How To Build Muscle: A Complete Guide

Building muscle is not an easy task, but there are ways to build muscle faster than normal. There's always the option of steroids but we are not referring to that. We're talking about making use of the mind-to-muscle connection.

How Muscles Are Built

Many people exercise and experience strength gains without any sign of muscle mass gain. A question asked by many is why their muscles don't grow. A simplified explanation of this could be that in the beginning stages of working out, your body is learning how to work better, hence the initial strength gains. This happens in preparation for the growth of muscle. After consistently exercising, the muscle will begin to grow, this growth happens during the rest periods, not during the workouts.

if you want to further your results, it would be best to understand how the mind-to-muscle connection works.

The Mind-To-Muscle Connection

This concept is often ineffectively explained to beginners, but it's quite simple really. 

The mind-to-muscle connection is essentially putting all your focus on the contraction of the muscle being worked. The best way to do this is by doing every rep as slowly as possible. The number of reps or sets does not matter, as long as your muscle feels swollen in a good way, you're doing it right. The slow execution of exercises enables the body to respond more effectively to the stimuli. This will also result in an intense connection between the muscle and the mind.

Requirements For Muscle Growth

You would expect there to be a long list of requirements, but in reality, only a few are necessary

• a consistent strength training plan
• a balanced, protein-filled diet

that's pretty much it

Tips For Building Muscle

1. The best way to build muscle is through compound exercises, this is because they hit multiple muscles at once
2. Squats are the best at building muscle but make sure your form is decent and you're not doing half reps
3. second to squats is deadlifts, they will be very beneficial if your form is decent.
4. Adding more days on one muscle group won't make you stronger, you need to rest to allow for muscle growth and avoid fatigue
5. Eat more, specifically protein-rich foods
6. Stop missing workouts, this is self-explanatory, no workout, no strength gains.
7. Get enough sleep, this is essential regardless of what you do
8. don't become obsessed with your abs, if you lose them, you can always earn them back
9. Remember to ramp up the weights, not too fast tho
10. To get bigger calves, perform heavy exercises with low reps and high volume for a while
11. Compound exercises should be done while you're still fresh
12. Try to workout with the best form possible
13. Creatine is a good choice for a supplement, with a lot of research to back it up
14. Many people believe lifting weights will make you stop growing, this is proven to be false. 
15. Don't look for shortcuts, look for challenges, and make your workouts harder
16. 
    

Beginner Guidelines For Building Muscle

Your Form is your priority

doing exercises with incorrect form will only lead to injury down the road. Get a personal trainer if you have the money for it, if not, stick to youtube videos.

Take a Day Off Between Workouts

This will help to control the soreness you feel in your muscles and also not make you feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work you will be doing. Opt for full-body workouts because your muscles don't feel as sore the next day.

Stretch, Stretch, Stretch

Many people leave this out of their workout equations, this results in a limited range of motion and more soreness the next day.

The Muscle-Building Diet

As mentioned earlier, the most important part of your diet will be protein. This is because protein is known to be the building block for muscle. A good amount of protein every day would be 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight.

Calories

As for calories, you need to eat a tad bit more calories than you burn, that's it.

Muscle Without Visibility

If you have the muscle and are struggling to try to get it to show, you need a caloric deficit. This means you will need to eat fewer calories than you burn, but to maintain your muscle, you need to eat a lot more protein-rich food. Doing this will ensure that once you've burned off the fat, the muscles are still there to be visible. If necessary, you will need to take 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.

Takeaway

Building muscle is not an easy task, but it is worthwhile. Don't overtrain, this will only lead to injury and you're muscles won't have enough time to recover. Remember to eat a lot of protein, whether you're trying to lose fat or build more muscle. Finally, don't forget the mind-to-muscle connection.