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If you look around the gym, you see several types of people out there. There are few biggies with volumes of muscles. There are fat guys trying to lose weight. There are generally fit guys trying to add a couple of pounds in muscle mass. There are even thin guys trying to add muscles.
Whatever your condition be, adding some muscles definitely help. It improves aesthetics and has lots of cardiovascular and neurological benefits. Building muscles also help to improve insulin sensitivity and helps in reducing the tyre in your midsection.
Muscles are metabolically highest active tissue in body. It burns lots of calories, simply to maintain itself. Thus you can eat more and tolerate lots of carbs.
But for all that, you need to add muscles. Please remember that, simply cutting down calories, will burn fat, as well as muscles. The proportion of fat : muscle loss can’t be determined, but the muscle loss is significant. Thus you look thin, frail and weak after chronic dieting.
Even after you move away from dieting, body will gain back those fat very quickly. Those will be even more stubborn and resistant to lose. Metabolic slowdown and less muscle mass is the culprit here.
Resistance training, despite well known to build muscles, also helps in preserving muscles. Thus, as you lose fat, you can preserve at least some muscles, just by doing well guided weight training 2 to 3 times a week. Even you can maintain metabolism despite losing fat.
So the point here is that, you should always try to build muscles. Even on a diet, your strive for building muscles can help you amazingly.
But are you failing to build muscles? Are you getting frustrated seeing people flexing 18 inch plus guns out there? Don’t worry, let me explain these extremely important points for you:
This is perhaps the commonest reason for not gaining mass. If you don’t have enough calories, you simply won’t gain muscles. Again, if you eat too much, you will only get more fat.
Remember, to gain muscles, you don’t need too much calorie excess. Just 100-150 kcal excess (with bit higher protein – see next point) will see you through. But that won’t happen without a proper stimulus. That stimulus is intense weight training with progressive overloading. (more on it later)
Any short term weight fluctuations are mostly due to water retention or release. (Significant muscles and fat can’t be added or lost overnight). You need to give time for things to shape up!
But what about those frail guys around you gaining big muscles with lousy training in a couple of months?
Well, they are juiced up, for sure. Roids can cause magic and can devastate you later. (As a doctor and certified fitness trainer, I can guarantee you that). You just can’t build few kg of pure muscle in a few months. But never go for steroids for quick gains.
Believe me, this is extremely important for your goals. Indians, more so in case of vegetarians, have much less protein intake than Western people. Our culture and upbringing have guided us that way. Read the article on a popular newspaper stating a survey which proved that 80% Indians are protein deficient.
For gaining muscles, you really need protein, more than normal. Daily total protein intake should be at least more than 1 gm/kg body weight. ACSM states that athletes trying to gain muscles should take 1.2-1.7 gm/kg body weight.
As you do intense, weight training with progressive overload, muscle fibers break down only to grow stronger and bigger. Don’t think this increased protein will affect your kidney. Actually training hard with low protein intake will harm you. Proteins act as building blocks in the whole process.
Think about of building a wall where workers, cement, supervisor, plan, everything is ready but the bricks are missing. Something like this occurs as you eat more, do weight training but don’t take adequate protein.
Seeing women using pink dumbbells and men using light dumbbells to squat really amuses me. For warmup or deconditioned people starting to work out may benefit from these. But for muscle hypertrophy, you have to lift heavier.
Regarding rep range, 8 to 12 reps per set is the optimum range for muscle gain. Also weight needs to challenge your body. If you can easily do more than 20 reps per set, its time to ramp up. Again 4 to 6 rep max range is for powerlifting and helps in strength gain (albeit there is some muscle hypertrophy too but not optimal as in 8 to 12 rep range).
Besides, always have the itch to perform more than before. This may be by trying to increase weight on bar every time. Even squeezing one or two more reps (than previous day) can help. It can also be something like choosing heavier dumbbells, trying isometrics/eccentrics/negatives/forced reps etc. These can effectively break muscle gain plateaus.
Also too much rest can spoil the show. People take long breaks between sets, wasting time gossiping, chatting checking mobile, social media etc. Weight training session should be not too long but intense. You are not there to relax.
This seems bizarre as compared to last point! But please remember, muscles need time to recover and grow bigger. If you are doing heavy work for a muscle group and not allowing it rest time, it won’t take you anywhere.
Try to keep the schedule such a way that all the muscle groups are hit at least twice a week (3 times/week is even better) and allow each muscle group to recover for at least 48-72 hours (depending on intensity).
Don’t try to do too much. Unlike cardio, more is not always the better. Keep the optimum range, as mentioned above and try to not get stressed up. Stress, with concomitant increase of cortisol hormone, can further undermine your gains. (explained later)
It may seem bizarre but true. Carb stores in the body is mainly the glycogen. Majority of that is in the muscles. In glycogen deficit state, protein synthesis (for muscle building) can’t be maximized.
Carbs help in increasing insulin, the anabolic hormone of your body. Fast absorbing or high glycemic index carbs cause insulin spiking. This increased insulin helps in acceleration of protein synthesis.
You need to provide about 1.2 to 1.5 g of carbs per kg body wt during and after exercise, to replenish muscle glycogen stores. For more information, please read Regulation of Muscle Glycogen Repletion, Muscle Protein Synthesis and Repair Following Exercise.
Have you heard of BCAA (branch chain amino acids)? These consists of leucine, isoleucine and valine. These 3 amino acids, with leucine in particular, has role in kick starting and optimal protein synthesis by mTor pathway.
Bodybuilders take BCAA supplements before and during exercise. These have definite role in building muscles and accelerating recovery. Even egg whites and whey protein are very good sources of BCAA. Now a days protein shakes are being fortified with it for best results.
Ectomorphs are people having the following features as body structure:
These people are blessed with amazing fat burning features. But they can’t gain muscles easily too. These people need to have high calorie excess and prolonged, intense weight training to add mass.
On the contrary, mesomorphs are naturally inclined to build muscles. Ectomorphs add muscle as well as fat on calorie excess. But if you fall in ectomorph category, please understand your genetics won’t allow to gain mass so quickly.
Now, don’t flinch. That’s a good thing for you. Actually, those guys getting very big pecs, arms and shoulders with bulging veins, in few months can never be without steroids. People who are newbies in weight room and those with some ‘muscle memory’ may build little bit of muscles quickly. But it definitely plateaus after a stage.
Anabolic steroids take the game to a different level. Don’t get frustrated seeing those big boys of bodybuilding with lousy forms of exercise. Drugs can accelerate protein synthesis to such a level that a guy on steroids, even without weight training, can beat the most sincere natural gym rat. There are studies to prove that. Read The Effects of Supraphysiologic Doses of Testosterone on Muscle Size and Strength in Normal Men.
Anyway I am not advocating steroids here. They are harmful and can permanently damage several organs of your body. But please check how many people are juiced up in professional bodybuilding circles. For having a competitive edge, drugs become inevitable for most.
Don’t compare yourself to them. Steroids can keep the metabolism and protein synthesis speed sky high. Let us talk about fitness and health here, not wasting time to compare with a juiced up meathead.
Well, cardio is important too. It is amazing for you heart health. It keeps you stress free and burns lots of calories. But never overdo it.
People try to do long cardio over hours. This simply adds to stress and high cortisol level. This will simply retain water, decrease muscle synthesis. Remember that cortisol is a catabolic hormone. High cortisol will equally damage your fat loss and muscle gain goals.
Even long cardios can cause overworked muscles with depleted glycogen stores. This further breaks down muscles and even may lead to atrophy. That is why marathoners have such slender frame and thin legs compared to powerlifters/bodybuilders.
Anyway, we are talking about prolonged cardio sessions here. Half an hour jogging on treadmill or cycling is absolutely fine and won’t interfere with muscle gain.
Sleep is extremely important for several reasons. Proper sound sleep for a minimum of 7 to 8 hours is an absolute necessity for muscle growth. With sleep deprivation, you can neither gain muscles nor lose fat effectively. Human Growth hormone and testosterone are the hormones for muscle growth. These hormone levels are increased in sleep. The slow wave stage of deep sleep helps the most. Also read the post: Importance of proper sleep in weight loss.
Similarly proper relaxation helps the body fight stress. Remember that the stress hormone cortisol is your biggest enemy for gaining muscles. Muscle gain, an anabolic process, is seriously affected in the catabolic environment of cortisol.
So don’t be discouraged. Whatever be your body type, train hard but smart. Also don’t overdo cardio, take proper and planned diet with enough calories with that extra protein edge. Finally learn to relax and have proper sleep.
Above all, stay away from roids if you care about health and fitness. Take your time and let the muscles grow steadily but surely.
All the best in your strive to achieve the body of your dreams…
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