When it comes to putting on muscle mass, what methods have you found most effective?
I have a lot of passion for this question. Anthony is right if you want to keep it simple. If you do not want to dedicate yourself to doing all of those, then you need to skip it. Things to consider:
1.Body type plays a huge role. This does not mean that over time you can slowly get some gains.
2. Mass is easier with more calories. You have to decide what you want to look like. A lineman for football will put on size, mass and strength and not so much concern on fat as long as they can be quick and strong for 10 to 20 yards. If you want to go with less fat, it becomes a big chore to eat since the foods will be lower in fat and cleaner.
3. Lift big at least once a week for each body part. Periodization is important to stop the plateaus. If you are looking at strength, consider twice a week per body part. If you want to get good at something, you have to do it more to a certain degree. You don’t want to get hurt. Some bodies do have a harder time with the heavier weights.
4. Listen to your body-no matter what any of us tell you, you need to know what your body is capable of doing. If it does not feel right, back off.
5. Supplements can really help. Ones that you may want to consider:
Creatine
Protein
I am not a big fan of pre-workouts but some people need the boost-be careful with pre workouts. Always be careful of the product with stimulants.
I like BCAAs which come in good protein shakes along with supplements like Arginine that help with blood flow that can be found in Protein shakes also.
First is Sleep, Water, and good carbs and a littel extra protein.
We want to target as many muscle fibers as possible and fatigue them all to force protein synthesis (I am assuming we …are talking myofibril hypertrophy and not sarcoplasmic hypertrophy).
There are a couple of different ways to do this. One of my favorites is to pick a core exercise that has the highest EMG rating for your particular movement…lets say chest. The highest EMG exercise for your chest is the decline DB Chest Press(EMG of 93), now load that to 85% 1RM or 5-6 reps for sets then pick the next lowest EMG exercise which is Flat DB Bench Press (EMG of 88) and pick a slightly lighter rep scheme like 80% 1 RM for 8 reps….and so on. Do this all the way to 70% 1 rm, this should take 4 exercises to do.
This program stimulates as much of the muscle as possible in three ways..1) Muscle activation as shown through EMG ratings 2) motor unit recruitment of muscle due to the heavier loads 3) continued stimulation and deeper fatigue of more muscle fibers by continuing to lighten the load further into the workout.
We get deep muscle fatigue and stumulation with this type of workout and recovery is paramount to prevent overtraining. This includes regular mobility work and passive stretching pre and post workout.
I have had people, myself included, put on anywhere from 10lbs to 30lbs in 12 weeks with no increase in Body Fat. This workout was so effective that I had to stop doing it personally, because I didn’t want to be that heavy.See More