In this 5-parts series, I'm going to go over, in a very simple format, how to build muscle effectively, efficiently, quickly, and easily the correct way. Building muscle is not complicated once you know what to do. Lean mass building is not exactly a hard science. It's about knowing what to do (acquiring the bodybuilding knowledge), taking action to achieve results, and then analyzing those results for feedback while monitoring your progress so you dump what did not work and stick with what worked.
And I'll avoid a lot of the unnecessary science jargon and terminology that bores everyone.
I'm not going to waste a lot of your time in this series on theory and lab studies done by armchair physiologists and scientists. I'm going to outline all the facts and knowledge you need to start an effective training and dieting plan for building muscle. Most of the concepts here are based on real world results.
I'm going to give you just the real practical, non-bullshit information and detail a step-by-step guide at the end to get you started on your muscle building journey. Lately, I've noticed many "free" guides out there are incomplete (worse yet, some are trying to soft sell you supplements rather than teach you how to really build muscle) so I'll attempt to make this as complete as possible, especially for newbies and beginning lifters.
However, I'm not crapping on the sites that do provide excellent information on how to train and eat for muscle gaining. It's just that a lot of the information are scattered around on different sites and/or organized haphazardly which confuses the beginner (you read and read and don't know how to put the information together into a muscle building action plan- analysis paralysis at it's finest 
.
This is why I wrote this guide discussing all the principles and outlining an action plan while keeping it as simple and direct as possible so you'll have all the knowledge needed to start.
If you want a more in-depth guide on the intricacies and complexities of training and nutrition, then check out the two guides below as they go into way more detail.
- Vince Delmonte's No Nonsense Muscle Building Program (former skinny track athlete shows you how to pack on 40+ pounds of muscle)
- Will Brink's Bodybuilding Revealed Program(detailed guide detailing the best training, nutrition practices and supplements for building muscle, includes membership forum with dozens of industry experts to answer all your questions)
Here, I'll just give you the basics so you can start building muscle right away without getting bogged down with information overload.
If you've struggled in the past to build any noticeable muscle, then consider this a new beginning. You might have been clueless... you didn't know what you were doing and wasted time fooling around, going through the motions in the gym...but now is your chance to pick up knowledge and start this bodybuilding journey on the right path for real gains.
This series is broken down into 5 parts. The first part, this article here, deals with a little bit of theory and the big concept of building muscle (I'll try to keep this at an 8th grade reading level ) I'll talk about the muscle building process and how understanding this process can help you finally get results, especially if you've been training and eating the wrong way in the past. You'll get a bird's eye view of how to gain muscle mass.
Understanding this big picture bodybuilding concept would also allow you to troubleshoot any problems you have with your current training and diets if you're not seeing the results you'd like.
The second part talks about nutrition and supplementation. You'll find out what foods to eat, how much you should eat, calories surplus, meal frequency, proteins, and all that jazz.
The third and fourth parts deals with exercise and recovery. You'll find out about targeted lifting for building muscle and how you can structure your own training programs for maximum muscle gains. And in the last part, I'll lay out a 5-steps action step plan to show you how to take all this knowledge and put it together into a clear plan. Then you'll find a resources section afterward to further your education and training/dieting knowledge for life-long muscle gaining success.
You may have your own reasons to build muscle but we're not here to debate or discuss that right now. So whatever you reasons are, whether it's to look good in clothes, look good naked on the beach, gain some weight, to impress that girl next door, just keep in mind one thing: hunger and enthusiasm to train.
You got to have the passion right now to train intensely and succeed in the gym. Have that focus and excitement to pack on maximum muscle mass. You have to want it. And want it bad enough to stay focused and consistent with your program.
So let's get to it right now.
The Big Picture of Bodybuilding
First, I want to introduce to you the big picture concept of bodybuilding and how to build muscle (outlining the primary muscle building factors involved). Then we'll zone in on the details for each factor. The devil is always in the details.
Not too long ago, I came up with the fitness equation. This equation is adaptable to any fitness goal by manipulating each factor of the equation. Sounds complicated?
Here's the fitness equation,
Exercise + Nutrition + Recovery = Fitness Goal
The fitness goal is whatever you desire or aim to achieve; jumping higher, running faster, punching harder, pitching harder, and even for building muscle. It's what you're after, your goals, your fitness needs.
If you adapt this equation to building muscle. It'll look like this,
Strength Training/Weight Lifting + Calories Surplus + Macronutrient Balance+ Sleep= Muscle
Call it the "how to build muscle " equation , bodybuilding equation, bulking equation or whatever you want but the above factors are muscle building principles you must know and apply.
As you see from adapting the fitness equation, exercise becomes strength training and weight lifting, nutrition becomes calories surplus and macro balance, and recovery is sleep. These factors work synergistically together. You cannot neglect one and/or sacrifice the other. They all work together to make sure you build muscle and get the results you want.
Muscle Building Process
What happens during the muscle building process? From the moment you lift a weight to the moment it grows? When you lift a heavy weight for a single repetition, your nerves immediately "fires" by activating all motor units associated with the muscle doing the work. Motor units are sets of nerves and muscles that work together. So when you're lifting a weight, your muscles "wake up" through contraction. Hold a dumbbell in your palm and curl it up You see the biceps flex and peak on contraction. You lift weights, muscles contract. They flex and generate force to lift that heavy dumbbell for you.
When this happens, the muscle fibers are stressed to the point of breakdown. Little "holes" appear called microtrauma. You must create this microtrauma to build muscle. And so this is the first step of building muscle. Lift weights to create microtrauma.
After the workout, your muscles are weaker than when you started lifting. Your muscles must be weak first, after being teared down by the weights to build muscle mass.
And so your muscles must be repaired before it can grow bigger and larger. You do this by providing fuel for your muscles in the form of food. Real, whole, solid food. Lots of it. They repair and grow back stronger through food. Most of the actual repair and growth occurs during recovery phases, when you sleep. You grow muscles when you sleep. You gain muscle during slumber.
Taking all this into account, you can see how exercise, nutrition, and recovery plays into their respective roles for building muscle mass. The stimulus to create the microtrauma comes in the form of strength training and lifting weights. You feed your stomach with a lot of food to fuel the muscles for growth. Food is the fuel and driver that allows the car to travel over a given distance (so food is the fuel for muscle growth). Then you get plenty of sleep to allow the changes and muscle growth to occur (since whatever breaks down must be given "downtime" to be "fixed". That's it!
This is the basic process to build muscle mass.
So you might ask, which factor is more important? Is food 70% of the equation? Should lifting weights be the primary focus? You might've heard some lifters on forums, who are too hung up on "broscience," say that muscle building nutrition is 80-90% of the bodybuilding game.
Well, think of the bodybuilding equation as a real equation with numbers. Let me give you some examples to help you put this bodybuilding thing into a little more perspective.
Let's take an example,
1 + 1 = 2
one plus one equals two...
Simple equation with a simple answer. You can't have 2 without the other 1. Take 1 away and you'll only get 1. You must have both 1s to get a 2. This is simple addition. This goes the same for bodybuilding. If you want to build muscle, you must have all the factors in the equation. They are equally important. They're all 1s. Put all the 1s together and you get the result.
Take driving a car for another example. Let' s say the 4 tires of a car are the exercise programs. The engine is the nutrition factor. And the ignition system is the recovery factor. Driving the car is the muscle mass, the result. You can't drive (muscle result) if you don't have either the tires, engine, or the ignition.
You need to put the pieces together to get the desired result.
I'm bringing these analogies up to help you avoid failure and get results. So keep this in mind as this is very important. I think the number one reason why a lot of people fail at building muscle is that they place more emphasis on one factor over the other. They may like training but hate eating a lot (so they train like a maniac with insane intensity but eat like a bird when they should really be pigging out ) Well, if you neglect proper muscle building nutrition, you're going to fail and not gain an ounce of muscle no matter how perfect your strength training program is or how hard you train in the gym. You're not going to build muscle if you eat like a little humming bird.
By thinking one is more important than the other, you neglect the others. You guarantee failure. Each factor has its priorities. They are equally important.
So the lesson for this first part of Muscle Building 101 is to acknowledge the bodybuilding equation,
Strength Training/Weight Lifting + Calories Surplus + Macronutrient Balance+ Sleep= Muscle
Make a mental note to place equal attention to each factor of the muscle building equation. In the second part of Muscle Building 101, I'll get into the details of each factor (what to eat, macronutrients, how much to eat of each nutrient, when to eat, etc.) , starting with muscle building nutrition.
Remember, you build muscle mass with strength training/weight lifting, lots of good food, and lots of sleep.
Let's get to it.
Train Hard. Train Safely. Train Smart.
If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to leave a message below in the comments section or email me at ZQH245@gmail.com and ZAH250@gmail.com
photo credits:
Jayel Aheram
mjzitek
Jessa9
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Get No Nonsense Muscle Building, the #1 best selling skinny guy muscle building e-book which teaches you how to build muscle and gain weight quickly without supplements or drugs. Learn from a Canadian Fitness Model champion how to defeat 'muscle unfriendly genes' and build a body you can be proud of by visiting http://www.VinceDelMonteFitness.com
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