Anyone who aspires to look big and fit will head to the gym for proper bodybuilding training. But most do not realize that becoming bigger is associated with becoming stronger too; strength leads to size. So to gain more muscle mass and strength, a workout strategy should be designed to strengthen various parts of the body.
Workout strategy
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Lift heavy things: Initially, full-body routines with compound exercises should be done to engage multiple muscle groups at once. The following workouts will be suitable for every muscle of the body:
- Leg exercises – Squats, deadlifts, or lunges
- Push exercises – Bench press, overhead press, or dips
- Pull exercises – Inverted rows, pull-ups, or chin-ups
- Core exercises – Reverse crunches, hanging knee raises, or planks
Apart from these, one can also work out on machines to perform shoulder shrugs, iso-chest fly, preacher bicep curls, and calf raise to gain strength and mass. Lifting heavy weights stimulates muscles to grow stronger and bigger.
- Eat right: Building size and muscles requires eating more calories than you burn. You will need to take in 3000+ calories (depending on your age, present and expected weight, and body metabolism) to exceed the burn level and gain mass. So make sure you get 200+ grams of protein a day and 3500+ calories in any way. Eating oatmeal, brown rice, almond butter sandwiches, chicken, beef, eggs, fruits, veggies, milk, nuts, eggs, sweet potatoes, shots of olive oil etc., can help. Also, nutrition supplements, protein shakes, and muscle milkshakes help a lot as they provide the right amount of nutrition most easily.
- Take rest: Apart from doing full body exercises and eating a high-calorie diet, make sure you get enough rest and sleep for the body to replenish and heal itself. At least 8-9 hours of sleep every night is required for optimal muscle-building. In a nutshell, the right way to get stronger and bigger is by stimulating your body through hard exercise, providing proper nutrition through a balanced and high-performance diet, and giving it sufficient rest to recover in between training sessions.
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Pitfalls to avoid while training for good results
- Do not train every day as muscles need time to repair themselves in between the training sessions. Adequate rest periods are necessary to achieve the desired body mass and strength.
- Do not train for longer sessions as it increases the risk of injury or damaging muscles. Short sessions of half an hour to an hour 2-3 times a week is optimal.
- Do not stick with meat as a primary source of protein. There are a wide variety of protein supplements available. Adding these nutritional supplements to your diet is a healthy way to gain mass as they act as catalysts. There are different protein supplements available on GNC’s online store, so check them out.
- Be consistent and do not get eager to gain muscles faster. It may take some time for healthy and lifelong results.
- Do supplement your diet with a variety of different muscle-building products for maximum benefits.