The rules for gaining muscle mass

For all types of activities there are basic rules to be successful, and the gym is no exception.

Before you start thinking about advanced training and aggressive diets, you first need to have the basics in place.

If you fail in the basics, advanced skills are of no use to you.

Here are the five key points you should rely on to gain muscle mass.

Proteins

Consume at least 2 grams of good quality protein for every kilo of your body weight.

If you want to gain muscle mass you need to provide your body with the raw materials to make this happen.

Proteins are the raw material that will allow you to build muscle.

Two grams per kilo is a minimum number, and must be mostly high-quality proteins.

In other words, lots of meat, fish and eggs.

Don't forget that as you gain weight, you will need to increase your protein intake.

You can even try slightly higher values, instead of just 2g of protein.

See our article How much protein do I need per day?

Training

Always give your best in training, in each training session.

See training as a kind of mission.

The name of the mission?

Gain muscular mass.

Take something to point out the loads, sets and repetitions you do if necessary, but above all, make sure you improve over time.

Increase sets, repetitions, weight.

You must progress in terms of training volume to consistently make progress in the mirror and on the scale.

Attention, the objective is to make progress in the long term, not just in the short term.

It is impossible to increase the loads training after training.

Make yourself boring

You're not going to do the last set of flat bench presses without anyone accompanying you, are you?

Call someone to help you, and this way you can lift loads, without fear of being under the bar.

Please note, the idea is not for the person to do the exercise for you, but rather to help you with those last repetitions.

Ask if you did the exercise correctly, or not.

Ask for feedback.

Furthermore, try to learn from those who know more than you.

Ask questions of people who are in the know.

People with good results and knowledge.

In many cases, they will identify with you, because they have also been in your situation, and they will even like to help you.

That is, if you are really determined to evolve.

But pay attention to who you listen to.

António, who has been at the gym for 5 years, and is practically the same, is probably not the right person for you to learn.

Rest

If you are training well and want to gain muscle mass, you will need to get enough sleep to recover and improve.

It is during sleep that recovery takes place, and not only that.

If you are constantly sleeping just four hours a day, your results will be lower than your friend who does exactly the same, but sleeps eight hours a day.

Try to sleep at least six hours, and ideally, eight hours.

In addition to sleeping, it's important to have rest days when you don't go to the gym to train.

Training intensely every day is unlikely to bring good results.

But it can cause injuries and enormous wear and tear, both physically and mentally.

Calories

As you may have noticed at the beginning of the article, proteins are essential for gaining muscle mass.

However, if you limit yourself to protein intake and don't reach the calories needed to increase your weight, you won't get the results you're looking for.

To gain muscle mass, you need to consume more calories than you burn.

You need to eat good amounts of not only proteins, but also carbohydrates and fats.

Aren't you gaining weight?

You're probably not getting enough calories.

Don't know how many calories you need?

See this article.

Conclusion

Is there any magic secret to gaining muscle mass?

No.

But here is the basis, which, followed correctly and persistently, will lead to you achieving your goals.

In the gym world there is no magic, there is consistency.

You need enough calories and macronutrients to gain muscle mass, but good nutrition is not enough.

You need good training, you need to rest well and you need to have people who help you evolve.

All this done consistently, and in the long term, will bring excellent results.