How to Gain Muscle - The Ultimate Guide to Muscle Gain
So, you want to put on some muscle.
I could not be more excited to hear that.
The overwhelming majority of people could benefit greatly from getting stronger and building some lean mass (muscle).
But it’s a goal that has been someone bastardized in past years filled with weight loss fads.
So lets start by getting a few facts straight…
You will NOT accidentally become too bulky — this one hits close to home for a lot of people. I am here to tell you that while building muscle is possible for all of us to do, it is not so easy that you are at risk of ‘accidentally’ packing on too much muscle and looking like the Hulk.
If your goal is to look more toned, you might need to build muscle — I’ve had a few clients in the past who wanted to achieve an overall more toned or lean physique, but say they don't want to build muscle. IN MOST CASES, building muscle is necessary to achieve the physique you’re looking for.
Nutrition plays a larger role than you think — I will go into depth on the nutrition side of muscle gain later in the article, but just know early on that (unless you have never lifted before) it is very difficult to build muscle without changing your nutrition somewhat. This can be the hardest part for some people, but trust me, it is a necessary evil.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get into it.
So there are two main components of an effective hypertrophy (fancy-schmancy word for muscle gain/growth) program.
I’m going to explain each in depth.
NUMBER ONE is going to be resistance or strength training. This means lifting weights (picking things up and putting them down).
But, not just going into the gym and doing your quick booty band circuit and calling it a day.
While that is a form of resistance training, that simply isn’t going to get the job done.
In order to build muscle, you need to create a stimulus for your body to add muscle.
And in most cases, your glute bands, jump squats, clap push-ups, muscle-ups (aka most of the stuff you see on TikTok) are not going to get the job done.
You need to be lifting weights in a structured strength training program. This program should include your foundational movements, these are your squats, hinges, pushing, and pulling movements.
And most importantly, you should be doing all of these movements with the goal of getting strong as f**k with each.
One of the best ways to trigger muscle growth is through a principle known as progressive overload.
Basically, progressive overload is using more weight, or doing more reps/sets over time.
So, making sure that you are constantly training with the goal of getting stronger and improving is EXTREMELY important if your goal is to build muscle.
Now, NUMBER TWO is the nutrition aspect.
This is the aspect that a lot of people miss out on.
It doesn’t matter if your training program is perfect, if your nutrition isn’t on track you are going to have a very hard time gaining muscle.
You need to be sure you are getting A.) enough calories and B.) enough protein.
If you want to gain muscle, you need to be eating in at least a slight calorie surplus. This means you need to be eating more calories than you burn.
So, if your maintenance calories are 2000 per day, you need to be consistently eating slightly above that. I typically recommend a 200-300 calorie surplus for most, so that would be eating 2200-2300 calories per day.
This can be hard for a lot of people. While eating more SOUNDS great on the surface, consistently eating in a surplus can be very difficult.
It often means eating when you aren’t hungry, which isn’t a great feeling.
The other part is protein. You should be eating on the higher end of the recommended protein range of 0.7-1.2 grams per pound of bodyweight.
Another way to look at it is aiming for 1 gram per pound of your GOAL body weight.
Either way, you need to be consuming a substantial amount of protein to stimulate muscle growth.
So there you have it, the two pillars of an effective muscle growth program.
Keep in mind, neither is anywhere near as effective without the other. You need both strength training and nutrition working in tandem in order to stimulate growth.
Building muscle is not for the faint of heart. It takes consistency and hard work both in the gym and in the kitchen.
But, if you’re willing to put in the time, it is 100% worth the time and effort that it takes.
Thanks so much for reading! I hope this helps you and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out.
If you got some value from this article, join my email list for updates every time I publish an article!
You can also check out all of my previous articles on my website : kevinfinnfitness.com
And check out more helpful content on my Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook:
Instagram @kevinfinnfitness
TikTok @kevinfinnfitness
Facebook @kevinfinnfitness
Email me anytime with questions or anything! : kevinfinnfitness@gmail.com
