cable rows, chest supported rows
- Quads: Back squats, front squats, split squats, lunges, leg press, step ups
- Hamstrings: Romanian deadlifts, glute-ham raises, hyperextensions, pull-throughs, good mornings
- Shoulders: Seated/standing overhead press (with a barbell or dumbbells)
- Triceps: Dips, close grip bench press (flat or decline), lying triceps extension (also called skull crushers)
- Biceps: Barbell curls
- Calves: Seated/standing calf raises, calf press (in leg press machine)
This is just a basic rundown of the best exercises for each muscle
group. Stuff like leg curls, lateral raises, dumbbell flyes, preacher
curls and triceps press-downs are all fine too. They should however only
make up a small portion of your program, while the type of stuff on the
above list should make up most of it.
Uses proper form.
Your goal isn't to just move a weight from point A to point B. Your
goal is to contract a muscle against a resistance. Meaning, do not use
crazy amounts of momentum to do an exercise. Do not go only half way
down or only half way up or both just so you can lift a weight that's
too heavy for you. Don't lift with your ego (mostly a "guy thing"). If
you can't use proper form on every rep, of every set, of every
exercise... lower the weight until you can. Yes, progressive overload
and increasing the weights as often as possible is the #1 goal. But, it
should not happen at the expense of crappy form.
As for where to learn the proper form of many exercises,
this
is a pretty good place to start. Pick a muscle group from the column on
the right, and it will list a bunch exercises. Pick an exercise, and it
will show you how it's done.
Uses proper volume, frequency and intensity.
Volume refers to the number of sets and reps and exercises.
Frequency
refers to the number of times you do something, usually per week. For
example, the number of workouts per week, or how often you train a
specific movement or body part per week.
Intensity, for
the most part, refers to how heavy you're going. For example, doing a
set of 20 reps where, at the end of the set, you could still have done
20 more, is very low intensity. A set of 6, where there was pretty much
no way you were going to be able to do a 7th rep with good form, is
fairly high intensity.
If there is too much volume, too much frequency, or too much
intensity, it will most definitely hinder your goal of building muscle.
If there is too little, a similar hindering will occur. This one would
require a whole second article to fully cover, so I'll just throw some
general recommendations at you.
- Volume
For volume, I really can't see anyone ever needing to do more than 15
total sets per body part over the course of the week, specifically for
body parts like chest, back, quads and hamstrings. In fact, I'd say 12
sets is probably an even more accurate maximum number, with 8-12 sets
total for the week for each body part probably being the most accurate
estimate of them all for most people. Smaller muscles, especially ones
that get hit indirectly through compound exercises (biceps and triceps)
really only need about half that, possibly even less. 3-6 sets total
over the course of the week sounds about right for most people for these
body parts.
As for exercises, I'd think 4 exercises per muscle per week is
probably the maximum most people could possibly need. I'd say most
people really only need 1-3 exercises per muscle per week (3 for the
bigger muscles, 1-2 for the smaller ones), with 2-4 sets per exercise on
average.
It's impossible to say do exactly x sets of y reps for body part z.
It just doesn't work like that, especially since each person will have
their own individual volume tolerance, work capacity and recovery
ability. These are just general recommendations that will probably be
best for most people. Some people may benefit from more, some from less.
It's up to you to listen to your body to find out what works best for
you.
- Frequency
As for frequency, research and nearly all of the well respected smart
people in this field say the same thing... training each body part once
per week (the typical "bodybuilding routine") is not ideal for us
non-drug using, genetically average people of the world.
Can it work? Yes. Is it the best way to train? No. What is? An
upper/lower split (upper body on Monday and Thursday, lower body on
Tuesday and Friday, for example) where each body part is hit in some
form twice per week seems to be the most often recommended training
split among the really smart people whose recommendations I value, as
opposed to the drugged up genetic wonders on the cover of some
bodybuilding magazine whose recommendations I could care less about.
From my own personal experience, I can tell you that switching from that
typical "each muscle once per week body part split" to an "upper/lower
split" made a significant positive difference in my results.
- Intensity
As for intensity, you typically will want to stay in the 5-12 rep range.
More than 12 is a little more endurance oriented and would mean you're
going a bit too light, and less than 5 is a little more strength
oriented and would mean you're going a bit too heavy. Don't get me
wrong, these rep ranges can still definitely be used for building muscle
(elite powerlifters work mainly in the 1-5 rep range, and they
certainly don't lack muscle), however, from all of the research I've
read and all of the recommendations I've seen, you will ideally want to
stay within the 5-12 rep range most of the time.
What does that mean exactly? It means that, for example, if you were
doing 3 sets of 8 reps for an exercise, you'd be using a weight that is
light enough for you to perform about 8 reps, yet heavy enough where you
couldn't keep going after the 8th rep to do any more than another rep
or two at most.
- Failure
Now, the above doesn't mean you need to be going to failure. Failure,
by the way, is when you reach the point where you can not complete a
rep. When you try, get half way there, and can't go any further...
that's called "failure." Contrary to some idiotic advice that shows up
from time to time in the world of building muscle, failure isn't such a
great thing. It puts a ton of stress on the body (not just the muscle,
but the whole nervous system), and going to failure often will burn most
people out, screw up your recovery, bring your results to a halt, and
possibly even lead to injury.
At the same time, I'm also not anti-failure. Since progressive
overload is such a key, it's important to try to get that next rep.
That's why I think sometimes, when you feel you may be able to get that
next rep, and you try it, and you hit failure... that's okay. It's not
so okay when you pretty much know you're done, and you purposely attempt
another rep (or more) just to reach failure for the sake of reaching
failure.
With that said, most of the time your sets should end about 1 or 2
reps short of failure (which, as mentioned above, should be somewhere in
the 5-12 rep range). The occasional time you attempt that next rep and
don't make it... don't worry about. That, in my opinion, is good
failure. Doing it on purpose, every exercise, every set, every workout,
is bad failure.
- Rest Between Sets
Typically for building muscle, most experts advise resting 1-3 minutes
between sets. I'd agree with this, but with a small note. I'd recommend
2-3 minutes for the bigger stuff (bench press, squats, deadlifts,
barbell rows, etc.) and 1-2 minutes for the smaller stuff (biceps and
triceps exercises, lateral raises, leg curls, dumbbell flyes, etc.). If
possible, try to be consistent with your rest times with each exercise.
As in, don't take 1 minute between sets of an exercise this time, and 3
minutes next time. It kinda makes it hard to accurately progress that
way.
a Calorie Counter's Sample Weight Training Program o' Fun
Here now is a sample weight training program that fits all of the
above guidelines and, when combined with the other 5 requirements in
this guide being met, will most definitely allow you to reach your goal
of building muscle.
Monday: Upper Body #1
- Barbell Bench Press - 4 sets of 6-8 reps - 2-3 minutes rest between sets
- Bent Over Barbell Rows - 4 sets of 6-8 reps - 2-3 minutes rest between sets
- Seated Overhead Barbell Press - 4 sets of 6-8 reps - 2-3 minutes rest between sets
- Dumbbell Flyes - 2 sets of 10-12 reps - 1-2 minutes rest between sets
- Biceps Exercise - 3 sets of 6-8 reps - 1-2 minutes rest between sets
- Triceps Exercise - 2 sets of 10-12 reps - 1-2 minutes rest between sets
Tuesday: Lower Body #1
- Squats - 4 sets of 6-8 reps - 2-3 minutes rest between sets
- Split Squats - 3 sets of 8-10 reps - 2 minutes rest between sets
- Hyperextensions (or Seated Leg Curls) - 3 sets of 10-12 reps - 2 minutes rest between sets
- Standing Calf Raises - 4 sets of 6-8 reps - 2 minutes rest between sets
- Ab Stuff (Rarely more than 10 minutes worth)
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Upper Body #2
- Pull Ups - 4 sets of 6-8 reps - 2-3 minutes rest between sets
- Incline Dumbbell Press - 3 sets of 8-10 reps - 2 minutes rest between sets
- Seated Cable Rows - 3 sets of 8-10 reps - 2 minutes rest between sets
- Lateral Raises - 3 sets of 10-12 reps - 1-2 minutes rest between sets
- Triceps Exercise - 3 sets of 6-8 reps - 1-2 minutes rest between sets
- Biceps Exercise - 2 sets of 10-12 reps - 1-2 minutes rest between sets
Friday: Lower Body #2
- Romanian Deadlifts - 4 sets of 6-8 reps - 2-3 minutes rest between sets
- Lying Leg Curls - 3 sets of 8-10 reps - 2 minutes rest between sets
- Leg Press - 3 sets of 10-12 reps - 2 minutes rest between sets
- Seated Calf Raises - 3 sets of 10-12 reps - 1-2 minutes rest between sets
- Ab Stuff (Rarely more than 10 minutes worth)
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
The Method Of Progression
As you should know by now, progression is the key to building muscle.
The suggested method of progression for this weight training program is
almost exactly the same as the method shown in the examples in
Requirement #1 (progressive overload). The only real difference is,
instead of giving you an exact number of reps to perform (3 sets of 8,
or 4 sets of 6, etc.) I have given you a rep range in its place. For
example, instead of prescribing 4 sets of 8 reps for an exercise, I have
prescribed 4 sets of 6-8 reps. Let me explain what that means.
If, for an exercise that I have prescribed 4 sets of 6-8 reps, you do:
Set #1: 50lbs - 8 reps
Set #2: 50lbs - 8 reps
Set #3: 50lbs - 8 reps
Set #4: 50lbs - 8 reps
You would increase to 55lbs the next time you perform this exercise. However, if you were only able to get something like this:
Set #1: 50lbs - 8 reps
Set #2: 50lbs - 8 reps
Set #3: 50lbs - 7 reps
Set #4: 50lbs - 7 reps
You would still increase the weight to 55lbs the next time because
all 4 sets stayed in the prescribed 6-8 rep range. Similarly, if you did
this:
Set #1: 50lbs - 8 reps
Set #2: 50lbs - 7 reps
Set #3: 50lbs - 6 reps
Set #4: 50lbs - 6 reps
You would once again increase to 55lbs the next time as you were able
to do between 6 and 8 reps on all 4 sets. However, if you did something
like this:
Set #1: 50lbs - 7 reps
Set #2: 50lbs - 6 reps
Set #3: 50lbs - 5 reps
Set #4: 50lbs - 4 reps
You would NOT go up in weight. Instead, you would work to add
additional reps to each of those sets until you reach the point where
all 4 are in the prescribed 6-8 rep range. When this happens, you'd
increase the weight (by the smallest possible increment) and repeat this
process all over again with the new heavier weight.
And obviously, it would work the exact same way for the other
prescribed set/rep ranges in the program (3 sets of 8-10, 2 sets of
10-12, etc.). Get all of the prescribed sets to fall in the prescribed
rep ranges, then increase the weight.
Another thing I think I need to mention about this method of
progression is that, even though a rep range is given that allows you to
increase the weight even when you don't reach the top of the rep range
on all of the sets, your intention is still to TRY to reach (or at least
get as close to) the top of that range as you can on all of the sets.
What I mean is, sticking with the same 4 sets of 6-8 reps example, if
you did 7, 6, 6, 5 on an exercise, your goal next time is NOT to just
bring that 4th set to 6 reps and just maintain the other three as they
are. While getting that last set up into your rep range is definitely
part of the goal, your other goal is to still try to get each set, even
if they are already in the prescribed rep range, as close to the top end
of the rep range as you can.
So, instead of trying to just do 7, 6, 6, 6 the next time, you should
try to do something like 8, 7, 7, 6, or more if you can. Basically,
work to get every set as close to the top end of the rep range (which in
this example is 8) as you can, and when you reach the point where all
of the sets are in the range, increase the weight and do it all over
again.
Other Notes About a Calorie Counter's Weight Training Program o' Fun
I think the program itself is pretty self explanatory, but here's some extra info on some stuff that may not be:
- If you'd rather start with lower body (and do lower/upper/off/lower/upper/off/off), that's perfectly fine.
- If you'd rather work out on different days (like on the weekend, for
example), that's also perfectly fine as long as the same upper/lower or
lower/upper order remains, and the layout... on, on, off, on, on, off,
off... remains as well. The actual days of the week you choose to work
out on and the days you choose to take off make no difference as long as
the program's template stays the same.
- If you can only make it to the gym 3 days per week instead of 4, here's the solution...
Monday: Upper Body #1
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Lower Body #1
Thursday: Off
Friday: Upper Body #2
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
Monday: Lower Body #2
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Upper Body #1
Thursday: Off
Friday: Lower Body #1
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
Monday: Upper Body #2
etc.
- While you are meant to be doing all of the exercises included in
this routine, if you happen to come across something your gym doesn't
have, or something you honestly can not do because of some preexisting
injury, do the next closest match instead.
- If you are currently unable to do pull-ups, go with the next closest
match... the lat pull down. However, you should make it your goal to be
able to do pull-ups, and gradually work up to being able to do them.
- For biceps and triceps stuff, I'm leaving the exercise selection up
to you. Honestly, it's not going to matter THAT much since it's the
heavy rows/pullups and presses that will add the most muscle to your
arms anyway. I do however feel that some direct arm work is still
important, so, just pick your own favorites.
- The same goes for the ab stuff. Weighted crunches are good, hanging
leg raises are good, some kind of twist/side crunch/side bend is good.
Again, pick your favorite ab stuff and keep it to about 10 minutes at
the end of each lower body workout.
- The order I listed the exercises in for each workout... that's the order you should be doing them in.
- The number of sets prescribed does NOT include warm-up sets.
I think that pretty much covers everything.
For any additional information about creating the most effective weight
training program possible, be sure to check out my workout-specific
site,
A Workout Routine. The best place to start over there would be my guide to creating
The Ultimate Weight Training Workout Routine.
Requirement #4: A Sufficient Overall Diet
The most important part of the diet of someone whose goal is building
muscle is, quite simply, a small caloric surplus. It's so important in
fact that rather than lumping it in with the rest of the important diet
stuff I'm about to mention, I made it its own requirement (see:
Requirement #2).
As for the rest of your diet, there's really just a couple of general
guidelines you need to stick to, many of which are similar to the
guidelines of a typical healthy diet. In order of importance, they are:
Calorie Intake
Yup, I'm mentioning it again. #1 on your muscle building diet to-do
list is consuming the right number of calories, which, as I've mentioned
about 48 times now, is a 250-500 calorie surplus. This ends up being
the number of calories that causes you to gain between 0.5 and 1 pound
per week (or 2-4 pounds per month).
You can find out how many calories are in your food by either checking the label on the package or looking it up right here on
a Calorie Counter.
Protein Intake
Nearly every single recommendation I've ever seen for protein intake when building muscle is the same:
1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.
Meaning, if you weigh 165lbs, you'd consume 165 grams of protein per
day (and yes, that means every day, whether you workout or not). I will
also mention that I've seen some recommendations as high as 1.75-2 grams
of protein per pound of body weight per day, which some people feel is
beneficial, and most others feel is unnecessary. What do I think? I
think a daily protein intake anywhere
in the range of 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound is perfect for the average healthy adult who is actively trying to build some muscle.
Most of your protein intake should come from the following foods:
- Chicken
- Turkey
- Fish
- Meat (the leaner the better)
- Eggs/Egg Whites
- Milk
- Nuts
- Beans
- A Protein Supplement
You can find out how much protein is in your food by either checking the label on the package or looking it up right here on
a Calorie Counter.
Fat Intake
Similarly to protein intake, most of the recommendations I've seen for daily fat intake are pretty much the same as well:
20%-30% of your total calorie intake.
So, if an example person is eating 2000 calories per day, 20-30 percent
of that would be 400-600 calories. And, since 1 gram of fat contains 9
calories, this works out to be about 44-66 grams of fat per day for this
example person.
Most of your fat intake should come from the following foods:
You can find out how much fat is in your food by either checking the label on the package or looking it up right here on
a Calorie Counter.
Carb Intake
With protein and fat out of the way, figuring out your carb intake is pretty simple:
it's whatever is left over once a sufficient protein and fat intake are factored in. I'll explain this more in a minute.
Most of your carb intake should come from the following foods:
- Brown Rice
- Oatmeal
- Beans (all kinds)
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Other Whole Wheat/Whole Grain Products
You can find out how many carbs are in your food by either checking the label on the package or looking it up right here on
a Calorie Counter.
Putting The Diet Together
And now for an example of how to set up your muscle building diet. In
the following example, we will pretend our example person weighs 165lbs
and has a daily calorie maintenance level of 2000 (which are just
completely made up numbers, by the way). Here we go...
- Set Calorie Intake
Our example person estimated that they have a daily calorie maintenance
level of 2000 calories. In Requirement #2, they learned that they need
to create a daily caloric surplus of about 250-500 calories. So,
starting tomorrow, they will consume 2250 - 2500 calories per day, every
day. For the sake of keeping the rest of this example diet even more
simple to understand, let's just go with an even 2350 calories per day (thus creating a 350 calorie surplus for our example person). Sound good? Cool.
- Set Protein Intake
So, with a daily calorie intake of 2350 all set, the next thing thing
our example person needs to do is figure out their protein intake. Since
he/she weighs 165lbs, they will look to consume about 165 grams of protein per day. Because 1 gram of protein contains about 4 calories, this works out to be 660 calories from protein per day (165 x 4 = 660).
- Set Fat Intake
Next up is fat. Our example person read the recommendation that 20-30
percent of their total calorie intake should come from fat, and they've
decided on going with an even 25%. With a total calorie intake of 2350,
this works out to be about 588 calories from fat (2350 x 0.25 = 588).
Because 1 gram of fat contains about 9 calories, this works out to be 65 grams of fat per day (588 ÷ 9 = 65).
- Set Carb Intake
With 660 calories from protein now accounted for, and 588 calories from
fat also accounted for, we have a total of 1248 calories all figured out
(660 + 588 = 1248). Since our example person should be consuming 2350
calories per day, this leaves us with 1102 calories not yet accounted
for (2350 - 1248 = 1102). As mentioned above, these remaining calories
will come from carbs. Because 1 gram of carbs contains about 4 calories,
this works out to be 275 grams of carbs per day (1102 ÷ 4 = 275).
- Make Adjustments
Our example person just came up with a daily muscle building diet
containing 2350 calories which come from 165 grams of protein, 65 grams
of fat, and 275 grams of carbs. They are done, this diet is good to go.
However, it doesn't have to be.
Adjustments can be made if you want to make them. For example, if our
example person would rather have a little more fat in their diet (and
get nearer 30% of their total calorie intake instead of the 25% they
went with), they certainly can. They just need to remember that for all
of the calories they end up adding from fat, they need to reduce the
same number of calories from carbs so that the total calorie intake
remains 2350.
The same goes for protein. If our example person would rather get
closer to 1.5 grams of protein per pound instead of 1 gram per pound
like they originally figured, it's fine. Again, they just need to
remember to reduce carb intake so their total calorie intake for the day
remains 2350.
Other Diet Tips For Building Muscle
-
Surround your workout with protein and carbs. All research (and there is
a lot of it) and recommendations (and there are a lot of them too)
suggest the same thing, which is that it would be a very good idea to
consume protein and carbs in your pre and post workout meals.
What that means is, in the meal before your workout (an hour before is
probably fine), eat a significant amount of protein, a significant
amount of carbs, and little to no fat. Then, immediately following your
workout (as soon after as you can), eat another similar meal containing a
significant amount of protein and carbs, and no fat.
In the pre-workout meal, any good carb and protein source should be fine
(chicken and brown rice, for example). Post-workout, while a solid food
meal would still be okay, you can actually do a bit better than just
"okay." The goal here is to get nutrients (protein and carbs) into your
body and digested as quickly as possible. Why? Because following your
weight training workout, your body is absolutely craving them to begin
the recovery/muscle building process. Because speed is pretty important
here, keeping fat out of this meal is a good idea, as fat slows down
digestion.
For the same reason, a solid food meal also isn't the very best choice
as it takes longer for your body to digest than say a liquid meal. Which
of course brings us to the ideal post workout meal... a liquid meal containing fast protein and fast carbs. The ideal "fast protein" is a whey protein supplement. The ideal "fast carb" is dextrose, which is a type of sugar (sometimes used as a part of certain sports drinks), and the ideal "liquid" is of course water.
So, whey + dextrose + a bunch of water = the ideal post workout meal.
There are many "post workout supplements" on the market containing the
above ingredients, but I don't recommend any of them. You will be much
better off and you'll end up saving a ton of money just buying your own
whey and your own dextrose and combining it yourself. More on
supplements below.
-
Drink lots of water and little of everything else. No soda, and no junky
fruit juices/sports drinks or anything similar. Some milk is okay.
Keeping alcohol to a minimum would definitely be a good idea. Green tea
is nice. But really, for the most part, your drink of choice is water.
0.5-1 gallon of water per day is pretty good for the average healthy
adult exercising regularly.
-
Most recommendations for diet organization suggest that you will be
better off spreading your total calorie intake out over the course of
the day in 5-6 smaller meals instead of 1-3 really large ones, with
about 2-3 hours between each meal. Truth is, it really doesn't make any
difference how many meals you eat per day, and tons of studies in recent
years prove this. So, basically, eat as many meals per day as you
prefer. Whatever will make it easiest for you to consistently eat the
right total amounts of calories, protein, fat and carbs per day, THAT'S
how many meals you should eat. Whether that's 3 meals or 6 meals (or
anything in between) is totally up to you and your own preferences.
-
Aside from the important diet stuff needed for building muscle, there is
also some important diet stuff that should be done for overall health
in general. The first things that come to mind... keep saturated fat at
no more than 1/3 of your total fat intake, avoid trans fat completely,
keep sodium and cholesterol intake in their healthy ranges, keep sugar
intake low or nonexistent (except in the form of dextrose post workout,
of course), and try to avoid as much of the typical junky crap that you
already know should be avoided as part of any healthy diet.
The Muscle Building Diet Summary
Like summaries? Cool. Here's everything you just read about putting together a sufficient diet summed up in just 1 paragraph...
Create a small caloric surplus, get a sufficient amount protein and
fat, and get the rest of your calorie intake mainly from carbs. Get each
of these nutrients from the quality, healthy foods mentioned above, and
organize it all in whatever way is most enjoyable and sustainable for
you. Surround your weight training workout with meals containing a
significant amount of protein and carbs, and drink plenty of water all
day long. Rinse, repeat.
Supplements
Now, this is where I need to be careful. I'm explaining the 6
requirements for building muscle and now I'm going to mention
supplements. The reason I need to be careful here is because, contrary
to what every supplement company on the planet would like you to
believe, there is not one supplement that is required in any way, shape
or form.
However, I know that I can't write something called The Ultimate
Guide To Building Muscle without at least mentioning supplements because
no matter how hard I ingrain the above fact in the brain of everyone
reading this, the questions are still going to come. So, here's my
mention of supplements.
The first thing you need to know is that no supplement will do a damn
thing for you without the 6 requirements in this article being met
first. Supplements don't make up for crappy progression, or crappy
training, or a crappy diet, or crappy rest/recovery, or crappy
consistency. Supplements will only become helpful/useful when all of the
actual important stuff is already being taken care of. Please read this
again. Then, read it again. So many people look towards supplements for
"help" before doing any of the 6 requirements, let alone all of them.
These people end up doing nothing but wasting time and money. Don't be
like these people.
As for actual supplement recommendations, here's the general consensus:
- Protein Powder
As I mentioned before, whey protein powder is the ideal choice for your post workout meal (along with dextrose,
which isn't really a supplement so it's not on this list). If you plan
on having a protein shake during some other part of the day, a
whey/casein blend or casein by itself is the way to go. As for specific
brands, at this point it comes down pretty much to just taste and cost.
None will do anything special that another one won't. It's just protein.
Find one that tastes good and costs a price you are willing to pay.
Personally, I've been using Designer Whey Protein Powder
since about 2001 and fully recommend it. It's the best tasting/easiest
mixing protein powder I've ever found (I like the strawberry flavor).
For non-whey protein powders, I'm a fan of Optimum Nutrition's 100% Casein Powder.
- Fish Oil
I am a HUGE fan of fish oil, and I
honestly recommend every single person, no matter what their goals are
or if they even care about weight training or nutrition at all, take a
fish oil supplement. There is a seemingly infinite amount of actual
research proving the benefits of fish oil, and how it damn near improves
the body's ability to do everything. Nearly every respectable
doctor/nutritionist/strength coach/expert recommends it. The full
details of why are here: Fish Oil Supplements.
So, long story short, if you were ever to spend a cent on supplements,
fish oil should be one of those supplements. For brands, I use and fully
recommend Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega,
an expert-recommended brand that ranked at the top of every consumer
report I've seen on fish oil. It's the only brand I ever use.
- Multivitamin And/Or Other Vitamins & Minerals
Similar to fish oil, a multivitamin
is another one of those supplements that could be beneficial to
everyone for obvious reasons, no matter what their goals are. In
addition to a multivitamin, some people may benefit from some individual
vitamins/minerals as well. For example, I take a vitamin D as well as a
calcium supplement (which I've been taking since I was a kid because I
never liked milk or milk products). I have no specific brand
recommendations here, but whatever is on sale and comes from any sort of
quality brand is most likely just fine.
- Creatine
And finally, creatine.
If you never heard of it, consider yourself lucky. Spend 5 minutes on
any weight training forum on the planet and you'll find 1000 new
creatine related questions. Let's answer the most common ones right now.
Is creatine a steroid? No, creatine is NOT a steroid
or anything even remotely close to a steroid. Creatine is naturally
produced by the body, and is found in our diet in red meat and certain
types of fish. If you've ever eaten red meat, you've already sort of
"taken some creatine."
Is it safe? Creatine is the most studied/researched
supplement around these days (and over the last decade) and there is
currently nothing to indicate any sort of negative effects in healthy
adults. If you have some kind of preexisting health issues, specifically
something kidney related, you don't count as a typical "healthy adult"
and should obviously check with your doctor first. But, in healthy
adults, no study has shown any negative side effects aside from
something like an upset stomach and muscle cramps, all of which would be
avoided by drinking plenty of water and not bothering with taking a
"loading" dose. More on that in a second.
Does creatine work? Yes, most of the time. There are
definite cases of "non responders" though, which are people who take
creatine and notice no difference. The reason for this is most likely
due to these people having naturally high creatine levels (and/or
possibly a diet high in red meat). Some of the people who see the best
results from creatine use are those with average or naturally low
creatine levels in their body (and/or vegetarians and those who don't
eat red meat often). But, in most cases, it works.
Will it build muscle and make me huge and super awesome?
Uh, no. A proper diet and non-idiotic training is what will build
muscle (super awesome is still open to debate). In the most basic sense,
creatine will increase the amount of energy your muscles have. The more
energy your muscles have, the more work they will be able to perform.
Now, the difference isn't huge. You won't be lifting 100lbs today, start
to take creatine, and lift 200lbs tomorrow. It's more like, you can
lift 100lbs for 6 reps today, and creatine will allow you to lift 100lbs
for 8 reps the next time. It's a small difference, yes. But, once you
understand the importance of Requirement #1 (progressive overload), you
can understand why creatine can definitely help with building muscle.
Does creatine need to be loaded? No it does not, and
it shouldn't be. Back when creatine first became popular, it was
suggested that creatine needed to be loaded, as in taking a large dose
of it for a few days to speed up how soon the muscles will become
saturated, and then drop down to a maintenance dose from that point on.
It kind of makes sense, but it's also what causes the mild
stomach-related side effects. These days anyone with half a brain
recommends skipping the loading and just starting off with the
maintenance dose. The only difference will be that instead of seeing the
effects of creatine in a week, it will now take you 20-30 days. The end
result will be exactly the same, it will just take slightly longer to
get there. So, even if your creatine says "Take 20 grams per day for 5
days, and then 5-10 grams per day after that," just ignore it. Instead,
take 5 grams per day... period. And no, that's not a typo. 5 grams per
day, that's it. Anything more will just go to waste in your body.
When should I take creatine? On workout days, add 5
grams of creatine to your post workout shake. Most research suggests
that this is most likely the best time to take it. On non-workout days,
it really doesn't matter. Whatever time you remember to take it, that's a
good time.
What type of creatine should I take, and what brand should I take?
First of all, you are looking to take pure Creatine Monohydrate powder.
There's all sorts of different creatine products out there, and you
don't want any of them. You want just Creatine Monohydrate. You don't
want anything combined with it, you don't want any other form of
creatine, you don't want a product that just happens to contain
creatine, you don't want flavored creatine (it's completely tasteless
and odorless, by the way), you don't want creatine capsules. You just
want plain old Creatine Monohydrate powder. If it's micronized, that's
even better. Micronized just means it will mix a bit easier. As for a
specific brand, I use and fully recommend Optimum Nutrition's Micronized Creatine Powder, which is made with "Creapure," a creatine monohydrate widely regarded as the highest quality stuff out there.
That's it. That's the full list of safe, proven, useful supplements.
For the most part, everything else is either nearly completely
unnecessary, dangerous, or will do absolutely nothing but waste your
money. No matter what the advertisement says, no matter what the label
on the bottle says, no matter what the idiot in your gym says, no matter
what the supplement store employee says, and certainly no matter what
the supplement company themselves say... this is the be all and end all
of useful supplements, specifically ones for building muscle.
Do you need to take any? Nope. Would it help if you did? Yeah, for
sure. Stuff like fish oil and a multivitamin are supplements that will
be beneficial to everyone from a general health standpoint, and
indirectly beneficial from a muscle building standpoint. A whey protein
powder (along with dextrose) is definitely beneficial post workout, and a
whey/casein blend or just casein alone makes a fine, convenient way of
helping you meet you protein and calorie requirements for the day. And
creatine, combined with all 6 of the requirements in this article being
met, has certainly been proven to be useful.
Is anything absolutely required? Nope. Should you take any? That, my friend, is up to you.
Requirement #5: Rest And Recovery
I hate to have to do this, but I think I must. If you've already
spent any time learning about building muscle, there's this lame
sounding line that tends to show up over and over again to explain the
importance of rest and recovery. I've heard it so many times that it
actually makes me a little nauseous. But, here it comes anyway...
"You don't grow in the gym, you grow out of it." There, now this can officially be the ULTIMATE guide.
In all seriousness, that statement is true. And, it must be said over
and over again due to the simple fact that pretty much everyone comes
into this whole muscle building thing with the same incorrect idea in
their head... the idea that more is better. More exercises, more sets
and more workouts will all lead to more muscle. ::cue the game show
sound effect that plays when a contestant gets something wrong::
See, while working out, we are not actually building muscle. If
anything, we are breaking down our muscles for the purpose of having
them repair themselves to be a little bit bigger and stronger than they
previously were. It sort of works like this:
- In the gym, we are signaling our bodies to begin the muscle
building progress. Basically, your body senses that it's being forced to
perform work (the weight training), and by progressively increasing the
amount of work it's being forced to do (progressive overload), the body
is smart enough to realize that in order to keep up, it is going to
have to compensate by getting bigger and stronger. And of course, it's
going to require all of the tools it needs to actually make this
adaptation occur (calories, protein, and all of the other diet stuff).
This explains why the workout without the diet doesn't work, and why the
diet without the workout doesn't work. They are both a requirement to
make this whole process work.
Of course, there is a 3rd piece to that puzzle... rest and recovery.
Even with a quality workout focused on progression to create the signal,
and a diet that supplies everything the body needs to build the muscle,
it still needs to be given a chance to do all of this work. Not only do
muscles need a chance to recover, but the entire nervous system needs a
chance to recover.
So, how do you ensure that you are giving your body this chance?
Well, I'm glad I pretended that you asked. Here now are some guidelines
to ensure that you are allowing proper rest and recovery:
- Never weight train more than 2 days in a row. It doesn't matter what
body parts are being trained on those days. There should not be more
than 2 workouts in a row. In the sample program I gave above, you'll
notice that it was 2 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on, 2 days off, thus
adhering to this recommendation.
- Weight training workouts should be kept to about 1 hour in length, give or take 15 minutes or so.
- Make sure you have at least 3 days off per week. Another way of
saying this is to have a maximum of 4 weight training workouts per week.
(Again, the sample upper/lower program above fits this description.)
- On your "off" days, it's okay to do some active recovery work/light
cardio (it's also okay to do practically nothing active at all). I would
not recommend doing anything too intense though, because once again,
these are the days you are giving your body a chance to recover from
intense exercise. Performing any sort of intense exercise on these days
kind of kills the whole point of "off" days.
- Sleep... a lot... every night. In an ideal world, everyone working
on building muscle would be getting 8-10 hours of sleep every single
night. If you can't, feel free to throw in a nap whenever possible.
Really though, just do everything you can to get as much sleep as you
can. Your body will definitely need it, and not getting enough of it
will definitely hinder your progress. For the most part, I sleep about 7
hours 4 nights a week, and 8-9 hours the other 3 nights.
- Follow all of the guidelines I mentioned above for volume, frequency
and intensity when putting together your workout program. Or, just
follow the sample weight training program given (or something similar),
which already follows these very guidelines.
- Take 1 full week off from weight training once or twice per year.
When you come back from that week off, rather than picking up right
where you left off, spend 2 weeks gradually working back to where you
were at. For example, use 80% of the weights you were using the first
week, 90% the next week, and then go back to 100% the week after that.
Then, go back to trying to progress as often as possible.
Requirement #6: Consistency, Time And Tracking Progress
I'm going to keep this one short and sweet, partly because it's the
requirement that requires the least explanation, and partly because my
hands are about to fall off. So, here goes...
Consistency
Without consistency, you will get nowhere. The other 5 requirements
could be doing just swell, but if you aren't doing it all consistently,
it's all for nothing. So, be consistent. Got it? Good.
Time
Aside from a ton of effort, building muscle takes time... lots of
time. As I mentioned a while back, the average male can hope to gain
between 0.25 and 0.5 pounds of muscle per week under the best possible
circumstances. The average female can expect half that. So, don't think
you're going to hit the gym for a couple of weeks and then look in the
mirror and see a new and improved body. It's not going to happen.
Thinking it will or expecting it to is only going to lead to
disappointment and probably your eventual failure. Instead, think in
terms of months and years. "What will I look like 3 months from now?" or
"I wonder how much progress I will have made 1 year from now." That's
the type of realistic thinking that leads to long term progress.
Tracking Progress
Tracking progress is EXTREMELY important. Here's how:
- Keep a workout log/journal.
Every single person looking to build muscle MUST keep some sort of
workout log or journal. Nothing too fancy... just the date, the
exercises done, the weights used for each set, and the number of reps
done for each set. If you really need to know why this is so important,
then you really suck at reading. Go back to Requirement #1...
progressive overload.
Making some form of progress from workout to workout (or as often as
you are capable of doing so) is beyond important. How are you supposed
to do this without accurately tracking what you did the previous
workout? A workout log will tell you that you lifted x weight for y reps
on exercise z, thus letting you know exactly what you will need to do
this workout in order to beat what you previously did. Please don't
ignore this. It takes 5 minutes on your workout days to write/type this
info out, and it will make all of the difference in the world to your
weight training progress.
- Weigh yourself.
Do it once per week (no more, no
less) and do it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. The key
to tracking progress is consistency, so make sure you weigh yourself
the same way, in the same spot, every time. If you are going to weigh
yourself with a shirt on, always weigh yourself with that shirt on (or
at least something similar). Pick a day and do it on the same day every
week. And, as mentioned, always do it right after you wake up before
eating or drinking anything.
Keep a log of your weight somewhere (with your workout log, if you
want) and enter in each week's weight right after getting off the scale.
Remember the recommendations for how much weight you should end up
gaining while building muscle? I'll remind you... between 0.5 and 1
pound per week (2 - 4 pounds per month). Keep an eye on your weight to
make sure it's not going up much faster than that (which would mean too
much fat gain). If it is, make a small calorie reduction until you are
within the recommended range. If you aren't gaining any weight at all,
make a small calorie increase until you are within range.
- Take measurements.
Get yourself a tape measure
(the kind that can be wrapped around your body) and start measuring. Do
it at least once per month, and at most once per week. Measure your
waist, your arms, your thighs, your chest, your calves or whatever you
feel like measuring. As for where exactly to take each measurement, it
really doesn't matter too much just as long as you always take the
measurements from the same spots every time. Oh, and you should be doing
it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach as well.
- Take pictures.
You see yourself all the
time, so noticing your own progress will be the hardest for you. This is
where pictures come in handy. They will remind you of exactly where you
were when you started and show you exactly how far you've come. I think
once per month is a good frequency for most people to see every single
bit of improvement they are making.
The Ultimate Guide To Building Muscle - FAQ
After reading this over, I came up with a couple of questions that I
can imagine some people having. Here now are those questions along with
my answers to them.
Does all of the above apply to men and women? Old and young? Those
looking to only gain a few pounds of muscle and those looking to gain a
lot of muscle? Basically, do the 6 requirements apply to everyone?
Yes, they certainly do. Male or female, it doesn't matter. Looking to
gain as little as 5lbs of muscle or looking to gain as much as 100lbs
of muscle, it doesn't matter. These are the 6 requirements for building
muscle, period. Exact goals, gender, age... it really doesn't matter.
All 6 requirements still stand regardless.
When should the muscle building phase/weight gain end?
There are only 2 reasons for ending your muscle building phase/weight
gain. The first is that you have built as much muscle as you wanted to
build, are happy with your results and have no desire to go any further.
The second (and most common for people looking to add more than 5-10lbs
of muscle to their body) is when you reach the point where you don't
want to gain anymore excess fat. Remember that whole muscle to fat gain
ratio/calorie partitioning stuff I just mentioned? You know, how SOME
excess fat will be gained along with all the muscle? Well, most people
end their muscle building phase when they have gained as much fat as
they are willing to gain.
This, of course, is perfectly fine. In fact, it's the right idea.
It turns out that the fatter you are, the worse your calorie
partitioning becomes. This is a good reason why you never want to gain
too much excess fat while building muscle, as you will eventually reach a
point where your muscle to fat gain ratio starts to get worse and
worse. So, when you reach the point where you've accepted the maximum
amount of fat gain you are willing to accept, that's the perfect time to
stop.
The question now is, once you are ready to stop, what do you do next?
Simple. You switch from a muscle building phase into a fat loss phase.
Speaking of which...
I understand everything you said about a caloric surplus and that
there will likely be some excess fat gained along with all of the
muscle. What are we supposed to do about that fat?
Once you've reached the above mentioned "I've gained as much excess
fat as I'm going to allow" point, it's time to switch from a muscle
building phase (where your goal was gaining muscle while keeping fat
gain to a minimum) into a fat loss phase (where your goal will be to
lose fat while maintaining all of the muscle you just built). To do this
you will keep everything nearly EXACTLY the same as it is during a
muscle building phase, except with a few small changes: Here's how...
- Instead of being in a 250-500 calorie surplus, you need to be in a
250-500 calorie deficit. This should cause you to lose between 0.5 and 1
pound per week, which is the perfect slow weight loss rate when your
goal is not just losing fat... but maintaining muscle.
- This calorie reduction that brings you into a 250-500 calorie
deficit should come from carbs (remove them from anywhere EXCEPT your
pre and post workout meals).
- If you end up having to reduce calories again to keep the fat loss
going, make sure you make these reductions in (small/gradual) 250
calorie increments. You'll pretty much want to make most of these other
reductions by reducing your carb intake rather than protein or fat. In
fact, don't reduce your protein intake at all during the entire fat loss
phase. Instead, primarily make your calorie reductions by eliminating
carbs (again, not from pre/post workout meals) and secondarily from
eliminating fat (but make sure fat intake remains in the range of 20-30
percent of your total calorie intake at all times).
- As far as weight training goes... NOTHING changes. The absolute
worst thing you can do is start purposely using lighter weights for more
reps because you think it will burn fat. It won't. All it will do it
show your body that you apparently don't need your new muscle anymore.
Your new goal in the gym is to keep everything exactly where it is at
the end of the muscle building phase. If you can still progress,
great... go for it. However, don't be surprised if the best you can do
during the fat loss phase is just work your ass off to maintain rather
than progress. Also, don't be surprised if you end up losing some
strength. It happens to everyone. Just work as hard as you can to keep
that to a minimum.
- When you reach the point where you lost as much of the fat as you
wanted to lose, make a 250-500 calorie increase (from carbs) so that you
are no longer in a caloric deficit and are instead at your maintenance
level. At this point, you're done.
If you follow this correctly, by the end of the fat loss phase you will be lean and have a bunch of new muscle to look at.
What if I want to build more muscle after the fat loss phase?
Simple... switch back into a muscle building phase and do everything
in this guide all over again. Then, when you reach that "fat enough"
point, go back to a fat loss phase. Want more muscle after that? Just
keep repeating this over and over again until you reach the point where
you've gained as much muscle as you wanted to gain. At that point, just
maintain your lifts in the gym, and eat at maintenance level. And, pat
yourself on the back for a job well done.
The only other thing I think I need to mention is that you don't want
to switch from phase to phase too often. You have to give each one
(specifically the muscle building phase) time to actually work. So, I
suggest making sure your muscle building phases last AT THE VERY LEAST
12 weeks. After that, it's up to you to decide when to switch to a fat
loss phase.
Oh, and one final tip. Whenever you switch from a muscle building
phase into a fat loss phase or vice-versa, insert a 2 week maintenance
phase where instead of being in a slight calorie surplus or a slight
calorie deficit, you are just right in the middle at maintenance.
Research shows this can be beneficial.
I'm a female, and while I do want to gain some muscle and become
more toned and more fit in general, I DO NOT want to get big and bulky
like a guy. What should I do?
Luckily for my poor tired hands, I've already answered this question in
8 Reasons Your Weight Training Results Suck.
Scroll down to reason #2 entitled "Your little pink dumbbells suck."
This should answer your question and eliminate your fears.
I'm a complete beginner when it comes to diet and exercise. Do the 6 requirements for building muscle still apply to me?
Yes, as mentioned, they apply to everyone. The only difference with
beginners is that, due to their newbie status, they will experience
"beginner's gains." Basically, for the first couple of months, complete
newbies have a borderline super power that allows them to not only make
better progress than anyone else (including the progress they themselves
will be making just a couple of months from now) but also lose fat and
gain muscle at the same time. So, enjoy it while you got it.
I'm already a bit (or more) on the fat side, but I want to build
muscle. Should I still be going into a caloric surplus and start to gain
weight?
If you are NOT new to weight training, you should first go into a fat
loss phase and lose whatever excess fat you currently have. Then when
you are at least somewhat lean, start your muscle building phase. If you
ARE new to weight training (less than 4-6 months or never at all), you
should eat at about maintenance level (rather than a surplus) and train
like you are trying to build muscle. As mentioned a second ago, since
you are a beginner, you have the magical ability to both lose fat and
gain muscle at the same time. Use it while you can.
The End
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