In order to maximize and speed up the process of your weight gain, natural muscle building techniques will help. Learn about effective strategies for results.
Keyword(s): natural muscle building
Are you looking to bulk up and gain weight? If so, one of the quickest and most effective ways to do so is by adding muscle mass.
While there are many ways to achieve a stronger figure, some will get you there quicker than others.
The good news is you don’t have to dramatically change your diet and lifestyle, or go on a radical new workout plan to see the results you want.
Rather, there are simple steps that you can take today to start the natural muscle building process, putting you on the path to a more fit, powerful physique.
From choosing different snacks to changing the way you hit the gym, these steps are easy to integrate into your existing routine, allowing you to seamlessly boost your progress and performance.
Ready to learn more? Pick up those barbells and let’s get started!
Focus on Quality over Quantity
Sure, you could lift weights all day and eventually you’d see a transformation. Yet, you’d undoubtedly also encounter burnout and exhaustion along the way.
Rather than stressing over the duration of your workout, focus instead on really amping up the force you put into every natural muscle building exercise.
If you do so, you’ll be able to pack as much into a one-hour weight lifting session as one that drags on for much longer.
To make sure you’re getting the most out of your time, try to limit breaks to one minute or less. You might also find it helpful to wear headphones to drown out outside noise, and limiting in-gym conversations can help you stay on task.
Need another reason to cut your gym time a little shorter than your accustomed timeframe?
Science reveals that low volume, high-intensity workouts stimulate muscle protein synthesis (MPS), especially in young men.
In a nutshell, MPS is the process wherein your muscles rebuild tissue. During MPS, your body replaces old and damaged proteins with ones that are stronger and more adept.
So, a powerful, high-impact workout can trigger your muscles to rebuild themselves over a high-volume, low-intensity routine that fails to give them the stimulus they need to grow.
Eat Consistently
If you have a difficult time gaining weight, it may be attributed to a fast metabolism that burns calories faster than you can intake them.
If this is the case for you, you might find that even as you eat and eat and eat, you’re still not packing on the pounds as easily as you thought.
It’s true that weight gain is attributed to both internal and external factors. Yet, the reality is that you might not be consuming the right types of food to fuel sustainable muscle growth.
An important part of natural muscle building is making sure healthy, consistent meals are a part of your strength training routine.
To do so will require a reversal of the three-meals-a-day mindset we’ve all become accustomed to.
It also means that simply stocking up on junk food might change your body’s composition, but likely not in the ways you intend!
Rather than focusing solely on breakfast, lunch, and dinner to provide your nutrients, aim instead to eat between five and six meals a day.
Try to eat every two to three hours, and pack your meals with nutritious calories and good fats, such as olive oil.
It’s also helpful to stock up on protein-rich food and snacks, as protein is proven to fuel the natural muscle building process.
One reason why this type of diet is so important is that constantly fueling your body jump-starts the metabolic process, which helps you build muscle over time.
Need some inspiration as you prepare your weekly meals?
Here’s a handy list of nutrient-dense and calorie-rich foods that are as delicious as they are good for you.
Begin by adding around 500 to 1,000 calories more per day to your usual diet. You may find it helpful to track what you eat and how much you burn in a journal. This can serve as a visual aid to help you make sure you’re supplying your body with what it needs.
You may find it helpful to track what you eat and how much you burn in a journal. This can serve as a visual aid to help you make sure you’re supplying your body with what it needs.
Amp Up Your Amino Acids and Carbs
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. As such, you can also optimize your natural muscle building progress by boosting the amount of them — as well as carbohydrates — you consume.
As such, you can also optimize your natural muscle building progress by boosting the amount of them — as well as carbohydrates — you consume.
While you could just chow down on a huge plate of spaghetti and meatballs, it’s often easier and healthier to prepare a shake with amino acid and carb-based supplements . These are typically prepared as powders that can be mixed into your pre-workout meal to enhance protein synthesis.
The reason for the added carbs? A carbohydrate-protein mixture added to a liquid meal can increase your body’s natural ability to absorb amino acids.
Carbohydrates are also essential to supplying you with the energy you need to sustain increased muscle growth. As protein serves to rebuild your damaged muscle tissue, you’ll also need to fill your growing muscles with glycogen. This is exactly what high-glycemic carbohydrates are designed to do.
As protein serves to rebuild your damaged muscle tissue, you’ll also need to fill your growing muscles with glycogen. This is exactly what high-glycemic carbohydrates are designed to do.
If possible, aim to consume your shake about 30 to 60 minutes before you work out for maximum benefits. Your body absorbs liquid meals faster than other, whole foods so drinking those nutrients just a little before you work out is ideal.
Your body absorbs liquid meals faster than other whole foods, so drinking those nutrients just a little before you work out is ideal.
About 10 to 20 grams of protein is typically a solid amount, which is around as much as one scoop of protein powder.
Challenge Yourself at the Gym
Natural muscle building requires you to progress in your workout and keep your muscles challenged.
To this end, the weight lifting routine you’ve come to know and love might actually be hampering your progress at the gym.
Those dumbbells that you struggled to lift six months ago might fly up with ease now, and that progress is great. Yet, it’s also a sign that you’re probably ready to take on a little more.
To build more muscle and gain weight, try to slowly and carefully add either more weight to your existing program, or increase your number of reps.
Then, once you become comfortable with that pattern, try to up it a bit more. Repeat the cycle as your body naturally becomes more accustomed to the demand.
Repeat the cycle as your body naturally becomes more accustomed to the demand.
Though your individual schedule may vary, switching up your routine about every month or month and a half or so should do the trick. This provides a good amount of time for your muscles to absorb the impact and shock of an exercise without putting you at risk for plateauing your progress.
This provides a good amount of time for your muscles to absorb the impact and shock of an exercise, without the risk of plateauing your progress.
Prioritize Recovery Time
With shorter workouts, it can be tempting to try and squeeze in as many as possible during the week.
After all, if you’re limiting them to an hour or so, that may suddenly free up the ton of time you were previously devoting to natural muscle building.
Yet, it’s critical to allow your muscles plenty of time to recover after each session. This is especially true as you add more weight and reps as discussed in the step above.
This is especially true as you add more weight and reps.
Research reveals that factoring rest time into your workout regime is essential to keeping your muscles healthy and your performance at its peak.
Soreness is a sign that your muscles are being stretched beyond their previous limits. But, working out with a constantly sore body can drag and even harm your progress.
In fact, a recent exercise study revealed that shorter, high-intensity workouts paired with short rest times lead to twice as much overall power and performance when compared to sustained, low-intensity workouts with little to no breaks.
So, get those reps in, but don’t forget to get your rest in too.
Multi-Task Your Strength Training
Looking to get the most out of your strength training exercises?
To do so, try natural muscle building workouts that concentrate on more than one body part at a time.
Balancing the load across more than one muscle group allows you to take on more weight. This can significantly boost your progress and change your body’s overall composition more quickly.
So the next time you hit the gym, try to incorporate more barbell squats, dumbbell lunges, bench presses, deadlifts, barbell rows and pull downs.
Exercises such as these don’t just target an isolated muscle. Rather, they activate multiple muscle groups across your body, giving your more return for your workout investment.
They are also great for building your biggest, core muscle groups — your chest, back, and legs.
Your natural muscle building process will be easier if you focus on these groups from the onset. Branch out slowly to other muscles but try to keep a consistent focus on these major ones.
Branch out slowly to other muscles but try to keep a consistent focus on these major ones.
Natural Muscle Building and More: Your One-Stop Protein Shop
Are you ready to begin or continue your health and exercise journey toward a stronger, fitter body?
As you do so, it can be beneficial to incorporate high-protein supplements into your routine. Quality supplements such as these can make a major difference in the overall effectiveness of your workout.
Quality supplements can be the difference that makes all the difference in the overall effectiveness of your workout.
That’s where we come in.
From protein powders to muscle builders, we provide it all. And, we back your progress with our quality guarantee and more than 20 years of industry experience.
Contact us today to learn more about what we offer, and help your workouts start working for you!
Alex Rogers is a supplement manufacturing expert. He has been formulating, consulting, & manufacturing dietary supplements since 1998. Alex invented protein customization in 1998 & was the first company to allow consumers to create their own protein blends. He helped create the first supplement to contain natural follistatin, invented whey protein with egg lecithin, & recently imported the world’s first 100% hydrolyzed whey.
