If you are a gym-goer, you probably have a goal for why you go to the gym. One of those reasons could be to lose weight. Another could be to stay healthy and maintain a healthy weight. For some people, it is to gain muscle mass and it can be difficult if you don’t know how to do it.
Adding muscle mass to your body isn’t easy for someone who struggles to gain weight. Nonetheless, once you succeed, you will see the definition of your muscles on your body. However, it takes time, especially if you have a high metabolism.
If your goal is to gain muscle, there are a few things you will need to change in your lifestyle. Let’s look at how you can achieve your fitness goals this year.
Tips For Putting On Muscle Mass
To put on muscle mass, you need to ensure you are training the right muscles. If you don’t train the correct muscles, you won’t put on the muscle mass you want. Creating a strict regime for your training programme is a great way to ensure you stay on track with training the correct muscle group.
To put on muscle mass, you must lift a weight that you can’t perform over 20 repetitions. However, some people prefer to go for a lower number of repetitions compared to a higher number. It is something we advise if you want to put on muscle mass.
Reps between 1-5 promote strength and you will become stronger. To encourage muscle growth, we advise you to aim for reps between 6-12. If your objective is to develop more muscular endurance then we advise you to aim for reps between 12 – 20. The number of sets and the time you rest inbetween sets can be a factor.
Choose The Appropriate Weight
When picking up a dumbbell, we advise using a weight you cannot exceed 20 repetitions. Furthermore, the weight you choose should be a near failure at the end of each set. If you think you can get past 20 reps, the weight isn’t heavy enough for your body.
For example, if you aim for six repetitions, the final rep should be close to failure, if not complete failure. To build muscle mass, you need to test the limits of your muscles. If you do this, you can guarantee you will put on the muscle mass you desire.
Pick The Correct Exercises
It will require you to research before you head towards the gym. If you don’t train the right muscle groups, you won’t see any improvements. It is that simple. For example, if you want to build up your thighs (quadriceps) you must perform leg exercises such as lunges, leg presses and squats. There are hundreds of exercises that you can complete to help put on muscle mass, all you need to do is research which exercises help put on mass.
For the best results, we suggest you include both compound and isolation exercises. If you don’t know the difference then don’t worry, we will explain both.
Compound Exercises – These are exercises to train large muscle groups in one exercise. Furthermore, these exercises will benefit real-life movement such as picking up a heavy object. Not only does this help put on muscle mass but it also helps you build more practical strength.
Isolation Exercises are there to target a specific muscle. If you are a beginner, we advise you to perform these exercises as they are much safer and easier to learn compared to compound exercises. Once you have built enough confidence in performing isolation exercises, we suggest you start including some compound exercises in your routine.
Don’t Overtrain Your Muscles
One of the biggest mistakes of a gym newbie is overtraining certain muscle groups. If you are one of those that do this, you will notice that your muscles don’t grow.
We advise you don’t exceed 5-7 exercises per muscle group. The reason why is because you need to give your muscles a chance to benefit from each exercise, helping to maximise the overall muscle-building potential.
Consume Calories and A Lot
There are two phrases that you may have read or heard of before and those are bulking and cutting. If you want to put on muscle mass, you need to put on overall. It is where you can start consuming all the calories you need/want.
Some foods give you empty calories that we advise you to stay away from. Nonetheless, during the bulking phase, you must consume more calories than you already do. To do this, we advise you to add an extra 500+ calories to what you already consume. We also suggest you increase your protein whilst having a healthy balance of the other nutrients.
There are a few factors that affect your baseline requirement for putting on muscle mass. Some of these include the number of calories you burn throughout the day, also known as TDEE. The stuff that affects this includes your age, sex, current lean body mass, physical activity, job occupation, and any health conditions. All these will affect how many extra calories you need to consume on your existing daily intake.
Carbs, Fat and Protein
Something a gym expert will always tell you is that your diet matters the most. Furthermore, they will often tell you about the 80/20 principle. It means 80% of your diet contributes to your end physique compared to just 20% of the exercise.
It is suggested you consume 0.5-1.5 grams per KG of body weight in fat. To eat the right amount of protein, you must consume 1.6 grams per KG of body weight. The remainder of your calorie intake should come from your carbohydrates.
The aim should be to consume a consistent amount of protein and not exceed the 500-calorie mark. These are your nutritional needs so you must ensure to keep on top of it.
To Conclude
People who struggle to gain weight will find it extremely difficult to put on muscle mass. If that is the case, they must ensure they eat the right foods to put on their target muscle mass. If you don’t struggle to gain weight and effortlessly put it on, changing this into muscle will be easier. All you need to do is consume the right amount of protein. Now, it is time to put on your favourite gym leggings and gym top and get those gym gains you want.
