Many of us would love to build a muscular, toned and ripped body. In order to achieve this, we go to the gym or to purpose-built weight lifting rooms and lift as much as we can, copying those we see around us. Some of us have a slightly more suitable approach and take on a personal trainer to write a plan for us, or perhaps we follow a pre-written plan. Although all of these efforts will be beneficial, it is often far more useful to at least understand the basics of muscle gaining. This way, you will have a better grasp of what is actually happening inside your body, and how you can make sure you support these processes as much as possible, thereby achieving far greater results.

Hormones and Nutrition

Building muscle is all about the hormones. The main hormones that play a role are testosterone, cortisol, growth hormone, estrogen and insulin. You have to make sure that all of these are present in the right level at the right time. For some, this means consuming various supplements, but you can also achieve it by getting your nutrition right, particularly your protein consumption.

“The more amino acids you can make available to the muscles, the more they will be able to build up. There is a point of diminishing returns, but most active people need at least 0.6-0.8g protein per lean (not total) lb of bodyweight.”- The IF Life

Besides protein, you also need the right types of fats and sufficient calories. It is really about looking after your body holistically. This means getting sufficient sleep, eating vegetables, getting your Omega 3-Omega 6 balance right and so on.

Basic Movements

According to fitness experts and bodybuilders around the globe, the key is to get your basic movements right first. Yes, you may have the image of the huge bodybuilder deadlifting a massive bar, but he will have warmed up first and done a number of movements that help get the blood flowing to his muscles. As such, the most basic of all movements to build muscle that we should all use, every time we work out, is the squat.

“The squat is one of the best muscle builders in a man’s portfolio because of the number of muscles the exercise engages.” – Men’s Health

It is very important, however, to make sure that you do the squat right. You have to make sure that you go down far enough, and you also have to make sure that your heels are properly anchored. This is what will help you focus on your glutes.

Your Training Program

Last but not least, you need to look at your training program.

“The optimal characteristics of muscle building programs include the use of both concentric and eccentric muscle actions and the performance of both single and multiple-joint exercises. I also recommended that the bodybuilding program sequence exercises to optimize the quality of the exercise intensity.” – Bodybuilding.com

It is once you have all of these in place that you are truly ready to start building some serious muscle.