How to Build Muscle – Beginners Guide To Getting Advanced Results

The fitness world is trying to hide the truth – the key to building muscle quickly and effectively is to get stronger.

The routines laid out in the Men’s Health and other men’s fitness magazines all focus on high amounts of reps with low amounts of weights. Sure, these routines may be effective for elite bodybuilders who are already as strong as an ox, but beginners, intermediates and even advanced bodybuilders with a few years training under their belt will find that the most effective way to build muscle quickly is to lift progressively heavier weights, utilizing the entire body to get stronger.

This guide will expose the secrets to quickly build muscle with a robust full body exercise routine designed to build strength and size, a diet designed to provide the right fuel for the body to turn into a muscle building machine and a breakdown of the best supplements to help speed up the muscle building process.

Diet

The key to building muscle is eating food. Lots and lots of food. It has been said that fitness is 75% diet and 25% exercise – muscle is mainly built in the kitchen, not in the gym.

A balanced diet is composed of carbohydrates, protein and fat. Fad diets normally choose to ignore one of these three nutrients to separate themselves from the rest. To build muscle, the body needs a well balanced diet with adequate amounts of each nutrient.

Protein

Protein is used by the body as the building block for muscle. The body absorbs protein and uses it to build new muscle as well as strengthen any muscle that already exists. Protein also has two beneficial side effects; it makes the body’s metabolism speed up causing it to burn more fat and it also satiates hunger, making the body feel full for longer.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates provide energy to the body. They are the fuel that keeps the body moving. The body breaks carbohydrates down into sugars that are used for energy. Glucose, one of the sugars, is absorbed by the muscles and converted into glycogen. Glycogen provides energy for the muscles. Without glycogen, the muscles get tired easily and aren’t able to carry heavy loads.

The body stores excess amounts of carbohydrates as fat. It’s important to limit the amount of carbohydrates eaten to keep fat gain to a minimum.

Fat

The body uses fat found in food for energy. Fat takes time to for the body to absorb and provides energy for endurance activities like long distance running or swimming. Activities such as weight lifting do not benefit much from large amounts of fat intake.

Fat has some beneficial side effects, however, that make it an important component in any diet. Fat causes the body to produce testosterone, the hormone responsible for muscle building. The muscles also use fat to rebuild and strengthen themselves. Without fat, the muscles are unable to access the important glycogen stores that the muscles use for energy.

Basal Metabolic Rate

The ‘basal metabolic rate’, or BMR for short, is the amount of energy used by the body while at rest lying in a bed over the course of a single day.

BMR is calculated in calories, a unit of measurement that measures energy. Different foods contain different amounts of calories (or energy). If more calories are taken in than are used by the body, the body stores the excess calories as fat and muscle. Exercise signals the body to use the extra calories to build muscle rather than store them as fat.

The body can only use about 500 excess calories a day to build muscle; any more than that is stored as fat. It’s important to monitor any muscle building diet to make sure that no more than 500 extra calories are eaten on a daily basis.

Caloric intake

Calculating how many calories the body needs to function is difficult without the use of expensive equipment. The best we can do is make an educated guess as to what our BMR is.

Generally, the average person’s BMR can by calculated by multiplying their weight in lbs. by 11. So, a person weighing 200lbs will have a BMR of 2200 calories. That means, if this person lies in bed for a full day and doesn’t move, his or her body will use up 2200 calories worth of energy.

Of course, the average person doesn’t spend all day lying around in bed. For the majority of us, we can work out how many calories our body uses in an average day by multiplying our weight in lbs. by 13. Therefore, a person weighing 200lbs will use up 2600 calories in a day.

To build muscle, the body needs more calories than it uses for energy. Ideally, this figure should be less than 500 calories on top of our daily calorie use. To calculate this, we need multiply our weight in lbs. by 15. Therefore, a person weighing 200lbs needs to eat 3000 calories per day to build muscle, 400 calories more than they would normally use in a day.

Macronutrients

Macronutrients are the amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fat eaten in food. A balanced muscle building diet requires all three of these macronutrients, but not in equal amounts.

The body needs a lot of protein to build muscle. Protein should be eaten at a rate of 1 gram per lb. of weight. So, a 200lb person would have to eat 200g worth of protein per day. By following this calculation, protein will provide approximately 30% of the calories needed for the day.

Fat should make up 30% of the daily calories with carbohydrates filling up the final 40%.

This ratio of macronutrients provide the muscles with enough protein to grow and just enough fat and carbohydrates to use as energy.

Planning a diet

The best way to plan out a diet is to go to the supermarket and check the labels on different types of food. Write down how much protein, carbohydrate and fat each piece of food has and then work out how much food you would need to eat to meet the requirements of the diet.

Supplements

Gyms and fitness stores around the world are stocked full of supplements all promising massive changes to physiques without any extra work. Some of these supplements are better than others giving better results in less time.

This section lists five supplements that can increase the body’s ability to build muscle. While none of them are required to build muscle, they all speed up the process dramatically.

Whey Protein

Whey protein is concentrated protein extracted from whey, a by-product of cheese. Whey protein often comes in a powdered form ready to be mixed in with water or milk to make a thick shake full of proteins and other useful vitamins and minerals. Whey is used to supplement the amount of protein in a diet.

Branched Chain Amino Acids

Branched chain amino acids, or BCAAs for short, are special protein nutrients that are quickly absorbed by the body directly into the blood stream. BCAAs help to regulate blood sugar levels, increase the body’s metabolism and increase the body’s ability to make use of protein. If taken before a workout, BCAAs provide an energy boost and help to prevent the breakdown of existing muscle for energy while exercising.

Creatine

Creatine is a compound found in meat. It causes the muscles to absorb more water making them larger, stronger and more capable of repairing themselves quickly. Creatine is normally available in powdered or pill form. Scientific testing has found creatine to be one of the only supplements available today that significantly increases strength and the body’s ability to build muscle.

Multi-vitamins

Multi vitamins are full of vitamins and minerals that the body needs to function at its best. A good multi-vitamin will make up for any deficiencies in a diet and ensure that all parts of the body are performing at their peak.

Omega 3

Omega 3 is extracted from fish. It can be taken in pill or liquid form. Omega 3 supplements speed up fat loss, keep joints healthy and supple and help to reduce blood pressure. Omega 3 also repairs cells in the brain and has been found to improve moods and concentration.

Exercise

Muscle is built while the body is resting, not while exercising.

Exercise forces the muscles to break down and become weak. While resting, the body rebuilds the muscle, making it bigger and stronger. The body uses the protein, fat and carbohydrates found in food as fuel to build and grow new muscle while strengthening existing muscle.

Lifting weights isn’t enough to get bigger and stronger: the body needs to be pushed harder and harder by lifting increasingly heavier weights so that it is forced to grow.

Pushing the body by lifting progressively heavier weights also causes the body to release testosterone and human growth hormone. These two hormones cause the body to produce more muscle and strengthen what muscle is already there.

The routines in most men’s fitness magazines focus on volume training that involves lifting light weights for large numbers of repetitions. This training can work, but only with individuals for are extremely already strong; i.e. elite bodybuilders.

For beginners, intermediates and advanced lifters, getting stronger by lifting heavy weights with smaller numbers of repetitions gives our body all the stimulation it needs to build muscle and size quickly and efficiently.

Workout Routine: Barbells and Weights

Barbells and weights are the best tools for building muscle and increasing strength. Weights can be increased in amounts as small as 2.5lbs/1kg allowing for weight to be increased gradually with each workout. Barbells are also very flexible – it’s possible to do a large variety of exercises with them.

This workout routine makes use of the barbell and weights that can be found in any good gym. This routine is designed to hit every muscle in the body and cause it to grow. Novice, intermediate and advanced trainees can use this routine to get put on muscle and get bigger and stronger.

‘Reps’ is short for repetitions. Reps represent how many times a particular exercise should be carried out. Sets indicate how many cycles of reps should be carried out.

For example, ‘3 sets of 10 reps’ would mean doing 10 repetitions of an exercise 3 times with a rest period after each set of 10 reps is done.

Rest periods should be as long as needed, but they should be kept to a maximum of 3 minutes each.

Week 1 – Monday

Squats – 2 sets of 5 reps
Glute ham raises – 3 sets of 10 reps
Bent over row – 4 sets of 6 reps
Barbell curl – 3 sets of 8 reps
Calf raises – 3 sets of 15 reps

Week 1 – Wednesday

Bench press – 3 sets of 5 reps
Incline bench press – 4 sets of 8 reps
Standing military press – 3 sets of 8 reps
Skull crushers – 3 sets of 10 reps
Sit ups – 3 sets of 10 reps

Week 1 – Friday

Deadlift – 2 sets of 5 reps
Leg press – 2 sets of 10 reps
Lat pull down – 4 sets of 6 reps
Barbell curl – 3 sets of 8 reps
Calf raises – 3 sets of 15 reps

Week 2 – Monday

Incline bench press – 3 sets of 5 reps
Bench press – 4 sets of 8 reps
Standing military press – 3 sets of 8 reps
Tricep pushdowns – 3 sets of 10 reps
Sit ups – 3 sets of 10 reps

Week 2 – Wednesday

Squat – 2 sets of 5 reps
Glute ham raises – 3 sets of 10 reps
Bent over row – 4 sets of 6 reps
Barbell curl – 3 sets of 8 reps
Calf raises – 3 sets of 15 reps

Week 2 – Friday

Bench press – 3 sets of 5 reps
Incline bench press – 4 sets of 8 reps
Military standing press – 3 sets of 8 reps
Skull crushers – 3 sets of 10 reps
Sit ups – 3 sets of 10 reps

Week 3 – Monday

Repeat the cycle starting from Monday on Week 1. Take a rest day on Friday of Week 4 to allow the body to recover. Descriptions of these exercises can be found through Google.

It’s important to push the body and try to lift heavier weights with each gym visit. If the weight is too heavy and the required number of reps isn’t reached, simply rest and try again. Lifting heavier weights, even if the required reps aren’t reached, will cause the body to grow and get stronger.

Strength and size will increase quickly with this routine as the body adapts to the stress put onto it. Every body part will explode in size with muscle growth occurring in every part of the body.

Conclusion

By eating a balanced diet, using the right supplements and performing a simple power based barbell routine, it’s possible to build muscle so quickly that others may throw out accusations of steroid abuse.

The modern fitness media is doing its best to hide this information. They spread misinformation about volume routines and fad diets that do nothing but slow down the body’s ability to build muscle. If the truth about muscle building spread, the multi billion dollar fitness industry would crumble.

By following the information in this guide, it’s possible to get incredibly strong and muscular in a matter of weeks.