menu
10 principles to gain more muscle
The more protein your body stores, in a process called protein synthesis, the bigger your muscles grow. But your body is constantly depleting your protein stores for other uses, like hormone production.

10 principles to gain more muscle

1. Maximize muscle growth

The more protein your body stores in a process called protein synthesis, the more your muscles grow. But your body is constantly depleting its protein stores for other uses, such as making hormones. The result is less protein available for building muscle. To counter this, you need to "build and store new protein faster than your body breaks down old protein," said Michael Houston, a professor of nutrition at Virginia Tech University.

Consume about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, which is roughly the maximum amount your body can use in a day, according to a groundbreaking study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

For example, a man weighing 160 kg should eat about 70 grams of protein per day, or even a little more, to reach the ideal. the approximate amount you will get from chicken breast, a cup of cottage cheese, a roast beef sandwich, two eggs, a cup of milk and 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. Split the rest of your daily calories evenly between carbohydrates and fats. (50 foods with the highest protein content you should include in your diet).

2. Eat more

In addition to getting the right amount of protein, you need more calories. Use the formula below to calculate how much you need to eat per day to gain 1 pound per week. (Give yourself 2 weeks to see the results on the scale. If you haven't gained by then, increase your calories by 500 a day.)

3. Go big, not small

How to make the perfect biceps. They're fun, but if you want to gain muscle, you have to do more to challenge your body. And one of the keys to this, says Samuel, is to perform so-called multi-joint movements. “Yes, training in isolation has value,” says Samuel, “but it cannot be the basis of your training. Strength is the key.

You must perform exercises that work on many joints and muscles simultaneously. Take a row of dumbbells, for example. Each repetition in a row engages the biceps, lats, and abdominals. Using more muscle groups allows you to lift more weight, says Samuel, a key advocate of development. And it forces you to use your muscles together just like you do in real life. "Multi-joint movements are key to your training," he says.

Make sure movements like squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, and bench presses are in your training to take advantage of them. All of them will stimulate many muscle groups at the same time, and in order to grow, they must.

4. Heavy rail

If you want to build muscle and strength, you have to train hard, says personal trainer Curtis Shannon. "Safe and effective strength training has many advantages," says Shannon. “Hard training challenges the muscles not only concentrically but also eccentrically. If it is not correct, a stimulus to controlled descent and ascent will further break down the muscles and rebuild them. "

This means that each set you do doesn't need to be 10 to 15 repetitions. Yes, high-rep sets can be valuable, but for multi-joint movements such as squats, bench presses, and deadlifts, don't be afraid to do sets of, say, 5 reps. This will allow you to use more weight and develop more raw power, says Samuel. And as you progress, this new strength will allow you to lift heavier weights and do more reps.

One way to approach this in training: start each workout with an exercise that allows you to train with low repetitions. Do 4 sets of 3-5 repetitions on the first exercise, then do 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions for each subsequent movement. "It's the best of both worlds," says Samuel, "allowing you to build pure power early and then pick up repetitions."

5. Exercises

A 2001 study at the University of Texas found that athletes who drank a shake containing amino acids and carbohydrates before exercise increased protein synthesis more than those who drank the same shake after exercise.

The cocktail contained 6 grams of essential amino acids, the building blocks of muscle-building protein and 35 grams of carbohydrates.

"Because exercise increases blood flow to active tissues, consuming a mixture of carbohydrates and proteins before exercise can lead to increased absorption of amino acids by the muscles," said Kevin Tipton, exercise and nutrition researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. Galveston.

For a shake, you'll need 10-20 grams of protein, usually about one scoop of whey protein powder. Can't digest protein shakes? You can get the same nutrients from a sandwich of 4 slices of turkey and a slice of cheese on whole grain bread. But the shake is even better. "Liquid meals are absorbed faster," says Kalman. Drink 30-60 minutes before training.

6. Don't always push yourself to the max

Your body needs to move every day, but that doesn't mean your workouts must lead to fatigue and exhaustion. "If you train hard every day, your body won't have a chance to grow," says Samuel. "Choose the times of the week to give your best." End each workout feeling fine, not dead. Limit your workouts in the gym to 12-16 work sets and never exceed them.

This doesn't mean you can't do some brutal training every now and then. But limit the workouts that put your body under maximum stress to three times a week, and never on consecutive days. "You have to recover to grow," says Samuel. "Continued training until exhausted will be counterproductive to the recovery needed for muscle growth."

7. Low carbohydrate levels after training

Research shows that you will rebuild muscle faster on rest days if you provide your body with the 50 foods with the highest carbohydrate content in your diet.

 

"Carbohydrate meals after exercise increase insulin levels," which in turn slows down the rate of protein breakdown, Kalman says. It has a banana, an isotonic drink, and a peanut butter sandwich: its properties, benefits and recipes.

8. Face the progressive overload

As we mentioned earlier, the main key to building muscle is pushing her to ever greater challenges. Overall, most gym goers find that you need to lift more weights with each workout. But it is not so, notes Samuel. "There is a time when it becomes harder and harder to put more weight on the barbell," he says. "If it weren't for that, everyone would have been pushing 400 pounds."

Don't just try to add weight to each exercise set, says Samuel. But work to improve in some way with each exercise set. "Even if you are not gaining weight, you can apply pressure in different ways," he says. “You can lift 10 reps in this series. For the next set, instead of increasing the weight, do the same 10 repetitions, but with an even more intense form. "

Sometimes keeping the same weight across all four sets throughout the day can be a real challenge, especially when you're improving your performance with each set. There are also other forms of progressive overload. You can reduce the recovery time between sets from 120 seconds to 90 seconds, increase the number of repetitions, or even complete more sets.

"Try to improve every workout," says Samuel, "but remember that the improvement will not always be the same. Today you can lift 4 times without gaining weight. But if you can do your fifth rep or even 4 reps with more control than you did last week, then you're on your way.

9. Maximize your time under power

A sometimes overlooked way to gradually overload your muscles is to subject them to what is known as "tense time." When your muscles are working, whether they are pressed on the bench or the biceps are lifting the barbell, they are "tense" under the weight of the weight. You can feel it too: If you are standing with weights at your side, your biceps are not tense. As you start to roll them, you will feel them bend under the "tension" of the dumbbells.

Seasoned powerlifters often use this tension to their advantage. Instead of just lifting and lowering a weight (e.g. biceps), they lift it at a certain rate. They can do it as fast as they can, for example, then lower the weight for 3 seconds, focusing on being in good shape for each repetition.

Doing this puts your muscles more tense than a typical set where you can lift and lower a weight without a certain amount of time. And that extra energized time during the set can help stimulate muscle growth.

Remember that you can do this with almost any strength exercise. Not suitable for explosive exercises such as swings or kettlebell cleaning. But squats, deadlifts, curls, pull-ups, and presses (and many other movements) can be tweaked to add more energized time, pushing the muscles further with each repetition.

10. Sleep at least 6 hours

Sleep is often a variable that allows you to gain muscle mass. You spend a lot of time exercising, but often don't realize that when you sleep, your muscles regenerate and your body grows. It is also during this period that muscle growth hormones are secreted.

Now you know that it would be best to get 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Of course, this is not always the case, but you should do your best to maximize the quality of the hours you receive if you cannot reach 8 hours.

 

So consider adjusting your sleep if you are serious about your muscles. Try to go to bed at the same time each day and try to get up at the same time each day. And sleep in a cool, completely dark and quiet room. All these little things optimize the quality of your sleep and can have an interesting effect on your ability to gain muscle mass.

Read More About 30-40 krag