A Beginner’s Guide to Gaining Muscle

Gaining muscle is a simple, but challenging, process. Despite all of the contradictory information and myriad ideas about working out, eating and supplementing to pack on muscle, the most successful route to gaining muscle is to keep it basic and consistent. In this article, I’ll provide you with an overview of everything you need to know in order to start adding some serious muscle to your frame.

The 3 Elements of Muscle Gain

• Working Out

• Eating

• Resting

In order of importance, nutrition is the most important factor, but all three are interdependent; you cannot succeed without having all three sorted out. Building muscle is the body’s response to stress. When you place stress on a muscle that it cannot handle, it responds by breaking down muscle tissue. It then seeks to rebuild the muscle bigger and stronger than it was before so that it can meet the stress if it comes again. Your workout causes the stress and the foods that you eat provide the building blocks for muscle rebuilding. The rest and recuperation is required to allow for the muscle recovery and repair process to take place.

Let’s now consider each of the three key elements one at a time:

Working Out
When you work a muscle group with resistance you are contracting and expanding the muscle fibers that make up that muscle. Your goal is to cause enough stress that microtears occur in the muscle fiber. The body will then have to rebuild that little bit bigger and stronger. 

The first step to ensuring that you are working a muscle group effectively is to choose the right exercises. To be effective an exercise must follow the direction of the muscle fiber and move toward the muscle’s origin. For example, the seated cable press does a very good job of following the direction of the muscle fibers of the pectorals and it moves the arms from a wide, expanded chest position into the pec fiber’s origin on the sternum. 

Here are the best exercises for the main muscle groups of the body:

Chest - Seated Cable Press

Back - One Arm Cable Pull In

Trapezius - Dumbbell shrugs

Shoulders - Cable Side Lateral Raise / Front Dumbbell Press / Cable Crossover Rear Lateral Raise

Biceps - Alternate Dumbbell Curl

Triceps - Lying Tricep Dumbbell Extension

Quadriceps - Leg Extensions / Cable Squats

Hamstrings - Seated Leg Curls

Calves - Standing Calf Raises

Divide your body in half, training half of it one day and the other half the next. Each workout should be done twice per week. Perform 3-5 exercises per exercise with repetitions between 6-15. Start with the higher number, then, on each succeeding set, add a little weight as you lower the reps by 2-3.

Eating
In order to add muscle weight to your body, you need to create a caloric surplus. To do this you need to know what your current daily calorie requirement is to maintain your weight. This is called your basal metabolic rate (BMR) You can calculate it here. 

In order to gain muscle, aim to consume 500 more calories per day than your BMR. These should consist of lean protein, vegetables, fruits and healthy fats such as avocado, nuts, vegetables and coconut oil. You can also take a post workout shake consisting of a 50/50 blend of protein and carbohydrates. This will refuel your glycogen levels while also providing the amino acids your body needs to repair and rebuild.

Resting
Working out is extremely taxing. Unless you give your body the time it needs to recover and recuperate, you will not be able to build muscle. Aim to consistently get 7-8 hours of sleep every night as that is when your body grows and repairs the most. Do not train a muscle group more than two times per week or you will risk overtraining it.

Wrap Up
The real key to success in building muscle is consistency. If you are able to work out, eat, rest and repeat month after month, increasing the intensity of your training and sticking to basic, sensible nutritional options, you will build muscle - believe it!