The Plan And Steps To Build Muscle

Building muscle is possible only if you are dedicated to it. The problem is that many people use the wrong methods and are having trouble building muscle despite a strong commitment. The encouraging part is that muscle gaining is not all that difficult if you have a plan and know the steps.

Basically, a muscle building plan revolves around four elements:

1. Smart Training

If you want to build muscle, you have to train hard. However, training hard does not mean spending hours at the gym. That is the biggest mistake bodybuilders make. Even better, you need to train smart and not hard; quality is always better than quantity. For example, compound exercises that challenge multiple muscle groups and joints give better results than single joint exercises.

Squats, seated row, bench presses, and wide grip pull are some of the best compound exercises because they challenge multiple muscle fibers when you are moving weights. The more muscles you work, the bigger the potential for muscle growth.

As a general rule, you should perform single and compound exercises in the ratio of 1:3, i.e. three compound exercises for one single joint exercise. If you are working your biceps with the standing bicep curl with wide grip pulls, seated row, and bent over row, it means you are performing one single joint and three combination exercise, because all these work heavily on your biceps.

Smart training is training one muscle group once every week and a split routine three days per week so that you don't have to train for more than one hour in one session. In short, the mantra for smart training is short periods of intense training with compound exercises.

2. Proper Diet

No training regimen is complete unless it includes proper emphasis on a balanced diet. Muscle building is all about smart training and smart eating.

Weight loss and a strong physique are closely related but are two different things. Weight loss is all about getting that zero-size figure that everyone seems to be crazy about.

Building muscle, on the other hand, is about training and maintaining energy levels at the same time. Unless your diet has the capacity to provide adequate energy, you will not have the required energy to train hard, which is a precondition to building muscle.

You need to get out of the habit of eating three full meals a day, which is a habit we have been brought up with. Instead, switch to five or six small meals. Eating every three hours is good for improving your metabolic rate. It also means that the body uses up the food you eat instead of storing it as fat.

Your diet should comprise mainly of complex carbohydrates and protein sourced from healthy sources such as animal protein, milk, cheese, and egg whites.

3. Supplementation

This is a dicey issue, and the advice you get depends largely on who is giving it. People interested in selling some product swear by food supplements and will quote from sources you would want to believe.

The reality is that your body needs carbohydrates, proteins, and creatine in big quantities if you are to build muscle. If you can ensure that your diet provides you these in adequate quantities, then there is no need for food supplements.

However, this may not be possible all the time. Secondly, there is the matter of affordability. The bottom line, thus, is that if you can afford them, you should take supplements.

One of the more important protein supplements meant for serious bodybuilders are whey protein supplements. It is actually the fastest way of delivering protein to muscles. However, remember that supplements should be used as such and not as replacements for meals.

4. Recovery Time

This is actually part of smart training. Intense training means that you are tearing muscle fibers or damaging them. Damaged muscle tissue gives a 'pumped up' appearance to your muscles because they are swollen and damaged. It is simply a matter of appearance, and not growth.

You have to give time to your muscles to repair themselves. This is also the basic reason why professional bodybuilders train for only 3 or 4 days in a week.

Keep these four key elements in mind and see your muscles growing at a remarkable speed. It's not hard to build muscle, but it still requires a fair amount of commitment on your part.