How to start building muscle from zero?

In order to build muscle, you need not only regular physical training but also a high-calorie diet. At the same time, to gain muscle without fat, you will have to learn to understand the types of carbohydrates – avoid refined ones and prefer cereals with low GI.

For beginners who decide to quickly get muscles from scratch, home workouts with their own body weight are suitable – especially horizontal bar exercises and push-ups. However, to build the muscles of the shoulders, biceps, and triceps, you will need dumbbells or a rubber band.

How to train correctly?

The first rule of muscle building is enhanced nutrition. The body of beginners is unable to accumulate sufficient energy reserves – however, without this energy, neither active strength training nor subsequent recovery and muscle growth is possible.

In addition, since long-term strength training with iron is difficult for beginners, beginner athletes need to focus on the main exercises – making sure that the total number of approaches per muscle group does not exceed 10 sets.

Ultimately, it will take 3-4 workouts per week to gain muscle – and preference should be given to basic multi-joint exercises. They not only help build muscle mass but also have a positive effect on posture – creating an athletic body.

How fast do muscles grow?

In the first year of strength training, subject to all the rules for muscle growth, you can build up about 6-8 kg of muscle. However, since beginners usually burn fat while doing this, the net change in body weight may be lower – and the visual impact on the body is more noticeable.

From the point of view of the effect on muscle groups, the muscles of the legs (especially the buttocks during squats), back (with pull-ups), and chest (with push-ups) grow fastest. At the same time, the exercise on the abdominal muscles, although it does not burn fat, contributes to the development of chiseled abs.

The most important exercises

Physical exercises are divided into basic (functional) and isolating. Among others, the former include squats, pull-ups, and push-ups – and the latter, dumbbell raises for arm muscles. Basic ones are better suited for muscle growth while insulating ones are designed for work on single specific muscles.

It is also important that in order to build muscle, a signal from the body is needed that the muscles cannot cope with the current physical load. In simple words, during every workout, you must “bring” the body to the limit of its physical capabilities so that it expands this limit through muscle growth.

Reps and Sets

In order to achieve the effect of growth, it is important to develop the habit of analyzing your training sessions. In turn, for this, you will need to keep a training diary – where the exercises performed, the weight used, and the number of repetitions will be recorded.

Muscle growth and muscle gain imply training with a sufficiently large working weight – and performing no more than 7-8 repetitions of the exercise. At the same time, the increase in working weight should occur with complete control over the correctness of the technique – without excessive haste.

Nutrition for muscle gain

To gain muscle mass, the daily caloric intake should exceed the norm by 15-25% – in total, at least 2500 kcal per day is needed for muscle growth. The diet of athletes should contain at least 1.5-2.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, as well as a sufficient amount of proper fats and carbohydrates.

At the same time, one of the key problems that does not allow a beginner to quickly build muscle is a chronic lack of appetite. In this case, a special high-calorie food can be used to quickly increase body weight – a mass gainer.

Supplements for gaining mass

Among the most effective supplements for gaining muscle mass are creatine and BCAA amino acids. Creatine is a substance that helps increase muscle volume and has a positive effect on strength performance. Creatine intake increases water retention in tissues and increases body weight.

In turn, BCAA amino acids are a supplement that makes it possible to train for a longer time. Their use reduces the level of cortisol and stops the catabolic processes in the muscles – positively affecting the body’s ability to recover.

The main rules of strength training for gaining muscle mass are to focus on multi-joint compound exercises, consume more calories, and regularly review your training program. Subject to these rules, you can build up to 8 kg of muscle per year.