Building muscle is not an easy thing to do. Most people go to the gym and practice various exercises but they don’t gain as much muscle as they want. You must make sure that all that effort you put in yield some results – potential muscle gain.
If you’re losing muscle or you just want to gain muscle, here are 8 quick and easy tips to help you maximize your gaining muscle potential.
1. Prioritize compound lifts
Make sure you’re prioritizing compound lifts which are routines that involve multiple exercises that only work one muscle. Concentrating on these will make a huge difference in your exercise routine.
Train with heavyweights using fewer reps. Using appropriate weight, you should only be able to do 4-8 reps. Using heavy weights and low reps puts your muscles and nervous system under much more stress than using lighter weights for many reps. The rest time in between sets should be approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
What works for most people is 3 days of lifting heavy and the other 3 days, not to work the muscle really hard but just to do exercises to keep the blood flowing.
2. Go for foods that provide the correct nutrients
To gain mass, you should strive to eat around 18-20 times your body weight in calories. The extra calories are needed to build new muscles and repair muscle tissue damaged during heavy workouts. However, do not consume empty calories; go for foods that provide you with the correct nutrients essential for gaining muscle.
3. Eat a fair amount of both carbs and protein
Diets high in protein help build muscle when incorporated with intense physical training. Without protein, your body will not be able to build new muscle. Carbs serve mainly as energy for the body, whereas protein provides the necessary amino acids to build and repair muscle. To build muscles, get at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.
Remember that you need to eat enough carbs to boost muscle growth. You need carbs to fuel your workouts. Carbs will boost your energy which gives you better workouts and better results.
4. Increase intake of fatty acids
Dietary fat has a direct relationship with testosterone production. An increase in dietary fat intake seems to increase testosterone levels, which is a must when you are trying to gain mass. Your main focus should be to increase your intake of essential fatty acids and not saturated fats.
5. Drink lots of water to repair muscle
To make sure that your muscles stay hydrated, you must drink plenty of water. Dehydration can happen easily if you train hard. A dehydrated muscle takes longer to repair itself than a hydrated one.
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6. Take good multivitamin tablets
If you want to gain muscle, you must ensure that you are not deficient in any vitamin or mineral that your body needs. So it is a good idea to take a good multivitamin tablet.
7. Limit your aerobic activity
To put on serious mass, you need to stop all of your aerobics. If you do need to carry with it, remember to limit it to once every week or once every two weeks
8. Resting causes muscles to grow
Last but not least, I cannot emphasize this last tip enough. Get enough quality sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, all your efforts of trying to grow muscle will be in vain.
Resting the body is just as important as dieting and training.
Try to get about six or eight hours of sleep a day. Resting is what actually causes the muscles to grow. Taking days, even weeks, off from training will only benefit you.
By following these eight tips, you’ll be able to build muscle mass more efficiently and quickly.
