To gain muscle mass, it is best to consult a nutritionist and also have a personal trainer. With a proper diet rich in protein and regular weight training, you will achieve excellent results!
The process, which consists of increasing the size of your muscles, happens when you consume sources of protein, such as meat, fish or eggs, along with foods rich in carbohydrates, which are responsible for replenishing energy and giving you that boost during training.
But “mixed” with a lot of discipline, of course.
In this article, you will learn that it is possible to shape your body in a healthy way without the need for fancy methods. Pay attention to your reading and get ready to get the shape you always wanted!
12 tips to increase muscle mass in a simple and responsible way
There is no secret to gaining body mass: follow a balanced diet without overdoing it on fats, sugars or alcohol – it is not forbidden, but it is good to avoid them –, do regular exercise, which is also essential, and only take supplements when prescribed by nutrition professionals.
Take note of all the tips below! They are valuable.
1. Have a protein-rich diet
Eating more protein, whether from beef, poultry, pork, fish or vegetables – such as peas, beans and spinach – helps to increase lean mass because the amino acids present in these foods do the work of repairing and increasing muscle tissue.
The more you work out, the more you demand from your muscles, right? In order for them to recover from the exhaustion of training, the body will seek nutrients to regenerate and increase strength in the exercised area, and do you know who provides all of them? Protein-rich foods !
2. Don’t overdo it with fats, sugars and alcohol
None of this is forbidden, but as you read above, there’s nothing like avoiding or moderating your intake of these items to gain more muscle mass in less time. Leave aside beer, sugary drinks and ready-made and processed snacks: they can hinder your development and ruin all your hard work at the gym.
Eat well, but always prioritize fresh, homemade foods! You will read more about this subject later in this article.
3. If you are an ectomorph, follow these specific tips to gain muscle mass
Anyone who is thin, with thin arms and legs and doesn’t have the famous “belly”, regardless of height, probably falls into the “ectomorph” category, but these people can increase their lean mass too! As long as they do it with regular training, discipline and eating several large plates of balanced food.
More than anyone else, ectomorphs need to eat well and with quality if they want to gain muscle. They need more nutrients to develop each muscle, and this requires the consumption of not only foods rich in protein, but also carbohydrates and healthy fats, such as nuts and fruits.
Ectomorphs are often called “thin and bad”, and for good reason: they are people who eat everything and don’t gain weight, which doesn’t mean they are healthy. Their cholesterol and triglyceride levels can be sky high even if they are not overweight!
The fact that you don’t gain weight is due to your accelerated metabolism, and in this case, cardio workouts should be avoided so that you don’t lose lean mass. Weight training with moderate weights will be an excellent resistance exercise here.
4. When training, do fewer repetitions and don’t overdo the weights.
One of the most common mistakes made by those who want to increase lean mass is to lift a lot of weight in several sets or to do fast movements, and the problem with doing this is that you “burn” your tone instead of growing it.
The ideal is to perform sets of 8 to a maximum of 12 repetitions slowly and correctly, so that the muscles give their all. The load does not need to be extremely heavy – even the longest movement will tire the limbs, which will begin to fail – but it also does not need to be the lightest if you are already in the habit of exercising.
The sensation of muscles failing is known as fatigue , and it usually happens when maximum effort is required of them. At the end of the set, you can feel them “cracking”, that is, very stiff.
5. Rest and ensure a good night’s sleep
The quality and quantity of hours of sleep will make all the difference in the growth of lean mass because it is during rest that the body works to recover muscle fibers and tissues.
During the night, a battalion of worker cells enter the bloodstream with “building blocks” to restructure the muscles, bringing vitamins and nutrients to strengthen them. You sleep, but the body doesn’t stop!
Have 72-hour rest periods for each set of muscles, and if you do back training one day, do leg training the next, sparing your upper limbs, and vice versa. All of this is part of a set of disciplines. Here’s a tip.
6. Discipline yourself and create a routine
Don’t give up, even if it seems like change is taking a long time to come.
Remember that building muscle requires patience and resilience, and don’t overexert yourself all at once: it’s better to create a training routine and exercise for a maximum of one hour each time you go to the gym than to work out for a long time on the same day and then end up with pain that prevents you from following your mass-building plan.
7. Change your workout every six months
Rotating exercises is a way to avoid injuries due to excessive repetition of the same muscle group and to increase the strength and resistance of other ligaments in the body that were not covered in the first round of activities.
Another interesting point to highlight is the motivation of the student or athlete with the issue of novelty: training without changes can get boring, and you don’t want that to happen, right?
8. Don’t give up because of pain, it is normal in the hypertrophy process.
Known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), the discomfort you feel after a workout is common during the process and there is no need to worry. This pain usually occurs between 24 and 72 hours after an intense weight training session and can last for a few days. Getting ripped hurts, but it is worth it!
When you pull weights, stretch and lengthen nerves, ligaments and muscles, you are causing “small damage” to the structure, as if you were opening or tearing the muscle. It is during the repair process of the affected tissues that muscle discomfort occurs.
However, if the pain persists for a longer period of time and creates a red, warm swelling in the area, it could be a sign of a more serious injury, an indication that you made incorrect movements or lifted too much weight. As a general rule, always exercise under the guidance of a professional.
9. Research dietary supplements
Among the most common supplements, you can find three main ones. Take note.
- Creatine: powder supplement used to gain an energy spike before or after workouts;
- BCAA: compound that helps in gaining muscle strength; and
- Whey Protein: protein powder generally made from whey to revitalize muscles after training .
Before or after training, taking a nutritional supplement that helps you gain energy and recover from muscle fatigue can be a great idea, only and exclusively if and when recommended by nutrition professionals.
10. Do not take hormones or supplements without the guidance of a professional.
Each body requires a specific supplement, just because they work for some, doesn’t mean they will be the best option for your body too, right? Only with the evaluation of a professional will you know how to supplement to gain lean mass.
And another professional you should count on is a physical trainer!
11. Find a professional to set up your training
If your dream is to get in shape, only someone who knows the path to get there will be able to help you. Get a complete physical assessment with a personal trainer or nutritionist to find out your lean mass and fat mass index and count on the trainer when it comes to planning your workouts and monitoring your exercise performance.
12. Follow the so-called “hypertrophy cycle”
You can’t gain 5 kg of muscle mass in a month of training: that’s a fact, in fact, this is a difficult mission even for the famous “gym rats”, but there’s nothing better to speed up the process than following the hypertrophy cycle to the letter, even though you already know that it usually takes more than a month.