As we age our ability to build muscle slows. Also the hard gainers among us just don’t have the genetics – we are naturally very skinny no matter how much we eat. Don’t despair if you are a hard gainer or approaching middle age as there are a few secrets to building muscle fast that work regardless of your situation. First off lets be realistic. Beginners are always impatient when it comes to building muscle. The simple fact is that on average the body can only create a maximum of 0.5-2.5 a pound of muscle a week. Your slower growing bones and sinews also need to grow to support your muscles before your muscles can cater for the increase in progressive weight loads.
How To Gain Muscle Fast
So how can a hard-gainer or an old guy like me gain muscle fast?
There are three broad principles for building muscle fast:
- Progressively increase weight
- Get plenty of sleep & rest
- Eat muscle building foods
Hard-gainers often fall into the trap of sticking to the same routine. You should change your routine regularly – don’t just change the weight you should also vary the angles, types of exercise, and number of repetitions. Each week I cycle between different repetitions and weights:
- aerobic one week (low weight lots of repetitions),
- mass the next week (progressive weight increase, medium repetitions),
- strength the final week (low reps (6), lots of sets with heavy weights ) .. re-cycle
Rest is very important for recuperation after an intense workout. Muscle is actually burnt for fuel so it needs replacing and sleep is important for muscle to be repaired. Another mistake that hard gainers especially make is over exercising muscle groups. It’s best to exercise each muscle group only once a week – wait for it to recover and build up so you can push even more weight the following week.
My routine is
Monday – Aerobic
Tuesday – Chest/Triceps
Wednesday – Back/Biceps
Thursday – Shoulders/Legs
Friday – Aerobic
The days you do exercise you need to hit the muscle with multiple exercises, sufficient to feel pumped and soreness the next day.
Muscle Building Foods
Protein is needed for building muscle. A bodybuilder’s diet is pretty attractive for most men as it consists of lots of high quality protein. But on the downside you will need to avoid simple carbohydrate foods such as refined sugar, flour, bread etc. especially if you want ripping abdominal muscles. As mentioned previously since you can only grow muscle at a maximum of 0-5.-2.5 pounds a week then stuffing yourself with an over supply of protein is just a waste of your money. Especially given that human milk only contains about 10% protein based on the calories. A balanced diet is the key
The fast muscle building foods (in order of preference)
- Whey powder
- Eggs (remove the egg yokes)
- Animal protein (fish, chicken and red meat)
Gain Muscle Loose Fat
The big advantage of gaining muscle is that your metabolism increases. This is especially important as we approach middle age as our metabolism slows down. Muscle needs lots of calories to perform, so by building muscle you are helping to keep the weight down. A wonderful added benefit for building muscle fast.
