If your goal is to increase muscle then you can not miss 10 tips to increase muscle mass and achieve it in the shortest time possible and in the most efficient way.
1. Lose fat before increasing.
I do not recommend that you enter into a plan to increase if you still have fat to lose, ideally if you are male you have about 10% body fat and if you are a woman a maximum of 19%. If you do not have someone to measure your percentage of fat, simply look in the mirror and be honest with yourself, do you think your priority really is to increase?
Understand that when you are in a plan of increase the safest is that you gain a little fat, even when you do very well, with good quality food, because to increase you have to be constantly in an anabolic state, that is, consuming more calories that you burn, so if you already have some fat then it will cost you more work to lose it.
This is why the increase in muscle mass is done in phases, first you have to lose fat (unless you are an ectomorph, a super-thin person with a very fast metabolism), then you enter an increase / volume phase, and then You do another small phase of cutting and fat loss so that the muscle definition is more visible. In addition, your hormonal environment is much better when there is less fat, you have greater sensitivity to insulin and more testosterone, and this will work in your favor when it increases, you will take less to reach it and you will increase less fat while doing it.
2. Train.
The only way to increase muscle mass significantly is by causing micro-tears in the muscle fibers, and this is achieved by subjecting your muscles to an external force to which they are not accustomed, through weight training. Why tear the fibers ?, Because then the body by overcompensation is forced to repair these fibers. As your body is very intelligent it makes them bigger and stronger, so they will be prepared for possible future attacks. Of course, you need an adequate diet and recovery to achieve it efficiently; This is called hypertrophy.
Your body is designed to protect you, and yes, for your body intense weight training is something super-restraining, it’s as if you attack it. This phenomenon of overcompensation is not only seen in this aspect, for example, when you cut yourself, your body overcompensation repairs that tissue and forms a strong scar. So when you go to train, keep this in mind, you have to challenge and threaten your body, a bland and mild training will not generate hypertrophy.
3. Do many compound exercises.
Unless you already have a considerable amount of developed muscle movements / individual exercises such as curl bicep or tricep extensions are not going to help build muscle quickly. I do not say that they are not necessary, it includes some, but you do not base all your training in this type of exercises. The most important, to which you must give more priority, are the compound exercises such as deadlifts, squats, pull ups / dominated and bench press . Not only do these exercises work more muscles in less time, but they also allow you to use a much heavier weight than you can lift with one-joint exercises.
4. Train HEAVY.
Most people who are trying to increase muscle do not use the right weight. You must lift weight in the range of 8 to 12 repetitions per series, performing 3-5 series per exercise, and that weight should lead to muscle failure at the end of each series, that is, you reach 12 repetitions with a lot of effort, of course, maintaining the good posture and controlling the range of movement, but that you reach 12 with a lot of work, that you can not reach 14.
One of the reasons that bodybuilders exercise with a partner is because someone is there to help them when the weight becomes too heavy to lift them in good shape. If you do not have a training partner, you only have to stop when you are too tired to lift in good shape, rest a few seconds, and continue. Remember what I told you, your body needs to feel that external force is a threat, a challenge. Neither train without care, the idea is not that you injure but force your body to go into overcompensation and generate a hypertrophy.
5. Avoid the Cardio.
Your body needs a surplus of calories to build muscle, and if you are doing a significant amount of cardiovascular exercise such as running, playing tennis / soccer or riding a bicycle, you are burning calories that your body needs to build muscle. So if you want to increase as fast as possible, do only cardio for 5-10 minutes of warm-up before training, and then concentrate only on weight training. In addition, training to increase muscle mass is so intense and heavy that you are very exhausted to do cardio later.
6. Eat.
You have to EAT best mass gainer supplement toincrease muscle mass. Especially if you are genetically very thin with avery fast metabolism, you practically have to spend the day eating. Toincrease 1/2 kilo of muscle per week you need to consume approx. 2,600extra calories a week. A realistic amount of muscle that you can increaseweekly is 200 to 500 gr. Now, the idea is not that you eat anything, buteat quality food so that the increase is more efficient and cleaner.
It is vital that you include protein in each meal and variety because each one provides certain benefits: lean beef, eggs, chicken breast, fish, W hey Protein, etc. They provide amino acids necessary to generate hypertrophy, you need to increase protein synthesis, this is the only macronutrient that increases the levels of nitrogen in the body, which is necessary to increase muscle mass.
Carbohydrates are also necessary, they are protein savers. If you do not consume enough carbohydrate your body starts to use protein as an energy source and this causes you to delay the process of increase. Choose natural sources of average glycemic load, such as oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice and fruits. After training you can consume a carbohydrate with a high glycemic index, because it will increase protein synthesis by raising insulin, it is the only time of the day where you want it high, because being an anabolic hormone will help transport the protein much faster to your muscles and it will give a fast reserve of glycogen to the muscular tissue, this will help it to repair itself.
Fats (good, of course) will help improve your hormonal environment, choose sources such as avocado, olive oil, nuts and coconut oil.
Vegetables are vital, do not abandon them. Eat three times a day will not be enough, you have to distribute those calories and macronutrients in several meals a day to better assimilate each nutrient and to be constantly in anabolic state, so you should make 6 to 8 meals a day every 2 hours. The amount of protein, carbohydrate and fat will depend on your biotype, sex, weight and level of physical activity.
7. Supplement -optional-.
It is not that you can not increase without them, but it will be much easier and faster if you do it. There are many supplements in the market, do not get overwhelmed! The most necessary and effective are: a protein of good quality ( Whey Protein Isolate), that could be taken when waking up, before and after training; creatine, because it helps increase your strength and resistance noticeably; amino acids such as glutamine to increase recovery and relieve post-workout pain; branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) that prevent muscle catabolism, increase protein synthesis, accelerate recovery, and decrease cortisol levels; arginine, because it naturally elevates your levels of growth hormone and nitric oxide, will allow you to train with more intensity and helps nutrients reach the muscles more efficiently; and finally ZMA, a supplement based on zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6, which helps to get into deep sleep before sleep, to recover muscle mass, improves insulin sensitivity and naturally elevate testosterone levels.
8. Rest.
If you work a muscle that is too intense many days in a row, the muscle fibers will be damaged too much to repair and grow properly. To build muscle mass you have to completely fatigue a muscle group and then give it time to rest, usually 72 hours so that it is repaired efficiently. For example, if you breastfed on Monday, you can retrain it on Thursday or Friday.
9. Recover well.
To be in an optimal state of growth you must give your body what it needs while you recover, cold water baths, massage, stretching, and adequate sleep, from 7 to 8 hours in a row. Remember that the muscle grows at rest, outside the gym, and in deep sleep you secrete adequate levels of growth hormone, which is very important for increasing muscle mass. It is important that you drink enough water, keep the body hydrated so that you increase the synthesis of protein, eliminate all the toxins and you can perform more in the gym. Also, for the amount of protein you are consuming you need more water, your weight in kg. multiplied by 60 will give you an estimate of ml. total you need per day.
10. Do not stress.
Learn to relax, rest, breathe deeply when you are in a stressful situation, count to 10, meditate, do yoga, whatever works to relax you. When you are irritable, moody or stressed you can quickly decrease the levels of testosterone, parabolic hormone par excellence, increase levels of cortisol, a catabolic hormone that wears down muscle mass and makes you increase fat at the abdominal level.
This special was dedicated to all the skinny and skinny that always ask me for tips to increase, here you will find everything you need to know, I hope you help them!