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How to build muscle mass?

How to build muscle mass?

 

How to build muscle mass?

It's winter, temperatures are dropping and there's no need for short clothes to show off your hard-earned muscles at the gym.

Now it's time for long, warm clothes under which we'll be camouflaging ourselves.

For both experienced bodybuilders and the casual bodybuilder, this period is synonymous with mass gain.

As temperatures drop, the caloric needs to keep the body warm increase, and muscles are slowly covered with a layer of fat. It's the right time to take advantage of this caloric surplus to build muscle.

However, good mass gain is not just about accumulating fat, but also about building quality muscle. It is therefore necessary to manage body fat levels to ensure that they remain reasonable.

training must be adapted to optimize it.

Here are a few principles for quality muscle and mass gain

Nutrition fordrymass gain

For quality mass gain, there's no point in gorging yourself on poor-quality calories. In fact, the carbohydrates you need in addition to your normal requirements should come from good sources such as rice, pasta, potatoes or oatmeal. All these sources are relatively low in fat and sugar.

carbohydrate intake should be increased gradually, according to the results obtained. It will therefore be necessary to increase carbohydrate intake by 20% every 2 weeks, and to stop this increase when the body becomes too coated.

protein intake remains unchanged, as we assume a protein intake of 3.3g of protein per kilo of body weight. Logically, as body weight increases, so will protein requirements.

Lipid consumption for weight gain will be around 20% of daily calories. These lipids will come from vegetable oils such as olive oil, walnut oil and nuts.

Nutritional intake should be spread over 5 to 7 meals a day, every 2.5 to 3 hours, in order to feed muscles regularly and avoid catabolism (destruction of muscle fibres).

Nutrition pour une prise de masse sèche

training for weight gain

During the period of mass gain, training will focus mainly on movements designed to bulk up the large muscle groups, and consequently we'll mainly be using basic poly-articular movements.

These basic movements will mobilize a greater number of muscles and enable us to use higher loads. These heavier loads will be synonymous with overloading the muscle fibres, which will adapt as they develop.

For pectoral muscles, for example, a weight-building session could be constructed as follows:

Bench press (barbell): 6 sets of 5 to 8 reps

Inclined bench press (bar): 6 sets of 5 to 8 reps

Dumbbell squats: 5 sets of 6 to 10 reps

Weighted dips: 5 sets of 10 reps

Rest periods between sets should be between 1 min 30 and 2 min 30, to allow sufficient recovery time for each heavy set.

Training frequency will be reduced to no more than 4 sessions/week to optimize recovery and therefore muscle growth.

In order to maintain good cardiovascular health and control over adipose tissue, one or two cardio sessions can be maintained, without exceeding 30 min.

Supplementationfor weight gain

When building mass, it can be interesting to rely on certain food supplements such as protein powders and gainers, which make it easier to ingest extra calories. However, it's important to choose your gainer carefully, as all too often these products are high in carbohydrates and high in fat, but lacking in protein. The ideal is to opt for a gainer made up of 40% protein, 50% carbohydrates and 10% fat.

BCAAs are essential in the arsenal, as they accelerate recovery and optimize muscle growth thanks to their rapid assimilation.

Creatine will also be an ally of choice during this period, as it improves muscle contraction and recovery capacity. As a result, you'll be able to lift heavier and longer, and thus generate the stimulation needed for growth.

There's no need to complicate your life: for good mass gain, or rather good dry muscle gain, you need to provide your body with the caloric surplus it needs to supply the muscles with enough energy to cope with heavier workouts. However, this surplus should be kept to a reasonable level to avoid accumulating too much fat.

Care must be taken to provide sufficient protein to ensure that muscles have the materials they need to build and strengthen fibers.

Workouts will be heavier, with shorter sets to stimulate growth by forcing muscles to adapt to unusual loads. The frequency of training sessions will be reduced to optimize recovery.

Supplementation will be the little extra that complements a diet which, on its own, must provide the elements needed to build additional muscle. It will be chosen accordingly.

Then it's time to discover and shape that new muscle hard-won over the winter!

Alexandre Carpentier "MegaGear Athlete