Do you want to gain muscle and don't know where to start? To increase muscle mass you need perseverance, a good exercise routine and also follow a good diet, among other factors. Progressive and continuous stimuli are also important to achieve as well as adequate techniques to stimulate hypertrophy.
In order for you to achieve your goal, we will explain a series of training techniques to increase muscle as well explained as possible so that you can apply them immediately to your routines.
Training plan to gain muscle
A training plan to gain muscle mass places many demands on all people who have set this goal. In principle, it is based on basic exercises with weights in which the weight is gradually increased.
Short training sets are important in order to maintain intensity. However, the training plan also includes sufficient regeneration phases to allow for the formation of new muscle tissue .
We explain what the ideal training plan should be to gain muscle .
1. Frequency of training
In this case, you don't need to go to the gym every day to train , just do it three times a week. Now, you will have to take the sessions seriously to be effective. In addition, the exercises have to be appropriate.
2. Duration of training
The duration of training to gain muscle mass ranges between 60 and 90 minutes maximum. If you exceed this time, your muscle tissue will be exposed to hormonal stress from the secretion of cortisol.
When it is not possible to gain muscle mass in the long term, this hormone is one of the most frequent causes. Therefore, if you train more than recommended, you can even enhance muscle loss processes.
Also, muscle growth occurs in the rest phases . It is in this period when the muscle tissue recovers from the effort and the muscle cross section increases as a process of adaptation to the increasing load of training.
3. Appropriate exercises
A training plan to gain muscle mass should base its basic structure on basic exercises such as the bench press, the deadlift, the squat and the shoulder press. These intervene in all the muscles, producing a great secretion of testosterone. This hormone, along with insulin, plays an essential role in gaining muscle mass.
Approximately two-thirds of training sessions to gain muscle mass should be used in basic exercises or exercises with free weights. The remaining third can be devoted to isolation exercises and intensity techniques.
4. Intensity of training
Unlike the traditional routine to gain mass, which requires maximum strength training (with a number of repetitions between 3 and 5), in the training plan to gain muscle mass he trains in the so-called hypertrophy area (with between 8 and 12 repetitions). The volume of training and the number of series to be done compared to the routines to gain weight and for weight loss are clearly higher.
5. Rest
In your muscle gaining training plan, optimal pause times between work sets are 60-90 seconds maximum. This period of time is sufficient to allow the muscles to recover before resuming the active application of stimuli in the next series of work.
Also, a rest day should always be planned between two days of training to allow regeneration.
4 tips to gain muscle mass
Here are some tips so that gaining muscle mass is not a difficult task, although it will always require work and perseverance.
1. Training diary
When it comes to gaining muscle mass, it is always very helpful to keep a training journal. In this way, you will be able to write down all the series you do, the time, the days you train and the type of exercises so that the whole set is effective.
2. Nutrition
With a well-structured training plan you are already halfway there. Now, it should be noted that the smart use of sports nutrition will bring you even closer to your goal.
Thus, for example, protein shakes allow you to meet the extra daily protein needs to gain muscle mass. In the same way, creatine can also become an essential in your diet.
It is an amino acid that plays an auxiliary role in the processes that lead to gaining muscle mass. Its effect, especially in terms of training performance, is of great added value.
3. Functional exercises
In a workout to gain muscle mass, emphasis should be placed on functional exercises. That is, it is important to regularly perform core exercises that target large muscle groups rather than training small muscle groups in isolation.
Basic exercises are characterized by the work of large muscle groups and always require the execution of complex sequences of movements.
A functional training to gain muscle mass not only develops muscles, but also improves all coordination skills and prepares you to face the challenges of the day to day.
4. Progressive increase
To advance in the training to gain muscle it is essential to progress regularly, that is, increase the weights used in the training. More strength means more muscle mass.
When training, the muscles should push themselves to the limit to establish a training stimulus, to which the muscle adapts. Thanks to this adaptation, the muscle grows and becomes stronger to better resist the effort the next time. This effect is called supercompensation .
5 techniques to gain muscle mass
Now, not only with the above we can meet those goals that we have set ourselves, but we need other training techniques to increase muscle . We describe some of them below.
1. Forced repetitions
This intensity technique can only be performed with a training partner. The goal is, first, to perform the exercise without assistance until muscle failure , until it is no longer possible to perform more repetitions independently. This is when the partner intervenes and helps us to perform 3 or 4 more repetitions.
2. Descending series
This technique is one of the most popular. In a descending series you train until muscle failure; then the weight is reduced as quickly as possible and the series continues to run. This cycle can be repeated up to 3 times per exercise.
For example, if you squat with 70 kilos of weight, you run the series to failure. Next, reduce the weight to 50 kilos and do 5 more reps or until failure. Immediately after, he exercises with 30 kilos until definitive muscle failure.
3. Negative repetitions
In negative repetitions, only the return movement of an exercise is performed without assistance, while a training partner helps in the pressing or pulling phase of more effort.
For example, in the bench press, the athlete is assisted to push the bar from the chest until the arms are fully stretched. Instead, lower the bar without help.
Negative repetitions are very useful for gaining muscle mass, since they require eccentric strength ; that is, the ability of the muscles to stop movements. They also improve intramuscular coordination and can be the first step in learning to do many bodyweight exercises, such as pull-ups.
4. Superset
In the so-called supersets, 2 exercises are always performed in a row, without a pause . These can combine two opposing muscle groups, called antagonists, but it is also possible to work the same part of the body together.
5. Training in blood flow occlusion
In training in blood flow occlusion, external pressure is applied to the part proximal upper and lower extremities (part closest to the torso). This situation prevents the exit of blood from the muscle but not the arrival of it. In turn, it causes an increase in metabolic stress , although having the great limitation of increasing muscle mass without neural development.
Mistakes made when increasing muscle mass
In addition to training techniques to increase muscle, if we want to meet our goal we have to avoid a series of mistakes. Among them are; for example, the regeneration periods are too short or ignoring the warm-up phase.
Also, the execution of the exercises must be completely clean and not abuse the weight we want to lift. Therefore, we must control our ego at all times. It is more important to advance little by little than to end a serious injury without achieving, in addition, what we have proposed.
