Hi, my name is Leon, I’ve been instructing bootcamp and personal training for a few years now and have an extreme hobby of bodybuilding which I’ve competed in since 2014 so it’s been a long process of building my physique to how I want it and I’m not done yet. Here are my 5 tips for building muscle!
1. Time / patience – the first thing I will always ask anyone when it comes to building muscle is how much of their time are they willing to give to achieving the goal of building muscle? Making physical changes to the body will require patience and understanding that this isn’t just a 10-week goal but a lifelong goal because once you have built the muscle you’re going to have to work just as hard to retain it long term.
2. Training – are you training hard enough? We can all say we are but saying and doing are two totally different things.
The first thing you want to do with your training just like your nutrition is select exercises you enjoy doing and work hard at progressing through them.
Even if that’s 1kg a week, progress is progress. Set milestones and a time frame to achieve them.
My goals were always based around my lifts when I first started training as if your lifts in the gym are getting better and you’re getting stronger then the physical changes will come.
just like your nutrition and a weight loss plan. If you’re staying true to yourself and not cheating on your diet then you will inevitably lose weight, it’s as simple as that.
Having said that lets look at a few basics to get you started on building muscle whilst on the gym floor. There are so many different training systems and methodologies out there to find but tried, tested and researched over the years are always going to be the plain old basics that are right in front of you but probably choose to ignore.
Building muscle (hypertrophy training) requires a rep range of anything between 8-12 reps with moderate load that you can handle with correct form to concentric failure.
Here is a basic training plan for a CHEST AND TRICEPS WORKOUT.
EX1 – flat dumbbell chest presses 4 sets of 8-10
EX2 – incline barbell chest presses 4 sets of 8-10
EX3 – weighted dips (select weight to perform 3 sets of 10)
EX4 – flat dumbbell chest flies 3 sets of 10-12
EX5 – rope triceps pushdown 2 sets 10-12
EX6 – EZ barbell skull crushers 2 sets 8-10
Each exercise can be logged and weights can be selected accordingly to make sure we are consistently progressing but remember, execution of the exercise is always going to be key to building muscle correctly and injury free!
And once again slow and steady will always win the race. If you go too aggressively into a deficit then you’re more than likely going to be digging into the muscle you’ve worked so hard to build.
Reduce calories gradually, around 1-200 calories at a time and monitor your scale weight once per week, if we are losing, even if it is a small amount then nothing needs to change. As for hydration and fluid intake we want to be looking at drinking around 2- 4 litres of water (not including cups of tea) a day. Fluid intake can fluctuate based on an individual’s body weight but when the human body is made up of an average of 60% water it would be silly not to put one of the most important compounds back into our bodies to aid recovery, hydration and overall wellbeing.
4. sleep / rest and recovery – one of the most important aspects when it comes to building muscle is how well you’re able to recover from your training as well as day to day living such as work and stresses of life. Its imperative that we’re able to switch off and get the most from sleep to aid recovery and growth.
Here are a couple proven tips to make sure we can maximize our sleep!
- Reduce blue light exposure in the evening before bed, switch off your mobile phone and stop watching television an hour or so before going to sleep. Your circadian rhythm works both ways, exposure to more light during the day is great for increased energy but when the time comes to sleep, we don’t want to trick the brain into thinking its still daytime as this will reduce the hormone melatonin which helps you relax and get into deep sleep.
- Reduce the consumption of caffeine late in the evening. Caffeine can stay elevated in your blood stream for 6-8 hours so therefore drinking caffeinated products will affect your sleep quality, especially if you’re sensitive to caffeine.
- Try and be consistent with your sleep and wake up times, just like our training and nutrition its important that we set routines so why should this stop when it comes to the quality of our sleep? Set an alarm and aim to wake up without snoozing (that would be like snoozing on your goals) and aim to get to bed at roughly the same time each night.
