Although the physiological mechanisms that explain muscle hypertrophy are complex, the guidelines that we must follow to achieve it are clear and concise.
If your desire is to gain muscle mass either for aesthetic, performance or health reasons, in this article We explain how to do it and when it is more convenient to gain muscle mass.
How to choose YOUR GYM well
How to gain muscle mass?
Make sure you are in caloric surplus
It is clear that for a muscle to grow it must be trained and given reasons for it, however, at a nutritional level we must facilitate this adaptation to new stimuli with extra energy.
Therefore, your diet must suppose a caloric surplus based on your requirements of about 10%-20%. To do this you need to calculate your maintenance calories and apply that percentage to them.
Train with a high effort intensity
Forget things like “to grow you have to do few repetitions and a lot of weight”. No, let’s better talk about intensity of effort regardless of whether we perform more or fewer repetitions. In the end, what will determine if the stimulus is of sufficient magnitude is the effort load. In other words, the important thing is not the weight you lift but what a certain weight means for you in terms of effort.
To illustrate this, the ideal is to use self-regulatory tools such as the RPE or the RIR. If we talk about RPE, this is a scale that goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is equivalent to finishing a series of certain repetitions, whatever they are, without being able to do any more. RPE 7, for example, would be to end up being able to perform 3 more repetitions.
If we want to gain muscle mass we must move on an RPE scale greater than 6.
Move between 6 and 20 reps per set
This is an approximation since it does not mean that sets of 3 or 25 repetitions do not cause muscle growth.
This recommendation arises from reviewing the available scientific literature and verifying that the best results in terms of hypertrophy take place within this range.
Ideally, use the basic multi-joint exercises for shorter, heavier sets and the single-joint exercises for longer, lighter sets.
Perform between 12 and 22 sets per muscle each week
Although accounting for training volume through weekly series can be imprecise, as a first approximation it is very useful.
In this way, try to move in a range of series as we recommend for each of your muscle groups.
It is important that you do not try to perform 22 sets for all muscle groups at the same time and that you keep in mind that small muscles such as the biceps or triceps already receive stimulation with complex exercises such as general presses or rows respectively.
Rest at least a minute and a half between sets
It is common that when training we look for specific sensations such as burning or congestion in the trained muscle. This makes us feel good and end up with a feeling of having worked on what we wanted to work on. However, it is important not to make this an end in itself. and end up making the mistake of shortening rests between sets to increase this feeling.
If we want to maximize our gains in muscle mass, we must try to keep our performance as homogeneous as possible during the session. For this it is important to rest, at least, a minute and a half between series. If you need more to perform with guarantees in the next series, do it.
When to gain muscle mass?
This question makes sense in those cases where the person wonders if their body composition or current appearance are adequate to dedicate themselves to gaining muscle mass with what it entails in terms of weight gain, among other things.
It’s simple, If you want to gain muscle mass, the time will be right as long as you are below 15% fat if you are a man or 23% if you are a woman.
Trying to gain muscle mass when your body fat percentage is higher than this will mean that you will gain more fat than is reasonable in the process and less muscle mass.
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