Beginners easily fail at many tasks if they happen not to be ushered into the steps or processes by appropriate people. If you want your workouts to be fruitful and successful at building muscle, Read on and learn how to gain muscle fast for beginners 

 How to gain muscle fast 

I tried to make this article very simple and beginner-friendly by telling you things I was told when I had just begun bodybuilding.

These include; 

1. Get enough sleep. 

Sleep deprivation will hurt your body and you will never gain muscles. In order to gain muscle fast, aim at 8 hours of sleep every night. 

When you sleep, the body will release human growth hormones that help to build your muscles. During sleep, blood flow to the muscles also increases promoting tissue growth and repair. 

Additionally, proper sleep can help to reduce the stress hormone cortisol that may hinder muscle growth. 

2. Make use of supplements. 

In most cases, we may not be able to get all the essential nutrients needed for proper and faster muscle growth. The use of supplements can enhance physical strength and provide the body with the nutrients needed for muscle growth. 

There are many types of supplements that can help enhance muscle gain. Among the supplements is creatine that can increase muscle content by up to 40% of the body mass. Naturally, the body produces creatine to provide energy to the body. Creatine increases muscle mass, strength, and exercise performance. 

Protein supplements can help you get enough proteins for muscle building. Since proteins are very essential for muscle growth, not getting enough protein can hinder muscle gain. This is where protein supplements come in to ensure that you get enough proteins.  Popular protein supplements are whey, casein, and soy protein. 

Other supplements to use for bodybuilding are Beta-Alanine, branched-Chain Amino Acids, and others. 

3. Consume more calories. 

If you decide to gain muscles, you should avoid any kind of calorie-restrictions.  It is important to note that in order to gain muscle mass you should consume more calories than you burn.  

Eating more food will help you meet the calorie demands to fuel your workouts. Never treat your body to a food shortage. This will hinder your body from building new muscles.  

You should, therefore, aim to eat extra calories of about 250-500 more than your body burns every day. You will find out that you might even need more than 3000 calories if you are skinny and with a high metabolism. It is better to get more calories from proteins. 

4. Eat more proteins. 

I don’t recall much from kindergarten but I teachers telling us that “proteins are bodybuilding foods”. To grow muscles, you should eat more foods rich in proteins. Exercises, lifting weights and cardio can breakdown muscles and you will need proteins to repair these muscles.

Foods such as eggs, Greek yogurt, cheese, milk, tuna, beef, chicken, tilapia, pork, lentils, peanut butter, tofu, quinoa, and others can help you meet your proteins target. 

5. Be consistent. 

No matter how hardworking you maybe, if you aren’t consistent, you will not achieve the desired results. For the start, you should train for about 5-6 days a week in order to challenge the body. 

Consistency can help give the body the challenge needed to increase strength and build muscle.  Don’t let your efforts go to waste when you have more cheat days than workout days.  

6. Focus on the hard phase of the workout. 

Take an example of making a dumbbell curl that involves raising the dumbbell and lowering it. Put the focus on the raise and feel the lift. That phase of the rep that feels challenging should be done with a lot of focus while engaging the body muscles. This is the phase that matters a lot because it challenges your muscles. 

Different workouts have different ”hard phases” that require focus and to be done right in order to gain muscles fast. 

7. Start slow and increase gradually. 

Never start off by lifting heavyweight, it is healthy and delivers results faster when you start slow and increase gradually. 

When you start by lifting heavy weights, you might get hurt. This can also lead to muscle stagnation whereby you no longer gain muscle mass but rather gain strength. Start with simple weights and later change to heavier weights or reps when you feel that a specific workout is no longer challenging. 

Avoid starting off with workouts right away. Just as you don’t start s*x right away but foreplay first. A warm-up is very essential for the body as it gets it ready for what’s coming.   

8. Drink a lot and more water. 

A water bottle shouldn’t be left out while you are buying your workout gear. It is more important than that fancy headband. 

Drinking water is very essential for muscle gain. It helps to maintain muscle pump, energize workouts, boost muscle growth, and prevent muscle breakdown. Additionally, drinking water will make your muscles flexible and prevents muscle cramps. 

You are recommended to drink around 600ml of water before workouts and around 1200ml during an hour’s workout. 

Even after workouts, drink more water to stay hydrated. Don’t allow your body to get dehydrated as this will inhibit muscle growth. 

Read more about the benefits of drinking water for muscle growth 

9. Do compound exercises. 

Compound exercises are those exercises that target several muscles at the same time. This is far better than working on individual muscles.  You will also get stronger when you do compound workouts. 

Examples of compound exercises. 

• Squats: they target the quads, lower back, glutes, hamstrings, hips, and the core. 
• Deadlifts: they target the muscles of the hamstrings, lower back, glutes, and core. 
• Incline bench press: this workout targets the upper chest, front delts, and triceps. 
• Pull-ups: their muscle target is lats, traps, biceps, back, and core. 

10. Decrease the rest time between reps. 

Whether distractions or laziness that gets you to spend over 3 minutes between reps,  should be got rid of. In order to gain muscles fast, rests of 30-90 seconds encourage the release of muscle building hormones and will make workouts challenging.  

However, long periods of rest can make you lose morale, lose count of your workouts and you will not be able to gain muscle mass this way. It is better to take short rests between reps and don’t let the sweat dry. Go back on the workouts after a short rest. 

11. Don’t forget fruits and vegetables. 

Because we said proteins are important, don’t dominate all your diets with proteins. Fruits and vegetables play an important role too. They have nutrients, vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants that promote health and muscle gain. 

Fruits and vegetables are so flexible that you can easily add them to your diet. They can be used as snacks, eaten whole, like desserts, or can be made into smoothie or juice. 

Eat fruits like apples, bananas, mangoes, pears, avocados, watermelon, pears, grapes, and many others with all leafy vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, cucumber, and others will do the work. 

12. Watch your diet. 

Having a balanced diet will build your muscles faster. In order to gain muscles, proteins, vitamins, and other minerals are needed to build healthy muscle. 

In almost every diet out there, ‘’ eat this and avoid that’’ is the rule that governs them. For muscle gain too, there are foods that you should eat for healthy muscle gain and those that should be dumped or eaten in small quantities. 

Alcohol, foods with high added sugar content, high-fat foods, and carbonated beverages as these will distort your muscle gain process. 

13. Have a plan. 

Don’t just hit the gym or start workouts without a proper plan. Just as every important project needs a plan, your workouts and diet should be planned. 

Avoid the mistake many beginners make. Copying any workouts not meant for you is very problematic. The knowledge of the muscles being worked or the purpose of the workouts is very important.  

Therefore, get a proper workout plan from a qualified fitness trainer or trusted app or website.  

What diet should I choose? 

A bodybuilder should eat lots of proteins for muscle growth and carbs as they are energy giving foods. 

Getting the right protein foods can help gain muscles much faster. Carbs are also very important in a body builder’s diet as they help to provide energy to the body.  

Always add fruits and vegetables to your diet as they are packed with vitamins and nutrients essential for muscle growth. 

According to Healthline, the foods below are so healthy for muscle gain 

Meats, poultry, and fish: Sirloin steak, ground beef, pork tenderloin, venison, chicken breast, salmon, tilapia, and cod.  

Dairy: Yogurt, cottage cheese, low-fat milk, and cheese.  

Grains: Bread, cereal, crackers, oatmeal, quinoa, popcorn, and rice.  

Fruits: Oranges, apples, bananas, grapes, pears, peaches, watermelon, and berries.  

Starchy vegetables: Potatoes, corn, green peas, green lima beans, and cassava.  

Vegetables: Broccoli, spinach, leafy salad greens, tomatoes, green beans, cucumber, zucchini, asparagus, peppers and mushrooms.  

Seeds and nuts: Almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, and flax seeds.  

Beans and legumes: Chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, black beans, and pinto beans.  

Oils: Olive oil, flaxseed oil and avocado oil. 

Avoid these foods; 

Alcohol: can dehydrate your body and negatively affect your muscle growth especially when consumed in excess. 

Foods with lots of added sugars: have you ever heard of empty calories? These are foods that are high in calories yet very low nutrients. Foods that are high in added sugars fall in this category. Examples include cakes, ice cream, candy, chocolate, sweetened beverages such as soda. 

Do I need to count calories while gaining muscles?  

Let’s get this straight. In order to gain muscles, our body should be experiencing a calorie surplus. This means that limiting your calorie intake can negatively affect your muscle growth.  

Therefore, the kind of calorie counting you should be doing should be aiming for surplus not limiting them.  Since some foods are low in calories, calorie counting should be established to help you meet your calorie demands. 

The bottom line 

Have realistic expectations as you will not become Hulk after a week or two in the bodybuilding world. Bodybuilding takes time and on average, you can gain about 0.25kg/0.5lb of lean muscle every week while on an effective program.  

It is therefore wise to keep your expectations realistic, be consistent, and gain muscle in healthy ways. 

 

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