6 of The Best Tips To Build Muscle

Eat Over Your Maintenance Level of Calories

To build muscle your body needs more calories than it burns during a typical working day. Try and eat between 300-500 calories over your body‘s maintenance level on a consistent basis. Without an excess of calories in your diet you will not put on muscle. By building muscle we are in theory putting on weight so it makes sense to consume more calories. To ensure your making progress in your training track your workouts as well as your weight. If your not progressing in your training the chances are that you are not consuming enough calories to support muscle growth. This is often the main reason why people hit a plateau. They are simply not eating enough! When progress stalls the first thing you should look at is your diet and your calories.

Eat Small Frequent Meals Throughout The Day

Eating 5-6 meals a day will supply your body with a constant flow of nutrients coming from a wide variety of sources. Frequent small meals are a great way to get the required amount of calories and protein into your diet and help you build muscle. Eating frequent meals like this can be hard especially when you are working long hours and do not have time throughout the day to prepare your meals. The secret here is to prepare your food the day before. Use Tupperware to store your meals in and take them to work the following day. This way you have high protein meals and calories readily available to you when ever you need them.

Eating 5-6 meals a day is not a set requirement to build muscle but look at it this way. If you can  consume 5-6 small meals/snacks throughout the day it is going to make it a lot easier to meet both your daily calorie and protein requirements. Trying to meet your calorie and protein requirements by consuming 2 or 3 meals is going to be difficult. With only 2-3 meals a day you will need to consume larger meals at each sitting which can prove tough for some people who struggle with their appetite.

Consume at Least 1 Gram of Complete Protein Per Pound of Bodyweight

Performing any type of strenuous activity or exercise on a consistent basis calls for a change in our daily diets. Due to the pounding your muscles take during each workout, your nutrient needs increase and are vital for helping you recover efficiently and build muscle mass. One of the most important nutrients for muscle building is protein. Your daily intake of protein should increase when training in order to help rebuild and grow new muscle tissue. How much protein do you need to build muscle? You need at least 1g of complete protein per pound of bodyweight. Protein is known as the building blocks for our muscles and are made up of chains of amino acids that are used by our bodies to help us grow muscle, hair, nails and even skin. A lack of protein in your diet will hinder your results. Great protein foods include lean cuts of meat such as chicken or turkey, fish, tuna, milk, eggs, cheese and whey protein.

Get Yourself on an Effective Weight Training Routine/Program

Your diet is extremely important when looking to build muscle but if you‘re not training hard and do not have an effective weight training routine or program in place then you will not see results. Take your time to plan out an effective routine or use one of the proven weight training programs designed by others. Two of the most popular are Rippetoes and Bill Stars 5x5. Google these terms for more information on them. Alternatively you can choose to design yourself a bodybuilding split.

This is a routine designed by an individual to hit each muscle group hard on their own specific day. A quick example would be training chest and back on Monday. Biceps and triceps on Wednesday and legs and shoulders on Friday. This is a 3 day split. An individual can design their own bodybuilding split and may choose to workout 3,4,5 or even 6 times a week. Be careful if your going to follow your own bodybuilding split routine. Allow adequate rest days and ensure you do not over train your muscles. Always try and push yourself in your training and progress as much as you can. Don’t go into your workouts looking to perform the exact same number of reps or lift the exact same amount of weight as you did the previous week. Push yourself and always look to lift more weight or perform more reps. Vary your reps and exercises every now and again to switch things up  and allow continuous progression.

Get Enough Rest!

Rest? Shouldn’t I be training I hear you say. Of course you should but rest is another key factor when lifting heavy weights, as it is with many other sports. Try and get a good 7-10 hours sleep each night to help your body recover and grow. Your body carries out a number of important functions when we are asleep such as the rebuilding and repairing of muscle tissue. Muscle is built whilst we are asleep so bear this in mind when deciding upon another late night. You should also be getting enough rest between your  workouts so you can come into each training session and give it 100%. Its often good practice to work each muscle group hard once a week unless you are following a completely different program or a full body workout.

Get Out of Bed at a Reasonable Hour

This may sound stupid but is definitely related to your results and progress when looking to build muscle. You should be getting up at a reasonable hour in order to consume all your meals throughout the day and get in the required amount of calories and protein your body requires in order to grow and put on muscle mass. Imagine getting up at 12 o clock in the afternoon and going to bed at 9 or 10. Within this time you may be able to consume 3 meals. By only consuming 3 meals it will be difficult to get the required nutrients and calories your body needs to continue growing. If this constantly happens you can see how getting up late can eventually have a big impact on your training and your progress.