Fitness

How to grow muscle mass How to grow muscle mass

 TRAINING | ADAM SIMPSON

IF you have been reading my articles over the last few months, you will have noticed I have given plenty of advice and practical tips on ways to help you lose body fat.

This month, I thought I would aim to help anyone who is looking to pack on some serious muscle. While many of you may think packing on muscle is something that really only young men want to do. There are plenty of benefi ts of increasing your muscle mass for people of any sex or age bracket.

Benefi ts of increasing your muscle mass: • More muscle mass, means it is easier to control body fat. • Building muscle, will help you increase / maintain bone density. • More muscle mass, means more strength. • More Muscle mass, will support your joints. • More muscle mass, means an improved self-confidence.

In addition, there are also many day to day practical reasons why it is advantageous to have more muscle mass. More muscle mass, will mean you can carry the kids that little easier, get the shopping out of the car in one trip or just simply feel confi dent when you are at the beach.

When it comes to growing muscle, there are two crucial components that you need to get right in order for your body to start changing. 1. You MUST lift weights!! Without lifting weights it’s going to be almost impossible to grow your muscles.

I would suggest you reach out to a local trainer or strength coach for some help putting together a training program, that fi ts your goals and lifestyle. But if you are going to give it a crack on your own, here are some tips to help get you started. 1. You need to lift consistently – I would suggest lifting anywhere from 2 – 6 times per week depending on your specifi c goals and schedule. 2. Focus on the “bigger” lifts – You will want to focus on strength exercises that use a lot of muscle to be performed, multi joint exercises are best.

Dead Lifts, Squats, Rows, Presses and

Lunges should all be staples in your program. 3. Form over weight – Make sure you are performing each exercise correctly and safely before you try and load up with more weight than you can handle. Growing muscle mass, is not necessarily all about lifting the most weight you can do all the time. 4. Progressive overload – Over time you should gradually increase the amount of work you are doing. Eg you could increase the weight lifted, increase the reps or sets on each exercise or increase the frequency that you train each muscle group. 5. Keep things simple – You don’t need to do a tonne of crazy exercises, stick to the basics and do them well and consistently. 6. Train your legs – Your legs are one of the biggest muscle groups in your body, so make sure you train them with the same intensity that you attack your chest work outs with.

The second crucial component to increasing your muscle mass is 2. You MUST eat!! Without proper nutrition your body is going to fi nd it really diffi cult to grow any muscle mass. Again, I would suggest you reach out to a nutritionist or dietician who can give you some guidance on what your body needs. But here are some tips that you can adopt into your daily habits. 1. Eat in a Calorie Surplus – If you do not eat enough calories your body will not be able to grow any extra muscle mass. If you are someone who struggles to put on weight, or you have any active job. You are simply not eating enough… If you think you eat like a horse and you are still not growing, again you are not eating enough. 2. Eat plenty of Protein – Protein is the key nutrient your body needs to grow more muscle mass. As a rough estimate I would suggest you eat 2 to 2.5 grams of protein per kg of body weight per day. Eg if you are 75kg you should eat more than 150 grams of protein per day. 100grams of chicken has approximately 30 grams of protein. 3. Eat plenty of Carbohydrates – These are the main fuel source for your body, without that fuel source you are not going to be able to train very hard. I suggest having a good balance of protein and carbohydrates at every meal that you eat. 4. “Power Smoothies” – Making a big smoothie or two up each day is a really practical way of getting in everything your body needs to grow that muscle mass. Smoothies are easy to get down when you are full and you can make them really calorie dense, so they are great if you have a really active job. Eg Protein Powder, Milk,

Banana, Oats, Peanut Butter, Baby

Spinach and Honey.

If you have any questions on any of the above or anything related to nutrition or training, feel free to email adam@repetitionspt.com.au. I would love to hear from you and help you in any way that I can.