Although gaining muscle mass is a relatively simple process, the truth is that it is very slow because we are very inefficient converting our energy into musculoskeletal tissue.
The key factors for gaining muscle mass are adequate protein intake, a caloric surplus (ingesting more calories than you expend), a good rest and, finally, a high-intensity training.
There are many types of routines; weiderthat one muscle group is trained per day; torso-legwhich trains the upper body and lower body on alternate days; push-pull-legs; in which the push, pull and leg muscles are trained on alternate days; fullbodyin which the whole body is trained on the same day, etc.
This routine cannot be done many days a week because by involving all muscle groups on the same day, You need at least 24 hours of rest between sessions. Therefore, it is a very good quality routine for those who have little time to train and want to gain muscle mass.
Next, we present an example of a full-body routine that could be done to gain muscle mass.
squat
The squat movement is mainly a dominant knee movement (doing the flexion and extension of it) although it also has a small hip flexion component (although barely perceptible, but we are going to lean slightly forward). For this reason, when predominating knee flexion-extensionthe main muscles to be recruited are the quadricepsfollowed by the buttocks and, to a lesser extent, the hamstring muscles.
Romanian deadlift
This type of deadlift primarily involves all posterior chain muscles that extend the hip: biceps femoris (especially the long head), semitendinosus and semimembranosus although spinal extensor muscles also involved such as longissimo, iliocostalis and spinosum, without forgetting to mention all those muscles that are responsible for maintaining a fixed posture and holding the bar: trapezius, biceps or latissimus dorsi.
Press bench
This famous bench press exercise involves the pectoralis major, anterior deltoid and triceps, which are primarily responsible for pushing the bar from the pectoral until the arms are fully extended. In the lower part of the movement, the pectoralis major and the deltoids will work and the main responsible for achieving the final extension of the elbows will be the triceps. The pectoralis minor and rotator cuff they will simply work to stabilize the movement, unless you are bench pressing on a machine.
dominated
Pull-ups are a basic exercise that dominates the vertical pull movement pattern, ideal for emphasizing the work of the outermost muscle fibers of the latissimus dorsi. It is a very complete exercise for the upper body and essential for any training routine, regardless of gender, age, or training methodology, whether hypertrophy, maximum strength or resistance. This exercise we will help maintain a healthy and strong backthus avoiding the appearance of many problems related to this part of the body.
lateral raises
The lateral raise exercise is probably the best exercise we have at our disposal to train the lateral deltoids, since it is the primary movement that this portion of the deltoids is in charge of, that is, abducting the arm, separating it from the body. DYou should think of throwing the dumbbells away from you, as if it were a movement in a parabola. These types of thoughts are very useful at a psychomotor level since they can slightly change the activation pattern of a muscle, even though the muscle in question is working the same.
bicep curls
The biceps curl is an exercise in which we are going to involve the biceps, which is one of the main flexors of the elbow, but the forearm is also going to intervene. It is very important that the wrist is, at all times, aligned with the forearm. We should not work in wrist extension or flexion, since you could do yourself a lot of damage. It is a fairly common mistake to work with the wrist flexed and in this case the lever arm is reduced and therefore the difficulty of the exercise and the activation of the biceps are reduced.
triceps extension
High pulley triceps extensions with a rope used as a grip are an exercise much safer than the previous one and they are much simpler to carry out. The activation of the triceps that this exercise elicits is also considerably high, but we will have to be sure to keep our lower back in a neutral position at all timesavoiding a hyperlordosis.
ab wheels
Despite appearing to be a simple tool, the abdominal wheel is a device that allows us a total work of the entire core part. With its use we are influencing directly with the same movement in the abdominal muscles, the buttocks, the lower part of the back and the obliques. Another advantage of working the core with the abdominal wheel is that allows us to perfectly control the movement we are going to make and thus avoid excessive extension of this part. Therefore, the concentration on the muscles of this part of the body is greater and will help us achieve a strong and resistant area.
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