Maybe you are someone who wants to pack on a few pounds of quality muscle while staying lean. You’re someone who doesn’t want to follow the typically excepted bulking and cutting cycles, where you bulk first and then cut up. Maybe, just maybe, you want to look good all year round and not for just a couple of weeks. I’m with you here on this one. I want to add more muscle myself, but not at the expense of looking like crap for most of the year.
The good news is you don’t have to follow the typical bulk and cut approach to gain muscle. If you know what to do and how to approach muscle gain you can add quality muscle while maintaining, and sometimes even lowering, your body fat levels. The key is to add quality lean muscle without getting fat in the process.
Whatever your muscle building related goals are, these simple tips will become very useful to you as you start to address your muscle building goals. Just remember these tips only do you any good if you start to implement them and implement them consistently!
TRAIN SMARTER
There are two types of muscle growth (hypertrophy) to be concerned with: sarcoplasmic, which increases the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell, and myofibrillar, which increases the size of the muscle by increasing the contractile proteins.
"Some people would argue that sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is muscle that's all show and no go, while myofibrillar is more functional muscle, or 'all go'," says strength and nutrition coach Adam Rosante. For both, he advises adopting a training programme that mixes heavy weights and low rep schemes as well as lower weight, higher rep ones. "It'll give you size and strength that's for both show and go."
EAT MORE
Fact: Muscles respond to calories. If you're looking to pack on more muscle than you have now, you'll need to increase how much you're eating. No, not the kind of calories found in insane amounts of buffalo wings or a dozen pints. You need high-quality protein, the best muscle food, throughout your day. The good news? None of this has to be complicated.
Unless you're a physique model or professional bodybuilder, there is absolutely no reason to hyper-track calories or measure your food on a scale. Rosante suggests to his clients to eat three to four full meals, or three meals and a snack, each day. On each of those plates, consume:
- 2 palm-sized portions of lean protein
- 2 fist-sized portions of veggies
- 2 cupped palm sized portions of carbs (fruit or starch)
Training extra hard? Toss in an additional cupped palm-sized portion of carbs at any one of those meals. On the go? Make sure to bring a protein source with you. For Swerve Fitness instructor Jason Tran, he's always got a protein bar in his bag (he opts for Detour Smart Bars himself). "It helps me maximise muscle growth," he says.
SLEEP IS KEY
It’s difficult to build muscle without adequate sleep — seven hours a night, preferably eight. Sleep is when most of your hormones, such as growth hormone and testosterone, are released, allowing your body to recover and grow. Without adequate sleep, you’re sabotaging your efforts to build muscle.
YOU MUST LIFT FAST
Again fast moves come out on top. High threshold motor units (HTMU’s or fast twitch fibers) are responsible for lifting heavy, producing power and speed. They are also the fibers responsible for the growth of the muscle! In order to train these units you must LIFT FAST. SPEED IS KING. If you don’t and you lift slow you risk training your slow oxidative (slow twitch) fibers These fibers have minimal potential for growth. You are wasting your time. LIFT FAST
TAKE A REST
"Your muscles grow when you're resting, not working out," says Tran. A general rule of thumb? Take 48 hours minimum between training the same muscle group, and make sure you're giving them what they need during that off time. Happy muscles need carbohydrates and (gasp!) even some fat, and also to be stretched properly. While static stretching a cold muscle is a no-go, and can even cause tears, stretching a muscle after heavy sets can improve recovery.
YOU MUST EAT BEFORE BED
‘What? Are you crazy?’ – NO. The theory is similar to number 5. If the last meal you ate was at 9pm and you went to bed at 11pm and then slept until 8am. That’s 11 hours of fasting and 11 hours of burning precious muscle! Have a small protein based meal before bed and you will halt this process!