No matter what your body type, you can increase your muscle volume. We’re not talking about genetics here; they’re only responsible for 10% of the result. That makes you 90% responsible for your physique!
To build muscle, you’ll need to focus on three rules: diet, training and recovery.
1. What should you eat to build muscle?
You’ll need to increase your caloric intake, but it’s even more important to pick foods that are highly nutritious for your body. In short, choose a healthy, balanced diet.
When shopping for groceries, avoid highly processed foods. Instead, choose “raw foods,” or foods that have undergone little to no modification before being packaged for sale. It’s time to start cooking for yourself, to optimize your nutritional intake.
In one day, you should eat an average of 50 to 55% carbohydrates, 1.6 to 2.0 grams of protein per kg of body weight, and at least 0.8 g of fat per kg of body weight. Reading that sentence can make it sound pretty confusing. And that’s understandable. If nutrition isn’t your thing, I strongly encourage you to try the Nutri Coach app. Just follow these recommendations, and the app does the rest.
Of course, don’t forget your fresh fruits and vegetables. They are filled with vitamins and minerals.
Getting all the nutrients and micronutrients you need will give your body the right tools to build muscle, burn fat, perform well during your workouts and get stronger.
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2. What kinds of exercise increase muscle mass?
Bodybuilding is one of the most powerful disciplines for increasing muscle volume.
Here are some tips to improve the quality of your special “mass gain” training:
Increase your time under tension.
Generally, people tend to do 10 reps at a relatively quick tempo. The problem is that this doesn’t create enough hypertrophy. Ideally, reps should be done at a much slower tempo during the eccentric phase of movement. So your 10 reps should take about 1 minute (theoretically, the ideal working time for hypertrophy). You can also stick to a traditional tempo, but do longer sets (20 reps or more) to trigger hypertrophy.
Increase the difficulty
You won’t make progress by staying in your comfort zone! Make your workouts more difficult as soon as they become “easy” (weights, resistance bands, explosiveness, balance, etc.)!
Increase your training volume
Instead of doing 3 or 4 sets of an exercise, do 5, 6 or even 7!
Incorporating explosiveness
Be sure to include one or two explosive exercises in your workouts. These are usually done using only your body weight, and are a very effective way to build muscle. If you don’t have access to a gym, or have little to no equipment available, focus on explosiveness.
The Fitness Coach app is perfect for anyone who has very little equipment at home and wants to become more muscular. It includes all kinds of programs, including an entire “mass gain” category that is a highly effective way to make rapid progress.
3. Recovery for building muscle
Don’t forget to take rest days, and sleep!
That’s when your body repairs any repetitive strain injuries that occur during your workouts. The process involves creating more muscle tissue (and more volume), to help you handle future training sessions.
The right time to train is when you no longer feel sore, or are just barely sore.
Note: If you aren’t sleeping well, find out why. Sleep is essential, particularly when it comes to muscle recovery.
Do you need a new fitness routine?
Available since May 2023, the Summer Shape Up program takes you 12 weeks to achieve a real body makeover.
The program contains 12 weeks of sessions (3 sessions/week) or 36 unique sessions to guarantee you a crazy evolution!
With this program, you can’t get bored, each session is new and will make you want to surpass yourself. This program can be done at home with a few dumbbells (or water bottles if you are just starting out).
Why we love it? The Summer Shape Up is a real guide, both athletic AND nutritional!
This guide helps you understand why you should choose certain types of food and not others. You will find concrete examples to help you create endless menus, always balanced and good for your figure.
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