What guy goes to the gym day in and day out and doesn't want to bulk up? The technical term for bulking up is muscle hypertrophy. Muscle hypertrophy is when your muscles cells get thicker. The best way to cause muscle hypertrophy is to put pressure on your muscles with extra weight so that they grow.
“Well I keep lifting heavy weights but I don't think I’m getting bigger, what's the deal?” There are many other factors that come into play with muscle hypertrophy besides just lifting heavy weights, and we have laid them out with the most common mistakes people make.
What are you eating to bulk up?
When it comes to your diet, it can sometimes be difficult to force yourself to eat more. But I recommend trying to eat an extra 300-500 calories a day to bulk up. You can do this by adding a little more food to each of your regular meals, or snacking more often. Eat higher calorie food and add more complex carbohydrates to your diet; such as grains and beans. The complex carbohydrates will assist by giving you more energy for your more intense workouts. Brown rice, whole wheat, and oats contain great sources of complex carbohydrates.
High quality protein, which the body breaks down into amino acids, should be the center point of all your meals. Intense exercise increases demand for amino acids, which support muscle repair and growth. When you train to bulk up, make sure you're getting between 1 and 1.5 times your body weight (if you are overweight, then substitute your target body weight) in grams of protein. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you should be eating between 150 and 225 grams of protein per day if you want to consistently gain muscle.
Mistake 1 (eating too much): If you consume too much food, those extra calories will be stored as fat and make you feel too sluggish, and taking away from your workouts. Divide your meals in well balanced proportions so you are able to do your workouts with a lot more energy. I have often heard that the best food to eat when attempting to bulk up is a lot of meat. False the best way to get your protein source is an egg. The whole eggs have all the nutrients and amino acids you need to achieve greater muscle mass. You are better off eating 2-3 whole eggs with 6 egg whites to have better protein gains. This will give you the energy you will need to keep pushing in the weight room.
Bulking up Meal Plan ex. for 145lb male
Meal 1: 3 eggs (two of them white only)
Meal 2: 6oz can of Tuna
Meal 3: 1 scoop protein shake and 2 rice cakes
Meal 4: 1000mg of Flaxseed oil
Meal 5: 6oz. Steak and salad
Protein shake low fat, low carb, with at least 23grams of protein per scoop, sugars low like 3 grams or lower. GNC have samples so takes some home before you buy one, because there are some really gross kinds of protein shakes. it should be whey protein.
Mistake 2 (not drinking enough water): If you want a simple, easy and highly effective way to maximize your muscle gains, drinking more water is it. Water plays so many vital roles in the body and its importance cannot be overstated. In fact, your muscles alone are made up of 70-75% water!
Not only will drinking more water cause your muscles to appear fuller and more vascular, but it will also increase your strength as well. Research has shown that merely a 3-4% drop in your body's water levels can impact muscle contractions by 10-20%!
Aim to consume 0.6 ounces for every pound of bodyweight each day for optimal gains.
How do you lift to bulk up?
Your body grows due to additional pressure put on it, so you have to increase the weight that you lift in the gym. Do not and I repeat do not increase the weight to the point where you sacrifice your form in the exercise. That is a mistake a lot of weight lifters make and all that does is cause an injury and slow your progress down in the gym. If however you put large enough demands on your body to grow (with proper form), it will trigger an adaptive response which will force your body to gain weight. This can be accomplished by training for strength first and reducing the amount of reps you do to 4-6.
Mistake 3 (too much cardio) Decrease your cardio! You cannot play three hours of pick up basketball or run 5 miles a day and expect to gain muscle mass. Cardio burns off calories and if you burn off more calories than you consume, don't expect to gain any muscle mass or weight.
Free weights are your weight of choice when attempting to bulk up. In my gym I would see this very skinny guy doing his bench press, incline press and every other power lift you can think of on a smith machine, he said he did this because he didn't have a spot. Let me state this very clearly the smith machine is not a machine to be used for gaining muscle mass. These machines are very stationary, and only promote movement of your body parts one way only. They also do not place the joints in the proper place either. Only proper form makes you use the muscles at the right areas, not the machines. More then 90% of all machines do not make you use your stabilizer muscles and that's very important in order to start improving on your muscle gaining.
“Well what type of lifts should I do in the gym?” Free weighted exercises like Squats, Dead Lifts, Bench Presses, and Push Presses are exercises you would really want to get accustomed to first so that way you will not have such a hard time learning proper form and gaining muscle mass in the future.
Bulking up weight lifting routine ex.
Lying tricep ext 3 sets 6-8 reps
1 arm rows 3 sets 4-6 re[s
Assisted Pull-ups 3 sets 4-6 reps
Leg Raises 3 sets 6-8 reps
V-sits 3 sets 6-8 reps
Lateral Raises 3 sets 4-6 reps
Upright rows 3 sets 4-6 reps
Overhead tricep ext. 3 sets 4-6 reps
Mistake 4 (not stretching enough) Another way surprisingly to increase muscle mass is to stretch regularly, this means before, after, and during every workout. If you do this, you will actually increase your flexibility and give your muscles more room to contract and add mass. If you lift weights and lose flexibility it is only because you do not take stretching seriously.
Mistake 5 (not sleeping enough) After you spend an hour working your muscles out at the gym and “Water glistening all over yo body!” (real Martin Lawrence fans get that) you should also be aware that your body needs substantial "recovery time" from the workout. This "recovery time" is approximately 8 hours of sleep each night and that is each and every night not 10 hours tonight and 6 tomorrow because that does not work. Your body needs adequate sleep every night because rest cannot be stored and saved for later, it is something you must engage in every night.
In conclusion if you really want to bulk up and get some really big muscle you have to eat more meals, do less cardiovascular activities, lift heavy weights, and get a good night's sleep. Bulking up is not something that you can do over night or in a week, so take your time, and monitor your progress.
Siddiqu Muhammad is an ACE (American Council on Exercise) certified personal trainer and a NFPT (National Federation of Personal Trainer) certified personal trainer and a Division 1 Athletic Strength and Conditioning coach. To view more of Chicago Fit 4 Life’s training philosophy visit www.cf4life.com |
