Patience can often be overrated in the weight room and kitchen when there’s usually one specific goal in mind for athletes: finding ways to wellhealthorganic.com/how-to-build-muscle-know-tips-to-increase-muscles faster.
Change takes time, but if your approach to muscle-building doesn’t show noticeable gains within months, that could be an indicator that something’s amiss.
Although you’ve made progress, that doesn’t mean your goals should stop progressing – more muscle growth could always be your ultimate goal!
How can you boost your results? Here are nine strategies that will show you how to build muscle mass.
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1. Increase Training Volume in Order to Grow Muscle
Training volume — your number of reps multiplied by sets — is one of the primary determinants of hypertrophy (muscle volume growth). To increase training volume effectively, however, you may require decreasing weight than is commonly assumed.
“Compared to strength training, intensity should decrease during the hypertrophy phase of a program; Ava Fitzgerald, C.S.C.S., C.P.T. of Professional Athletic Performance Center New York advises. She suggests setting intensity between 50-75% of one rep maximum (1RM).”
For optimal muscle volume, she suggests performing each lift for three to six sets with 10-20 repetitions per set.
2. Build Muscle: Focus on the Eccentric Phase
Lifting any weight involves both concentric (agonist muscle contracting) and eccentric (agonist muscle lengthening) phases.
As you descend into a squat, an eccentric action occurs; once back up on your feet again it becomes concentric action. According to research published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, eccentric training was found to be more effective at stimulating hypertrophy than concentric work.
To maximize eccentric effort during your workout, there are two strategies available to you. Either slow down or incorporate eccentric-only variations into each exercise you perform.
Take the squat for instance; to do it eccentric-only, lower yourself to the floor and finish your exercise there. Please keep in mind that eccentric-only exercises require an increase in weight when using.
Physiologically speaking, muscles tend to be much stronger when contracting eccentrically than they are when moving concentrically.
3. Gain Muscle: Shorten Rest Intervals Between-Sets
If you touch your phone between exercise sets, be sure to set its timer for 30 to 90 seconds.
Fitzgerald says that when lifting for hypertrophy, rest periods between 30 to 90 seconds promote an immediate release in muscle-building hormones (including testosterone and human growth hormone) while simultaneously fatigueing your muscles as effectively as possible.
Researchers published research in the Journal of Applied Physiology last year which suggests that fatiguing your muscles as part of any rep and set scheme is necessary for hypertrophy.
Don’t shy away from feeling discomfort. Instead, embrace it!
4. Want to Build Muscle? Eat More Protein
Strength training breaks down muscles, while protein repairs them back together again. Fitzgerald states that the more intense and demanding your weightlifting sessions are, the more critical muscle-building foods become when considering recovery needs and protein consumption needs.
Research conducted at the University of Stirling indicates that in order to ensure optimal muscle growth, weight lifters must consume between 0.25 to 0.30 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per meal.
At 175 pounds, that equates to 20-24 grams of protein at each meal.
Your ideal breakfast could consist of three to four eggs, a cup of Greek yogurt, or one scoop of protein powder.
5. Strength Gain: Target Calorie Surpluses
Learning to gain muscle mass quickly may take getting used to; especially if you’re used to counting calories for fat loss. When it comes to building muscle fast (meaning weight gained instead of lost), however, more calories must be consumed than are burned each day.
That’s because when your body detects that it is in a calorie deficit — meaning you are eating fewer calories than are burned each day — it reduces its tendency to build new muscle mass. After all, when food supplies become limited, building more mass won’t necessarily become its top priority.
Fitzgerald advises eating 250 to 500 extra calories daily to increase muscle gain. She suggests making sure most of these extra calories come from protein sources.
According to a 2014 Pennington Biomedical Research Center study, people following high-calorie meal plans rich in protein stored approximately 46% of those calories as muscle; those on a lower protein diet with the same number of calories stored 95% as fat.
6. Gain Muscle Mass: Snack on Casein before Bed.
Casein protein has long been popular with bodybuilders due to its slow absorption into the bloodstream; this means your muscles receive amino acids for longer compared to other forms of protein such as whey and plant proteins.
One Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise study demonstrated that intaking casein protein before bed time increased young men’s levels of circulating amino acids for up to 7.5 hours – meaning they built muscle throughout the night while sleeping!
Pre-bedtime casein remedies include cottage cheese, Greek yogurt and milk. Those looking for something different might like casein-based protein powder as an ideal supplement.
7. Want to Build Muscle? Get More Sleep
Fitzgerald suggests that muscle recovery requires more than nutrition alone: It takes dedicated sleep time – about eight hours every night – dedicated to this pursuit, according to him. When sleeping, your body releases human growth hormone which aids muscle growth while at the same time helping regulate cortisol levels and keeping stress hormone levels under control.
According to research published in Journal of the American Medical Association, sleeping for five hours instead of eight for one week reduced testosterone levels by 10-15%!
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults aged 18-64 sleep seven to nine hours every night without exceptions or justification.
8. Build Muscle: Supplement With Creatine to Speed Muscle Development
Creatine doesn’t directly build muscle. But by increasing performance during high-intensity lifting workouts, this natural compound aids muscle growth according to Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition.
Studies conducted by Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research scholars revealed that supplementing with creatine can enable lifters of any weight to perform 14% more reps when supplemented than without.
For optimal results, creatine monohydrate is the most researched form of creatine supplementation.
9. Grow Muscle with HMB
HMB, an organic compound produced in our bodies, helps prevent muscle-protein breakdown, promotes muscle growth and accelerate exercise recovery.
Unfortunately, increasing vitamin levels through food alone is difficult; that is why supplementation comes into the picture.
One 12-week study of resistance-trained individuals demonstrated how taking HMB along with high intensity lifting routine significantly enhanced muscle strength and size compared to lifting alone.
HMB helps prevent overtraining effects – including muscle loss – if you push too hard.
To speed your efforts in building muscle, HMB supplements or protein and creatine powders that incorporate HMB can be taken individually or combined together for maximum effectiveness.