How do I gain muscle?

One of the main goals for anyone that spends time in the gym is to gain muscle.  I find that a lot of people believe that to gain more they have to workout more.  While there can be some truth to this belief, it does come with a big caveat: more training will lead to more gains ONLY when your body has the capacity to do so.  What this means is, that in order for you to benefit from more training, a lot of stars have to align...do you sleep enough, do you eat right, are you functioning mentally, physically, and emotionally well, do your genetics support more training/muscle, are you on ergogenic aids that support more growth, etc.

With the belief that  you have to train more to gain more, it is very common for trainees to over train.  Over training is one of the leading causes of both plateaus and injuries.  Just because you feel really sore it doesn't mean that you've done an awesome workout and you're going to reap way more benefits as a results. In fact, it often means the opposite...you've exceeded your capacity and are now more likely to reap less benefits.  Now sure, over training can be a tool for progress, but in the real world, this is really only true in the hands of advanced trainees and/or trainers.  In almost all other cases, it's akin to a scalpel in the hands of a bear.

If you really want to gain more muscle you have to learn exactly how much, and what type of training is perfect for you and when.  If you're well rested and everything else is on point maybe you will benefit from a strong 55 minute workout. Whereas, if you're just getting into the gym for the first time, or back into the gym after a long time, you will probably benefit more from starting with a 25 minute workout, working your way back up to more volume over the next 2 weeks and benefiting from each session and increase, than pumping out a killer 75 minute session your first day in and handicapping the rest of your training and physical adaptations for the whole week.

So the next time you're getting ready to hit the gym,  just try to keep one thing in mind...your level of soreness does not equate to your level of progress. 

TRY THIS:  on your first training session back into the gym, try to see if you can make yourself sore the following day by doing just a short but intense 25 minute workout. If you can, a job well done, this is something you should be able to do if you train hard enough despite your workout only being 25 minutes long.  From there you can gradually increase your training time to accommodate more volume or higher intensity sessions (require longer breaks) as needed. After about 4 to 8 weeks of the same focus, you can switch it up and start back with a new focus and a 25 minute starting session.

Bonus Tip: using 10 grams of bcaa's (CLICK HERE) + 2 grams of taurine (CLICK HERE) before and after your workouts can help minimize DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness, and improve your overall results.

Until Next Blog,
​BE FIT. BE STRONG. BE BETTER.