5 Proven Ways To Speed Up Progress When Building Muscle Volume
It’s tough to stay motivated in the gym if you aren’t seeing any real results. When you’re trying to build muscle, you’re not going to be huge overnight but you should be seeing some noticeable results. If you’ve been working at it for a month or two already and you don’t seem to be building any muscle at all, it can be very demotivating and that’s when people will start to give up and skip gym sessions. It does take a bit of patience and everybody builds muscle at a different rate, but if you aren’t seeing any results at all, it’s likely that you’re doing something wrong.
The good news is, there are a lot of things that you can do to speed things along so you’ll actually start to see recognizable results after your sessions. These are some of the best ways to speed up muscle building.
Increase Your Training Volume
Your training volume is the number of reps you do multiplied by the number of sets, and it’s important that you get it right if you want to increase muscle volume. When you’re trying to build strength rather than increase muscle volume, intensity is key so it’s better to do fewer reps on a higher weight. However, the opposite is true if you’re just trying to build volume. It’s actually better to do more reps and more sets, even if it means lowering the weight a bit so you can get more in. Next time you go to the gym, try doing somewhere between 10 and 20 reps in each set for 6 sets. You should see more visible results in terms of muscle volume if you start doing it this way instead.
Do Eccentric Exercises
When you lift, there is always a concentric phase and an eccentric phase. The concentric phase is the harder phase while the eccentric phase is the easier part of the lift. For example, if you consider a squat, going down is the eccentric phase but pushing yourself back up is the concentric phase. Most people understandably assume that the concentric phase is the best for building muscle but that isn’t actually true. It feels like your muscles are working harder so it’s natural to think that you’re building more muscle. The concentric phase may be better for building strength but when it comes to muscle volume, eccentric exercises are actually more effective. If you can incorporate more eccentric exercises into your routine, you’ll see faster improvements.
There are two main ways to do this; firstly, continue with your normal exercises but focus mainly on the eccentric phase. Simply slow down the eccentric phase and draw it out a bit more and then complete the concentric phase as you normally would. You can also use specific eccentric exercises which cut out the concentric phase entirely. Just be aware that you’ll probably have to lower the weight significantly to get the best results.
Decrease Rest Time Between Sets
If you’re resting for a few minutes between each set, that’s too long. The ideal time to rest is somewhere between 45 and 120 seconds maximum if you’re looking to increase muscle volume. These shorter rest periods encourage your body to produce more muscle building hormones like testosterone. It’s also important that you fatigue your muscles to encourage them to grow and if you’re taking long breaks between each set, you won’t be able to do that. Ideally, you don’t want to rest for longer than 45 seconds but if you’re struggling to finish all of the reps with that short break, you can push it up as far as 120 seconds, but no further. If you’re still struggling with a 120 second rest between sets, that’s a sign that you need to reduce your weight a little bit.
Increase Testosterone Levels
Your testosterone levels have a big part to play in muscle building. Decreasing rest times between sets can help to boost your testosterone, however, you may need to do more. As you get older, your natural testosterone levels decrease and that means you may find it difficult to build muscle. Luckily, there are a couple of simple things that you can do to increase testosterone. The easiest way to do it is by taking a testosterone booster supplement on a regular basis. It’s also important that you’re getting a good night’s sleep every night because if you aren’t, this can reduce your testosterone levels. Sleep is vital to building muscle even if you don’t have low testosterone because you release human growth hormone which helps to generate new muscle.
You should already know that eating enough protein is essential when you’re trying to build muscle because you need it to repair the muscles after you break it down during a workout, that’s how it grows. But a lot of people don’t realize that it’s also a good way to increase your testosterone levels as well, so make sure that you have plenty of protein in your diet.
Finally, vitamin D encourages your body to produce testosterone and the easiest way to increase your vitamin D levels is to expose yourself to sunlight. However, a lot of people do have a deficiency if they’re working inside all day so you might want to get some supplements as well.
Eat More Calories
When you’re trying to get in shape, you’ll likely be counting calories and trying to consume fewer calories than you burn. That’s good advice if you’re trying to lose weight but it’s the opposite of what you should be doing if you’re trying to build muscle. A lot of people struggle with the idea of eating too many calories but if your body has a calorie deficit, it will stop producing muscle in an attempt to preserve energy. But if your body has a calorie surplus, it will be looking for ways to use that energy and building muscle is one of the ways it will do that. You should try to add an extra 250 to 500 calories a day to your diet if you’re trying to focus on building muscle.
These are all proven ways to build muscle a lot quicker so you can start seeing some real results in no time.
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