Introduction
Whether your goal with fitness is to get toned, feel better about yourself or just simply look better, it is no doubt that your main priority should be to gain muscle. Now the obvious question that comes with this is how do I actually go about gaining muscle; and futhermore how do I gain muscle as fast as possible? While there are several tools and styles of training to help you out, it is undoubted that the best thing to do is work on as many of these aspects as possible, inside and outside of the gym.
Table of Contents
5. Protein
Obviously the bread and butter of building muscle is going to be protein, but just how do you go about getting in your protein consistently every day? Well while it may seem like an obvious answer, tracking your macronutrients to fit with your calorie goal for each day will give you the best results to keep you on track to hit your protein day in and day out, only there’s one catch.
Sometimes getting enough protein in a day to build as much muscle as possible can be tricky, and this goes especially for anyone trying to lose weight at the moment who cannot afford to eat too much food in a day. Thankfully, there are tons of trusted supplements that can aid you in getting your protein in with a very low calorie count.
Great Protein Powders
There are many protein powders to choose from, however some give not only a better bang for your buck, but also a higher protein value. One of the most well known and trusted protein powders is listed below, and is sure to not only aid your protein goal, but last you for a time period long enough for you to forget you even need to buy more eventually.
Optimum Nutrition 73 Servings
Packing 24 grams of protein per scoop, you’ll be able to aid your protein goal significantly each day for well over 2 months, however if you’re looking for a smaller size of this protein, they also offer the 29 serving version.
Vegan Alternative
For any vegans out there who are looking for a plant based protein powder, with only 3 less grams than the aforementioned protein supplament, listed below is a protein powder than you can use to reach your goals on a vegan diet.
Orgain Organic Protein Powder 18 Servings
With around the same price point as the 29 serving Optimum whey protein, you can get 18 servings of a perfect option for vegans who want to gain muscle with not only their goals in mind but also the animals.
4. Workout Regimen
Clearly working out is a prerequisite to actually growing muscle, however there are certain ways to optimize not only your muscle growth, but your recovery, which is just as important to the growth of your muscles. The next question I will answer, is how would one go about optimizing this?
As someone new or returning to exercise, it can be overwhelming trying to understand everything you need to prepare yourself to be your best self physically, however the one thing you will surely need is consistency. There are several ways to be consistent, but your first step should be to create a weekly schedule, planning out when you will work out.
Workout Splits
At first, you may only go to the gym 2 to 3 times a week for the first month or so. For this first month you should work out most muscles in your body, this means legs, upper body, and even some cardio towards the end of your workout to ensure you don’t fatigue yourself pre-workout, but don’t overdo it, especially if this is your first time lifting or if you are returning after a long period of time.
Assuming you have already gotten past this stage or aren’t new or returning to the gym, getting a workout split could be benificial if you aren’t seeing the growth you want to acheive. A workout split essentially splits apart different muscle groups so that you only hit them on certain days. A very popular one you could follow is PPL (push, pull, legs). in which on monday, you do push exercises, such as chest and triceps. for your pull days, you would do back and biceps, and obviously legs for your leg day. After the 3 days you would take 1 rest day, then repeat the cycle for the rest of the week.
3. Concentric, Eccentric
While doing an exercise, there are 2 things to remember, the concentric part of the movement, and the eccentric portion. The concentric is the portion of the exercise in which the muscle is gaining tension, and the eccentric is when the muscle is releiving itself of the tension. Ex. during bicep curls, when lifting the weight up towards yourself, that is the concentric, the eccentric is when you are letting it back down towards the floor.
Generally you want your concentric to be fairly fast, and your eccentric to be slower, around 3 or 4 seconds, this will optimize your muscle growth, but make sure not to lift any weight too heavy for you to handle.
If you don’t have a gym to workout at, you can always purchase a set of dumbells, or a bench, which I will provide links to great buys below for both. Buying both of these will allow you to hit every single muscle with various exercises, seriously, all you need is dumbells, and a bench, it’s that simple.
Link to Good Dumbells
Link to Adjustable Bench
2. Rest is Best
As a very short subject, rest is your best friend, even if it seems contradictory to working hard. Generally this applies to how much sleep you get, but always remember to never overdo it, there’s three simple but effective points to this to remember, and don’t forget, consistency with rest is key too.
1. Sleep 8 hours minimum
2. Don’t work out when sore
3. Never work out too much
The first point above is very self explanatory, sleeping 8 hours assures the best muscle growth, obviously more couldn’t hurt, however less definitely can. As for point 2, working out when sore can not only be detrimental to your muscle growth, but could also injure you, and to close off this section, working out too much can actually be catabolic, which means you lose muscle, opposed to gaining it.
1. Mix and Maximize
While all of the topics mentioned in this post can seem overwhelming, combining all of these tools will help you to gain the most muscle in the fastest amount of time. Not to mention, when you use these mentioned sections above all together for a week or two, you won’t have to think about it too much, and getting your dream physique will all become a reality sooner than you know. Remember, consistency is key, and you can always start before you learn how to truly do everything in and out of the gym.