The key elements to building muscle size.
🔑 Calories. Too little calories and your body won’t want to build muscle. To maximize muscle gains eating more than your body needs would be ideal. Also, adequate protein intake (>0.8g protein per lb of bodyweight) could be the difference between minimal and maximal muscle gain. Tracking your food intake to build muscle will optimize gains.
🔑 Workouts. 3-6 lifting workouts per week to build muscle. Examples of workout splits: 3 full body days, 2 upper & 2 lower, push/pull/legs/push/pull/legs. Also, consider how many sets you are performing 10- 20 sets per muscle group (per week) to maximize gains.
🔑 Progressive Overload. Each week(s) you will need to apply more stress to your muscles. This is a gradual increase in a properly-structured exercise program. Basically your exercise plan should challenge you to do more (sets, repetitions or weight) in a progressive fashion.
🔑 Resistance. Increasing the resistance when you are strength training will stress the muscles to become bigger. This can be done with heavier weights, more time under tension, more repetitions, etc.
🔑 Consistency. Doing different exercises each week won’t allow for progressive overload. May sound boring to be repetitive (it can be) but consistency with foundation movements will benefit you most when trying to build muscle size. Simply put: stick to a lifting plan for 4 weeks before switching out the exercises.
⭐️ Note. Muscle size is different, but not completely separate, from muscular strength.
⭐️ Note. Cardio exercise does not build muscle.
⭐️ Note. It takes longer than you think to build muscle size. If you’re doing it right (implementing all the key points above) muscle gain could be ~1 pound per month. Genetics, gender and other factors affect results.
⭐️ Note. The “toned” body so many of us want to achieve is a result of bigger muscles and less body fat.
Fitness Things 