How To Build Muscle Mass

Five Key Principles to Building Muscle Mass


1.  Nutrition:   When the goal is to increase muscle mass, what the diet consists of is even more important than the training regimen a person follows.  The body must have certain nutrients to produce muscle mass.  A person needs 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight.  This should be factored into a calorie ratio of 50-30-20, where 50% f calories come from carbohydrates, 30% come from protein, and 20% come form unsaturated fats.  One should eat 5-6 small meals per day as opposed to 3 larger ones.  This provides the muscles with a constant stream of muscle-building nutrition.

2.  Progressive Resistance:  The body soon adapts to the stress placed upon it in weight training.  When that happens, it stops growing.  To keep the body in muscle-building mode one must constantly increase the stress placed upon the muscles.  This does not mean that one should increase the weight lifted each and every workout.  Over the period of a month, however, be sure to life more weight.

3.  Variation:  Avoid doing the same thing every workout.  The body is so good at adapting to the stresses placed upon it that if one does not change up the routine, progress will not be made.  Constantly alter the volume, frequency, intensity, and duration in a workout.  Doing the same thing year in and year out will not bring the desired results.

4.  Recuperation:  Muscle growth does not occur during the workout, but rather it occurs during the rest period between workouts.  Over training impedes more weight training progress than any other factor.  Two and three hour workouts will not work for most people.  Sessions should be shorter - 45-60 minutes in length -- and each muscle group should have at least 72 hours of recovery time before being worked again.

5.  Training Intensity:  To get real results, one needs to put real effort into a workout.  Rather than lifting heavy weights, focus on the muscle group being worked.  Isolate that muscle group and work it to the max.  Cycle intensity over a period of about three weeks, so that in the first week you do 8-10 repetitions with a moderate weight.  By the third week, only do 4-6 reps with maximum weight.  Make proper use of techniques such as partial reps, forced reps and temporary muscle failure.  (Go until you cannot go anymore with a particular rep.  A spotter can help force the muscles to do more than they can do on their own.)

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