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Gaining muscle weight requires a combination of resistance training and a healthy diet. While it's important to increase your daily intake of carbohydrates, it's also crucial to avoid high-protein diets. Instead, focus on nutritious high-fat foods and top your meals with concentrated calories, such as grated cheese. In terms of training, it's recommended to work out just two or three times a week, allowing your muscles time to recover, as muscle growth occurs during recovery.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Carbohydrates | Increase your daily intake of carbohydrates |
| Protein | Avoid high-protein diets |
| Snacks | Eat a snack rich in carbohydrates with 10-20 grams of protein before and after strength training |
| Training | Train two or three times a week to give your muscles time to recover |
| Exercises | Choose compound exercises that work multiple major muscle groups, e.g. squats and bench press |
| Workout style | Make your workouts short and intense |
| Weight | Don't aim to add weight on every set of every exercise, but do work to improve in some way on each set |
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What You'll Learn
Resistance training
It's important to train just two or three times per week to give your muscles time to recover, as muscle growth occurs during recovery. Make your workouts short and intense rather than long and leisurely. Choose compound exercises that work multiple major muscle groups, such as squats and bench presses.
You don't need to waste your money on powders, pills and products that claim to increase muscle mass. These claims are not scientifically proven. Instead, focus on getting enough calories and protein to support muscle growth. Consume a snack rich in carbohydrates with 10-20 grams of protein before and immediately after strength training sessions.
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Diet and nutrition
To add muscle weight, it's important to focus on diet and nutrition as well as regular physical exercise. Eating a well-balanced diet of healthy fats, carbohydrates, and proteins is key to maximising muscle growth.
It's a myth that eating large amounts of protein will make your muscles grow faster; in fact, this will put unnecessary pressure on your body, especially your kidneys. Instead, aim for a calorie surplus of around 350 to 500 calories per day, along with regular resistance training. Research suggests eating 1.4–2 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day to help maximise muscle mass.
Some high-protein foods that can help you build muscle mass more quickly include eggs, chicken, salmon, Greek yoghurt, skim milk, and beans. Vegan options include lentils, tofu, seeds and nuts.
It's also important to eat at least three fruits per day and add a vegetable salad to your lunch or dinner to increase the amount of vitamins and minerals in your diet. This is essential for optimal functioning of your metabolism and for the increase of muscle mass. Drink lots of water and maintain hydration, as hypertrophy (the increase of muscular cells) will only occur if there is sufficient water to increase cellular volume.
Top your usual foods with some concentrated calories, like grated cheese. Spread peanut or almond butter on a wholegrain muffin. Prepare hot oatmeal or other cereal with milk, not water. Add powdered milk, honey, dried fruits or nuts after cooking. Garnish salads with healthy oils such as olive oil, whole olives, avocados, nuts and sunflower seeds.
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Recovery time
It is important to remember that you should not aim to add weight on every set of every exercise. Instead, you should work to improve in some way on every set of an exercise. For example, you could push yourself in different ways, such as by increasing the number of repetitions or using heavier or lighter weights.
You should also make sure that you are fuelling your body correctly to aid recovery. This means eating more calories than you burn to support muscle growth. It is recommended that you consume a snack rich in carbohydrates with 10-20 grams of protein before and immediately after strength training sessions. You should also avoid high-protein diets and high-fat junk foods. Instead, opt for nutritious high-fat foods such as avocado or nuts.
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Weight training
Choose compound exercises that work multiple major muscle groups, such as squats and bench presses. You can use free weights, weight machines, your own body weight, or resistance bands to perform these exercises.
It's also important to push your muscles to handle progressively greater challenges. This doesn't necessarily mean lifting heavier weights in every workout, but rather finding ways to improve on every set of an exercise. For example, you can increase the number of repetitions or sets, or try different variations of an exercise to challenge your muscles in new ways.
In addition to weight training, diet plays a crucial role in muscle growth. Make sure you're consuming enough calories and carbohydrates to support muscle growth. Avoid low-carbohydrate and high-protein diets, as these can put unnecessary pressure on your body, especially your kidneys. Instead, focus on eating nutritious, high-calorie foods such as avocado, nuts, and whole grains.
Finally, proper timing of meals and snacks is important to fuel your workouts and promote muscle growth. Consume a snack rich in carbohydrates with 10-20 grams of protein before and after strength training sessions.
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Bulking and cutting cycles
During the bulking phase, it's also important to push your muscles to handle progressively greater challenges. This doesn't necessarily mean lifting heavier weights in every workout, but rather finding ways to improve on every set of an exercise. For example, you could incorporate compound exercises that work multiple major muscle groups, such as squats and bench presses, and make your workouts short and intense rather than long and leisurely. It's also important to remember that muscle growth occurs during recovery, so be sure to give your muscles time to rest between workouts.
The cutting phase, on the other hand, involves eating fewer calories than you burn to shed excess body fat while retaining as much muscle as possible. This phase typically involves a more intense training regimen to promote muscle retention. It's important to note that muscle growth requires an appropriate training stimulus plus extra calories, and that proper timing of meals and snacks is key to fuelling recovery from training sessions and promoting muscle growth.
When following bulking and cutting cycles, it's important to set realistic weight gain goals and to have your body composition assessed by a professional to ensure that the added weight is muscle mass, not body fat.
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Frequently asked questions
You can add muscle weight by doing resistance training, such as free weights, weight machines, your own body weight or resistance bands. You should train two or three times a week to give your muscles time to recover, as muscle growth occurs during recovery.
It's important to give your muscles time to recover, so training two or three times a week is enough. You can train more often, but only if you're doing short and intense workouts.
You should increase your daily intake of carbohydrates and avoid low-carb diets. You should also avoid high-protein diets, as excess protein will not make your muscles grow faster and will put unnecessary pressure on your body. Instead, choose nutritious high-fat foods such as avocado or nuts.
You should set realistic weight gain goals and make sure that the added weight is muscle mass, not body fat. You should also avoid wasting your money on powders, pills and products that claim to increase muscle mass, as these claims are not scientifically proven.
