3 Tips For Building Muscle

Eat. To build muscle you need to be in a caloric surplus. Figure out how many calories you are burning and make sure you stay at least 10% above your baseline to gain weight. Going above 10% surplus usually leads to excessive fat gain. To ensure you gain muscle while in a caloric surplus make sure to eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Nutrient deficiencies will get in the way of building muscle and checking your blood work is a great way to see if you are covering all your nutritional bases.

Lift Weights. Hypertrophy training is the technical term for training to increase the size of your muscles. This style of training is often done at 50-70% of your maximum for higher volume with less rest. Stick with the basic compound movements: Squat, Bench, Deadlift, Shoulder Press, Row. These movements are the cornerstones of any effective program.

Rest. You don't grow while you are working out. Working out breaks down your muscles and resting is when you rebuild. You may be able to go all out every day for about 2 weeks before you regress and get hurt. Take your rest as seriously as your training. This includes stretching, massage, light aerobic activity like a long walk or easy bike ride,and of course sleep. It's extremely rare to fully recover from exercise while sleeping less than 7 hours a day.