There are many complicated theories and philosophies about the best ways to build muscle, indeed the ‘science’ of muscle growth can be complex. It is easy to see why many people over-complicate the process, this is due to a number of reasons. The most important one is lack of patience; despite what many think and what the fitness industry often portrays, muscle growth is a slow, slow process, with only a few grams of muscle growth being possible for the non-genetically gifted amongst us! Most people, after the initial few months of training find it harder and harder to grow muscle and if you’re growing 2-3kg of muscle per year consistently, then you are doing pretty well. That said, many people fail to reach their maximum growth rates, it fundamentally comes down to these three things:
1. You should always log your workouts.
This is a simple yet effective piece of advice that many people fail to do, It is important because in order to grow muscle, we need to progress our workouts to keep creating enough stress to force our body to adapt and grow. Once our body has adapted, we need to create even more stress to get the next adaption, therefore logging workouts is the only way to accurately track your progress over time. Knowing the weights you are doing, at what rep ranges will tell you if you are getting stronger. If you are getting stronger, then there’s every chance you are growing muscle, even if the scales might be moving up slower than you’d like. If you are not getting stronger, then you definitely need to consider points two and three a bit more carefully.
2. You need to eat enough of the right foods.
Consuming enough calories to support muscle growth is only half the battle. You need to make sure you are eating the right amounts of quality protein and that you are getting enough micronutrients in the diet, these are essential to support muscle growth and let’s not forget, keeping you healthy. Having a varied diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables doesn’t need to be a chore. Having varied protein, fat and carbohydrate sources will most likely take care of your micronutrient need, try to use a food logging app to work out your calories. If you’re not growing/getting stronger, then eat more, but be careful not to chase the scales too hard or you might put on unwanted body fat. Remember, muscle growth is a slow process.
3. You need to consider recovery just as much as you do training.
Remember adaption comes from training induced stress, but the stage in between stress and adaptation is recovery. The temptation to always do more to cause muscle growth is a trap that many are pulled into. You need to train hard with high intensity, and yes, sessions will be fatiguing, but fight the temptation to keep pushing training volume higher and higher. To a point, this is necessary to force those adaptations, but at some stage you will reach a point where you won’t recover, which can manifest itself in lack of strength progression, or even losing strength. It should go without saying that in order to support growth, you need to make sure you are getting enough quality sleep.
On a final note, in order to make sure that you are giving your body the best possible chance to grow, the most important thing is to keep consistent. It is consistency in progression of training and diet that over time will add up and really make a difference to your physique, the best way to track progression and ensure consistency is to write everything down!
