Men: we all want to gain muscle. Maybe you’ve been going to the gym for a while and not seeing the results you want, or maybe you’re considering starting a gym routine. Either way, in this guide on how to gain muscle in 2 easy steps, you’ll understand the principles of gaining muscle. It all revolves around training and nutrition. If done right, you’ll be able to weight train for less time, less intensity, and be train safer in the gym. All of this whilst still seeing the results you’ve always wanted. Don’t think this is possible? Continue reading.
The 2 easy steps to gaining muscle
To gain muscle, you need to master two things:
- An energy (or calorie) surplus
- Resistance training with progressive overload
An energy (or calorie) surplus
An energy (or calorie) surplus is known as bulking. It means eating more calories than you burn every day. The reason why you need to eat in a calorie surplus to put on muscle is because if you consume equal to or less than the number of calories your body needs to survive each day, it doesn’t have the fuel to gain muscle. I know what you’re thinking – “This is a recipe for disaster, and I’m going to get fat.” Wrong. There’s two ways to be in a calorie surplus. The first: eat everything in sight. The second: monitoring what you eat, and eating in a slight calorie surplus – in a more controlled way.
If you do the first, you will get fat. If you do the second, you’ll maximise muscle gain whilst minimising fat gain. Here, anywhere between 100 and 500 more than your maintenance calories is recommended. There are many factors that affect someone’s calorie surplus – see here for more information.
Now, you can use a calculator, such as this to get an estimate of your maintenance calories, add 100 to 500 calories onto this based on the various factors that affect your calorie surplus, and use a tool like MyFitnessPal to track this daily. It’s important to adjust accordingly. If you’re not gaining muscle at the rate you want, slightly increase your calories.
Resistance training with progressive overload
Resistance training is exercise carried out against resistance. It’s commonly referred to as weight training and if you want to gain muscle, you have to train. Now, the majority of people know this, but what they don’t know is the following: to continue to get results in the gym, you have to progressively overload the muscles by forcing them to do more than they’re accustomed to. This way, they have no reason to make further adaptations.
This could be increasing resistance, volume, intensity, frequency or time the body is under tension above and beyond what it has previously experienced. Make slight adjustments every session so your body adapts by becoming bigger, stronger, and faster. Increasing the weight (or resistance) is the most common here. Remember to train safe: weight is only one of the ways to apply progressive overload, and the others work also.
Conclusion
Gaining muscle no longer has to be complicated. In this guide on how to gain muscle in 2 easy steps, you’ve learnt what you must know in order to get results in the gym. If done properly, you’ll be well on your way to getting the physique you’ve always wanted!
About me
I’m Ravi – a qualified personal trainer and fitness blogger, who teaches people how to transform their bodies and lives through fitness and nutrition. I’m also the CEO of Sports Samurai, an online store selling high quality gym bags and backpacks – you don’t want to miss these, so click the link. Feel free to like us on Facebook here for more articles, tips, and product information.
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