How to Build Muscle

How to Build Muscle

After “How do I lose weight?”, the second most common question I am asked is “How do I build muscle?” The answer can be quite complex, but essentially boils down to a handful of key behaviours. Do these consistently and you will build that muscle quickly and consistently. So, here are the top 5 tips I can give to anyone who wants to know how to build muscle…

1.Train frequently

Muscles respond to stimulus, so make sure they are stimulated often. Aim for 3-5 weight training sessions per week, using a level of resistance that allows you to perform good quality repetitions of your exercises 8-12 times. Any more or less and you aren’t providing the best stimulus for muscle building. Consistency is important – if you train hard but inconsistently you are never going to achieve your muscle building goals.

2. Eat more!

The food you eat is the building blocks of your cells. When you want to build more, you eat more. Importantly though, this isn’t an excuse to simply chow down any old crap just to cram in thousands of extra calories. Quality food is still king – eat healthily, just in larger quantities. Increase your high-quality carbohydrate to help fuel you training as you will need the energy. My favourites are sweet potatoes and squashes. Keep your protein intake high, but ensure it is from good sources – high welfare meat and fish and free range eggs.

3. Time your food intake well.

Digestion is tough on the body – it requires energy, it manipulates hormone levels and blood sugar levels and will aid in determining how much fat is stored. In the last tip I told you to eat more carbohydrates, in this tip I will tell you when….immediately after training! In your post training window you are a nutrient sponge. Your muscles and liver are desperate for carbohydrate so they can replenish glycogen stores, making this an ideal time to take in your carbohydrates without storing too much fat. As ever, remember to eat high quality, natural carbohydrates.

4. Use compound exercises.

There are thousands of exercises that can be performed, but in order to build good quality muscle, you only need a handful. Compound exercises are big, multi-joint exercises that stimulate large amounts of muscle in a short period of time.

Compound exercises release huge quantities of growth hormone and really stimulate muscle growth.  Remember with exercise the key is quality, not quantity. A well-balanced, high intensity 30 minutes is much better than a 90 minute session of isolation exercises such as bicep curls performed at a low intensity.

A good weight training programme can contain as few as the ‘big five’ exercises – Bench Press, Chin Ups, Squats, Lunges and Military Presses. Even people who have trained for a long time will build muscle with a training programme containing these.

5. Rest and recover

Remember your body grows as it rests and repairs. You really need to ensure you sleep well and recover in order to build muscle. I know the temptation is to lift heavy every day in the search for muscle, but it really isn’t a good idea. My preferred recovery strategy is explained here. You don’t have to avoid the gym, but if you want to go you should keep your weight training to a sensible level and use the rest of the gym to aid your recovery and allow the muscle growth to happen.

My son Isaac enjoying some rest and recovery….

Now you may wonder what a picture of a sleeping baby has to do with muscle building, but it actually demonstrates the point perfectly well.

Isaac is 15 months old at the time of writing. He was born weighing 7lbs 2oz and is now 25lbs. He has increased his body weight by a factor of 3.5! He has grown his muscle mass significantly. A big part of this is down to the amount of sleep he gets.

Any readers with children will know a baby needs anything up to 16 hours of sleep per day – this is when they grow and develop. Although the time scales are different, the principles remain the same for adults who want to pack on the muscle – get plenty of good quality sleep to grow!

So there you are, the Hoyles Fitness guide on how to build muscle! If you have any comments or questions, feel free to get in touch