How to Gain Muscle Size
On the surface, building muscle size seems like a straight line: Lift heavy, eat and grow, but it is more complicated than that. First, you need to plan out a varied exercise routine. Second, you need to develop a meal plan to help your body grow to accommodate the need for increased calories. Third, you have to prep your body to handle the increased workload. Lastly, you need to plan for the inevitable pitfalls; injury, exhaustion, and life.
If lifting were really easy, then everyone would do it. The reality is that lifting is a lifestyle. It takes time and effort to reach your goals. I would say lifting is a lot like marathons in the sense that many people set out to do a lifting competition or get in shape for a bodybuilding competition, to prove to themselves that they can achieve a goal they set out to do. There are few greater feelings than seeing a plan through to the end and either reaching your goal and/or learning a lot along the way.
Like I have said in other posts, set up is the HARDEST part. Not many people want to take the time to carefully lay out their meal plan, get a list of exercises ready, write down all of your workouts to do the math to see when it is time to increase weights, and have alternative plans in case you are injured and cannot complete a workout day. There is a reason those muscle heads at the gym, aka “Bros” only talk about food and lifting. It can be an all encompassing lifestyle. I am going to go through each step below to hopefully get you more prepared for your journey into building size.
Plan Your Exercise Routine
I have discussed this in other articles, but I will summarize here and provide a link at the end of this article to the other articles that are related to this topic. If you are going to plan your routine I recommend somewhere in the 8-12 week range. This can vary greatly depending on your current training level. If you are an absolute beginner, then you will be at the 12 week mark. If you are intermediate or looking for a change to your current routine, you can get away with 8 weeks.
Why are you so specific with the weeks? I am glad you asked! Because it has to do with how long it takes to see results from a training routine. Most initial strength gains are from the brain telling the body to move better. It can take up to 8 weeks to get past these gains before you will see any substantive muscle growth. The other reason is you have to prepare your body for the workload you will be doing based on the reps, sets and weights you are starting at for your level. You can try to jump ahead, but you are putting yourself and an increased risk for injury. It is a mistake most people make. I am a professional and I have let my ego get the best of me serval times while completing a hypertrophy program only to be sidelined for a few weeks while I nursed an injury back to health.
The Meal Plan
I know what a lot of people are thinking at this point, “Oh, this is the easy part!” Let me tell you how wrong that is. It is not just about eating, but eating to get the best nutrients into your body and make sure you are not putting on too much weight too fast. Just like weight loss, slow and steady wins the race. Again, this is a lifestyle change. You want to accurately count your calories. Make sure your marconurtirent ratios work for your goals. Unless you hate cooking and have lots of money, you have to create a menu and cook. You can pay a service to do this for you, but if you are like me, then you are too frugal to go that route.
During this pandemic, I have had plenty of time to plan out a balanced diet for two weeks. It has been tough, but I found meals that work for me. I also found a routine to make those meals. If you have ever heard any bodybuilders talk, they always mention plain chicken breasts. It is a high protein food that you can make a lot of in bulk.
Plan your meals. One of my go to recommendations for macronutrients to benefit muscle growth is 55% Carbs, 20% Protein, and 25% Fat. But again, this comes down to quality of nutrients. Carbs should be as whole wheat as possible. Fats should mostly be mono- or poly-unsatursted fat, basically mostly plants and nuts. Protein should be beans and lean non-red meats.
Also, chest meals are OK. You have to plan for 1-2 meals per week not being the best. It is normal to go out and splurge a little. This goes along with planning to have missteps, which I will discuss further down.
Prepare Your Body
When you start a size routine, you are building to moderate weights at moderate to high reps (volume). If you go out and do a hard routine you are either going to throw up, hate your life, or give up from being too sore. You have to plan to grow.
When starting a new routine you want to focus on big body movements focusing one 2-3 exercises for 2-3 muscle groups at a time. You want to keep the weight at around 70% of your max or about a 10 rep max. You can figure out your max by doing a 10 rep max test. The test can give you an idea of where you are and you can retest to find when you should increase your weights.
Every week you will slowly add sets to your exercises and increase weights while lowering reps. You can follow this routine, but make sure every 5 weeks you add an active rest week. The muscles need time to repair. You also might need a bit of a break mentally.
Writing down your routine is immensely important. If you don't, you are going to risk getting to a point in the routine that you like and you might not vary up the routine. Writing the routine down also helps you track progress. Building size is very similar to weight loss, you need all of the numbers to tell you a complete story about your progress.
Plan for Failure
This sounds pessimistic, but if you have a plan for the days you feel like you failed, then it is easier to move on. Some days you are going to eat too much, others days you are going to miss a workout, or (heaven forbid) you will be sick or injured.
To plan for failure, use context. An example is not sticking to your diet for a meal or two during the week. That is not the end of the world. If you are like me and plan 6 meals a day, then 2 bad meals out of 42 is not going to destroy your progress.
Also, injuries and sick days happen. For injuries you can use active rest. This is where you either do a different muscle group or do an exercise that works a muscle group in a pain free range of motion. As for sick days, stick to your plan when you get back to exercise. Go to the plan you wrote down with the weights you tracked. Start as close to where you left off as you feel comfortable. You may also have to adjust reps and sets at first. That is OK. Doing something is better than nothing.
Summary
Gaining muscle can be a fun and challenging goal. The main objective is to make a plan and stick to it. Find and keep your motivation to grind it out everyday. But don't beat yourself up if you need a break. This is weight lifting; it is supposed to be fun and a stress reliever.