How to Build Muscle Fast
What ACTUALLY Works
Want to know how to build muscle without having to dedicate your whole life inside a gym? You may be surprised by how simple BUILDING MUSCLE can be!
How Muscle Growth Actually Works
Muscle growth, or hypertrophy, happens when your muscles face a significant challenge—like lifting heavy weights. This mechanical stress triggers pathways in your body. One of which is the mTORC1 pathway, which tells your muscles to build more protein and grow stronger. It also activates “helper” cells that add more nuclei to muscle fibers. Allowing them to grow larger and better handle future challenges.
How Fast Can You Build Muscle?
How To Eat For Muscle Growth
Eat in a Caloric Surplus
In their 2019 review of maximizing skeletal muscle hypertrophy, heres what Slater & colleagues found. An energy surplus within the range of 350 – 480 kcal/day is best for stimulating
Muscle
Protein
Synthesis
Metabolic process where amino acids are incorporated into skeletal muscle proteins, leading to muscle growth and repair.
If you are in a caloric deficit because of a weight loss goal, then here’s what the research say’s.
Protein needs for energy-restricted resistance-trained athletes are likely 2.3–3.1g/kg of FFM scaled upwards with severity of caloric restriction and leanness.
Helms et al. 2013
So if you cannot be in a caloric surplus because your trying to lose weight. You should fit in a specific amount of protein to build muscle. So how much protein is right for you? Well it depends on your FFM (fat free mass). If you haven’t measured your body fat percentage (BF%) before then estimate yours with the chart below.
Distribute Protein Evenly across the day 3–5 meals
20g of protein consumed every 3 hours was found to be best for stimulating muscle protein synthesis (MPS) throughout the day. But 40g of protein taken every 6 hours stimulates mTOR signaling best
Carbs to Fuel Performance & Recovery
Healthy Fats for Hormone Signaling
Eating a balanced diet built around protein sources provides ample amount of fats for building muscle. Cooking with grass fed butter, oils like coconut, avocado, and olive oil add to a good routine. Including other healthy fat sources like avocados, nuts and seeds make dishes taste great and add healthy fats.
How My Clients Train for Muscle Growth
Training for prioritizing muscle growth is all about creating mechanical tension. When you hold a wall sit for a minute or so you begin to feel this. That burning sensation in your muscles (not joints) is a sign of mechanical tension. But just doing wall sits isn’t the best way to build muscle in your legs. Even If the mechanical tension is very apparent.
We require mechanical tension through a good range of motion to stimulate muscle fibers to grow. We don’t necessarily need to maximize range of motion in every exercise, even though it promotes good flexibility. Some exercises like the bench press have a good range of motion. But not to the extent as the chest muscles are truly capable of like during a German hang. The bench press is still one of the best exercises for chest, shoulder and triceps muscle growth. No matter if its with a barbell, dumbbells, machines or even kettle bells. This details the balance between stretch and load that we can place on a muscle group.
Each muscle group can be loaded with heavy weights and various ranges of motions (stretch). But another very important consideration is training proximity to failure. This is important because it drives adaptations to be able to lift heavier and heavier weights. As well as progress to more challenging and/or effective exercises. Training 1-3 reps from failure is a good goal for most exercises prioritizing muscle growth. However, not every exercise is best suited for training close to failure. Some exercises brought close to failure may be more dangerous or lead to low quality reps. For instance, if you don’t have a spotter or haven’t bench pressed heavy weight in a while. Then getting under a heavy barbell and trying to get close to failure may not be best. Maybe dumbbells or a machine is better suited.
For training close to failure, my biggest key with clients of mine is what they did in the previous week(s). If they did 3 sets of 10 easy reps last week. Then crushing 3 sets, all to failure, is a big jump that. Which may lead to excess soreness or risk of injury. Finding a window of training intensity, quality reps, mechanical tension and range of motion is a skill. This is a skill that comes with years in the gym and understanding how your body progresses. After adding 10 – 20 lbs of muscle, the path forward makes much more sense. But the intensity of training required to continue progressing becomes much more apparent with experience.
Below is a 4 workout per week plan for a client of mine focusing on building muscle, strength & endurance.
References
Helms ER, Zinn C, Rowlands DS, Brown SR. A systematic review of dietary protein during caloric restriction in resistance trained lean athletes: a case for higher intakes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2014 Apr;24(2):127-38. doi: 10.1123/ijsnem.2013-0054. Epub 2013 Oct 2. PMID: 24092765.